Tuesday 1 January 2013

Rohingya refugees rejected ~ Where is your compassion, PAP government?

2nd January 2013

Now the whole world knows how uncompassionate the PAP government is.
What do you expect out of a evil money and power minded political regime who does not even take good care of its own citizens? The PAP is also known to many Singaporeans to be a "you die your business" heartless ruling government.



Rohingya is an ethnic group which is struggling for recognition in Myanmar. But the government of Myanmar continues to refuse to grant citizenship rights to Rohingya residents. Local conflicts erupted this year involving Rakhine and Rohingya villagers in Western Myanmar. The government has denied that the Rohingyas are victims of genocide and religious persecution.



After being adrift at sea for more than 30 hours, 40 Rohingya refugees were rescued by a Vietnamese ship, MV Nosco Victory, on December 5, 2012. A few days after, the ship reached Singapore but the government refused entry to the Rohingya survivors. Singapore netizens and human rights groups reacted strongly to the decision of authorities to send away the refugees.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had appealed to Singaporean authorities to allow the rescued passengers to disembark there, and later, appealed to Malaysia.

Well at least the Singapore government could do was to provide shelter for a day or two, medical, food and fuel supplies to them a basic human need before deporting them. 


Fortunately, Malaysia is compassionate enough to have agreed to give shelter to the 40 Rohingya refugees. The Vietnamese vessel for about a week in the waters off Johor has been brought to shore and are now being held at the Pekan Nenas immigration detention camp.


“They were given food and medical attention at the camp. The Myanmar Embassy has also been notified,” said a source from the Immigration Department. It is learnt that the directive to allow the men to be brought to shore and held at the camp came from the National Security Council.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Coordinator for South-East Asia James Lynch said the decision by the Government was a positive humanitarian gesture and consistent with international norms for the protection of asylum-seekers and persons at risk at sea.



Straits Times
Look at how compassionate Thailand shows to the refugees. Even though they refused them to disembark on their shores, they did the most humane thing, supply them with basic necessities and aid them in reaching a third country.

Should the PAP government continues to exercise their political arrogance, elitism and egoism, and not serving its citizens deserved to be well looked after, spending more public money on welfare, health care and education, they will be in danger of being voted out in future elections. That day will come!



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