RB News

June 5, 2013

Sittwe, Arakan: Most of the Rohingya Muslims from Sittwe became homeless after the anti Rohingya violence took place in June 2012. Entire villages were burnt down by the Rakhine extremists and many Rohingyas were forced to live in make shift refugee camps which are infamously known as the Concentration Camps to the International Medias. Even though the government puts a lot of restrictions, the international and local NGOs are working very hard to provide Food and Health Care to the IDPs. 

There are also some unregistered IDPs who are living in their own makeshift camps in Sittwe. As they are not registered with the NGOs, they do not receive any assistance from them. Rubber farm refugee camp is one of the unlisted camps among many others and the refugees living there have been facing food crisis since last year. The refugees are working at any place where they can earn something to fulfill their stomachs. Even the children have no choice but to work as housemaids or domestic helpers in neighboring village Bawdupha to support themselves and their families. 

Eleven years old Hamida; daughter of Mahmed is one of the destitute girls who have to work as housemaids in Bawdupha. Yesterday at around 3 pm was the most unfortunate moment of Hamida’s life. While she was coming back from her work, she accidently slipped into the stream which is close to the Manzi Police station. Although the police saw the little girl fell into the stream, they didn’t even care to save her and eventually the little girl drowned to death.

“She slipped into the stream. The police camp is nearby but all the people around the police camp are blaming the police that they didn’t save Hamida’s life although they saw that the girl slipped into the stream.” a refugee from Rubber farm told to RB News. 

Saving innocent life is a universal police code of conduct but in Myanmar when it comes to saving an innocent Rohingya girl, it is not even seen as a moral obligation by the Police force.

Nayla Wun (Sittwe)

RB News 

June 4, 2013 

Mrauk-U, Arakan – Four Rohingya women were shot dead and five Rohingyas were severely injured by the police in Pa-Rein hamlet, Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State today at 3:30 pm. 

According to the local sources, the police and the authorities had an agreement with Daw Thaw Yaybar to build temporary huts in the village. The agreement was solely made between the authorities and Daw Thaw Yaybar and local villagers were not aware of the agreement. And neither the authorities nor Daw Thaw Yaybar has informed the villagers about building temporary huts. 

On 4th of June, the police brought the woods by boat to build the temporary huts. The police asked the villagers to unload the woods from the boat. The villagers realized why the police brought the woods and finally they refused to unload them. The villagers said that they used to live in the houses in the village which were destroyed during the violence and now they could not accept staying in such temporary huts. 

As the villagers from Pa-Rein refused, the police went to Lat-Ma village and brought Rohingya workers to unload the woods. The villagers from Pa-Rein reiterated the authorities about their concern when the workers arrived. The villagers from Pa-Rein also asked the Lat-Ma village workers not to unload them. At the end, the quarrel broke out between the police and the Rohingya villagers and police fired shots to the crowd. 

Four Rohingya women were shot dead on the spot. One of them was a pregnant woman in her twenties. Another three Rohingya men and two Rohingya women were severely injured by the gunshots. According to a local resident from Pa –Rein hamlet, the police disappeared after the incident. 

The Rohingya women who were shot dead by police are: 

(1) Daw Khatiza D/o U Shafi Alam (40-years-old) 

(2) Daw Arlinisar D/o U Yusuf (27-years-old) – (The pregnant woman) 

(3) Daw Nasima D/o Unknown (Mother’s name: Daw Begum) 

(4) Daw Nurmar D/o U Ali Ahmed (50-years-old) 

The Rohingyas who were injured are: 

(1) U Phulzar S/o U Armir (35-years-old) 

(2) U Najmul Haque S/o U Shafi Alam (35-years-old) 

(3) Maung Shamshul Alam S/o U Salamat Khan (16-years-old) 

(4) Daw Nu Nu Bi D/o U Sharif (27-years-old) 

(5) Daw Nu Nu Bi D/o U Sultan (30-years-old)

RB News

June 4, 2013

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK held Special Commemoration for the Rohingya and other Muslim victims of deadly violence in 2012 to 2013 Monday 3rd of June in London. The event was organised by BROUK and there are about 100 people joined including Burmese Muslims. 

Ahamed Jarmal, General Secretary of BROUK hosted as a Master of Ceremony. Various Speakers joined to the stage. Jarmal said “this event is “A Special Commemoration for the Rohingya and other Muslim victims of deadly Violence in 2012-2013” to give our remembrances to those who died and who were still suffering due to the preplanned attack on Rohingya and other Muslim of Burma and to give our prayer”. 

BROUK President Tun Khin briefed the attack against Rohingya and other Muslims of Burma on Chorological events. He also highlighted how BROUK played a unique and critical role in providing information and that information reached to International community. 

On behalf of Rohingya Women, BROUK member and former secondary school teacher from Buthidaung Township High school Daw Khin Hla highlighted Rohingya women situation. She encouraged Rohingya women to work hard inside and outside of the country on the struggle of Rohingya’s rights.

Waihnin Pwint Thon campaign officer of Burma Campaign UK has mentioned on her speech “Our hearts and mind is with all of suffering Rohingya people in Burma. Burmese Government is violating international law treating on Rohingyas. It is important we have to educate the people of Burma and there is long way to get the right of all people in Burma”. 

During the event Ridhwaana Jarmal read a poem which was written by her and dedicated to the victims. The poem touched to all audiences. She is an author of “Guardians of the Bookshelf dimension” and also a member of The Society of Author UK. 

Burmese Muslim Association UK Chairman Kyaw Zwa (aka) Hamza mentioned on his speech historical back ground of Muslims in Burma and how they struggled together with all the people of Burma to get independence in 1948. He pinpointed that all Muslims have to work hard to get their rights in Burma.

Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) President Nurul Islam made concluding with analysis speech. During his speech he mentioned about current crisis, responsible persons, why on attack against Rohingyas and other Muslims of Burma and what community have to do in future.

Mr Nurul Islam highlighted by all available means. In his speech, he said “We need to charter our future, and the future of our coming generations. It requires vigorous efforts and struggle for the preservation and growth Muslim societies, Islamic heritage and culture within our Muslim communities without prejudice to the growth of other religions and indigenous cultures and in the country. We need to work in unison for the common interest irrespective of our ethnic backgrounds – Bama Muslim, Karen Muslim, Kaman Muslim and Rohingya Muslim. It is important that good sense prevails in the minds of the Burmese authorities, Rakhine community and majority community so that Rohingyas and all Muslims in Burma are able to live peacefully and honourably with all human dignity and rights.In the case of Rohingya, they should be able to coexist as equals in Arakan with their collective rights or concrete rights. Democratic and political process in Burma should be all-inclusive and Rohingya and all Muslims should be a part of it”. 

