Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Living in the Racial Fault line: Rohingyas Look like Bengalis but are the People of Burma

Who are the Rohingyas? An Arakani xenophob named Aye Chan says they are "Bengalis" from Bangladesh, and many of his hoodlum followers even call Rohingyas the "Talibans"; some even call them as "terrorists" perhaps because most Rohingyas are Muslims and some racist people it is easy to find all Muslims as being terrorists. However, research shows that Rohingyas look like Bengalis but aren't Bengalis. If Rohingyas are not Bengalis, who are they?  Rohingyas are a mixture of people beginning from indigenous Chandra people of pre 10th century Arakan, and also Rohingyas in them had Arab and Persian traders from the 7th century settled in Arakan, and the Bengali Sultan's soldiers send to Arakan with General Sindi Khan to help restore Noromikhala in the mid-15th century, and finally they also had in their people Bengali slaves captured from lower Bengal during the 16th and early 17th century from raids by Mogh (Rakhine) pirates in the Bay. These flows of people from the north and west of Arakan are recorded in history.1 These people who looked like Indians and Bengalis were scattered all around Arakan but due to their racial differences, eventually were pushed out to the Mayu frontier in the north. "Rohingya" as an official name adapted during the 50's in the last century by its leaders to serve as a survival mechanism for its people to unitedly face the destiny of attack and expulsion by the brutal military regime and its Arakanese collaborators. However, the name "Rohingya was in use recorded by an early British historian of Burma.2 In Arakan not surprisingly, "Rakhine" is also a new name changed from the historic name "Mogh"  Most of the Rohingyas look like Bengalis because Bengalis have similar historic backgrounds as the Rohingyas have from the past. The racially motivated discrimination and expulsion of the Rohingya people has been an ongoing phenomenon for years for these people. The latest large scale push was during 1942, the 1978 and 1993 and even now in a smaller scale.3
Historically speaking, Arakan was an Indian land but occupied by the racially mongoloid people during the 11th century removing the Indian Chandra dynasty. The dark skinned Rohingyas called by the Rakhines as "Kalas" are the indigenous Rohingyas. Rohingyas look like Bengalis but aren't Bengalis. Like the Rakhines (Moghs) are racially like Burmese, so racially Rohingyas are like Bengalis. This is clearly because Arakan is a racial fault line. It is for this reason that there are Rakhines, Chakmas, Thanchaingas, Moghs, who are racially mongoloid people in Bangladesh. They are now Bangladeshi citizens. In contrast the Rohingyas in Arakan, Burma were denied of their citizenship in the 1982 constitutional reform by the racist military government of Burma. This change was done unfortunately (on record) with the help of some Arakani xenophobs like Aye Kyaw, Aye Chan and Ashin Nayaka who enjoy freedom and democracy in abroad but keep racist skeletons at home in Arakan; calling the Rohingya people as the "Influx Viruses". In this act of suffering of a people, causing genocide and crime against humanity, the xenophobes even call themselves as democrats-ofcourse, it is acceptable in Burma to the military's Burmese way to democracy. Thus Rohingya issue remains unresolved and the suffering of these racially different Burmese people living in the faultline continues.

Monday, 28 November 2011

17 rescued, around 138 missing while boat capsized in Bay of Bengal

Teknaf, Bangladesh: About 17 people were rescued and around 138 were missing while a Malaysia voyage’s boat capsized in the Bay of Bengal on November 23, at night, according to an elder from Alaythankyaw, Maungdaw south.
The Rohingya boat-people dead body floating in the Naf River

“The boat was capsized between Saint Martin and Shapuri Dip Island at the Bay of Bengal of Burma side.”

“The boat was capsized while it attacked the rock between Saint Martin and Shapuri Dip Island.”

The Burmese border security force (Nasaka) and its collaborators boarded 155 Rohingya boat people – 120 from Maungdaw and 35 from Buthidaung- after collecting 300000 kyat per head where Nasaka took 30000 kyat per head, according to a school teacher from Maungdaw.

The camp-in-charge of Donkhali (Pa Yaunbang Gyi) Nasaka camp had given green signal to board the boatpeople from the Nasaka camp. The permission was issued by the Major Kyaw Aung, the commander of Nasaka area 7 as the Nasaka was involved in this trafficking of boat people, according to an aide of Nasaka.

The Nasaka collaborators are:- Abul Kalam, hailed from Lamba Ghona, Moslim, hailed from Dawn Khali, and Yasin from Konna Para- who are now hiding in the Donkhali (Pa Yaunbang Gyi)  Nasaka camp because some of the concerned  authorities from Maungdaw Town went to the spot to inquiry the event.

