Myanmar boat people in Sabang

The Jakarta Post

Boat people: 193 citizens of Myanmar were stranded in Sabang regency, Weh, Aceh province after their boat was adrift in the sea for 25 days. Eighty one of them were hospitalized for dehydration. (JP/Hotli Simanjuntak)

Jan. 10, p. 8

Imam Husein, 30, sobbed while a nurse at Sabang Hospital attended to him in a ward. Tears rolled down his face and drenched the shirt he had received from the local community moments after he landed at Sabang Naval Base on Jan. 7. Imam was one of 193 Myanmar refugees stranded off Sabang Island, Aceh, after a 28-day sea journey in the small boat.

Your comments:
This is really ridiculous. There are millions of Muslims living in Myanmar alongside Buddhists, Christians and Hindus. In many parts of Myanmar, Muslims are treated equally and receive the same status as Buddhists. They are able to pray in mosques freely.

In the northern part of Arakan state, the number of Muslims outnumbers the Buddhists and
they control the trade and economy of the region. In Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, the number of mosques is even more than the number of pagodas.

These refugees must be fleeing the country to seek a better life in Malaysia, and not because they are being discriminated against. They are just trying to get the attention and pity of the local community.

NAY OO LWIN

My name is Abu Tahir and I left Myanmar in 1996. I went to Thailand and then Malaysia where I worked on a building site. I stayed in Malaysia for eight years. I couldn’t sleep and I suffered a lot during this time. I had no papers from Myanmar and that’s why I couldn’t take the bus.

In Myanmar, I couldn’t go to school because of the military. We are not allowed to marry, and we are not allowed to build a mosque or repair an old one.

I have six brothers, five of whom are still in Myanmar. One brother died in Malaysia.

In Myanmar we are not allowed to be outside after eight p.m. We can not walk freely and we are not given identity cards.

Every week we must work for the military and give them money. If we sell, for example, a cow or anything, we must give the money to the military. Even the best students in our city are not allowed to go to university. After year 10, school just ends with no chance to study further.

We are not allowed to go to Rangoon. The military have made it clear that they don’t want Muslims in Myanmar. Muslims must leave and they don’t care where to.

The military took so many rice fields, fishing places and even whole villages — they just take them and tell us to leave. We are not allowed to start a business, open a shop or anything — that’s why young people leave the country looking for a better life. There is no chance for tourists to go to Arkan State. The military has killed so many intelligent people over the last 30 years. I would like to meet my family there, but there is no chance. After eight years in Malaysia, I have now spent almost five years in Switzerland. I was able to get a Swiss passport here.

Don’t listen to Nay Oo Lwin - he’s wrong and telling lies. If you want to understand, you need to go there and see it yourself. The life of the Rohingya ethnic people in Myanmar is very difficult and people need to see it themselves.

ABU TAHIR

Nay Oo Lwin’s comments are ridiculous. He must be out of his mind. If Muslims are treated equally in Myanmar, why aren’t Muslims allowed to go to college?

Why aren’t they allowed to have government jobs? Why are they forbidden from holding jobs in the police, army, immigration department, etc? Why are they not allowed to travel to other parts of the country? Besides Yangoon, they are not even allowed to go to Akyab, which is the capital of Arakan State.

Why are they denied citizenship? Why are they not allowed to marry even within their own race? Be honest with yourself, at the least.

ARKANI

Yes, there are millions of Muslims living in Myanmar alongside other ethnic groups. But the Muslims who are living in northern Arakan, such as the Rohingya, face many types of discrimination such as marriage restriction, religious persecution, restriction of movement, confiscation of land and restriction from higher education among others.

If you want to see this situation, you must visit northern Arakan and look around the towns of Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

Unfortunately, the government does not allow foreigners to visit this area as the authorities control this area like a big open cage. They do not grant permission to build a mosque or to repair other religious buildings. Please try to visit the area and find out the truth.

TIN SOE