ICC Note: The Myanmar government has a legitimate claim that the Rohingya crisis is a complex one, made only more complex by human traffickers taking advantage of a desperate situation. The problem has only been made worse in Myanmar, however, because of Buddhist nationalism and discriminatory government policies against the Rohingya minority.
By Myo Thant Khine, Min Thein Aung and Khin Khin Ei
06/08/2015 Myanmar (Radio Free Asia)
Myanmar deported the first batch of about 150 boat people on Monday to neighboring Bangladesh, where a Rohingya man suspected of involvement in human trafficking was killed in a gunfight near the border between the two countries.
About 150 out of the roughly 200 migrants found adrift off Myanmar’s coast last month were handed over to officials in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, a representative from western Myanmar’s Rakhine state government said.
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Also on Friday, Khin Aung Myint, speaker of the upper house of Myanmar’s parliament, criticized foreign pressure on his country to accept the boat people during a trip to Australia where he was in Canberra to open a new Myanmar Research Center at Australian National University.
He said that world leaders did not understand the complexities of Myanmar’s history, and therefore could not clearly judge the country, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I want to urge everyone to look at everyone among these boat people,” he said. “They cannot speak the Myanmar language, and they don’t look like Myanmar people. When you try to investigate, clearly they are not from Myanmar.
“We’re also aware that Australia is not accepting them; likewise, Myanmar cannot accept them.”
In the meantime, Myanmar lawmaker Hla Swe of the ruling Union party submitted a proposal urging the government to adopt a clearer and tougher policy regarding the boat people.…
