22-10-2012, Min Bya, Arakan 10:30 AM, The whole Rohingya Muslim Village Tract, Thayet Aouk (Tharek Aouk) of Min Bya Township with over 450-households has been burn down. There about 20 Rohingyas were killed. The villages have been burnt down by the thousands of Rakhine terrorists since the early morning. No protection from the securities.

Buddhists Rakhines have started set fire from the Zaillya Para (Paik Seik Ywa) since 11:00 PM of last night. About 25 houses were burnt down and 5 Rohingyas were killed. Total about 5000 Rohingyas have become homeless for the above atrocities in Zaillya Para and Thayet Aouk.

Mrauk-U, 11:50 AM, Muslim villages, Baldi Para (Purin Ywa) and Paung Tauk are under set fire by Buddhist Rakhines, at present. There may have death and injure persons.

Addition to, Rakhines warned that all Rohingya villages of Min Bya and Mrauk-U will be burned down in this evening. Rohingyas are helpless and friendless, today. So, Rakhine extremists dare to terrorize continuously. Neither Myanmar Central Government nor International Communities interest to protect world’s most persecuted minority, Rohingya due to assist President Thein Sein’s reforms.



Rohingya Activist
**************************************************************


 

RB News Desk

In order to make the whole Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) Islam Free Zone, Myanmar government is fully plotting and backing the Rakhine Extremists and Terrorists to try all the possible means to fulfill the overall objectives setup since many decades after independence. Every single event related to recent Rakhine Violence shows the proofs. One of the latest events is:

On 21st October, 2012, at 11:15pm, about Five Thousand Rakhine and Mrama Gyi (Bawr Gwa) extremists and terrorists from Min Bya Township, Rakhine State, set on fire a Rohingya village, Pike Thay Ywa, in the same township. More than Twenty Rohingya houses were burnt down to ash. These extremists and terrorists also chopped a Rohingya with sharp knife, who is now very serious, and threw iron arrows to those Rohingyas who were running away in order to escape from fire. Due to these arrows, scores were seriously injured. In the said village, there were only five military members who tried as a show to control the mob. Basing on this violence, it proves that government imposed Section-144 is not applicable for Buddhists of any race (only applicable for Rohingyas) as this reporting event happened within the hour of Section-144.

Again, on 22nd October, 2012 (i.e. today), at 6:30am, the same Rakhine Extremists and Terrorists set on fire to another Rohingya village, Pike Myaung – The Yet Oak, in the same township. Updated information up to this reporting hour (10:30am), the village is under burning condition. It is worried that if the whole village is burnt into ashes, more than hundred houses will be destroyed and the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) will be too much. In addition to these two events, this mob is trying to surround another Rohingya village, Kyeik Taung, in the same township at 8:30am of today. The information of the consequences of this last event is under collecting process.

All the information was collected by interviewing localities of the said villages.

Reported by Rohingya Youths

RB News Desk

This is the beginning of my book about getting to know Rohingya in Rakhine. 

“We have no time for you.” How these words have haunted me. Haunted ME?!? How about the mother who carried her ill six month old son to our health compound hours before clinic hours started. This mother asked for medical help for her son. Our clinic assistant replied, “’We have no time for you.’” Four mornings later this mother’s son was dead.

She repeated, “’We have no time for you,’” as tears rolled down her cheeks. Tears flowed while she cradled her arms, showing me how she yearned to hold her precious alive baby boy again. I was sitting close to her. I instinctively reached for her hand. Her hand welcomed the touch, my touch. Soon, we held hands. This contact communicated so much. She mattered. Her son’s death mattered. They mattered to a stranger, to this American doctor.

This woman adjusted her black headscarf, which shifted in the breeze, as we sat outside her woven bamboo house. You see, she was Muslim and, therefore, here in Rakhine State, Burma, aka Myanmar, she didn’t matter. The message to this loving mother who’s concern and correct judgment to ask for medical care for her ill infant son, was “You don’t matter.” She and her son didn’t matter to our Rakhine Buddhist clinic assistant.

This mother and I sat close in the front seat as our driver took us into our clinic compound. She dreaded having to return to the scene. She pointed to identify which assistant had turned her away and said, “The fat one.” Then she bent her head down, cried more and accepted my offered hand, again.

Of course the fat clinic assistant was standing close to the fatter Burmese clinic doctor. I couldn’t just assume and had the driver loop around again. Through tears the dear mother clarified and specifically identified the assistant as the perpetrator of refusal of care.

Then, she quickly turned away her head. Somehow, I knew she was expressing more than sorrow. The assistant shamed, humiliated her. She was a mother with a sick infant seeking help. “Shame on you,” was the message within the response. This caring and grieving mother still felt humiliated, dehumanized for doing what mothers universally do, i.e. care for their children.

My hand, my closeness, listening and understanding were making a human connection with someone who was mourning the loss of her son and the lack of humanity in connection with his death.

This was not the first time this mother had been dehumanized. The atmosphere of life for Muslims in Northern Rakhine State was infused with humiliation and dehumanization from the ruling military government, the military border security forces, named NaSaKa, local security forces, many Rakhine Buddhists and other civilians from outside Rakhine.

