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Translated by: Latra Gashi
- 13 May 2024 08:00
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The Rohingya have suffered from mass killings by the Burmese army in 2017 and in Bangladeshi refugee camps. Over the past two years, they have left for Malaysia by sea. A ship of 140 Rohingya refugees capsized in March, but what caused it to capsize and why?
The ship was traveling through the dark and still waters, under a cloudless and rainless night sky. But, on board, the 12-year-old girl was shaken by fear.
The torture of her and three other girls by the captain and crew was not enough, as the men had threatened them with death if they did not obey their orders.
It was the third night that the girl and nearly 140 other Rohingya refugees had been stranded on the wooden fishing boat off the coast of Indonesia. Children, women and men had fled Bangladesh and Burma to escape violence and horrors, only to be faced with the same horrors by the ship's crew.
Huddled among other women and girls, the 12-year-old - identified with the initials N, as she is a victim of sexual assault - had tried to hide her face. She survived the night in the captain's room, where she said she was beaten and sexually abused by the crew.
Like most of the passengers, she had survived attacks by the Burmese army, which had forced her and her family to flee to Bangladesh. There he had survived almost seven years of violence in the refugee camps. And so far she had survived the journey, hoping to reach Malaysia, where she had been promised to an unknown man as a bride.
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Her life was a long battle for survival. And apparently, this night was no different.
The captain was furious. He had ordered for other girls to join him and the crew in the room. No one had moved.
"If you don't come", the captain had shouted, "then we will capsize this ship".
The suffering of the Rohingya
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from a capsized boat off the coast of Indonesia's northern province of Aceh. The other 67 passengers, including at least 28 children, had died in the ship's flooding, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Until now, little is known about how the ship sank and why.
This is the latest disaster to affect the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority that suffered mass massacres by Burma's army in 2017, in what the United States describes as genocide. Over the past two years, Rohingya have left refugee camps in Bangladesh, where gang violence and famine have erupted, and Burma, where a bloody conflict between militia and rebel groups has escalated. Muslim-majority Malaysia is the preferred and safe destination for the Rohingya.
The results of these departures have been disastrous. Last year, 4.500 Rohingya - two-thirds of them women and children - left Burma and Bangladesh by boat, UNHCR reported. Of these, 569 had died or gone missing, crossing the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, the highest number since 2014.
International indifference towards the Rohingya has, in many ways, exacerbated the crisis. In some cases, coastal states in Asia have ignored pleas to save Rohingya boats, despite the international right to rescue ships in need. Global donations to the nearly 1 million Rohingya living in overcrowded camps have dropped sharply, leading to reduced food rations. No country is offering them shelter.
Most Rohingya understand the danger of leaving by sea. But most of them say they have no other choice.
So N had arrived one night in March on a beach in southern Bangladesh, where she had boarded a fishing boat that would take her away from everything, including her family.
Like a growing number of underage Rohingya girls, she was betrothed to a man in Malaysia whom she had only spoken to over the phone. These marriages stem from desperation: Many parents in the camps can no longer feed their children or afford the traditional dowry demanded by grooms. Malaysian men do not ask for a dowry and often send money to the bride's parents.
The fishing boat had transferred N and the other passengers to a larger vessel, which had taken them to the Bay of Bengal. A day later, they had boarded an even larger ship, manned by a Burmese crew.
For almost a week, they had been traveling peacefully through the sea. The crew was courteous, providing food and water. The children had space to play. For Rahena Begum, who was traveling with her 9-year-old daughter and two 12- and 13-year-old sons, the journey was very smooth.
Until it wasn't anymore.
The captain had told them that the plan had changed. They were to transfer them all to an Indonesian ship, with a crew that would take them to Indonesia. From there they would cross into Malaysia. The Indonesian boat, according to Muhammed Amin, a fisherman, could carry almost 60 people - not 140.
Reluctantly, Amini, N, Rahena and others had boarded the ship. Almost immediately the young captain had ordered the separation of men and women. The men had been forced into the narrow cargo hold below the captain's quarters. Those who protested were beaten, Amini said.
For the women and girls who did not understand Indonesian, the men had translated. When they had understood the captain's demands, they had started to cry. The men who were against this were beaten.
Samira, 17, whose husband was trapped, became an easy target. The captain and crew had repeatedly ordered him into the room. Samira's relative, Fatima Khatun, told the crew through signs that she was married. The vulnerable N had caught the captain's eye.
