Malaysia must show leadership for Rohingya

I am relieved that Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have agreed to give either temporary refuge or humanitarian assistance to the thousands of Rohingya refugees allegedly stranded in the seas of Southeast Asia.

Of course, this aid should have been given much, much earlier.

Who knows how much pain or death we could have prevented had we acted more quickly?

Also, the crisis has revealed a number of glaring weaknesses on the part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Malaysia is chair.

In 2015 – the year we were supposed to become an Asean Community – our security and intelligence services (on which we spend millions) failed to detect the departure of the boats, which was allegedly facilitated by people smugglers.

At the same time, we have failed abysmally to stop the oppression and violence in Burma’s Rakhine state, which is the main cause of the exodus of Rohingya.

Make no mistake, the boats will keep coming until and unless the sectarian turmoil in Burma stops.

Indeed, the Rohingya crisis is just beginning and like it or not, Malaysia has to take the lead in meeting it.

Why?

What has this to do with us?

A lot, actually.

Malaysia, as I said, is chair of Asean. We are also on the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

Burma is a part of Asean and the UN.

Malaysia under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the other Asean member states took a huge risk to our common credibility when we brought it into the grouping in 1997.

Therefore, the onus is on Malaysia and other Asean states to ensure that peace and justice prevails in Burma.

I do not believe that this violates the much-vaunted Asean principle of “non-interference”.

One of the pillars of the Asean Community is an “Asean Political-Security Community.”

There can be little hope for either political stability or security in the region if the Rohingya refugee and general human trafficking crises are allowed to continue.

Second, Malaysia prides itself on being an exemplar to the Muslim world.

We have stood up vocally whenever Muslims have been subjected to injustice, including in Palestine and Bosnia.

The Rohingya are a part of the global Ummah.

We would be hypocrites if we did not advocate for them as strongly as we did in the other cases.

Yet again, the Turkish government under the AK Party has shown leadership by sending ships to rescue the Rohingya all the way from Turkey. It is embarrassing that we could not show a similar determined leadership from the beginning.

Finally, we must help the Rohingya simply because it is the right thing to do.

No one should be killed or driven from their homelands because of their faith or race.

These Rohingya do not have a champion even in their own home. Even the much revered Aung San Suu Kyi can only look on in silence while they suffer, and not show any form of leadership for the cause.

Therefore, Malaysia must step up and show leadership against this looming disaster.

We must work within Asean and the UN Security Council to pressure Burma to stop the violence against the Rohingya and restore their rights as citizens.

Moreover, we must also identify and destroy the human trafficking syndicates that appear to be proliferating our region.

But change must also occur at home.

We must ensure that the Rohingya Indonesia and our country take in are properly cared for and do not fall prey to abuse or exploitation.

The Rohingya cannot and must not be allowed to be refouled, ie. sent home before there is a political settlement in Myanmar.

Indeed, we must protect all refugees in our shores in a like manner.

I hope that the government will follow through on its promise to work closely with civil society in providing assistance to the Rohingya.

The incident is also an excellent impetus for Malaysia to consider signing the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.

It should be a source of shame that the Philippines and Cambodia are the only signatories in the region.

By signing the Refugee Convention, Malaysia will fulfil its human rights obligations and commit itself to providing better protection to refugees, especially children.

Being a signatory will also give us guidelines to properly determine whether the foreigners in our midst are genuine refugees or economic immigrants.

Turning our backs on the Rohingya will result in instability and suffering in our region for decades to come.

Malaysia, I repeat, must show leadership in this crucial time. – May 26, 2015.

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