Northern Rakhine State (NRS) is the area in Burma with the largest and most concentrated numbers of Muslims. Muslims of Rakhine and many other minorities populations in Burma have been targets of the ruling military regime’s brutal persecution and human rights abuses for many decades.

The aura of persecution clung to me soon after my arrival to the project. But I found the Muslims’ strength of character and peaceful dignity in the face of inhumanity awe inspiring and compelling.

Nora E. Rowley MD MPH

Tonight, the Rohingya fishermen village (Zaillya Para) in Min Bya Township of Arakan, Burma is under attacked by about 5000 Magh terrorists. According to telephone talk, when this message is written, 4 of the homes have been burnt to ash and other 19 others are blazing. 5 people have been confirmed died and unknown other casualties yet. It does not seem any security forces giving protections to the villagers since the offensive was broken out. Rohingyas are fearlessly killed in this way every days life by Buddhist extremist Magh in Arakan but international community including UN never considered to take the responsibility on giving protection to these world most persecuted Muslim.

It is very misfortune for the world Muslim too for being failures in identifying the violence as Genocide or Apartheid or Ethnic Cleansing. World leaders come to pay visit in Burma one after another and said they have urged the government to stop the violence and respect the human rights for every people living in Arakan. They also comment by saying as the response from Burmese quasi government as satisfactory or positive.

Now, it is clear that no US, UK, EU and ASEAN will take any measure to move against genocide in Burma against Rohingya but Rohingya for themselves should be claimed their own responsibility to give the protection to their community people.

Ko Ko Linn

M.S. Anwar
RB Article
October 21, 2012

What immediately comes to your mind when you hear the word “Nigger?” What do you think what will happen to you if use the term in USA today? It was a term most famous for its usage in a derogatory context to refer to the black people in USA and used to ethnically disgrace the people of Sub-Saharan African descents although the term had originally been used in neutral context. But in UK and other Anglophone world, nigger was a term used to denote the dark-skinned Africans and Asians especially from India and nearby countries colonized into the British Empire in particular and other dark-skinned people in general. With the embracement of democracy in the west and as the aftermaths of success of blacks’ struggles for equality in the region, hardly can one find racial discriminations or any words which incite racism in the world today.

Yet, in a certain country known as Burma or Myanmar today, which has been isolated from the rest of the world for most of its history after independence, there exist severe racism, chauvinism and ultra-nationalism. In fact, its government is known for inciting racism for political gains. Though other ethnic minorities in Burma are discriminated by the dominative majority ultra-nationalist Bamas, a certain ethnic minority called Rohingyas who have been living in Arakan (the western-state of Bruma) from the time immemorial is the worst discriminated and most hated one on account of their skin-colors (many Rohingyas are skinned), appearances, ethnic origin and religion. Unfortunately, Rohingyas happen to be only people of Indian origin in a country with overwhelmingly mongoloid people. Racists in Burmese society use a pejorative term “Kular” to refer Rohingyas or any people of Indian origin, which is strikingly same with the usage of “Nigger” by whites to refer the blacks in America in the past.

Like Nigger, “Kular” was a neutral term used to refer Indian in the past. In fact, the term “Kular” has a very good literal meaning. According to U Hoke Sein’s Pali-Myanmar-English Dictionary, Dr. Than Tun and U Khin Maung Saw, “Kular” means Noble Race, while “Kular Putta” means Son of Noble Race or of Good Family. It is said that the term was for the first time used to refer Siddhartha Gautama Buddha because he was also an Indian. As of today, racists in Burma use the term Kular to disgrace the people of Indian origin or even Muslims who are not of Indian descend (e.g. Malays and Indonesians). For them, being Muslims is enough to be called as Kulars. They don’t seem to know the meaning of the term or intentionally ignore it due to high degree of delusion, xenophobia and institutional hatred or ignorance in the society.

Although these Burma’s Niggers, Rohingyas, have been discriminated and persecuted through historical periods under different dictatorial regimes in Burma, they are currently in a worse situation than Jews were in Nazi Extermination Camps during WW2. They are worse discriminated than black people were in America. As a matter of fact, there are mass killings and state-sponsored ethnic cleansing of them being carried out in cooperation with Rakhine extremists. Burmese regime in collaboration with the extremist leaders of Rakhine community instigated the violence against Rohingyas alleging three Rohingyas of raping a Rakhine woman called Ma Thida Tway. For many logical and intellectual Burmese, there was no such a rape incidence at all. They rightly point out the following gaping holes:

(1) There was no single eyewitness who had seen the rape taking place.

(2) The main alleged rapist of the three called Htet Htet was not a Rohingya but a Rakhine who used to practice Islam. He had not had any connection with the alleged raped victim.

(3) According to the medical reports which government didn't disclose the general public, Ma Thida Twe was not raped but robbed and killed.

(4) Authority carried out a closed-door court proceeding after Htet Htet had denied committing such a rape.

(5) Burma's prisons are known for killings, not for suicides. How could a person who had been beaten so much so that his legs and other parts of body below waist became paralyzed commit suicide? One must be able to stand on somewhere in order to get himself hanged, which Htet Htet could not. If he didn't hang himself, then how did he commit suicide? Burmese authority didn't disclose any information upon their court proceedings and how he had committed suicide to the public. Besides, there are many more gaping holes in the conspiracy.