“The rescued 17 persons are being hidden by the Nasaka personnel as fear of exposing their involvement in the boatpeople trafficking. But, the Nasaka demands money from the rescued boatpeople to stay continuously in their villages,” the aide said

The dead bodies floating in the Naf River are not allowed to collect and bury by their relatives and villagers. The dead bodies were drowned in the sea by the Nasaka personnel after fastening heavy stone with dead bodies for destroying the evidences of the event. 

The Rohingya community in northern Arakan is facing same as before such as discriminations - restriction of movement, marriage, education, health, employment and etc.-.  Though there is some reforms appear to be marked in the Burma, the repression and oppression of the Rohingya community are not stopped, said a trader from Maungdaw.

The Nasaka is using the policy of “killing two birds in one shot” means the Nasaka is trying to reduce the population of Rohingya community from Arakan soil and earning money by giving permission to go abroad. But, there is no permission for Rohingya community to enter their homeland again.

Friday, 25 November 2011

Exclusive - Suu Kyi to run in upcoming Myanmar by-election

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will run in an upcoming by-election, a senior official in her party said on Monday, three days after her National League for Democracy ended its boycott of the country's political system.
It will be the first time the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has competed in an election since 1990, when her landslide electoral victory was voided by generals intent on maintaining power.
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at a ceremony to mark the country's National Day at the National League for Democracy (NLD) party's head office in Yangon November 20, 2011. 
 
"Aung San Suu Kyi intends to stand for the by-election but it's a bit early to say from which constituency she will run," Nyan Win, a senior official in her party, told Reuters.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of late independence hero Aung San and a staunch opponent of the military dictators, spent 15 of the previous 21 years in detention before her release from house arrest a year ago.

Suu Kyi to run for Myanmar parliament seat

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will run in a parliamentary by-election expected by the end of the year, a top party official said on Monday, three days after her popular movement ended its boycott of the country's political system.
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at a ceremony to mark the country's National Day at the National League for Democracy (NLD) party's head office in Yangon 
 
It will be the first time the Nobel Peace Prize laureate contests a seat herself having not stood as a candidate in her National League for Democracy's (NLD) 1990 election landslide, which was ignored by the then military regime and led to her lengthy incarceration.
"Aung San Suu Kyi intends to stand for the by-election but it's a bit early to say from which constituency she will run," Nyan Win, a member of the NLD's executive committee, told Reuters.
There are 48 seats available in Myanmar's new senate and lower house, which will be contested in polls expected by the end of the year.
The NLD was officially dissolved by the military junta for refusing to take part in last year's parliamentary polls because of "unfair and unjust" laws that would have prevented hundreds of its members from becoming lawmakers.
The legislature convened in February and is Myanmar's first since the late 1980s, when a unicameral "People's Assembly" controlled by the military's Burma Socialist Programme Party was scrapped.
Suu Kyi is the daughter of late independence hero Aung San and was a staunch opponent of the military during its 49 years of totalitarian rule. However, she has shown willingness to work with the new civilian government approved by parliament in March, even though it is run by former junta generals.
On Friday, the NLD voted unanimously to register the party and re-enter the political fray following an amendment to the constitution allowing those who have served sentences for crimes to take part in elections. Many NLD members, including Suu Kyi, are current or former political prisoners.
Since the annulled 1990 polls, Suu Kyi, 66, has spent most of the time in detention. She was released a year ago and still chooses to live in the lakeside house that on and off was her prison for 15 years.
U.S. ENDORSEMENT
She had earlier given no indication she herself was interested in becoming a lawmaker.
Her decision comes after Myanmar won a powerful endorsement on Friday, with U.S. President Barack Obama announcing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit the resource-rich country neighbouring China, citing "flickers of progress."
Clinton will be the highest-ranking American to visit Myanmar since a 1962 military coup. She will go to Myanmar for two days early next month and plans to meet Suu Kyi.
Clinton has said credible elections are one condition for ending U.S. sanctions, along with the release of more political prisoners and peace with ethnic minorities. Myanmar released 230 political prisoners last month and another amnesty is expected in the coming weeks and months.
The NLD, Myanmar's biggest opposition force, would have dominated parliament had the 1990 result been accepted by the junta. The regime annulled the 1990 result only last year, arguing that the NLD's win could not be recognised because it was in breach of a constitution drafted 18 years later.
Suu Kyi commands considerable influence over the party and Ko Ko Hlaing, a senior advisor to President Thein Sein, said on the sidelines of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bali last week that the NLD's decision to re-register was a "significant step."
The presence of Suu Kyi in parliament would be another dramatic sign of openness that could give more legitimacy to the retired generals in control of the country, who are seeking acceptance, engagement, support and investment from the international community.
Part of its plan was to expedite that process by lobbying to chair ASEAN in 2014, two years ahead of schedule.
The new government has started dialogue with Suu Kyi, moves welcomed by the West, which has imposed sanctions on the country because of its poor human rights record.

