The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Greg Constantine’s unflinching yet sensitive look at the Rohingyas’ plight has made an impact. (JG Photos/Tunggul Wirajuda) By  Tunggul Wirajuda The Jakarta Globe February 10, 2014 The elderly Rohingya man epitomized his people’s plight. One of more than 300,000 Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, the former forced laborer fled his home state of Rakhine in the 1990s following years of oppression by the Myanmar authorities and the Rakhine ethnic group. The years of suffering and exile are etched in his face, while his shaded right eye symbolized his blindness in one eye after a beating by his Burmese overseers. Next to his photo, a snapshot of a Rohingya family contrasts with the photo of a woman fleeing persecution under it. The former aptly represents the families and lives shattered by the ethnic and sectarian conflict suffered by the Rohingya, while the latter’s blank, forward looking gaze seem to point towards an uncertain future. The photos are pa...

Rohingya VS Democracy in Burma: Nazi Hitler VS 969 leaders By  Aung Aung February 08, 2014 Buddhism is defined by non-violence, has as a gentle way of life based on Eight Fold Path. Nazi leaders of Burma sent Ashin Nyanissara (Thidagu Sayardaw) and team to a thousand miles away, Sri Lanka, in order to learn anti-Muslims sentiment strategy, and General Khin Nyunt and team to Israel to learn Zionism for the establishment of Nazism in Burma. Hitler and Nazi leaders of Germany didn’t kill German people like Jews. In Burma too, Nazi leaders didn’t give much troubles to Buddhists than non-Buddhist minorities. Muslims in Sri Lanka and Burma are a peaceful and small minority, but both minorities are labeled the same accusations without reasons. Armed conflict of Sri Lanka in the early 1990s and “969 campaign” in Burma have similar objectives conducted by the State, prominent Buddhist monk, Ashin Wirathu is not the only leader of 969 gangs, he was just a murderer,...

Appeal to distinguished gentlemen and ladies regardless faith worldwide By Mohamed Ibrahim / Ibrahim Shah – Burma Times . 08 Feb 2014 - The ongoing state-sponsored silent Rohingya massacre is a catastrophe not only for Rohingya but also for the humanity at large. Thus, it is an obligation upon every individual who comes across this article to counsel Rohingya individuals and social and political parties to be unified to approach into consultative leadership to free from corrupted leadership that is the root of destruction of the unification and freedom of Rohingya people who are internationally recognized as one of the most persecuted victims; and to liberate the entire Rohingya society from long persecution. Charity begins at home; accordingly, to counsel each other amongst Rohingya to come forward to be unified is the double-obligation upon every Rohingya individuals. Let’s cogitate why it is significantly important for the consultative leadership to restore stripped...

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung By Kayleigh Long Myanmar Times February 07, 2014 Union Solidarity and Development Party MP U Shwe Maung has been questioned by police in Nay Pyi Taw over comments he made to Democratic Voice of Burma about possible police involvement in a fire that broke out in a Muslim village in Rakhine State late last month. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in the blaze at Du Chee Yar Tan West village near Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State on January 28. U Shwe Maung said the February 4 interrogation came at the behest of President U Thein Sein, who sent a letter to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann requesting permission for police question the MP. The interview lasted about 90 minutes and was conducted at his USDP living quarters in Nay Pyi Taw. It focused on allegations that U Shwe Maung, a Rohingya, had defamed the state and police by saying that residents believed security forces were involved in starting the fire. ...

Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) By   Bangkok Post February 08, 2014 Two Myanmar politicians from a western state riven by deadly communal violence narrowly escaped a suspected assassination bid during a visit to Malaysia this week, a report said Friday. Malaysia's state-run Bernama news agency quoted police as saying the pair, Aye Maung and Aye Thar Aung, were fired upon by a shooter aboard a motorcycle in a busy shopping area of the capital Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday night. Several shots were fired at a car carrying them and several companions, but no one was injured, said the report. The two politicians are from the Arakan National Party, which represents the mostly Buddhist Rakhine, the largest ethnic group in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. The state has been torn by several episodes of violence since 2012 between Buddhists and Muslims that left scores dead and displaced 140,000 people -- many from the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority. Th...

By  Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy Eurasia Review February 08, 2014 A recent UN statement demanding an impartial probe into the killings of Muslims by Buddhists, in Myanmar, has once again brought the issue of the Rohingyas – widely accepted as the most persecuted minority group – to the fore. The alarming frequency, with which reports, detailing an unmistakable campaign of suppression of the community have been emerging over the past several months, is worrying. The clergy known for their non-violent values, have taken to violence in an attempt to rid the state of Rakhine, of the Rohingya Muslims. Why have clergy in Myanmar opted for violent means? Why is the government in Naypyidaw silent on this matter? Increasing Islamophobia The friction between the Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingyas began as a mild form of xenophobia in 1824. It has now evolved into a full-blown violent campaign of driving out the ‘settlers,’ who have now lived in the region for generat...

Aye Maung (l) and Aye Thar Aung (r), pictured here speaking at an Arakan National Party function, escaped an assassination attempt Thursday (PHOTO:DVB) Burma Times -Kuala Lumpur 07 February 2014 -  It is reportedly learnt that former RNDP head, currently Second in command at Arakan National Party as well as lawmaker in parliament’s upper house, and Aye Thar head of ANP are escaped from the attempted assassination assault of some gunmen in Kuala Lumpur on 6 February at 11:00PM and immediately returned today on friday  in Yangoon. According to our senior correspondent from Kuala Lumpur, it is reported that the gunmen are Rakhine who are hand picked members of Vet. Aye Maung and it was deliberately triggered to deceive people that Muslims terrorized against them as he is exposed as one of the masterminds of Rohingya ethnic cleansing in western Burma. The two controversially well-known Rakhine politicians are senior politicians amongst Rakhine in western Burma wh...