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Greg Torode
South China Morning Post
March 8, 2013
 
Reports that 15 Rohingya migrants trying to flee Myanmar were shot dead by Thai security forces prompt UN demand for explanation

United Nations officials have demanded urgent explanations from Thailand over reports that its security forces shot dead up to 15 unarmed Rohingya migrants trying to flee neighbouring Myanmar. 

Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Thailand, said officials yesterday met counterparts from the Thai Foreign Ministry in Bangkok. 

"We … are watching this closely and we are concerned," Tan said. While no specific timetable was offered from the Thai side, "we did say it was urgent".

Her comments follow reports in yesterday's South China Morning Post from its correspondents in Phuket detailing allegations from survivors of the February 22 incident near the island of Phuket on Thailand's Andaman coast. 

The alleged killings came during an attempt by the military to transfer about 20 migrants from the boat that had carried them and more than 100 others from Myanmar to a smaller boat. 

Some feared they would be separated from family members and jumped into the water, at which point the military opened fire, witnesses said. Survivors are being sheltered by local Thai villagers, some of whom heard the shooting and photographed Thai military vessels towing a Rohingya vessel. Thai naval officials have yet to comment. 

Tan said the UNHCR was aware of earlier, vague media reports of shootings in Thailand from Rohingya boatpeople arriving in Sri Lanka and two recent boatloads in Aceh, on the north-western tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. 

UNCHR staff had yet to be allowed access to the Sri Lanka migrants but had started interviewing the arrivals in Aceh. 

"We are aware of the reports but we don't yet have our own information. We are trying to find out what happened," Tan said. 

If correct, the reports suggest a lethal new twist in Thailand's previously controversial handling of the Rohingya, according to diplomats and observers. 

Conservative Muslims from Myanmar's isolated Rakhine state, Rohingya have been described by the UNHCR as the most persecuted people on earth. 

Denied citizenship in Myanmar - despite settlements going back centuries - Rohingya have fled across the land border with Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands still languish in camps, and by boat to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. 

Lack of citizenship means it is difficult for Rohingya to marry or work legally. 

Thousands have set sail to escape a recent outbreak of violence targeting their communities in Myanmar while hundreds languish in Thailand, which has yet to allow the UNHCR to screen them as refugees. 

In 2009, a series of Post reports revealed a campaign by Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), an elite but secretive Thai army unit, to tow Rohingya in powerless boats out to sea and cast them adrift. 

Hundreds died before the policy was disavowed by then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. 

ISOC officials launched the crackdown apparently fearing the Rohingya could swell the number of terrorists in Thailand's restive Muslim deep south - even though they have never been linked to any violent groups. 

Since then, the Thai military has publicly adopted a policy of "helping on" Rohingya boats intercepted at sea, supplying them with fuel, food and water on the promise that they keep sailing and do not land in Thailand.

Hamid and Emma Crichton
OpenDemocracy
March 7, 2013

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority from Rakhine State in Burma, are among the most persecuted minorities in the world. Hamid sends a letter detailing the violence and exclusion his community continues to face. 

Since June 2012 the Rohingya have been subject to an intense spate of inter-communal violence and state-sanctioned persecution in Myanmar (Burma). Reports of untold deaths, thousands of homes being destroyed, and tens of thousands of Rohingya being displaced have coincided with a time of great change for the country as it transitions to democracy. 

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority from Rakhine State in western Burma, and have been acknowledged by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. For decades, the estimated 800,000 population from Rakhine State has confronted restrictions on their freedom of movement, marriage, education, and worship. In 1982 the Government of Burma enacted the ‘Burma Citizenship Law’ constitutionally excluding the Rohingya people from citizenship, making them a stateless people. At the heart of the tension lies a contested history of the origins of the Rohingya. The Burmese government considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh, as the eighth most populated country in the world, is estimated to be host to over 200,000 Rohingya refugees. Whilst many refugees have resided in Bangladesh since 1978, with another key migration in 1991, the recent arrival of those fleeing persecution from Burma has stirred ongoing tensions. Competition over scarce resources and employment is said to have fueled these tensions between local residents and the Rohingya. This, along with the Government of Bangladesh’s suspension of humanitarian aid in refugee camps in July 2012, prompted my investigations about the protection needs of the Rohingya. 

After making research inquiries into the consequences of forced migration on both the Rohingyas and the local Bangladesh host population in the Cox’s Bazar District of southern Bangladesh, I met a community with a resounding plea for international help and for others to know the Rohingya story. 

One young man, Hamid, wrote this letter, and requested his testimony be shared. 

[Editor's note: Where marked, the text below is expedited for Hamid's security. Grammar has been altered for ease of reading. In all other respects this is an unedited translation of Hamid's letter. ] 

Who I am 

I finished my primary study in U Hla Pae village and continued my high school in Buthidaung Township. After I finished my study, I continued to study politics. However I could not live in my hometown and had to flee to Bangladesh, and am now living in Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh government also arrested me here with illegal entry to Bangladesh from Myanmar. It is very difficult to get a job here as an illegal immigrant. We are neither accepted by the Bangladesh government nor Myanmar government. We cannot go back to Myanmar. We would like to request to the international community to show us a peaceful place. I am here now for 5 months. I came here to save my life and feed myself. Because there are so many Rohingya in Bangladesh, we only get work once a week. We do not know what to do. People coming from Myanmar are now starving. These people get food once a day only. The Bangladesh government also arrests them. These people cannot live in cities so they have to stay in countryside villages. My hope is to get donations from rich countries to feed us. [sentence excluded for confidentiality]. I am very thankful and grateful that you listen to our news. I cannot give information about us because I cannot get in contact with any NGOs. 

Reality behind the Taunggot event 

A group of 52 Muslim pilgrims from Yangon, former capital of Myanmar travelled to the cities in Rakhine state with the purpose of religious activities. For their activities, they had to stay for 45 days in different cities and travelled to Yangon through Taunggot. Taunggot is a crosslink city between Rakhine state and Yangon division. On the way back to Yangon on 3rd June 2012, a Rakhine mob attacked them in Taunggot highway. The mob was so cruel that the pilgrim group was killed inhumanly. They were beaten in head till their brains came out, and slaughtered. That night, the Rakhine mob openly celebrated their successful killings with music and alcohol in Taunggot with the presence of local authorities. 

