By AFP

April 6, 2018

Five Rohingya stranded at sea for almost three weeks have been rescued by Indonesian fishermen but another five of them died during the harrowing ordeal, officials said Friday.

News of the rescue comes several days after the arrival in Malaysia of another boat carrying dozens of members of the persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar.

The group of two men, aged 28 and 33, a 20-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and an eight-year old boy were spotted Monday in a small boat in waters off southern Thailand and Myanmar, 325 kilometres (176 miles) from Aceh province in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The fishermen took them back to Aceh on Sumatra island and the group arrived early Friday.

"They were immediately brought to a local hospital for treatment as they were weak," Abdul Musafir, head of the East Aceh search and rescue team, told AFP.

"But I'm sure they will be fit again after a couple of days in hospital."

Musafir added that the group said they had been travelling with some two dozen other Rohingya but got separated. He did not provide further details.

East Aceh police said the rescued five were stranded at sea for about 20 days while five others had starved to death and their bodies were thrown overboard.

It has been rare for Rohingya migrants to attempt the sea routes south since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, sparking a crisis across Southeast Asia as large numbers were abandoned at sea.

But there have been concerns desperate migrants might start taking to the high seas again after mainly Buddhist Myanmar launched a new crackdown last year that forced about 700,000 members of the stateless Muslim minority to flee to Bangladesh.

In 2015 hundreds of Rohingya came ashore in Aceh, where they were welcomed in the staunchly conservative Islamic province.

Special envoy recommends those responsible for violence be brought to justice

By Barry Ellsworth

Anadolu Agency

April 4, 2018

TRENTON, Canada -- The special envoy investigating the plight of the Rohingya Muslims issued a report Tuesday that encouraged Canada to accept refugees displaced by persecution in Myanmar.

The report by former Ontario premier and Toronto MP Bob Rae, also recommended sanctions and prosecution against those in Myanmar who are behind the crisis that has forced Rohingya to flee for their lives to Bangladesh.

There is proof “to support the charge that crimes against humanity have been committed,” the report stated.

Rae, who was appointed special envoy by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, traveled extensively in the region in February and released his report at a news conference in Ottawa.

He visited Bangladesh refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are living in deplorable conditions.

While he was refused permission by Myanmar officials to go to Rakhine State, the home territory of the Rohingya, Rae said he saw enough of the wanton destruction of villages to convince him of the persecution.

“Words cannot convey the extent of the humanitarian crisis people currently face in 

Bangladesh and Myanmar,” the report stated. “In addition to accounts of shooting and military violence, I also heard directly from women of sexual violence and abuse at the hands of the Myanmar military and of the deaths of children and the elderly on the way to the camps.”

Rae made 17 recommendations to help ease the plight of the Rohingya who have been called the most persecuted group on the globe.

They included that “Canada should signal a willingness to welcome refugees from the Rohingya community” from Myanmar and Bangladesh and also encourage other countries to do the same.

Myanmar officials should also help the Rohingya return home, but under close scrutiny so the refugees would be safe from the military and mobs in Myanmar that is predominately a Buddhist country.

Rae also suggested countries, including Canada, should hit “targeted economic sanctions” those who are behind the violence.

“Canada should be actively working with like-minded countries to identify the individuals or parties that should be subject to sanctions,” he wrote. “Canada should also continue its arms embargo and should seek a wider ban on the shipment of arms to Myanmar.”

Another recommendation is to prosecute those who have caused “the forcible and violent displacement of more than 671,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State in Myanmar.”

While Canada has already committed more than CAN$45 million in aid to the Rohingya, Rae suggested more was needed and CAN$150 million be given in the next four years.

He said Canada should raise the crisis at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London later this month, as well next month at the G7 summit in Canada.

The Canadian government will review the report and decide on what action to take.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012

Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders. In a report published on Dec. 12, 2017, the global humanitarian organization said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

To the Bosom of My State 

Ro Mayyu Ali

RB Poem

April 3, 2018

The world I knew is gone

The people I loved were displaced, Missing, incarcerated and dead

My home is completely gone 

And my life is smashed to nothing

I had to escape to another's hands

Now I survive by aids in the world's largest settlement 

Here I'm quite subjected 

As the prey of the earth nature 

And the the victim of creature misbehave 

Oh! You my state! 

So many things despite, I yearn in you

Perhaps, the bond I have for you is still intact

How my heart beats to dwell in your bosom 

It doesn't only mean I can't live without you. 

