Chapter 13 - Not the Rohingya Crisis, but a Crisis of Humanity

"I boarded the boat because I had nowhere else to go. I don't have a home or anything left. The Rakhine killed my mother and my relatives. The people in the village said they were going to Malaysia, so I made the decision to follow them."

This quote is from a woman on a boat densely packed with starving people out in the Andaman Sea. Her words are plain, encapsulating misery beyond one's imagination. The scene is, on the other hand, in one word, "horrific", something no person with any shred of conscience would ever stand to see.

It is a boat where no human being in this world should ever end up. It is the kind of human tragedy with which any soul in this world would be challenged.

This woman is one of the members of a minority community who has been denied citizenship and voting rights by a country where generations of her family had lived in for centuries. Let alone having any civil rights, this community has been for many years persecuted by a regime that denies them any freedom and, above all, the dignity that every human being deserves in this world.

If you are someone not even remotely interested in the world news, you are probably by now familiar with these people, the Rohingya Muslims. Contrary to any voyage we know of in our conflict-free world, these people have no luggage, no food or water, and in most cases, even no clothes to cover themselves.

Imagine yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere under desperate conditions with no friends or relatives from your life in your home country. Even hard to imagine in one's worst nightmare!

However, with no rights of any kind and, more importantly, no hope for future in their own homeland, they, as a last resort, clamber on to a rickety boat, taking the risk of death.

With their vessels marooned out on the high seas by human traffickers and various navies cracking down on them, the ordeal they've gone through is unparalleled by any means. Their boats, "floating coffins" as they are called, are a reference to their horrendous situation.

According to the UN, the Rohingya Muslims are one of the "most persecuted minorities" in the world. Now the situation has turned into the most ferocious form of human tragedy with the stance of the neighboring ASEAN countries bordering the Adaman Sea. Neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have simply refused to accept these adrift people into their countries as refugees. Their navies simply provided some provisions of food and water and then pushed them out to the open sea.

Now that the world media has devoted space to the stories of these most helpless people, the international community is savvy about the existence of the Rohingya Muslims and their desperate situation. Yet the efforts of other countries, who should be sharing the spirit of humanity, have been so far very feeble, devoid of the strength that any conscience requires.

After weeks of not welcoming thousands of migrants stranded at sea, with Indonesia and Malaysia ultimately offering temporary shelter – and rather reluctantly at that - it seems that some solutions are on the horizon.

Every single human life is precious

However this crisis has demonstrated something far more important; that this is not some isolated crisis that a minority group in one part of the world is going through, but rather a crisis of humanity.

The Rohingya boat tragedy is an indelible blotch on humanity. It is a human rights debacle. It is the manifestation of the moral bankruptcy of the human conscience and must be analyzed and pondered upon if we would like to create a world where every child has access to the same freedoms we desire for our own children.

In the case of the Rohingya Muslims, the neighboring countries' concerns about taking care of the refugees can be overcome quite easily. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand are countries with vast lands and coastal areas. The refugees can be introduced to a lifestyle where they can earn their living by fishing, agriculture or animal husbandry without being a burden on the host countries. Such a stance is what is more becoming to humanity, something that we most need in these times of ordeal.

This is a crisis that reveals how some lives are valued and appreciated while others are totally ignored. Human beings, no matter which race, nation, religion, ethnicity or tribe they may be from, are the core element of this world. All commercial, political, industrial, and artistic activities are carried out in this world because of human beings. The reason why this world exists and why it was created is 'human beings'. So everyone must enjoy the dignity and freedom they deserve as a human being. Once any politician or leader adopts this scrupulous perspective, any impaired morals would be purged at once, and thoroughgoing solutions will follow.

Thailand should not send Muslims who seek refuge there back to Myanmar

Speaker: ... Two million Muslims running from oppression have sought refugee in Thailand. Thailand announced that it would send Muslims back to Myanmar after the elections. However, this means that those people will be imprisoned and killed. Adnan Oktar: So you are saying that 'Thailand should not send Muslims back to Myanmar'. Yes, we also demand this from our government. [They should help] for God's sake. This is a big danger. Let's write a petition, talk to Thai government and bring this issue to the agenda. They should not send our brothers and sisters there to Myanmar since they will be killed. Look at the violence at the end of the world. Hundreds and thousands of Muslims are martyred every day and everywhere in the world. We do not even hear about many of them. It is an ordinary issue that a Muslim is martyred in Afghanistan. There are innumerable raped sisters and mothers. (Adnan Oktar, October 21st, 2010, Samsun Aks TV)

It is a big oppression to leave Rohingya Muslims in the middle of the sea

Speaker: Arakanese brothers and sisters were rescued by Indonesia. Adnan Oktar: Indonesia has vast lands. Rohingya Muslims are a handful of people who are satisfied by a portion of a meal. A tent is enough for them. They demand nothing but to save their life. Speaker: Mr. Oktar, as you know, Malaysia has recently said: "If we accept these refugees, the others will come after them. Thousands of them would come. They are not wanted here so we cannot receive them". Adnan Oktar: How unjust it is. They have bare lands. They can settle them on one area, they can build prefabricated houses as well. Tent would even work. They don't want much, they would be full with one portion of a meal. Is there any point of leaving people to death? Is this conscience, how do you sleep with such conscience? Speaker: Their ship arrived in Thailand last week and Thailand did not accept them. Adnan Oktar: They try to teach unjustness to the world, this is terrible. (Adnan Oktar, May 16th, 2015, A9 TV)