Frightened by the threats of the "armed" crew, she had no other choice. So, N and three girls entered the room. The quiet night was filled with their cries.
There was no mercy in the room, only pain. The abuse from the crew had continued throughout the night. Attempts to break free had resulted in beatings. Two of the other girls were teenagers and one was in her 20s, according to N. They were all crying.
From the room below, the men could hear her crying. Those who dared to go on deck could see the abuse from the windows. But believing the crew to be armed, they were powerless to stop them.
The girl, identified with the letter N, was somehow helped by a man she knew, taking her out of the room to go to the toilet. Then she was hidden among the other women. The crew had not finished the terror. Jannat Ullahu, 29 years old, had risked getting on deck to get some fresh air. From the window room, he had seen the crew raping one of the girls.
The crew had given the passengers no water and only a few portions of rice and eggs. The passengers had no idea how long they would be there.
Fatima Khatuni, who was near the room with her daughter, Ruma, had seen the abuse of the girls and could not take it anymore. She had signaled the girls to leave the room. Fatima and Samira had told them to cover themselves with scarves and tried to hide them.
The captain was already looking for more victims.
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Women and girls had refused. The crew had beaten them, but they had not surrendered. According to the passengers, the crew had been drinking alcohol and consuming narcotic substances.
"If you don't come into the room, I'll capsize the ship!" he had howled.
'I don't want to suffer anymore'
Around 9 in the evening, many children were already asleep. Fed up with the abuse, Amini and Jannati had boarded the deck. According to them, the drunken captain had pushed the ship's steering wheel with his feet. The ship had rocked violently, been hit by a wave and flooded. People had started screaming in fear.
"RUMA!", Fatima had shouted, looking for her daughter in the sea, as she fought for her life against the angry sea.
Suddenly, the passengers who had boarded the flooded ship had saved their lives. She screamed for her daughter, but she was gone.
Many of the passengers were trapped beneath the flooded ship, which soon turned into a graveyard. Among the dead were mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and a 3-year-old boy with his family.
N had managed to escape again.
Rahena Begumi eventually saw her daughter, who was rescued by the passengers alive. Her 13-year-old son also escaped, but she has not seen 12-year-old Noor Aziz since.
Amin had known that the ship had to remain stable, in the hope that they would be saved. The men had stood in its corners, balancing the weight.
The captain and three crew members were seen leaving. The other three members stranded on the ship were kept there by Amin and the other men because they feared that if found by rescuers they would be blamed for the disaster.
They were left there waiting for a miracle as the sea waves worsened and made the ship unstable.
Some of the passengers had tried to swim to shore, promising to send help. They were gone and help had not yet arrived.
Rahena's daughter had died while waiting. The passengers had prayed for him and then released his body into the sea. After about 30 minutes, Rahena said, the rescue ship had arrived.
In the days following the disaster, the bodies of 12 women and three children have been found in Aceh waters, according to UNHCR. The search for others has been discontinued.
Officials found the ship at 9 a.m. on March 21, about 22 kilometers from shore, and evacuated all passengers from the ship.
Ibnu Harris Al Hussain, the head of the rescue and search agency "Banda", said that the rescue operation began shortly after learning about the flooded ship.
"The most important thing is that we took them to a safe place when they were found," said Hussaini.
On April 2, the police announced that they had arrested four crew members. They were convicted of smuggling, with a maximum sentence of 15 years. Police are still looking for the captain, who is in Malaysia, based on his phone activity. Police are not considering homicide charges because they believe the flood was an accident.
But N and the other passengers believe the disaster was an act of revenge by the captain and crew, who thought they would manage to escape.
"They tortured us. They treated us like animals", said N. "I want the government to treat them like animals".
The police are also not investigating the allegations of rape, because there have been no such reports. But N said that they did not ask him at all about the events that happened on board.
For now, the passengers are sleeping in tents. They have been moved to shelters, amid calls from locals for their removal. But they have nowhere to go and wonder if it was worth the effort to get there.
Rahena still mourns her children. Her husband has blamed her for the death of the children.
"I lost hope when I lost my children," said Rahena. "I feel like I have nothing left."
N hopes to somehow get to Malaysia to the man who has asked her for his wife. Maybe then, she said, she will finally be free — even though Rohingya brides in Malaysia often become prisoners of abusive husbands.
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For now, all she can do is fight to survive and pray for a future free of pain.
"I don't want to suffer anymore", she said.
