The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Dr. Maung Zarni July 6, 2014 Myanmar Government-backed 969 - now "Defence of Buddhism and Race League" - manufactured "Buddhist-woman-raped-by-a-Mus lim" story to incite religious violence in Mandalay "I am not ashamed of having been raped by a fellow Bama and Justic e Department staff, but I am ashamed that monks and other (anti-Muslim) groups are distorting and using my rape story to create religious conflicts in my hometown of Mandalay." Ma Hae Mar Kyaw (17), a Mandalay rape victim, Press Conference in Mandalay, 3 July 2014. The gist of the story according to this news report about her press conference: Back in 2013, her older brother was approached by some elements to sell drugs. When her brother refused to cooperate they went ahead and farmed him with possession of illegal drug charges for which the brother was arrested. She and her family began attending his court hearings in Mandalay and became well acquainted with one co...

Photo AFP By  Maung Zarni March 13, 2014 “What can we do, brother? There are too many. We can’t kill them all.” He said it matter-of-factly—a former brigadier and diplomat from my native country, Myanmar, about Rohingya Muslims. We were in the spacious ambassadorial office at Myanmar Embassy in an ASEAN country when this “brotherly” conversation took place. I am familiar with Myanmar's racist nationalist narrative. I have also worked with the country’s military intelligence services in pushing for the gradual re-engagement between the West and our country, then an international pariah. Apparently, knowledge of my background made the soldier feel so at ease that he could make such a hateful call in a friendly conversation on official premises in total candor: Islamophobia normalized in the highest ranks of the bureaucracy and military in Myanmar. He wanted to make sure I understood he had special knowledge of the situation, stressing that he was stationed for years in Rakhi...

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: bbc_complaints_website@bbc.co.uk Date: 7 October 2013 22:53 Subject: BBC Complaints - Case number CAS-2274826-2NBV1N To: XXX Dear Ms XXX Reference CAS-2274826-2NBV1N Thank you for getting in touch and please accept our sincerest apologies for our delay in responding to your concerns about the edition of ‘Beyond Belief’ broadcast on 19th August. The BBC takes all complaints seriously and so we passed them on to producer Liz Leonard who said: “Whilst the programme did refer to the Burmese Rohingyas, they were not its focus. Its purpose was to examine Buddhism and non-violence, using the example of what is happening in Myanmar. Until the very end of the first half, the discussion in the opening part of the programme was solely about whether violence is permitted in Buddhism generally. I would not agree that the discussion on the violence in the second half was ‘racist’ or ‘Islamophobic’ against Rohingyas. ...

By Burma Times September 27, 2013    BurmaTimes   (edited by Ibrahim Shah ) Dr. Maung Zarni,an exile, commentator, critic and expert on the political affairs of Myanmar. His research interests include the political economy of violence, international development and conflict, as well as democratic transitions in Asia. He is Visiting Fellow (2011-2013) at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.   Zarni spoke with PRAXIS on February 28, 2012 while he was attending a  World Peace Foundation   seminar on advocacy and human rights. PRAXIS : What do you think are the greatest prospects and greatest challenges facing Myanmar – both socially and economically – as it emerges from the last six decades of direct military rule and global isolationism? Zarni : On the future of Burma: No one is in a position to ...

Dr. Maung Zarni Kyoto Review  September 02, 2013 Maung Zarni, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, argues that the best way to look at the current changes in Myanmar is through his “Three Insecurity Paradigms”, namely, national security, global security and human security. Zarni denounces the Thein Sein reforms as crude responses to the regime’s own needs and to the expectation of the world, with little account for the security of ordinary Myanmar people. Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia . Issue 14 (September 2013). Myanmar A “Three Insecurities Perspective” for the Changing Myanmar. Changes in Myanmar over the past three years have indeed been dizzying. A cursory look at the turn of events since 201 in will persuade any doubters of the genuineness of the country’s transition. The question, however, is where it is transitioning to and how best to understand the transition? After their visits to Myanmar, Thomas Carothers and Larry Diamond, two of the wor...