What's new

‘The generals and Suu Kyi sing from the same Buddhist nationalist hymn book’

National Verification Card (NVC): A Hidden Trap for Myanmar’s Rohingya
nvc.jpeg

Mohammed Ayub (TU), UAE
RB Article
October 22, 2017
Myanmar Military was never sincere in handling ethnics’ affairs, especially, in Rohingyas’ whose permanent home is northern Arakan.

Throughout the history, military uses the Muslims population of the country for political diversion and benefits.

After 9/11, 2001 attack in US, the perception of non-Muslims world towards the Muslims has changed in unbelievable way.

This opportunity, though hidden anti-Muslims campaign has long been rooted in Myanmar, was best used by the power monger groups like Myanmar Military to de-attach the Muslims from mass public, and divert the attention of all-problems-bundle of the country towards Muslims by exposing post 2001 sentiments of Islam.

As a result, majority Buddhists public of Myanmar, who has been caged more than five decades,turned away from the actual democratic movement of the country to join anti-Muslim movement and hence emerging a strong legal public anti-Muslim forces within Myanmar.

Publically motivated anti-Muslim operations have gained momentum after the alleged murder of Rakhine woman by Muslim in mid-2012. The campaign has got fierce intensity throughout the years as groups like MaBaTha, 969 has been publically propagating anti-Muslim hate speeches with the Military sponsorship.

ARSA’s attack on security posts of Arakan on 25th of august, 2017 met the Rohingyas with deadliest clearance operations that almost 600 thousands of Rohingya Muslims has poured into Bangladesh to escape historic brutalities of Myanmar Military and local Buddhists mobs.

Fortunately, Burmese Military has succeeded in filtering out Muslims from the anti-Military dictatorship forces with the injection of racially motivated propagandas to the majority xenophobic Buddhists public.

The resultant achievement is both the Buddhist public, Military and government, have come under the same roof of de-rooting Rohingya Muslims from Arakan.
Recent years have been the years of rigorous anti-Muslims campaign through different means; social media, mass public religious gatherings, that being a Muslim in Myanmar has become the greatest crime.
And majority Buddhist perceives Muslims as a menace to their religion, race, culture and the country, so much so that they want Rohingya constitutionally disable if not completely eradicated from the soil of Arakan.

Actually, Rohingyas problem is based on well-founded fear created from the psychological disorder, dementia and xenophobe of Myanmar Buddhists.
Logically speaking, the Myanmar have no problem with the word ‘Rohingya’ nor with the Muslim inhabitants that have long been residing in Arakan side by side.

The problem with them is the religion, which Rohingyas believe in.

Keep aside the volumes of history of pre-independent Burma; in post-independent Burma, there are mountains of historical evidences of Rohingya starting from the office of the then military war-fair to Myanmar’s Broadcasting Program, from Myanmar’s school, university textbooks to encyclopedia, from village chairman to MPs and Ministers.

Xenophobic Buddhists are blatantly denying the Rohingya just because of superstitious belief that, if Muslims were given equal rights, whole Burma will be Islamized, were made conceived in the hearts of Buddhists in the successive military regimes.

As said earlier, the Buddhists want Rohingya Muslims of Arakan to constitutionally disable by forcing them to accept National Verification Card (NVC) that in turn will make them foreigners.

From the legal perspective, NVC is not the product of any law or constitution of Myanmar, which is in force now. Even according to the clause 65 of notorious 1982 citizenship law, no NVC is required to issue citizenship card. It is a product of mere cowardice nationalist propagandists' imaginary islamophobic assumptions.

It is point-out-worthy that all the citizenship cards holder of Myanmar need not have to have NVC prior to citizenship cards. If the government of Myanmar sincerely wants to help solve the Rohingya crisis, there are many post-independent era’s records and evidences that it can depend on without imposing unconstitutional NVC card.

The Government’s ulterior motive behind this NVC is making believe the world that the Rohingyas are foreigners who are recent immigrants to Arakan from Bangladesh.

