Myanmar nationalists announced Wednesday that a series of protests were planned across major cities to demand that the government declare that there is no Rohingya ethnicity in the country.
The demonstrations are aimed at pressuring President Htin Kyaw and state counselor-cum-foreign minister Aung San Suu Kyi to denounce the United States embassy for using the word to describe the stateless and persecuted Muslim minority.
Monks from hardline Buddhist group Ma Ba Tha -- the Committee for Protection of Race and Religion -- are among the nationalists set to gather Wednesday for a rally in coastal Ayeyarwady Division’s capital. (Courtesy of aa.com.tr)
May 18, 2016
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan begins 3-day visit to Myanmar, will meet Aung San Suu Kyi
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan began an introductory visit to Myanmar on Tuesday (May 17), as part of a series of high-level exchanges to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations.
This is the first high-level bilateral meeting since Myanmar's new government came into power.
In November last year (2015), Myanmar held a landmark general election that swept the party led by long-time political detainee Aung San Suu Kyi into power. (Courtesy of straitstimes.com)
This is the first high-level bilateral meeting since Myanmar's new government came into power.
In November last year (2015), Myanmar held a landmark general election that swept the party led by long-time political detainee Aung San Suu Kyi into power. (Courtesy of straitstimes.com)
Nirmala Sitharaman to lead CEO delegation to Myanmar
Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman will lead a CEO delegation to Myanmar from May 18-20. India is organising an India Myanmar Business Conclave in Yangon on 18-20 May 2016 as part of its Act East policy.
"The two days are expected to witness live and involved sessions on various sectors including agriculture, manufacturing and employment, IT, health, education, skill development , power, renewable energy, connectivity (air, sea, land), tourism and hospitality, SEZs, industrial zones and finance," the commerce ministry said in an official release. (Courtesy of economictimes.indiatimes.com)
"The two days are expected to witness live and involved sessions on various sectors including agriculture, manufacturing and employment, IT, health, education, skill development , power, renewable energy, connectivity (air, sea, land), tourism and hospitality, SEZs, industrial zones and finance," the commerce ministry said in an official release. (Courtesy of economictimes.indiatimes.com)
Europe to seek green light for ASEAN-EU airline agreement
The EC laid out an aviation strategy in December 2015, aimed at forming a series of agreements between the EU and other countries and regional groups. These include Turkey, China, the Gulf Cooperation Council states and ASEAN.
On June 7, the EC will ask the European Council – comprising leaders of the EU states and other EU bodies – to approve the strategy.
This will allow the EC to start negotiations with ASEAN and other potential partners, Jakub Adamowicz, spokesperson for Transport and Regional Policy at the European Commission, told The Myanmar Times. (Courtesy of mmtimes.com)
On June 7, the EC will ask the European Council – comprising leaders of the EU states and other EU bodies – to approve the strategy.
This will allow the EC to start negotiations with ASEAN and other potential partners, Jakub Adamowicz, spokesperson for Transport and Regional Policy at the European Commission, told The Myanmar Times. (Courtesy of mmtimes.com)
Buddhist group fails in bid to expel Muslims from Myanmar city
A Buddhist group in Myanmar's religiously divided Rakhine state failed in their bid to pressure local authorities to expel Muslims from Sittwe city.
Soe Naing from the Rakhine National Network, a civil society organization from Sittwe, said that they sent a letter with around 400 signatures to the state's chief minister last week that demanded Muslims from the city's Aung Mingalar quarter be expelled.
"We are concerned that the number of Muslims in the quarter have grown and some have been living there illegally so we raised it to the state government," Soe Naing told ucanews.com. (Courtesy of ucanews.com)
Soe Naing from the Rakhine National Network, a civil society organization from Sittwe, said that they sent a letter with around 400 signatures to the state's chief minister last week that demanded Muslims from the city's Aung Mingalar quarter be expelled.
"We are concerned that the number of Muslims in the quarter have grown and some have been living there illegally so we raised it to the state government," Soe Naing told ucanews.com. (Courtesy of ucanews.com)
Sittwe’s Muslim quarter allowed limited access to market
Around 30 residents of Sittwe’s only remaining Muslim quarter of Aung Mingalar were allowed to go to the market in the Dar Paing IDP camp yesterday morning, ending what they said had been a temporary lockdown that took place over the weekend.
The number of people allowed out of the police-guarded area was lower than usual, however it has allayed concerns about a potential food and medication shortage.
