Page 23 - The Economist Asia January 2018

The growth of conglomerates initially
2 The Economist January 27th 2018 right to workorlive in the country. Asia 23
increased competition: in addition to Air As Rohingyas in Malaysia cannot work
Koryo, for example, a riding club, a ski re- legally, theyhave little option butto scratch
sort and a phone company also set up taxi a living collecting rubbish, or to take ill-
services. But the big firms are starting to paid informal work on construction sites
gobble up or squeeze out the small busi- and farms. They are vulnerable to abuse
nesses through which poorer North Kore- from both employers and corrupt officials.
ansmake a living. Seafood companiescon- They have no access to public education.
nected to the army are putting fishing Although those who are registered with
co-operatives out ofbusiness. UNHCR get a discount on health care, the
Analysts reckon the big companies are vast majority have no option but expen-
aprop to the regime, too. Theynotonly pay sive private doctors.
taxes, but can manufacture things that are Similarly, in Pakistan, Rohingya men
hard foritto obtain because ofinternation- tend to work illegally, as fishermen, me-
al sanctions. The wealthy are presumably chanics or waiters. Few children attend
happy to have increased opportunities, school; child labourisrife. Outside a public
even if they can be withdrawn at the re- hospital in a well-to-do neighbourhood in
gime’s whim (one of the reasons for Jang’s Karachi, a 33-year-old man is thankful that
execution is said to have been his eco- the government does not know where he
nomicpower). The BankofKorea, in Seoul, is from. His two-year-old son has pneumo-
reckons the GDP of the North increased by nia, and is being treated inside. If he had
3.9% in 2016. admitted that he was Rohingya, rather
Butin the longrun, a more “aspirational than a mohajir (a Muslim refugee from In-
society” and a healthy middle class may dia) as he had claimed, he would have had
lead to the countryopeningup, saysSimon to turn to an ill-equipped private clinic.
Cockerell, who runs Koryo Tours, a travel Lucky by Rohingya standards Politicians in both Malaysia and Paki-
agency based in Beijing, and has visited stan have been quick to condemn the re-
North Korea 168 times. These companies They now live in crowded and unhygienic cent violence in Myanmar. Najib Razak,
have been able to grow thanks in part to a shantytown camps just over the border. In Malaysia’sprime minister, raised the plight
growing consumer class, albeit mainly theory, the Burmese government is willing ofthe Rohingyas at a meetingwith Donald
confined to Pyongyang. Sokeel Park of Lib- to take them back, and has even signed an Trump in September and at several sum-
erty In North Korea, a Seoul-based organi- agreement to that effect with Bangladesh. mits of ASEAN, a regional club of which
sation, reckons the development of new But few in the camps express a desire to re- Myanmar is a member. Khawaja Muham-
centres of power, which follow economic turn without plausible guarantees of safe- mad Asif, Pakistan’s foreign minister, has
incentives, will ultimately increase pres- ty and fair treatment in Myanmar—a far- described events in Myanmar as a “chal-
sure on the regime. 7 fetched notion given the hostility of the lenge to the conscience”.
Burmese army and public to their return. Yet very little is being done to make Ro-
On January 22nd Bangladesh’s govern- hingyas’ liveseasier. Malaysia hasstarted a
The Rohingya diaspora ment admitted that it could not start the pilot scheme to get Rohingyas into work,
process ofrepatriatingthem. but it has only 300 participants so far. In
Unwanted But the alternatives are hardly enticing. Pakistan the odd politician has suggested
Some 200,000 Rohingyas who fled earlier giving Rohingyas citizenship. But the peo-
everywhere bouts of violence are thought to remain in ple ofSindh, the province ofwhich Karachi
Bangladesh. Others have found their way is capital, are not keen on the idea of com-
to different countries. Precise numbers are peting with Rohingyas for the govern-
KARACHI AND KUALA LUMPUR hard to come by, but it is estimated that ment’s limited resources.
Life is grim forRohingya refugees in around 300,000 Rohingyas live in Paki- As the crisis rumbles on in Myanmar,
Malaysia and Pakistan
stan, 250,000 in Saudi Arabia and 100,000 the situation for Rohingya refugees else-
NSIDE a cramped flat beside a motorway in Malaysia. All of the inhabitants of the where is unlikely to improve. Making
Iin Puchong, a suburb ofKuala Lumpur, 13 flat in Puchong fled Myanmar in 2012, after noises about helping the Rohingyas may
Rohingyas jostle for space. Rows of wash- the killing of a Buddhist woman sparked be good politics, particularly in Malaysia,
ing, rather than pictures, hang along grimy bloody anti-Rohingya riots. People-smug- where Mr Najib will face voters later this
white walls. Rubbish is stacked on two glers took them by boat to Thailand, from year. But the reality is that foreign govern-
mouldy refrigerators. The only furniture in where theytravelled overland to Malaysia. ments see them as an unwelcome burden
the main room is a sideboard stuffed with Pakistan and Malaysia, however, have on the state. “Malaysian officialsin the past
bedding, for when the adults—who spend not signed the UN Convention on Refu- have said explicitly we cannot make the
their time doing odd jobs, such as collect- gees, which obliges receiving countries to situation too comfortable here, because
ingwaste orsellingscrap—come backat the help those fleeing persecution. Indeed, more will come,” says Matthew Smith of
end ofthe day to sleep on the floor. Several Rohingya refugees tend to disguise where Fortify Rights, an NGO.
are gaunt, and complain ofeatingonly one they are from. Most Rohingyas in Pakistan As a result, Rohingyas are typically kept
or two meals a day. With little else to play made their way there via Bangladesh in in a state of deprivation and uncertainty.
with, a toddlersucks on a metal padlock as the 1960s, when Bangladesh was still a Surrounded by football trophies in a room
ifit were a toy. province of Pakistan. Others pretend to be in Arkanabad, a Rohingya neighbourhood
Rohingyas are a Muslim minority who Indian Muslims, to take advantage of the in Karachi, Faisal Hussain, a 22-year-old
live in Rakhine state in largely Buddhist warmer welcome Pakistan accords such Rohingya, admits that he often looks at im-
Myanmar. Over the past five months some people. The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) ages of his homeland in Myanmar. “They
680,000 of them have fled to Bangladesh hasregistered around 66,000 Rohingya ref- have greenery and lush farmlands,” he
to escape a pogrom conducted by the Bur- ugees in Malaysia, giving them a special says, his eyes welling up. “In my heart I
mese armyand theirBuddhistneighbours. identity card, but that does not confer the want to go backbut I know I cannot.” 7