The Stateless Rohingya Blog

The Nation: Kavi Chongkittavorn  February 4, 2013  On the surface, Thailand's decision to allow hundreds of Rohingya refugees to remain inside the country temporarily for six months as illegal immigrants seemed a commendable move. However, upon deeper scrutiny it showed the government's knee-jerk manner of responding to the influx of "new boat people" from the Bay of Bengal and the overall recklessness among intra-government agencies. Worse still was the view held by the secretary-general of the National Security Council, Lt-General Paradon Pattanathaboot, who continues to be in a state of denial, believing that the Rohingya are not victims of a region-wide human trafficking operation. The Thai authorities believe they are victims of human smugglers who dump them in Thailand before they go to Malaysia. For the past few years, after the monsoon season ends, the Rohingya have taken to the sea inside small fishing trawlers arranged by smugglers. They have

  A Rohingya girl stands outside her home in Maungdaw. ( photo 2011 ) Maungdaw, Arakan State : A group of Natala villagers have been checking drinking water ponds in Rohingya villages in Maungdaw south, northern Arakan, recently, said a businessman from Aley Than Kyaw. “In the group – seven persons with long swords, axe and etc.” The group have been going to every Rohingya villages to see the ponds and take some samples of mud from inside the ponds – the villagers use for drinking water- while villagers went to the spot to see what they were doing, the group stopped their work quickly, a village elder said from Maungdaw south. “The Natala groups are going on at Udaung village, Khonza Bill village and  other villages of  Maungdaw south. The Rohingya villagers also informed to the concern security force – Nasaka – about the situation, but the Nasaka didn’t do anything against them.” “Villagers believe that they (Natala) can provide poison in the pon

A man who fled Myanmar tells of the endless struggle Rohingya face in finding a place to call home Noor Muhamad was barely 10 years old when a soldier flew into a rage and used the buckle of his belt to whip him, causing a gushing wound and leaving a mark that he still carries on his back. Having lived in Thailand for 25 years, Noor Muhamad, a Muslim Rohingya, still lingers in a state of uncertainty and permanent transit. (Photo by Thanarak Khoonton) Born into a middle-class farming household, he recalls how as a child, soldiers falsely imprisoned women and children for crimes they didn't commit. Noor managed to sometimes convince the soldiers to take him in their place. Like so many Muslim Rohingya, Noor fled the persecution in what was his home in Myanmar to Bangkok during Myanmar's student uprising in 1988. Here he's had to face a kind of permanent transience, despite his white immigration card, and risks suspicion, and even run-ins, with Thai officials.