Abdul Jabbar, 30, stood in front of Exit B at Terminal 5 in O’Hare International Airport waiting.“For them, it’s really hard,” he said, of the family coming through the door in a few minutes.
He knows. He is also a Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in Myanmar, the former Burma. How oppressed? Last year, the government refused to let anyone register as “Rohingya” on the national census.
“Rohingya doesn’t exist,” said a member of the parliament, news to the refugees who live in camps, have fled the country because they cannot hold jobs or go to government schools, and are being attacked by Buddhist mobs, beaten or burned to death.
When he was 12, Jabbar would be seized on his way to school and forced to work, unpaid, pressed by local military officers into being a porter. When his uncles decided to flee, his mother urged Jabbar to join them.
“My mother said, ‘Follow your uncles; save your life,’” he recalled, the start of a 15-year odyssey through Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, dealing with treacherous human traffickers and police whose only interest was to send him back.
“Nine times I was arrested in Malaysia,” he said. “Each time I was deported to Thailand. … We are most persecuted minority in the world,”
But not the only persecuted minority. The United Nations High Command on Refugees estimates that 40,000 people a day leave their homes fleeing armed conflict; it administers to some 15 million refugees. For decades, the main source of refugees was Afghanistan, but in 2014 that became Syria. (Courtesy of Rohingya Vision TV )
December 9, 2015
Armed Forces Subject Rohingyas in Buthidaung to Brutal Exercise
Buthidaung, Arakan State (Rohingya Vision) – Myanmar’s armed forces have been brutally exercising force on the Rohingya people in Buthidaung Township since late November, the locals report.
The brutal use of force stemmed from an incident of theft of Rohingya-owned livestock by two *Rakhine (Magh) Dinets at ‘Lun Chaung’ village in northern Buthidaung on November 27. The theft subsequently led to a minor conflict between the local Rohingyas and the Rakhine Dinets.
However, the Border Guard Police (BGP) taking the side of the Rakhine extremists have blown the incident out of proportion. They have been harassing, beating and arbitrarily arresting the Rohingyas although the theft had been committed by the Rakhine Dinets.
The brutal exercise have gone so extreme that the Rohingyas now fear to live in their own homes and have to stay outside to escape the arbitrary arrests. The whole account of the on-going oppression of the people has been reported as follows.
“Mr. Habibur Rahman is a local of ‘Lun Chaung’ village in northern Buthidaung. It was around 7:00AM on November 27 his domestic ducks were foraging in the ‘San Chaung’ river between ‘Lun Chaung’ river and ‘Ngachin Tauk’ village.
Meanwhile, two Rakhine Dinet youths arrived in the river and caught two ducks from the river. As they were stealing them away, two young daughters of Habibur Rahman looking after the ducks saw them. And the Rakhine thieves whacked the two girls as they tried to snatch the ducks back from their (the thieves’) hands. So, one girl injuries on her head and blood began to spill out, another got injury in her hand. The thieves also beat the two children accompanied the girl. (Courtesy of Rohingya Visioin TV )
The brutal use of force stemmed from an incident of theft of Rohingya-owned livestock by two *Rakhine (Magh) Dinets at ‘Lun Chaung’ village in northern Buthidaung on November 27. The theft subsequently led to a minor conflict between the local Rohingyas and the Rakhine Dinets.
However, the Border Guard Police (BGP) taking the side of the Rakhine extremists have blown the incident out of proportion. They have been harassing, beating and arbitrarily arresting the Rohingyas although the theft had been committed by the Rakhine Dinets.
The brutal exercise have gone so extreme that the Rohingyas now fear to live in their own homes and have to stay outside to escape the arbitrary arrests. The whole account of the on-going oppression of the people has been reported as follows.
“Mr. Habibur Rahman is a local of ‘Lun Chaung’ village in northern Buthidaung. It was around 7:00AM on November 27 his domestic ducks were foraging in the ‘San Chaung’ river between ‘Lun Chaung’ river and ‘Ngachin Tauk’ village.
Meanwhile, two Rakhine Dinet youths arrived in the river and caught two ducks from the river. As they were stealing them away, two young daughters of Habibur Rahman looking after the ducks saw them. And the Rakhine thieves whacked the two girls as they tried to snatch the ducks back from their (the thieves’) hands. So, one girl injuries on her head and blood began to spill out, another got injury in her hand. The thieves also beat the two children accompanied the girl. (Courtesy of Rohingya Visioin TV )
The Last Frontier: Myanmar's 22-Year Quest for a Stock Exchange
Starting a stock market is hard. Just ask Ryota Sugishita.