A slide was shown at the event from BROUK’s photo collection with a Rohingya song. It touched to the many audience hearts.

The meeting was ended with Dua by Shaikh Abdul Qayum Chief Imam of East London Mosque followed by dinner.

Maung Aurther

RB News

June 4, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan- Starting at 8AM today (04.06.2013), NaSaKas (Border Security Force) are carrying out raids against Rohingyas in the village of Kyi Kan Pyin (Khawar Bil) in Maung Daw. NaSaKas are from the headquarter located nearby the village. They are raiding the village in order to Bengalize Rohingya villagers by means of brutal force.

“At 8AM, NaSaKa surrounded the western section and the middle section of the village of Khawar Bil. And they have been raiding the village since then. Since NaSaKa’s primary targets are Rohingya men, Rohingya men from the middle section of the village are hiding in the forest and from western section of the village, they fled to nearby villages. 

Meanwhile, the village administration officers of Khawar Bil and others were called on for a meeting by the head of the NaSaKa administration today. In their absences, NaSaKa is brutally forcing to Bengalize any Rohingya they find before them.

As the village is still under NaSaKa blockage, we are unable to confirm any carrying out any brutalities and atrocities being carried out by NaSaKas. But the villagers are really afraid” said a Rohingya youth from Maung Daw.

“Besides, NaSaKa often carry out tortures and extortion of money from the poor villagers” he added.

Human Rights Watch

June 4, 2013

Provide Asylum Seekers Access to UN Refugee Agency

The Thai government should immediately end the detention under inhumane conditions of more than 1,700 ethnic Rohingya from Burma, Human Rights Watch said today. Rohingya asylum seekers should be transferred from overcrowded cells in immigration detention centers to get screening and protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

Shocking video footage of Rohingya locked up in an overcrowded immigration facility in Thailand’s Phang Nga province was shown on ITN Channel 4 News on May 31, 2013. Thailand’s prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra had agreed in January to permit Rohingya arriving by boat in Thailand to stay temporarily, initially for six months, until they could be safely repatriated to their places of origin or resettled to third countries. 

“Thailand should respect the basic rights of Rohingya ‘boat people’ and stop detaining them in horrific conditions,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The government should immediately allow them to pursue their asylum claims with the UN refugee agency.” 

The ITN program showed most of the 276 Rohingya men living in extremely cramped conditions in two cells resembling large cages, each designed to hold only 15 men, where they barely had enough room to sit. Some suffered from swollen feet and withered leg muscles due to lack of exercise. The men said they have not been let out of the cells in five months. 

Thai immigration authorities have not permitted UNHCR to conduct refugee status determination screenings of these Rohingya, and instead lock them in overcrowded immigration detention facilities across the country. Rohingya families have been split up, with women and children sent to government-run shelters separate from the men placed in immigration detention. 

Each year, tens of thousands of ethnic Rohingya from Burma’s Arakan State set sail to flee persecution by the Burmese government, and dire poverty. The situation has significantly worsened following sectarian violence in Arakan State in June 2012 between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Arakanese, and later government-backed crimes against humanity committed during a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” in October against Rohingya and other Muslims. 

Thailand’s so-called “help on” policy towards small boats carrying Rohingya has failed to provide Rohingya asylum seekers with the protections required under international law, and in some cases significantly increased their risk. 

Under this policy, the Thai navy intercepts Rohingya boats that come close to the Thai coast and supposedly provides them with fuel, food, water, and other supplies on the condition that the boats sail onward to Malaysia or Indonesia. Enforcement actions to prevent Rohingya from these vessels from coming ashore intensified after the Thai government responded to international pressure, and agreed to provide temporary shelter for more than 1,700 Rohingya who had arrived in Thailand since January 2013. 

Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution. While Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, under customary international law, the Thai government has an obligation of “non-refoulement” – not to return anyone to places where their life or freedom would be at risk. UNHCR’s Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards Relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers reaffirms the basic human right to seek asylum and state that “[a]s a general rule, asylum seekers should not be detained.” The UNHCR Guidelines also note that detention should not be used as a punitive or disciplinary measure, and that detention should not be used as a means of discouraging refugees from applying for asylum. 

The Thai government should work closely with UNHCR, which has the technical expertise to screen for refugee status and the mandate to protect refugees and stateless people. Effective UNHCR screening of all Rohingya boat arrivals would help the Thai government determine who is entitled to refugee status. 

“Thai authorities should provide temporary protection to Rohingya and scrap the ‘help on’ policy that places these asylum seekers in harm’s way,” Adams said. “The government should help Rohingya who escape from oppression and hardship in Burma – not worsen their plight.”

Rushanara Ali

Guardian

June 3, 2013

The international community must put pressure on Burma to protect Rohingya Muslims and end segregation in Rakhine state

How desperate and distrustful of your government do you have to be to refuse an offer of relocation when a cyclone is about to hit your home? That many of the displaced Rohingya people in Burma's Rakhine state took this decision demonstrates how difficult their lives have become.

For months now, the Rohingya Muslim people have been targeted in a campaign that a Human Rights Watch report (pdf) has described as "ethnic cleansing". Rohingya Muslims in Burma have been forced into segregated settlements and camps, and – in many cases – cut off from lifesaving aid.

I visited displacement camps in Rakhine in May with Refugees International and Burma Campaign UK, meeting with displaced people who – after suffering horrific attacks by members of the Rakhine Buddhist community in October –were forced to flee into remote areas of the countryside, areas completely unsuitable for displacement camps.

Drinking water had to be brought in on boats by NGOs, and primary healthcare was provided one morning a week. If you needed medical help at other times, you had to hope an NGO would come by boat to get you.

Residents of this squalid community fall ill frequently due to insanitary conditions. I travelled by boat for two hours to Pauktaw, where a UNHCR-supported camp is home to thousands of Rohingya people. The shores adjacent to the camps were covered in faeces, with dead rats floating in the water just metres from where children were bathing to keep cool in the heat.

Since it was attacked, the Rohingya community has been totally cut off from markets and job opportunities; living in a segregated area, its people are barred by the authorities from travelling to the sites where they used to work and trade. Donor governments – including the UK – have helped provide some basic services, but it is nowhere near enough to give these people a safe and dignified existence.

