It is time for the Thai government to adopt a proper policy response – and temporarily take in Rohingya refugees coming from the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. This is the best way to save lives while searching for a durable solution. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was spot-on when he said that this issue needs a regional solution with help from neighbouring countries.
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation May 18, 2015 1:00 am
It is time for the Thai government to adopt a proper policy response – and temporarily take in Rohingya refugees coming from the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. This is the best way to save lives while searching for a durable solution. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was spot-on when he said that this issue needs a regional solution with help from neighbouring countries.
A special one-day regional meeting will be held here on May 29 to discuss this pressing issue. It will be attended by senior officials from 15 affected countries including India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Australia and the US.
Even US Secretary of State John Kerry, who ex-communicated Thailand last May, has sought out the Kingdom for a regional solution. So too did Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, in a conversation with Prayut yesterday afternoon, asking for Thailand’s cooperation with the UN.
Thailand should not shy away from taking humanitarian action by providing refugees, especially children, women and senior citizens, with shelter and food. In cases where they are not well, the government must give them medical care. This country can show it is a force for good — not just good for making coups. This country must not follow other countries’ practices of providing food and then pushing boatloads of distressed people back out to sea, knowing full well that they might end up dying there. This practice has already caused human tragedy and loss.
Of course, Thailand cannot do it alone. Additional assistance from international communities, in particular from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), must be “comprehensive” with a “specific time-frame” along with “incentives and burden-sharing” for the country’s plan to open centres for the Rohingya.
Furthermore, better joint cooperation in intelligence and information exchanges, establishing hotlines, patrols, search and rescue among the countries concerned is necessary to thwart the people smuggling schemes. Traffickers these days are very sophisticated with high-tech equipment to detect movement of their boats and the patrols that go after them.
There are good reasons why Thailand needs to take in the most persecuted people in the world. First of all, Thailand has long experience in dealing with an influx of displaced persons over the past four decades as a transit country. Over four million Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese displaced persons and boat people have been resettled since the late 1970s when the region was still at war. They stayed here till they found new homes in third countries.
On the country’s western flank, over five million displaced persons and migrant workers from Myanmar have crossed borders back and forth since 1988. Each year, for nearly two decades, Thailand has accepted thousands of North Korean asylum seekers who arrived at the northern border for resettlement in South Korea, without making headlines.
Now the political landscape in the region has changed and so, in part, have Thai attitudes. Migrant workers are now properly registered and provided with protection to try to stop them being exploited. But one thing that has not changed is Myanmar’s attitude toward the Muslim community in Rakhine State. In recent months there was a huge exodus of these people.
In the case of the Rohingya, Thailand will need all help from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration in identifying their nationalities. It would be, as everybody knows, a daunting task. As a result, unconditional cooperation from Myanmar and Bangladesh is a must. This issue is sensitive and should be handled with great care as both governments are not comfortable in admitting their people are leaving their countries.
For Myanmar, with the prospect of peace and further democratisation inside the country and the upcoming election in November, it is the time for the Nay Pyi Taw government to display humanitarian and a good neighbourly spirit, proving the critics wrong that it has deliberate policies of discrimination against the Rohingya – as often reported in the media.
Second, it is a fact of life that whether Thailand admits it or not–the influx of refugees, organised or otherwise, into Thailand will go on despite the current crisis. It is better for Bangkok to come clean. Judging from past experience, our opaque attitude has led to large-scale corruption in provinces along the Andaman coast, which further encourages criminal networks to continue smuggling people.
The discovery of mass graves of dozens of Rohingya and other boat people in Songkhla near the Malaysian border points to large-scale complicity at the highest level of the security apparatus. In that case, heads must roll — lots of them. The relocation of officials is not sufficient remedy.
Third, by providing temporary sanctuary for the Rohingya, Thailand will be credited with saving lives. There will be unintended consequences. But it is better to face them openly and squarely in a transparent manner. The Thai authorities, especially the Interior Ministry and security agencies, think such humanitarian measures will attract more refugees to Thai shores. That helps explain why Thailand has been reluctant to sign the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Fourth, this is the only way that Thailand can bring other neighbours, especially Myanmar and Bangladesh, to take part in the discussion and find a durable solution. Affected countries must get involved as countries of origin, transit and destination. It is hoped that the May 29 meeting will be able to build on progress from the Bali Process, which has stalled.
In 2009, the government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was condemned severely due to reported pushbacks of boat people to the Andaman Sea, initiated regional talks on this issue. But they did not go anywhere because Myanmar failed to respond. Now the country is in a better position to deal with this sensitive issue, considering the current excellent Thai-Myanmar ties. Nay Pyi Taw has informed Bangkok it will dispatch senior officials to attend Bangkok’s urgent meeting.
Given the complexities of the challenges, it is pivotal that the Thai government engage all concerned parties with well-thought out regional plans that take care of law enforcement without violating human rights.
There is a thin line out there.
