Thai PM Promises to Investigate Boat People Charges

By LAWI WENG

Thai Prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva promised human rights advocates in Bangkok on Monday to investigate allegations that the Thai navy had forced Muslim Rohingya “boat people” from Burma’s Arakan State back into the Andaman Sea with little food and water.

The Indian Coast Guard reported that Indian ships had rescued 446 Bangladeshi and Burmese refugees from four boats since December 29, but it was feared “several hundred” were still missing.

Human rights groups, including International Refugees and Human Rights Watch, say as many as 300 may have drowned.

Indian Coast Guard Commander S P Sharma said survivors alleged they had been arrested by Thai authorities before being set adrift on boats without engines or navigational aids.

“Some survivors also said their boat was towed out to sea by the Thai navy and the occupants were given two sacks of boiled rice and 2 gallons (9 liters) of water before being abandoned in the middle of the sea.”

Human rights group demanded action, and Prime Minister Abhisit met on Monday with members of Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission, including Somchai Homla-or, chairman of the Campaign for Human Rights, and Gothom Arya, director of Mahidol University’s peace studies center.

Somchai reported that Abhisit said he had ordered all responsible agencies to investigate the charges leveled against the Thai navy.

Gothom urged the prime minister to order disciplinary action against anyone found to have mistreated the Rohingya refugees.

Gothom said Abhisit had told him and other human rights advocates: “Our government policy is to respect migrants. I need to clarify all the facts.”

Thailand’s Supreme Commander, Gen Songkitti Jaggabatara, and Internal Security Operations Command spokesman Col Thanathip Sawangsaeng have both denied Rohingya refugees had been mistreated.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is to discuss the issue at meetings with the ambassadors of Burma, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India. Kasit said they would consider a clampdown on human traffickers and how better to share intelligence information.

Increasing numbers of Muslim Rohingyas have been fleeing Burma’s Arakan State by boat, hoping to reach Indonesia, Malaysia or India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Many end up on the beaches of southern Thailand.

Last week, more than a hundred people from a refugee boat were arrested by Indonesian authorities in Aceh.

The Rohingyas are a stateless Muslim minority who face severe discrimination in Burma. They are prohibited from travelling outside Arakan State and are further marginalized by other discriminatory regime laws.

Last September, more than 100 Rohingyas were given six-month prison sentences by a Burmese court after they were arrested while traveling to Rangoon in search of work.

According to official Thai figures, the number of Rohingyas arrested for illegally entering Thailand has increased steadily in recent years, from 1,225 in 2005-6 to 4,886 in 2007-8.

In 1991, the Burmese regime, then known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), pushed back thousands of Rohingya refugees from the Bangladesh-Burma border, prompting protests by international human rights groups.

In January 1992, the Committee for Islamic Solidarity in Indonesia likened SLORC to the Germany’s Nazi regime and urged the UN to intervene to stop atrocities against Rohingya refugees.