Myanmar regime and society are destroying Rohingya as a group, ethnic identity, community, foundations of life, citizenship and its history intertwined with Myanmar's own history. Myanmar Rohingya Here is a glimpse into the Rohingya's political participation, ethnic identity, citizenship in Burma of the past. By Maung Zarni

KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asia must send a “very strong message” to Myanmar to stop oppressing its Rohingya minority, who are part of a surge in boat people raising fears of a regional humanitarian crisis, a Malaysian government official said Thursday.

Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Southeast Asia’s growing refugee problem was due in large part to Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingya, a Muslim minority that faces state discrimination and has been targeted in recent sectarian violence.

“Of course, there is a problem back home in Myanmar with the way they treat the Rohingya people,” Wan Junaidi told AFP.

“So that is why we need to send a very strong message to Myanmar that they need to treat their people with humanity. They need to be treated like humans, and cannot be so oppressive.”

Malaysia said this week it would turn away boats bearing desperate migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh unless they are in imminent danger of sinking, following in the footsteps of neighbouring Indonesia.

At least 2,000 boat people have been rescued, swum to shore or turned away in Malaysia and Indonesia since last weekend.

Migrants groups warn that repelling boats could amount to a death sentence for people already at risk from starvation and disease after long weeks at sea, with recent arrivals saying many of their fellow passengers had died on the sea passage, their bodies thrown overboard.

Migrants-rights advocates also say thousands more men, women and children are believed stuck out at sea or abandoned by smugglers, who are trying to evade capture after a Thai police crackdown disrupted people-smuggling routes.

Malaysia already has tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who are drawn to the country’s relative prosperity and the fact that it is Muslim-majority.

“We cannot keep being the only ones responsible for taking them in,” Wan Junaidi said.

He expects the issue to be taken up this year in further meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Malaysia is this year’s chair of ASEAN — which also includes Myanmar.

ASEAN members are forbidden from interfering in each other’s internal affairs, but Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said recently the Rohingya problem was becoming an “international” one that needed to be discussed.

More than 1.3 million Rohingya — viewed by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities — live in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

They are essentially stateless, with Buddhist-majority Myanmar denying them citizenship and treating them as unwanted foreigners.

Wan Junaidi also took a shot at Bangladesh, another major source of migrants to Southeast Asia.

“Many come from Bangladesh. So what is happening in Bangladesh? Is that not supposed to be a democratic country? It seems there is a serious problem there,” he said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia should call for an emergency meeting with ASEAN members to discuss the Rohingya issue following the entry of illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in Langkawi recently.

In calling for the meeting, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, who is the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) special representative on Rohingyas, said there was no better way to resolve the problem than by engaging all the parties involved.

"The problem must be discussed in ASEAN, especially among the countries involved, namely Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar," he told reporters after launching the International Bus, Truck and Components Expo here today.

The former foreign minister said the issue of the Rohingyas could not be taken lightly.

Asked whether discussions on this matter should also be held during the ASEAN Summit in November, Syed Hamid said the talks should take place as soon as possible.

In addition, he urged Malaysia, which is currently a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to raise the Rohingya issue at the council.

Over 1,000 migrants comprising Rohingyas from Myanmar, as well as Bangladeshis were reported to have landed in Langkawi early Monday.

The discovery of more than 30 bodies in a human trafficking camp should prompt Thai authorities to authorize an independent, United Nations-assisted investigation, commit to publish its findings, and bring those responsible to justice, including any government officials involved, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN and others, including the United States, that have called for an end to trafficking in Thailand should urgently press the government to end official complicity and willful blindness in rampant trafficking in the country. On May 1, 2015, a joint military-police taskforce discovered at least 30 bodies at an abandoned human trafficking camp in the Sadao district of Songkhla province close to the Thai-Malaysian border. Many were buried in shallow graves, while others were covered with blankets and clothes and left in the open. Police reports indicate the dead are ethnic Rohingya Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh who starved to death or died of disease while held by traffickers who were awaiting payment of ransoms before smuggling them into Malaysia. Traffickers controlling this camp apparently departed into the mountainous jungle, taking surviving Rohingya with them. “Trafficking of persons in Thailand has long been out of control, something that senior officials have admitted to Human Rights Watch and others,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The finding of a mass grave at a trafficking camp sadly comes as little surprise. The long involvement of Thai officials in trafficking means that an independent investigation with UN involvement is necessary to uncover the truth and hold those responsible to account.” For years, human rights organizations and investigative journalists have reported on the thriving human trafficking networks that operate with support and protection from corrupt officials in southern Thailand. Last year, the US State Department downgraded Thailand to the worst possible rating – tier 3 – on its 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, for failing to combat human trafficking. Rohingya fleeing abuses, persecution, and hardship in Burma’s Arakan State or Bangladesh are often trafficked and abused by networks working with official protection, while in other cases victims simply receive little protection from Thai authorities. Rohingya who are apprehended in Thailand are treated as “illegal immigrants” subject to deportation without regard to the threats facing them in Burma. Rohingya men are sometimes detained in overcrowded immigration detention facilities across the country, while women and children have been sent to shelters operated by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Many more are believed to be transferred through corrupt arrangements into the hands of human trafficking gangs where they face cruel treatment and no prospect of assistance from Thai authorities. As with previous Thai governments, the military junta of Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha does not permit the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to properly conduct refugee status determination screenings of Rohingya. “Each year, tens of thousands of Rohingya flee the dire human rights situation in Burma only to be further abused and exploited at the hands of traffickers in Thailand,” Adams said. “The discovery of these mass graves should shock the Thai government into shutting down the trafficking networks that enrich officials but prey on extremely vulnerable people. Instead of sticking Rohingya in border camps or immigration lockups, the government should provide safety and protection.