The Rohingyas I met were living in flimsy tents so close to the shore that there was no way they could survive the monsoon season, let alone a cyclone. Even the emergency evacuations now underway will not be enough to get them safely through the coming months. During my visit, I was told that it would take at least two months to build temporary shelters on higher ground, and the government has delayed allocating the necessary land, perhaps in an attempt to assuage local Rakhine extremists. All of this demonstrates the unwillingness of the government to prioritise the safety of the Rohingya community.

Aid agencies have had real difficulties in getting help to people. Apart from the logistical problems created by the camps' isolation, the government has introduced bureaucratic obstacles, including serious delays in providing travel authorisations and visas for aid staff. Most troubling, some Rakhine Buddhist political and religious leaders have made threats against aid agencies because they object to assistance being offered to to the Rohingyas. Instead of taking action, the government refuses to let aid workers operate in areas where threats are made.

Displaced people told me about family members they had lost in the October attacks, speaking of their grief. Most wanted to return home, but were too scared to do so without appropriate protection. And they were aware that rather than focusing on moving people to higher ground during April, the government was conducting a "verification exercise" in displacement camps, in which they tried to force Rohingyas to sign forms admitting that they were "Bengalis". This only added to their distrust of the authorities, which was already high after many of the security services either committed or condoned attacks on their community last year. People told me that they would never be allowed to return home because local authorities were trying to create Muslim-free zones.

In a discussion with a group of Rohingya women, I listened to stories of family members being killed; some had lost seven, eight, nine loved ones. After hearing these testimonies, I wasn't surprised that some Rohingya people took the seemingly irrational decision to refuse relocation in the face of a cyclone. They are so desperate that they do not know who to trust or where they may be sent next. And, as a woman who lost her entire family said, "If, after having lost everything – including my whole family – because we are Rohingya Muslims, [the government] still don't recognise me as Rohingya in my own country, then I might as well be dead".

The UK government, together with the rest of the international community, must keep the pressure on the Burmese government to facilitate full humanitarian access to the Rohingya, end segregation in Rakhine state, provide them with the protection they need to return home, and restore their Burmese citizenship.

Mohammad Al-Moula

Kuwait News Agency

June 3, 2013

Kuwait's Ambassador to Myanmar, Essa Al-Shimali, said on Monday that the Kuwaiti leadership is deeply concerned and interested in follow up on the state of affairs of the Muslim minority in Myanmar.

The ambassador recalled that the country was the first Arab and Islamic state to condemn violence against Muslims in Myanmar.

Ambassador Al-Shimali was speaking to KUNA after a delegation of the Kuwaiti National Assembly concluded a visit to the country. "The Kuwaiti National Assembly was one of the first Arab and Islamic parliaments to visit Myanmar to discuss the issue with the Muslim minority and meet with officials of Islamic bodies," he said.

The Kuwaiti delegation was headed by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman MP Saleh Ashour and included MPs Taher Failkawi and Salah Al-Ateeqi.

"During the visit, the delegation discussed bilateral relations between the two countries with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar, Wunna Maung Lwin, and ways to enhance them in various fields." The delegation also reviewed a detailed explanation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning violent acts in the province of Arakan, Al-Shimali said.

On the other hand, Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament of Myanmar expressed gratitude towards Kuwait's leadership and its people for its humanitarian role in various countries around the world, the ambassador said.

RB Poem
June 3, 2013

By Abu Aneen

RB Article

June 3, 2013

Racism in Myanmar politic was introduced since 1962 military coup d’état. Now people are so deeply immersed in racialistic mentality that they themselves do not realize that they become racialists. Today even democracy activists are blind in race, related issues. When race question appears before them, they cannot see the essence and value of democracy and human rights. There, they do not speak out against racial discriminations.

One child, two child official restrictions is nowhere, save India and China, in the world. The remark of a popular leader on the two child policy introduced in northern Rakhine State become subject to criticism from this ultra racists.

Recently in Pyi Myanmar weekly journal, (24.5.2013) a former religious affairs minister (a Lt-general) said "the guests (the Bengalis) in Rakhine state are very aggressive and expelling forcibly the hosts (the Rakhine). In response, the hosts had to assault on them and make them homeless, displaced, compelling them to take refuge in camps. It was done so in defence of our national security. The guests (The Bengalis) should choose methods of peaceful co-existence with the hosts (the Rakhine)". There what he means is the fate of the so called guests (according to his version) should be in the hands of the hosts. Is it a right/correct rationale? There are a lot of concrete primary source materials which indicate so called guests are original settlers of Arakan. 

In Rakine state, there is no any armed group insurgents of so called guest people. Instead, there, the regular army, police, para-military, immigrations and Nasaka (Border Immigration check forces) are heavily stationed along the border. 26 Nasaka stations comprising more than two hundred personnel each have a tight grasp on the daily life of this so called guest people. So called guests are not allowed to move freely. They need travel permits. There are six-monthly registration and check of both man and household animals. How could they assault on the favored and privileged Rakhine people. How could they, the guest take away the properties of hosts and expel them from their homes and hearths. Is there no proper, effective state mechanism? Are all government departments standing a loaf, doing nothing to protect the hosts?

Real fact is the guest Bengalis (Who themselves called Rohingya) have been subjected to hundreds of suppressive, discriminatory executive mechanism including forced two child policy. Their economic and social lives - not speaking of political rights - are so stifled or stagnated that they are literally almost lifeless and vulnerable. It is unimagined able that such a oppressed minority could be harmful to a privileged ruling class. It is just a mispropaganda to deceive Myanmar public. It is only to justify the gruesome in human atrocities committed against the guests (Bengali or Rohingya) in the past year. The world today according to HRW report recognized this as an ethnic cleansing, well planned campaign. It is continuation of U Ne Win's Rohingya cleansing agenda.

Mr. ex-minister! You deceived yourself. But you cannot mislead the world. The world is very small and closes now. Nothing remains unseen and unknown. People know and assess what is happening in any corner of the world within shortest time. The injustice done on Rohingya in the past year and the inhuman cruelty in various forms they are subjected to are now fully and clearly exposed to the word. The world's judgment is it is a systematic ethnic cleansing despite your accuses and denial. It is not a riot. It is one sided assault on the Rohingya. This one sided assault continued and spread to dozens of towns in the country. 