Bangladesh urges UNHCR to take effective steps to repatriate refugees

Chittagong, Bangladesh: Dr Abdur Razzaque, the Food and Disaster Management Minister of Bangladesh urged the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to take effective steps to repatriate the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh on November 20, according to official statement.

“He made the call when UNHCR assistant high commissioner Janet Lim met him at the Secretariat.”

Razzaque also said that the Rohingyas are an extra burden for densely populated Bangladesh. “Although Bangladesh is a poor country, it has been continuing its assistance to the Rohingyas, considering the humanitarian ground.”

Janet Lim requested the Bangladesh government to take steps to ensure nutrition of Rohingyas who are living in shelter centres in Bangladesh.

Besides, Bangladesh - as a principled position, had never pursued ‘forced repatriation’ of refugees- Dipu Moni the foreign ministry said in a press released.

Bangladesh is cooperating with the UNHCR to support the voluntary repatriation of the Rohingya refugees through diplomatic negotiations with Burma, Dipo Moni said.

The foreign Minister also said that at around 9,000 of the refugees were earlier cleared by the Burma government in 2005.

The repatriation of Rohingya to Burma should remain strictly voluntary, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Janet Lim stated.

According to a group of refugees, “We will go back to our motherland if the Burmese authorities give us citizenship with Rohingya ethnicity and equal rights as other ethnics groups.”

A politician on condition of anonymity said that if the Burmese authorities do not grant full citizenship with ethnicity and equal rights to the Rohingya refugees, the refugees will never go back to Burma.

The politician also said, “We fled to Bangladesh from Burma because of persecution and human rights abuses by the military regime. We will not jump again into the same persecution and human rights abuses by the military regime. We would rather die in Bangladesh or elsewhere.”

Three religious students jailed in southern Arakan

Mrauk-U, Arakan State: Three religious students were jailed on November 4, 2011 for traveling to their home town from Kyauktaw where they studying at a religious school (Madrasa), according to Muslim Liberation Organization of Burma (MLOB) statement.

“Md. Haleb (32), son of Ibrahim and Alam Gir (18), son of Md. Nasir, both hailed from the Kongbaung village of Mrauk Oo while Noor Shofi (18), son of Abdu Salam, hailed from Setkya village of Minbya Township.”

“The three students went to Kyauktaw town in 2010 for religious study. However, being closed their Madrasa, they were returning to their homes by steamer during June 2011. But, they were arrested by the immigration officer of Mrauk-U with allegation of so-called illegal traveling. Later, they have been sent to the police station of Mrauk-U.”

“The three students were produced on court, and had been sentenced to two and half years’ imprisonment per each by the court on November 4”, a relative of one of the victims said from Sittwe (Akyab), who denied to be named.  

“One of them was sent to Sittwe (Akyab) jail and the two other were sent to Rangoon jail after imprisonment,” according to the MLBO statement.

It is very much concerned for the Muslim community in Arakan for the continuous persecution in Arakan State against the Muslims, even under the President Thein Sein’s civilian new government, according to U Kyaw hla,  the MLOB chairman. 

U Kyaw Hla, chairman, the MLOB, earnestly appeals to the international community - Asean, UN, Democratic countries and OIC - to help prevent continuous persecution of the minority Muslims in Arakan State, Burma.

47 Rohingyas pushed back to Burma

Teknaf, Bangladesh: Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested 47 Rohingyas on November 21 from various points of borderline who were pushed back all to Burma on that day at about 2:00 pm, the BGB official said. 

“The BGB arrested the Rohingyas from Shapuri Dip to Taungbro along the borderline while entering Bangladesh for various purposes. The BGB personnel arrested 17 Rohingyas from Nayapa area, 8 members from Dum Dum Meah area, 21 members from Zeman Khali area and one member from Shapuri Dip, in total 47 members.” 

The BGB increased patrol in border areas and arrested Rohingya people frequently and pushed back to Burma, said a local elder from border area who did not mention his name.

The BGB personnel of Whaikong seized various kinds of medicines worth about Taka 361,500 from Burma-Bangladesh border while being smuggled to Bangladesh from Burma, the BGB official said. 

The BGB also seized about 1,000 Yaba tablets from Teknaf- Cox’s Bazar road that came from Arakan State, Burma which confirmed by the 42 BGB Battalion Commander Lt. Col Zahid Hassan of Teknaf.

About Me

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