No smooth sailing
Bangladesh denies entry to Teknaf as port is too shallow for vessel
Rohingya aid mission to use trailers and barge after ship hits docking snag.
ANDAMAN SEA: Organisers of the Rohingya aid mission hope to transport some 2,100 tonnes of cargo by trailers and barge after their ship was only allowed to dock in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Organisers chose the port city after they were given three alternatives by the Bangladeshi government instead of Teknaf some 200km away, which is where some Rohingya refugee camps are said to be.
Organiser committee co-chief Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim said he intended for the volunteers to reach Cox’s Bazaar, an hour’s drive from a Rohingya refugee camp called Kutupalong where some 30,000 Rohingyas were believed to be.
He also intended for trailers to be hired to bring the aid by land to Cox’s Bazaar and for some of the cargo to be transported by barge to Teknaf.
“We intend to be there (in Teknaf ) for four days,” he told reporters on board the Nautical Aliya yesterday, adding that he hoped to finish all of the mission’s tasks by Feb 17.
The Rohingya aid ship is expected to arrive in Chittagong on Feb 12, three days after dropping aid cargo in Myanmar.
“We hope to leave Yangon tomorrow night (today) and go to Chittagong,” he said.
The decision was made after organisers learned that Bangladesh would not allow the ship to dock at Teknaf or allow its 185 volunteers to get off the ship.
Bangladesh has offered three alternatives: Chittagong (which was about 200km north of Teknaf ), Kutubdia (an island) and Saint Martin’s Island.
The Nautical Aliya is carrying some 2,300 tonnes of aid cargo for Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have fled alleged human rights abuses in Myanmar to neighbouring countries.
Azeez said he hoped Bangladesh would give the mission’s volunteers visas-on-arrival at Chittagong so that they would be able to hand out aid.
He added that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was “in the loop” and appeared confident of these chances, adding that there were still five days left before they got to Chittagong.
The ship, said Azeez, was expected to come near Yangon by about 9.30pm yesterday although it would not be able to enter due to low tide.
He said the tide would be higher at about 10.15am today, allowing the ship to go through to Yangon’s port.
There, some 200 tonnes will be lifted from the ship – which will take three hours – and join another 300 tonnes of rice already in Myanmar. The 500 tonnes of aid will likely be brought to Sittwe by barge.
In a statement, Wisma Putra said the Bangladeshi government’s decision was mainly due to the condition of Teknaf port, which was shallow with a depth of only 3m.
“The vessel needs at least 8m depth to be able to sail unencumbered into the port,” it said, adding that the decision was not to bar the flotilla.
The Malaysian Government, it said, was optimistic that all other technical issues would soon be resolved given the good bilateral relations between the countries.
ANDAMAN SEA: In the darkness and out across the waves, a man’s voice called out.
“Allahuakbar! (God is great)” rang out from the speakers of the aid ship Nautical Aliya’s public address system at about 5.40am Thailand time and heard in nearly every room.
It was the Muslim call for prayer and men – some dressed in jubah – got out of their rooms, making their way to the bridge.
There, little lights blinked on the console panels in front of the captain’s seat. There were many screens and brightly coloured pixels on them – one showing the ship’s position on the radar, another the depth of the sea below.
Nearby, a lamp’s bulb shone onto a table bearing the charts and maps of the region, the sea in shades of blue according to their depth and the land in yellow.
Its glow was cut off by a curtain, creating a small section on the bridge and leaving the rest of the deck shrouded in darkness.
The room started to fill as men came streaming out of the doors leading to the bridge.
They lined themselves facing west towards Mecca, in a direction aligned after looking at a compass. And there, they prayed in the darkness, with a flood lamp illuminating their figures.
It was Tuesday and the Nautical Aliya was on its way to Myanmar and Bangladesh, bearing 2,300 tonnes of aid cargo for Rohingyas in the two countries.
It is also carrying 185 volunteers from 12 countries, many of whom are Muslims.
At that time, the nearest large island was nearly 200km to the east in Thailand and another 400km to the west, were the Andaman Islands.
Thousands of Rohingyas have fled human rights abuses in Myanmar in recent years and run to other countries in the region.
Rohingyas are Muslims and many fled on boats two years ago, fearing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State (formerly known as Arakan). An unknown number – perhaps hundreds – have died in the same seas that the ship now crosses.
After prayers, Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, 59, – one of the ship’s chief organisers – sat on a chair facing the rest and spoke.
“In Islam, differences are something to be celebrated. You can be different but not disunited,” he said, switching between English and Malay.
He said the global Muslim community came from different races, languages and cultures but was today divided. The issue, he said, was how to respect these differences.
Then, he adjusted his spectacles, peering into the figures before him, shrouded in the darkness. “Moussa? Are you here, brother?” he asked.
Moussa Yacoub, 39, a French volunteer of Cameroonian descent, laughed as he sat in the front row and said, “Yes.”
“I can’t see you,” Azmi said, before adding with a smile: “Differences.”
He then asked the crowd: “Where can you find the qualities of Islam today? In Japan, in Denmark, in the most modern countries in the world today, in the non-Muslim countries.
“Our issue is how do we save our brothers in Arakan, in Mindanao? You can’t do anything because you are divided,” he said.
Then, Azmi looked to the back of him and there, by the wall near the ship’s port windows, were 1,000 copies of the Al-Quran, wrapped in yellow plastic bags.
These will be given to Rohingya children in the camps near Teknaf, Bangladesh, where thousands of refugees from Myanmar are believed to shelter.
But he was borrowing these this morning, telling the congregation to read five pages of the holy Muslim book aloud in Arabic, one after the other.
Later, Azmi said prayers on the bridge would be held three times a day, one in the morning, another in the afternoon and the last at night.
Anyone, he said, could lead the ship’s Muslims to prayer over the public address, adding that the mission’s organisers would start scheduling people.
“There are a lot of people qualified to become imam. Some of them are quite good (at leading in prayer),” he said.
The spoken words of the Quran went on in the background. The sun was rising, painting the sky orange, yellow and blue.
“This mission gives us a chance to unite everyone together. We will arrive at the same destination,” he said with a smile.
A few hours later, a press conference on the ship was held. Bangladesh, a country with over 145 million Muslims, had responded after a series of decisions which saw it decline – then agree – to let the ship enter its waters. Now, the Nautical Aliya will not be allowed to dock in the port of Teknaf and three alternatives – two were islands – to drop their aid were given.
And none of the aid mission’s volunteers will be allowed to visit the Rohingya camps.
As the ship continued to sail towards Yangon, in the afternoon, the prayer mats were shifted a little to the left, always facing Mecca.