We all want to live in a peaceful world, right?
We live in a time when information can be disseminated in a heartbeat, and with that comes the capacity for us to empathise with people in even the most remote corner of the world. And there are many humanitarian organisations working hard for the welfare of people around the world, making good on the human capacity to empathise.
Which is why it’s still so utterly baffling how we’re just letting the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar be treated like it’s merely background noise. We see numerous workshops and seminars being held around town discussing “compassion” and “the human spirit,” but a cynical mind would think they’re all just some kind of distraction for us to participate in while very real atrocities rage on.
No. It’s not enough for us to sit around in a circle and beat our own drums: The Rohingya crisis is the result of the Myanmar government, and it’s high time that the world pointed its collective finger at them.
We like to think we’re civilised, we like to think that torture is an antiquated notion left in the annals of our history -- take one look at all the leaked footage and photos of the genocide, yes genocide, that’s being carried out in Myanmar against their own people, and then get back to me about how much we’ve “progressed” as a species.
What are the world leaders even doing? Isn’t there anyone that can take a firm stance against Myanmar? Why isn’t the UN stepping up? There are as many questions as there are deceased Rohingya, I’m afraid.
“Human rights” … what a joke. We talk about preserving human rights, but our actions never extend beyond words.
We express our opinions, about how strongly we are opposed to the Myanmar government’s ethnic cleansing, but none of that ever gets translated to any tangible change.
Take one look at all the leaked footage and photos of the genocide, and then get back to me about how much we’ve ‘progressed’ as a species
If I’ve failed to get my point across so far, let me lay it out in layman’s terms: The government of Myanmar needs to be put on trial. They need to be squeezed to the point where they fess up, an amount of pressure that only the rest of the entire world can provide.
Destroying their houses, their property, torturing them, raping them, killing them, the Rohingya have gone through it all, and all at the hands of their own government.
Earth is no place for refugees. If America, the world’s premier police force, threatens of building a wall to keep away their “undesirables” why should an up-and-comer like Bangladesh be expected to accept its own undesirables with arms wide open?
Bangladesh is on a steady march to economic progress, didn’t you hear? The country was built by our own people, not by people from a foreign land. The Rohingya crisis is not ours. They are of another country. Let them wallow in their own misery, we have a country to make prosperous.
I apologise if I let my sarcasm go out of control, but the world really does need to grasp the extent of the genocide being carried out by the Myanmar government on the Rohingya.
But it’s a matter of great frustration seeing the world act so limp and lifeless when it comes to confronting Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi went through a lot herself in becoming the leader of her country, surely you would think that she of all people would understand human suffering?
Apparently not.
Mohammad Anowarul Azim is CEO of Best Western Plus Heritage.
