The Rohingya refugees

It was most distressing to watch the news item on 26 September of the so-called protest by some unruly monks and coarse looking men in front of the supposed refuge of Rohingya asylum seekers. This place I believe is in the bustling Colombo suburb of Mt. Lavinia. The protest was held on a busy weekday, causing much inconvenience to the general public.

From what we can gather, these refugees, having escaped from harrowing events in their native Myanmar, were afloat on a small boat in Sri Lankan waters when they were detained by our Navy. The journey in the rough seas of the Bay of Bengal would have been testing, especially for the women and children who until now have lived in peaceful villages, occupied mainly in agriculture. Even on a straight line, the distance from Myanmar to Sri Lanka is approximately 1,400 miles. In the windy and choppy seas, a boat cannot sail on a straight line.

Legend has it that some 2,000 years ago, an errant prince and his companions were put on a boat and exiled from a land somewhere close to the starting point, perhaps present day Bengal. The father, the king, could not overlook the young man’s misdemeanours any longer. This was heavy punishment. Banishment over the ocean would mean never to see his son again. There were no reliable navigational aids then, and those in the water went where the wind and the waves took them.

It was a long and hazardous journey, and after a violent storm the young men were washed ashore on the sandy beaches of faraway Lanka, to face new adventures in the strange land. Those were happy days, before humans had invented inconveniences like national borders, passports and visas. 

The indigenous to the island at the time had no appreciation of what this chance landing of strange men on their shore bode. In all probability, they had neither the will nor the capacity to do anything about it either. As they say, the rest is history.

In the intervening 2,000 years humans have evolved so much that we may well be another species. We do everything differently now. Technology has brought food, clothing and creature comforts within easy reach. Religions have mellowed us. Science and education have enlightened us. Laws have disciplined us. Our concepts have become larger and broader.

But then, we encounter incidents like that of 26 September and the whole assumption of an advancing civilisation comes into doubt. The primitive passions rise, the fanatic emerges and the savage takes charge.

These Rohingya refugees were victims of circumstances, penalised not for something they have done (especially the women and children), but for who they are. They did not leave their hearths and homes for economic betterment. If that was the reason to brave the Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka would be a strange choice. It was a fear for their lives that emboldened them to embark on the dangerous voyage. They are human beings in distress.

This is not a situation for us to look at through eyes of politics or even particularities. These unfortunates have left behind ever thing they owned in order to save their lives. We need not look at the justice of the situation or the history of the problem. It does not matter what nationality, religion, politics or the colour the desperate refugees belong to. In such situations we do not ask for whom the bell tolls.

Sri Lanka should be proud to welcome them, give them succour and hope. True, we are a poor and over-populated country and cannot indefinitely support refugees on our soil. The country can work with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and other countries to find a permanent solution. Perhaps we can be a transit point for the refugees. But as long as they are here, we have a duty of care. The world should see that while we have our problems, we are not an ungenerous people and certainly not poor in human spirit. This is what being civilised is all about.

One cannot help but notice the few Buddhist monks at the protest, who stood out like sore thumbs. In the moral confusion of the day, it is not surprising that some of the clergy are pulled into matters far outside of a spiritual journey. We see several of them involved in political and other worldly matters; seeking rich and powerful patronage, succumb to the allure of creature comforts far above the average and indulge in the occult. The power of the “maya” is immense indeed.

We can only observe that Buddhism is one of the profoundest ‘philosophies’ to have emerged out of the Indian sub-continent. Not everyone who can claim perfect understanding of its deep and difficult message. But anybody could act in its name. That is a tragedy, and yet, like all things corporeal, a ‘maya’.