The following points are some of many historical evidences that Rohingyas are not British era settler and hence no required to go for NVC cards.

1. Rohingya holds the same citizenship NRC cards with 6 digits (where as foreigners hold FRC with 5 digits), which were issued after 1952-53 Mayu operations, as other ethnics of Myanmar and, were provoked in 1989 at the promise of issuing pink color citizenship cards.
Unfortunately, 1990-91 exodus took place and what Rohingyas in return were gifted was White cards in 1995.

If Myanmar sincerely wants to solve Rohingya crisis, it can base on those records and details collected in 1989. In 1993, NaSaKa aliases Border Immigrations Head Quarters (BIHQ) were deployed in Arakan with special decree and power solely aimed at Rohingyas.
And every year onwards were scrutiny and records of Rohingyas with group family photo but found none of illegal entry.

2. After Burma independence, all ethnics groups including Rohingyas took rebellion against Burmese government for autonomy. And the Rohingya Mujahids were the first to surrender to the central government for the sake of peace, tranquility and betterment of the sate and, were recognized as Rohingya indigenous ethnic as Rakhine.

3. In 1872, per square mile population of Arakan was 33 and that of Bengal was about 450.
Even at that time, having unrestricted movement within British India, and greener pastures in British-Burma, dense-populated living Bengali had not seen flooding into British Arakan for good.
Whoever, came was for seasonal work and went back after pocketful of money.
And still Myanmar Buddhists say over populated Bangladesh pours Bengali to Arakan, a modern day killing field for Muslims.

4. On many occasions, Government imported Bengali Buddhists from Bangladesh with A to Z support. They could not survive in the golden Arakan having seen no future and returned Bangladesh. And still Myanmarsays Muslims are entering Myanmar while their fellow Bengali Buddhists did not survive because of zero opportunity and dead future.

5. No Muslim's "official family list" is left intact, except for dead or any other reasons, that member entry is stroked with red pen with remark that reads, " fled to Bangladesh". And still Myanmar accuses Rohingya of illegally coming in to Arakan.

6. In 2012, ex-president U Thein Sein and ex-immigration Minister U Khin Yee confessed in a VOA interview that there were no illegal Muslims residing in Arakan. And still Myanmar label Rohingya as "Khoewin" (ခိုးဝင္) meaning illegal immigrants.

7. And also under different rules of British, Arakan was under British-Burma, British-India and British-Bengal, where in all cases British censured the indigenous Muslim populations of Arakan as either Mahomadensor Mussulmans or Arakanese Mahomadens or Arakanese Mussulmans.

8. What Myanmar propagandist portrayed the Rohingya history is that there were no Muslim (Rohingya) inhabitants in the soil of Arakan before 1823 and they came into existence in Arakan only after British annexation when the Britishers brought many Muslims from Bengal as laborers, ignoring piles of historical evidences as early as 1000 years before British conquest.

9. It was recorded in 1872 British-Burma census that there were 100,000 souls (of whom 30,000 were Muslims Rohingya) in Arakan when British annexed Arakan in 1826 and, many Muslims who escaped the brutal Burmese killings in 1784 returned to their original home Arakan when situation became peaceful in Arakan.
And still there were uncertainty in Arakan and some Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh in 1874 prefer to work as “seasonal laborers” in Arakan than settling back there in Arakan.

10. 1942 Muslim-Buddhist riot forced refuge the Buddhist populations of Northern to the southern part of Arakan and Muslim population of Southern into Northern part of Arakan and that is the reason why Muslims are densely populated in Northern Arakan.

From the above points one can comprehend and ponder that the Rohingyas are the core people of the soil of Arakan and requires no NVC process, as they have been under tight surveillance and scrutiny in the successive governments.

What Myanmar’s perception about Rohingya was that Myanmar is sandwiched between two overpopulated countries; Bangladesh and China, and it needs verification process in place to deter illegal entry from Bangladesh and China.

