xizzles

Interestingly, Malaysia was alleged to have imported thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Muslim Bangladeshi and Indonesians to help bolster up the voter banks for the 2013 General Election and similarly, importing millions of Muslim Filipinos into Sabah to displace the local indigenous Christian population, (Wiki link here).

Why not openly accept these Muslim Rohingyas? It'll be a win win situation for both these migrants as well as for Najib and his ruling party!

bakedbean

....and how it looks from the Rohingyas' point of view.

From today's Star Online (sorry it's probably in other papers, but that's the one that I read regularly....my excuse):

'I am a Muslim. I have no place in Myanmar’
LANGKAWI: The “skeleton” of a wooden boat was all that remained of a failed attempt by migrants, believed to be Rohingyas, to enter Malaysia through Padang Matsirat here in 2012.

Clumps of grass grew inside the decaying boat's hull, inviting on-lookers to wonder about the fate of its passengers.

Villager Azali Nanyan, 32, said about 50 Rohingya refugees arrived on the boat three years ago, but were almost immediately picked up by the authorities.

Within walking distance of the abandoned vessel was a construction site, where a group of Rohingya UNHCR cardholders have been making ends meet for years.

Mahmud Inus, 42, recalled the abject conditions that Rohingyas had to endure in their hometown of Rakhine state.

“I am a Muslim. I have no place in Myanmar. We are not recognised as citizens. They kill Muslims there. The rift between Muslims and Buddhists have been going on for 25 years,” he lamented.

Mahmud arrived in Malaysia 11 years ago, entering the country through Thailand on a ship.

Fellow construction worker Faizal Ahmad, 35, arrived a few years later with the same goal – to pursue a better life for him and his family.“There were many mosques in Myanmar, but they were locked and bolted. We weren't allowed to pray, we couldn't practise our faith.

“My kids weren't allowed to have an education; they couldn't learn how to read books.

“There were no job opportunities. Even if there were, the employers took half of our salaries,” he said.

Mahmud said the Rohingyas were taking a big risk by travelling to Malaysia on ships, as the nightmare would not end even after they set foot on land.

“Those who are not able to pay the captains RM10,000 will be shot dead,” he said.

Asked who were the people running the human trafficking operation and ordering the killing, Mahmud simply described them as “Siam”.
Source: ‘I am a Muslim. I have no place in Myanmar’ - Nation | The Star Online


So, there you are. There are Buddhists, and there are Buddhists. And some are different. Which is what I found out in Phuket, but don't get me started on that.

xizzles

Gosh. This is so eerie. I can see a chilling similarity between the above and what a Christian or Hindu Malaysian would say in Muslim majority Malaysia:

"I'm a Christian. I have no place in Malaysia. We are not given religious freedom. They burn churches here".

And the sad thing is that the hypothetical Christian above didn't even arrive illegally. He/she was born & bred & educated in Malaysia, and holds a Malaysian identity card (which isn't worth much, unless you're Malay and Muslim).

The same Christian would say something similar as well!

"We weren't allowed to pray, we couldn't even call the name of God in our National Language"

So there you are. Pot, kettle - they all start to look the same, don't they?

bakedbean

Haven't followed the link but think I remember reading that one.

Mmm not sure you can compare. In Penang, I suspect that there are more churches than mosques. So I think it is majority religion probably. You won't find any statistics to support my theory (I doubt) but just my observation, as quite a lot of Chinese Buddhists (who will tick the Buddhist box on any forms) also share the Christian religion.

But, yes, of course you can say there are also Muslims, and Muslims. Can always get a bad egg.

Twixy

I wonder how much of this has to do with religious hard headedness. Would these guys still be persecuted if they switched to Buddhism, or renounced all faiths? If so, perhaps they share some of the blame.

xizzles

Religion/faith is a very personal choice, and in my opinion, no one should be forced to renounce or switch their religious paradigms.

It's almost like saying if the blacks could change their skin color, maybe they wouldn't be slaves in the American South.

InVinoVeritas

I don't think switching religions is quite like switching political parties. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think religion involves some kind of belief.

bakedbean

Twixy

So political affiliation doesn't involve belief?

If religion is the root problem, it seems a rather simple issue. These people can choose to switch or renounce and have a better life, or continue to go against their home country's wishes and suffer the consequences.

InVinoVeritas

I think that is an oxymoron - who could ever believe a politician!

Clearly you are not religious - neither am I, but I do respect that some people are - asking them to change religion is akin to suggesting someone change their wife so they can live in another country.

bakedbean

Well...hurrah.... Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to offer temporary shelter to the 7000 migrants still at sea. Well done Mr Najib

Err...so... what about Thailand then?

You can read here:
Malaysia, Indonesia agree to offer temporary shelter to 7,000 migrants - Nation | The Star Online

Stuurman

It took them a few hours more but Thailand now joins the Malaysian/Indonesian offer:
About time for all 3 of them to act.

xizzles

It's a start, but I reckon the REAL issue is how Myanmar deals with these poor people. Ultimately, if there isn't any fairplay for them, they'll just end up being somebody else's problem - but still a problem nonetheless

Gunnar45

Especially Thailand where there already is a conflict with the Muslims in the south.

InVinoVeritas

Going back to what I mentioned earlier in this thread about the concern that terrorists may be mixed in with genuine refugees, Italy has discovered this was the case when a terrorist believed responsible for the attack on the Bardo National Museum, which left 24 people dead, entered Italy in a refugee boat back in February .

There are now calls for the Schengen agreement to be suspended:-

Boat Migrant Arrest Over Tunisia Attack Sparks Italy Row