Monday 20 August 2012

No Rohingya on the road in Maungdaw during Eid day


Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Rohingyas from Maungdaw are staying in their home whole day and no Rohingyas come out from their home on the road today (Eid day), according to an elder from Maungdaw.
“The Rohingyas didn’t pray of Eid prayer in Maungdaw as the whole country is going to celebrate Eid-ul-fitr  ( Eid festivel). The authority had given permission to pray on this day, but the Rohingya demand for daily five times prayer. The authority gave permission to Rohingya yesterday to pray in Mosques only noon (Juhur) and after noon (Assar) only for three days. But, Rohingya comminty said no need to do for three days and pray in their house as they were going prayer in their houses since June.”
“Today, we pray in our houses the Eid prayer and no one is come out from their houses, even the young children. The Maungdaw is like a desert.”
The authority imposed full tight security in Maungdaw and every corner  the security force are staying  alert, said a villager from Maungdaw.
“The security forces are forcefully collecting signatures from Rohingya community of Myoma Khayoungdan village that they had performed   Eid prayer today evening.”
Similarly, the security forces from Alay Than Kyaw forced Zaygonedan village of 8 fmaily to pray for Eid prayer in Mosques which was record by authority from every corner, said a villager from Aly Than Kyaw.
“Only 21 Rohingya including children join the mass praying in the Mosques.”
“The Burmese government is trying to show international community that the Rohingya pray at Eid day which mean Rohingya are persecution of religious and their enjoying the whole Eid day.”

Wake-Up Call Support & Join Humanitarian Flotilla To Arakan now

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"We are calling the Ummah and all peace loving people of the world to please contribute to sponsor this flotilla. This would be a translation of the people's commitment around the world to tell the Myanmar regime that the genocide must be halted immediately , access to Arakan must be allowed , perpetrators must be brought to justice, and rights of the Rohingya must be restored", (Azmi Abdul Hamid,Chief De Mission)


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Rakhine conflict proof of Burma's ingrained racism, says academic (Dr. Maung Zarni Interview)


UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the setting up of a commission in Burma to investigate recent sectarian violence in the country's west.Rakhine conflict proof of Burma's ingrained racism, says academic


Burma's president, Thein Sein, has announced an inquiry into the clashes in Rakhine state, where scores of people were killed and tens of thousands displaced by the violence in May and June.

He had earlier rejected United Nations calls for an independent investigation.

The establishment of the government commission came as news emerged about fresh clashes in the region.

Correspondent: Katie Hamann

Speaker: Dr Muang Zarni, London School of Economics

HAMANN: Whilst the west has gleefully embraced the idea of a Burmese democracy an ugly struggle has been building in the country's west. At least ninety people are thought to have died since fighting broke out between Burmese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the state of Rakhine in June.

Burmese scholar Dr Muang Zarni is a visiting fellow at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit at the London School of Economics. He is also a practising Buddhist and says the conflict in Rakhine state is symptomatic of deeply ingrained racism within Burmese society.

ZARNI: The NLD leadership, even the most senior people, who've spent years in jail, are racist, without knowing they're racist and anti-Khalar. Khalar is the Burmese equivalent of the word 'nigger'. And this is at the very top of the NLD leadership. From their perspective, it's all about illegal migration from Bangladesh, that is suffering from population explosion.

HAMANN: In a report released earlier this month Human Rights Watch accused security forces of failing to defuse growing tensions between communities and standing by whilst mobs raised villages and attacked each other. They say the conflict has displaced as many as 100,000 people who remain in dire need of food, shelter and medical assistance.

Dr Zarni says there could be a more sinister explanation for the failure of the security forces.

ZARNI: There is evidence, very strong evidence emerging, from different sources, that the Burmese regime in Naypyidaw itself has a hand in whipping up this conflict.

HAMANN: Nobel Peace Prize winner and Democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi has come under fire for her failure to openly comment on the plight of the Rohingya Muslims. When asked if they should be granted Burmese citizenship during her recent trip to Europe, Ms Suu Kyi said she didn't know. Many Rohingya Muslims have been settled in Burma for generations. Despite this, they need permission to marry, have more than two children and travel beyond their villages.

Dr Zarni says Ms Suu Kyi is now an elected representative and focussed on re-election in 2015.

ZARNI: If Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD were to beat the military-backed proxy political party, in the 2015 elections, they will need to win in a landslide. Nothing short of a landslide will give them a chance to attempt to change the Constitution. So in other words, Ms Suu Kyi needs to keep the Burmese majority happy, ideologically, and that requires that she stays clear of the Rohingya issue, regardless of whether it's a direct challenge to her image as a human rights champion.

HAMANN: The conflict threatens to engulf the region as yet more Rohingya refugees pour over the border into Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's Awami League-led coalition government has declared it wants to empty its overcrowded camps and send the Rohingya back to Burma. Meanwhile, much of the global response has come from the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia has accused Burma of embarking on a campaign of ethnic cleansing and Islamic hardliners in Indonesia and Pakistan have threatened attacks against the government.

Dr Zarni says the world must act, because no one inside Burma is interested in protecting the Rohingya.

ZARNI: The racism against the Muslims in general, in Burma is pervasive across the majority, minority, civilian, military and class lines. And that is one of the scariest and most troubling aspects of this social transition in Burma. And the West has not spoken out against this issue, because the West is desperate to push its own strategic and commercial agenda in Burma. So what we have heard over the past one year or so, is that "Burma is a modern transitional democracy." And so now, the Burmese democratic transition is bringing about not necessarily concrete and irreversible democratisation process but the most ugly racism the world is witnessing.

Indonesia to help rebuild homes for Rohingyas in Burma

The Indonesian government has appointed a former vice president to be a special envoy to offer aid to Muslim Rohingya in Burma, according to local media reports. 

Jusuf Kalla as vice president with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Photo: presidensby.info

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he has asked Jusuf Kalla, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross, to accept the mission because he has experience in addressing sectarian conflicts. He is expected to arrive in Burma on Sept. 8.

Kalla said the Red Cross and other international groups, including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, would deliver aid and start reconstructing homes for displaced Rohingyas next month. Thousands of Rohingyas' homes and businesses were burned during the unrest.

The president said he asked Kalla to be Indonesia's special envoy as a form of “solidarity with our Rohingya brothers,” according to the Jakarta Post.

Burma recently allowed the Indonesian Red Cross, along with other international humanitarian agencies, to send aid to refugees from the deadly conflicts between the Rohingyas and Rakhines in western Burma, which has claimed up to 87 lives and seen up to 5,000 homes and businesses burned.

On Aug. 7, Mizzima reported that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Burma had done its best to handle long-standing tensions in western Rakhine State. 

The statement, from the president of Asia’s most populated Muslim state, came amid growing protests against Burma’s handling of the ethnic unrest. 

The Indonesian president said he was trying to explain the situation in Burma “completely, properly and objectively, particularly after listening to reports from the Indonesian ambassador to Burma and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.”

Yudhoyono said that the Rakhine-Rohingya conflict was communal instead of religious. “Coincidently, the Rohingyas are Muslims and the Rakhines are Buddhists,” he said.

“The Rohingyas originate from Bangladesh. However, even after four generations, Myanmar’s policy has yet to include them as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups,” Yudhoyono said.

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Maung daw, Arakan state, Myanmar (Burma)
I am an independent man who voted to humanitarian aid.