Here again so called 88 generation leaders say 1982 Myanmar citizenship law/act is the best one to solve Rohingya problem. How can you dare say that? Are you not dreaming to be state leaders in the future? How can the public rely on you? How do you lead the country? Don't you know the 1982 citizenship law was deliberately enacted at the after math of 1978 failed dragon operation to strip of Rohingya’s existing citizenship? 1978 refugees over two hundred thousand proved to be Burmese citizen by showing NRCs of Burma. Then Burmese government had to accept them and repatriate them, resettling in their original places. Here, Burmese government got a second thought; that is to strip Rohingya of Burmese citizenship and make this people stateless or a permanent degraded citizenry. Here came 1982 new citizen ship law, sections or provisions of which have no place for Rohingya's being citizens.

The whole world from the time of enactment have been decrying and condemning that law as an unjust, unfair and discriminatory one, containing retrospective effects. Alas! To the agony of Rohingya the world today has forgotten that reality. The world today is only talking on humanitarian ground. The world should raise the question of the invalidity and arbitrary nature of that law. The world today falls in the grasp of black propaganda that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from over populated Bangladesh ignoring the fact that half of the Rohingya population today became diasporas in various countries. They have sound historic back ground and legal points to be genuine Burman. 

Once 88 generation criticized the law that had put them in jail. Now they say the law which makes Rohingya stateless and put them in permanent confinement is very excellent one for the state security. When the world cried for their release from prison, they say a lot of kudos to the world. But now as the world ask for the relaxation and release of Rohingya from present statelessness and confinement, they say sorry! It is our internal affair. We cannot tolerate foreign interference."

This contradictory political mentality of 88 generation in fact discredits their reputation. The respect and hope the public put in them is slowly fading away.

The worst is what Ko Ko Gyi in an interview with Carlos Sardina on 8th July 2012 said. He said "millions of foreigners illegally entered Myanmar from east and west and obtain citizenships after 1988 upheaval. Real fact is there cannot be one million Bengali illegal immigrants as the total so called Bengali population is officially said to be only one million. Again there is no single Rohingya who got citizenship after 1988 to confirm the allegation of Ko Ko Gyi.

If all Rohingyas are recent migrants, then who were the ones who voted in elections from 1947 to 2010. This allegation has no substantial evidence. This is just the whim of some people. If the reason of two child policy is the terribly high birthrate of Rohingya, why the Rohingya population in percentage remains the same as 1826. In 1826 Rohingya population was one third of total Rakhine population which still today is also one third. Even in 1973 census Rohingya were half of total population; seventeen hundred thousand. There is no increase but decrease of this Rohingyas.

Most of the political leaders, democracy activist and some academics are found to be racialistic, blind and chauvinistic in their political mentality. That is why Rakhine state investigation committee report was nothing but a photocopy of what R N D P statement described before. The report is totally biased and partial. It did not point out who the main culprits in the violence were. Even it tried to put the blames on the victimized Rohingya.

In the emergency session of the Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw on 20th May RNDP Chairman U Aye Maung explained the causes of the violence. He said in Arakan, Bengalis have been swallowing Rakhine economically and politically. Rakhine people were constricted by the Bengali. Bengalis are over whelming Rakhine with a tremendous, terribly high birthrate. In Myanmar proper Muslims become the exploiters, all businesses are controlled by them. So our ethnic people have no option other than to resort to violent revenge on them. This version is quite similar in essence to what Hitler once said about the Jews. 

Ko Ko Gyi compared Bengal-Myanmar border with Mexico-American border. There the parallel comparison between the two is not a realistic approach. American per capital income is ten times bigger than Mexico. Every immigrant can find out a living in America very easily. American society is a homogenous one. Myanmar (Rakhine) GDP is lesser than Bangladesh. Rakhine is a hostile and antagonistic society for Bengali. There is Nasaka and other departments strictly watching any foreigner illegally cross the border. Rakhine is not an industrial area. Minister U Khin Yi told in the parliament Rohingya cross the border to find jobs in Bangladesh. It means Bangladesh is a better place for livelihood than Arakan.

Ko Ko Gyi said there was the question of preserving our historical, cultural and political interests. Yes, OK. But Arakan was politically, culturally and historically more closer to Bengal than to Myanmar. This two were one country for many centuries. Arakan kings used Indian languages and literatures in courts and most courtiers were Muslims. Arakan kings including first Mrauk-U King Narameik Hla who did not have possession of land west of Naf river had Muslim littles (or) names.

There were fluctuations of population: Bengalis in Arakan and Rakhine in Bengal. Rakhine in Bangladesh are called Mrama where as Bengali affiliated people in Arakan are Rohingya. Rohingya is a mixed blood race.

Rohingya in Arakan were never a threat to state security. They served Rakhine and Myanmar Kings as faithful soldiers and officials. Rohingya supported Bodawpyaya's rule. They got the recognition of the kings. They got prizes, medals and other awards from the kings. Qazi Abul Karim, an awardee of gold sword who fought along with Bandoola with his own Muslim army. Bagyidaw allowed his Rakhine Muslim combatants during the war, to build two mosques in Yangon alone. These mosques still are known as Rakhine Bali or Rakhine mosques. Official registration name too is Rakhine Bali. The one who fought with British army was not Rohingya but so called ethnic Rakhine. The first group of insurgents to make peace with the government is the Mujahid in 1961. The constitution of 2008 got 97% approval in Mayu district. People used to vote their own party and own candidates. But in 2010 Rohingya voted for USDP candidates. These all are proofs Rohingya are faithful to the country and peace loving. Araknistan movement in late 1940s was not led by Rohingya but by so supposed faithful Rakhines. Who is crying now for federation and separation?

Just what we need is change of attitude and heart towards Rohingya. Once Rohingyas are treated as equal, peace and tranquility will prevail as it was in parliamentary period. Racism is a Virus that draws back country's development. The earlier you get rid of racism the better for the country.

Long time ago I learned never to say ‘never again’ when it comes to Myanmar’s savagery. The latest mayhem against the Muslims in the Shan state, far away from the western Rakhine state – bordering Bangladesh, once again shows that for this religious minority Myanmar is proving to be hell on earth. Seemingly, there is no conscientious Buddhist living inside this den of hatred and intolerance that is bold enough to challenge this status quo. Daw Suu Kyi, once darling of the West, has long shown her despicable hypocrisy when she tried to ignore the monumental crimes of her Buddhist people and the government against the Rohingyas of Myanmar, considered the worst persecuted people on earth. 

For years the Rohingya people living in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, have been subjected to ethnic cleansing practices, and denied every right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Now that racial hatred and religious bigotry is spreading like a cancer all across Myanmar to include other Muslims in the country. 