Since the systematic ethnic cleansing of Rohigyas was instigated on 8th June 2012, the atrocities against them have been being carried out in large scale. Rohingyas’ homes were burnt down and thousands of them were displaced on their own land. Many thousands of them were killed though Burmese officials grossly understated the number of their deaths. Their properties are looted on daily basis and their women and under-aged girls were or are either raped or gang-raped by Military and others. Their mosques and religious have been locked down. Their educated people and other innocent people have been detained for nothing. Their access to foods and medicines are blocked.

So often, there have been country-wide anti-Rohingya and anti-Kular protests led by the skinned-head fascists in saffron and Burmese chauvinists. All these protests are indirectly incited and supported by the Burmese regime to justify their behaviors and implement their plans. Burmese murderous regime and Rakhine extremists have lied, deceived and tried all the tricks to cover up their crimes against humanity. The world seems to have fallen into their traps. And Rohingyas are living in the hell on the earth and hardly anyone seems to put efforts into improving their dying situation.

These niggers have cried a lot to international community and the western-countries, the so-called human right champions, to for help. Their outcries are not heard and their plight is not seen by many but a few countries and organizations. All have been after Burma’s natural resources and to take advantage of its strategic geo-political location. Rohingyas will be exterminated if the mass killings continue for a year. Before it is too late, educated Rohingyas should wake up and know that no one is going to help them in today’s hypocritical world. They need to help themselves. Malcom X, an American nigger revolutionary leader and a leader I admire most, said “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”

(Note: Some of my writings here are inspired by Dr. Maung Zarni, a human right activist and research fellow at LSE.)

M.S. Anwar is an activist and student studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College, Malaysia. 

 Dr. Tim Chambless, associate professor in the Department of Political Science, addresses attendees at the “Voices for Rohingya: Stop the Genocide!” lecture in the Union on Thursday night.

The Muslim Student Association and Miles for Water collaborated at a presentation in the Union on Thursday night to raise awareness about a genocide occurring in Burma.

“Not many people know the specifics of the genocide, much less that it’s happening or why it’s happening,” said Faeiza Javed, president of the Muslim Student Association and a student in social work.

The presentation began with a summary of the Rohingya, a group of Muslim people residing in the Arakan region of Burma, and a brief rundown of their history, including issues pertaining to their displacement.

“The Rohingya are in what is now Burma and they’ve been there all along. But when Burma became Burma, every leader since then has mistreated them,” said Gerald Brown, the director of Refugee Services in Utah. “I think it’s pretty clear that it’s because they look different than the people in Burma now and they’re of a different religion.”

Brown said that one of the main problems that Rohingya refugees are often confronted with is not being considered refugees by the country they flee to — countries that don’t want to follow the international law on how to treat refugees.

Tim Chambless, a professor of political science, summarized different acts of genocide in the last 200 years all over the world, including the extermination of the Jewish people and other groups during the Holocaust, tribal violence in Rwanda and the enslavement of black people in the United States.

“I’ll start with the definition of genocide. It’s a terrible word with terrible synonyms: murder, massacre … Slaughter, ethnic cleansing, the extermination of an ethnic group,” he said. “The tragic fact is that genocide has a long history.”
Chambless said that numbers on how many millions of people have been victims of genocide or ethnic cleansing are disputed.

“When we look at these numbers, they aren’t just numbers — they’re people. They’re mothers, fathers, children with goals and aspirations like most of us,” said Hussein Mohammed, the host of the evening.

Iqbal Hossain, president of the Islamic Society in Salt Lake, concluded the presentation, talking about Muslims today and how they are often perceived by the media.

“In my humble opinion, it is imprudent to color the genocide in Myanmar as a Muslim issue,” he said. “[This] is because it’s a crime against humanity.”

Hossain said that God created people into human beings first, then made us into different tribes, races, religions and colors.

“Myanmar authorities should cease human rights violations against the Rohingya and Bangladesh should stick to its duties under the U.N. Convention on the Protection of Refugees by accepting boats of Rohingya refugees and allowing them to settle in refugee camps until they are granted full citizenship rights in Myanmar,” Javed said.

The point of the presentation was to raise awareness for the issues and also encourage attendees to sign and send an appeal letter to the local government officials, the U.N. Security Council and the parliaments of Myanmar Bangladesh.

