Today the Washington Times published an opinion piece by Heidi Kingstone entitled, “Yes, Buddhists can be bad” about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma and Bangladesh.
After relating the recent problems when Rohingya attempted to enter Thailand illegally, Ms. Kingstone goes on to make the case that the Rohingya are desperate and in an intractable situation.
Then the story (of the Rohingya boatmen) disappeared, but not their impossible circumstances. These persecuted and displaced refugees lived in Burma for many generations, yet are stateless. The government refuses to recognize these Muslims as citizens of the largely Buddhist country. Instead, the government makes the lives of this minority intolerable. By doing so, the government hopes the million or so who remain will follow the other 250,000 who have slipped over the border into the eastern part of Bangladesh. (For a report on the plight of Burma’s Christians, see The Washington Times, March 6, p. A-12).
The Rohingyas and the Bangladeshis of the Chittigong region speak a similar language, are physically alike, and practice the same religion. Over the last two decades, they have fled in successive waves, looking for sanctuary.
But Bangladesh has enough of its own problems. It is desperately poor, prone to natural disasters, with more than 150 million people crammed together on low-lying land with few resources to feed and house its own people, let alone absorb the Rohingyas.
No doubt the situation is bleak as it is in many third world countries, but what annoys me so much about these stories designed to get an emotional response from readers is that there is never any mention of radical Islamic activity or association of the Rohingya with terrorist organizations in a story so obviously written to gain sympathy. Frankly, I would have more sympathy if there was acknowlegement by the media that this is one reason the Rohingya are feared in countries like Thailand and India.
The author is either not informed or is purposefully ignoring reports of Rohingya involvement with Islamic terrorist groups, for example here, here and here.
Could we please base our decisions on how to help by knowing all the facts!
For more on Rohingya, see our category on the topic here.