Myanmar claims Rohingya are seeking better jobs, not fleeing persecution

Myanmar is sick of the Rohingya crisis. In recent weeks, members of the nation’s Muslim minority have captured international attention—including from the United States, several Nobel laureates, and the Dalai Lama—as central players in a humanitarian crisis sweeping Southeast Asia. Smugglers abandonded more than 4,600 people at sea after a regional crackdown on human trafficking, highlighting the plight of the persecuted Rohingya.

The crisis has created bad press for Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma, the nation whose state-sanctioned oppression of the Rohingya sparked a maritime mass exodus rivaling that of the Vietnam War.

But Myanmar flatly denies responsibility for the Rohingyas’ plight.

On Thursday, the nation’s foreign affairs minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, said any migrants fleeing Myanmar did so in pursuit of a better life and more lucrative employment.

“It is not true that the migrants from Myanmar fled because of discrimination or persecution in Myanmar. They are just the victims of human smugglers,” Lwin said during a briefing for foreign diplomats, adding, “These are migrants who are seeking better jobs in other countries.”

One day prior to the minister’s statement, national authorities seized a boat with more than 730 people squeezed inside and brought it ashore in western Rakhine state, the area home to most of the country’s Rohingya population. Government officials are verifying passengers’ nationalities, saying all non-citizens will be shipped back to their home country.

The United Nations is not part of the verification process and fears Myanmar might falsely label the Rohingya as Bangladeshis.

“We are still trying to get full access to the 700-plus who just landed,” said Dom Scalpelli, country director for the UN World Food Program. “We are on the ground and discussing with the government to give us access as quickly as possible.”

But Myanmar’s authorities do not always welcome information-seekers. Its navy recently detained a group of journalists, including Associated Press writers, attempting to confirm the ethnicity of the 730 migrants. Navy officials confiscated the journalists’ cameras and wiped their memory cards.

Myanmar’s government refuses to use the word “Rohingya.” It calls the group “Bengalis,” implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Last month, hundreds of angry protestors led by Buddhist monks took to the streets in Yangon, carrying signs emblazoned with the words: “The boat people are not from Myanmar!” and, “The United Nations and the international media are making up stories!”

Myanmar’s systematic effort to obliterate the Rohingya was noted more than two years ago in a chilling Al Jazeera report.

“When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist; denying their history, denying the legitimacy of their right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean it’s not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide,” said professor William Schabas, former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

Myanmar’s Rohingya population of approximately 1.3 million is concentrated in western Rakhine state, living in apartheid-like conditions with limited access to education, employment, and medical care. Denied citizenship rights and recently subjected to government-mandated pregnancy regulations, the Rohingya are labeled by the UN as one of the most persecuted people groups in the world.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.