The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By JOSEPH ALLCHIN DVD News Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly target of frequent sexual innuendo from Burmese government, according to leaked US cables (Reuters) Burma’s rulers and elite are believed to vent their dislike of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi through “constant” discussion of sexual innuendo concerning the Nobel laureate, leaked US diplomatic cables report. The  cable  quotes a “well connected” businessman who says that figures at the “highest level” of government “can’t stand” Suu Kyi and therefore frequently engage in the practice. “It is clear GOB [Government of Burma] leaders will simply not accept ASSK [Aung San Suu Kyi] having any leading role in Burmese politics,” the 23 September 2009 dispatch continues. The US embassy source is named as Khin Maung Win, owner of MSP Limited, purportedly a construction company that does contract work for the government and its cronies. At the time it was seeking to become the US engineering firm Caterpillar’s operator in Burma, via

NEWS- MIZZIMA   Chiang Mai ( Mizzima ) – The U.S. special representative to Burma says that as a first step to seek national reconciliation in Burma, the government needs to establish a mechanism for investigating reported human rights abuses in ethnic areas. The U.S. envoy for policy on Burma, Ambassador Derek Mitchell, speaks to reporters during a press conference at Yangon International Airport before his departure from Burma on Wednesday, September 14, 2011. The envoy ended his first visit to the country by urging "genuine and concrete" reforms by the army-backed regime and said Washington would respond "in kind." Photo: AFP A press release issued on Wednesday by U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma Ambassador Derek J. Mitchell said: “I affirmed the importance of establishing a legitimate and credible mechanism for investigating reported abuses in ethnic areas as a first step toward building trust and promoting national reconciliation

NEWS- MIZZIMA  Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told the Voice of America (VOA) Burmese service on Tuesday that the transition to the current government is not enough. ‘It's not enough to have a transition to a democratic government, what we need are for democratic institutions to take firm root in this country, and I would like to be able to help in this process,’ Suu Kyi told VOA. US special envoy to Burma Derek Mitchell meets with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Rangoon on Monday, September 12, 2011. They discussed US-Burma related policies and issues. Photo: Mizzima VOA’s Burmese service correspondent, Khin Soe Win entered Burma with a journalist visa, and interviewed Suu Kyi in Rangoon on Tuesday, a rare occasion granted to the news agency. The back page of the Burmese state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar has listed VOA as one of the news agencies “sowing hatred amongst the nation” for many years, along with the BBC

NARINJARA NEWS   Date:9/14/2011 Sittwe: Nine Muslims, including four women, were sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a court in Arakan on 8 September for traveling to Burma proper without permission from the authorities, report relatives. One relative said, "They were sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a female judge in the Sittwe court at 4 pm on 8 September for traveling to Burma proper. I heard the female judge was pressured by the high authority in Naypyidaw to pass down the sentence for traveling to Burma proper." The Chief of Immigration in Arakan State reported forced the judges to rule against the defendants in the case. Because of this, they were all sentenced under Article 188 of the penal code, and Article 6 (2) and 6 (3). According to sources, 12 Muslims, including five children from Arakan state, were arrested by a joint force of authorities while they were traveling to Yangon by truck on 29th August, 2011. However, some of them reportedly

By LALIT K. JHA  Wednesday, September 14, 2011                                                                           Irrawaddy News WASHINGTON—The US State Department on Tuesday named Burma along with seven other countries as “countries of particular concern” on religious freedom. “In Burma, hundreds of Buddhist monks are still in prison, and the government refuses to recognize that the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, are Burmese citizens,” the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, Michael Posner, told reporters after the release of a report by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The US singled out Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan, all of which the report said have been long-term, chronic and egregious violators of religious freedom. The report made no mention of the US' own deplorable record of human rights abuses or routine persecution of Muslims. According to Amnesty International, no less