It so means none other closer than you for me

In my eyes, it is dream for you

On mind, full thought of changes 

In heart, a bunch of desires 

I can stay away from you.

Never I can be without thinking of you 

I can be exiled from you. 

Can nothing remove you from my heart 

Other's love for you could be in heart

What love I have for you is in my blood 

I love you in any circumstance

I love you, my motherland 

I love you, my Myanmar!

The Rohingya that stopped at the Thai island of 'Koh Lanta' on Saturday (Assadawuth Suden/Associated Press)

By AFP

April 1, 2018

A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees trying to reach Malaysia briefly stopped on a Thai island, an official said Sunday, as fears grow about overcrowded camps for the stateless minority fleeing violence in Myanmar.

BANGKOK: A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees trying to reach Malaysia briefly stopped on a Thai island, an official said Sunday (Apr 1), as fears grow about overcrowded camps for the stateless minority fleeing violence in Myanmar.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter in southern Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents in August that the US and UN have called ethnic cleansing.

But the refugees have arrived to find cramped settlements and often squalid conditions in Cox's Bazar, where hundreds of thousands who fled previous waves of persecution are already living.

An agreement to repatriate Rohingya from Bangladesh to Myanmar's Rakhine state has yet to see a single refugee returned.

Rohingya migrants attempting the boat routes south have been a rare sighting since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, leaving thousands of migrants abandoned in open waters or jungle camps.

The Rohingya boat arrived off Thailand's western coast in Krabi province early Sunday due to bad weather.

Images showed the passengers being interviewed on shore and then getting back into the boat before departing.

Krabi governor Kitibodee Pravitra confirmed that the people travelling on the boat were Rohingya but did not know where they had come from.

"The initial report said they were docking near Koh Lanta this morning to avoid the storm," he said, referring to an island popular with tourists. "They want to go to Malaysia."

The Rohingya on board would continue toward their destination, he said.

He said there were about 56 women, men and children on board.

Many of the Rohingya ensnared in the 2015 boat crisis wound up in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia as Thailand stuck to a policy of not accepting the vessels.

Bangladeshi economic migrants have also taken the boat routes.

There are nearly 70,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers living in Malaysia, according to the most recent statistics from the UN refugee agency.

RB News

March 31, 2018

Minbya, Arakan State: On March 30 morning, a Prayer Leader or Imam was brutally beaten and injured by a Rakhine extremist at 'Tha Yet Oak' hamlet, 'Na Ga Ra' village tract, Pan Myaung region in 'Minbya' Township. 

The 57-years-old Ahmed Husson is the Imam in the mosque of Na Ga Ra's Tha Yek Oak (Noyapara) living his life by fishing. In the morning around 7AM on 30th March, he was whacked on his head with a wooden rod by the son of U Kyaw Zaw Aung from Kyun Taw Rakhine village, while he was fishing by a net in the shore of 'Lay Myo' River. As a result of the forceful strike, the head of the Imam was scuffed and severely injured, according to a a villager who spoke to RB News. 

No one has come to investigate the incident yet though the administration members from 'Tha Yet Oak' informed the police station in Pan Myaung via telephone, added the villager. 

"We can't go to police station no matter what we face. We just can move in and around the two neighboring Rohingya hamlets. Those two hamlets are inside Na Ga Ra village tract. We are not allowed to go any other places" said the villager. 

Tha Yet Oak is one of the 11 hamlets in Na Ga Ra village tract. There are 3 Rohingya hamlets including Tha Yet Oak among 11 and Rohingya in there can move around in the Rohingya hamlets and no one is allowed to go to other villages, not even to the police station. 

The condition of the Imam Ahmed Husson is serious but he cannot access yet to any hospital for the required medical treatments. 

Since 2012, the movements of the Rohingya villagers in Na Ga Ra have been restricted within the village and totally trapped in. They have no source to earn money and been surviving doing what they can find. Thus, the villagers often face persecutions of the government's Armed Forces and tortures in the hands of some Rakhine extremists. 

There are often cases of deaths of the Rohingya villagers as a result of tortures by the extremists, say the villagers.

[Translated into English by Mayyu Ali]

Please email to: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send your reports and feedback.

RB News

March 29, 2018

Buthidaung, Arakan State -- 22 Rohingya villagers in Buthidaung Township were sentenced to three-year imprisonment each on Wednesday (Mar 28). 