The temporary stop on transfers followed what residents of Aung Mingalar said was a minor protest staged by a Rakhine group in front of the ghetto’s police barricades close to the centre of the Buddhist-majority capital of Rakhine State. A government official denied that Aung Mingalar had been in lockdown or that any protest had taken place there. (Courtesy of mmtimes.com)
The number of people allowed out of the police-guarded area was lower than usual, however it has allayed concerns about a potential food and medication shortage.
The temporary stop on transfers followed what residents of Aung Mingalar said was a minor protest staged by a Rakhine group in front of the ghetto’s police barricades close to the centre of the Buddhist-majority capital of Rakhine State. A government official denied that Aung Mingalar had been in lockdown or that any protest had taken place there. (Courtesy of mmtimes.com)
Myanmar government urged to protect Rohingya minority
NLD government Must Protect Rohingya People
We, the undersigned Rohingya organisations express our serious concern that
Myanmar/Burma: Securing health care for the most vulnerable populations in Rakhine State Myanmar/Burma: Securing health care for the most vulnerable populations in Rakhine State
We are worrying that the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government seems to have inclined to yield to the demand of the extremists calling for “Rohingya ethnocide”. Following a protest in late May in Yangon by about 300 ultra-nationalists, including Buddhist monks, publicly denouncing the United States of America for using the word Rohingya, the Myanmar Foreign Ministry, headed by State Counselor-com-Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had surprisingly advised foreign embassies in Myanmar avoid using “Rohingya”, although the Rohingya people have the right to self-identify. (Courtesy of oneworld.org)
We, the undersigned Rohingya organisations express our serious concern that
Myanmar/Burma: Securing health care for the most vulnerable populations in Rakhine State Myanmar/Burma: Securing health care for the most vulnerable populations in Rakhine State
We are worrying that the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government seems to have inclined to yield to the demand of the extremists calling for “Rohingya ethnocide”. Following a protest in late May in Yangon by about 300 ultra-nationalists, including Buddhist monks, publicly denouncing the United States of America for using the word Rohingya, the Myanmar Foreign Ministry, headed by State Counselor-com-Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had surprisingly advised foreign embassies in Myanmar avoid using “Rohingya”, although the Rohingya people have the right to self-identify. (Courtesy of oneworld.org)
Future tense for Myanmar’s Rohingya
Recent reports indicate that Myanmar’s Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had advised the American Ambassador to Myanmar not to use the term ‘Rohingya’ for the largely Muslim people of the country’s western-most state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh.
In denying the existence of a million Rohingya as a separate ethnic group within Myanmar, Suu Kyi, the ‘heroine of the Myanmar democracy movement’ has chosen to follow the policies of the former military government. Explaining the decision, U Kyaw Zay Ya, a foreign ministry official said: “We won’t use the term Rohingya because Rohingya are not recognised as among the 135 official ethnic groups.”
The New York Times, one of the world’s most respected liberal newspapers, called her advice, “wrong and disappointing”, adding, “the Rohingya are every bit [Myanmarese] as she is”. (Courtesy of gulfnews.com)
In denying the existence of a million Rohingya as a separate ethnic group within Myanmar, Suu Kyi, the ‘heroine of the Myanmar democracy movement’ has chosen to follow the policies of the former military government. Explaining the decision, U Kyaw Zay Ya, a foreign ministry official said: “We won’t use the term Rohingya because Rohingya are not recognised as among the 135 official ethnic groups.”
The New York Times, one of the world’s most respected liberal newspapers, called her advice, “wrong and disappointing”, adding, “the Rohingya are every bit [Myanmarese] as she is”. (Courtesy of gulfnews.com)
Does Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi Want To Push Her Country’s Muslims Into the Sea?
It was late November—two weeks after the elections—and Nura Din needed to escape the They Key Pyin Internally Displaced Persons Camp. The monsoon season was over—there had been no heavy rain for weeks—and the Bay of Bengal was becoming calm again. The smuggling networks were already rumored to be kicking back into gear: Soon small fishing boats would take members of the escaping Rohingya—a Muslim community in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma—out along the Kalaman River, where they’d connect with bigger boats in the bay. Anywhere was better than here. “Wherever the boat lands,” he said, was good enough.
