By Harun Jamallullail
As stated in almost every country, a citizen should be protected by the government, regardless of age, social status in the strata, ethnic or even religion. However, Myanmar has changed this policy with the ethnic genocide of the Rohingya people, who are Muslim majority compared to other tribes in Myanmar. As the 1982 Citizenship law was put into place, the Rohingyas were denied citizenship and were forced to live like outcasts. It’s sad because neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh, from where they originated, wants to accept them.
We’ve heard about the Polish genocide that took place in Auschwitcz, Poland during the reign of Adolf Hitler. Approximately 1.1 million were killed and from various ethnics (Polish Jews, Soviet People and also Romani), in which the ‘Slaughter House’ was operational for only five years, and we were angry and decided to end Hitler’s inhumane act. At that point of time, the whole world had voiced out their opinions and also put it into action. However, how different are these people compared to the Rohingya who had lived in this cruel environment for 33 years?
Nowadays, Yemen has literally become ‘The Hell on Earth’, and Malaysians are willing to help in various ways, humanitarian aid or even a temporary pass to enter the country without visa for approximately 3 to 6 months. The billion dollar question is, how different are the Rohingyas compared to the Yemeni? As a Yemeni, I cried when I see my origins are being destroyed, damaged and brought down to its knees. But what makes me wonder is why Malaysia and Indonesia are rejecting to help these innocent beings and throwing them into ‘hell’?
Is it because the Yemeni are Arabs and they have better faith in religion compared to the Rohingyas? Is it because Yemen people are better looking, therefore we can use them for the media industry compared to the Rohingyas who look like street peasants? Why the double standard? Are they in any way different, regardless of physical features or even cultural features?
We said it’s best to let Aung San Suu Kyi handle this problem as they are living inside the land of the monks. However, in an interview, Aung once stated that she didn’t even feel that the Rohigyas are worthy enough to be called citizens. Although the Rohingyas have different faith and culture compared to the mainland Burmese, they deserve the humanity treatment to live and should be protected by their government.
If we do not try to protect them, who will? The reason they ran away from their country is because the Burmese government are siding the monks in their road to ‘cleanse’ the Rohingya. If the world decided to let them take control of this situation, I believe in approximately a few years, the Rohingya will soon be extinct. What human rights standard is the world community talking about?
As a basic human being, regardless of religion, faith, ethnic or even culture, we believe that this should not be tolerated, and should be considered as a crime against humanity. What I hope now is only for the Nobel laureate and the champion of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, to take appropriate action towards the atrocities committed by the evil and demented Buddhist monks in Myanmar. I also hope that any country will at least provide humanitarian aid or even shelter for these refugees who are literally on the verge of being killed at sea.***
Photo of Tumblr