The appeal urges the Myanmar Parliament to pass legislation that grants full citizenship to the Rohingya, which will include granting of all rights of citizens of Myanmar, including the right to hold land titles, travel and other rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


Contact Ainsley Cook at a.cook@chronicle.utah.edu

On 20th October, 2012, at 9:00pm, a group of Nasaka from Pa-Nyaung Pin Gyi (Daung Kharli) Nasaka camp, Maungdaw south, entered to Gawdu Tha Yah village tract, Naw Yah Fara, Maungdaw south, and chased three Rohingya youths to arrest. These Rohingyas were walking about in the village road since the Section-144 effects from 10:00pm to 4:00am. But, from the point of Nasaka, the time does not matter at all if it is related to Rohingyas. Fortunate to these three Rohingyas, they were able to escape from the arrest by running away. This Nasaka group intentionally and falsely informed to Sector (7) Commander after the hour effect of Section-144 (which was after 10:00pm) that all the villagers attempted to do something wrong to them. The Sector Commander sent another group of Nasaka to join the first group. When both groups were in place, they angrily surrounded the village. At 12:00am, Nasaka knocked the gate of a Rohingya house. No sooner did the owner open the gate than Nasaka fired two bullets to the owner directly and he died on the spot. In addition to this, Nasaka arrested three of his own sons and one son-in-law. The dead person is identified as: U Abdul Hakim (F) U Inneah Amin, 72 years. The arrestees are:

1. Abdul Aziz (F) U Abdul Hakim 25 years 

2. Abdul Hamid (F) U Abdul Hakim 18 years 

3. Mohammed Roshid (F) U Abdul Hakim 15 years 

4. Mohammed Rofique, son-in-law of U Abdul Hakim 35 years

Moreover, two houses, one opposite and another adjacent to this house, were raided continuously and arrested five more Rohingyas. They are:

1. Roshid Ahmed (F) U Esark 30 years 

2. Eliyas (F) U Abu Tahayr 15 years 

3. Noor Kobir (F) U Abu Tahayr ? 

4. Aman Ullah (F) U Abdu Shukkur 22 years 

5. Salim Ullah (F) U Fozol ?

All the nine arrestees were brought to and detained in their camp while the shot corpse was animally thrown in the paddy field. Nasaka guarded the corpse till 2:00pm of today (21st October, 2012) and handed over the corpse to Maungdaw General Hospital while the arrestees were handed over to Myanmar Police Force (Maungdaw Station). Nasaka told the remaining family members that the corpse will be given back in the evening of today. Up to this reporting time (7:00pm), the corpse has not been handed over to family for bury.

Hereby, it can be evaluated that the dead figure of Rakhine violence (78 persons only) announced by Myanmar Central Government is constant, theoretical and un-updateable how-much-ever more dead cases occur.

All these information were gathered from a close relative of the dead Rohingya.

RB News Desk

Muslim Rohingyas stand outside a school sheltering Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the village of Theik Kayk Pyim, located on the outskirts of Sittwe, capital of Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. — AFP

SITTWE — Barbed wire and armed troops guard the Muslim quarter of a violence-wracked city in western Myanmar, a virtual prison for the families that have inhabited its narrow streets for generations.

The security forces outside the ghetto in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe are not there to stop its residents leaving — although few dare to anyway — but to protect them from Buddhist mobs after an outburst of sectarian hatred.

In the nearby city center, life has regained some semblance of normality since the authorities imposed a state of emergency in June in response to Buddhist-Muslim clashes that left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.

But inside the tense enclave of Aung Mingalar, hundreds of families from the Rohingya Muslim minority group say they are living in fear for their lives.

“Rakhines will attack us today,” one man told AFP at Friday prayers last week.

The same evening groups of Rakhine Buddhists — who have also accused the Rohingya of attacks on their communities — gathered outside the barriers, prompting troops to fire warning shots and sparking panic inside.

On three separate days earlier in the week, hundreds of ethnic Rakhines — sometimes led by Buddhist monks — had marched near the perimeter demanding the “relocation” of Aung Mingalar.

Their shouts were clearly audible by people within the ghetto, who could only imagine what was happening outside.

“In my opinion, living in the Sahara desert in Africa would be better than living in this situation,” said 28-year-old Mohamed Said, tears welling in his eyes.

“We cannot suffer anymore. We have lost everything but our lives. We are human beings as well,” a crying Said said.

Between 3,000 and 8,000 people are thought to live in an area of roughly 0.5 sq km, where no traffic circulates and almost all shops have been shuttered.

Supplies of food — mainly rice — are provided by the authorities and some benevolent Buddhist locals, forced to deliver aid discreetly for fear of fanning local resentments. But there is not enough to eat.

Some Rohingya have dared to breach the barriers — which vary from bamboo and barbed wire to simple security cordons — hiding their faces under hoods to prevent people identifying them.

But most people have not ventured outside in four months.

“This bamboo fence is like a psychological barrier, symbolizing the fear that separates the two worlds,” said Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, which campaigns for Rohingya rights.

Calls are growing for the Muslim quarter to be moved.

“If the Aung Mingalar quarter stays in the city centre, the problem will get worse,” said Nya Na, a leader of a monk association.

“I don’t want the two communities to fight. It is risky for them to stay.”

The stateless Rohingya have long been considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

The segregation recalls South African apartheid in the 1980s, “but worse” because the Rohingya are unable to leave their camps, Lewa said.

“Freedom of movement was always an issue for the Rohingya, but it is an extreme restriction now,” said Sarnata Reynolds, of aid group Refugees International.