Rumors now seem to have become a major weapon to justify elimination of a persecuted minority. Last year (May-October), we saw the result of this evil concoction: with the rumor of an alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine woman, the brainwashed Rakhine terrorists went on an extermination campaign that witnessed the gruesome murder and rape of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, and the wholesale destruction of Muslim properties, schools, madrassas, mosques and shrines. Nothing of value was left intact by the marauding Buddhist savages. This ethnic cleansing drive resulted in internal displacement of some 140,000 Rohingyas within Myanmar who are living in wretched refugee camps. At least thirteen thousand Rohingyas have fled the country by sea with some seven hundred losing their lives while trying to brave the ocean to find refuge elsewhere.

In October 21-25, two townships - Pauktaw and Kyaukphyu - saw the near-total expulsion of long-established Muslim populations, in what could only be described as ethnic cleansing. One village Yin Thei saw a massacre of at least 51 Muslims, among them 21 women. That violence started with a heated argument within a very poor Muslim family where the husband (Tun Naing) had lost his job and the apartheid like restrictions had prevented him from finding job outside his Muslim village. It stirred up ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in the next village, who began shouting anti-Muslim slurs. Tun Naing's village was soon besieged by hundreds of Rakhines. The next morning, Monday, October 22, hundreds of Rakhine men gathered on the southern outskirts of Mrauk-U, an ancient capital, located nearly 15 miles north of Paik Thay. Then they marched to Tha Yet Oak, a Muslim fishing village of about 1,100 people, and set alight its flimsy bamboo homes. Rakhine terrorists hurled Molotov cocktails and fired homemade guns, and the entire Muslim village was burned to ashes. The same episode was repeated in Sam Ba Le, a village in neighboring Minbya Township, where more than 200 homes were set ablaze. 

Next day, the massacre began in which the Rakhine mob was aided by police who shot Muslims. As Yin Thei burned, the last of nearly 4,000 Rohingya Muslims were fleeing the large port town of Pauktaw, in a dramatic exodus by sea that had begun five days earlier.

About 30 minutes after the last boat pushed out to sea, the two Rohingya neighborhoods in Pauktaw were set ablaze. All 335 homes were destroyed. The charred and roofless frame of a once-busy mosque was marked with graffiti: "Rakhines will drink kalar blood," using the slur for Muslims. Tuesday night fell. Soon a new inferno began in Kyaukphyu, a sleepy port town 65 miles southeast of Sittwe, targeting Kaman Muslims. Most Kyaukphyu Muslims lived in East Pikesake, a neighborhood wedged between Rakhine communities and the jade-green waters of the Bay of Bengal. By Wednesday, all the Muslim homes were set on fire. The Muslims had only one exit: the sea. A flotilla of fishing boats was preparing to leave its blazing shores.

"People swam out to the boats but were chased down and stabbed before they got there," said Abdullah, 35, a Rohingya fisherman to a reporter from the Reuters. Xanabibi, 46, a Kaman woman, said she watched from a boat as three Rakhine men with swords set upon a Muslim teenager. "I watched them ... cut up his body into four pieces," she said. The extermination campaign was touted as majority Rakhine’s way to teaching a lesson to minority of Muslims.

The week-long pogrom, by official count, claimed 89 lives, its worst in decades. The Reuters investigation painted a more troubling picture: The wave of attacks was organized, central-government military sources told Reuters. They were led by Rakhine nationalists tied to a powerful political party in the state, incited by Buddhist monks, and abetted at times by local security forces.

In March of this year, the extermination campaign moved to towns in central Myanmar, including Meiktila, which is located nearly 1oo miles north of the capital city Naypyitaw. There mobs of men, including Buddhist monks hacked to death at least 44 Muslim women and children. And all these savagery under the pretext of a rumor that a Muslim gold shop owner in Meiktila had harassed his Buddhist customers, which spiraled into a street brawl. Soon thereafter Buddhist mobs roamed the streets with sticks and swords and set Muslim-owned buildings including mosques ablaze. Rioting and arson attacks spread to 11 townships and villages outside Meiktila, as mobs of Buddhists, some led by monks, continued a three-day rampage through Muslim areas. Eight hundred Muslim homes and five mosques were torched. The violence ended with another 12,000 people displaced.

In his report in the New York Times Thomas Fuller wrote, “Images from Meiktila showed entire neighborhoods burned to the ground, some with only blackened trees left standing. Lifeless legs poked from beneath rubble. And charred corpses spoke to the use of fire as a main tool of the rioting mobs.” President Thein Sein later declared a state of emergency.

The latest manifestation of extermination campaign came last week in the northern city of Lashio, where terrified Muslims were sheltering under army guard after their homes, shops and mosque were burned down. The unrest in the northern Myanmar city of Lashio, a city located nearly 430 miles from Myanmar’s commercial capital of Rangoon (Yangon), shows how far anti-Muslim extermination campaign has spread in this Buddhist-dominated country. For years, the Shan state bordering China has been a peaceful state. And now in clear reminiscent of Meiktila, its Lashio city witnessed swarms of Buddhist men roaming Lashio's crumbling streets, armed with rocks and sticks and machetes. Before police and army troops stepped in, the Buddhist mob had torched scores of Muslim-owned shops, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. The crowd then rampaged through the town, setting fire to Lashio's largest mosque. The mob also set fire to a Muslim school and orphanage that was so badly charred that only two walls remained

According to official report, one Muslim was killed and five people wounded including a journalist attacked by a Buddhist mob in Wednesday’s clashes. Some 1,200 Muslims were moved to Mansu Monastery after Buddhist mobs had terrorized the city – again showing government’s slow response to anti-Muslim pogroms.

As reported by the Reuters, Thein Maing, who took shelter at the monastery with his family, said they only dared to leave their house when they saw soldiers patrolling the streets on Wednesday. “I approached the soldiers and said, ‘We are afraid and we don’t know where to go. Please help us’, and they sent us here.” Khin Kyi’s family hid in the house of an ethnic Chinese neighbor, while Buddhist men with sticks and swords prowled the area. “We were very scared. This has never happened before,” she said.

The violence was sparked by a rumor last Tuesday that a Muslim man had badly burnt a Buddhist woman who sold fuel by the side of the road. After police detained the man, Buddhists surrounded the police station and demanded that he be handed over for public lynching. Badanta Ponnya Nanda, head monk of Mansu Monastery, said he tried to reason with the crowd, telling them to respect the law. “After that they went and burned the mosque,” he said.