Reality about the story in Kyauk Ni Maw (Than Dwe) 

In Kyauk Ni Maw, a Rakhine girl was in love with a Kaman Muslim boy since their high school. There was another Rakhine boy who loved this Rakhine girl. The two lovers broke up for some reason. In general, Rakhine girls were not allowed to have affairs with Muslims in Rakhine state. Therefore some Rakhines made a plan to kill that girl for not loving someone of the same race ([the] Rakhine boy) and murdered her inhumanly. After she was murdered, her body was left closer to the Muslim village and accused her former lover, the Muslim boy, as the rapist and murderer and arrested him. However according to initial medical report, she was not raped at all. Together with him, two of his Muslim friends were also arrested with the same accusation. With that news, some Rakhine extremists distributed pamphlets to instigate the anger and hatred against Muslims among the Rakhine community. 

Reality behind the events at Myauk-O, Kyauk Phyu and Kyauk Taw 

In Myauk-O, the number of Rakhine villages is more than Muslim villages. Therefore Muslim population is much less than Rakhine population. Rakhine used their numbers as an advantage and killed Muslims above 4000 by using long knife and guns. Among the victims, 2500 were children and new born babies. Rakhines attached the new born babies at the edge of steel rods and put into fire. Many Muslim houses were also burnt down. Similar stories in Kyauk Phyu and Kyauk Taw as well. 

Reality behind Sittwe’s crisis 

In Sittwe, it started on 7 June 2012. The Rakhine started killing Muslims, burning the houses in Zalla Fara (a Muslim village) and all villagers were killed on that day. It continued to other Muslim villages such as Nazir Fara, Amala Fara, Hausha Fara, San Taw Laik, Bomu Rwar and Bo Pwa Fara with the combination of Rakhines, Police forces, NaSaKa (Burmese Border Security Forces), Lone Tein and Military forces. Rakhines used long knives and homemade guns while the government forces [used] guns to kill Muslims. 

Muslims were burnt alive in their own houses and some were tied up while being burnt. Children and newborn babies were thrown into the river when the Rakhines got tired of stabbing with knives. Some of the children were also thrown into fire. All the government bodies in Sittwe were involved in helping the Rakhine mob to target Muslims. Rakhines had guns and together with Nasaka, Police and Lone Tein, they directly shot at Muslims. Those who were not killed and became homeless are in refugee concentration camps now. 

Muslims from Sittwe tried to flee from their birth places to save their lives and travelled by five small boats to Bangladesh. However those five boats were not accepted by the Bangladesh government and were pushed back towards Burma. Among 5 boats, 3 boats were destroyed by NaSaKa with guns in the sea. The other 2 were also not lucky. There were few pregnant women in those 2 boats and they all died while trying to deliver the baby on the boat. The remaining Muslims were also shot dead by local security forces when they reached back to Rakhine state side. 

Local security forces were famous for torturing and raping Muslim women previously. In this crisis, they did not stay behind doing all those atrocities towards Muslim girls. The government never take action for that. The monks also encouraged and instigated the Rakhines to kill Muslims. Moreover, the monks were involved by themself to kill and drive away Muslims from their land by changing their clothes to ordinary people. 
Reality behind Maungdaw’s crisis 

In Maungdaw, it was started on 8 June 2012. When the problem started in Maungdaw between Rakhine and Muslims, NaSaKa supported to first Rakhines to kill Muslims. When there was a big chance of a riot starting in Maungdaw, a Rakhine trashed a Muslim with his motor bike on 8 June 2012 at 12 pm. After hitting the Muslim, he ran away and the police came and arrested and tortured the victim instead of the Rakhine in the street where the intentional accident happened. When the Muslims (around 10) gathered to the event and asked the police why he was torturing and beating him instead of the Rakhine, the police left the scene with anger and the Muslim was escaped. 

That day was Friday and therefore all Muslims go to mosque to pray Juamma at noon. During that time, the police and NaSaKa force arrived and waited outside till people came out from mosque and shot at Muslims and 2 Muslims died on the spot. When the police and NaSaKa fired shots into the group, people were dispersed and ran away in different directions. After that scene, the Rakhine went to a local mosque and fired it to burn it down. Muslim houses were also burnt down. As the officers shot fire into Muslims, some of them were seriously injured and some of them escaped to Bangladesh to save their life and to treat their injuries. Some are still in Chittagong continuing their treatment and some were dead with their injuries. Back in Maungdaw, NaSaKa threw some Muslim corpses into the river. 

Reality behind Buthidaung’s crisis 

In Buthidaung, there were no clashes yet between Rakhines and Muslims as the Rakhines are the minority there. The military station Sa Kha Ka group no 15 and Strategy group no 18 are trying to not have any clashes till today. However the commissioner from the police station commanded the police officers to arrest the educated Muslims from every village and kept them in police custody for 2 days and sent to jail. Some of the Muslims were tortured to death. The police are still arresting the known and rich Muslims and extorting money from them to release them from jails. If the demanded money cannot be provided, the Muslims were tortured inhumanely. 

Recently the monks from Buthidaung called a meeting for Rakhines and made a secret plan to bring the guns from Sittwe together with Rakhines from there and stored in Buthidaung. The Muslims are afraid of the guns as they do not have anything to protect themselves. The local government also support the Rakhines and encourage them to attack and oppress Muslims. All of the police are Rakhines and therefore they do not show any mercy to shoot at Muslims. On 3 November 2012, the military seized 180 handmade guns from Rakhines in Buthidaung. 

Law and Order in Rakhine State 

In 1950s and 1960s, Muslims from Rakhine state from various cities entered to government posts after they finished their study. However now Muslims cannot enter to government jobs at all. Moreover they created different law and order for Muslims in the whole of Rakhine state. Muslims have to follow the rule strictly. No Rakhine has to follow that rule. Muslims cannot marry according to Islamic law. Muslims can only marry after paying 300,000 kyats to NaSaKa (Boarder security forces). Only Muslims who have money can marry and poor Muslims cannot. If anyone marries without getting permission from NaSaKa they can be sentenced to 5 years according to strict law. Rakhine people do not have such kind of rule. If Muslims have to visit to Maungdaw and Buthidaung, they have to get permission (called Form 4) from the authority. To obtain that form, 5000 kyats need to be paid and anyone who is caught travelling without that form, he/she will be sentenced to 4 years. 

Moreover one cannot live in another house even in the same village without permission. Muslims cannot stay in their relatives’ house without any permission from the authority. Otherwise they will be fined 300,000 kyats. It is a very miserable life for Muslims in Rakhine state. 

Four years ago, the police forces and NaSaKa forces went to villages in Buthidaung and Maungdaw and gathered all the young girls, young boys and women in police headquarters. They were raped, tortured and beaten inhumanely. Muslims are facing all difficulties to survive in Rakhine state. 

