They came, they discussed. There were positive developments on Friday at the international conference on the crisis of the Rohingya boat people held in Bangkok and organised by the Thai government. The main and vital points of finding and sheltering those at sea had already been covered in emergency talks before last Friday's meeting. But two other important matters arose from the conference. The first was that every involved nation and group showed up to discuss a subject that has been ignored for too long. Second was that goals were set, despite the presence of Myanmar.
There is a third: the success of the meeting belongs to the government. The conference grew out of an initial suggestion by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for a summit on the boat people problem. That may still happen, but what occurred on Friday was by all means a feather in the Thai leader's cap. Seventeen countries and many organisations attended, including the most outspoken opponents and critics of the military's 2014 coup. Politics were set aside to deal with an actual crisis.
There were, as observers noted, no miracles. The crisis of the boat people will continue for now. No nation, or group of countries, has agreed to move the migrants on, nor was there even serious discussion of moving them back to their own countries, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Countries currently receiving the boat people — Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia - made it clear once again that the promised "shelter" will be stark and even uncomfortable. No one wants migrants calling home to describe their new and wonderful accommodation.
Southeast Asian countries and the West want to make it clear they do not appreciate the migrants fleeing their homes to land on their shores. Given that, most of the serious talk last week centred on why the boat people are leaving in the first place. The answer we know. Myanmar, in particular, and Bangladesh are careless (or worse) about human rights, opportunities and security for their citizens. Myanmar's illogical and eventually unsustainable claim that no Rohingya is a citizen is invalid in this case, as even non-citizens are entitled to some form of protection, and the Rohingya are not receiving this.
Myanmar calls this "finger pointing". Nevertheless it must be said. This is why Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn deserves credit. Instead of falling back on the worn-out "Asean unity" excuse, Gen Tanasak took the bull by the horns. "The root causes that motivate these people to leave must be addressed," he emphatically told the meeting in its opening minutes. Just so. The treatment of the boat people in their home states might not be the only motivation to leave by the tens of thousands. But it is the most important and most obvious.
The meeting raised several million dollars, especially from the United States and Australia. This is a true achievement. The International Organisation of Migration estimates it will cost $26 million (876 million baht) for food, shelter, basic needs and searches for boat people in the Bay of Bengal. The US Navy will join those searches - another success of the conference.
There will be criticism of the conference. For example there is agreement that the issue is urgent and that a follow-up meeting is necessary. But no venue or date was discussed. Delegates also failed to raise the issue of citizenship for Rohingya or even - under a Myanmar walkout threat - use the very word. Although the US has taken some Rohingya, and Malaysia has quietly resettled others, there is no deadline or even a target date for moving the migrants from their temporary camps to a final destination.
In the end, though, the achievements outweighed the criticisms.