It would be farcical if it were not tragic: A total of 30 illegal immigrants from Burma spilling out of three small cars in separate incidents over four days last week, followed this week by another 108 washing up on Penang crammed onto a fishing boat meant for 10.
In a chilling flashback to the Vietnamese boat people saga of 30 years ago, these wretched souls attest to the continuing degradation of human dignities in Burma. In just the past year since the ruling junta redoubled its assault on militant minorities, nearly 30,000 civilians have been displaced.
Thailand and Malaysia are having to mop up the human spillover of these troubles, and with the 10th anniversary of Burma’s membership of Asean approaching, that nation’s welcome among our federation of Southeast Asian nations is wearing thin indeed.
Asean — in particular Malaysia — took a great risk in championing the inclusion of Burma on the principle that exclusion would only worsen conditions there.
The international fallout from that decision has been severe, especially as the decade since has seen nothing but the most token and cynical gestures from the Burmese regime with respect to opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy.
The release last week of a handful of pro-democracy protesters means little in a country where the people’s welfare seems of no concern whatsoever to their rulers.
Burma spends less than RM5 per person per year on health care, the lowest such budget in the world. Conversely, infant mortality, at 106 per 1,000 births, is among the highest in the world. Malnutrition afflicts more than 30 per cent of the country’s children, and one in 12 mothers dies in pregnancy or childbirth.
Most damningly, the regime’s shunning of its people extends to international aid agencies as well. In the past year, the International Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres have been compelled to pull out of Burma, and the World Food Programme restricted in its efforts to bring desperately needed nutrition to conflicted areas.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar is right to note that Burma’s expulsion from Asean would have to be as much a consensus decision as was its admission.
At this rate of decline, however, that consensus looks like being a no-brainer — especially among those of Burma’s neighbours that are bearing the brunt of the human tragedy unfolding in that benighted country.