His parents agreed that he had to get out. Nura Din is only 13 years old, but he has four younger siblings and the international aid agencies, which are under strain dealing with refugee crises around the globe, are cutting back their food allotments to Rohingya refugees. He had heard about Myanmar’s recent national election, from which the Rohingya had been excluded, but he didn’t know anything about it. “I don’t want to live here anymore,” he said. Recently the Burmese government authorities have entered camps and punished Rohingya who speak with journalists. He was hungry in class, he said. He was hungry now, chatting with a journalist. (Courtesy of tabletmag.com)
His parents agreed that he had to get out. Nura Din is only 13 years old, but he has four younger siblings and the international aid agencies, which are under strain dealing with refugee crises around the globe, are cutting back their food allotments to Rohingya refugees. He had heard about Myanmar’s recent national election, from which the Rohingya had been excluded, but he didn’t know anything about it. “I don’t want to live here anymore,” he said. Recently the Burmese government authorities have entered camps and punished Rohingya who speak with journalists. He was hungry in class, he said. He was hungry now, chatting with a journalist. (Courtesy of tabletmag.com)
QRCS delegation visits Rakhine State in Myanmar
A team assigned by Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) to Myanmar to take stock of the humanitarian situation on ground like healthcare, shelter, water and sanitation, and food, has returned to Doha.
It also assessed the needs and work of QRCS’s mobile clinics programme launched in 2013 in response to clashes in Rakhine State.
The clinics, each equipped with a doctor, an assistant, three nurses and local volunteers, continue to offer primary healthcare, health education, and hygiene promotion for target communities. (Courtesy of thepeninsulaqatar.com)
It also assessed the needs and work of QRCS’s mobile clinics programme launched in 2013 in response to clashes in Rakhine State.
The clinics, each equipped with a doctor, an assistant, three nurses and local volunteers, continue to offer primary healthcare, health education, and hygiene promotion for target communities. (Courtesy of thepeninsulaqatar.com)
How long will Myanmar accept its ‘democratic dictatorship’ rule?
A new political landscape has started to take shape in Myanmar. A civilian administration sworn in on March 30 is learning the mechanics of governing a country that has been inured to more than half a century of authoritarian rule.
Multiple centres of power are influencing government policies geared towards democratisation and economic renewal.
In the landmark November 2015 election, the National League for Democracy (NLD), long the symbol of the country’s democracy movement, was given a resounding mandate. (Courtesy of todayonline.com)
Multiple centres of power are influencing government policies geared towards democratisation and economic renewal.
In the landmark November 2015 election, the National League for Democracy (NLD), long the symbol of the country’s democracy movement, was given a resounding mandate. (Courtesy of todayonline.com)
U.S. eases sanctions on Myanmar in bid to promote reforms
The United States eased some sanctions on Myanmar on Tuesday to support ongoing political reforms, but maintained most of its economic restrictions in an effort to punish those Washington sees as hampering the country's newly elected government.
U.S. officials said they were easing sanctions to encourage the "historic" progress in Myanmar, including the formation of the country's first democratically elected government in more than 50 years.
The moves included removing Myanmar state-owned banks from a U.S. blacklist and the lifting of sanctions against seven key state-owned timber and mining companies. (Courtesy of firstpost.com)
U.S. officials said they were easing sanctions to encourage the "historic" progress in Myanmar, including the formation of the country's first democratically elected government in more than 50 years.
The moves included removing Myanmar state-owned banks from a U.S. blacklist and the lifting of sanctions against seven key state-owned timber and mining companies. (Courtesy of firstpost.com)
Army Officers to Testify in Double Rape-Murder of Kachin Teachers
Four senior army officers will testify at a township police station in Lashio, northern Shan State, on the rape and murder of two Kachin volunteer teachers allegedly perpetrated by Burma Army soldiers early last year, according to Kachin sources.
Zau Raw, a leader from the Kachin Baptist Convention in Muse, a city on the Burma-China border, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the testimony of the four officers would be given Wednesday at 10 am at a police station.
“We will go listen [to the Burma Army officers’ testimony],” said Zau Raw, adding that Maj. Aung Phyo Myint, leader of the battalion under scrutiny at the time, would be one of the four army officers to testify this week. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
Zau Raw, a leader from the Kachin Baptist Convention in Muse, a city on the Burma-China border, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the testimony of the four officers would be given Wednesday at 10 am at a police station.
“We will go listen [to the Burma Army officers’ testimony],” said Zau Raw, adding that Maj. Aung Phyo Myint, leader of the battalion under scrutiny at the time, would be one of the four army officers to testify this week. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
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