Another important matter is that the authority is giving trouble with improper law to UNHCR and UNDP, with the accusation of sending the news of Rakhine state overseas, and sentenced to jails some staff. Those who sent information through the internet and mobile phone are sentenced to 45 years. Therefore some of the real news from Maungdaw and Buthidaung was not sent through internet and phone. Moreover the internet lines were filtered and closed not to be able to send the news. Therefore the international community do not get the real information of Rakhine state. Therefore I am trying now to send the news to international communities. 

I hope this letter will reach everyone and after reading this, please help and sympathize to Muslims in Rakhine state. 

This letter is directly translated from the original Burmese letter. Translated by Mohammed Anwar, the current president of the Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia. 

This testimony is not necessarily representative of the researcher's views.

Introduction

1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar was established pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1992/58, and was recently extended by Human Rights Council resolution 19/21. The present report is submitted pursuant to Council resolution 19/21 and General Assembly resolution 67/233, and covers human rights developments in Myanmar since the Special Rapporteur’s report to the Council (A/HRC/19/67) in March 2012 and to the Assembly (A/67/383) in October 2012.

2. From 11 to 16 February 2013, the Special Rapporteur conducted his seventh mission to Myanmar and met, in Naypyitaw, the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, the Attorney General, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Minister for Border Affairs, the Deputy Chief Justice and other justices of the Supreme Court, as well as several members of parliament and parliamentary committees. In Yangon, he met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, members of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, civil society, prisoners of conscience held in Insein prison, former detainees from Buthidaung Prison, the United Nations country team and the diplomatic community. He also visited Yangon University and met with the Dean and students, and visited the offices of the Myanmar Times.

3. He visited Rakhine State, where he met state authorities and community leaders. He visited camps for displaced persons for both Buddhist and Muslim communities in Sittwe, Myebon and Pauk Taw and visited Sittwe Prison. He also visited Kachin State, where he met state authorities and civil society, visited camps for displaced persons in Myitkyina and Waingmaw and visited Myitkyina Prison. He expresses thanks to the Government of Myanmar for its cooperation during the visit.

4. He visited Japan from 7 to 10 February and met with representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and civil society organisations. He also visited Thailand from 17 to 18 February and met with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, civil society, United Nations regional and national offices and the diplomatic community. He is grateful to the Governments of Japan and Thailand for their cooperation.

5. The Special Rapporteur expresses thanks to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, Bangkok and New York, for assisting him in discharging his mandate.

Read more here:

Photo - Phuket Wan
Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison 
Phuket Wan
March 6, 2013

PHUKET: Thai security forces opened fire on defenceless Rohingya boatpeople north of Phuket, killing at least two and as many as 15, according to detailed accounts by three survivors and Thai villagers who are sheltering them.

The killings, which are said to have occurred on February 21, came during a botched attempt by the military to transfer about 20 would-be refugees from the large boat on which they arrived from Burma (Myanmar) with 110 others, to a much smaller vessel. 

When some feared they would be separated from family members, they jumped in the water and the military men opened fire during the predawn incident, the witnesses said.

Survivors Habumara, 20, Rerfik, 25, and Jamar, 16, said yesterday that they swam for their lives when the shooting broke out. They are currently being sheltered by sympathetic villagers.

Two fresh graves, said to contain Rohingya, were seen by a Phuketwan reporter and an Australian news television crew yesterday.

The three survivors said they believed that the killers were members of the Thai Navy, but village residents said they probably belonged to another branch of the Thai military. 

Previous abuses of the Muslim Rohingya have been carried out by other arms of the Thai military or operatives trained as paramilitaries.

Vice Admiral Tharathorn Khajitsuwan, the Commander of Thai Navy Three, which patrols the Andaman coast, declined to comment.

One Rohingya, Rerfik, said that their boat, which had run out of fuel on its journey from Burma, was intercepted by local Thai fishermen on February 21.


RB News
March 6, 2013

A delegation of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) is visiting South Africa to raise awareness about the situation of the Rohingya and human rights in Burma. The delegation was invited by Burma Campaign South Africa and Protect the Rohingya Group from Johannesburg. 

Yesterday evening the delegation met the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, Ibrahim Ibrahim and highlighted the new apartheid system against Rohingya being imposed by the Burmese Government. 

The delegation highlighted how the immediate priorities are safety and security, and for President Thein Sein to allow full international humanitarian access, not just to those in camps, but also those in villages. The delegation asked the Foreign Minister to support international observers on the ground, support a UN Commission of Inquiry, and to pressure Thein Sein to repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law. 

BROUK President Tun Khin said: “I am extremely satisfied with the meeting with the South Africa Deputy Foreign Minister. We were able to deliver the message that the world needs to wake up to the new apartheid system against the Rohingya which is being created by President Thein Sein.” 

Yesterday the delegation also held a press conference, and met lawyers from the Muslim Association to discuss justice and accountability issues relating to violence and discrimination against the Rohingya. 

Today BROUK President will give an interview on South African national television and give a speech at the prestigious Johannesburg University. 

During South Africa trip the delegation will raise awareness the plight of Rohingya in Cape Town.

Aubrey Belford
The Global Mail
March 6, 2013

Aung San Suu Kyi has made some surprising new friends on her way from democracy icon to politician: Burma’s former military men and crony capitalists are getting cosy. The country’s downtrodden minorities, not so much.

Tolerating racists, coddling the military, courting crony capitalists — these aren’t accusations the world is used to hearing against Aung San Suu Kyi.

But plenty has changed since the Nobel Peace Prize winner made the transformation from detained democracy icon to politician.

Since her release from house arrest over two years ago, Suu Kyi has become a key player in democratic reforms spearheaded by President Thein Sein, a former senior official in the country’s old junta. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) has gained a toehold in a parliament still dominated by old regime loyalists and uniformed soldiers. The Lady, as many Burmese call her, has made it clear she wants to become president when Burma holds democratic elections in 2015.

Yangon, Burma’s peeling main city, is choked with new traffic. Newspapers are largely free of censorship, and secret police have vanished from the streets. The city’s hotels are seeing unprecedented numbers of silver-haired tour groups, as well as hopeful NGO workers and businessmen.

But in other parts of the country, things are looking grim. In the northern Kachin areas, a brutal war with ethnic rebels that has likely killed thousands since mid-2011 goes on. In the western Rakhine state, fighting between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhines last year likely killed hundreds and displaced at least 100,000 Rohingya, who are now living in squalid camps. Media freedom has exposed an ugly underbelly of anti-Muslim prejudice among many Burmese.

