The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingyas are seen at a camp for displaced people in Myanmar's western Rakhine State (file photo). Press TV July 10, 2013 Several human rights groups and activists have strongly criticized the Myanmar government for its silence over growing violence against the Rohingya Muslims across the Southeast Asian country. Several international rights groups and activists warned in a joint statement on Monday that impunity for the Buddhist assailants will further embolden them to commit more crimes against the Muslim minority, and will turn Myanmar into a breeding ground for extremism.  The statement comes more than three months after authorities failed to charge any suspect in connection with an attack on an Islamic school that claimed dozens of lives in central Myanmar.  The school on the outskirts of Meiktila town was razed during the bloodshed in March that triggered an outbreak of violence against the Muslim across the southeast Asian country. Hundreds of thugs u...

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa attends the opening session of the 46th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, June 30, 2013. (File) Ron Corben Voice of America: July 10, 2013 BANGKOK — Indonesia is pressing Burma’s government to grant legal status to the country’s Muslim Rohingya. As more Rohingya seek asylum in Indonesia and elsewhere abroad, Ron Corben reports from Bangkok that Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says Burma needs to take action to end inter-communal violence. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, says Burma has to press on with democratic reforms and recognize the legal rights of hundreds of thousands of stateless Muslim Rohingya. Burma - also known as Myanmar - has been wracked by sectarian bloodshed over the past year that has led to more than 200 deaths and displaced tens of thousands. Fighting began in communities with large numbers of ethnic Rohingya, who are denied citi...

Malaysian digest: July 10, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR:  While Muslims around the world eagerly anticipate the coming of Ramadhan with their beloved families, Annuar Begum Mohd Hassan, 40, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar has accepted her fate of having to go through the fasting month without her seven children and husband by her side. This Ramadhan would be her first one on foreign soil, and things are made tougher for her when she looks back on the fate of her fellow Rohingyans back in Myanmar. However Annuar Begum can be considered lucky as she is now a refugee placed under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNhCR) and is being looked after by the Rohingya Society in Malaysia (RSM) in Ampang. "I feel sad when I think about what has happened to us, since last October, it's as though only our physical self are alive, the rest feels dead. "After arriving on Langkawi island, I was separated from my husband and until today I have no idea wh...

Sky News Australia‎  July 9,2013 Few ethnic groups would have as strong a claim to Australian assistance than the oppressed Rohingya minority of Myanmar, but the solution isn't to resettle them in Australia, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says. Senator Carr said the Rohingya, some 800,000 stateless Muslim settlers originally from Bangladesh, were by any test enormously oppressed, suffering routine discrimination and violence. 'If you look at all the people suffering in our region, there would be few who'd have a stronger claim than the Rohingya to our assistance,' he told Sky News. Senator Carr said Australia provided significant aid to the Rohingya people. But he said they would not be resettled in Australia. 'No, we rule that out. We say that in line with the United Nations High Commission on Refugee priorities, we need a durable solution within Myanmar. We haven't got the capacity to take asylum seekers from Myanmar,' he said. ...

Irrawaddy News: July 9, 2013 A group of American Buddhists has launched an English-language website promoting the 969 movement, in response to negative media surrounding the ultra-nationalist Buddhist campaign in Burma. The website aims to dispel “myths” about the movement, with a letter from nationalist monk Wirathu to a Time magazine reporter whose article about 969 was banned in Burma.  “We’re not officially endorsed by Ven Wirathu at this time but will send a delegation to his monastery soon,” a spokesperson for the site said via email, adding that the group would create a nonprofit to coordinate “969 activities worldwide in response to religious oppression.”

Photo: New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully Visited to Arakan State KPN NEWS:  July 7, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Foreign diplomat group didn’t visited Rohingya community, but visited the Buddhist community – fake IDPs – in Maungdaw south on July 7 evening, said a village admin officer from Maungdaw south. “The foreign diplomat group –contained 18 countries- led by Dr Sai Mauk Kham, the vice-President, the Republic of Union of Myanmar, visited to see the situation of Rohingya populated area – Maungdaw- where there is no IDPs camp.But, the Burma government show fake IDPs of Buddhist Natala villagers of Bandullah and other Natala villagers where the vice-president distributed foods for them.” The diplomat group flew with three helicopters to Maungdaw north first and no stopped at Maungdaw town. The group flew along the Burma –Bangladesh border near the Naf River. The group stopped at Bandullah Natala village where the vice president presented to t...

Motorcycles pass in front of a mosque that was torched during rioting in Meikhtila in March. (Photo: Reuters) Irrawaddy News: July 8, 2013 MEIKHTILA — Their bones are scattered in blackened patches of earth across a hillside overlooking the wrecked Islamic boarding school they once called home. Smashed fragments of skulls rest atop the dirt. A shattered jaw cradles half a set of teeth. And among the remains lie the sharpened bamboo staves attackers used to beat dozens of people to the ground before drowning their still-twitching bodies in gasoline and burning them alive. The mobs that March morning were Buddhists enraged by the killing of a monk. The victims were Muslims who had nothing to do with it—students and teachers from a prestigious Islamic school in central Burma who were so close to being saved. In the last hours of their lives, police had been dispatched to rescue them from a burning compound surrounded by swarms of angry men. And when they emerged c...