Ex-MP, NGO hit out at call to deport Rohingya
Published on: Wednesday, January 03, 2024
By:
FMT, Sean Augustin
Former Klang MP Charles Santiago says the Rohingya are like other minorities around the world who depend on the generosity of others. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: A former MP and a migrant rights activist have slammed an NGO for citing security concerns in demanding that Rohingya refugees be deported, saying it does not fully comprehend the plight of the community.
Charles Santiago said the Rohingya had been displaced and “massacred” by their own government in Rakhine state and were merely looking for a safe haven.
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The former Klang MP said in some instances they were trafficked into the country.
“We should be more sympathetic to their plight,” Santiago told FMT.
Santiago said the Rohingya were like other minorities around the world who depended on the generosity of others, and that they should be protected.
Santiago, who is also co-chair of the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, said in the same way that Malaysians were coming to the aid of Palestinians, they should also lend a helping hand to the Rohingya in the country.
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“The government should allow the Rohingya to work, which would help address the shortage of foreign labour.”
Santiago was commenting on a call by Malaysian Community Care Foundation chairman Halim Ishak for Putrajaya to deport Rohingya refugees following reports of a human trafficking cartel involving Malaysians and some Rohingya.
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Halim, Berita Harian reported, said there was a need to distinguish between humanitarianism and safeguarding the country’s sovereignty when it came to Rohingya refugees.
He also said the time had come to stop being so accommodative to these refugees.
North-South Initiative executive director Adrian Pereira said Halim’s comments were misplaced, but added that there was a lot of misinformation about the Rohingya community that Malaysians seemed to buy into.
“And this misinformation sees people barking up the wrong tree.”
Pereira, who has worked with the Rohingya community since 2011, also disputed Halim’s claim that the Rohingya were involved in human trafficking.
“The Rohingya depend on traffickers to flee their country of origin, but they don’t run the syndicate. These rings are run by others.”
He likewise took issue with Halim’s call for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Malaysia to be closed, alleging that it did not play any role in refugee resettlement.
Citing a study by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia anthropologist Andika Wahab based on data collected from 2011 to 2021, Pereira said Malaysia’s resettlement rate was “more or less” at 5%, which was “higher than the global average of 1%”.
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