I think that to pressure Bangladesh government to accept more refugees from Burma with more financial assistance is the best possible way to prevent the problem from escalating further. More favorable treatment to the boat people could trigger an uncontrollable influx of refugees (or illegal immigrants) into the neighboring countries by giving them incentive to take the risk.

Joy, I'm not saying that they should be thown out back to the sea. ASEAN's ability is limited, so if they made a lof of precedents giving theim refugees status or made a too favorable statement according to the human right activist suggestions, it could escalate the problem. (I think Indochina refugees problem was escalated by the western propaganda about the newly born communist state, too)

Bangladeshes are neibhouring Rohingya living area , and most of them came from the country, so they have same language and ethnicity as Rohingya and it's Muslim country. I think it's better to pressure Bangladesh to sovle the problem than asking ASEAN for the Moon.

I smell the intention of the "human right activist's community" including UNHCR to spin their failure in Bagnladesh by charactarizing it as ASEAN's issue.

Where did you read Rohingya "came from Bangladesh"? They are ethnically close to Bengali people, but their origins are rather uncertain. So I guess Thai Indians and Malays should be repatriated too. And you and I as well.
About the same old "blame the West" theory, I would like to remind you that your fellow countrymen stopped with that kind of ranting ages ago, Somsak, so maybe you should move on too. Or did you come to Thailand because here it's still "hip" to blame all on the evil whiteman?

sorry, my ear, not eyes.

I am not sure where their origin is. But this Rohingha case remind me of the Napalis refugees in Butan. One more thing is that many years ago, I talked with a friend of mine who covered the refugees at the Burma-Bangladesh boarder in the earily 1990s (or late 1980s I am not sure) and he said that Rohingha refugee's claim in a temporalry camp that they have been living in Burma side for long tims is at least dubious. So I've got an impression that the population pressure in Bangladesh side was pussing their people into the Burma, like Vietnamese-Cambodian boarder, or Nepal-Butan boarder. I don't stick to this claim, I rather want to know.

It's rather clear that massive migration of Rohinghyas into Burma took place after British started controling Burma. I am not sure it's "most" or not, after I read wikipedia's short article about Rohingya. If you can't believe it because that's what Burmese government claimed, I would say it's logical to presume that if two groups of people speaking a same language are living across a boarder, they share an ethnicity, (or all the Rohingya people living in Bagnladesh are refugees created by Ne Win?)

Bangladesh should take the burden as Thailand did for Cambodia. Their responsibility to do that is clearer because Bangladesh has the same ethnicity and religion as Rohingyas. If the government cannot endure the number of refugees, the right way to help them is to geer up the resettlement through the camps in Bangladesh to the third countres who have the luxuary to accept them, not to let them to go out to the sea risking their lives.

Anyway, Rohingyas in Thailand are underdogs, but that doesn't mean all people are bad with them. If any of you have ever been to Co-Co Walk in Ratchathevi, you certainly have seen them selling nuts, and their baby-Rohingyas selling flowers and candies. They are nice and peaceful, and quite poor. People often buy stuff from them (and they shouldn't, because children are exploited, but I guess it's not easy to always say no, especially if you work in those venues everyday), and the staff in the several pubs and restaurants are often friendly with the children. There's a place I normally go to, a pub with live music. Children there are known by their names and they are treated like friends. The bands even gave them free t-shirts. It's a bit of a weird situation, and god knows who's behind the exploitation of those underage immigrants. But my feeling is that those children are doing ok. Not exactly "happy" maybe, but not unhappy either. It doesn't look like they're being abused and they are fed regularly. A couple of them are actually quite fat, too. I don't know what to say: it's obvious that the whole thing stinks, and something has to be done in order to address the issue, but my personal opinion is that people's behaviour does not match with the authorities'. The government, police, and the army have been really harsh with the Rohingya, but regular Thais seem to be much nicer.

Thanks, guys - Good news stories most welcome, otherwise the depressive pessamists amongst us lose perspective (& hope:)

If Dr Siddiqui is right, & it appears he is, since they've been in Burma for much longer than the current 'Americans' have been in their home, I'd say the Burmese don't have much of a leg to stand on as far as their assertions of illegality go.

Thanks guys for very interesting discussion and informative info/links. i will surely check them out soon!

sprachgefuhl is definitely German. I don't speak German, but it should mean something like "the feeling of a language", more or less.

Corrction : It could mean your lover kiss your eyes to make you blindly love HIM or HER like a lyric of an old jazz number. Sorry as usual.

Maybe this is closest to the truth about the origin of Rohingya

The origins of the Rohingya’s place in Burma is in dispute – some say that Rohingya have always lived in Northern Arakan State and converted to Islam in the 12th century; others say that Rohingya began migrating to Burma during the British Colonial era. The reality is probably a mix of the two – Muslim traders who settled on the coast over the centuries who, along with larger influx of Muslims from the Chittagong area of Bangladesh in later centuries, developing a unique language, cultural practices and a sense of common identity......

http://merhrom.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/rohingya-and-muslims-in-arakan-state-slow-burning-genocide/

I don't understand why pro Rohinghya schalors try to underestimate this "immigration" factor in British colonial era. Even if it's a fact that a lot of Rohinghyas are descendants of the immigrants from Bangladesh in the era, they can still claim their right to live as citizens.

My impression is that they should claim more strongly that Burmese citizenship law is wrong because it stripped citizenship of the pepople living in the area for generations (even they started living the area after British colonial rule started), in stead of downplaying the histrical fact that massive migration took place during the time.

Thanks for the link(s)!

Quote somsak :Corrction : It could mean your lover kiss your eyes to make you blindly love HIM or HER like a lyric of an old jazz number. Sorry as usual.

umm.. Interesting

what do u mean somsak?????(so sorry for off -topic comment!! but well..i 'm curious)

Thanks somsak. "All or nothing at all"? Sounds like a beautiful song but then real life is not like that. In fact, if we take asylum seekers or refugess as example, there is always the need for compromise.. you cannot just take all refugees or no one at all..there should be something in between.. when it's neither too many nor none at all.
Like the Lord Buddha said, the medium way is the best. and the Thais who choose to either support Red or Yellow. In fact they are better off standing in between ..not all Thaksin or none at all or not all ...or none at all.

In terms of emotion, this is also applicable. I don't think it's wise to give all of u to anyone because people are not perfect and so are u. There must always some sort of holding back , you cannot allow yrslef to be completely lost in emotion or attachment to a single person bec one person does not have all the things that u want and it's not fair anyway to demand a single person to give you everything you want(emotionally esp, and politically as well maybe (so as not sound too off-topic hehehe:-))

Somsak, but now i reread the lyrics of the song again and I feel it' s a nice song too. My earlier comment is in fact somewhat dishonest bec I in fact cannot act like what i wrote myself--being half -half like that if u know what i mean hehehe:-)
BY the way, maybe this is one main reason some people have to choose between Red and Yellow or at least have their own preference