“Unofficially there seems to be widespread agreement that the camps will likely be there for three years or more, and that it might be the beginning of a permanent segregation.” — 

Sources Here:

Date 19.10.2012 According to the source of ERC, Rohingya Muslims of Alethankyaw were summoned to attend a meeting arranged by Border Control (Na Sa Ka) area 8 commander Aung Naing Oo and police officers today. But no one appeared to the meeting. So they send security forces to the village and herded all Rohingya Muslims they found on the road and in the village to the meeting ground. The area commander told the people that they have to live together with Bengali Rakhine people, under their command and obey their orders like slaves because Bengali Rakhines are citizens of the country and Rohingya Muslims are aliens who are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Anyone who disobeys Bengali Rakhine will be severely punished. They said that whoever unwilling to live under this condition should leave the country forever. When a Rohingya Muslim raised the question why authorities are arresting innocent Muslims who are not committed any crimes, the authority answered that it was because Rakhines had complained about those peoples and there were 81 more peoples in their list to be arrested.

Rohingya Muslims always intend to peacefully coexist with ethnic Rakhines as they have lived for many years but not in the condition the authorities described. Rohingya Muslims need equal citizenship as Rakhines. We Rohingyas are not aliens but citizens of the country. We Rohingyas are the natives of our mother land Arakan. So we seek urgent intervention from international community to solve this problem.

About 3,000 Rohingya Muslims living in the temporary shelters in the shen khali Village of Rathedaung Township are in dire situation. They are starving and need urgent food and medication supply. We request NGOs to help and save these peoples from starvation.

Muslims in Arakan State are decided not to perform Qurbani (Sacrifice) this year one of the most important days in Islam. Since Rohingya Muslims are not allowed to pray compulsory five time prayer in Mosque they say that they should better refrain.

ERC Media  

Media@theerc.net 

0049 15 737 444 515

U Shwe Maung @ U Abdul Razak (MP from Buthidaung, Rakhine State) mentioned that Rakhine State Conflict is a mixture of ethnic and religious and highlighted five points. They are (1) Lack of rule of law in northern Rakhine State as one terrorist group is above the law(2) Accusation of Rohingyas as illegal immigrants is absolutely not true but they are indegenius as living for centuries (3) Issuance of Citizenship Cards is crucial for peaceful coexistence and social harmony, (4) Freedom of movement and trading, access to higher and professional education, access to markets for food are very important and (5) According to report and databse (name, fathername, sex , NRC no and address) of local people, death toll of Rohingyas in Sittwe District is 573 ( 482 in Sittwe Township and 91 in Minbya, Kyauktaw, Mrauk Oo, Pauk Taw and Rathedaung Townships) and ith will be more if of Maungdaw District is added.

U Shwe Maung also gave a certified true copy of ( FOREIGN-1826-DEPT Secret Consultation:9 June NO.: 10 ), which is a report prepared in 1826 in Arakan by the British Government. This report proofs that Rohingya are living in Arakan before 1823 and therefore indeginious in accord with 1982 Citizenship Law. The original document is at the National Archive of India. Finally U Shwe Maung gave two messages for President U Thein Sein. They are (1) Please grant presidential amnesty for 550 Rohingyas from Maungdaw District who are in Buthidaung jail for peaceful coexistence and stability, (2) Please help for 400 Sittwe University Muslim Students who could not attend due to lack of security & rule of law and for those students who qualified for Professional Universities outside the Rakhine State.

Dr. Aye Maung (MP from Sittwe, Rakhine State) discussed about Land Confiscation by Army and objected U Shwe Maung's statements on death-toll and usage of "Rohingya" , "Indeginious" and "Living for centuries". He also told that there are no Rohingya and because of this usage the Conflict took place and they regard this people as immigrants. In conclusion, Mr. William J. Burns explained that they will help and cooperate not only with Government but also with Pyithu Hluttaw Speaker and parliamentarians to find solutions.

News from Diplomatic Source of Burma

U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, talks during a news conference about U.S. humanitarian assistance for Rakhine State, at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon October 19, 2012. Mitchell said on Friday that the U.S. government will donate $2.73 million to U.N. responders in Rakhine State. Ongoing fighting with ethnic minority groups and violence against ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state has killed at least 77 people and left 90,000 homeless since June 2012. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun (MYANMAR - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Credit: REUTERS

Published date: 10/19/2012

Sources Here:

When offending the Muslim world seems a small price to pay

Oct 20th 2012 | YANGON | 

source here

In Myanmar and beyond, many are excited about the country's future where, after decades of direct military rule, a new era suddenly seems to be opening up under reformist President Thein Sein. However, for some ethnic and religious minorities, liberalisation and sweeping political reforms are hardly a cause for optimism. The most notable among them are the Rohingyas, a Muslim community, brutalised ever since Myanmar gained independence and who only this year has been the target of pillaging mobs and an unsympathetic security apparatus. They are widely regarded as one of the world's most persecuted minorities and the most persecuted minority in Asia.

On September 2, the world witnessed scenes reminiscent of a time when Adolf Hitler's storm troopers marched the streets demanding the suppression of Jews. Except that these protesters were not Nazi storm troopers but Buddhist monks, people who have been revered for centuries for their undying commitment to peace and tolerance. The rally supported Myanmar President Thein Sein's suggestion that the Rohingya population in Myanmar should be put in camps and sent across the border to Bangladesh or any other nation that would accept them.

