Plight of the Rohingya is world's problem
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People are asking why so many Thais seem to sympathise strongly with the Nepal earthquake victims and yet remain heartless towards the Rohingya people who are stranded off our southern coast.
Obviously, the two crises are different in nature. An earthquake is a natural disaster, the Rohingya debacle a man-made crisis.
It was, after all, the British colonial rulers who brought Muslims from the Indian state of Bengal into Burma’s Rakhine state after they annexed it in 1826. The Rohingya problem began then.
Burmese Buddhists and the “newly arrived” Muslims have been at each other’s throats for nearly two centuries, not just in the past year or two. The resultant violence has claimed the lives of tens – if not hundreds – of thousands.
Since this problem began in colonial times through the actions of the British, the world in general and developed countries in particular must lend a hand in solving it – and do so quickly, before we see even more deaths on the high seas!
Vint Chavala