Even though she doesn’t run Burma — yet — Suu Kyi has been thrust to the centre of all this. Spending much of her time in the new sparse capital Naypyidaw, Suu Kyi has embarked on what is widely viewed internationally as a successful collaboration with the ex-military men leading the country’s top-down transition. With the Nobel Laureate’s blessing, foreign sanctions on both the government and business have been eased and more than $5.8 billion of Burma’s debt has been forgiven.

But while Suu Kyi remains popular in the heartland of Burma’s ethnic Bamar majority, she is increasingly alienating foreign supporters, as well as the minorities who make up one-third of the population. For six decades, many of these minority groups have been involved in intermittent conflict aimed at earning greater autonomy from the central government. Now Suu Kyi has caused concern by appearing to draw the NLD closer to some of Burma’s crony capitalists, a small club of men who grew rich under sanctions by leveraging their connections to the military junta to gain dominance over a crippled economy.

What exactly is Suu Kyi up to?

Central to the current machinations is that Suu Kyi is angling for the country to hold its first fully democratic parliamentary elections in 2015, says Richard Horsey, an analyst and former United Nations official in Yangon.

“Given her huge popularity across much of the country, a landslide victory seems very likely, which will be further amplified by the first-past-the-post electoral system,” Horsey says.

“The risk is that this will marginalise some important and powerful constituencies: the old political elite, the ethnic minorities and the non-NLD democratic parties.

“This is a serious risk because a stable and sustainable transition will be very difficult unless the political process is inclusive.”

It was Suu Kyi’s meeting with Thein Sein in mid-2011 that convinced her the government’s reform project was for real, Horsey says. And it has been Suu Kyi’s star power that in turn has convinced the world to back the country’s transformation.

Suu Kyi is widely seen as having formed a close working relationship with Shwe Mann, the powerful speaker of the lower house, who is a former general. As a result she’s had a greater say on key bills than the NLD’s tiny representation would otherwise merit.

If Suu Kyi wants to become president, however, she will have to change the constitution, which currently bars her from running because she was once married to a foreigner. Changing the constitution to allow her presidency would require the agreement of a more than 75 per cent majority in the parliament, meaning she would need the support of both the regime’s Union Solidarity and Development Party, and serving soldiers, who under the current constitution hold 25 per cent of seats.

In short, she has to convince the current rulers that their interests will be safe even if they are squeezed out of power by the NLD.

Many critics of Suu Kyi say she has gone soft on her former jailers, particularly when it comes to what is arguably the most pressing problem facing Burma: ethnic chaos.

During the violence in Rakhine State, Suu Kyi repeatedly avoided the thorny issue of whether or not the stateless Rohingya – who are regarded as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by the government, despite having lived in Burma for generations – should be given citizenship.

She was similarly reluctant to criticise widely documented abuses by the Burmese army against Kachin rebels, instead stating earlier this year on a visit to the United Kingdom that she had long been “fond” of the army. Following sustained criticism, Suu Kyi offered to mediate the conflict. That offer was curtly rejected by the rebel Kachin Independence Army.

“I think she’s more silent than the past, more silent to criticise,” says Zaw Min, a member of the 88 Generation of activists, which takes its name from the bloody 1988 uprising against the former military regime. “I think her aim is to soften the government or to change the constitution. She’s only paying attention to these issues to take power.” New fissures have emerged in Burmese politics since the days of military rule and Suu Kyi’s house arrest, he argues. “In the past, we would say there are two sides to our country: the military and the democratic side. But that’s not true [anymore]. There are a lot of sides.”

Thein Sein has earned kudos for securing ceasefires with a number of ethnic rebel armies, most notably for securing a halt to the 63-year conflict between the government and the Karen National Union. But even outside the riven Kachin areas and Rakhine State, peace is shaky. A central demand of many ethnic groups is the creation of a federal union to replace the current central state, which is heavily dominated by the majority Bamar. They argue this is the spirit of the Panglong Agreement, which was negotiated with Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San, before he was assassinated in 1947, before independence was achieved from Britain.

While many minorities are making tentative steps towards negotiating with Thein Sein’s government, their relationship with Suu Kyi’s NLD has mostly gone backwards, says Khun Htun Oo, a leader of the Shan National League for Democracy.

Htun Oo, a former political prisoner who had been serving a 93-year sentence for charges including treason, was released in early 2012 as part of the country’s reforms. His ethnic group, the Shan, is Myanmar’s largest minority. Its members reside mostly in the hilly parts of Burma around the Thai, Chinese and Laotian borders — an area infamous for armed conflict, and the production of heroin and methamphetamine. Htun Oo’s group is traditionally aligned with the NLD, but he has become disappointed with Suu Kyi’s engagement with the government.

“I don’t know what it is, but we can feel that there is some agreement between the government and Daw Suu,” he says, referring to Suu Kyi by an honorific. Htun Oo interprets her attitude as being: “Don’t try to be an opponent of the government and don’t try to criticise the military. She’s quite reluctant with these affairs.”

“We have stood by her but ... when she joined force with the parliament we were not consulted about it. We are all warning each other: trusting a person is dangerous. We trusted [Suu Kyi’s father] Aung San as a person. And when the person died, the problems started. Now, if we trust The Lady and once she changes her mind, it could cause the same problem. We might as well stick to our own policy and fight for it.”

Suu Kyi is trying her best to reach out to the minorities, but is consistently rebuffed, argues Nyan Win, a senior NLD official. “The conflict between the Burma government and the ethnic groups is based on racism. Many ethnic groups don’t like the Bamar.”

Adding to the widely held belief that Suu Kyi is focussing solely on improving relations with the Bamar elite is the perception that she and the NLD have been conciliatory towards, if not directly courting, Burma’s crony capitalists. In late 2011, Suu Kyi famously accepted an invitation to publicly watch a football match in the company of Zaw Zaw, a tycoon whose financial interests range from toll roads to hotels and jade, and who is the subject of US sanctions. It is one of a number of meetings she’s had with Zaw Zaw.

More controversially, Soe Win, a senior NLD official, confirmed to The Global Mail that an educational foundation run by the NLD last year received 70 million kyat, or about $79,500, from a company owned by Tay Za, another tycoon operating under sanctions from the US — he was described by the US Treasury in the pre-reform era as “a notorious regime henchman and arms dealer”. The foundation also received 130 million kyat from SkyNet, a broadcaster owned by Kyaw Win, who has close links to the current regime. His wife reportedly paid the equivalent of nearly $50,000 for a sweater knitted for charity by Suu Kyi.