On 16th August 2017, Security Forces conducted raids at 'U Hla Pe' village in Buthidaung and arbitrarily arrested 49 Rohingya villagers. After that, they were detained in the Regional Camp of the BGP (Border Guard Police). Afterwards, 25 were of them released from the BGP camp in the 'Nyaung Chaung' region on ransom.

According to the villagers, the remaining 24 arrestees were sent to the Buthidaung Prison under the false charges of Criminal Sections 17/1 and 17/2. Later on, Section 17/2 was dismissed and they were continued to be prosecuted under the Section 17/1.

Of these 24, Araf Ullah and Eliyas have been set free on 28th May, while each of the remaining 22 has been handed with three years in prison.

"(Before their verdict was announced,) one of the them had paid 7.5 million, while another has paid 7 million, to the judge as ransom for their releases. The remaining 22 were sent to the prison under three-year imprisonment to each (as they could not pay the ransom)", reported a villager.

"The remaining 22 Rohingyas who have been arbitrarily sentenced to three years in jail are innocent" he continued.

[Translated into English by Sabit Hamid]

Please email to: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send your reports and feedback.

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

Anadolu Agency

March 28

Theresa May vows to try to ensure Rohingya plight is brought to world attention and people do not forget

LONDON -- Britain’s prime minister said on Tuesday that they constantly raise the issue of the oppressed Rohingya at the UN and directly with Myanmar’s government “to constantly raise awareness that this is an issue people should be addressing.”

Taking questions at a committee meeting in parliament, Theresa May said the U.K. will continue to support Bangladesh for supporting the Rohingya refugees and “to press this as an issue with the government of Burma,” using an older name for Myanmar.

Upon a question by Steven Twigg, who heads parliament’s International Development Committee, May said they will also continue to do “what we can to ensure the plight of the Rohingya people is brought to the attention of the world more generally and that people don’t forget… and it is kept up in people’s awareness.”

During the session, Twigg reminded the committee that Myanmar’s Embassy in London last month denied a British parliamentary delegation visas for a planned visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar to visit refugee camps for evaluation.

The cross-party parliament committee’s “visit was planned as part of the committee’s inquiry into the Department for International Development’s work in Bangladesh and Burma,” the committee had said.

“We are extremely disappointed. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this is a direct consequence of our report on the Rohingya,” Twigg said after the visa denial.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the UN. At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published on Dec. 12, the global humanitarian organization said that the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

By AFP

March 27, 2018

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday criticized Myanmar's army chief after he declared that the Muslim Rohingya had nothing in common with the country's other ethnic groups.

Guterres said he was "shocked" at reports of General U Min Aung Hlaing's remarks at a military gathering and urged Myanmar's leaders to "take a unified stance against incitement to hatred and to promote cultural harmony."

At the gathering in northern Kachin state on Monday, Hlaing referred to the Rohingya as "Bengalis," a term meant to describe them as foreigners, and said they "do not have the characteristics or culture in common with the ethnicities of Myanmar."

"The tensions were fuelled because the 'Bengalis' demanded citizenship," said the general who was quoted in the Dhaka Tribune.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August by a major army crackdown that the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar authorities say the operation is aimed at rooting out extremists.

Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, has lost her democratic credentials on the world stage for failing to speak out in favour of the Rohingya.

Guterres said it was "critical that conditions are put in place to ensure that the Rohingya are able to return home voluntarily, in safety and in dignity."

The UN Security Council is hoping to travel to Myanmar to get a first-hand look at the refugee crisis, but has not yet been given the green light for the trip by Myanmar authorities.

Guterres has for months been weighing the appointment of a special envoy for Myanmar that would keep the plight of the Rohingya in the international spotlight.

By Dhaka Tribune

March 25, 2018

The US president has also felicitated President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Bangladesh’s Independence Day

US President Donald Trump has lauded Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and its people for sheltering the Rohingyas who fled persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

In separate letters, sent to media by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, on Bangladesh’s Independence Day, Trump thanked Hamid, Hasina and the people of Bangladesh for their response to the refugees’ need.

The US president lauded Hasina in his message to her, saying: “Your personal leadership has been critical to addressing the plight of the Rohingya who fled to safety in your country.”

“I thank you for all you have done to assist these men, women and children in need,” he wrote.