Two decades after his firm first laid the groundwork for an exchange in Myanmar, Sugishita found himself in a Yangon hotel ballroom in 2013, facing down skeptics in an audience of bankers, corporate executives and politicians.
“‘Why isn’t bank financing enough?’ is a question I got at every single one of those workshops,” said Sugishita, a managing director who led the Myanmar bourse project for Daiwa Institute of Research Holdings Ltd., a unit of Japan’s second-largest brokerage. “Having never had a stock exchange before, they didn’t understand the importance of it.”’
Daiwa’s persistence is finally about to pay off. After 22 years of delays caused by the Asian financial crisis, a wary military government and an underdeveloped financial system, Myanmar -- the biggest Asian economy without a stock market -- is scheduled to officially open its exchange in Yangon on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Bloomberg Business)
Two decades after his firm first laid the groundwork for an exchange in Myanmar, Sugishita found himself in a Yangon hotel ballroom in 2013, facing down skeptics in an audience of bankers, corporate executives and politicians.
“‘Why isn’t bank financing enough?’ is a question I got at every single one of those workshops,” said Sugishita, a managing director who led the Myanmar bourse project for Daiwa Institute of Research Holdings Ltd., a unit of Japan’s second-largest brokerage. “Having never had a stock exchange before, they didn’t understand the importance of it.”’
Daiwa’s persistence is finally about to pay off. After 22 years of delays caused by the Asian financial crisis, a wary military government and an underdeveloped financial system, Myanmar -- the biggest Asian economy without a stock market -- is scheduled to officially open its exchange in Yangon on Wednesday. (Courtesy of Bloomberg Business)
Illegal Timber Trade Still Bedevils in ‘Balding’ Burma
MYAWADDY, Karen State — “Our Dawna range is like a bald head after severe logging,” said Aung Myo, a Myawaddy resident and trader, as he pointed toward the formidable Dawna mountain range in Karen State, near the Thai-Burma border.
Of Burma’s five official overland crossings with Thailand, it is here and at the adjacent Thai border town of Mae Sot that the illegal timber trade once flourished, and while that may no longer be the case, Aung Myo said it’s not for a reason that environmental conservationists would hope.
“More than 10 years ago, much illegal timber went to Thailand through this border area, but today there are very few timber trees left in the Dawna mountains,” he said.
The Dawna range, which extends north-south for about 350 kilometers and bisects the townships of Myawaddy and Kawkareik before tapering off in the western limits of the Thai highlands, once hosted a bounty of native timber specimens, including the prized teakwood for which Burma is renowned.
But in just over a decade, a combination of legal and illicit logging has wiped out large swathes of forest here, with Aung Myo’s anecdotal evidenced backed by hard figures from the United Nations.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Burma lost an annual average of 1.7 percent of its forests from 2010-15, bringing total forest cover down to 45 percent. Just 15 years ago, forest cover stood at 65 percent, the UN agency says.
Policymakers have not sat idly by as the nation’s forests shrink; last April a ban on raw timber exports went into effect, requiring that all wood logged in Burma undergo value-added processes before leaving the country. But deprived of legal channels to move unprocessed timber out of the country, a thriving illicit trade continues, with the majority of illegal timber seized as it makes its way to trading points in northeastern Burma near the border with China. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
Of Burma’s five official overland crossings with Thailand, it is here and at the adjacent Thai border town of Mae Sot that the illegal timber trade once flourished, and while that may no longer be the case, Aung Myo said it’s not for a reason that environmental conservationists would hope.
“More than 10 years ago, much illegal timber went to Thailand through this border area, but today there are very few timber trees left in the Dawna mountains,” he said.
The Dawna range, which extends north-south for about 350 kilometers and bisects the townships of Myawaddy and Kawkareik before tapering off in the western limits of the Thai highlands, once hosted a bounty of native timber specimens, including the prized teakwood for which Burma is renowned.
