Following a Thai crackdown on human trafficking, the UNHCR said last week several thousand migrants were abandoned at sea by smugglers. Many of the arrivals are Rohingyas, a stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar described by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. After being repeatedly turned away and left stranded at seas for weeks, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand finally came to a temporary solution to shelter them for one year. Dr. Gerhard Hoffstaedter and Sumitra Visvanathan join Lee Chwi Lynn in the studio to discuss the politics behind this humanitarian crisis.

Dr. Gerhard Hoffstaedter is an anthropologist and senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, who researches refugee and immigration policy. Sumitra Visvanathan is the executive director of Women's Aid Organization (WAO) and a spokesperson of the Migration Working Group, a network of Malaysian civil society groups and individuals who advocate for the rights of migrants, refugees, stateless persons, trafficked persons and foreign spouses.

*Apologies for the poor audio quality at the start. It is rectified at the two minute mark.

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Tags:  immigration,  migration,  economic migrant,  refugee,  crisis,  myanmar,  burma,  arakan,  rakhine,  stateless,  human trafficking,  1982,  law,  persecution,  minority,  buddhist chauvinism,  boat people,  anti-immigration,  european union,  asean