On Rohingya and Malaysians’ hypocrisy

It comes to mind that the recent news of Rohingya refugees has led to an outpouring of aid, and even calls for rescue from nothing more that hypocritical Malaysians nationwide. Personally, I will be direct in saying that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was right: Malays, perhaps Malaysia as a whole, may be prone to experiencing Alzheimer's.

Honestly speaking, this whole charade of caregiving and sympathy reminds me of Max Brooks’s World War Z chapter on South Africa when they announce the Redeker Plan.

The Rohingya issue is not a new one. They were victims of human trafficking and smuggled into Malaysia for decades. Now suddenly when they appear on boats, it is time for us to "have a heart" and be humane?

Seriously, to those who are saying such, start taking ginkgo biloba for your memory loss. Or perhaps they could just browse Berita Harian archives to see that their team was sent there to cover the damning slaughter of the people the last couple of years.

Surprisingly there not a single fanfare reaction from these very "aid givers". Perhaps they were to busy boycotting the paper to care. What to do, maybe it was too busy an election year for the politicos to give a damn then.

Yes, by all means give them aid and if they make it to our shores, give them food and shelter. But let me ask this question: what's next?

See, unlike morons trying to make this an issue of skin colour by saying we were "happy to take in the Bosnians" during their war, they forget the fact (or willingly omit) that the Bosnians were repatriated back to their country after the dust settled and rebuilding started.

This is not a skin-deep issue, regardless of whichever or whatever moronic person thinks so.

You cannot repatriate the Rohingya back to Myanmar. That nation does not even legally recognise them as citizens.

To give you an example of what the Rohingya are facing, it's easy: imagine if on the cusp of August 31, 1957, when Malaya claimed its independence from the British, it decided not to recognise the Chinese or Indian populations, or both – take away their rights of citizenship and ownership of businesses and even refuse to recognise them as citizens.

Then, China and India both decide not to accept Malaysian-born Indians and Chinese citizens as their own.

This is exactly what happened in Myanmar through an act of law. And the only reason Aung San Suu Kyi is mum is because these people don't even get to vote and it is an election year there.

So for all those clamouring to give them aid and let them land, even going so far as to offer them citizenship, I would ask them to answer this: what is the long-term plan?

Do we keep them all in a detention centre until that four-nation meeting takes place in Thailand to answer this question?

Bear in mind, even the Myanmar government themselves have said they refuse to acknowledge that this issue is a problem for them.

And if anyone even suggests that as an option, I can assure you all the late, great Irene Fernandez will be chastising you all when you next meet her.

Give them jobs here? That is an open-ended solution until some immigration officer and police officers hassle them for documents which they do not have. In fact, even migrant workers with proper documentation still get hassled by the authorities.

In 2010, Dr Mahathir on addressing this issue pointed out giving refugees the basics, nothing more. His justification?

Because if you give them more, they will outwork the Malays because the Malays are lazy. And here we are in the same conundrum five years on.

And this is where I call people hypocrites. Let us look at this objectively.

You say let them in, and then wonder why there are people walking up and down the roads selling trinkets while you wait for the traffic light to change.

You say don't waste taxpayers’ funds on BR1M for the poorer Malaysians, but sure, let us all go ahead and waste taxpayers’ funds on asylum seekers who haven't a chance in hell to go back to their home country for the next decade.

You complain about begging children disturbing you while you eat, keropok sellers at the ATMs and even the body odour from migrants on the trains on your way back from work.

And yet, when you see people on a boat without food and water, abandoned by their own country, you want to rescue them.

Don't deny it. I see plenty of it on social media. In fact, most of you have probably seen it as well.

So I will ask Malaysians to do this: decide, once and for all, if you are ready to be a nation for asylum seekers and migrant populations.

Because this is the same thing happening in the US, Africa, Europe and even what is happening in Australia. And Europe itself is seeing increasing support for those who are against the growing immigrant population.

So Malaysians, if you truly insist on being a caregiving nation as the US once was, then by all means stop being hypocritical about everything else. Because we will be talking about your money being allotted to assist those refugees for an unknown amount of time while we complain about leakage and budget deficits aplenty even now.

But if you feel that perhaps this piece has made you think a bit more of just how much you want a Rohingya Malaysian population to be considered as a recognised ethnic breakup in Malaysia, then have a think.

Either way, the decision will be one that will leaves a tarnish on our finances or our souls.

They are still waiting for this decision on the open seas. And more will be doing the same based on our decision. There are 800,000 Rohingya in Rakhine who will probably want to know what our decision is.

As for myself, I'd tell Malaysians to mind those big hearts and beady eyes too focused on boats when they cannot even take a peek to ask how their own neighbourhoods are doing. – May 19, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.