There has been a disconcerting twist in the Southeast Asian saga of illegal migrants. This time the location shifts to Malaysia from Thailand. A mind-boggling number of mass graves of suspected migrants were detected on Monday (May 25, 2015) in a remote area near Malaysia-Thai border. The discovery of these graves, along with detention camps, is going to add to the volatility of the migration saga, already turned sordid and hideous.
Given the ongoing crisis centring on illegal migrants in the region, there are reasons for being edgy. The impasse holds grim prospects for bouts of diplomatic bad blood in the near future. Besides, the old irritant straining the ties between Bangladesh and Myanmar for long over Rohingyas may snowball into an intractable standoff. Many fear the fallout spewing from the crisis may eventually suck the ASEAN region into a diplomatic whirlpool. At least, for some time. In the socio-economic sector, the deadlock created over boat people mostly from Myanmar, and some also from Bangladesh, is feared to leave impacts both direct and collateral.
The Southeast Asian migration crisis has been prompted by the dreadful spectacles of boats, crammed with Myanmarese Rohingyas and Bangladehis, adrift at sea. The Rohigyas were fleeing Myanmar to escape persecution there. The Bangladeshis were economic migrants, or, to put it plainly, better life-seekers. All the migrants' destination was, apparently, Malaysia, the wealthiest in Southeast Asia. Many may have had other far-away lands in their minds.
One needs not be a pessimist in singling out the both short-term and long-term implications of the crisis. The mutuality and inter-country dependence in Southeast Asia, as upheld by ASEAN, may not be the same in the future. In place of warmth in ties between countries in the region, chill and mistrust may creep in. As is being presumed, the multilateral relations in the broader Asia-Pacific are set to pass through a series of unwelcome jolts. It's only interventions from the 'neutral' countries and international bodies which can prevent the situation from getting worse.
Things have started looking up with damage-repairing steps being taken by the US, the United Nations and other organisations. At the same time, the seemingly hostile stance of a few countries in the region in assessing the real picture will only convolute the scenario. The hapless migrants, however, are out of the reach of simmering diplomatic tension and blame game. They are just counting days before they can settle down in one or another country. In the case of Myanmarese Rohingyas, all of them have to choose a different land as their safe abode. Meanwhile, the sea-battered, and now-sheltered, illegal migrants, for the moment, will be wallowing in the murky turns of their fate.
Hundreds of miles away, in the Mediterranean Sea, curtain is about to fall on another episode involving illegal migrants. Over the last three months, better life-seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa have been on an uncertain voyage to European shores. Many died midway, as their overcrowded boats sank in the sea, while others made it to their dream coasts after remaining adrift for weeks and months. A number of them were rescued by the Italian Navy and different maritime law enforcement authorities. Unlike the situation in Southeast Asia, the one in the Mediterranean has witnessed the European Union (EU) intervene in the rescue of migrants afloat at sea. Hundreds of Western African fortune-seekers have temporarily been sheltered in Italy. Meanwhile, the EU has urged the UN to extend its help to the task of coping with the great migration crisis.
A common feature can be identified in both the migration disasters: the involvement of virtually unassailable human trafficking syndicates. The Southeast Asian theatre would not have been exposed had not the mass graves of poor migrants been found in Thai jungles bordering Malaysia. As these occurrences with their domino effects had kept unfolding, the already 4-month-old saga of illegal migration came to the fore with all its cruelty and sufferings. In the Mediterranean migration scenario, too, the people-smugglers are calling the shots. In satiating their greed for money, they fill the rickety boat-hulls with men, women and children and set out for an uncertain journey. For a lot of fortune-seekers, they cannot keep their promise of taking them to their lands of promise. Boats sinking in turbulent sea waters, thus killing unsuspecting people, and deaths from hunger and diseases are an integral part of the voyage. As the traffickers make sure they are paid the greater part of the 'voyage and employment' charges much in advance, they do not bother the least abandoning the boat people at sea. This happens during acute food shortage, outbreak of diseases and operations conducted by on-duty navy personnel or coast guards. On the cross-Sahara land migration routes, hundreds of tragic deaths occur due to searing heat and, food and water shortages.
Illegal migration rackets run by human traffickers have long emerged as a modern-day scourge. Although it exists throughout the world, it is South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America which have been badly afflicted with it. All of these regions belong to poorer segments of the globe. Among other dream destinations, the areas and countries mainly are Europe, Australia and the USA. The regional destinations include Malaysia (for South and Southeast Asians) and South Africa (for Sub-Saharan Africans). The major part of the migrants comprises unskilled people. Alongside government-to-government agreements on migration of both skilled and unskilled workers in many parts of the world, the illegal migration has made broad inroads into the picture. Thanks to the exponential increase in illegal migration, many formerly liberal countries have lately shut their doors on aliens. They cite their own economic problems, opposition from the unemployed locals and law and order problems allegedly created by migrants. After the Twin Towers attack in the USA in 2001, many Western countries have virtually stopped taking in asylum-seekers. They cite security reasons.
In fact, the global migration has fallen on hard times. Movement from one country into another was initially prompted by economic reasons. It has been continuing for over two centuries. But with the major economies losing their earlier strength, they find it pragmatic to discourage foreign workers. Seeing the official channels closed scores of desperate fortune-seekers resort to unlawful ways to reach the still-rich countries. Thus enter the human-smugglers with all their machinations. Large-scale politically-generated migration has all but disappeared from the global picture. This form of massive migration, or exodus, has occurred several times in history. The mass exodus of boat people from Vietnam after its war with the US ended in 1975 is one of them. Between 1975 and 1995, around 2.0 million Vietnamese reportedly left their country using sea-routes.
In the period after the World War-II Europe, the USA and Australia opened their doors wide to immigrants from across the world. In this group, Australia was relatively new in its policy of welcoming people from other parts of the world. Between 1945 and 1985, some 4.2 million people reached Australia. The vast country, mostly vacant, pursued the policy of 'populate or perish'. It called the immigrants the 'New Australians'.
Australia appears to have moved away from this generosity. Lately, a section of politicians in the country displays reservations about accommodating fresh immigrants. This attitude prevails also in many European nations, long known for their migrant-friendly policies. In some countries, popular apathy towards aliens has deteriorated to hostilities. That it is the economy which is triggering anti-migrant feelings needs not be elaborated.
Migration has been a common human trend since the antiquity. People from backward regions have migrated to developed areas throughout history. After the USA opened its gateway to immigrants on Ellis Island in 1794, millions of people from every part of the world began sailing for the modern El Dorado. Many love to call the US the pioneer in embracing immigrants irrespective of nationalities. Like many other affluent countries, the USA, too, appeared to have shifted from its earlier immigration liberalism, until 1995. In that year the country launched its Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery. Since 1995 it has been offering 55,000 permanent resident visas annually to immigrants from countries which have low rates of immigration in the US.
Owing mainly to its association with a lot of factors, including armed conflicts and climate, migration has always perplexed people dealing with refugees. Alongside, livelihood and broader economic factors play their parts in prompting migration. Except in isolated pockets, social or political persecution has almost stopped being a major cause of cross-country displacement.
Against this global backdrop, and during the times when economic well-being moulds both individual and state-level decisions, migration is going to stay. The deterrents put in place by overburdened nations may only encourage migrants to get desperate. On the flip side, human traffickers bide their time with evil schemes of false hope, fraud and brutality up their sleeve.
Shihabskr@ymail.com
Global migration falls on hard times
Shihab Sarkar | Published: May 29, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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