The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Bernama September 26, 2014 Kuala Lumpur : The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group Meeting on Rohingya has ADOPTED the action plan recommended by the OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, which calls on the Myanmar government to take action against people promoting hate speech and instigating violence. The plan included holding inter-community and interfaith dialogue, allowing internally displaced people (IDPs) to return to their homes and invests in the socio-economic development of the Rakhine region and to open up for international humanitarian assistance to reach the community affected by the ethnic violence that broke out in 2012. The decision was made during the OIC Contact Group meeting held Thursday in New York, on the sidelines of the Annual Coordination Meeting of the OIC Foreign Ministers under the chairmanship of the OIC secretary-general Iyad Ameen Madani, the OIC said in a statement. Syed Hamid, former Malaysi...

More then 100 Rakhine Extremists were surrounded to attack 3 Malaysians in Sittwe Town, Arakan State Photo Soe Thu Moe FB Bernama February 21, 2014 PUTRAJAYA: Three Malaysians on a Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisations (MAPIM) humanitarian mission who came under siege by local residents in Rakhine, Myanmar yesterday, are now put under police protection. Zulhanis Zainol, 36, Mohamed Fithri Ahmad, 42, and Muhaimin Samad, 28, who were on a humanitarian mission in aid of the Rohingya community were believed to be surrounded by a group of extremist Buddhists in Sitwee, Rakhine. It is learnt that Mohamed Fithri and Muhaimin were local television employees filming a documentary. Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin said the three men were brought out of Sitwee to be ferried to Yangon at 1.30pm (local time) yesterday. "I understand a group of local residents had surrounded them. Fortunately police came on time to save them and put the...

By Bernama November 22, 2013 The National Sports Council (NSC) is monitoring the security situation in Myanmar before the Malaysian contingent leave for the 27th SEA Games next month, said its director-general, Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong. He said the NSC would also liase with the Malaysian Embassy in Myanmar following a report that the police arrested three people suspected of planning bomb attacks on mosques in Yangon yesterday. “We will also seek advice from Wisma Putra before taking further action,” he told reporters after attending the OCM Women and Sports Awards presentation here tonight. Zolkples, however, hoped that the incident would not dampen the athletes' preparation for the biennial Games (Dec 11-22) as they were enthusiastic to go there. In the meantime, he said the athletes would attend the final assembly at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten), Bangi for five days from Dec 2 Dec before leaving for Myanmar. The Jalur Gemilang handing over ceremony is ex...

(Photo: Dr. Maung Zarni  Facebook) BERNAMA: June 19, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (Bernama) -- Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged the Muslim minority in Asean countries, including those in Myanmar, to give priority to education. He said that the Muslim communities should seek to empower themselves with education and pursue knowledge which is relevant to their needs in the 21st century. Abdullah said this in his keynote address at the International Forum on Plight of Muslims in Burma in the 21st century: An Initiative for Solution and the Way Forward, held at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS), here, Wednesday. He said that apart from education, the development of youths and economy of the Muslim communities were also important aspects to be considered in order to achieve a better future for the respective Muslim minority. However, Abdullah, who is patron of IAIS Malaysia, stressed that in trying to achieve thi...

Bernama: April 3, 2013 NUSA DUA, Bali, April 3 (Bernama) -- Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Dipu Moni, held a bilateral meeting to discuss the Rohingya issue, on the sidelines of the Fifth Bali Process Meeting, here, Tuesday. Bangladesh, as the major recipient of Rohingya refugees, wanted to have in-depth discussion with Indonesia regarding the problem, Indonesia's Antara news agency quoted Marty as saying. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees have migrated to Bangladesh. "The point is how we could prevent the problem from becoming more complicated," he added. In the meeting, the two foreign ministers also discussed the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Indonesia. Minister Marty Natalegawa also held a bilateral meeting with Erika Feller, the Assistant High Commissioner of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on the sidelines of the Bali Process on People Smuggling...

BANGKOK, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- All member countries of the Asean have been urged to jointly seek solutions to the growing problem of Rohingya migrants in Myanmar, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported. Speaking in Bangkok on Friday at a seminar organised by Chulalongkorn University, a key panelist, Somchai Homla-or from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), acknowledged that the 10-nation bloc has never done enough to address the growing problems of Rohingya migration, but rather leaving destination countries, like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to address the problem. Other panelists said decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya ethnics stateless and inaccessible to employment, education, medical care and land rights. Destination countries were, however, suggested to enforce their existing women and child laws to ensure basic humanitarian support to these boat people. According to Somchai and other key panelists, giving up Asean's principle of non-...