As I have noted before, it would be wrong to think that these are isolated events. These are, in fact, part of a highly organized eliminationist policy in which Myanmar government and its Buddhist community are joint partners. For years their neo-Nazi intellectuals and bigot monks have been playing the role of Julius Streicher selling, rather very successfully, the poison pill of racial and religious purity in a country that has been multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious for hundreds of years. 

Pale-skinned and shaven-headed Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu has become the public face of a Buddhist campaign, called ‘969’, to exclude and isolate Myanmar's Muslim minority. Wirathu is a self-confessed admirer of neo-Nazi groups like the English Defense League of the UK. He has become to the 969 fascist movement in Myanmar what Goebbels was to the Nazis in Germany. He says that his goals and methods are intended to counteract what he regards as growing Muslim power and numbers. His "969" campaign calls for boycotting Muslim-owned businesses and opposes intermarriage with Buddhists. He insists that 22 per cent of the nation's 60 million people are Muslim - the official estimate is only 4 per cent. 

There are many Buddhists in Myanmar who take this hateful monk as their spiritual guide. It is no accident, therefore, that his 969 campaign has coincided with a surge of bloody violence in which Muslims have become the main victims. Wirathu is such a diabolical figure that he has no problem in lying or talking with a twisted tongue. When hundreds of Muslim villages and townships were burned in the Rakhine state, he had an explanation: "The Rohingya there burned down their own houses so that they could live easily in the refugee camps." As to the burning and killing by the Buddhist mob in Meiktila, he said their crimes were "forgivable”. He added, "As far as Muslims go, a snake is a snake. Snakes are dangerous, so we shouldn't let them be." It is a classic example to dehumanize one’s enemy so that violence against them can be sanctified.

As I have noted elsewhere Wirathu – the evil preacher - however, is not alone justifying the elimination campaign against the Muslims of Myanmar. There have been depraved ideologues like Aye Chan, (late) Aye Kyaw and Khin Maung Saw who for years have been parroting the government’s negative stereotypes against the minority Muslims to deny their ancestral ties to Burma. As Dr. Shwe Lu Maung (Shahnawaz Khan) and other objective researchers have repeatedly shown the first settlers of Arakan were the darker-skinned people who are now known as the Rohingya. Simply put, their ties to the soil of Arakan are older than those of the Rakhine Buddhists. Obviously, facts are never important to an ultra-racist and bigot, but myth-making is to justify their eliminationist policy against a targeted minority. Thus, the indigenous, and yet endangered, Rohingya are conveniently dumped as the illegals from Bangladesh and denied their citizenship rights in Myanmar - the last apartheid state of the 21st century.

"Ahimsa," meaning not to harm others, once considered fundamental to Buddhism, has become a forgotten principle in today’s Myanmar. The denial of existence has meant denial of rights for the minority Muslims, which in turn, has translated into their extermination in which from top to bottom every Buddhist of Myanmar is intimately linked as part of a national project to that end. What the past military governments have always wanted in terms of the minority Muslims is now done by its civilian partners in crime. After all, what was possible in a military dictatorship is no longer kosher in a hybrid civil-military government, run by a reform-minded Thein Sein! What a mockery with people’s intelligence! It is, therefore, no accident that the government security forces are silent witnesses, if not active participants, in such an eliminationist project, and are always the last ones to arrive at the crime scene when the cleansing task has already been accomplished by their fellow Buddhist terrorists. It is also no accident that while the victims are always Muslims, those jailed for taking part in clashes with marauding Buddhists – whether in the Rakhine state or in central Myanmar – are always Muslims. Not a single Buddhist has been convicted so far. What a mockery of justice in Thein Sein’s Myanmar!

In spite of decades-long campaign to eliminate the Muslim minorities of Myanmar, they are still there. It is not the Rohingya Muslims alone, there are Kaman Muslims, there are Karen Muslims, and there are Shan Muslims, there are Panthay Muslims and many others who call Myanmar their home. And this realization has made the hateful provocateurs and their local agents very angry, and more determined than ever before to finish off the eliminationist project. So, the persecuted Rohingya must now adhere to the two-child policy in clear violation of their human rights. 

Ignored once again in this immoral order is the fact that Myanmar has ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which obliges State parties to respect and protect the right of women and men “to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.” 

Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, has condemned the order: “These orders provide further ammunition to local authorities, including the border security force Nasaka, to discriminate against and persecute the most vulnerable and marginalized group in Myanmar.” “Only by addressing this discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities can the Government of Myanmar hope to forge integrated communities that live together in equality, peace and harmony,” he underscored.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has also called on the Government not to restrict the number of children of Rohingya people. 

As to the recent pogroms, the UN has voiced concerns about violence against the Rohingyas and has adopted a resolution in the General Assembly (Number 12-59569) on “The Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar,” which urged the Government of Myanmar to accelerate its efforts to address discrimination, human rights violations, violence, displacement, and economic deprivation affecting various ethnic minorities and, expressing particular concern about the situation of the Rohingya minority. Unfortunately, the UN fell short of either proposing any action to save the victims or punishing the major culprits who are responsible for the tragedy of this unfortunate people. The nuclear Brahmins, shamelessly, are more interested in getting their shares of the pie of Myanmar than punishing the rogue, apartheid state for its monumental failure to protect the lives and properties of minority Muslims there. More sickening is the attitude of the ASEAN, which as a regional power, has failed to chastise one of its own. They must demand a stop to this extermination campaign against the minority Muslims with a definite timeline. They must ensure full citizenship and human rights of these Muslims. Otherwise, the local problem will not remain local and become a regional one endangering regional security and stability, if it has not already reached that magnitude. 

Can ASEAN afford such a catastrophe in the making? How about South Asia?

RB News 

June 2, 2013 

Minbya, Arakan – A Rohingya woman on her way home was killed by a group of Rakhine extremists in Minbya Township. 

Rohingya woman, Laila Begum from Sin Gyi Pyin Muslim village was on her way home on May 29, 2013. She was accompanied by three Rohingya brothers from Kyun Oaut Muslim village as for a Rohingya woman, going alone was no longer secured these days after the anti-Rohingya violence took place in Arakan. Over twenty Rakhine extremists holding sticks and swords came out from Sin Gyi Pyin Rakhine village and attacked them while they were passing through a Rakhine village. Unfortunately, the Rohingya men were unable to protect Laila Begum as the Rakhine extremists were armed with various weapons and at last three Rohingya men had to flee for their lives. She was beaten to death by the Rakhine Extremists. The three Rohingya witnesses and village elders informed the police and the military immediately after the incident but so far no action has been taken by the police and military. It was also noted that the police and military did not even bother to help the villagers in searching for the victim’s body. 