But in just over a decade, a combination of legal and illicit logging has wiped out large swathes of forest here, with Aung Myo’s anecdotal evidenced backed by hard figures from the United Nations.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Burma lost an annual average of 1.7 percent of its forests from 2010-15, bringing total forest cover down to 45 percent. Just 15 years ago, forest cover stood at 65 percent, the UN agency says.
Policymakers have not sat idly by as the nation’s forests shrink; last April a ban on raw timber exports went into effect, requiring that all wood logged in Burma undergo value-added processes before leaving the country. But deprived of legal channels to move unprocessed timber out of the country, a thriving illicit trade continues, with the majority of illegal timber seized as it makes its way to trading points in northeastern Burma near the border with China. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
Myanmar: Gov't candidate accused of stirring race fears
YANGON, Myanmar – A supporter of Myanmar’s military-backed ruling party has been accused of stoking anti-Muslim fears in an effort to weaken the National League for Democracy (NLD) vote during campaigning for the country’s historic election.
The accusation is just one of several allegations of misuse of religion during the election season in the Mandalay region, which last year was blighted by rioting between Buddhists and Muslims that left two dead.
Although Suu Kyi’s NLD won by a landslide and secured almost 80 percent of parliamentary seats nationwide, party candidate Kyaw Soe lost in his constituency of Pyawbwe, central Myanmar.
He alleges that his opponent from the ruling USDP party won following a smear campaign to convince voters that an NLD victory would mean “bad things” for Buddhism, the country’s majority religion.
“We have strong evidence that they used religion while canvassing for votes. We haven’t challenged the result yet, but we will proceed with the lawsuit,” Kyaw Soe told the Myanmar Times Tuesday.
He added that a village administrator’s wife had distributed pamphlets containing the allegations. (Courtesy of news.videonews.us)
The accusation is just one of several allegations of misuse of religion during the election season in the Mandalay region, which last year was blighted by rioting between Buddhists and Muslims that left two dead.
Although Suu Kyi’s NLD won by a landslide and secured almost 80 percent of parliamentary seats nationwide, party candidate Kyaw Soe lost in his constituency of Pyawbwe, central Myanmar.
He alleges that his opponent from the ruling USDP party won following a smear campaign to convince voters that an NLD victory would mean “bad things” for Buddhism, the country’s majority religion.
“We have strong evidence that they used religion while canvassing for votes. We haven’t challenged the result yet, but we will proceed with the lawsuit,” Kyaw Soe told the Myanmar Times Tuesday.
He added that a village administrator’s wife had distributed pamphlets containing the allegations. (Courtesy of news.videonews.us)
U.S. general eager for Myanmar engagement, awaiting policy decision
WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army's commander in Asia said on Tuesday he was eager for closer ties to the military in Myanmar after elections that the pro-democracy opposition won by a landslide, but this would have to wait for a policy decision by the U.S. government.
General Vincent Brooks told a defense writers' roundtable in Washington that military leaders from Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were also eager to see such U.S. engagement with Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
He recalled a meeting with ASEAN defense ministers in 2014.
"I literally had leaders from other militaries grabbing me by the hand and pulling me to the Burmese general who was there; the region really wants the United States to engage Burma and help them to move forward," he said.
"Now we have to move at the pace we are allowed to," Brooks said.
The United States has been working to boost military ties throughout Asia to counter an increasingly powerful and assertive China, which shares a border with Myanmar.
Washington began lifting sanctions against Myanmar after a quasi-civilian government was formed in 2011 following decades of harsh military rule, but continuing human rights concerns that worry U.S. lawmakers have kept military-to-military ties to a bare minimum.
Brooks said Myanmar's elections last month, in which pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, "have caused us to be ready to move forward." (Courtesy of trust.org)
General Vincent Brooks told a defense writers' roundtable in Washington that military leaders from Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were also eager to see such U.S. engagement with Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
He recalled a meeting with ASEAN defense ministers in 2014.
"I literally had leaders from other militaries grabbing me by the hand and pulling me to the Burmese general who was there; the region really wants the United States to engage Burma and help them to move forward," he said.
"Now we have to move at the pace we are allowed to," Brooks said.
The United States has been working to boost military ties throughout Asia to counter an increasingly powerful and assertive China, which shares a border with Myanmar.
Washington began lifting sanctions against Myanmar after a quasi-civilian government was formed in 2011 following decades of harsh military rule, but continuing human rights concerns that worry U.S. lawmakers have kept military-to-military ties to a bare minimum.