In January, Tay Za, who has interests in both jade and timber in the Kachin north, also reportedly gave 70 million kyat to the military, to match his donation to the NLD.

The NLD’s Soe Win defends the donations it has received, saying they are acceptable because they did not go directly into party coffers. By reaching out to such regime cronies, the NLD hopes to reform them into responsible businessmen, he says. “This is a transitional period. We have no experience and no comparison. We have to train them; change their mindset,” Soe Win says of the businessmen, adding that he has yet to see evidence of any such change. And he says the NLD will only allow direct contributions from these businessmen in 2015 if they have significantly improved their record.

An assistant to Suu Kyi declined a request by The Global Mail for an interview. Tay Za also declined our request for an interview, citing a lack of time; and a list of written questions submitted in lieu of an interview remained unanswered at the time of publication of this article. Zaw Thet Maung, a senior executive of Kyaw Win’s SkyNet, denies any attempt to politically influence Suu Kyi or the NLD, characterising the contributions as “purely charity”.

Regardless of whether their approach to Suu Kyi has borne fruit, the government cronies are seeing their fortunes improve alongside the reform process. The US Treasury in late February eased restrictions on US companies doing business with banks owned by Tay Za and Zaw Zaw.

There’s little doubt that Suu Kyi remains essential to Burma’s transition. She is wildly popular among the ethnic majority, and she remains the closest thing to a unifying national figure. A recent editorial in The Irrawaddy, a magazine set up abroad by Burmese exiles, but which has recently established a presence in Burma, sums up the frustration of many of her critics:

“Suu Kyi is right that Burma doesn’t need a saviour; but it does need a leader. After a year of collecting international accolades, it’s time for her to prove that she is that leader.

“As long as Suu Kyi continues to avoid taking any meaningful stance on the very real issues that plague Burma, the ‘democratically united’ country that she spoke of in her speech will remain as elusive as ever. Without decisive words from the woman in whom the country has placed its hopes for a better future, Burma will remain, at best, a slightly less repressive version of the deeply divided tyranny it has been for most of its history as a modern nation.”

Bangkok Post
March 6, 2013

Thein Sein, on the first-ever visit to Brussels by a Myanmar president, received on Tuesday new pledges of EU economic assistance coupled with calls to protect his country's ethnic minorities.

The Myanmar leader, setting out on the fourth leg of an historic 10-day tour of Europe, met successively with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, EU president Herman Van Rompuy, and foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"You have in the European Union a committed and longterm partner for the historic journey that Myanmar and its people have started," Van Rompuy told Thein Sein, who was warnmly welcomed all round for his ground-breaking reforms in the once pariah state.

Since the former premier took over the presidency in March 2011, hundreds of political prisoners have been released and elections held, including the election to parliament of long-detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The EU and Myanmar are turning a page in their relationship," said Barroso. "More dialogue, more and better aid, more trade and investment."

While EU development aid has more than doubled to around 200 million euros for 2012-2013, Brussels said it was now ready to explore the feasibility of a bilateral investment agreement.

Ashton, flanked by commissioner for industry Antonio Tajani, will visit Myanmar, also known as Burma, later this year to look at further economic support.

The EU has also offered to reinstate a preferential tariffs deal with Yangon.

Thein Sein complained however of continuing economic sanctions against the country, saying "we are one of the poorest countries in the world."

The EU in April rewarded Myanmar's historic changes by suspending for one year a wide range of trade, economic and individual sanctions and said it would "monitor closely the situation on the ground, keep its measures under constant review."

And Brussels on Tuesday made clear it was monitoring minority rights, notably the ongoing conflict in the northern state of Kachin, and communal Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western state of Rakhine -- where the bloc has provided some 5.5 million euros to help the internally displaced from both communities.

"Important challenges remain. In particular, on the need for a comprehensive peace settlement in ethnic areas," Van Rompuy said.

Speaking through an interpreter, Thein Sein said his government had been able "to reduce a culture of fear" and vowed to continue to work to strengthen democracy. "You have my promise we will continue on this path," he stated.

But groups such as Human Rights Watch urged leaders in Brussels to press the head of state to honour pledges on rights, including a promise to allow the UN Commissioner for Human Rights to set up an office in Myanmar.

There was deadly sectarian violence against ethnic Rohingya Muslims and rights abuses by security forces in ethnic conflict areas, particularly in Kachin state since the resumption of fighting in 2011 against separatists.

The minority, numbering about 800,000, has been described by the United Nations one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet, with thousands seeking refuge in neighbouring countries as boat people.

"Any realistic analysis of the current situation on the ground in Burma would conclude much more needs to be done to entrench reforms," said the group's EU director Lotte Leicht.

Thein Sein, who has already visited Norway, Finland and Austria, will end his 10-day trip in Italy.

On February 27, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu addressed a crowd of religious, political and civil society leaders at the American Center in Rangoon. This was Bishop Tutu's first visit to Burma, and in his first public speech in the country he spoke about reconciliation, tolerance and faith.


Source: U.S. Embassy Rangoon

AFP
March 5, 2013

VIENNA: Myanmar President Thein Sein appealed Monday for the lifting of European Union sanctions against his country, currently suspended.

"What we lack is capital and modern technologies... all these are because of the economic sanctions for the last 20 years," he told journalists following talks with Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

Speaking through an interpreter, Thein Sein also appealed directly to his Austrian counterpart "to cooperate on this," during a joint press conference on the third leg of his first European visit as president.

The EU suspended last April all sanctions against Myanmar, apart from an arms embargo, in the wake of reforms introduced by Thein Sein's government since coming to power in early 2011.

The United States has also dismantled many of its key trade and investment sanctions, while the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have stepped up assistance for the southeast Asian country.

But concerns remain over an ongoing conflict in the northern state of Kachin and ethnic unrest in the western state of Rakhine.

Following a new round of peace talks last month with Kachin rebels, Thein Sein claimed the unrest was over.

"There's no more hostilities, no more fighting all over the country, we have been able to end this kind of armed conflict," he insisted.

Praising the reforms implemented so far by Myanmar, Fischer expressed support for ending European sanctions.

"The Austrian government belongs to those countries, which after all the progress that has been reached, are in favour of lifting these sanctions," he said.

But he urged Myanmar to stick to the democratic process that has now been started.

"It is our hope that the policy can be continued and that good and fair elections in 2015 will decide about the future way of Myanmar," he said.

The Austrian president said he had discussed human rights issues and "the problems of building up a democracy" with his counterpart but did not elaborate.