When China is concerned, Myanmar ignores even national sovereignty concerns, at the same time welcoming the Chinese with all its race, religion, culture and scarce resources.
The Chinese from the eastern gate penetrated into Myanmar and gradually has absorbed and distorted Myanmar’s race, culture and resources and passed through the western gate (Arakan).

Astonishingly, whole Myanmar remains silent on the matter and unwise, foolish discriminatory agendas are put in practice against Rohingya Muslims.

Through out the Military regimes to date, no single illegal entry residing in Arakan can be brought forward by Myanmar to International surface, and contrary to that, the international bodies are witnessing Rohingyas fleeing due to the heinous crimes committed to them by the Military and local mobs.

Annan Commission left dubious state regarding citizenship status of Rohingya in his final report enforcing NVC process even to be allowed with uncles’ or aunts’ documents when one’s own documents are not available.
On the other hand, the report also emphasizes to amendment of the 1982 citizenship law. So, no clear cut strategy was advised in the report for the citizenship of Rohingya, whose the same was stripped off by the enforcement of 1982 citizenship law after 1978 refugees take-back.

In the most years of tyrant rule of Military, Rohingya Muslims were suffered from all aspects of life and also Arakan has never been a safe place for Rohingya Muslims, which 1784, 1978,1991 and 2017 exoduses testified.
Rohingyas are dying to live in Arakan because it is their ancestral land.

Economically, Bangladesh is in relatively better position than Myanmar and it is a nasty ideology to accuse of Rohingyas of recent immigrants from Bangladesh and enforcing them for NVCs.

In conclusion, It would be wise choice for Myanmar to restrain using the word “Bengali” when referring Muslim minority Rohingya and, to stop enforcing NVC cards to Rohingyas.

And last but not the least, all Rohingyas should be called back with assurance of recognition, safety, security, and many other civil rights.

http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/10/national-verification-card-nvc-hidden.html
 
Last edited:
Big turnout at Myanmar pro-army rally defies Rohingya outcry
Agence France-Presse
Published at 08:33 PM October 29, 2017
Myanmar-Military-690x450.jpg

Military songs rang out across downtown Yangon on Sunday as thousands rallied in defence of Myanmar's army TWITTER
Fear of a Muslim takeover of Buddhist-majority Myanmar through Rakhine state has been kindled over decades by the army, which is now casting itself as saviour of the nation
Military songs rang out across downtown Yangon on Sunday as tens of thousands rallied in defence of Myanmar’s army, an institution accused by the global community of driving Rohingyas from the country.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled western Rakhine state to Bangladesh since late August when raids by militants from the minority group were met with ruthless army “clearance operations”.

The United Nations has led global condemnation, calling the crackdown a “textbook” example of ethnic cleansing.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson phoned army chief Min Aung Hlaing earlier this week to express his concerns at alleged atrocities in Rakhine state and urge a swift and safe return for the Rohingya.

But inside Myanmar support for the army has surged, an unlikely turnaround for a once feared and hated institution that ruled for 50 years and whose lawmakers lost heavily in 2015 polls.

Those elections sent Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party into power, but the Rohingya crisis has put her government on the backfoot.

Demonstrators carried banners lauding Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and rebuking the international community for “pressuring the Tatmadaw,” as Myanmar’s army is known.

“The Tatmadaw is essential for the country, it protects our ethnic groups, races and religion,” said Nan Aye Aye Kyi, 54, as the rally snaked through Yangon to the iconic Sule Pagoda.

The Rohingya are not recognised as one of Myanmar’s patchwork of ethnic groups.

Fear of a Muslim takeover of Buddhist-majority Myanmar through Rakhine state has been kindled over decades by the army, which is now casting itself as saviour of the nation.

Kyaw Than, 64, a retired sergeant who served in the army for 41 years said the Tatmadaw “is protecting the whole country”, adding allegations of murder, rape and arson against the Rohingya were “not true”.

But international pressure is tightening.