Brooks said Myanmar's elections last month, in which pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, "have caused us to be ready to move forward." (Courtesy of trust.org)
Despite crackdowns, fears rise over human trafficking
Despite ongoing vigilance from law enforcement, rumors abound that human traffickers have secretly resumed illegal people-smuggling in the Bay of Bengal which might spark another boatpeople crisis in the region.
Law enforcerment claims "zero" human trafficking cases this winter, the hay time for people-smugglers, owing to a raid in, and ongoing watch of, the Teknaf area of Cox's Bazar, the main embarkation point along the Bangladesh coast, just across from the Myanmar border.
"Up until now, we have arrested and jailed a total 175 human traffickers including some ringleaders. Human trafficking is zero in the area now," said Ataur Rahman, officer in-charge at Teknaf police station.
"We have been coordinating with border guards and the navy to constantly patrol in vulnerable spots. We also have a public awareness campaign among villagers against trafficking, so there is no such crime happening," Rahman claimed.
However, a source in Cox's Bazar said there were rumors that two small boats containing illegal migrants left for Malaysia last month.
"We heard that two boats collected some Bangladeshis and Rohingyas and set off for Malaysia, the last one was two weeks ago. However, we couldn't verify the rumors," said Zabed Iqbal Chowdhury, a local journalist in Cox's Bazar.
"Winter is the best time for human trafficking, which might be less this year due to the crackdown, but there might be some that slips under the radar," Chowdhury said.
Rahman said the rumors were "baseless." (Courtesy of ucanews.com)
Law enforcerment claims "zero" human trafficking cases this winter, the hay time for people-smugglers, owing to a raid in, and ongoing watch of, the Teknaf area of Cox's Bazar, the main embarkation point along the Bangladesh coast, just across from the Myanmar border.
"Up until now, we have arrested and jailed a total 175 human traffickers including some ringleaders. Human trafficking is zero in the area now," said Ataur Rahman, officer in-charge at Teknaf police station.
"We have been coordinating with border guards and the navy to constantly patrol in vulnerable spots. We also have a public awareness campaign among villagers against trafficking, so there is no such crime happening," Rahman claimed.
However, a source in Cox's Bazar said there were rumors that two small boats containing illegal migrants left for Malaysia last month.
"We heard that two boats collected some Bangladeshis and Rohingyas and set off for Malaysia, the last one was two weeks ago. However, we couldn't verify the rumors," said Zabed Iqbal Chowdhury, a local journalist in Cox's Bazar.
"Winter is the best time for human trafficking, which might be less this year due to the crackdown, but there might be some that slips under the radar," Chowdhury said.
Rahman said the rumors were "baseless." (Courtesy of ucanews.com)
Southeast Asia: a new refugee crisis looming?
2015 will be remembered as the year of mass migration. This year, the world has endured an unprecedented flood of haunting images. The one image we have all seen over and over again is of overcrowded boats packed with desperate people in dire need of supplies. Sometimes they are Syrians, sometimes Iraqis, sometimes Africans. Among the distraught faces are also a number of people who are stateless.
In May this year, the world’s short-lived attention turned towards the thousands of migrants stranded in boats across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The boats were carrying Rohingyas, a Muslim ethnic minority, fleeing from the Burmese state of Rakhine and Bangladesh. Denied citizenship and basic rights in Myanmar, the Rohingyas have been subjected to persecution in their own homeland. According to UN estimates, 94,000 people departed by sea from Bangladesh or Myanmar since 2014, including 31.000 people in the first half of 2015. Over 1,100 migrants have died on sea since 2014.
The boats that managed to find their way to shore were turned away and forced to return to sea. Faced with substantial international pressure, the governments of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia subsequently reconsidered their actions and promised aid, announcing that temporary shelter would be provided on the condition that the refugees were resettled by the international community within a year. (Courtesy of openDemocracy)
In May this year, the world’s short-lived attention turned towards the thousands of migrants stranded in boats across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The boats were carrying Rohingyas, a Muslim ethnic minority, fleeing from the Burmese state of Rakhine and Bangladesh. Denied citizenship and basic rights in Myanmar, the Rohingyas have been subjected to persecution in their own homeland. According to UN estimates, 94,000 people departed by sea from Bangladesh or Myanmar since 2014, including 31.000 people in the first half of 2015. Over 1,100 migrants have died on sea since 2014.
