羅興亞人 歐洲黑暗時刻在亞洲重現

On May 13 1939 the SS St Louis, a German ocean liner, set sail from Hamburg. On board were 915 Jewish refugees hoping to escape gathering oppression in Europe. There were dances and concerts aboard the luxury vessel and the indulgent captain permitted passengers to throw a tablecloth over an offending bust of Adolf Hitler. Two weeks later, the ship dropped anchor in Havana, pending what passengers, who had purchased Cuban visas, fully expected to be a warm reception. It was not to be. The Cuban authorities turned them away as, subsequently, did those of the US and Canada. The St Louis was obliged to return to Europe. An estimated quarter of its passengers ended up perishing in Nazi concentration camps.

1939年5月13日，德國遠洋班輪“聖路易斯號”(SS St Louis)從漢堡起航。船上有915名猶太難民，他們希望逃離歐洲日益逼近的迫害。這艘豪華客輪上頻頻舉辦舞會和音樂會，寬宏大量的船長還允許乘客在令人不悅的阿道夫•希特勒(Adolf Hitler)半身像上蓋上桌布。兩週後，該船抵達古巴哈瓦那，已經購買了古巴簽證的乘客們滿心期待着熱情的接待。結果並非如此。古巴當局拒絕他們入境，後來美國和加拿大有關部門也作出同樣的決定。聖路易斯號被迫返回歐洲。據估計，其1/4的乘客最後死於納粹集中營。

The St Louis story is served up as a shameful indictment of our forefathers. Yet 75 years later, something just as grotesque is playing out on the azure waters of the Andaman Sea (not to mention the Mediterranean). In the past few weeks, at least 6,000 refugees have been cut adrift in the ocean, refused entry by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Some 300 have died this year, according to the UN. Dehydrated, emaciated and desperate, unless the situation changes rapidly, many More lives will be lost.

聖路易斯號的故事是對我們的祖先的指控，令人愧疚。然而76年後的今天，同樣令人匪夷所思的事發生在湛藍的安達曼海(Andaman Sea)，且不提地中海了。過去幾周，至少6000名難民在海上隨波逐流，被泰國、馬來西亞和印尼拒絕入境。據聯合國(UN)稱，今年已有約300個難民死亡。尚存的難民們脫水、虛弱、絕望，除非形勢迅速出現轉變，否則將有更多人死亡。

For the Rohingya, the bulk of the refugees, there are echoes of the treatment of Jews in Europe. Many are fleeing refugee centres that have been compared to concentration camps. They are a Muslim minority in Myanmar and Bangladesh. In March the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide sent a mission to Myanmar, where up to 1m Rohingya live in Rakhine state. It found they had been “subject to dehumanisation through rampant hate speech, the denial of citizenship, and restrictions on freedom of movement”. Its report concluded that the Rohingya, at least 170 of whom died in mob violence in 2012, were at “grave risk of additional mass atrocities and even genocide”.

大多數難民都是羅興亞人(Rohingya)，他們的遭遇令人聯想起當年歐洲的猶太人。很多難民是從被比作集中營的難民中心逃出來的。他們是生活在緬甸和孟加拉國的一個穆斯林少數民族。今年3月，Simon-Skjodt防止種族滅絕中心(Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide)向緬甸派出一個代表團，緬甸的若開邦(Rakhine)居住着多達100萬的羅興亞人。該中心發現，他們“遭受着非人化待遇，包括猖獗的仇恨言論、得不到公民身份、遷徙自由受到限制”。該組織的報告得出結論認爲，2012年至少有170人死於羣體性暴力事件的羅興亞人，面臨着“更多大規模暴行甚至種族屠殺的嚴重風險”。

This conclusion may be premature. As Richard Horsey, a political analyst, points out, an organisation whose raison d’être is the prevention of genocide will tend to see things through that lens. Still, the conditions of the Rohingya — most of whom are denied citizenship by both Myanmar and Bangladesh — are deplorable and getting worse.