More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh and taken refuge since a military crackdown, which was described as “ethnic cleansing” by the UN, began on August 25 last year following an insurgent attack in Rakhine.

They have joined more than 400,000 Rohingyas who were already living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

In his message to President Hamid, US President Donald Trump thanked his Bangladesh counterpart and the country’s people for hosting the Rohingya who fled from violence, reports BSS.

“The United States respects and admires your nation’s compassionate response to those in need,” Trump wrote.

Felicitating and conveying his best wishes to Hamid, Hasina and Bangladeshis on the occasion of the Independence Day on March 26, Trump said he along with the American people joined them in celebrating the heritage and history of Bangladesh.

“Today we recognize Bangladesh’s rich culture and language and reaffirm our partnership on democracy, development, counterterrorism, trade and investment,” he said in his message to Hamid.

Trump said: “Our close cooperation helps sustain the security and prosperity of both our countries.”

Dhaka Tribune

March 24, 2018

By Gerald Caplan

The Globe and Mail

March 24, 2018

“All over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror.”

Thus president Bill Clinton apologized to the people of Rwanda when Air Force One briefly landed at Kigali airport four years after the genocide there ended. Par for American presidents, the statement was not remotely true. Mr. Clinton had known exactly what was happening and chose not to intervene despite the appalling scale of the slaughter of Rwanda’s Tutsis by Hutu extremists. 

But many in the Western world were indeed ignorant about the situation, which is one of the explanations later adduced for the failure of the “international community” to intervene and stop the slaughter. Most Western newspapers and TV networks either didn’t know or didn’t care about a tiny nation in Central Africa called Rwanda. For many, their negligible interest in Africa was appeased by the first free election in South Africa, which happened to take place in the same month, April, 1994, that the genocide began. 

With sparse or no direct information from the media, many Western politicians understood little of the events engulfing Rwanda, and had little incentive to provide the reinforcements urged so passionately by Roméo Dallaire, the head of the puny UN military mission to Rwanda. The world stood by, hands in pocket, and passively watched.

If ignorance was the excuse, anti-genocide activists vowed that never again would such a calamity go unnoticed by the powers that be. The first test case − the “next Rwanda” − came soon enough, as the government of Sudan unleashed mass death against the Darfuri people in the west of the country in 2003. The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof wrote column after outraged column on his first-hand observations in Darfur. Movie stars investigated and spoke out. A worldwide grassroots campaign materialized. Thousands of Canadians added their voices.

This effort was successful, at least formally. U.S. President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, both agreed that a genocide was being organized against the people of Darfur. But somehow, that did not impact American policy. Despite the provisions of the 1948 UN Convention Against Genocide, neither the U.S. nor any other government took direct action against the government of Sudan. While attacks against the Darfuri continue to this day, and action groups persist in publicizing them, many activists were shattered to find that knowledge of the crime didn’t at all translate into action against the crime. 

None of this, of course, prevented politicians around the world from continuing self-importantly to swear “Never Again” on their watch. 

Now here we go again. 

It is not possible that any government anywhere remains unaware of the attacks being levelled by the government of Myanmar against the country’s own Rohingya people. It is not possible that any of these governments are oblivious to the evidence that has led many prominent and responsible observers to describe these attacks as having a genocidal purpose. The indomitable Mr. Kristof is back telling Times readers “I Saw a Genocide in Slow Motion.”

Millions around the world seem to care about the fate of the Rohingya, none of them with any power to intervene. The UN’s human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, reports that Myanmar’s military have committed “acts of genocide” against the Rohingya people. Yet the UN Security Council is paralyzed, this time by China, just as it was paralyzed by Clinton’s America over Rwanda. 

Thoughtful but deeply frustrated observers like Mr. Kristof and Tony Burman, the excellent Canadian foreign-affairs columnist, are pressing hard for some kind of intervention – ANY kind, almost. Mr. Burman wants Canada to get involved, and we can surely be certain that when Bob Rae – a wise and sensible man — soon hands in his report as the federal government’s special envoy for the crisis, he too will call on Canada to take action of some kind.

People look back now and try to recollect where they were during the Rwandan genocide and why they didn’t speak out while it mattered. In a few short years, they’ll be asking themselves the same thing about Myanmar. But this time, ignorance will be no excuse. We know exactly what is happening, and who is making it happen. That’s no longer the issue. The only questions are: What will we and our government do about it this time? Has Never Again actually become Again and Again?

