So
there they were, and Matt Dillon popped in. (Lilianne is on the far right.)
His
presence at the well-attended discussion, along with yesterday’s visit to a camp
in Aceh by Ann Richard, Assistant Secretary of State (of what we used to call
BPRM—Bureau of Populations, Refugees and Migration), seem to have turned the
tide, if you’ll pardon the expression, against Myanmar being able to continue
the pretense of uninvolved onlooker.
Still,
Myanmar government officials persist in denying that the people adrift
somewhere in the area, possibly the Bay of Bengal, are not Rohingya, or if they
claim to be, they’re not from Myanmar.
Nearly every other organization and individual on the planet believes
otherwise, including the Arakan project which has been tracking them for 10
years.
“Speaking
at a news conference in Bangkok Tuesday, Arakan Project Director Chris Lewa
said it appears that with smugglers' transit camps now exposed by authorities
and shut down along the Thai-Malay border, arrangements are being made for more
people to land near the origin of their risky trips.”
That will mean that Burma better get ready to welcome its
citizens back and have some decent living conditions ready.
And I’d better prepare my coronation speech for when I’m
crowned Queen of Scotland.
“A tally from [Lewa’s] grassroots nongovernmental
organization monitoring the situation showed at least 5,600 Rohingya and
Bangladeshis coming ashore in five countries last month. . . . Myanmar’s
government said authorities are escorting a boat carrying more than 700
migrants to what it calls a "safe" location where their identities
can be determined.”
Subtext: none of them will be determined to be from our
country, no siree.
“The office of Myanmar's president said the hundreds of
migrants aboard the boat, who were abandoned by their smugglers, have been
given food and water and have expressed a preference to go to Bangladesh.”
The creepy logic of this country is astounding. “See, they said they wanted to go somewhere else,
so they’re not our problem.” Of course
they wouldn’t want to go back home, if that meant the same inhumane treatment
they’d always been getting.
“The internally displaced Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority
in predominately Buddhist Myanmar, have received scant international attention.
That has been changing in recent weeks since mass graves of
migrants were discovered in Thailand and Malaysia and warnings by aid agencies
that those stranded at sea with little food and water were in peril with no
country eager to accept them.”
But then at the end of May,
along came Matt Dillon and out came the crying towels in Myanmar.
“In response to a VOA question at the briefing in Bangkok for
correspondents [the press dinner where Lilianne was
speaking] , Dillon characterized the plight of the Rohingya as a “sad
and heartbreaking” man-made problem that is solvable.
‘The people aren't living in camps because of some disaster,
natural disaster. This is a humanitarian situation that is caused by human
beings' intolerance, fear, an unwillingness to allow people to co-exist,’
Dillon said.
The actor said he decided to go to the camp after hearing a
desperate appeal a month ago from a Rohingya activist.
Dillon said, ‘Ultimately, they can't be stateless.’” EXACTLY my point!
“U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called on Myanmar to
stop discriminating against the stateless Rohingya. The president said this is
crucial for the successful transition to democracy in Myanmar.
Obama commended Indonesia and Malaysia for giving temporary
refuge to thousands of those displaced and he said the United States will also
take some of the Rohingya.”
Finally!
See the entire article here: http://m.voanews.com/a/myanmar-escorting-700-migrants-on-boat-to-safe-location/2804144.html
And as for Lilianne?
She writes: “All I can say is, I am not one to get star struck but Matt was so
compassionate and genuine that I am officially in love.”
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