Mohammad Jabir Rahman
Is the Rohingya crisis a new issue? Not really. In fact, the Rohingya refugee crisis has been a problem for the country from as early as 1978, when the country was only 7 years old. In August 2017, this simmering pot intensified into a full-blown genocide of the ethnic Rohingya population in Myanmar, a result of the Burmese army and extremist monks’ crackdown on the minority Muslim community of the country. But why? What harm had the Muslim minorities of Myanmar done to the country?
History
It is said that the Rakhine State of Myanmar that comprised most of the Rohingya population had never really wanted to be a part of Myanmar. When British India was being partitioned into Muslim-majority Pakistan and secular India during the time of the British departure, there are records that suggest the Rakhine State actually wanted to accede to Pakistan. However, the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was unwilling to accept the Burmese state into Pakistan as it would further complicate and lengthen the process of Partition, something that he was not very fond of as he wanted it to happen as quickly as possible. Instead, he asked the Rohingyas to remain citizens of Myanmar. Fast forward, years of cultural divide had deepened communal violence between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim minority. In August 2017, this came to a boiling point when the military crackdown started and Rohingyas flocked to Bangladesh. Initially, the Bangladeshi government was reluctant to let them enter but seeing the brunt of the refugees, they were allowed to enter. “If we can feed 163 million people, we can feed another million too. We will share our food with them," said the prime minister. Today, there are around 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Economic Impacts on Bangladesh
The economic impacts of this crisis have been adverse. Prices of daily essentials have increased by over 50%. Moreover, wages of day laborers have decreased due to an increase in the supply of available workers with survey data showing daily wage reductions of as much as 14% in Teknaf, and about 2,500 households have plunged below the poverty line. Yet, there are about 75,000 more people who are now more vulnerable to poverty. 6,000 acres of land worth $555 million allocated for forests had to be used alternatively to build shelters for the refugees.
However, the larger economic drawbacks have been immense. Road infrastructure has already sustained losses of $200 million due to this crisis. However, Bangladesh and Myanmar have reached an agreement to repatriate these refugees back to Myanmar which would in the most ideal, best-case (but highly improbable) scenario cost at least $3.2 billion but more prudent estimations would bring that number close to $15 billion. The first scenario would involve 600 refugees going back per day and would take 5 years whereas the second alternative would take 13 years and the process would involve 200 refugees returning per day.
Solutions
Bangladesh is a developing country. When even the most developed countries of the world such as the USA and those in the EU are increasingly stubborn to accept immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, Bangladesh being humane enough, has opened its arms to them. In fact, Bangladesh with 0.31% of the world population, now hosts 4.7% of the world refugee population. The coronavirus pandemic has shifted policy priorities to healthcare and it may now take even longer to safely escort Rohingyas back home. However, the country cannot sustain this for long and a short-run solution has to be found to mitigate the impacts on the economy until all refugees are repatriated.
This can include work opportunities for the Rohingyas. It won’t be foolish to assume that the Rohingyas are staying here for at least another 20-25 years and instead of just feeding them with government expenditure, the Bangladeshi government can look for ways to temporarily make them a part of the economy. They can be given blue-collar jobs that require no or very small durations of training. In this way, not only will they contribute to the local economy with their consumption expenditures and increase economic activity in their locality, the government will have to spend less on them, thereby saving more for the greater priority now: Covid-19. At the same time, we have always heard this phrase, “Every cloud has a silver lining,” and this could be the case here as well - service and healthcare volunteers, food managers, logistics, and refugee camp management are only some of the jobs that can be created for local Bangladeshi workers. Opportunity in crisis should be the drive for everyone here, both Rohingyas and local Bangladeshis. Another creative approach that the government can take is to make it mandatory for students near the refugee camps to spend service hours with the refugees. Besides, reducing government expenditures, this will give the children a new experience to interact with people from a different background and appreciate their privilege and also, give refugees the chance to feel welcome by the locals themselves. In fact, this is a rather long-term policy that should remain even after the Rohingyas leave.
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