By Andrew R.C. Marshall
MAUNGDAW, Myanmar, Nov 27 (Reuters) - For years, tens of
thousands of Rohingya Muslim boat people have fled this remote
corner of western Myanmar for nearby countries. But another huge
exodus has grabbed far fewer headlines.
Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, bitter rivals of the Rohingya, are
also leaving Rakhine State to seek jobs in Malaysia and
Thailand. Small numbers of Rakhine are even following the same
smuggling routes plied by the Rohingya and, like them, falling
victim to human traffickers.
The exodus reflects a wider economic malaise. Myanmar's
quasi-civilian government has launched many reforms since taking
power in 2011, but hasn't created enough jobs.
"Go to Rakhine villages and you find only children and old
people," said Tun Maung, a prominent businessman in the Rakhine
capital Sittwe. "The young people have already gone."
The exodus of both Rohingya and Rakhine accelerated in 2012,
after a year of violence between the two communities left
hundreds dead and 140,000 homeless - mostly Rohingya.
Many displaced Rohingya now live in squalid camps along the
Rakhine coast with easy access to ramshackle human-smuggling
ships.
About 100,000 Rohingya boat people have left since the 2012
violence, said the Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group.
The mass departure of Rakhine has been less noticeable
because they usually travel by road and air, carrying passports
unavailable to the mostly stateless Rohingya.
But Rakhine have also left in greater numbers since 2012,
say Myanmar officials, after the unrest crippled a local economy
neglected during nearly half a century of military dictatorship.
Millions of Burmese seek work abroad. About two million live
in neighbouring Thailand alone, said the International Labour
Organisation. Many are unlikely to return until Myanmar's
economy improves.
"WE DON'T TRUST THEM"
The Rakhine exodus could worsen those economic woes and
communal tensions.
In much of Rakhine state, home to 3.2 million people, the
Rohingya are a persecuted minority outnumbered two to one by the
Rakhine.
But in the Maungdaw area, on the state's northern border
with Bangladesh, those figures are reversed. Out of 510,000
people, only 30,000 are Rakhine or non-Muslims, township chief
Kyi San told Reuters during a rare visit to Maungdaw by a
foreign reporter.
As young people abandon their villages for jobs abroad, the
Rakhine who remain feel besieged and vulnerable.
Hla Tun Oo, 30, has just returned to Maw Ya Waddy village
after seven years working at a factory in Malaysia. In June
2012, while he was gone, the Rakhine village was burned to the
ground by a Rohingya mob.
Maw Ya Waddy was rebuilt with the help of the Myanmar
government and international aid agencies. It was also
militarized.
Soldiers watch the fields from a hilltop. More soldiers are
encamped at a Buddhist monastery between Maw Ya Waddy and the
populous Rohingya villages along the coast.
Rakhine villages nearby have a permanent police presence,
and all are linked by new, military-built roads which allow
Rakhine to avoid Rohingya communities. An 11pm to 4am curfew
remains in force.
"I was born here and love my land. I want to protect it,"
said Hla Tun Oo, explaining why he returned.
But about 100 villagers, including Hla Tun Oo's two
brothers, work in Malaysia or elsewhere, leaving Maw Ya Waddy
with only 20 or so men of working age.
Relations with Muslim neighbours remain strained. Rakhine
farmers no longer hire them as labourers, as they did before
2012. "We don't trust them anymore," said village chief Maung
Maung Thein.
Yet the Rakhine have much in common with the Rohingya.
Pyu Tote, 30, a Rakhine with no passport, paid a broker
about $600 to smuggle him into Malaysia. Rohingya, who rarely
have travel documents, also rely on brokers.
Pyu Tote was driven to southern Myanmar. He crossed into
Thailand by boat, then trekked through hilly jungles into
Malaysia, a route also plied by thousands of Rohingya.
Thirty people trekked with him. "Most were Rakhine," said
Pyu Tote, who worked at a Malaysian factory for a year.
Like Rohingya, the Rakhine are also vulnerable to
exploitation. In August the International Organization for
Migration arranged the return of 14 Rakhine men who were
trafficked onto Thai fishing boats in Indonesian waters earlier
this year.
The men were lured by the promise of well-paid jobs in
Thailand.
LABOUR ISN'T WORKING
Many Rakhine families depend on remittances from overseas.
Hla Tun Oo sent home about $200 a month, and had saved another
$20,000 after seven years in Malaysia.
But the departure of so many young Rakhine isn't helping a
local economy reeling from the 2012 bloodshed.
Rakhine State suffers from chronic poverty. Malnutrition is
rife and its infrastructure is shoddy or non-existent, with
factories few and far between.
After 2012, the price of vegetables and seafood, largely
supplied by Rohingya, soared. So did the cost of labour. Sittwe
businesses aren't allowed to hire Rohingya, who were driven from
the city and are now confined in distant camps ringed by police
checkpoints.
"Violence and segregation have hit the economy hard," said
Richard Horsey, an independent Myanmar analyst. "Muslims are
stuck in camps, unable to work, and the instability has made it
harder to attract vital foreign investment."
Economic growth would encourage Rakhine job-seekers to stay
put. Or so hopes Tun Maung, the Sittwe businessman, who runs two
restaurants and a hotel.
He has advertised for staff for six months. "Nobody has
applied," he said.
(Editing by Dean Yates)
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