Gerald Caplan is an Africa scholar and former New Democratic Party national director

By Christopher Woody

Business Insider

March 22, 2018

• Workers at Facebook reportedly "lose sleep" over the use of their platform to spread hate speech.
• The Facebook executive who oversees the newsfeed algorithm said addressing such content was one of his team's biggest challenges.
• Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has expressed reservations about cracking down on speech.
• Adam Mosseri, Facebook's vice president of product management, said that Facebook's contribution to ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar caused his team distress and was something they struggled to address.

Mosseri said the situation in Myanmar, from where more than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fled since August, was "deeply concerning in a lot of different ways" during a recent interview on Slate's technology podcast, If Then.

Mosseri manages the team that oversees the algorithm that controls what people see in their Facebook news feeds. He said real-world violence could be one of the "most concerning and severe negative consequences of any platform."

"Connecting the world isn't always going to be a good thing," he said on the podcast. "We're trying to take the issue seriously, but we lose some sleep over this."

"It's important for us to remember that technology isn't naturally a good or a bad thing. It's sort of agnostic and it's how technology's used that can be either good or bad," Mosseri said.

Facebook typically works with third-party fact-checkers, but that approach doesn't work in Myanmar because, as far as the company is aware, there are no groups to fill that role in the country, Mosseri said. The company has instead focused on identifying "bad actors" and enforcing its community standards and terms of service to "address the proliferation of some problematic content."

"Real-world harm and what’s happening on the ground in that part of the world is actually one of the most concerning things for us and something that we talk about on a regular basis," Mosseri said.

Mosseri's comments came in response to a question about UN investigators saying Facebook played a role in spreading hate speech in Myanmar.

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said social media has "substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict, if you will, within the public. Hate speech is certainly of course a part of that. As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media."

Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres estimated at the end of last year that at least 9,000 Rohingya Muslims had been killed in the Myanmar military's "clearance operations."

Many of those who fled Myanmar have reported rapes and executions carried out by Myanmar security forces.

The Myanmar government has denied all charges, though in January the military admitted involvement in the killing of 10 Rohingya.

"Everything is done through Facebook in Myanmar," said UN Myanmar investigator Yanghee Lee, adding that while Facebook had helped the impoverished country, it had also been used to spread hate speech.

"We know that the ultra-nationalist Buddhists have their own Facebooks and are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities," she said.

The information Facebook gathers on its users and how the company uses that information has garnered increased attention in recent days, in the wake of revelations that British data company Cambridge Analytica illicitly obtained information from as many as 50 million Facebook profiles by abusing Facebook's data-sharing features.

On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Recode he felt "fundamentally uncomfortable sitting here in California at an office, making content policy decisions for people around the world."

"A lot of the most sensitive issues that we faced today are conflicts between our real values, right? Freedom of speech and hate speech and offensive content," Zuckerberg said. "Where is the line, right? And the reality is that different people are drawn to different places, we serve people in a lot of countries around the world, a lot of different opinions on that."

By Thu Thu Aung, Antoni Slodkowski 

Reuters

March 21, 2018

YANGON - Myanmar’s civilian president Htin Kyaw resigned due to ill health on Wednesday and is expected to be replaced by a close ally of de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a move unlikely to affect power in a country where the army remains influential.

Htin Kyaw’s office said he was retiring “in order to take rest from the current duties and responsibilities”. Win Myint, a Suu Kyi loyalist who has served as the speaker of the lower house, was likely to replace him, said NLD spokesman Aung Shin. 

Win Myint has had a tight grip on the parliament and his critics accuse him of stifling democratic debate, including from within the caucus of Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. He resigned from that post on Wednesday. 

“He is loyal and has been a member of the NLD since the party was founded,” said Aung Shin, who lauded Win Myint’s performance as the lower house speaker and said he has “worked very well with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the whole period”. 

Suu Kyi is known for keeping her cards close to her chest and operating only with a very narrow group of trusted acolytes. Local media, citing confidential sources, have also reported Win Myint has been tipped to become the next president. 

Analysts said the move was forced by the 71-year-old Htin Kyaw’s deteriorating health, and was unrelated to the crisis sparked by the brutal military crackdown that has pushed out hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh. 

Speculation over Htin Kyaw’s ill health mounted in recent months over his rapid and visible loss of weight.

“The discussion about the replacement has been around for a while so this was well expected,” said Liu Yun, political analyst from China-based Han Yue Consultancy. “It should have a fairly limited impact on the political equation in Myanmar.” 

