Arakan Diary: 140 Rohingya refugees arrested in Penang National Park

Wednesday 20 February 2013

140 Rohingya refugees arrested in Penang National Park

Source nst, 18 Feb

BALIK PULAU: Some 140 Rohingya refugees starved for three days, before 35 of them, including children, were arrested in the jungle of the Penang National Park today.

Aged between a year old to 70s, they were arrested about 3pm after they were found loitering around the Teluk Kampi beach, and are believed to have entered the country's waters by using a barge 13 days ago.

When met, one of the refugees, Mohamad Rovic, 26, said they had to get off the boat and wander around for shelter, with some having run away into the woods.

He said there were those who went hungry for three days due to fear of being arrested by the authorities.

"I came here to find my brothers who have been working here for a while. I don't want to go back home as it feels much safer here and I also want to find a job," he said.

Meanwhile, Southwest district police chief Superintendent Mohd Hatta Mohd Zin confirmed their arrests and said police were now searching intensively for the others.

He said operations are still ongoing and those detained were brought to the district police headquarters for further checks before being handed over to the Immigration Department.

He added that police were also assisted by the Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) as well as the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

"For the time being the operations at the park are ceasing until the remaining Rohingyas are found," he said.

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Urgent Intervention Requires in Arakan

the government’s involvement and contributions into the crisis are very clear based on:
1) Imposing Curfew and Order on only Rohingya while Rakhine people are freely allowed to carry out various attacks, looting goods and casheven harden woods and pillars and torching fires.
2) Allowing security forces to shot the Rohingyas, not arresting a single armed Rakhine.
3) Seizing lands of Rohingyas which were burnt down and disposing them into concentration camps.
4) Blocking aid and foods, attacking aid workers then compelling to die from starvation.
5) Denying their rights to have rights such as medicare, education, relocation, movement.
6) President Thein Sein asking the United Nation to relocate Rohingya in a third country.
7) Fabricating false news: the local Burmese news groups and anti-Rohingya bloggers are able to report the way they like and play a major role of bias through inciting anti-Rohingya propagandas and portraying the Rohingyas as they want and provide reverse information.
8) Forcing to accept foreigner identity in the mid of humanitarian crisis.

From 8 of June 2012, total destructionacross 11 different townships of Arakan,reached at 97 mosques, about 23,000 houses. Death toll over 12,000 and nearly 200,000 people displaced and number of arbitrary detention reached at least 12,00 Rohingyas and Kaman muslims mainly from Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Sittwe townships. Many religious building and brick made homes of Rohingya were just half destructed from the attacks of Rakhines but government sent bulldozer team from Yangon to cleans all remnant building belong to Rohingya.

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Wednesday 20 February 2013

140 Rohingya refugees arrested in Penang National Park

BALIK PULAU: Some 140 Rohingya refugees starved for three days, before 35 of them, including children, were arrested in the jungle of the Penang National Park today.

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