The Stateless Rohingya Blog

TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA  from the BUDDHIST TEACHERS NETWORK URGING YOU TO ADDRESS ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE AT THE UPCOMING ASEAN MEETING IN BURMA/MYANMAR Dear President Obama,  We as 381 Buddhist Teachers in America represent a large community that is deeply concerned about the growing anti Muslim violence in Myanmar and across Asia, and the plight of the 1.3 million Rohingyas, many forced to live against their will in inhumane internment camps and permanent ghettoized communities. We know you have been supportive of all Burmese people and have encouraged peace and reconciliation across the nation. Your upcoming visit to Burma is an important opportunity to strengthen your capacity as a peacemaker. We urge you to once again express concern for Burma’s Muslims and Rohingyas in your public speeches and as well as in your diplomatic engagements there. We believe you can do so in a positive way, honoring the Burmese legacy of tolerance and Metta, values shared acro...

Letter from Rohingya Mohiuddin Yusof, the president of New York based Rohingya Concern International (RCI) has urged the worldwide Rohingya people – organizations and leaders – to pledge which will never allow anybody to endanger the existence of  Rohingya community in Arakan yesterday. “Let us pledge that we will never allow anyone to endanger our existence as a moderate, tolerant and peaceful minority ethnic people in Arakan state where political choices will be made by the peaceful dialogue and reconciliation with the Rakhine community. Its leaders for the greater interest of both Rakhine and Rohingya people in the future,” Mohuiuddin said in a massage to overseas Rohingya community. We need to persuade the Rakhine leaders to come to the right path and accept the ground reality of the Rohingyas who are the natives of the Arakan region, failure to bring the Rakhine leadership for peaceful negotiation should be recorded and alternative course of self defence for sur...

By Sufyan bin Uzayr International Policy Digest April 11, 2014 Aung San Suu Kyi, October 22, 2013 (Claude Truong-Ngoc/Wikimedia Commons) Respected Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, Thanks to the internet, I have the luxury of putting together this open letter for you (though of course, a busy Nobel Laureate such as yourself must be having better things to do than reading this letter). Last month, at the third Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), you met the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Both of you discussed various issues, such as the importance of providing micro-loans to rural women and the need to restrict the trafficking of meth pills in the region. It was good to hear that steps were being taken for the betterment of the entire region. However, something was missing. Yes, the plight of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Did you forget about them? Of course you did! You are a busy lady, after all! ...

---------- 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. ...