After two days, finally the villagers from the Sin Gyi Pyin Muslim village found the dead body of Laila Begum floating in the stream of Sin Gyi Pyin on June 1, 2013 at 11:00 am. 

“We finally found the corpse of Laila Begum in Sin Gyi Pyin stream. She was hacked to death. She would not be killed if the authorities helped us with the security from those Rakhines extremists. But now it seems that by not providing security to Rohingyas, the authorities wanted her to be killed. Until now the authority is not taking any action against this murder case.” a villager told to RB News.

June 2, 2013

Maung Aye

RB Article

June 2, 2013

During the violence against Rohingyas last year, hardly was any Rohingya student able to go to school. There were many reasons for it. Particularly, they could not enroll their courses at school because they needed to avoid the wild Rakhine Buddhists and the brutal Burmese Armed Forces. As a result, thousands of Rohingya students had to discontinue their education last year. As the new school season is going to begin, Rohingya students, amidst many difficulties, are curiously preparing to continue their study. Despite losing one year during the targeted-violence, they seem very happy to resume their studies. 

However, the path to their studies is not an easy one. As they proceed to Basic Education High School (BEHS) 1, Maung Daw, for admission, the respective authority at the school reject them saying that they (the school authority) cannot register them because they were absent last year. And they are asked to take permission from the headmaster of the school. The Headmaster, U Kyaw Zaw Tun, in turn, demands Kyat 20-30 thousands for permission depending on the external appearances and dresses of the students. The minimum amount set to be paid for permission is Kyat 10 thousands. Many poor Rohingyas are finding hard to pay the amount especially because their economy is crippled by the government. 

When asked why the amount is to be paid, the headmaster gives an arbitrary and irrational reply “because you guys involved in torching Rakhines’ houses last year” to the innocent students. Besides, rather cruelly, he threatened some students recently that if his demand was not fulfilled, he would hand them over to the Police. Out of fear, the students had to fulfill his arbitrary demand. It was a blatant extortion of money from Rohingyas and reflects the xenophobic tendency of the headmaster. In Myanmar, since almost all the schools are run by the government, one doesn’t need to pay much admission fees.

In fact, it is an ethic and duty of a teacher to organize and encourage students to continue their studies irrespective to racial and religious differences. But instead of doing so, he is forcing the students to quit their studies. Is he really a teacher or a thug? Is there any other teacher like him in this whole world?

President Thein Sein often gives an excuse that we, Rohingyas, are unedueated and uncivilized. That’s why we are unable to integrate into Majority Burmese society and so we cause problems. It is a blatant lie! How can we be educated? They have erected all the systematic barriers against our education. Despite all our people’s enthusiasm for education, they can’t pursue it. On the other hand, President shamelessly says that we don’t study. Is he out of sense? Is he not an oxymoron? 

Maung Aye is a Rohingya Living in Arakan and graduate in English.

Ibrahim Shah

RB Article

June 2, 2013

Burma/Myanmar gained the Independence in 1948 after the successful negotiation with the Great Britain by Aung Sann-Atlee and Nu-Atlee agreements. In these two agreements, citizenship is guaranteed for every single person living in Burma as of 1948, as well as honoring them with equality and human dignity. Those principle values of the Independence were functioning well until Gen. Ne Win gave birth to dictatorship in Burma by staging a coup in 1962. 

Since then Burma faced tremendous deterioration in Human Values, Freedoms, Rights and Equality. Dictator Ne Win has crashed down all the prodemocracy movements and handed down the notorious traditions to his successors; military generals. When it came to infamous Gen. Than Shwe’s era, the country’ situation has already been severely hit by continuous sanctions from the western governments and Institutions that compelled Than Shwe to work on a strategy of safe exit. The 2008 Constitution was written in a way that the Military remains as a key role player in Burma politics and all the dictators’ interests are being safeguarded by the 2010 newly formed quasi-civilian government of Ex- Gen. Thein Sein. 

The late Gen. Ne Win is seen as the Father and the Founder of the new (Tatmadaw) Burmese Army. He is the great mentor to Gen. Than Shwe, infamous Spy Chief Gen. Khin Nyunt and current president Ex-Gen. Thein Sein. His ruthless policies are still widely practiced by the Military without questioning their validity and morality. Dictator Ne Win’s first patriotic movement right after the coup were; confiscating Indian and Chinese own businesses, introducing the Burmanization policy which recommends “Burma is for the Burmans only” and glorifying Burmans as Buddhists with ethnically pure Mongoloid blood. In Arakan, he imposed a policy of “Divide and Rule” to destroy the years long tradition of peaceful coexistence between the Rakhines (Moghs) and Rohingyas.

In 1974, he changed the name of the Western Burma and the Mayu Frontier Region from Arakan to Rakhine as a measure to undermine the existence of Rohingya being as an ethnic identity. His major armed operation; the Dragon King Operation (1977-1978) was solely targeted to Rohingya population and more than 300,000 Rohingya have been driven out from homes accusing them as illegal immigrants. Many thousands lives of Rohingya were perished and eventually had to take shelters in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Again in 1982, he has enacted the unjust “Citizenship Act” as a clear sign of Rohingya Elimination from Burma.

During his successor SLORC era of 1991-1992, Ne Win’s right-hand man, the notorious spy Chief Gen. Khin Nyunt has launched an indiscriminate raid against Rohingyas in every village and quarter of Arakan. Many educated Rohingyas and religious leaders were arrested, tortured and about quarter of a million Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to escape from the atrocities. Many of the arrested were never been released and their whereabouts remains unclear until now.

As the President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government bragging the world with democratic reforms, the Burmese government realized to redraw the strategy of Rohingya ethnic cleansing policy to avoid from worldwide open condemnation. In pursuit of government’s new approach to Rohingya Elimination, the RNDP (Rakhine Nationalities Development Party) chaired by a Rakhine ultra-nationalist veterinarian Aye Maung caught the government’s attention. 

