Reader Response on Rohingya Migrants Article

According to BBC News (2015) “Why are so many Rohingya migrants stranded at sea?” article, many Rohingya migrants running away from Myanmar are stranded in unsteady boats near the coast of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Burmese Rohningya Organisation UK states that Myanmar government does not acknowledge the Rohingyas as a Muslim ethnic group and has announced policies to suppress them, leading them to be not recognized as a citizen of any country. BBC News reports that the neighbouring countries of Myanmar are not providing any aid to the Rohingyas. BBC News concludes that this problem can be resolved if Myanmar is push by the international community to help enhance the lives of the Rohingya community.

BBC News briefly describes the reason behind why the Rohingyas are stateless. Based on my research, another reason why the Rohingya are stateless may be due to racism. Myanmar has a large population who practice Buddhism, and they do not recognise the Muslim ethnic group as their citizens. Some Buddhist fear that the Rohingyas will cause severe changes and negative impacts to the country, as well as the risk of terrorism (Tharoor, 2015). Therefore, the act of racism has caused this group of people to be abandon and left stranded.

Moreover, the Rohingyas are unfortunate as they are not accepted in Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia, a point highlighted by BBC News. This has resulted the Rohingyas to have nowhere to go. I can understand why the neighbouring countries are not providing aid to them, one of the reasons would be that they are afraid of creating conflicts with Myanmar since Myanmar had forgotten their existence. I feel that all countries should provide help the Rohingyas to be not stranded at sea any longer, especially the neighbouring countries. After all, they are still humans like us, and we should always lend a helping hand within our means.

BBC News briefly explains the scenario of events that happened and the reasons to why the Rohingya are stateless. There are other reasons to why Myanmar does not acknowledge them as citizens, as well as why the neighbouring countries did not provide help. The racism and lack of actions has caused the problem to be worse and more Rohingyas have suffered as a result. Therefore, the international community should come together and push Myanmar, as well as the neighbouring countries, to solve the problem quickly and minimize as much damage as possible.

References

BBC News. (2015, August 31). Why are so many Rohingya migrants stranded at sea? - BBC News. Retrieved from BBC - Homepage: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32740637

Tharoor, I. (2015, September 3). Why does this Buddhist-majority nation hate these Muslims so much? - The Washington Post. Retrieved from Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis - The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/13/why-does-this-buddhist-majority-nation-hate-these-muslims-so-much/