Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh: Since January 30, boat people, mostly Rohingya people from Arakan and from Bangladesh have resumed their journey to Malaysia from Bangladesh, said a local from Teknaf on condition of anonymity.

On January 30, nearly 80 boat people went to Malaysia in wooden boats from Cox’s Bazaar coastline in Bangladesh while the sea was calm in winter. They will reach Thailand or Indonesia, India or Malaysia. But, we have no information on the boat people, said one of the relatives of the boat people.

On January 15, another boat with 60 people went to Malaysia from Cox’s Bazaar district of Bangladesh and from Arakan, in Burma. The boat was commanded by Khobir Ahmed (25), son of Abdul Khalek and Rohul Amin from Nataung Para of Teknaf, said a fisherman from Shapuri Dip.  

Another boat with over 50 boatpeople will be leaving for Malaysia in the next two days from Cox’s Bazaar coast. Hafez Ahamed (40), son of late Abul Hashim, from Nataung Para of Teknaf union and Moulvi Abdu Rahim, from Maungdaw north, now living in Bangladesh are involved in sending people to Malaysia on the sea route. Moulvi Abdu Rahim frequently visits Thailand and Malaysia by air for his human trafficking bsusiness, said a local from Teknaf.   

They (traffickers) collect Kyat 20,000 to 30,000 per head from those who want to go to Malaysia by sea. If a trip succeeds, the human traffickers will profit at least one million Taka (Bangladesh currency), the local added.

A local Rohingya requested local Bangladesh authorities to stop boatpeople from risky journeys to Malaysia along the sea route immediately; otherwise, they will be in trouble like boatpeople last year.  

Last year, thousands of Rohingya people who fled Burma because of persecution such as---denial of citizenship, subject to tight restrictions on movement, employment and religious freedom and in search of a better life. Many of them make it across a dangerous sea crossing over in crowded boats to Thailand where they are housed in camps. The Rohingya has the distinction of being the most devastated people in Burma. Rohingya people have been the target of abuses by the Burmese military for decades.

At present, Rohingya people face serious risks of state violence and coercion, after barbed wire fence building on Burma-Bangladesh border. Regarding this, emergence of forced relocations, confiscation of lands, forced labour and other abuses have increased.

A villager elder said, “People leave the country because of arbitrary arrests, torture and extortion, movement restriction, forced labour, seizing of land and joblessness.”

In Bangladesh refugees have been arrested and pushed back to Burma. They are not allowed to go out from their camps to support their family members. Therefore refugees want to go to Malaysia taking risks in wooden boats, said a refugee.

Last year, the boat people were towed out to deep sea and set adrift by Thai forces without engines and food and water. They were also tortured and beaten up. Hundreds are thought to have died as a result.

There is need for regional cooperation to help solve the problem of the thousands of Rohingya fleeing. They are political refugees and not economic refugees, said a schoolteacher from Maungdaw town.