"Thai Scouts help Muslim Rohingya Stateless Illegal Migrants "
"THAI SCOUTS HELP MUSLIM ROHINGYA STATELESS ILLEGAL MIGRANTS" as Messenger of Peace in action
Due to frequent unrests occurred in Myanmar during 2012-2013, thousands of Muslim Rohingya migrants boarded small wooden boats from their home in Arakan state, sailing across Indian Ocean for 16-25 days to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Out of hardship and suffering, many of them lost their lives during the journey. About 3.000 of the Rohingya landed in southern Thailand. Being illegal immigrants, they were detained in several detention centers whereby they are allowed not more than 6 month temporary stay in Thailand. Even though certain social welfare assistances are available, some essential items for daily living are found to be inadequate and badly needed.
The underlying reason for Myanmar to reject the Muslim Rohingya as their citizens was based upon the historic incidence that the Rohingya assist the British to conquer Myanmar as their colony for 62 years during 1886-1948. Over 250,000 Rohingya in Arakan were driven out into refugee camps in Bangladesh. According to the United Nations, the Rohingya are one of the most unkindly threatening minorities in the world. They have been described as, “among the world’s least wanted” and “one of the world’s most persecuted minorities”.
To light up their life in Thai detention centers, the Thai Scouts Promotion Foundation decided to do their duties according to Scout Law No.4 “A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ALL, AND A BROTHER TO EVERY OTHER SCOUT, NO MATTER TO WHAT SOCIAL CLASS THE OTHER BELONGS."
The Thai Scouts Promotion Foundation in close cooperation with other scouts and non-scout volunteers jointly collected donations of food and supplies for more than 3,000 Survival Gift Packs cost about US$ 5 per pack to meet the needs of Rohingya illegal migrants in about 20 detention centers all over Thailand . More than one service hour needed to obtain, pack and transport each package of the survival gift pack for the Rohingya Migrants.
The Thai scouts also managed to prepare a new Thai-Rohingya Dictionary to facilitate two-way communication since most of the migrants could not understand English nor Thai Language while the Thai detention officers could not understand Rohingya language. In addition, Thai Rover Scouts from technical colleges are preparing to help them further in repairing or rebuilding more toilets and other needed shelters to provide more comfort and security for them at the detention centers
It should be noted that all actors, both the scouts and non-scouts who participate in this noble course work together regardless of race or religion. They are Buddhist, Christian and Muslim, all of whom join hands and heart to help the Rohingya migrants without religious discrimination. They have realized the deadly side effects of national conflicts and confrontation which often ended up with merciless fighting and war which the looser have to die or escape, to become illegal immigrants in other country. The participators of this project will find out by their tangible investigation and observation that the best solution of unrest, confrontation, violent conflicts and war is “PEACE”.