Foul!

As published in Malay Mail today Being Frank By Frankie D'Cruz THE discovery of mass graves and abandoned migrant ‘prison’ camps in Perlis is the most brutal chapter in the flight of the oppressed to Malaysia.  No one knows how they died but it points to the barbarism of people smugglers and inaction by Asean nations to counter trafficking. It pains our hearts that there were many horror jungle camps that held migrants who had fled persecution in Myanmar and Bangladesh.  We will never know if those in the graves were victims of mass slaughter by traffickers, starvation or illness, but it certainly is man’s inhumanity to man.  This is more proof that our region has plummeted to new depths of monstrosity. How did we allow the mass killings to happen on our soil? It reeks of incompetence and Myanmar, Bangladesh and Malaysia must get the answers.  We are told the authorities were aware of smugglers’ camps five years ago, but how could it...

As published in Malay Mail today By Frankie D'Cruz SO inflammatory is the Rohingya issue that Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticised for failing to raise it. Why the Nobel Peace Laureate won’t say the word “Rohingya” is beyond grasp. This human rights defender wrote an article in early 2012 titled Word power: “Words allow us to express our feelings, to record our experiences, to concretise our ideas, to push outwards the frontiers of intellectual exploration. “Words can move hearts, words can change perceptions. “Words can set nations and peoples in powerful motion. “Words are an essential part of the expression of our humanness. “To curb and shackle freedom of speech and expression is to cripple the basic right to realise our full potential as human beings.” Brian Pellot, writing for Religion News Service, asked in an article last year: “This word, ‘Rohingya’, clearly has power. So why won’t Suu Kyi use it?” A political analyst with ...