The Rohingya refugee crisis in South-East Asia by Albert Solanes

The Rohingya people are one of the globe’s largest ethnic minorities, a Muslim stateless nation considered one of the most persecuted minorities in the world (OHCHR, 2017). Their origins rely on the Arakan region in northern Myanmar and they are currently between 1.5 million and 2 million people. The nation lost its identity in 1983 with the Citizenship Act of Burma, which was declared by the military government of General Ne Win. Previously, the Rohingya had been recognised in 1950s by the U-Nu government during the parliamentary era. 

The lack of a citizenship status has implicated an oppression conflict which has brought many social issues for this nation. These include a very restricted access to economic opportunities, health care and a decent education (Kiaw, 2008). This phenomenon has lead the Rohingya to seek for asylum in other countries, some of them belonging to South-East Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Despite of the farness, these places have probably been one of the least discomforting for the repudiated fleeing society.

In Malaysia, they started to arrive in the 1990’s and the government supplied them with financial aids as well as material assistance through the Malaysian Red Crescent Society. Over the next ten years, the Rohingya had been known as a stable and well-tolerated, who enjoyed of an access in the informal labour market as well as a limited admission to public services (Cheung, 2011). However, the situation changed in 2002 due to the promulgation of the Immigration Act, which intended to penalize undocumented people. The repression and deportation of a million of immigrant workers lead to a severe labour scarcity. Therefore, the Malaysian government was forced to negotiate with the UN (partly because of the OHCHR’s pressure). It was finally decided that the government would grant temporary residents to 10.000 Rohingya, permitting the adults to work as well as their kids to attend school. Nowadays, many people are still fleeing to Malaysia and the ethnic population has grown up to 20.000 people, who keep trying to cope with the strict immigration environment, defending their already achieved certain level of integration. 

The case of Thailand is more recent since the immigration fluxes did not increase significantly until five years ago. Up until 2013, the Thai government had responded to the refugee crisis by taking the boats back to the ocean, allowing people to die. In the same year, many international complaints pointed out some extreme cases of shooting immigrant people as well as intending to sell them to human traffickers, which is why the UNHCR drew attention to the case. The Thai government agreed to change its migration policies and vowed to let the Rohingya stay in the country for six months, offering them humanitarian assistance and protection. Nevertheless, in the process, families were separated, being put in different detention centres and shelters which are reported to be inhumane. It is worth to mention that Thailand is the least desired destination in South-East Asia for these immigrants since in Malaysia or Indonesia there is a larger Muslim population (Crews Slezak et al, 2015). Referring to Indonesia, their situation is very similar to the current Malaysian one. In the archipelago, Rohingya people can only restart their lives to a certain point, due to the restrictions they are still facing and the uncertainty of how much time is left for them. 

In conclusion, the Rohingya people are one of the most marginalized ethnic minorities around the world. Political actors and media outlets have taken care of making their conflict invisible since it escapes from the Eurocentric agenda, and the UN does not seem to be determined to figure out a solution for them.  They have become a wandering nation with a common goal of survival and, as Grønlund points out very clearly: “having oppression and discrimination of the past at a distance, the Rohingya can reflect on their past experiences from a temporary place of safety, and create stories and identity as a community set in a different context than their own” (2016).


Bibliographical references

Cheung, S., 2011. Migration Control and the Solutions Impasse in South and Southeast
Asia: Implications from the Rohingya Experience. En: Journal of Refugees Studies. s.l.:Oxford University Press, pp. 50-70.

Crews Slezak et al, R. S. a. R., 2015. Stateless and Fleeing Persecution: The Situation of the Rohingya in Thailand. En: Children's Legal Rights Journal. s.l.:s.n.

Grønlund, C. A., 2016. Refugees in exodus: Statelessness and identity. s.l.:s.n.

Kiaw, N. N., 2008. Nanyang Technological University Library. [En línea]
Available at: https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/bitstream/handle/10220/5978/rsisc012-08.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
[Último acceso: 20 April 2018].

OHCHR, 2017. Interviews with Rohingyas fleeing from Myanmar since 9 October 2016, s.l.: s.n.



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