The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By RSIS August 5, 2013 The controversial Buddhist monk Wirathu, putative leader of the Buddhist fundamentalist 969 movement in Myanmar, has fuelled Buddhist-Muslim violence in the past year. Liberal responses to let the marketplace of ideas drown his extremist rhetoric are unlikely to suffice. By Kumar Ramakrishna THE CONTROVERSIAL monk Ashin Wirathu, putative leader of the Buddhist fundamentalist 969 movement in Myanmar, has drawn world attention in recent weeks with his extremist rhetoric. Wirathu has graced the cover of Time magazine and even been called the Burmese bin Laden because his sermons have been blamed for fuelling the anti-Muslim violence that has rocked Myanmar the past year. Between June and October last year, 200 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in Buddhist-Muslim riots in the western Rakhine region of Myanmar, and 110,000 villagers, mostly Muslim Rohingya, displaced. Periodic episodes of Buddhist-Muslim violence have continued in 2013 and commu...

KPN News August 3, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State: Police personnel station on guard of bridge are looting market going Rohingya since July 20, said a village admin officer from Maungdaw. “The police personnel are stationed the bridge which situate between Myoma Kyayoungdan – Myo Thugyi village on Maungdaw-buthidaung highway.” The police who were replace of Nasaka are looting Rohingya who are going to market to buy new clothes for their family members. The police extort 100 kyat to 1000 kyat depend on the traveler, said an aide from the bridge. The police personnel only attacked the taxicab which ply near the town areas- Kaliza Banga, Nwah Yon Taung,Maung Nama,Myothigyi, Four mile, Samamwna and Razabil- who did not take any paper for travel and the police charge form them the paper and took more money for it, the aide said. Rohingya community who are living near the Maungdaw central are not usually taking their ID cards, travel pass. The police know about this and charge it ...

Rohingya detainees file out of Sadao Immigration this week Photo by refugee aid group By Phuketwan  August 2, 2013 PHUKET: A total of 170 Rohingya have been moved from an overcrowded Immigration centre in Thailand's south where at least five detainees have died in custody. The men were transported out in the aftermath of a protest over the lack of medical assistance for a sick young inmate, according to an aid agency spokesperson. The disruption came at Sadao Immigration centre in Songkhla province on Tuesday night, when caged Rohingya bent the bars on their second-floor enclosure, allowing 10 men to jump to the ground. News outlets in Thailand and at least one government agency reported the incident as a ''riot'' and an ''escape attempt.'' According to sources who spoke to Phuketwan this week, there was never a riot and no escape attempt. The 10 protesters objected to the lack of medical treatment for a sick young man. They wer...

A UNHCR staff monitors the situation of Rohingya men in Thailand's Ayutthaya immigration detention centre. © UNHCR/V.Tan UNHCR  August 2, 2013 AYUTTHAYA, Thailand, August 2 (UNHCR) – Every year, millions of tourists flock to Thailand for the sun, sea and shopping. But 17-year-old Saifullah* cries every time he recalls how he got here. "I still cry when I remember the difficulties on the boat," said the young Rohingya about his 16-day ordeal on the high seas with 178 other men in January. "We were 10 days without food, four days without water. The engine broke down. I thought I might never see land again." What drives a teenager to leave home and risk his life on an overcrowded boat for an uncertain future in an unknown destination? "I thought, Life is hell in [Myanmar's] Rakhine state, why don't I take a chance somewhere else?" reasoned Saifullah. Others on the boat share his views. Kamal,* 22, lost his younger brother ...

Anasuya Sanyal Channel News Asia August 1, 2013 Myanmar's President Thein Sein has called for a line to be drawn between politics and religion in the country. In his regular monthly radio address to the nation, the president warned of the danger of mixing the two, and the possible long-term detrimental impact on society. Myanmar President Thein Sein (AFP/Nicholas Kamm) SITTWE, Myanmar: Myanmar's President Thein Sein has called for a line to be drawn between politics and religion in the country. In his regular monthly radio address to the nation, the president warned of the danger of mixing the two, and the possible long-term detrimental impact on society. His comments come amid simmering ethnic and religious tensions in some parts of the country. In 2012, sectarian violence engulfed the capital city of Sittwe and the city remains a patchwork of religiously segregated zones. In Rakhine state, the country's second poorest which borders Bangl...

By Zin Linn Asian Correspondent July 31, 2013 Burma’s President Thein Sein received a British delegation led by Speaker of the House of Commons, UK Parliament Mr. John Bercow and party at the Credentials Hall of the Presidential Palace in Nay-Pyi-Taw on Tuesday, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said today. The British Speaker of the House of Commons was accompanied by six parliamentarians of UK Parliament. According to the newspaper, President Thein Sein and Mr Bercow had discussions on the release of political prisoners as well as taking penalizing actions against those involved in the conflicts between the two communities in Rakhine State and some other districts.  The two also talked about some issues such as humanitarian assistance to victims in conflict-stricken areas, constitutional amendments, humanitarian assistance for victims in Kachin State and peacemaking development to terminate domestic armed conflicts. They also discussed the freedom of worship an...

KPN News  July, 30, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State: Maungdaw high level officers – U Kyi San, the Township administration officer and U Aung Myint Soe, the district administration officer – provided Rohingyas’ land to the new settlers Rakhine community who migrated from Bangladesh recently, said a village admin officer from Maungdaw. “The officers tactically and forcefully confiscated Rohingyas’ land with or without reason and kept it open for project since 1992 when the Nasaka was established in northern Arakan.” The Burma border security force (Nasaka) used tactics to confiscate the Rohingyas’ land since it established in the Maungdaw and Buthidaung and handed over to the civil and arm force socity to use these confiscated land as project of their own. Most of the lands were provided to resettled Buddhist community who were brought from Bangladesh and central Burma by the ordered of Gen. Khin Nyint who was the main figure to establish the Nasaka, said a politician...