In an open letter ahead of Thein Sein's visit, the Islamic Coordination Council in Austria had urged Fischer to "strongly condemn the ethnically motivated violence and repression of the Rohingya Muslim minority."

The minority, numbering about 800,000, has been described by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet, with thousands seeking refuge in neighbouring countries as boat people.

Thein Sein dismissed the issue however on Monday, noting: "All our nationalities are living together side by side and they are living in harmony and peace. The rights of the minorities are also ensured in our state constitution."

Following meetings with Chancellor Werner Faymann and parliament president Barbara Prammer, the Myanmar president met Monday evening with representatives of the Austrian trade chamber, where he pushed for investment in his country.

An Austrian delegation already travelled to Myanmar last month to investigate investment possibilities.

After Norway, Finland and Austria, the Myanmar leader will now head to Brussels for EU and bilateral talks, before ending his 10-day trip in Italy.

HRW
March 5, 2013

Visiting Leader Should Endorse UN Presence, Grant Full Humanitarian Access

(Brussels) – European Union leaders should press Burmese President Thein Sein on adopting key rights reforms during his visit this week to Brussels, Human Rights Watch said today. Thein Sein is set to meet a top-tier roster of leaders on March 5, including Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament; José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission; Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council; Catherine Ashton, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy; and others. 

Burma’s president should be urged to honor his pledges to permit an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with a full rights protection, promotion, and technical assistance mandate and allow full and unimpeded access of humanitarian organizations to areas where civilians are in need, Human Rights Watch said. 

“EU leaders should treat the reform efforts to date in Burma as just the start of a process, not the end,” said Lotte Leicht, EU director at Human Rights Watch. “They should of course encourage President Thein Sein’s reforms but also press him to address the hard reality of serious ongoing human rights violations in Burma.” 

Human Rights Watch said that EU leaders should recognize that recent positive changes in Burma are due in large measure to international pressure and the Burmese leadership’s desire to escape economic and political isolation. Thus it is critical that the EU not ignore ongoing abuses by the Burmese security forces, including attacks on civilians in ethnic conflict areas and crackdowns on peaceful protesters in Rangoon and elsewhere. 

Since the resumption of the armed conflict with the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin State in 2011, the Burmese military has been responsible for numerous violationsof the laws of war, including shelling of civilians, summary executions, rape, the use of child soldiers, unlawful forced labor, and looting. Tens of thousands of displaced Kachin civilians have been unable to gain access to humanitarian assistance. 

The government has also failed to address deadly sectarian violence against ethnic Rohingya Muslims and others last year in Arakan State, Human Rights Watch said. The government-formed inquiry on the violence again postponed the publication of its findings, until late March. Thein Sein has already indicated on his European trip that his government does not intend to revise the 1982 Citizenship Law, whose discriminatory provisions are used to deny citizenship to most Rohingya. 

EU leaders should urge Thein Sein to allow unimpeded humanitarian assistance to Kachin and Arakan States and other areas where the population is at risk, Human Rights Watch said. EU member states and the EU Commission have increased humanitarian assistance to Burma although there have been ongoing government obstacles. Despite specific promises by Thein Sein to permit greater assistance, security forces have blocked, harassed or failed to protect aid convoys to beleaguered populations such as Kachin outside of government controlled areas and to camps of displaced Rohingya Muslims. 

Thein Sein should permit the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)to establish a regular presence in the country as he pledged to US President Barack Obama in November, Human Rights Watch said. While the government did allow three OHCHR staff to monitor developments in Arakan State, such monitoring is urgently needed elsewhere in Burma. The OHCHR presence should have a full mandate for rights protection, promotion, and technical assistance. Doing so would be in keeping with a recent European Parliament resolution urging the government “to accelerate the implementation of its commitment to establishing an OHCHR Country Office” in the country. 

Human Rights Watch urged EU leaders to make clear that without an agreement on an OHCHR office with a full mandate to monitor and report on rights developments, the EU will sponsor a Burma resolution at the UN Human Rights Council calling for such an office and extending the existing mandate of the UN special rapporteur for Burma.

“Thein Sein no doubt has his talking points polished and is primed to be applauded for his reforms. But any realistic analysis of the current situation on the ground in Burma would conclude much more needs to be done to entrench reforms,” Leicht said. “The EU is not genuinely assisting Burma’s transition – and, more importantly, its people – if it settles for feel-good platitudes. Only constructive and firm pressure will ensure durable protections for civilians, and basic human rights for all. ”

Ramzy Baroud
Onislam.net
March 4, 2013

One fails to understand the unperturbed attitude with which regional and international leaders and organizations are treating the unrelenting onslaught against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, formally known as Burma.

Numbers speak of atrocities where every violent act is prelude to greater violence and ethnic cleansing. Yet, western governments’ normalization with the Myanmar regime continues unabated, regional leaders are as gutless as ever and even human rights organizations seem compelled by habitual urges to issue statements lacking meaningful, decisive and coordinated calls for action.

Meanwhile the ‘boat people’ remain on their own.

On February 26, fishermen discovered a rickety wooden boat floating randomly at sea, nearly 25 kilometers (16 miles) off the coast of Indonesia’s Northern Province of Aceh. The Associated Press and other media reported there were 121 people on board including children who were extremely weak, dehydrated and nearly starved.

They were Rohingya refugees who preferred to take their chances at sea rather than stay in Myanmar. To understand the decision of a parent to risk his child’s life in a tumultuous sea would require understanding the greater risks awaiting them at home.

Endless Pains…

Reporting for Voice of America from Jakarta, Kate Lamb cited a moderate estimate of the outcome of communal violence in the Arakan state, which left hundreds of Rohingya Muslims dead, thousands of homes burnt and nearly 115,000 displaced.

The number is likely to be higher at all fronts. Many fleeing Rohingya perished at sea or disappeared to never be seen again. Harrowing stories are told and reported of families separating and boats sunk. There are documented events in which various regional navies and border police sent back refugees after they successfully braved the deadly journey to other countries - Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh and elsewhere.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that nearly 13,000 Rohingya refugees attempted to leave Myanmar on smugglers’ boats in the Bay of Bengal in 2012. At least five hundred drowned.

But who are the Rohingya people?

Myanmar officials and media wish to simply see the Rohingyas as ‘illegal Bengali immigrants’, a credulous reading of history at best.

The intentions of this inaccurate classification, however, are truly sinister for it is meant to provide a legal clearance to forcefully deport the Rohingya population. Myanmar President Then Sein had in fact made an ‘offer’ to the UN last year that he was willing to send the Rohingya people “to any other country willing to accept them.” The UN declined.