He said the role of the president “isn’t that influential as Suu Kyi makes the final call, so the impact will be limited.”

INTERREGNUM 

According to the country’s constitution, the more senior of two vice presidents will stand in as president until a new leader is elected by parliament within seven working days. 

“There’s no doubt as to what the outcome of this will be,” said Richard Horsey, a former United Nations official and Yangon-based analyst. 

“The NLD has a strong bloc and a supermajority so whoever is selected as the lower-house candidate will become the next president,” Horsey said. 

In the meantime, Myint Swe, who was the military’s appointment for vice-president, will stand in as the acting president.

The president is the head of state and government in Myanmar, and under the constitution has far-reaching powers. However, Htin Kyaw’s role was more ceremonial because Suu Kyi has been Myanmar’s de facto leader since April 2016. 

A constitution drafted by the former junta bars Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi from the top office and so she hand-picked Htin Kyaw, a close ally of hers, to become president following a historic landslide victory in 2015. 

The charter also reserves for the army one quarter of the seats in parliament and several major cabinet posts, including defense, interior and border affairs, giving it an effective veto over constitutional change and control of security affairs. 

One of the key questions facing Myanmar now, according to Horsey, is, “what will the acting president Myint Swe do during the interregnum because he has the power to do many things.” 

Horsey said that while Myint Swe will be the top executive for no more than a week, “it may worry some in the NLD that you have the military vice-president in charge of the country.” 

Yangon-based diplomats say the relationship between Suu Kyi and the military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, is marked by mistrust and lack of frequent, open communication, highlighting a risk even in the smallest changes to the leadership structure. 

Myint Swe is a retired general who headed the feared military intelligence agency under former junta leader Than Shwe. When Than Shwe ordered a crackdown on anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, known as the Saffron Revolution, Myint Swe was the head of special operations in Yangon. 

Reporting by Thu Thu Aung and Antoni Slodkowski; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee and Simon Lewis; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Bill Tarrant

By Dhaka Tribune

March 19, 2018

Criticism of the United Nations and aid groups is particularly pronounced in Rakhine state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists have long accused them of favoritism toward the Rohingya

Myanmar government, struggling to handle accusations of ethnic cleansing over its treatment of Rohingyas, is contemplating new legislation that would seek greater oversight of the work of international non-governmental organizations, including the United Nations, prompting concerns of a crackdown on their activities, The Washington Post reports.

The Draft Law on International Non-Governmental Organizations, a copy of which was recently obtained by The Washington Post, contains a vague definition of the groups it would regulate, proposes monitoring of aid groups’ work by Myanmar staff and provides the affected organizations with few safeguards against the government suspending their work. This has led some groups to fear it could be used to restrict their work in Burma.

The proposed law comes at a time of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her government, as they struggle to deal with the fallout of military operations that have sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya fleeing over the border to Bangladesh since August.

“The stated purpose of the law allows government to suppress activities they do not favour and undermines the efforts in advancing democracy and human rights,” according to a February presentation reviewed by The Washington Post from the INGO Forum, a coalition of dozens of aid groups operating in Myanmar.

Representatives from international aid groups and diplomats are lobbying members of the parliamentary committee reviewing the draft to change the wording or to have it withdrawn. It was unclear whether the law would move past the commission or what provisions the final version would include, according to The Washington Post.

It was also unclear who wrote the draft or if it was done at direction of the president or state counsellor’s office. Zaw Htay, a spokesperson for the government, directed questions on the draft law to the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

Tin Maung Oo, a member of the commission that is working on the legislation, said the group was consulting with ministries, representatives from non-governmental groups and experts. He said that international aid groups were doing important work and that the government would like them to “flourish” but that a law was needed to oversee their work.

Critics warn that such laws are part of a disturbing trend in the region.

According to Tin Maung Oo, the draft law would apply to the work of the United Nations in Myanmar. The government has blocked a UN fact-finding mission from entering Myanmar, barred its human rights investigator and denounced the United Nations’ statements on Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingyas, which it has labelled a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Criticism of the United Nations and aid groups is particularly pronounced in Rakhine state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists have long accused them of favoritism toward the Rohingya.

It is unclear whether the government would be able to apply the law to the United Nations and its work in Myanmar. Stanislav Saling, spokesman for the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said the country is already a signatory to “international conventions and agreements” that govern the United Nations’ work in the country.

