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Hundreds of ‘Stateless’ Migrants Rescued by Indonesian Fisherman

But thousands of Rohingya who fled Myanmar and Bangladesh remain at sea without water or food

by
Jonathan Zalman
May 15, 2015
Rescued migrants, mostly Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh, in Aceh province, May 15, 2015.(Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images)
Rescued migrants, mostly Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh, in Aceh province, May 15, 2015.(Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 700 men, women and children, many Rohingya migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, who had been stranded on a boat in the Andaman Sea, have been rescued in the Aceh province of Indonesia. A local fisherman tugged the sinking boat ashore. Eight of the passengers, who were traveling at sea for three months, reported BBC News, remain in critical condition.

Yesterday, a separate boat had become stranded over the past week only after “the crew abandoned them and disabled the engine.” With no food or water, ten people reportedly died and were thrown overboard. “[T]hose on board had contacted their families to say that armed men in uniform had boarded the ship overnight,” BBC News reports. “They repaired its broken engine, gave them food and sent the boat south, [the passengers] said.”

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On Thursday, the New York Times, which called the Rohingya migrants a “stateless Muslim ethnic group,” reported that the Thai military had provided the passengers with some water and food, but the country, as with many other surrounding nations, refused to allow them entry. Human Rights Watch called this deadlock “human ping pong.” The Times reports:

The boat’s plight provided a dramatic example of the migration crisis confronting the region: An estimated 6,000 to 20,000 migrants are at sea, fleeing ethnic persecution in Myanmar and poverty in Bangladesh, while countries are pointing fingers at one another and declining to take responsibility themselves.



Most of the migrants were thought to be headed to Malaysia, but after more than 1,500 came ashore in Malaysia and Indonesia in the last week, both countries declared their intention to turn away any more boats carrying migrants.



Thai officials have not articulated an official policy since the crisis began, beyond convening a regional conference to discuss the problem this month.Thailand is not known to have allowed any of the migrants to land there. The commander of the naval vessel that met the migrant boat here on Thursday, Lt. Cmdr. Veerapong Nakprasit, said it had “entered illegally.”



The Indonesian Navy turned away a boat with thousands of passengers on Tuesday, urging it on to Malaysia, while the Malaysian authorities turned away two boats with a total of at least 800 passengers on Wednesday.

“Human traffickers have long plied these waters,” writes the Los Angeles Times. “Until recently, they would take their passengers to Thailand and hold them in jungle camps until their families paid hefty fees for their travel on to Malaysia, according to Human Rights Watch. But when a government raid uncovered 26 bodies at one of the camps this month, it spurred a crackdown that in effect closed the smuggling route through Thailand.”

On Thursday, after Malaysia turned away a boat containing 800 migrants, Wan Junaidi Jafaar, the country’s Deputy Home Minister said,“What do you expect us to do?” reported the AP. “We have been very nice to the people who broke into our border. We have treated them humanely but they cannot be flooding our shores like this.”

Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.