Rohingya Muslims, however, are native to the state of “Rohang”, officially known as Rakhine or Arakan. If one is to seek historical accuracy, not only are the Rohingya people native to Myanmar, it was in fact Burma that occupied Rakhine in the 1700’s. Over the years, especially in the first half of the 20th century, the original inhabitants of Arakan were joined by cheap or forced labor from Bengal and India, who permanently settled there.

For decades, tension brewed between Buddhists and Muslims in the region. Naturally, a majority backed by a military junta is likely to prevail over a minority without any serious regional or international backers. Without much balance of power to be mentioned, the Rohingya population of Arakan, estimated at nearly 800,000, subsisted between the nightmare of having no legal status (as they are still denied citizenship), little or no rights and the occasional ethnic purges carried out by their Buddhist neighbors with the support of their government, army and police.

The worst of such violence in recent years took place between June and October of last year. Buddhists also paid a heavy price for the clashes, but the stateless Rohingyas, being isolated and defenseless, were the ones to carry the heaviest death toll and destruction.

And just when ‘calm’ is reported – as in returning to the status quo of utter discrimination and political alienation of the Rohingyas – violence erupts once more, and every time the diameters of the conflict grow bigger. In late February, an angry Buddhist mob attacked non-Rohingya Muslim schools, shops and homes in the capital Rangoon, regional and international media reported. The cause of the violence was a rumor that the Muslim community is planning to build a mosque.

Spreading Danger

What is taking place in Arakan is most dangerous, not only because of the magnitude of the atrocities and the perpetual suffering of the Rohingya people, which are often described as the world’s most persecuted people.

Other layers of danger also exist that threatens to widen the parameters of the conflict throughout the Southeast Asia region, bringing instability to already unstable border areas, and, of course, as was the case recently, take the conflict from an ethnic one to a purely religious one.

In a region of a unique mix of ethnicities and religions, the plight of the Rohingyas could become the trigger that would set already fractious parts of the region ablaze.

Although the plight of the Rohingya people have in recent months crossed the line from the terrible, but hidden tragedy into a recurring media topic, it is still facing many hurdles that must be overcome in order for some action to be taken.

While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been making major economic leaps forward, it remains politically ineffective, with little interest in issues pertaining to human rights.

Under the guise of its commitment to ‘non-interference’ and disproportionate attention to the festering territorial disputes in the South China Sea, ASEAN seems unaware that the Rohingya people even exist.

Worst, ASEAN leaders were reportedly in agreement that Myanmar should chair their 2014 summit, as a reward for superficial reforms undertaken by Rangoon to ease its political isolation and open up its market beyond China and few other countries.

Meanwhile, western countries, led by the United States are clamoring to divide the large Myanmar economic cake amongst themselves, and are saying next to nothing about the current human rights records of Rangoon. The minor democratic reforms in Myanmar seem, after all, a pretext to allow the country back to western arms. And the race to Rangoon has indeed begun, unhindered by the continued persecution of the Rohingya people.

On February 26, Myanmar's President Sein met in Oslo with Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in a ‘landmark’ visit. They spoke economy, of course, for Myanmar has plenty to offer. And regarding the conflict in Arakan, Jens Stoltenberg unambiguously declared it to be an internal Burmese affair, reducing it to most belittling statements. In regards to ‘disagreements’ over citizenship, he said, “we have encouraged dialogue, but we will not demand that Burma’s government give citizenship to the Rohingyas.”

Moreover, to reward Sein for his supposedly bold democratic reforms, Norway took the lead by waving off nearly have of its debt and other countries followed suit, including Japan which dropped $3 billion last year.

While one is used to official hypocrisy, whether by ASEAN or western governments, many are still scratching their heads over the unforgivable silence of democracy advocate and Noble Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.

Luckily, others are speaking out. Bangladesh's Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, along with former Timor-Leste president Ramos-Horta had both recently spoke with decisive terms in support of the persecuted Rohingya people.

“The minority Muslim Rohingya continue to suffer unspeakable persecution, with more than 1,000 killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes just in recent months, apparently with the complicity and protection of security forces,” the Nobel laureates wrote in the Huffington Post on February 20.

They criticized the prejudicial Citizenship Law of 1982 and called for granting the Rohingya people full citizenship.

The perpetual suffering of the Rohingya people must end. They are deserving of rights and dignity. They are weary of crossing unforgiving seas and walking harsh terrains seeking mere survival.

More voices must join those who are speaking out in support of their rights. ASEAN must break away from its silence and tediously guarded policies and western countries must be confronted by their own civil societies: no normalization with Rangoon when innocent men, women and children are being burned alive in their own homes.

This injustice needs to be known to the world and serious, organized and determined efforts must follow to bring the persecution of the Rohingya people to an end.

Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), now available on Amazon.com. Baroud's website can be visited here: www.ramzybaroud.net.

The National
March 4, 2013

Some 2,600 tons of food aid have been delivered to Muslims in Myanmar thanks to the Khalifa bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation, according to Wam, the state new agency.

It is the third and final phase of an emergency relief project that has seen 5,200 tons of relief items delivered in Myanmar's Arakan state. About 850,000 people have benefited from the relief parcels.

The project was launched under the directive of Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE, to provide emergency aid to displaced Rohingya Muslims in the wake of injustices against them.

The aid, bought from the local market and shipped by sea to Arakan, included basic food items and clothing for men, women and children.


QS Madani 
RB News 
March 4, 2013 

(Edited by Anwar Arkani) 

Maungdaw: A shopkeeper, Khabir Ahmed S/o Noor Mal, from Ngakura village tract, Maungdaw North was arrested by Nasaka sector 5 officer Tun Tun Naing for having Kerosene in his shop. Khabir Ahmed bought 100 gallons of Kerosene from Kyain Chaung market to resell at his shop. As the villages have no electricity, Kerosene-lamp is the main source of light for them. Although he bought them legally and has a voucher, and reselling the Kerosene is legitimate business, he was arrested and extracted money for no apparent reason. 

Tun Tun Naing is the right-hand-man of the commander-in-charge of Nasaka sector 5. He regularly creates problems and instigates clashes in Northern Maungdaw. He has been extorting money from Rohingyas on trivial and groundless accusations with the support of Nasaka Commander and Head of SaRaPha. It is apparent that his supportive bosses also get lion share from his easy-earned cash. 

Following four people from Ngakura village tract were arrested from social gatherings and market on groundless accusations. 