這個結論可能下得太早。正如政治分析人士理查德•霍西(Richard Horsey)所指出的，以防止種族滅絕爲存在理由的組織，總會傾向於透過那樣的棱鏡看問題。話雖如此，羅興亞人的處境——他們中的多數人得不到緬甸和孟加拉國公民身份——是悲慘的，而且正變得更糟。

Who are the Rohingya? Like any ethnically charged question, that is fiercely disputed. To the Buddhists who are the majority in Rakhine state, the dark-skinned Rohingya are interlopers from Bangladesh, referred to pejoratively as “Bengalis”. The Rakhine, who have a proud history of independence, are themselves a persecuted minority. Rohingya trace their origins in Rakhine back to the 15th century. Many others arrived in the British colonial period from 1825 when both Rakhine and Bengal were part of British India. In the second world war, the Rohingya fought with the British, while the Rakhine supported the Japanese who were fleetingly regarded as liberators. Bitterness from that period has lasted until this day.

誰是羅興亞人？就像所有涉及種族的問題那樣，這個問題也存在極大爭議。對於在若開州占人口多數的佛教徒來說，皮膚黝黑的羅興亞人是來自孟加拉國的外來者，他們輕蔑地稱羅興亞人爲“孟加拉人”(Bengalis)。若開人對自己的獨立史引以爲豪，他們本身也是受迫害的少數民族。羅興亞人在若開的起源可追溯到15世紀。還有很多羅興亞人在始於1825年的英國殖民時期來到若開，那時若開和孟加拉都是英屬印度的一部分。二戰時期，羅興亞人與英國人並肩戰鬥，而若開人則支持曾被短暫視爲解放者的日本人。那個時期的仇恨延續至今。

Anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim sentiment more generally has hardened since 2010, when the generals who had run Myanmar for decades slowly lifted their oppressive boot. More free speech has meant more hate speech, much of it directed at Muslims. In April, the government withdrew temporary identity cards after a backlash from Buddhists who did not want the Rohingya to vote. Now, without an official identity, most Rohingya are even more exposed to arbitrary arrest and curbs on movement that imperil their ability to make a living. The sense of hopelessness has pushed increasing numbers to flee.

自2010年統治緬甸數十年的將軍們開始逐漸放鬆鐵腕統治以來，反羅興亞和反穆斯林情緒普遍擡頭。更多的自由言論意味着更多的仇恨言論，其中很多都針對穆斯林。今年4月，政府收回了羅興亞人的臨時身份證，原因是不希望羅興亞人擁有投票權的佛教徒發起抗議。如今，在沒有官方身份的情況下，多數羅興亞人更容易受到任意逮捕和限制行動，危及他們的謀生能力。絕望的感覺推動越來越多的羅興亞人逃離緬甸。

The boats on which the Rohingya have escaped offer no dances or on-board entertainment. Now, cut adrift at sea, like the Jews on board the St Louis, the Rohingya have been refused entry to potential safe havens — although Malaysia and Indonesia have announced an offer of temporary shelter. With smuggling routes cut off — at least for the time being — it ought to be a relatively simple matter to rescue the 6,000 or so refugees still at sea and to find them a home.

羅興亞人的船上顯然沒有舞會和船上娛樂活動。如今，在海上隨波逐流的羅興亞人就像當年聖路易斯號上的猶太人一樣，被拒絕進入潛在的安全港——儘管馬來西亞和印尼已宣佈提供臨時庇護。在偷渡路徑被切斷的情況下——至少現在是這樣——解救6000來名仍在海上漂流的難民並安置他們，應該是相對簡單的事。

That, of course, leaves the more intractable problem of whether Myanmar can reverse its blatantly discriminatory policies. When even Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s democratic icon, hesitates to use the term Rohingya for fear of offending her Buddhist constituents, there seems little prospect of that. Yet if nothing is done to alleviate the suffering of this blighted minority, comparisons with the Jews of 1930s Europe will look evermore apt.

當然，還有一個更加棘手的難題：緬甸能否扭轉其公然歧視性的政策？就連該國的民主偶像昂山素季(Aung San Suu Kyi)也猶豫着不敢使用羅興亞一詞，擔心這會冒犯她的佛教徒支持者，有鑑於此，這一點看起來希望渺茫。但是，如果不能有所作爲、爲這個遭受摧殘的少數民族減輕苦難的話，與1930年代歐洲猶太人的遭遇進行對比將越來越貼切。