An emergency international summit called to tackle the migrant boat crisis in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, convening in Bangkok on Friday, may prove long on talk and short on answers if regional countries shy away from co-ordinated joint action to address the "root causes" in Burma and Bangladesh, diplomats and aid groups say.
The summit's Thai hosts – who have invited 17 countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members and Australia – say they want immediate, collective steps to deal with the recent surge in Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing Burma and economic migrants leaving Bangladesh.
“It is an urgent call for the region to comprehensively work together to address the unprecedented increase of irregular migration across the Bay of Bengal in recent years,” said Panote Preechyanud of the Thai foreign ministry. But with little sign of agreement on what to do, and who should do it, such calls look destined to be unanswered.
Rescued at sea
About 3,500 migrants have fled by sea in the past month, mostly coming ashore in Malaysia and Indonesia or being rescued at sea, often after initially being turned away. Unknown numbers have perished, while the UN estimates up to 2,600 are at sea on seven boats, the abandoned victims of people-smuggling gangs.
After fierce international criticism, Malaysia reversed its policy of sending boats back to sea and now says it will accept migrants for up to 12 months. But it is unclear what will happen to them after that.
Despite its economy’s reliance on foreign workers, Malaysia complains it is home to 120,000 illegal migrants from Burma and is already doing its bit.
Indonesia has adopted a similar stance toward the Rohingya, but is insisting all Bangladeshi migrants be repatriated.
Thailand, whose crackdown on people-smuggling gangs precipitated the crisis last month, is now saying it will provide temporary "humanitarian help" but that it, too, is hosting 100,000 refugees from Burma and does not want any more.
Much repressed
So great is its denial of the problem, the Burmese government only agreed to attend the summit if the word Rohingya was not mentioned in the invitation.
Predominantly Buddhist, Burma maintains that the much repressed and discriminated against 1.3 million-strong Muslim minority concentrated in Rakhine state are not Burmese at all, but rather Bangladeshi immigrants.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, has also declined to speak up for the Rohingya, an omission that brought criticism this week from the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist leader and a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner.
"It's very sad. In the Burmese case I hope Aung San Suu Kyi, as a Nobel laureate, can do something," he told the Australian newspaper.
“I met her two times . . . I mentioned this problem and she told me she found some difficulties, that things were not simple but very complicated. But in spite of that I feel she can do something.”
Anger at criticism of Burma’s actions provoked protests in Rangoon this week. Banners carried through the streets by nationalists, including Buddhist monks, featured slogans calling the migrants “terrorists” and “beasts”.
In Bangladesh, the official reaction has been similarly unsympathetic. Its prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said migrants who risked their lives fleeing Bangladesh were “mentally sick” and “tainted” the country’s image abroad, and she vowed to punish them. Meanwhile, plans were announced to forcibly relocate Rohingya camps.
About one third of Bangladesh’s 166 million people are less than 15 years old. Youth unemployment is about 13 per cent. The economy depends to a significant extent on remittances from more than 7 million overseas workers.
The US, which will be represented at the summit, said it would consider admitting more Rohingyas. But others are unyielding.
Asked whether Australia would help with resettlement, prime minister Tony Abbott replied: "Nope, nope, nope . . . We are not going to do anything that will encourage people to get on boats."
Asean countries have another reason for eschewing joint action to pressure Burma: the group's long-established principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
In an unusual step, Malaysia, Asean’s current chair, sent a delegation to Rangoon last week to discuss the issue. But diplomats say unless and until Asean acts tough, Burma’s regime will continue to try to ignore the problem.
“It is an Asean issue and has to be resolved by Asean,” a Western diplomat said.
Guardian service