Thailand, Indonesia agree on Rohingya solution

JAKARTA: Indonesia and Thailand agreed yesterday that the issue of the Myanmar Rohingya boat people should be tackled together by countries in the region, visiting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.

The Thai military has been criticized for pushing back about 1,000 Rohingya refugees from Thailand’s southern shores last December, leaving them at sea in boats without engines and insufficient food and water.

Some to the boat people, who claimed persecution in Myanmar, were rescued by the Indonesian navy off the coast of Aceh, where they told officials they were rounded up and beaten by Thai military personnel.

Abhisit, speaking after talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta, said the Rohingya issue is “essentially a regional problem”.

“The president and I share the same views on how we should deal with the problem and the Bali Process and various Asean forums will be used to discuss this problem,” Abhisit said.

The Bali Process, created in 2002, brings participants together to work on practical measures to help combat people-smuggling and related transnational crimes in the region.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The Rohingya problem will be discussed on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, on February 27 to March 1.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority group from northern Arakan state in Myanmar, have been denied citizenship by Myanmar’s ruling junta who claim they are migrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has also denied the Rohingya citizenship, leaving the minority group stateless, homeless and without work.

Thousands of Rohingya work illegally in Thailand and as migrant laborers in Malaysia.