Eleven Rohingya children and women have again run away from a shelter in Phang Nga province.
Khao Lak Police Station inspector Lt-Colonel Bandhit Hattapithiphan said yesterday that recordings from security cameras showed the group left together at about 2am yesterday. Of the 11, three are women."We will be checking recordings from security cameras in the nearby areas to determine where they have gone to," Bandhit said. (Courtesy of The Nation)
January 10, 2016
Huge Fire In Myanmar's Yangon Market
NAY PYI TAW: A huge fire on early today burned down three flats of Mingalazay market, one of the major markets in Myanmar's Yangon region.
The fire broke out around 1.30 am (local time) as explosions were heard during it, Xinhua reported.
Around 600 firefighters with 65 fire-engines rushed to the site.
The fire-torn flats collapsed and some firefighters were injured. (Courtesy of ndtv.com)
The fire broke out around 1.30 am (local time) as explosions were heard during it, Xinhua reported.
Around 600 firefighters with 65 fire-engines rushed to the site.
The fire-torn flats collapsed and some firefighters were injured. (Courtesy of ndtv.com)
Myanmar’s Peace Prize Winner and Crimes Against Humanity
SITTWE, Myanmar — SOON the world will witness a remarkable sight: a beloved Nobel Peace Prize winner presiding over 21st-century concentration camps.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the world’s genuine heroes, won democracy for her country, culminating in historic elections in November that her party won in a landslide. As winner, Aung San Suu Kyi is also inheriting the worst ethnic cleansing you’ve never heard of, Myanmar’s destruction of a Muslim minority called the Rohingya.
A recent Yale study suggested that the abuse of the more than one million Rohingya may amount to genocide; at the least, a confidential United Nations report to the Security Council says it may constitute “crimes against humanity under international criminal law.”
Yet Aung San Suu Kyi seems to plan to continue this Myanmar version of apartheid. She is now a politician, and oppressing a minority like the Rohingya is popular with mostly Buddhist voters. (Courtesy of The New York Times)
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the world’s genuine heroes, won democracy for her country, culminating in historic elections in November that her party won in a landslide. As winner, Aung San Suu Kyi is also inheriting the worst ethnic cleansing you’ve never heard of, Myanmar’s destruction of a Muslim minority called the Rohingya.
A recent Yale study suggested that the abuse of the more than one million Rohingya may amount to genocide; at the least, a confidential United Nations report to the Security Council says it may constitute “crimes against humanity under international criminal law.”
Yet Aung San Suu Kyi seems to plan to continue this Myanmar version of apartheid. She is now a politician, and oppressing a minority like the Rohingya is popular with mostly Buddhist voters. (Courtesy of The New York Times)
January 9, 2016
Case of French aid worker arrested in Bangladesh
The French government, human rights organisations and social media users worldwide have spent the past two weeks calling on the Bangladeshi government to release Moussa Tchantchiung, who was arrested on December 22.
Moussa Tchantchiung a French citizen and a member of the French NGO Barakacity was arrested on December 22 as he was on his way to visit Rohingya refugee camps in the country. [Al Jazeera]
Tchantchiung is a French citizen and a member of the French NGO Barakacity, a human rights organisation providing humanitarian services to needy communities in 22 countries. He was arrested by the BGB, an elite Bangladeshi police unit while on his way to visit Rohingya refugee camps in the country. The Bangladeshi government has since accused him, among other charges, of having ties to "terrorism".
The #FreeMoussa campaign, which has been trending on Twitter, was started in reaction to his arrest, while online petitions have called on the Bangladeshi government to release him. Celebrities and intellectuals have been publicly drawing attention to the case. (Courtesy of Dhaka Tribune)
Moussa Tchantchiung a French citizen and a member of the French NGO Barakacity was arrested on December 22 as he was on his way to visit Rohingya refugee camps in the country. [Al Jazeera]
Tchantchiung is a French citizen and a member of the French NGO Barakacity, a human rights organisation providing humanitarian services to needy communities in 22 countries. He was arrested by the BGB, an elite Bangladeshi police unit while on his way to visit Rohingya refugee camps in the country. The Bangladeshi government has since accused him, among other charges, of having ties to "terrorism".
The #FreeMoussa campaign, which has been trending on Twitter, was started in reaction to his arrest, while online petitions have called on the Bangladeshi government to release him. Celebrities and intellectuals have been publicly drawing attention to the case. (Courtesy of Dhaka Tribune)
Rohingya facing crisis again
As West focuses on Syria, Rohingya crisis flares again, Jan. 2.