(1) Shamshu S/o Dawlah, 49 
(2) Mohammed Yasin S/o Hashim, 33 
(3) Abdul Alam S/o Sayed Alam, 35 
(4) Huson Ali S/o Mohammed Rafique, 40 

15 Rohingyas from Ahtet Pyu Ma, Ouck Pyu Ma and Dudan villages were arrested and two of them are Azer Huson S/o Kulu Miah, 47 and Jahangir Huson. The arrestees are being tortured inhumanly. 

On March 1, 2013, three Rohingyas from Shwe Zar village, Maungdaw Towship were arrested by Nasaka accusing them of being involved in June 2012 violence. The victims are Mohammed Khalek S/o Sultan Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed S/o Mustak Ahmed and Yunus S/o Raza Miah. Yunus was released on the following day after torturing and extorting 100’000 Kyats. The remaining two are being tortured and the Nasaka is demanding 600’000 Kyats from each for release. 

As the Nasaka’s harassment increases in the region, restriction of movement becomes harsher and survival for Rohingyas get tougher day by day. The daily-survival of Rohingyas in Northern Maungdaw depend on cutting woods from the forest, working on agricultural farms, fishing farms and border trade. Given the fear of arrest by NaSaKa, harassment by Rakhine settlers and restriction on movement, people are going through unbearable hardships and extreme poverty is prevalent. Hopelessness and anxiety prevail as they future looks gloomy. 

Rohingyas have been the cash-cow for NaSaKa, SaRaPha, Police, Hlonhtein, and the Buddhist settlers. Now that Rohingyas are at the brink of starvation and near extinction, the security forces are restless and in race to sucking out the last drop of blood from their dying cows. 

RB News 
3.3.2013 

Translated by M.S. Anwar 

Maung Daw, Arakan- On Friday evening, a Rohingya named Sayed Ullah S/o U Siddique (31 years old) from the village of Udaung, southern MaungDaw, was killed by the Rakhine terrorist while he was looking after his Betel farm. 

The whole news is as follows. 

Around 7PM, Friday evening, Sayed Ullah S/o U Siddique (31 years old), from the village of Udaung left his house in order to look after his betel farm located nearby a NaTaLa (Rakhine) village. Although his family tried to look for him since he was not back home in time, yet they could not do it because of the curfew order (martial law) imposed on Rohingyas in the night time. And he was found dead with the sword-hacked-injuries next morning. 

“Since last Wednesday, the NaTaLa villagers have been being given trainings on how to use guns and swords. It is certain that Sayed Ullah was chopped by the Rakhine extremists since his farm is nearby the Rakhine village. As soons as we found out his dead body, we informed the village administrator U Tin Maung and NaSaKa in the commandment area No. 8. Authority came to the scene and went back merely looking at the dead body. 

In fact, normally, if such a crime takes place, authority takes pictures of the dead body and measures the area where crime takes place. Since the authority will not file any criminal case against them, they did not carry out their normal procedures. Authority just asked the people to take the body home. In the Rakhine villages in Maung Daw, the weapons have been distributed to Rakhines and on top of that, the trainings are also being given. Therefore, Rohingyas worry that Rakhine extremists will come to attack them for the third time in the coming March” said a local Rohingya to RB News. 

“In the evening, Police came to the Udaung Village and said “we have to take the body to the hospital for investigation.” And then, Police took the corpse away. The Police are just trying to destroy the evidence and cover up the crime. In fact, they have been doing so since last year. We have to do as the authority say. Even when we complain against such kind of destruction of the evidences of Police, no actions are being taken against them” he continued.

Erma M. Cuizon
Sun Star
March 3, 2013

THE thought that came to my mind was about mothers and children and their safety after I read the news on the number of “boat people” slipping out of their own country.

People in a community in west Myanmar called Rohingya are denied citizenship where they live. Even though they’ve been born in this country and lived for generations in what the community calls home, almost as Burmese as all others in the multi-ethnic country, 800,000 of them are subject to forced labor and travel restrictions, hardly anyone has any health care, and the chance for education.

So, they’ve been fleeing for months to look for a friendly place and to escape sectarian violence and persecution.

The United Nations says that these people, the Rohingya, are the most persecuted minority on earth, stateless even though they were born and grew up in Myanmar. In worse cases, the families are broken up—the men to the detention camps, women and children locked up
in shelters, or aboard small boats.

And the condition of the Rohingya has something to do with Buddhist-Muslim tensions. At least this is the way outsiders see, the UN looking in. But some Burmese officials insist that the tension has nothing much to do with religion but with politics.

It was last week when 121 Muslim Rohingya in a boat arrived in the Indonesian coast of Aceh. But there have been other boats that left and spanned the sea in that part of the world with the Rohingya in search of new homes.

Last year, there were attacks which killed hundreds of Rohingya, 100,000 with no home, no future. Just last week, angry Buddhists hit a Muslim community where they threw bricks at shops and at a school.

You would jump into a boat, no matter how rickety, to save your family, if you could.

I can imagine the number of women and children in the boats that flee the junta-ruled country which is supposed to be “on the road to democracy.” In a situation like this, how are the Rohingya mothers doing?

The news I read can give us an idea of how life is to the persecuted boat people, through the picture of women and children getting into a wobbly boat which would travel for weeks or months in the hope of finding temporary homes not just in the coast of Malaysia but also in Indonesia, Thailand, even Australia.

Muslim Malaysia allows the boat people into the country but they’re not Malaysian citizens and can’t have healthcare, education, not even jobs like in normal living.

In the AFP news was mentioned a young woman on her 9th month of pregnancy who joined the exodus. Six days on the water to Malaysia (or wherever they would be allowed to land), the woman gave birth.

The mother told the reporter that her house was burned down, the family (with the father in detention or dead?) had no shelter, no job. It was when her baby was a month old that she was interviewed, this time in a government shelter for 70 Rohingya in southern Thailand where the boat found land.

Clean and safe water which the boat people bring along run out, food doesn’t last, either. The children get sick of diarrhea, vomiting worms from their stomach. Like everybody else, they drink sea water. One of the most terrifying sicknesses of the boat people is dehydration and starvation, with 90 people dying during a recent 2-month journey on a smugglers’ boat.

The problem is rather complicated, which is really religion-oriented, no matter how Myanmar spokesmen put it, saying it’s ethnicity, not religion. It’s a strange situation to any of Filipino communities where there is no religious inequity. No such thing as a Buddhist mob attacking a Muslim village because, there was a new mosque being built.

It’s a small community problem with an international concern. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees will take up the boat people problem in a conference this month, “to find out ways and means of curbing irregular movement of people by sea.”

In our land, mothers and children are safe. And they haven’t heard of boat people.

    • Rohingya Exodus