This is the biggest rally to have taken place in Myanmar since the Buddhist Monks' protests of 2007. Back then, the monks defied the military rulers and flooded the streets of Yangon and other towns proclaiming their loving kindness for all human beings. But this time, there was no kindness but only hatred for Asia's most persecuted minority.

For years, the military junta, deprived of popular mandate, has exploited Theravada Buddhism in a majority Buddhist country. This has resulted in the persecution of religious minorities, i.e., the Christians and especially the Muslims. All Muslim communities in Myanmar have been subjected to gross violation of human rights. The Directorate of Defense Security Intelligence, one of Myanmar's military intelligence services, is widely believed to have agents working among monks. Whatever the reasons, this demonstration of hate by the men in saffron robes does not bode well for the already embattled Rohingya community.

This demonstration happened in the aftermath of the bloody riots that had taken place in the Rakhine state starting from June this year. When Myanmar is entering a new era of liberalisation, the spate of violence on the Rohingyas could have prompted condemnation and national soul-searching led by those who had risked death and imprisonment in their struggle for democracy and human rights. Instead, the riots unleashed a wave of populist racism and bigotry directed against the victims of the Arakanese violence. The level of hatred can be gauged by the comments of an educated Rakhine woman who returned to the country after 20 years when she told news network Al Jazeera, “Human rights are for human beings only. Are Rohingyas humans?”

In the wake of the political reforms that had taken place under President Thein Sein, hundreds of political activists have returned from exile and hundreds of heroic political prisoners have been released. If the Rohingyas expected support from them, they were bitterly disappointed. Few in Myanmar will stand up for the downtrodden Rohingyas -- not even Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman revered by the Rohingyas.

The situation of the Rohingyas in Myanmar has never been more hopeless. For a long time, the Rohingyas had counted on Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League of Democracy to rescue them. But Suu Kyi is in a difficult position. No politician in Myanmar gains popularity by standing up for the Rohingyas. When Suu Kyi was asked if the Rohingyas were Myanmar's citizens, she replied that she did not know. She has not condemned the security forces for their bloody crackdown on the Rohingyas. She did, however, meet with Muslim leaders in Yangon during the riots and issued a call for tolerance. Other leaders of the democracy movement were even less sympathetic.

In the meantime, amidst the fanfare of political reforms, populist fascism continues to find its voice. Now that many of the heroes of the democratic movement, the 'peace loving' Buddhist monks join the military rulers in promoting this populist fascism, the new era of Myanmar is likely to result in a genocidal situation for the Rohingyas. It is unfortunate that the next time Myanmar's brutal security apparatus carries out murder, rape, mass arrests and other forms of suppression against this unfortunate community, they shall have the backing of the pro-democracy movement and the respected Buddhist clergy as was the case this year.

Even the reaction of the foreign powers that could pressure Myanmar was worrying. As Rakhine mobs pillaged Rohingya settlements, killing, looting and raping, aided by the security forces, the US embassy in Yangon praised the Myanmar government's handling of the communal unrest in Arakan State. “This is something we would not have seen in the past. The government is trying to help everybody who needs it whether that is Rakhine Buddhists or Muslims,” the embassy's Charge d'Affaires, Michael Thurston, said in an interview with Reuters. On the other hand, the US government pressured Bangladesh to open up its borders to the refugees who were fleeing the violence, asking the impoverished country to be more humane. It may be argued that the reason for these double standards is that the US is eyeing the abundant natural resources of Myanmar in wake of the political and economic reforms the country is going through.

Six decades of persecution
The plight of the Rohingyas in Arakan began when the Japanese conquered Myanmar and drove the British out from Myanmar, then known as Burma in 1942. Unlike the Arakanese Buddhists who supported the Japanese, the Arakanese Muslims were supportive of the British. As a result, the Japanese forces were brutal in their treatment of the Muslims. They were joined by the Arakanese Buddhists in persecuting the Muslims of the land and many had to flee to what was then British India. Many Arakanese Muslims joined the struggle to free Arakan from Japanese rule. A subsequent Allied victory allowed them to return to Arakan, but their future became uncertain.

It is worth mentioning that it was during the time of World War II that the Arakenese Muslims sought refuge in the term 'Rohingya' in an attempt to unify their ranks in the bloody struggle. The term 'Rohingya' as a separate ethnic identity was recognised in the history of independent Burma only by the democratically elected government of U Nu that ruled from 1948-58. But when General Ne Win took over in 1962, the situation began to take a dangerous turn for the Rohingyas as it did for other Muslims of Myanmar. A gruesome period of history for the Rohingyas was about to start.

Arbitrary killings, rape, property confiscation, theft and so on, perpetuated by the authorities in cohort with local miscreants, became widespread. The phenomenon, very common since the military junta took over in 1962, can be described as 'slow burning genocide', devised to escape international attention but quietly and gradually achieving the ultimate intention -- complete ethnic cleansing and/or driving the Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

AFP

This process of 'slow burning genocide' has not always been the norm. In 1978, the Burmese military devised and implemented operation 'Nagamin' (Dragon King). Officially, this campaign aimed at 'scrutinising each individual living in the state, designating citizens and foreigners in accordance with the law and taking actions against foreigners who have filtered into the country illegally'. In practice, this meant mass killings of Rohingya civilians, rape, torture, religious persecution and more. Rohingya children were killed for no greater an offense than the mother failing to show proper identity cards. More than 200,000 Rohingyas fled the country into Bangladesh during this time.