The boats that managed to find their way to shore were turned away and forced to return to sea. Faced with substantial international pressure, the governments of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia subsequently reconsidered their actions and promised aid, announcing that temporary shelter would be provided on the condition that the refugees were resettled by the international community within a year. (Courtesy of openDemocracy)
Onion trader shot dead in Rakhine
A trader importing onions from Bangladesh into Rakhine State has been shot dead following an alleged altercation with border security forces in Maungdaw, according to local residents. Hundreds attended his funeral yesterday in Buthidaung.
The 25-year-old Rohingya man, who went by his Myanmar name of Maung Maung, was killed on the evening of December 7 as he returned in his truck from Taungpyo on the border and reached a Border Guard Police checkpoint.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said the truck, driven by a Rakhine man, ran through the checkpoint and was pursued by the BGP officers. Another source said the altercation with the BGP ensued when Maung Maung and others in the vehicle refused to pay a bribe.
The exact sequence of events is not clear. The three others in the truck – two Rakhine men and one Rohingya, who are officially called Bengalis by the government – are now reportedly being detained by Maungdaw police, including the Border Guard Police officer who allegedly opened fire.
Several attempts made by The Myanmar Times to contact Maungdaw township and Rakhine State police yesterday were unsuccessful.
Maung Maung had been running an import business over the past month as the prices of onions and garlic soared because of domestic shortages caused by floods. (Courtesy of MMTimes)
The 25-year-old Rohingya man, who went by his Myanmar name of Maung Maung, was killed on the evening of December 7 as he returned in his truck from Taungpyo on the border and reached a Border Guard Police checkpoint.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said the truck, driven by a Rakhine man, ran through the checkpoint and was pursued by the BGP officers. Another source said the altercation with the BGP ensued when Maung Maung and others in the vehicle refused to pay a bribe.
The exact sequence of events is not clear. The three others in the truck – two Rakhine men and one Rohingya, who are officially called Bengalis by the government – are now reportedly being detained by Maungdaw police, including the Border Guard Police officer who allegedly opened fire.
Several attempts made by The Myanmar Times to contact Maungdaw township and Rakhine State police yesterday were unsuccessful.
Maung Maung had been running an import business over the past month as the prices of onions and garlic soared because of domestic shortages caused by floods. (Courtesy of MMTimes)
Myanmar native serves fellow refugees through Student.Go
At the age of 7, Mary Htoo and her family fled civil war and persecution in their native Burma. They spent the next seven-plus years living amidst the poverty and confinement of a mountaintop refugee camp just across the Thailand border.
Like Mary Htoo, most of the approximately 50,000 people in the Mae La refugee camp are members of the Karen ethnic group, a hill tribe that has been in conflict with the oppressive government of Burma (now known as Myanmar) since World War II.
But even in those conditions, the young Christian kept alive a childhood dream to serve others. “One day I want to go back to my village and help my people there,” said Mary Htoo (pronounced “too”).
In a way, her dream is coming true — but not in the way she imagined.
In March 2008, Mary Htoo, then 15, had a chance few other Karen people have — to leave the refugee camp and be resettled with her family in the United States. Since her arrival, she has graduated from high school and become the first in her family to attend college.
Now 23 years old, Mary Htoo lives with her parents and two brothers in Louisville, Ky., while studying to become an ultrasound technician. (Courtesy of baptistnews.com)
Like Mary Htoo, most of the approximately 50,000 people in the Mae La refugee camp are members of the Karen ethnic group, a hill tribe that has been in conflict with the oppressive government of Burma (now known as Myanmar) since World War II.
But even in those conditions, the young Christian kept alive a childhood dream to serve others. “One day I want to go back to my village and help my people there,” said Mary Htoo (pronounced “too”).
In a way, her dream is coming true — but not in the way she imagined.
In March 2008, Mary Htoo, then 15, had a chance few other Karen people have — to leave the refugee camp and be resettled with her family in the United States. Since her arrival, she has graduated from high school and become the first in her family to attend college.
Now 23 years old, Mary Htoo lives with her parents and two brothers in Louisville, Ky., while studying to become an ultrasound technician. (Courtesy of baptistnews.com)
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