Rohingyas seep into our news occasionally as they did in 2012 when Rakhine Buddhists went into violent rampages, burning villages and setting people ablaze under the watchful eye of the Burmese police. They were hunted down like animals, forced into deplorable camps, trapped between the army and the sea where thousands have no other escape but “leaky boats” and the Andaman Sea.
While the world is consumed in the Syrian refugee crisis, another humanitarian disaster is taking place in Myanmar where Buddhist racism is at the root of the ethnic cleansing forcing hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas to flee for their lives. (Courtesy of Toronto Star)
Rohingyas seep into our news occasionally as they did in 2012 when Rakhine Buddhists went into violent rampages, burning villages and setting people ablaze under the watchful eye of the Burmese police. They were hunted down like animals, forced into deplorable camps, trapped between the army and the sea where thousands have no other escape but “leaky boats” and the Andaman Sea.
While the world is consumed in the Syrian refugee crisis, another humanitarian disaster is taking place in Myanmar where Buddhist racism is at the root of the ethnic cleansing forcing hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas to flee for their lives. (Courtesy of Toronto Star)
China frets over relations with Myanmar
China is clearly anxious over the trajectory of relations with Myanmar, concerned that a West-ward shift in policy under President U Thein Sein will go even further in that direction under the new government to be led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Those worries were seemingly on display late last month when a large Myanmar delegation – including National League for Democracy members, researchers and journalists – were given a 12-day tour of three Chinese cities sponsored by the ruling Communist Party.
Rao Huihua, deputy director general of the party central committee’s International Department, cautioned that Myanmar’s development of relations with the West should not have a negative impact on its ties with China, its largest trading partner and a major investor.
“Relations between Myanmar and China have been built systematically. Such good relations did not harm any country, and also relations between Myanmar and Western countries should not harm China,” she told her Myanmar guests.
Visits to China over the past 20 years by senior members of Myanmar’s previous junta and U Thein Sein’s military-backed government were commonplace. But last year China capped its efforts to build a relationship with the NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by arranging her first-ever visit to the country last June, at the invitation of the Communist Party. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Those worries were seemingly on display late last month when a large Myanmar delegation – including National League for Democracy members, researchers and journalists – were given a 12-day tour of three Chinese cities sponsored by the ruling Communist Party.
Rao Huihua, deputy director general of the party central committee’s International Department, cautioned that Myanmar’s development of relations with the West should not have a negative impact on its ties with China, its largest trading partner and a major investor.
“Relations between Myanmar and China have been built systematically. Such good relations did not harm any country, and also relations between Myanmar and Western countries should not harm China,” she told her Myanmar guests.
Visits to China over the past 20 years by senior members of Myanmar’s previous junta and U Thein Sein’s military-backed government were commonplace. But last year China capped its efforts to build a relationship with the NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by arranging her first-ever visit to the country last June, at the invitation of the Communist Party. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
Netflix streams into Myanmar
Netflix – the world’s largest internet television network – has come to Myanmar as part of the firm’s expansion into 130 new countries. But slow download speeds and expensive data fees mean Myanmar’s DVD shops are not under threat from online streaming just yet.
During a keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Netflix co-founder and chief executive Reed Hastings said the move was “the birth of a new global internet TV network”.
“With this launch, consumers around the world – from Singapore to St Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo – will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously – no more waiting,” he said. “With the help of the internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.”
But the promise of no more waiting may be premature for Myanmar, which has just recently entered the age of 3G networks and Wi-Fi connections. Myanmar’s internet remains frustratingly slow. According to a May 2015 study conducted by internet metrics provider Ookla, Myanmar’s internet download speed averaged just over 6 megabits (Mbps) per second. At that speed it would take a Myanmar Netflix user 3.7 hours to download one gigabyte of video – such as an hour-long episode of Netflix’s original series House of Cards. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
During a keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Netflix co-founder and chief executive Reed Hastings said the move was “the birth of a new global internet TV network”.
“With this launch, consumers around the world – from Singapore to St Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo – will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously – no more waiting,” he said. “With the help of the internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.”
But the promise of no more waiting may be premature for Myanmar, which has just recently entered the age of 3G networks and Wi-Fi connections. Myanmar’s internet remains frustratingly slow. According to a May 2015 study conducted by internet metrics provider Ookla, Myanmar’s internet download speed averaged just over 6 megabits (Mbps) per second. At that speed it would take a Myanmar Netflix user 3.7 hours to download one gigabyte of video – such as an hour-long episode of Netflix’s original series House of Cards. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
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