The US is weighing targeted sanctions against key military leaders, while Pope Francis is scheduled to talk peace on a landmark visit to the country next month.

Aung San Suu Kyi has faced the sharp end of global outcry over the crisis, with fellow Nobel laureates joining a cast of world leaders in urging her to condemn the army and speak up for the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi’s supporters say the once garlanded rights champion is hamstrung, with any criticism of the still-dominant army likely to provoke a strong response.

The army has unassailable control of all security matters and has only begun to cede other law-making powers to civilian government over the last few years.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/s...yanmar-pro-army-rally-defies-rohingya-outcry/
 
Aung San Suu Kyi to be stripped of honourary presidency by UK university
Burma's de facto leader accused of 'inaction in the face of genocide'
@shehabkhan
The Independent Online
aung-san-suu-kyi.jpg

Aung San Suu Kyi speaks during an official dinner function at the Istana in Singapore Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty
The Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to be stripped of her honorary presidency at a UK university's student union over her country's treatment of Rohingya minority Muslims.

Once seen as a symbol of freedom and non-violent resistance, Burma’s de facto president Ms Suu Kyi was recognised by students at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1991.

But amid accusations of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Burmese army in the north-western Rakhine state, the LSE student union is now expected to pass a vote removing her from the role.

More than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh amid increasing violence. Although the country's military leaders retain control of internal security, Ms Suu Kyi was accused of “inaction in the face of genocide”.
READ MORE
A motion has now been tabled by the LSE student union and senior members of the leadership, including general secretary Mahatir Pasha, are confident it will pass.

“I have asked all LSE students to support a motion I will be taking to UGM on 9 November, asking to strip Aung San Suu Kyi’s honorary presidency away from our union.
This will act as a strong symbol of our opposition to her current position and inaction in the face of genocide,” Mr Pasha told The Independent.

Students at LSE "have often been at the forefront of fighting for social justice", Mr Pasha said. “Suu Kyi’s silence in the face of this genocide has come at too much a cost – her complicity in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. It is time for the world to take action in support of the Rohingya people and against Aung San Suu Kyi,” he added.

Quratulain Ahsan, president of LSE's Human Rights Society, said it was important to show solidarity with those who have been forced to leave their homes in Burma.

“The crisis of the Rohingya today mirrors several historical incidents of ethnic cleansing, but the idea that such violations of the basic human rights of a particular ethnicity can take place in a progressive 21st century, is both appalling and shaking,” Mr Ahsan told The Independent.

And Kamilia Rozlan, treasurer of the union's Student Action for Refugees group, said the student body would not stay silent in the face of "blatant persecution".

"The Rohingya people deserve a voice, and if Suu Kyi won’t lend hers, we will," Ms Rozlan said.All students of the LSE have been invited to attend the debate and subsequent vote at the university next Thursday.

If the motion passes, LSE will join the cities of Oxford and Glasgow, both of whom have also stripped Ms Suu Kyi of honorary awards in recent weeks.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...residency-myanmar-lose-stripped-a8036171.html
 
Sitagu Sayadaw and justifiable evils in Buddhism
www.thestateless.com/2017/11/sitagu-sayadaw-and-justifiable-evils-in-buddhism.html
Sayadaw-Addresses-Military-officers-in-Kayin-State-30-October-Photo-SayadawSitagu-on-Facebook.jpg

Sayadaw Addresses Military officers in Kayin State, 30 October Photo - SayadawSitagu on Facebook
By Paul Fuller, New Mandala
Sitagu Sayadaw is one of the most respected religious leaders in Myanmar. He is very well known for his teachings and for his philanthropic work. He has considerable influence.
It therefore surprised many in his native Myanmar and worldwide when he gave a sermon in Kayin State on 30 October with a particularly striking message. The sermon appeared to suggest that the killing of those who are not Buddhist could be justified on the grounds that they were not complete humans, or indeed humans at all.

