Thai PM to Discuss Rohingya in Jakarta

By LAWI WENG

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, starting a two-day visit to Jakarta today, said that the issue of Rohingya boat people will be on the agenda when he meets with his Indonesian counterpart, according to Thai media reports.

“During this trip we will discuss the Rohingya,” Abhisit told reporters before leaving for Jakarta, where he will hold talks on a range of subjects with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Abhisit, whose government has been under pressure to address allegations that Thai authorities mistreated Rohingya boat people earlier this year, has stressed that other countries also need to bear some responsibility for the plight of this displaced Muslim minority from Burma.

“This is not our problem alone. It’s a problem that all Asean members must solve together,” Abhisit said in an interview earlier this month, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Thailand and Indonesia are members.

The Rohingya issue will also be on the agenda during Asean’s annual summit, which is
set to be held in Thailand on February 27.

In a sign of the growing international attention this issue has attracted, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said following a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart in Sydney on Thursday that the two countries “welcomed the fact that the question of the Rohingyas will form part of the forthcoming ministerial meeting of the Bali Process.”

The Bali Process is 38-nation regional network formed in 2002 to address human trafficking issues. It is expected to meet again in March or April.

Indonesia has been especially sensitive to the Rohingya issue because it has been forced to host some 400 boat people who washed up on its shores in January. They claimed that they had been abused by the Thai navy and left to die after being towed out to sea in engineless boats.

Jakarta has not yet decided if they will deport the Rohingya to Burma, where they are likely to suffer human rights abuses at the hands of the Burmese military authorities.

Thailand, which is both a destination and a transit route for many illegal migrants, especially from Burma, is currently holding around 1,000 Rohingya who have landed in the country since last year.

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, another country that many Rohingya have fled to, prominent opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has called on the international community to “take quick and decisive action to help alleviate their plight.”

“Countries in Asean, neighbors of [Burma] as well as multilateral institutions can no longer remain oblivious to the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding before their eyes,” Anwar said in a statement released on February 22.