The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Burmese politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a room of journalists at the International Media Conference in Yangon, Burma on March 9, 2014 (Photo: Brian Pellot) By  Brian Pellot Regional News Service March 9, 2014 “A politician thinks of the next elections. A statesman thinks of the next generation.”  Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most famous citizen, politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, made this distinction to a packed room of journalists at the International Media Conference in Yangon Sunday afternoon. Daw Suu, as she’s known in Myanmar (Burma), is an internationally recognized and revered stateswoman. She’s also an active politician, thinking about  running for president  in the country’s 2015 elections. Suu Kyi’s  continued silence  on the Rohingya situation in western Myanmar begs the question: Are political priorities overshadowing her concern for the next generation? Myanmar is one o...

By  AFP March 09, 2014   SITTWE Myanmar — In the desolate camps of western Myanmar many homeless Muslims are determined to assert their identity as Rohingya after years of persecution, in a census some fear will spark further turmoil. Myanmar’s first census in 30 years — which starts at the end of March with United Nations help — will provide new data on the country, until now relying on figures from a flawed population tally in 1983. But observers warn that controversy over rigid official definitions of ethnicity and entrenched mistrust of authorities after decades of junta rule risk damaging the country’s fragile peace efforts and further inflaming religious tensions after waves of anti-Muslim violence. Questions of identity go to the very heart of divisions in Rakhine State, where long-held animosity between Buddhist and Muslim communities erupted into bloodshed two years ago, leaving scores dead and displacing 140,000 people — mainly among the stateles...

By Dr. Ko Ko Gyi These Buddhists Terrorist Swarn Arr Shins are free to roam the roads. Muslims who keep the defensive and non aggressive or much less lethal weapons are arrested by Bama Police.  Kindly allow me to suggest a campaign… Please compile the pics of Buddhists with weapons on the road. Ask Thein Sein Gov what action they take on them. Why Muslims who keep the less lethal weapons in their house were arrested. Please shared the pics below. Now I started with one picture>>> Pics and videos of Buddhists: Bamas, Rakhines and Monks with Knives, machetes, sticks publish again and ask the gov and police…to trace and arrest them and the persons behind them…If fail to arrest, take to court …Police Chief, Military Commanders, Administrative Authorities (All Local, Divisional and Federal level) would be held responsible for OMISSION of DUTIES.    

Photo UNHCR Cox's Bazar By Kyaw Win The Stateless March 08, 2014   Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar : Ms. Merete Lundemo and her companies  visited Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps. She met with RRRC, UNHCR and CIC. She inspected some activities of NGOs and she talked with Camp's Chairman, Secretary and some refugee women. Rohingya refugee women asked her to help them for durable solution, requested her to get proper medical treatment, asked her to support more educational system in camps and requested her to stop ethnic cleansing operation in Myanmar. The Rohingya refugee requested her to enhance more security where they are live in critical situation in Bangladesh. Ms. Lundemo, Ambassador of Norwegian, also visited to the UNHCR Sub-Office of Cox's Bazar.  It is a brief visit of her, but we do not know by which motive she visited.

Dear HABIB, I’ve been keeping a low profile for the last two weeks as I’ve returned to Burma to view firsthand what many are calling ethnic cleansing. But I can’t stay silent anymore — I am watching a tragedy unfold that is threatening the lives of tens of thousands of the most persecuted people on earth — the Rohingya ethnic minority in Rakhine State. Late last week, the government of Burma forced the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate organization, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), to close the doors to their clinics across the country. We responded by blasting the government publicly here in Rangoon, calling on governments with influence on the regime to apply immediate and forceful pressure. They did and soon arrangements were being made for MSF to reopen their clinics in all areas of the country — EXCEPT in the areas where the Rohingya live — precisely where the need is the greatest. Why? MFS was found guilty of telling the truth about attacks against the Rohingya that ki...

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar (file photo) By PressTV  March 07, 2014   Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Thailand’s authorities to look into its navy’s alleged role in the trafficking of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar instead of charging journalists for reporting on the subject. The Phuketwan online newspaper published a story last July, citing a report by the Reuters news agency, which said some navy officials “work systematically with smugglers” of Rohingya refugees for profit. The Thai navy filed a case against Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian of the newspaper, who are told to report to the Phuket provincial public prosecution office on March 10 when they might be formally charged for criminal defamation and violation of Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act. The rights group said the navy “should cease its efforts to silence the journalists and instead permit civilian authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into alleged tr...

Burma President Thein Sein delivers a speech in Naypyidaw in April 2011. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) By Lawi Weng The Irrawaddy March 7, 2014 RANGOON — Burma President Thein Sein has ordered a new commission and the country’s highest court to draft a proposed so-called “protection of race and religion” law, which could include a controversial measure to restrict interfaith marriage, according to lawmakers. A petition signed by about 1.3 million people has called for the president to pass into law a version of a bill drafted by lawyers on behalf of leading monks in the nationalist 969 movement. If enacted without amendment, the bill—which is thought to be targeted at Muslims in Burma—would require Buddhist women to get permission from their parents and local government officials before marrying a man from another faith. It also includes restrictions on converting to another religion, a limit to the number of children people can have, and measures to stop polygamy—which is alread...