Someone once told me a story.

One day, a little girl was playing by the beach. Suddenly she saw a lot of starfish suddenly coming ashore. The beach was flooded with thousands of dying starfish. The little girl was horrified. She started crying but after a while she wiped her tears and started picking up the dying starfish and threw them back into the sea.

One by one, she threw it back but despite her best efforts thousands still lying there on the beach.

A man noticed her and walked towards her. He is curious at the little girl’s action. He approached her and told her, “My dear, do you realise there are thousands of dying starfish here. Even if you stay here all night, you still cannot save them all and make any difference?”

To this the little girl replied, “I know but it makes a difference to that one starfish that I threw back into the sea.”

Early this month, nearly 1,000 Rohingyas were found ashore at Pulau Langkawi. Now it has been revealed that there are nearly 7,000 more Rohingyas are left stranded on vessels along the Malacca Straits.  

The Rohingya are an ethnic minority group in Myanmar that is not recognised by their government and is forced to leave their homeland due to political and religious persecution.

Many paid thousands of Ringgit to escape and are now abandoned by the smugglers.

I know the problem of refugee cannot be resolved easily. No countries want to take on this problem or burden. It’s like if you took in a homeless man, not only you have to feed him but your family also worried whether he will eventually leave one day.

But having said that, it would be totally inhumane for us to leave these people dying on board the ships. Reports have emerged that the stranded Rohingyas are forced to drink their own urine to survive! Every day, the dead are thrown overboard into the sea. It is a sad thought that children and the elderly are dying even as I type.

We as a society must progress. Not only Malaysia but Asean and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) as a whole should come together and share this burden.

Lest we forget, Malaysia is the current term Asean chair and it would be most disheartening if we were to abdicate our duty to resolve the region greatest humanity crisis since the 1970s Vietnam ‘boat people’ crisis.  

What is the point of talking about great economic progress if we cannot find place in our heart to help these poor people? The Rohingyas are not a ball to be kicked around. They are human being. Just like us, they also made of flesh and blood. Let us show some compassion and restore faith in humanity.

We may not be able to save all the refugees but at least it makes a difference to each human being we managed to save. If a little girl also can understand this, it would be a shame if the so-called leaders can’t.

JIMMY PUAH WEE TSE is Johor PKR deputy chairperson-cum-state assemblyperson for Bukit Batu.