TheJakartaPost
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Editorial: An ASEAN emergency
Thousands have been stranded on the shores of Aceh and Malaysiaâs Langkawi resort island after traffickers abandoned them in late April, fearing Thailandâs crackdown
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housands have been stranded on the shores of Aceh and Malaysia's Langkawi resort island after traffickers abandoned them in late April, fearing Thailand's crackdown. A few thousand have been rescued, while the ships considered seaworthy have been denied entry by the navies of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia after their passengers were given food, water and milk for children.
In this latest flight from Myanmar and Bangladesh, everyone wants to 'push back the boats' just like Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Never mind the UN 1951 Refugee Convention that Malaysia and Indonesia are not parties to. Unlike Australia, we have ASEAN commitments to a 'people-centered' community, reaffirmed in the latest Leaders' Summit, which took place on Langkawi.
Indonesia and Malaysia have given temporary shelter to the Rohingya, the Muslim minority group from Myanmar's poorest state of Rakhine, along with stranded people from elsewhere. But as a Rohingya man told this newspaper, he feels there is no future in only accepting handouts.
Assessing whether people really are refugees or asylum seekers is notoriously slow, compounded by the unwillingness of countries to take them in. And while local governments and residents are enthusiastically helping the stranded, when it comes to permanent settlement, many Indonesians say 'don't look at us, we can't even take care of our own poor.'
The UN estimates that from January to March, 25,000 Rohingya andBangladeshis boarded smugglers' rickety boats ' twice the number in the same period last year.
Upholding 'non-interference', ASEAN will not press any member. Yet, on Saturday its chairman, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, called for an 'ASEAN solution' to avoid a further 'catastrophe' with global support.
Ahead of talks on the issue scheduled in Bangkok on May 29, Myanmar said it would 'unlikely attend', suspecting Thailand is trying to focus global blame on Myanmar for its stateless minority, instead of on Thailand's poor law enforcement against traffickers.
Yet, on Aug. 20, 2013, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar became among 13 signatories to the Jakarta Declaration on Addressing the Irregular Movement of Persons, which pledged to '[foster] political, social and economic conditions to mitigate the underlying factors that make individuals more vulnerable to irregular migration.'
Last year's killing of dozens of Rohingya in retaliation for the murder of a Buddhist man and a gang rape of a Buddhist woman led to some 140,000 displaced. Violence became religious-related on top of racial, state-sanctioned discrimination against them. Myanmar denies the Rohingya citizenship, stating they are 'Bengali' illegal migrants from nearby Bangladesh.
ASEAN should immediately pool its resources for adequate shelters ' with the support of the international community ' given its experience in handling disasters.
But the regional group is severely handicapped by its charter, which ensures the rights of its peoples regardless of 'race ['¦] language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin'.