In 1991, the government conducted another similar drive which resulted in another exodus of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh. This time, international pressure halted this genocidal purge early. Since then, oppression against the Rohingyas has been more subtle, designed to escape international attention, till the bloody riots flared up in Rakhine province this year.

The riots of 2012
The immediate cause of the bloody riots was the rape and murder of Thidar Htwe, a Rakhine woman as she made her way home from a nearby village. The alleged perpetrators of this heinous crime were three Rohingya youths, though it is impossible to verify whether they were actually guilty. Tensions between the two communities have existed for generations. The rape and murder of Thidar Htwe was the spark that lit the tinderbox. Many analysts have suggested that this murder and rape was planned and executed by a vested quarter that wanted to inflame anti-Rohingya sentiments at a critical point of the country's history to deprive them, once and for all, of their place in this nation.

Six days later, a lynch mob of 300 Rakhines ambushed a bus carrying Muslim pilgrims. Ten of the passengers were clubbed to death and a Muslim woman was sexually assaulted. The victims were however not from Arakan state.

On June 8, after Friday prayers, Rohingyas gathered in the town of Maundaw protesting the attack on the Muslim pilgrims. As the police, known for their near genocidal purges of the Rohingyas began to turn up in riot gear, the crowds turned violent. Elsewhere, Rakhine mobs gathered and attacked Rohingyas. In retaliation, the Rohingyas scattered in different directions and began attacking Rakhine settlements.

The government reacted quickly by declaring a Section 144 the very next day and a curfew on Sunday. These measures did not, however, stop the violence and nor was it intended for that purpose. In fact, the curfew was intended to give the Rakhines an upper hand in the violence. While the security forces made sure the Rohingyas stayed indoors, mobs of Rakhines looted and pillaged with impunity. Videos of burning Rohingya villages surfaced all over the internet and the international news networks. Many of the looters, proud of their handiwork, spoke before cameras. The security forces did little to stop them and in many cases aided the mobs. There were consistent reports of extra judicial killings, beatings and intimidation of the Rohingyas by the armed forces. Many Rohingyas were killed and women were raped during this time. The government figures suggested that altogether 78 people, mostly Rohingyas, died in the conflict. Human rights groups estimate the figure to be much higher.

There were unconfirmed reports of dead bodies littered in the streams between Buthidaung and Maungdaw, the two major Rohingya settlements. A few Rakhine soldiers also spoke of mowing down Rohingyas with machine guns, though it is difficult to verify whether they actually did it, or just claimed this out of sheer hatred. Since the government monitored the movements of journalists and foreign aid workers in Rakhine province, authentic information is hard to come by. Many refugees in the Bangladeshi camps have however claimed that they have not heard from their friends or relatives on the other side of the border since the riots.

A report of Human Rights Watch published on August 1 accused security forces of perpetrating crimes against the Rohingyas that included murder, rape and mass detention and doing little to prevent violence from spiralling.

Currently, Sittwe, the main city of Arakan, which used to be a mixed city where Rakhines had a slim majority, is virtually Rohingya-free. About 100,000 Rohingyas displaced by the violence have been housed in squalid refugee camps.

This is hardly the first time that the Rohingyas have been targeted for murder, rape, pillage, arson and other forms of criminal activities in the Arakan. As Myanmar enters a new era, many iconic figures of the democracy movement, the Buddhist clergy and the vast majority of the Rakhine population cheer on, while the security forces and criminal mobs commit heinous crimes in the name of national security on Asia's most persecuted minority. The Rohingyas face a very dark future in a country which they regard as their homeland. Shudeepto Ariquzzaman works for a private organisation based in Dhaka.

 

Sources Here:

Through Timothy Dwight College’s Chubb Fellowship, Nobel Prize laureate and internationally renowned democracy and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a speech at Sprague Hall that drew roughly 700 attendees. Photo by Joyce

This is the first piece in Erin McDonough’s new WEEKEND Blog column, “International Bulletin: A quick dispatch for the curious Eli.”

There’s no doubt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has a sterling record. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she recently re-entered the political sphere following nearly two decades of house arrest. Now she leads Burma’s chief opposition party in addition to serving in the country’s parliament. Considered something of a living legend, she is reverently referred to as “The Lady” by the international community. Jason Burke of The Guardian recently compare her peacekeeping fame to that of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. On Sept. 27, having traveled to campus as the recipient of Yale’s Chubb Fellowship, Suu Kyi addressed the Yale community about the virtue and necessity of proper rule of law.

“For us, human rights and rule of law went together,” Suu Kyi said. “Unless there is rule of law, there can be no guarantee of human rights… Rule of law is what rules our lives from day to day. If it is rule of unjust laws, then we are ruled unjustly from day to day.”

