Most Rohingya refugees are in the dark
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh–Most Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar are totally unaware of what Aung San Suu Kyi said in her first ever statement on the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state and subsequent mass refugee exodus to Bangladesh because their shelters in the refugee camp do not have electricity, not to mention TVs.
Nevertheless, some of the refugees who talked to Thai PBS news team in Cox’s Bazar through an interpreter said they didn’t trust Suu Kyi and didn’t believe that peace will be restored in Rakhine state as pledged by the Myanmar government because it made similar promises before and violence still occurred.
One Rohingya refugee said he didn’t believe that Suu Kyi would welcome back the Rohingyas. But even if they are allowed to return to Rakhine state, he said that the refugees should be able to return to their old houses which were torched and that the Myanmar government must guarantee that violence should not recur.
Another refugee insisted that he has documents confirming that he is a Myanmar citizen and is ready to prove his citizenship if needed, but his safety must be guaranteed.
The Myanmar’s state counselor’s Sept 19 speech may have satisfied most in Myanmar, but certainly not the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar although they didn’t listen to her speech.
The Rohingyas have wanted the Myanmar government to treat them like the other ethnic minority groups in Myanmar, failing that many of them said they find it safer to remain in Bangladesh than to return to Rakhine state. Source: Thai PBS
