The Rohingya and Kaman Problem Posted on December 12, 2012 by hafizuddinsulaiman What started as a racial tensions between the Rohingyan and the Rakhine people which inflicted heavy losses of life as well as the displacement of the Rohingyan people from its settlement has now turned into a racial conflict when the Muslim ethnic Kaman also become victims of the violence that rages in the problematic Rakhine State. Unlike the Rohingya, ethnic Kaman is one of the ethnics that have been recognized as citizen of Myanmar according to the country’s constitution. Despite the call for national reconciliation by President Obama regarding the issues of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, racial tensions between ethnic in the trouble Rakhine state still remain an issue that is yet to be solved. In his speech last week, President Obama has touched on the issue of the need to acknowledge the freedom of worship among diverse community. The speech was part of his inaugural and historical visit to Myanmar as the first US President who had ever come to the recently opened country. 03477542 Since last June, over 200 people have been killed in ethnic prosecution made by the majority group against the minority Muslim Rohingya. Over 100,000 have become refuges in various internally displacement camps set up in the country. Significant numbers of Rohingya people have also died when their over laden boat capsized in the open ocean while seeking refuge in Bangladesh or Malaysia. Earlier this month some 50 people are thought to have drown after a boat carrying some 110 Rohingyan refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia capsized in the Bay of Bengal. The Bangladeshi coast guard, the navy as well as local fishermen have rescued around 60 people since the boat went down last Wednesday morning, some 15 kilometers off Cox’s Bazaar. The boat, which according to survivors, has the capacity of 70 people, sinks when it turned in bid to save a man overboard. Estimates show that over 30,000 Rohingya refugees are now in Malaysia seeking asylum and refuge from prosecution in their country. Their plight has attracted many NGOs from across the world to convey humanitarian relief and assistance. Muslim countries including Malaysia have been working hard in conveying much needed relief, be it food, medicine, clothing and many more as most of these Rohingyan had left their home with nothing but the cloth they wore. Since tensions begin months ago, various Malaysian NGOs have come forward to assist the Rohinyan community by providing them whatever assistance possible in order to ease their difficulties. Several of these organizations have in fact sent in humanitarian missions in order to convey these assistance to the people. Among one of the missions was the one conducted by the Putra 1 Malaysia Youth Club which has managed to deliver 550 tonnes of goods to be distributed among all internally displaced people in the country. Nevertheless, only 150 tonnes of relief were able to be distributed to 8 IDP camps and two villages as the Myanmar Government has only allowed them to conduct their operation for just three days. ROHINGYA re_11.1 MERCY Malaysia, a well known humanitarian relief organistaion based in this country, on the other hand is seeking RM 3.5 million of donations from the Malaysian public to help the IDP for basic medical services and sanitation reconstruction projects. 14112012463 With situation in the Rakhine state remains volatile, some of these humanitarian missions have been hold of and for security reason many of the NGOs were evacuated out of Myanmar. During the recent clashes, three of Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA) volunteers including its Executive Director were evacuated in order to ensure that they will not being malaysiaflyingherald.wordpress/2012/12/12/the-rohingya-and-kaman-problem/
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 11:13:54 +0000
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