Since the beginning of 2012, RNDP has been mobilizing Rakhine youths by openly preaching hate speeches, circulating pamphlets with religious/ethnic incitements and distributing machetes. In June 2012, RNDP backed by the government elements successfully triggered the riots by brutally killing 10 Muslim pilgrims in southern Rakhine town of Thandwe. So far no perpetrator has been brought to justice, which clearly indicates the government involvement. The violence has further spread to all over Rakhine State. Being as collaborator, the government forces did not provide safe and security to minority Rohingyas and as a result many Rohingyas lost their lives, entire village burnt down and properties destroyed. 

Another government involvement came to the spotlight when the Burmese president Thein Sein, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres that "We will take responsibility for our ethnic people but it is impossible to accept the illegally entered Rohingyas, who are not our ethnicity, or else, will send them away if any third country would accept them and this is what we are thinking is the solution to the issue."

The President’s remark has served as a strong endorsement to the already worsening anti-Muslim, anti-Rohingya sentiment all over Burma. Many ultra nationalists Monks took to the street chanting supports to the President’s legal words of hatred. As Burma is known as a predominantly Buddhist nation, any movement from Monks is seen as a legitimate one. Burmese government being known to this very fact indulged the Monks openly preaching hatred against all Muslims and particularly targeting to Rohingyas. Wirathu, a Buddhist monk notoriously known as “Burmese Binladin” preached anti-Muslim speeches and distributed them on CD with the help of “969” The Buddhist Nationalist Movement. Though the speeches are obvious instigation for the religious violence and violate the constitution, government kept ignoring and security forces just kept watching without doing anything when the violence took place.

In Rakhines, situation of Rohingyas remains uncertain with the increasing restriction on freedom of movement, access to health care and education. Recently the Rakhine State government was instructed to impose 2 Child only policy for Rohingya population. Despite the fact that Burmese president has promised the world to speed up the resettlement of IDPs to tone down the worldwide condemnation, IDPs are continually suffering from the blockage of local and international assistance. IDPs’ children are not able to pursue education and there is no regular food supply and they are still languishing in the makeshifts concentration camps around Rakhine States. Medias, INGO and donor countries agencies are constantly facing restriction, harassment from local Rakhine people and Rakhine State government. 

As Burmese President Thein Sein and his puppet Rakhine Commission’s report insisting the non existence of Rohingyas on Burmese soil, immigration authority and the security forces are carrying out the population census on Rohingyas as Bengalese. Whoever refused to accept the identity as Bengalese is subjected imprisonment.

One can inarguably say that the Burmese government’s persecution on Rohingya is a genocide. The Nazis have perfected one during the Second World War by killing more than six million Jews worldwide. Many were gassed in concentration camps. In Burma, they have their own way of Genocide which is called “Final Solution” for Rohingya extermination. (I.e. burning down houses, massacre, gang rape on immature girls and women, indiscriminate killing including children, extortion with false accusation, torture, abduction of Rohingya girls to serve as sex slaves in army camps) 

Thousands of Rohingyas could no longer bear those hardships and persecutions, and then fled Burma as potentially risky boat people. Many have lost their lives when the boats wrecked the sea and some ended up in detention centers in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. 

Commenting on the violence which took place in Rakhine in 2012, Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, has stated that “it is of fundamental importance to clearly establish what has happened in Rakhine state and to ensure accountability”. He has also added that the human rights situation in Rakhine state is very serious and many have suffered from the loss of their homes and livelihoods as a result of the violence and now the government kept them in concentration camps.

Instead of bringing the perpetrators of the Rakhine violence to justice, President Thein Sein formed the Rakhine Commission with 27 handpicked members to investigate the root causes of the conflict. Out of 27 members, 23 members are Buddhists and the remaining 4 Muslims members were later ousted from the commission with various accusations. When the Commission finally came up with the findings, it is with full of distortion, one sidedness and mainly protecting the interest of the State rather than protecting the rights of the minority Rohingyas. Although Rohingyas have many historical evidences of being ethnicity of Burma dating back from 8th century AD to U Nu’s Multi-party democracy government, the Rakhine Commission has ignorantly denied the existence of Rohingya.

Some of the distorted antagonistic on-record statements of the Rakhine Commission members; 

• Dr Myo Myint: “They (the "Bengalis" from across Bangladesh) are here already. We can't simply kick them out. What to do?”
• Dr Myo Myint: “You don't need to report to the President about the situation on a regular basis. The security and welfare of those people ("Bengali") are not our commission's responsibility”
• MP Aye Maung: “We have to restore Rakhine villages (to the pre-Bengali period). We need to take inspiration from Israel and model our restoration (of Rakhine State only for the Rakhine) from Israel” and so on. (Source:http://www.maungzarni.com/2013/05/top-10-anti-muslim-and-anti-rohingya.html)

After releasing the Rakhine Commission Report, the Burmese government became more ignorant and bold defending its involvement in instigation of the conflict. With the presence of many INGOs, satellite images and advanced technologies, what is happening to Rohingyas in Rakhine and Muslims in Burma drew many international criticism and condemnation.

No matter how hard President Thein Sein tries to deceive the word with fake reforms, the widespread hatred on minority Muslims and Rohingyas becomes more clearly visible. Finally, it is the President’s choice whether to portray Burma as a peace loving country or a country that dances with the tune of hatred. 

The Jakarta Globe
June 1, 2013

A leading Indonesian human rights organization has urged the government to actively support a United Nations initiative for a resolution on the plight of the Rohingya ethnic minority currently facing persecution in Myanmar.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Human Rights Working Group said it was crucial that Indonesia support the initiative at the UN Human Rights Council meeting that began in Geneva on Monday and runs through June 14.

Muhammad Choirul Anam, the HRWG deputy director, said in the statement that there were several reasons for Indonesia backing the proposed resolution, which would call for opening a UN Human Rights Council representative office in Myanmar, among other things.

“First, the Indonesian government has always viewed the Rohingya case as one of human rights and ethnic persecution,” he said, adding that the proposed resolution chimed with Indonesia’s own view of the issue.

“Second, the matter of resolving this issue has become increasingly urgent in light of recent moves by the Myanmar government to stifle the social and cultural rights of the Rohingya.”

Choirul cited a proposal by authorities in the country’s Rakhine state earlier this month calling for a limit of two children for each Rohingya couple. The country’s leading pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, has condemned the policy as a violation of human rights.

HRWG said another reason for backing the UN resolution on the Rohingya issue was the fact that as Southeast Asia’s biggest country and economy, it was incumbent on Indonesia to take the lead in such matters.

Choirul said Indonesia’s leadership would also help countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation see the issue from a human rights perspective rather than a religious one.