Malaysia detains 93 Rohingya boat people who have been at sea for 30 days
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities have picked up 93 Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar who said they spent 30 days at sea in a crowded wooden boat, an official said Friday.
The Rohingya men, an ethnic group not recognized by Myanmar's military regime, had apparently been chased out of Thai waters before they were detained Wednesday off Malaysia's northern resort island of Langkawi, said Zainuddin Mohamad Suki, an officer with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
The Thais denied they chased the boat away.
A fishing boat had earlier reported to the agency that the men were asking for food and water from passing vessels after their open boat experienced engine failure, he said.
Initial investigations showed they had been at sea for 30 days after fleeing their homeland, he said.
"Some of the men said they were chased out of Thai waters earlier before they made their way to Langkawi. They said they were sailing aimlessly in the hope of finding a country that will accept them," Zainuddin told The Associated Press.
Vimon Kidchob, spokeswoman for the Thai Foreign Ministry, however, said troops gave the men food and water, suggesting the men left Thai waters of their own accord.
"The Rohingyas were not chased out of the Thai waters. Thai troops on the Andaman Coast found a group of non-Thai people in boats, so they gave the people food and water and let them continue their journey," she said.
Thailand has acknowledged in the past towing away boats of Rohingyas, hoping they will land in other countries.
The Muslim Rohingyas number about 800,000 in Myanmar where they are denied full citizenship and face widespread abuses including forced labour, land seizures and rape, rights groups say.
Hundreds of thousands have fled to Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Middle East, and rights groups have expressed concern they will be tortured or killed if forced to return to Myanmar.
Zainuddin said some of the men detained suffered minor injuries and have been given medical treatment.
All 93 have been handed over to the immigration department in northern Kedah state and are likely to be sent to a detention centre, he added.
Kedah immigration officers could not be immediately reached for comment.
Malaysia has the biggest number of Rohingya refugees in the region, more than 14,000, many of whom have stayed for years in the country, working illegally in plantations or factories, officials said.
Repatriation of Rohingyas: Rehabilitation programme by Int’l organisations urged
Immediate rehabilitation programme under social safety net in Myanmar by international organisations could also help solve the Rohingya refugee problem here.
Food Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque yesterday stated this to the regional representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Raymond Hall at a meeting in the Secretariat.
He said that the government has given shelter to Rohingya on a humanitarian point consideration. But the unregistered Rohingya have been spreading across the country and creating social problems in the country, he said.
The government has faced several problems when enrolling the unregistered Rohingya. "When the government took initiative to enrol the unregistered Rohingya, a large number of Myanmar citizens started pouring into the country," he said.
Intensifying social safety net programmes by the international agencies could be encouraged to repatriate the Rohingyas, he said.
Hall said that the Rohingyas have no citizenship right in their own country. "Even they could not move freely from one village to another in Myanmar or arrange marriage of their children with people from other villages.
Any violation of these regulations, he said, would mean punishment including jails. Following the series of repression, they left their own country," UNHCR representative said.
The UNHCR official said the unregistered Rohingyas should be enrolled as the Myanmar authorities would agree only to take those registered refugees.
The Registered Rohingya is now 24,000, sources in the Disaster Management Ministry said. The number of unregistered Rohingyas would exceed more than two lakh who are spread across the country.
Coast guards of Myanmar and Thailand detained them in the sea as they started a dangerous journey by a fishing trawler to reach Malaysia to eke out a better living, according to our correspondent in Bangkok.
Officials at the foreign ministry, however, have told bdnews24.com that the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok had had no information about the detention of Bangladeshis in Thailand.Hossain, who had his national ID (2222401529919) issued from Cox's Bazaar district, said he boarded a boat after paying Tk 16,000 to a manpower agent. He managed the money by selling off gold ornaments of his mother and sister.
Mohammed Hossain, 17, a grade 10 student, could not walk properly after the torture by the Myanmarese guards.
Then, he said, they were pushed to the Thai coast in early January this year.
Thai coast guard caught them 11 days after they had set out and passed them as Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
However, he said, the Bangladesh mission in Bangkok did not provide them any support, which meant they could not approach the Thai authorities for repatriation. They have been living in the immigration detention centre with 93 Rohingya refugees.
He said he had boarded the trawler on Dec 23 from Baiskhaslki, Gondamara village.
"I urge Bangladesh government to take me back or I will commit suicide," Hossain, who claimed himself to be the only survivors of the group travelled, told bdnews24.com.
A Thai NGO, People's Empowerment, has been trying to provide them food during the month of Ramadan.
"Our mission (in Bangkok) has no such information," Kazi Imtiyaz Hossain, a foreign ministry director general, told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.
Foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes authorised him to talk to bdnews24.com.
Another foreign ministry official, asking he not be named, told bdnews24.com that the embassy could not recognise any trafficked person as Bangladesh national unless their identities were ascertained.
Burmese Rohingya refugees and Bangali-speaking Indians also claim themselves as Bangladeshis when they are caught abroad, said the official.
Refugee kidnapped by unknown miscreants
Written by Webmaster MRS
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 13:10
Teknaf, Bangladesh: A Burmese refugee was kidnapped by unknown miscreants on August 21, while he was going to Nila market, near the refugee camp to buy medicines for his sick son, said his father.
The victim has been identified as Md. Rofique (24), son of Rashid Ahmed. He hailed from the Nayapara refugee camp.
When the victim did not come back to the camp on time, his father, informed the Camp-in-Charge (CIC) of the refugee camp, Teknaf Police Station and RAB (Rapid Action Battalion), that his son was missing. However, the authorities concerned did not find any clue regarding his whereabouts.
However, a day later, the kidnappers contacted the victim’s mother over mobile phone and asked her to pay Taka 100,000 as ransom for her son. His mother told them that they (victim’s family members) were refugees, so they did not have money to fulfill the kidnappers’ demand, the victim’s mother said.
The victim was brought to the gate of Nayapara refugee camp on August 24, in the early morning by a car and dropped there. After that, the victim went to the camp. When he came to the camp, his family members saw many marks on his body.
After he arrived at the camp, he was admitted at the clinic of the camp, and has been undergoing medical treatment.
A relative of the victim, who declined to be named said, “It is a strange event because a refugee was kidnapped by unknown persons for money.”
The victim said, “When I was on the way to the camp after buying medicines from Nila market, some unknown persons picked me up and put me forcibly into their car and then drove out quickly from the scene and went to their destination. I was confined in a room, where I was fed little food. I did not remember anyone and the place as they were wearing black masks, when they met me
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