The Stateless Rohingya Blog

MYARF Report  |  Written by M.S. Anwar October 13, 2013 RvisionTV.com Myanmar Military, Notorious for their Rapes against girls and women of different ethnic minorities such as Kachin, Karen, Shan and Rohingyas. (Photo: Irrawaddy.org) Maung Daw, Arakan :  At around 11PM on 10 th  October 2013, two Myanmar military from Battalion 345 raped a Rohingya woman at eastern Kammouk-Seik (Fakira Bazaar), northern Maung Daw. “At around 11PM on 10 th  October 2013, two military from the battalion 345 arbitrarily raided the house of Mohammed Tayyub S/o Abul Qasim in his absence at eastern Kammouk-Seik (Fakira Bazaar), northern Maung Daw. The two military started harassing his wife, Safiyah D/o Imdad Hussain, and eventually raped her. When she shouted out for help, the neighbors came for her rescue. The people tied up the two military and later handed them over to the village administrator, Tun Tun, who happens to be a Rakhine extremist. The village administrator set them free with

Associated Press  October 13, 2013 BANGKOK (AP) — Thai  police said Sunday that the bodies of 13 people believed to be migrants from Myanmar seeking work have been found off southern Thailand's Andaman Sea coast. Lt. Col. Nirat Chuayjit said that marine police in Ranong province, 580 kilometers (360 miles) south of Bangkok, had recovered the bodies of 12 men and one woman, whom they believe were on a boat that broke up in bad weather Wednesday as they sought to travel illegally to Thailand. Thailand hosts hundreds of thousands of migrants from neighboring Myanmar who are willing to take menial jobs at low pay. They can register to work legally under strict conditions, but many also labor illegally. Nirat said it was unknown how many people from the boat might be missing or survived, but that such boats normally carry about 30 people. Survivors would be unlikely to contact Thai authorities for fear of the legal consequences of trying to enter the country illegally,

Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, right, hands over the ASEAN Chairmanship to Myanmar President Thein Sein at the end of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013. Photo: Vincent Thian, AP By Jeff Kingston  The Japan Times October 12, 2013   Myanmar last week took the baton from the Sultan of Brunei, assuming the rotating chair in 2014 of Asia’s most important regional organization, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In December the country otherwise known as Burma will also host the Southeast Asia Games, a coming-out party for a nation emerging from a half-century of military repression. These are stunning signs of Myanmar’s rapid rehabilitation from international pariah status following the slaughter of monks during the Saffron Revolution in 2007. Nonetheless, Myanmar remains convulsed by communal violence and anti-Muslim pogroms, generating risks for ASEAN’s unity and reput