The Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar has long been deemed one of the world's most persecuted minorities, its plight called a "most urgent matter" by President Barack Obama. Episodes of sectarian violence drove the Rohingya from their homes, leaving more than 100,000 in squalid camps for the displaced. Restricted in how they travel and denied educational opportunities, they are the outcasts in majority-Buddhist Myanmar, also known as Burma. Many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations, yet they are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and West Bengal. And most in effect have been denied citizenship because they can't meet the nearly impossible standard set by law.
Myanmar has made a stunning transition from military rule to the newly elected government led, in effect, by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Human rights advocates have hoped that she and her ruling National League for Democracy party would dismantle the repressive measures against the Rohingya. Suu Kyi, who was disturbingly noncommittal on the issue during the election, has now spoken up — but, woefully, only to endorse the previous government's discriminatory practice of refusing to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country's more than 130 officially sanctioned ethnic groups. Instead, her government has advised foreign embassies to stop using the word "Rohingya. (Courtesy of dailycamera.com)
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