The saga of boatloads of Myanmarese Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants adrift at sea, starving and exhausted, is harrowing. Over the last two weeks these people in boats have been floating on sea waters near the shores of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. They are primarily destined for Malaysia. But none of the three countries are willing to allow them to dock their vessels at their shores. The grave nature of the crisis takes one to the Mediterranean Sea along Italy. Here thousands of illegal migrants, mostly from West African countries, have lately been rescued from overcrowded ships and boats. Upon pressure from refugee rights activists and international fora, a sizeable number of them have been taken to temporary shelters in Italy. Decision on their fate is yet to be taken.
To their ill luck, the illegal migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were shooed away from the territorial waters of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Malaysia and Indonesia, however, have provided shelter to around two thousand of them. They have said it would not be possible for them to take in refugees further. Meanwhile, a crammed ferry was found adrift near a Thai island. Report of death of 100 people came from the vessel. According to maritime sources in the region, a total of eight thousand illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants are at present afloat. Perhaps the episode involving the migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh is one of the most touching in the Asia-Pacific region in recent times. The refuge-seekers from these two countries comprise mostly the persecuted Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar and impoverished Bangladeshis. All of them have fallen prey to human traffickers.
In the global scenario of illegal migration, the traffickers have long been calling the shots both on the sea and land routes. It is the trafficking syndicates which have recently dumped the hapless Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants at sea around Indonesia and Malaysia. Understandably, the better-life-seekers had been swindled, and later given a raw deal, before they were abandoned.
Given the unwillingness of the three countries concerned to shelter the devastated Myanmarese and Bangladeshis, many of them are feared to be dying on high sea. International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have expressed their concerns, so have many rights bodies. But the onus of resolving the crisis lies with the three Southeast Asian nations, and both Myanmar and Bangladesh.
For its part, the performance of Bangladesh has not been much satisfactory. Fishing trawlers filled with illegal migrants are periodically seized by the country's law enforcement and striking forces. Many such expeditions elude the authorities' net. With the exposure of the present crisis, the government has swung into action by instructing law enforcers to apprehend the trafficking rackets in the country's south-eastern part. Already police fingers have been pointed at a criminal nexus between the traffickers from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.
The voyage to Malaysia would have continued undisturbed had not the mass graves of migrants been discovered in Thailand recently. Traffickers were allegedly behind a number of migrants' killings and dumping of their bodies in mass graves near detention-cum-torture camps. After an all-out raid conducted by the Thai police, the criminals fled the scene, prompting many migrants to embark on the risky voyage afresh.
The incident related to 'boat people' from Myanmar and Bangladesh might lead to a massive humanitarian crisis. Moreover, the ordeal being undergone by the despondent migrants brings to focus the invincibility of the traffickers. It also sheds light once again on the migrants' gullibility.
The earliest mass migration saw people move out of Africa into other continents. Migration has been part of history over the last one hundred years. Since the later part of the 20th century, political persecution in one's own land and economic hardship have been cited as the two major reasons behind migration to foreign lands. The nature and patterns of migration have been changing. In the 21st century, the politico-social contexts of migration have largely disappeared. Nowadays, it is the economy that plays the most dominant role in people's movement into better-performing countries.
The tale of all illegal migrants tells the same story. No matter where they take place, or who the people and destinations are -- be it the Pacific Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea, Rohingyas or West Africans, the focal point is better life. But, sadly, international and national laws are hardly in their favour.
shihabskr@ymail.com
Adrift at sea, with no place to go
Shihab Sarkar | Published: May 19, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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