The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingya migrants sit on a police van in southern Thailand. Pic: AP. By   Washington Post Editorial May 16, 2014 FOR SOME time now, tens of thousands of  Rohingya Muslims  have been  fleeing persecution  and economic deprivation in Burma, also known as Myanmar, by boat. While some go off to work and send money home, others have staked all on a permanent exodus, setting sail in search of better times. They don’t always find it. Hundreds have died at sea and others have been pulled into a growing vortex of human smuggling. In 2013,  Reuters published a series of remarkable articles  that added a new dimension to the Ro­hingya exodus. The news service said its investigation showed that some Thai naval security forces work with smugglers to profit from the fleeing Rohingya. In a July 17 dispatch , Reuters said the lucrative smuggling network transports the Ro­hingya mainly into Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation that the Rohingya view as a haven. The Reuters investigation

Compiled by M.S. Anwar RvisionTV May 16, 2014 1- SaRaPha Officer Extort Money from Rohingyas in Northern Maungdaw U Si Thu Aung is a SaRaPha (Military Security Affairs, SaYaPha) Officer in charge of the village of Kyein Chaung (Bawli Bazaar) and surrounding region, northern Maungdaw. Around 11AM on 15th May 2014, he and his best man,  Abu Toyub (son of) U Furuk from middle Kyein Chaung, extorted Kyat 50,000 from U Ali, a bamboo trader, hails from the village of Dun-Paik of Aung Sit Pyin village tract. The accusation against him (U Ali) was that he sent one of his daughters abroad in marriage with a man. On 5th May 2015 as well, he extorted Kyat 30,000 each from the following shopkeepers at Kyeing Chaung market under arbitrary accusations. 1) Shariff 2) Farid 3) Habi ullah 4) Laung dor 5) Fedaan Ali and other 10 pharmacists. Besides, he threatened people “I will do the way I want to. You can complain against me to anyone. I am afraid of none.” (

By Reuters May 15, 2014 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama extended some economic sanctions against Myanmar for another year on Thursday, telling Congress the step is needed despite some progress on reforms made by the country formerly known as Burma. Obama notified leaders of Congress in a letter that he was renewing for another year the National Emergencies Act, which prohibits U.S. businesses and individuals from investing in Myanmar or doing business with Myanmar figures involved in repression of the democracy movement since the mid-1990s. Obama, who visited Myanmar in 2012, said the Myanmar government had made much advances in critical areas such as the release of more than 1,100 political prisoners, progress toward a nationwide ceasefire, the legalization of unions and taking steps to improve the country’s labour standards. However, he said, “Despite great strides that Burma has made in its reform effort, the situation in the country continues to pose an