Ex 23:9 Also you
shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of astranger,
because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Mat 7:12 "In
everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat
you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The news of a
minority Burmese Muslim Bangladeshi group also known as Rohingya
being very brutally treated in Burma Rakhine state and even forced to
flee via boats is an attrocious act against common humanity. Malaysia
and Indonesia each with over 100K of refugees seemed reluctant to accept
more despite being of the same faith.
Complicating
the matter is that the boats said to be cramped with the fleeing Burmese
Rohingyas are also filled with economic refugees - Blangladeshi eager
for a new life in Malaysia.
Why Malaysia has
become a favored destination? The Myanmar refugees have filled the F&B
industry in Malaysia. They are allowed in for religious reasons and
instead of chinese cooks and waiters, they now predominate the major
eateries in Kuala Lumpur, the capital. If it had happened in
Singapore, there would have been an uproar.
We are reminded of
similar religiously motivated cleansing in Armenia 100 years ago of
Armenian Christians. The ongoing terrible news of the Islamic State
(ISIS) marching through the Syrian and Iraqi conflict lands with their
harsh and murderous reglious faith activities contradict the Western
liberal construction of faith.
The British Liberal
Newspapers such as The Independent aren't much help - pointing to the
failure of the Burmese Nobel Laureat Aung San Suu Ski for failing to
speak against the Burmese people even to the extent of accusing her
silence being complicit. They are avoiding the obvious that this is a
religious issue and not only political. They dare not challenge their
liberal construction that all religion is about love.
The British and the
Americans appear to suffer a selective ammnesia being so vocal yet
accepting very few refugees. It was after all a remnant of the colonial
pasts where the British had bought in the Rohinyas and used them against
the locals. The US is vocal yet gives lip service to accepting the
refugees. Malaysia for example had so far accepted over 100K Rohingya
refugees whilst US are willing to accpet 1000.
We have well meaning
activist calling the Singaporean Government to help but we well know
that the same people will no doubt blame the Government for the over
crowding, refugees taking away the low paid jobs. We
have already very large number of workers from Bangladesh with very
vocal opposition even against the location of their housing.
The Rohingya were
not native locals although they have been in Rakhine state a very long
time through a series of large scale migration from Southern Bangladesh
from 1850 to 1950. Therefore, the British made a colonial mess by
bringing in many tens of thousands of labourers into an already poor
region. causing deep local resentment. The Rohingya just didn't
assimilate.
The British armed
the Rohingya during WWII as a buffer against the Japanese whilst fleeing
from Burma. It ended up being massacre of 20,000 local Burmese feeding
the seed of much historical hatred.
It did not help that
when Bangladesh sought independence, the Rohingya asked for the Burmese
Rakhine state to be part of the newly formed Bangladesh. In fact, they
took over control resulting in military conflicts and thereafter a Jihad
movement.
What we have here is
a migration of a very different culturally and religious people into a
state whereby they eventually
became the majority in a large number of
areas. It was an overstretch by the Rohingya and
their descendents are now paying a
terrible price.
At the end, it is an
issue of religious conflicts and so they should just send in ecumenical
Christians from the Christian Conferences in for an inter-faith dialogue
based on their notion that all religion is about love. All the Christian
ecumenical Conferences has said was "Mynamar should take care of
Rohingya people" rather than "All major religions is about ...". They
know it isn't really true.
The Dalai Lama was
more blunt calling upon their faith's notion of forgiveness,
tolerance, compassion.
It didn't help at all and so even the Dalai Lama is now calling upon
Aung San Suu Ski to do something which would be politically suicidal and
still won't help the deep rooted complex religious situation.
In Christianty, we
love because we are first loved in a much greater measure by Jesus
Christ. In reality, Christianity is not about us loving others but about
Christ loving us thus making the way for us to love others. We love
because it is Christ love working through us in a spiritual faith
dimension of appreaciating Jesus death at the Cross. Without
resurrection there is no power to love.
Matthew 7:12 talks
about the treating each other with love in the context of the summary
law knowing full well that the law doesn't work. A faith that is law
based have no power to love. The Law just shows that we are sinners
demanding judgement. Hence, we are no different than the Burmese people
of faith. We too would have persecuted the Rohingyas. The Law only tells
us our sins. Our Saviour is Jesus Christ.
The Bangladesh
Gvernment is not helping for not permitting foreign aid to be freely
availble to the escaping Rohingya to discourage them from leaving a hell
like existence in Burma. They too are in denial claiming that the
Rohingya are an issue for the Burmese.
The arch Burma
Buddhist monk instigator and nemesis is U Wirathu who has sparked of a
murderous mob. The Burmese Government may be turning a blind eye as a
rally point for the up coming elections.
Whilst the ping pong
continues and Asean bound by non interference in local politics, the
situation looks grim for the Rohingyas. The political and religious will
in Burma and Bangladesh to resolve the human suffering is not there.
We are reminded of
another religiously inspiried atrocities against the Amenian people. The
Armenian Holocust by the Ottomon Empire against the Armenian Christians
resulted in over 1.5 millon deaths.
The British and
Americans with the liberal kind of Christian approach can say alot from
far of! They are not really wrong for even Singapore cannot morally
reject the refugees if they land on St John Island.
The solution remains
a religious solution of how we treat the stranger in our midst. There is
also a question whether we should reject people whose religious faith we
fear is subject to radicalization. At the end, shouldn't we treat all
people with basic humanity and dignity as we would ourselves be treated
if stuck on boat in an open sea. Both the Burmese Buddhists and Rohinyas
must come to a place of forgiving each other.
The Armenian
Christians managed to forgive and when they came to the US as refugees
became key instigators of Christian revival that is still with us today
even in Singapore.
Mat 5:12
"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way
you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
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