There has been much online discussion about the passage. In its extreme form, there is the idea that Sitagu Sayadaw argued that non-Buddhists are less than human, and that on this basis it is permissible to cause them harm.

How could such a revered teacher as Sitagu Sayadaw preach such a message?
Particularly troubling was that the sermon was given to a group of army officers likely to be involved in the conflict against Muslim Rohingyas.
The interpretation could be that this was a Buddhist justification for the killing of Rohingyas.

The sermon was indeed delivered to army officers at the Bayintnaung garrison and military training school in Kayin State.

In reflecting on the relationship between the actions of the Burmese military and the consequences of a soldier’s duty to protect the Myanmar nation, Sitagu Sayadaw used the 5th Century CE Sri Lankan chronicle, the Mahavamsa.

He also chose to quote from a notorious passage from the 25th chapter of the Mahavamsa, “The Victory of Dutthagamani”. The passage in question appears to go against many of what most people would understand to be the key ideas of Buddhism. One possible way to interpret it is simply to suggest that “Buddhists are as capable of hypocrisy, double standards and special pleading as anyone.”

I would suggest that the primary intention of the Dutthagamani passage is not to justify the killing of living beings who are not Buddhist per se. The point of the passage—however much we might disagree with its logic—is the idea that actions performed with the idea of protecting and defending Buddhism, or “bringing glory to the doctrine of the Buddha”, overrides more accepted ethical norms such as the precept of not killing living beings. Protecting the Dhammacircumvents the usual operation of karma. All actions have consequences, but the effects of these actions can be lessened if the motivation for them is a noble one.

In case I am misunderstood, I would like to state clearly that the use of the passage was unwise in the extreme by the revered Sayadaw. It is also a passage which sits very uneasily with mainstream Buddhist thinking on the use of violence. However, it can, has, and is being used by Buddhists to describe how “unwholesome actions” (Burmese: arkhutho Pali: akusala-kamma) can be used to defend and preserve Buddhism.

In the famous episode recounted in the Mahavamsa, Dutthagamani, having waged a long and bloody war in which millions were killed, suffers from extreme unease and remorse. Through their supernatural powers, a group of eight Arahants become aware of this remorse and travel to see Dutthagamani. Using their supernatural powers, they travel through the air from the Island of Piyangudipa to comfort him. However, Dutthagamani tells the Arahants:

How shall there be any comfort for me, O venerable sirs, since by me was caused the slaughter of a great host numbering millions?
He is then famously advised:
From this deed arises no hindrance in thy way to heaven. Only one and a half human beings have been slain here by thee, O lord of men. The one had come unto the (three) refuges, the other had taken on himself the five precepts. Unbelievers [they have “wrong-views”, micchādiṭṭhi] and men of evil life were the rest, not more to be esteemed than beasts. But as for thee, thou wilt bring glory to the doctrine of the Buddha in manifold ways; therefore cast away care from thy heart, O ruler of men!

In the sermon or the original text as they stand there is no mention of “Buddhists” and “non-Buddhists”. Equivalent terms are not available in Pali or in Burmese. But much of the news reporting of Sitagu Sayadaw’s sermon has contained a degree of hyperbole, suggesting that this was its message. What the passage does appear to do, however, is absolve the consequences of the military killing other living beings, and even to justify these acts. This is the manner in which it was quoted by Sitagu Sayadaw.

The episode is an analysis of Dutthagamani’s remorse. He has remorse because he is responsible the deaths of millions of people. He considers that he has performed very destructive “unwholesome actions” (Burmese: arkhutho. Pali: akusala-kamma). The comforting words of the Arahants explain why these actions do not have the consequences that we might expect.

The Arahants’ analysis is based upon the idea that the “deeds”, the “actions” (kamma), the killing of millions of “human beings” (manussa) have no negative consequences because of the status of those killed. The Arahants, through their “higher knowledge” (abhiññā) make a judgement on the ontological and spiritual nature of those defeated in the battle. Dutthagamani’s victims are “unbelievers” in Wilhelm Geiger’s translation; more correctly, they have “wrong-views” (micchādiṭṭhi).
They are “men of evil life” (dussilā), they do not practice ethical conduct. They are, in the logic of the Mahavamsa not “human beings” but “like beasts” (pasusamā).

