An ill-conceived plan to force abused Rohingya back to the place their troubles broke down last week. It's a mark of this group's current tragedy that the failure of the Bangladesh-to-Myanmar repatriation plan was the first good news for the Rohingya in a long time. Officials of the two countries involved wanted to pursue the reverse expulsion. But every refugee involved, the United Nations agency in charge and all aid agencies were opposed.
The result is that the precarious, uncertain and dangerous situation of the Myanmar Rohingya people returns to stalemate. Bangladesh remains heavily burdened by huge refugee camps that sap natural resources. Myanmar is once again a human rights pariah. Given the utter failure of its poorly planned promises of repatriation, criticism of that country is growing, seemingly by the day.
Last week, Amnesty International rescinded its 2009 Ambassador of Conscience Award to Aung San Suu Kyi. Then, she was a prisoner earning international praise and admiration for standing alone and bravely against an abusive military. Today, undeniably, she is the national leader defending an abusive military known worldwide for its murderous ethnic cleansing -- some say genocidal action -- against the Rohingya, the world's largest stateless group.
Among the group's leaders at the Asean summit last week in Singapore, only Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had the gumption to take the Rohingya abuse and crisis to Ms Suu Kyi. He told her he was disappointed, and hoped she would stop "trying to defend what is indefensible". She didn't. After similar criticism to her face by US Vice President Mike Pence, she refused to even address the situation. She and Mr Pence had "different points of view" and both sides should "learn to understand each other better".
The Bangladesh-Myanmar plan called for the repatriation of 2,000 Rohingya last Thursday. None of the people picked for expulsion back to Myanmar agreed to go. Some ran away from the riverside collection point. Thousands staged protests inside their refugee camps to resist. Bangladesh security officials wisely called the whole operation off -- at least temporarily. Hours later, Asean leaders timorously issued a statement saying "the situation in Rakhine state ... is a matter of concern". To appease Ms Suu Kyi on even this bland statement, the word "Rohingya" wasn't uttered. On Friday, by contrast, the UN General Assembly's human rights committee voted to condemn the "gross human rights violations and abuses" against the Rohingya.
The back-and-forth diplomacy leaves the 740,000 expelled Rohingya in limbo. To Bangladesh, they are refugees and there has been no talk of assimilation. Myanmar's Ms Suu Kyi recognises the enormous harm sustained to her country over the human rights issue. She has agreed that some Rohingya, under strict surveillance, can return to Myanmar. But the refugees affected note the problems of such a move, made without sufficient welcoming preparations and recognition of their right to Myanmar nationality.
On Friday, Myanmar marine police stopped and seized a boat carrying 106 Rohingya Muslims who were apparently trying to flee abroad. The arrest revived memories of the last wave of such refugees -- unpleasant memories involving extensive human trafficking and deaths as the Rohingya tried to flee abroad.
It is shameful that Asean has been unwilling to apply enough diplomatic pressure to seek a solution to this crisis. Once again the group has fallen back on its rule of no-action without unanimous consent. With close to a million lives and the dignity of an entire people on the line, the 10-member group should be diligently working towards viable solutions.