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Rohingya ashore in Malaysia from among hundreds sailing south

Traffickers Dump Hundreds of Boatpeople off Malaysia Amid Crackdown

Monday, May 11, 2015
BANGKOK: More than 2000 migrants in six boats have now been rescued off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia on Sunday and Monday, including women and children weak from a lack of food and water and needing medical treatment.

More than 1000 of them were dumped by traffickers in shallow waters off the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi.

The migrants are believed to be long-persecuted Rohingya Muslims.

Early Monday a boat with 400 men, women and children was found drifting off the Indonesian province of Aceh, only a day after two boats carrying about 600 people washed ashore in the same province.

All of the boats were overcrowded and some people died while on board, authorities said.

Traffickers told some of the migrants to swim ashore while some boats ran out of fuel and were towed ashore, officials said.

Indonesian officials said some of those rescued told how they were beaten and had hot water poured on them and they just wanted to get out of Myanmar as soon as possible, to anywhere where they could seek refuge.

The boats were carrying people from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, which has monitored the movements of Rohingya for more than a decade, said as many as 8000 Rohingya and Bangladesh asylum seekers could be parked on boats in the Malacca Straits, unable to come ashore in Malaysia and Thailand.

She worried that with limited access to food and clean water their health was steadily deteriorating.

In the past their first stop has been in Thailand where smugglers held them captive in jungle camps in brutal conditions while collecting payments, before allowing them to continue their journey to Malaysia, Indonesia or other destinations.

But the discovery of mass graves and dozens of captive Rohingya in Thailand's south has prompted a crackdown that has seen the arrest of several powerful provincial politicians, local officials, a major tourist business operator and investigations into 50 police officers.

- with agencies

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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It's time the world leant heavily on Bangladesh & Myanmar. They are the root cause of this problem.

I worked for 9 years in Myanmar & oft defended that country ... BUT there is no way I can defend or condone a Buddhist monk who is pro-actively leading a campaign of pure hate against the Rohingya, with the full support of the Myanmar government.

Even the much vaunted Lady (Aung San Suu Kyi) is significantly tight lipped on this topic.

Posted by Logic on May 11, 2015 19:11

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The Observer, a Bangladeshi newspaper has printed the names of 79 Bangladeshis, in one province alone, directly involved in the boat people slave trade to Thailand. Many of them are MP's, police and influential people.
http://www.observerbd.com/2015/05/09/87878.php

Posted by Earmuffs on May 11, 2015 20:04

Editor Comment:

Let's hope the Thai media takes the hint. It could be a long list. The Bangladeshis also gunned down three traffickers. We wouldn't advocate that solution: but arrests and trials are surely needed.

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Dear Ed

I refer to your comment in reply to Earmuff's post.

I gathered that the three suspected traffickers were shot in the course of a firefight that erupted in the course of a police raid. I did not have the impression that they were extra-judicial killings.

I guess that it is often tricky trying to arrest violent and well-armed (suspected) criminals?

Posted by Ian Yarwood on May 12, 2015 10:28


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