Rohingya plight is out of control

The ongoing humanitarian crisis of the plight of the Rohingya people in Myanmar is raising alarm bells not just among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) but also as far as the United Nations. The crisis that has re-emerged after a year of silence has killed hundreds, possibly many more, Rohingya people, and close to 150,000 people have had to seek shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh. About 100,000 people are awaiting to seek refuge. The situation is so grave that United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who was heading the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for a decade until he became the UN secretary-general in 2015, has come out to warn of the risk of ethnic cleansing. Mr Guterres has come out to urge Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the violence that has been the key to the ongoing exodus of refugees.

The ongoing refugee crisis has put Ms Suu Kyi in a corner and she has barely spoken about the issue. The only statement that came out from her office was on Wednesday when she said that the government has “already started defending all the people ... in the best way possible.”

According to UNHCR, at least 15,000 Rohingya refugees are fleeing the country each day and all this started on Aug 25, just hours after a commission led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan released a report on the situation in the troubled Rakhine state.

In the report Myanmar was asked to scrap the restrictions on movement and citizenship for the Rohingya, who have faced these restrictions since 2012 when similar violence flared in Rakhine state. This suspension has left many disenfranchised Rohingya, who are Myanmar citizens, stateless.

Mr Annan was appointed by Ms Suu Kyi to head a year-long commission assigned to heal the long-simmering division between the Rohingya Muslims and the majority Buddhists of Rakhine state, one of the poorest states in Myanmar. Ms Suu Kyi had earlier stated that her government would abide by the recommendations of the commission.

The issue has caused social, ethnic and religious divisions in Myanmar and spread beyond its border. Within Myanmar, authorities do not recognise the Rohingya as citizens and called them “Bengali”. Bangladesh’s officials say these so-called Bengalis are actually not Bengalis but are people who have been in the Rakhine state of Myanmar for centuries.

The latest round of violence was allegedly started by “Rohingya insurgents” who attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The Myanmar government responded by sending in more troops. This has escalated into a crisis.

Thailand and other countries could be impacted from the destabilisation and conflict in the Rakhine state that borders Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal

Ms Suu Kyi has been criticised for remaining silent during the 2016 clashes and then again in the latest violence. But recent reports point out that there are elements outside Myanmar involved in the Rakhine crisis.

Intelligence reports from both India and Bangladesh have evidence that there are forces beyond the control of Myanmar that are playing a key role in determining what steps need to be taken for the Rakhine religious conflict to continue and possibly spread.

Thailand and other countries could be impacted from the destabilisation and conflict in the Rakhine state that borders Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. This is not to mention that the tip of the Rakhine state border to the Indian state of Mizoram is about 100 kilometres apart.

Thailand is well aware of how its Mae Sot border checkpoint has been used as a gateway to sneak trained terrorists and possibly smuggle arms and ammunition through to Rakhine state by the likes of the Islamic State and other terrorist organisations. There are reports that this issue has been raised to as high up as Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who has ordered a closer watch on the border checkpoints.

The intelligence information of such movements has over the months and years been shared with authorities in Myanmar. The country has been warned of the perils that continued discontent among the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state could be a breeding ground for a new battlefront led by the dreaded Islamic State terror group.

The Islamic State, which has been losing ground in the Middle East and other parts of the world, has been on the lookout for oppressed and disgruntled Muslims who would support their cause, and they may have found the opening in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

Any such moves by terror groups in this region could not just destabilise Myanmar but also its neighbouring countries. Therefore it is necessary that Asean forms a joint group to discuss and share information with key anti-terror players in the region and the world. Asean must lead efforts to put an end to this tumour that may already have started to grow in Rakhine state.