Denied by their land

They are a people the world has forgotten. Few have even heard about them.

Indeed, so obscure is Myanmar's brutalised Rohingya community that it took a particularly heartless incident in January — when the Thai military towed boat-loads of would-be refugees into the middle of the sea — to highlight their plight.

Hundreds of Rohingyas were left to fend for themselves in boats that were not seaworthy, with little food and water.

This, until one group was rescued by Indonesian naval vessels and local fishermen off the coast of Aceh.

The refugees told harrowing tales of being lined up on beaches and kicked and punched by Thai soldiers before being taken to the sea.

Many others who suffered such a fate over the past few months are unaccounted for and feared dead.

Kitty McKinsey, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has said the Rohingyas are “probably the most friendless people in the world. Hardly any of them have any legal status anywhere in the world''.

Just how badly the Rohingyas, who are mostly Muslim and ethnically closer to South Asians, are treated in their homeland Myanmar can be gauged from the comments of Myanmar's Consul General in Hong Kong, General Ye Myint Aung, who was quoted by the local media as saying the Rohingyas were “as ugly as ogres''.

According to the South China Morning Post, General Aung went on to contrast the “dark brown'' skin of the Rohingyas with the “fair and soft'' skin of other Myanmarese.

While comments of this nature can be attributed to the general awfulness of the junta that rules Myanmar — an international pariah of the first order — they also provide an indication of what life might be like for the Rohingyas inside Myanmar.

Human rights groups have also criticised the Thai government for its draconian policies on Rohingya refugees.

“The Rohingyas' situation has reached a critical stage over the past two months. The Thai government must stop forcibly expelling Rohingyas.

"It should provide them with assistance and stop expulsions,'' said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.

After initial denials, Thailand finally admitted that its forces had towed the refugees' boats into the sea and that this practice had been going on for some time.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, in an interview with CNN, said: “It's not clear whose work it is.

All the authorities say it's not their policy. But I have reason to believe some instances happened.

If I can have evidence as to who exactly did this, I will certainly bring them to account.'' Few expect him to stick to his word.

The Rohingyas are believed to have descended from Arab and other Muslim traders who, over a thousand years ago, made their home in the Arakan state (now known as Rakhine) in northern Myanmar, near the border with Bangladesh.

They speak a dialect of Bengali and hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar have migrated to Bangladesh in the past three decades.

Many others have settled in countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The junta in Yangon sees them as Bangladeshis and refuses to grant them citizenship.

There are severe restrictions on their travel and, bizarrely, they face jail and torture if they get married without permission.

Dr Ahmad Al Humaidi, a professor at Riyadh's King Saud University and the chairman of the Asia Committee in the Riyadh office of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, told Weekend Review that the problem lies with the Myanmarese government.

“They [the junta] don't want to accept the Rohingyas, who have lived there for a thousand years, as citizens of Myanmar.

"The Rohingyas are not calling for an independent state. All they want is to live in dignity in their homeland. They want to be a part of Myanmar as equal citizens.''

Dr Al Humaidi estimates there are thousands of Rohingyas in Saudi Arabia. “The vast majority hold Bangladeshi citizenship. A few are also naturalised Saudis.''

He believes lack of democracy in Myanmar has complicated the matter. “Once the process of democratisation begins, things will begin to change for the Rohingyas.''

The only good thing to come out of the boat incident is that, for the first time, the state of the Rohingyas of Myanmar has made international headlines.

Whether the media attention helps alleviate their suffering remains to be seen.