“Do not sabotage the government’s effort in curbing Covid-19 in the name of ‘human rights’. Does our country have the resources and capacity to accommodate these refugees?”
- MCA vice-president Tan Teik Cheng
The “plight” of the Rohingya has somehow united the far-right and progressive elements in social media, and the vitriol against the community – online at least – has brought out allegations of scapegoating and pleas for “empathy” for this community.
The PN’s government move to deny a boatload of “Rohingya” refugees from entering Malaysia is a good start as far as I am concerned, but using the excuse of the coronavirus pandemic as some sort of prophylactic against charges of “inhumane treatment” is complete horse manure, if you ask me.
We should be denying and curtailing the influx of Rohingya into this country, who for years have been living off the political machinations of the Malay Muslim political establishment. When it was convenient to use these “economic” migrants for political and religious purposes, Malay political operatives from both sides of the divide were using them as examples of the “injustices” the Muslim community faced in the world and using them as a rallying cry for local Muslim solidarity.
Of course, there has been no discussion or accountability of the millions of dollars of aid from Muslim countries and Western organisations for the benefit of the Rohingya community, nor has there been accountability for the numerous Rohingya organisations that claim to advocate for the community but have been assimilated into various Muslim advocacy groups in the country.
It is pointless talking about how the situation started, the geopolitical shenanigans of Myanmar, Bangladesh, the US and China. What we are dealing with is the economic fallout of decades of political and religious manipulation of the state and the misguided intentions of non-Malay participants in creating a powder keg of racial imbalances in the majority Malay community.
Working-class Malays already handicapped by interventionist state policies, which supposedly protects their rights and privileges, have also to contend with various migrant communities for a slice of the pie. The fact that the plight of the Rohingyas is championed by the bourgeois class and looked on with scepticism or outright hostility by the working class for years was overlooked by the mainstream Malay political establishment.
When a state MCA apparatchik - whose quote begins this piece – talks about looking after Malaysians, does anyone really think he means all Malaysians? Does anyone really think that a non-Malay political operative would dare make this sort of statement if the PN state was not backing his play? If far-right elements on social media were not being encouraged to wage a propaganda war on behalf of the state?
Keep in mind what Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan said about this issue, claiming that: “…Malaysia has 'far exceeded' its capacity to host refugees as some parts of Malaysian cities have become 'too concentrated with refugees' and resources to take care of their welfare.”
Which is just another way of saying that the Rohingya victimhood card is overused and they are now just another migrant community that has taken over certain sections of the urban enclaves and competing for resources with the majority Malay community.
We live in a country where race is defined constitutionally and you can bet your last ringgit that the money train is running low, hence the need to cut back on unnecessary expenses. As it is, the religious apparatus that is riddled with corruption has, over the years, been taking on the additional burden of minding and using various Muslims migrant communities.
How much money has been spent taking care of these communities, especially in the urban areas, while the Malay heartland has been left to its own devices beyond putting in more stringent regulations and enforcement?
The Rohingya community is more than just misery porn for bleeding hearts. It is a complex network of pressure groups, criminal enterprises and political and religious associations that are part of the greater network of political corruption in this country.
For me, this has always been a security issue which unfortunately is not a new issue. Four years ago, while Malaysia and its political apparatus were glorifying the Rohingya cause, Jasminder Singh and Muhammad Haziq Jani from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, did an extremely interesting piece about this issue:
'The Rohingya Crisis: Regional Security Implications' - Beyond security issues along the northern borders of Myanmar, Southeast Asian countries must be vigilant. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have significant Rohingya refugee populations. These countries must guard against the possible recruitment or radicalisation of the refugees. It would be unfortunate if these refugees, in their desperation, become members of terrorist organisations or commit terrorist acts in their host countries.
For years, many in the community made a living as participants in rent-a-crowd, protesting against whatever imagined grievances the political far-right had against political initiatives that promoted secularism, egalitarian policies and were used to shout down non-Malay/non-Muslim voices. What we are dealing with is radicalised non-citizens who were used by the state and are now facing blowback from the majority community.
Keep in mind that this idea that the Rohingya are fleeing from oppression is much more complex than the narrative of most activists and state-sponsored hacks. As reported by Al Jazeera last year, there is a flourishing trade in brides – some even child brides – by Malaysian-based Rohingya men who cannot find local women to marry.
"Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar have few options. They cannot work and have no formal access to education. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh fear forced repatriation or relocation to the island. All these push factors could lead to a real uptick in Rohingya families - including girls - moving to Malaysia, some for child marriage."
Remember my obsession with Wang Kelian? – “Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and Fortify Rights, the joint report said it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe that a human-trafficking syndicate committed crimes against humanity in Malaysia and Thailand against Rohingya men, women, and children from 2012 to 2015.
The "Sold Like Fish" report documents how Malaysian authorities destroyed a human-trafficking campsite in Wang Kelian in the northern state of Perlis, the day after its discovery in January 2015 - in a move that potentially diminished evidence that could have aided a police investigation.
So what are we really talking about here? We are talking about a complex business of human trafficking, political malfeasance and egregious breaches from the state security apparatus disguised as a human rights issue.
It benefits the state, or at least it used to, that the Rohingya are economic migrants. The community sustains a network of human trafficking which in turn greases the palms of certain sections of the bureaucracy and politburo.
Now I get that this may be uncomfortable for many people to read. This piece is not meant to downplay the abuses that the Rohingya, and indeed many disenfranchised groups, receive from the authoritarian states and even supposedly liberal Western democracies.
The reality is that the Rohingya issue exposes our criminality as much as it dispels the victimhood card that many folks like to play on behalf of the community.
When it comes to the Rohingya, my heart was never bleeding.
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan. - Mkini
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