More on MSF Suspension and Resumption in Myanmar
Due to
worldwide condemnation of its decision to close down operation of MSF inside
Myanmar, the pariah government has changed its mind and has allowed the organization to reopen its clinics in most of the country two days after
suspending
such. MSF said it had been allowed to resume operations
in Kachin and Shan states, as well as in the Yangon region, also known as
Rangoon. However, MSF cannot operate inside Arakan where the group's work is required more
urgently than in any other part of Myanmar.
"Whilst we are encouraged by this and will resume these activities
for now, MSF remains extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of
vulnerable people in Rakhine state who currently face a humanitarian medical
crisis," the agency said in a statement.
So what to do with Myanmar? Was MSF wrong to
voice its concern about government sanctioned discrimination and neglect of the
Rohingya people that are barred from receiving basic healthcare?
In an email a concerned Burmese living in
Australia suggested that what MSF needed was an ‘awareness survey’ to find out
how the group’s humanitarian activities, esp. in relation to the Rohingya
people, are viewed by Arakanese Buddhists. In my response I wrote, “I am not
sure if an 'awareness survey' on the part of MSF is the only thing required to
avoid such incidents. For a conscientious group that works in war-torn areas it
is always a difficult task to work knowing that it would be criticized no
matter how unbiased its actions are. When MSF went inside Arakan I am aware of
the fact that their doctors were not too prone in providing due health care
services to the Rohingya people. However, as they learned and grew up out of
their ignorance and became more conscious of the race and religion based
intolerance which had become the norm in places like Arakan they opened up,
still mindful that their work within the victims would be interpreted with
colored lens. In the last few years, they have become bold to say what is
morally right, something that is irritating to the apartheid regime in Myanmar,
let alone the RNDP which runs the Arakan state.
My serious reading of history of more than 4
decades suggests that a rogue government never sobers up with concessions made
to it, which it takes as condescending. What is required is a stick policy.
Just feeding carrots won't tame the rogue Myanmar regime. If the international
community is looking for its Crimean moment to take a course of action, the
suspension of MSF activities within Arakan has provided that seminal moment. It
is up to them to act now and come strong on Myanmar. It still has some leverages
including trying the thugs and war criminals in the Hague to change the regime’s
pitiful record on human rights.”
The absence of MSF will be terribly felt within
Arakan where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have no other
alternative for their healthcare needs. The international community should
demand that the rogue regime rescinds its decision and allows access of MSF in
Arakan to operate freely, as before. It should not allow itself to be
hoodwinked by Myanmar’s sly attempt. Without MSF the lives of Rohingya are at
stake. Simply allowing MSF to work in other parts of Myanmar is not enough!
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