But UN agencies implement many of their programs through nongovernmental groups, which could be affected by the law.

“The UN and other development cooperation partners have expressed concern that some of the provisions in the current draft of the law are arbitrary and excessive, and could restrict the ability of INGOs to play their important humanitarian and development role,” Saling said.

“We believe it will neither help government to regulate and manage INGOs, nor help INGOs to operate effectively, efficiently, transparently or accountably,” he added.

By Trevor Marshallsea 

Associated Press 

March 18, 2018

SYDNEY — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday that the displacement of Rohingya Muslims was no longer solely a domestic issue for Myanmar, as Southeast Asian nations signed a counterterrorism cooperation agreement at a regional leaders’ conference.

Najib made his comments at a meeting of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, being hosted by Australia. The summit has been marked by protests against the regimes of Myanmar and Cambodia.

In a pointed and rare departure from the grouping’s policy of non-interference in the affairs of fellow member nations, Najib said Rohingya refugees fleeing from alleged persecution by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s government were a prime target for radicalization from the Islamic State group.

“Because of the suffering of the Rohingya people and their displacement around the region, the situation in Rakhine state in Myanmar can no longer be considered to be a purely domestic matter,” Najib said in closing comments before the signing of the counterterrorism agreement. “In addition, the problem should not be looked at through the humanitarian prism only, because it has the potential of developing into a serious security threat to the region.”

“Rakhine, with thousands of despairing and dejected people who see no hope in the future, will be a fertile ground for radicalization and recruitment” by the Islamic State and affiliated groups, he added.

Before resuming his seat on a leaders’ panel beside Suu Kyi, Najib said Malaysia was “ready to assist and find a just and durable solution,” as it had with fellow ASEAN nations Thailand and the Philippines on terrorism-related issues.

Myanmar staunchly denies that its security forces have targeted civilians in its “clearance operations” in Rakhine state on Myanmar’s west coast. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has bristled at the international criticism. But Myanmar’s denials have appeared increasingly tenuous as horrific accounts from refugees have accumulated.

The Associated Press last month documented through video and witness accounts at least five mass graves of Rohingya civilians. Witnesses reported that the military used acid to erase the identity of victims. The government denied it, maintaining that only “terrorists” were killed and then “carefully buried.”

Malaysia has a large Rohingya population who are considered by the government to be illegal immigrants rather than refugees.

A few hundred meters (yards) from the conference, around 1,000 protesters demonstrated against alleged human rights abuses against Rohingya people, brandishing anti-Suu Kyi placards. More than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in recent years. A second, smaller protest was held to condemn human rights abuses in Cambodia attributed to its leader, Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Protesters also targeted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for hosting the conference. Australia is not a full member of ASEAN, but is an active dialogue partner.

“We would very much like to remind the prime minister that many of the hands he’s shaking yesterday, today and tomorrow are hands full of blood,” protest leader Hong Lim, a member of Victoria state’s parliament, said outside Sydney’s Town Hall.

Turnbull hailed as a major breakthrough the signing of the memorandum of understanding on counterterrorism, at a time of increased risk to the region due to militants fleeing Islamic State losses in the Middle East.

The measures include cracking down on the movement of terrorists between ASEAN nations, tightening policing on the cross-border movement of money to fund terrorism, and targeting on-line methods of radicalization and instruction on how to commit terrorist acts.

“We know that ISIL’s operational and ideological influence in our region is growing,” Turnbull said, referring to the Islamic State group. “More fighters will seek to return to our region, and they will return battle-hardened and trained.”

“Our ASEAN friends and neighbors share our interest in regional peace and they share our commitment to respecting international law and that rules-based order which underpins our way of live, secures our prosperity and safety,” he added.

Turnbull said the memorandum of understanding addressed more innovative methods being used to support and fund terrorism, such as moving money through digital currencies and crowd-funding platforms that made it harder to detect terrorism funding.

Internet-based communications, such as encrypted online messaging systems, also make it easier for extremists to instruct converts abroad.

“Those who seek to do us harm use technology as innovatively as any of us can,” Turnbull said. “And they are able to adapt and move in a very agile way. We have to be as fast and as quick as them.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib called on ASEAN members to “step up and intensify cooperation in preventing the spread of terrorist ideologies and to hone even more effective approaches to counter the threats of radicalization and violent extremism in the Asia-Pacific area.”

___

Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.