How, then, does the Mahavamsa describe a “human being”? A full human is one who has taken refuge: in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. Secondly, to be human in the context of the Arahants’ explanation is to have practiced the “five precepts” (pañcasīla). These are the five ethical practices of a layperson: to refrain from killing, lying, stealing, sexual misconduct, or intoxicants that cause confusion. Therefore, those who do not practice the five precepts are “half of a person” in the advice of the Arahants.

It would clearly be wrong to assume that this is a general appraisal of the nature of a person in Buddhism. The Arahants have the specific task of consoling Dutthagamani. To use this as a justification for violence would surely be to misuse the text.

Nevertheless, one apparent implication of the Arahants’ reasoning is that the glory brought to the religion of the Buddha overrides other more natural ideas of what is right and wrong. Dutthagamani brings “glory to the doctrine of the Buddha” (bahudhā buddhasāsana). This is a theme found earlier in this chapter of the Mahavamsa in which a vitriolic blend of preserving Buddhism, and using violence in its defence, is clear: “not for the joy of sovereignty is this toil of mine, my striving (has been) ever to establish the doctrine of the Sambuddha”
Sitagu-Sayadaw-arriving-at-the-site-of-his-sermon-to-military-officers-on-30-October-Photo-sayadawsitagu-on-Facebook.jpg

Sitagu Sayadaw arriving at the site of his sermon to military officers on 30 October (Photo: @sayadawsitagu on Facebook)

What was Sitagu Sayadaw doing in using this infamous passage? (Interestingly, in the sermon he appears to be aware of the sensitivity of the message he is preaching. He repeatedly suggests that it is not he who is teaching in this way: as he notes, “the Arahants said it”). The protection of Buddhism, of the sāsana, is key in the recent Burmese discourse about the relationship of Buddhism and national identity. The protection of Buddhism is both a rallying call of Burmese Buddhist nationalists, and a key element in what it means to be Burmese.

At stake in many of the countries in which a chauvinistic form of Buddhism is gaining followers is the question of Buddhist and national identity. In Myanmar this identity is being polarised around ideas of “nation, language and religion” (amyo-barthar-tharthanar). There is the idea that Buddhism is under threat and needs to be protected.

The threat is usually thought to be from a growing Muslim population. The Mahavamsa passage can be used to suggest the idea that Buddhism stands in opposition to other religious traditions. The four recent “race and religion protection laws”, promoted by MaBaTha (“the organisation for the protection of race and religion”) emphasise similar notions.

It might then not come as a surprise that Sitagu Sayadaw used the Mahavamsaand the story of Dutthagamani in the way that he did. Much of the outrage caused by its use is justified. Its message contradicts many of the fundamental principles of Buddhism. This is not to dismiss what the Mahavamsais arguing.

The text has a point: that at times, defending the tradition overrides ethical concerns. Usually, however, the focus of Buddhist teachings is concerned with achieving liberation. The Buddhist path begins with undertaking ethical actions and in promoting wholesome actions of body, speech and mind.

But the fact is that one of the most renowned Buddhist monks in Myanmar has used the Mahavamsa to justify violence. Its use might provoke the Burmese Buddhist community to reflect upon how distant this nationalistic Buddhism of modern Myanmar is from the cherished ideals of that more familiar Burmese Buddhism based upon compassion and kindness.