These poignant words aren’t falling on deaf ears. In the past year, Burma’s government has made critical changes for the better — it has eased censorship, halted the construction of a controversial Chinese dam and respected the NLD’s sweep of the nation’s April by-elections. Following Thein Sein’s election to the Burmese presidency in March 2011, more than 600 political prisoners were released in a demonstration of the nation’s burgeoning “love and sympathy." As a sign of its continuing commitment to political change, the regime released 500 more prisoners this past September.

Still, Suu Kyi’s idyllic rendering of rule of law points to an obvious irony within Burma: The nation’s Buddhist majority — comprising 60 percent of the population —is benefiting from the country’s progression toward democracy while the nation’s minorities suffer from persecution. Burma’s Rohingya Muslim population bears the brunt of ongoing sectarian discrimination.

A bit of context: A recent UNHCR report approximates that 800,000 Rohingya still reside in Burma, with an additional 400,000 refugees in neighboring Bangladesh, and 200,000+ across Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia. Despite having lived in Burma for generations, the Rohingya are denied Burmese citizenship, under the country’s 1982 Citizenship Act. Additionally, the government limits their access to higher education, equitable marriage policies, land ownership and labor rights.

Last May, three Muslim Rohingya raped a Buddhist woman. The incident served as a catalyst for increased sectarian violence in the southwest state of Rakhine, where the majority of the Rohingya live. Thus far, Human Rights Watch reports that as many as 100,000 more Rohingya have become refugees as a result of this conflict. This group will join the already-overpopulated regional refugee camps currently home to about 300,000 Rohingya.

Speaking of his refugee policy, Burmese President Thein Sein noted, “We will send them away if any third country would accept them.”

Indeed, Rohingya refugees are frequently turned away at the borders of Bangladesh. Boatloads of people are often left floating along the Naf

River Delta, literally stranded between two countries. In the midst of this ethnic conflict, just where does Suu Kyi’s “rule of law” fit in?

Perhaps justifiably, Suu Kyi has received censure of a manner rarely associated with her name for her silence on the plight of the Rohingya. Many frame her ambiguity in the context of Burma’s upcoming elections. Francis Wade of Al-Jazeera explained it as such:

“What lies behind her silence? When pressed on the subject in the wake of the June rioting, she talked of a need to ‘clarify’ citizenship laws and urged the government to grant equal rights to ‘all ethnic minorities.'" Wade wrote. “It was deliberately vague and diversionary — Rohingya are not considered an ethnic minority by the powers that by in Myanmar, meaning she quietly avoided angering her supporters.”

Though we expect explicit condemnation of ethnic violence from one of the world’s leading pro-democracy advocates, is that fair? Is omission a sin?

Surprisingly, Suu Kyi came close to addressing the concerns about ethnic violence in her speech to the Yale community.

“Some have questioned whether it was right to put rule of law before end to ethnic conflict,” she said. “We did that because we believe that — practically speaking — we cannot bring an end to ethnic conflict unless there is rule of law. Unless we can assure our ethnic nationalities that justice will not only be done but seen to be done for them, we would not be able to support any peace process with confidence.”

The reality is that Suu Kyi faces an election in 2015 which will be determined by a Buddhist electorate. Just as “rule of law” paves the way for ethnic justice, so too could Suu Kyi’s election pave the way for the termination of the Rohingya conflict. Though it’s an admittedly optimistic view, Suu Kyi’s silence could be read as indicative of a long-term vision for Burma’s development and symptomatic of playing that ever-sneaky political game — elections.

Burma may be evolving, but it is far from stable. I’m inclined to think that Suu Kyi understands this well. Well enough, at least, to comprehend the strategic value of silence.

Sources Here:

On 18th October, 2012 (i.e. today), at 8:30am, four Rohingya youths from Buggone Nah, Maungdaw south, were captured by 22 Bengali Rakhine Natala villagers while the said youths went to nearby hill for cutting grass for their household cattle. Out of 22 Bengali Rakhine Natala villagers, 20 equipped with knives and daggers and the rest two were with M-16 guns. These two guns are possessed by Myanmar Police Force camped in Huta Bonnya, in the same village tract. After capture, the victims were first tied up with thick ropes and brought to the Natala Village. The victims were inhumanly tortured. As a preparation for killing these Rohingyas, the gang sat for a table of alcohol. While the gang was engaged in drinking alcohol, one of the victims luckily got eased in tie. After a long struggling, he himself untied his tie and could help another two victims to untie their ties. By the time, the gang realized the victims’ effort to escape themselves; the gang chased the freed victims. One victim is so unlucky that he could not escape from the tie. Nobody knows about the fortune of the remaining victim till the time of reporting. The freed three victims reached their respective homes at dusk. The parents and relatives of the remaining victim reported the issue to the Military camped in Nyaung Chaung. Military replied that it is none of their business and to solve the problem by own way. This incident report was collected from neighbors of the victims.

The victims are identified as:

1. Mohammed Hasson (F) U Abul Hashim 26 years (the remaining victims in capture)

2. Iman Husson (F) U Lay Rhdu 22 years

3. Mohammed Roshid (F) U Abdullah 20 years

4. Mohammed Shah (F) U Abdu Malek 30 years

RB News Desk: