The Rohingya remain one of the region?s most neglected ethnic minorities... "FOR years, the plight of the Rohingya - a Muslim ethnic minority from the Burma-Bangladesh border - had been fading from world attention. Then, earlier this year, it abruptly reemerged in the public eye following reports that the Royal Thai Navy had towed more than a thousand Rohingya boat people out to sea in engineless boats with little food or water. A few hundred were rescued near India?s Andaman Islands and Indonesia?s Aceh Province, but many others were not so lucky, and are presumed to have died at sea...In Burma, however, the ruling regime has adamantly refused to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country?s indigenous peoples, adding fuel to a fire that other countries in the region are trying to contain. Thailand has long been on the frontlines of Burma?s humanitarian crises, and in this case, it is particularly concerned about the implications of the Burmese junta?s policies. Not only is Thailand host to an estimated 120,000 refugees and perhaps 2 million migrant workers from Burma, it also has an Islamic separatist insurgency raging in its southern provinces and fears that the arrival of thousands of stateless Muslims could further destabilize the situation...The Rohingya are the second-largest ethnic group living in Arakan State, after the ethnic Rakhine; in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships, in the northern part of the state, they are in the majority. But even though they comprise nearly 30 percent of the state?s population of 2.75 million people, they are often treated as if they don?t exist. Ultra-nationalist campaigns initiated by the Burmese government, often with the support of local Buddhist communities, have long portrayed the Rohingya as interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh and India, arguing that they are just another part of the negative legacy of British colonial rule. As part of the effort to drive them out of the state, the Rohingya are routinely subjected to human rights abuses, including forced labor, land confiscation and even restrictions on marriage. They are also frequent targets of extortion and arbitrary taxation... "