Additionally, Sitagu Sayadaw’s sermon might encourage us to question our commonly held ideas about the nature of Buddhism in Myanmar. Given his reputation, we might have expected that the Sayadaw would have renounced all forms of violence against the Rohingya.
The fact that he does the opposite alerts us to a more intolerant form of Buddhism becoming popular within Myanmar.
http://www.thestateless.com/2017/11/sitagu-sayadaw-and-justifiable-evils-in-buddhism.html
 
Last edited:
Myanmar military denies atrocities against Rohingya, replaces general
SAM Staff, November 15, 2017
suu_kyi_9th_asean_un_samit-300x180.jpg

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi looks on during the 9th ASEAN UN Summit, Photo: AFP
Myanmar’s army released a report on Monday (Nov 13) denying all allegations of rape and killings by security forces, having days earlier replaced the general in charge of the operation that drove more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.
No reason was given for Major General Maung Maung Soe being transferred from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine state, where Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, launched a sweeping counter-insurgency operation in August.

“I don’t know the reason why he was transferred,” Major General Aye Lwin, deputy director of the psychological warfare and public relation department at the Ministry of Defense, told Reuters. “He wasn’t moved into any position at present. He has been put in reserve.”

A senior U.N. official, who had toured the refugee camps in Bangladesh, on Sunday (Nov 12) accused Myanmar’s military of conducting organized mass rape and other crimes against humanity.

The Myanmar military said its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities. The investigators’ findings were posted on the Facebook page of the military’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The developments came ahead of a visit on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He is expected to deliver a stern message to Myanmar’s generals, over whom national leader Aung San Suu Kyi has little control.

The government in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

A senior U.N. official, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein, has described the army’s actions in Rakhine as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.
SOURCE REUTERS
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/...-denies-atrocities-rohingya-replaces-general/
 
Suu Kyi blames world conflicts partly on illegal immigration
Tribune Desk
Published at 08:02 PM November 20, 2017
2017-11-20T091840Z_1704652376_RC1EF3369020_RTRMADP_3_MYANMAR-ROHINGYA-690x450.jpg

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the 13th Asia Europe Foreign Ministers Meeting (ASEM) in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, November 20, 2017REUTERS
Foreign ministers and representatives of 51 countries are meeting in Naypyitaw in a forum that aims to further political and economic cooperation but takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the world is facing instability and conflict in part because illegal immigration spreads terrorism in a speech on Monday that comes as her country is accused of violently pushing out hundreds of thousands of unwanted Rohingya minorities, Associated Press reports.

Suu Kyi did not directly mention the refugee exodus as she welcomed European and Asian foreign ministers to Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar. But her speech highlighted the views of many in Myanmar who see the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and blame the population for terrorist acts.

The ongoing Rohingya exodus is sure to be raised by the visitors at the meetings held on Monday and Tuesday.

The world is in a new period of instability as conflicts around the world give rise to new threats and emergencies, Suu Kyi said, citing “Illegal immigration’s spread of terrorism and violent extremism, social disharmony and even the threat of nuclear war. Conflicts take away peace from societies, leaving behind underdevelopment and poverty, pushing peoples and even countries away from one another.”

Foreign ministers and representatives of 51 countries are meeting in Naypyitaw in a forum that aims to further political and economic cooperation but takes place against the backdrop of the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis.

A flurry of diplomatic activity preceded Monday’s opening, with the foreign ministers of Germany and Sweden joining the EU’s foreign policy chief in a visit to the teeming refugee camps in Bangladesh. China’s Wang Yi was also in Bangladesh and met privately with Suu Kyi on Sunday in Myanmar following that trip.

In her speech to the visiting foreign ministers, Suu Kyi also cited natural disasters caused by climate change as compounding the world’s problems. She said mutual understanding of problems like terrorism would be crucial for peace and economic development.

“I believe that if policymakers develop a true understanding of each of those constraints and difficulties, the process of addressing global problems will become easier and more effective,” she said. “It is only through mutual understanding that strong bonds of partnership can be forged.”

The European Union’s top diplomat said earlier Monday that she is encouraging Suu Kyi to implement the recommendations of an expert panel on ensuring stability in Rakhine state and work was still needed on that.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/s...s-world-conflicts-partly-illegal-immigration/
 
Back
Top Bottom