Malaysia cancels two soccer matches with Myanmar over Rohingya crackdown

Malaysia's national soccer team has canceled two friendly under-22 matches with Myanmar, in protest against the Southeast Asian nation's bloody crackdown on ethnic Rohingya Muslims, a team spokesman said on Thursday.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has been increasingly critical of Myanmar's handling of violence in northern Rakhine state that has sent hundreds of people fleeing across the border to Bangladesh, amid allegations of abuses by security forces.

The violence is the most serious bloodshed in Rakhine since communal clashes in 2012 that killed hundreds.

Referring to the cancellation of the games set for later this month, the spokesman told Reuters, "It was a political decision because of the Rohingya issue." (Courtesy of reuters.com)

Ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims as world watches in silence

Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to massive ethnic cleansing and genocide in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country. This crime is taking place as the whole world watches in silence. It is a shame that these atrocities are being perpetrated under the elected government of the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Furthermore, it is a disgrace as Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her heroic struggle for freedom and democracy, defying the torture and persecution of the previous military regime.

It was thought that she would come forward to defend human rights, especial the rights of the minority Rohingya Muslims, who represent an integral part of the Myanmar people. Instead, it seems that she has given her people a free hand to kill the Rohingya, rape their women, demolish their homes and set their mosques on fire, as well as looting their property. This has forced many Rohingya to flee their homes to escape the killing spree. (Courtesy of saudigazette.com.sa)

Burma Edges Closer to Ethnic Cleansing

A human tragedy approaching ethnic cleansing is unfolding in Burma, and the world is chillingly silent.

In recent weeks, hundreds of Muslim Rohingya people have been killed, and more than 30,000 displaced. Houses have been burned, hundreds of women raped and many others arbitrarily arrested. Access for humanitarian-aid organizations has been almost completely denied. Thousands have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, only to be sent back. Witness all the hallmarks of past tragedies: Bosnia, Darfur, Kosovo, Rwanda. (Courtesy of wsj.com)

Rohingya Refugees Seek to Return Home to Myanmar

Rohingya Muslims who have sought refuge in Bangladesh say they are desperate to stop living as refugees and return to their homeland in Myanmar.

“The Rohingyas have been seeking temporary shelter in Bangladesh only to save their lives from a genocide-like situation in Myanmar. For most of us, life as refugees is very hard in Bangladesh. Arakan (Rakhine), where our Rohingya community has lived for centuries, is our ancestral homeland. We want to go back to Arakan,” said Mohammad Shaker, a Rohingya leader in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh.

Nurul Islam, a Britain-based Rohingya rights activist and community leader, said whenever anti-Rohingya violence erupts in Myanmar, the international community has taken a keen interest to see that they get safe passage to other countries. But he alleges outside powers do not follow up to help the refugees return to their homeland. (Courtesy of voanews.com)

Myanmar Rohingya abuse may be 'crimes against humanity': UN

Myanmar's Rohingya may be victims of crimes against humanity, the UN's rights agency said, as former UN chief Kofi Annan arrived in the country for a visit that will include a trip to northern Rakhine.

The army has carried out a bloody crackdown in the western state and thousands of the Muslim minority have flooded over the border into Bangladesh this month, making horrifying claims of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of security forces.

Some 30,000 have fled their homes and analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch found hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed. (Courtesy of au.news.yahoo.com)

Bernicat lauds Bangladesh over handling of Rohingya issue

US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has praised Bangladesh for “skillfully handling” the Rohingya issue and said Washington is closely monitoring the situation.

“I truly admire Bangladesh government for providing support and home to some Rohingyas that are here,” she said at a meeting with Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh in Dhaka on Monday.

“Bangladesh government has very patiently and skillfully been working on the Rohingya issue with the government of Burma,” she said.

Rohingya activists say more than 100 Rohingyas have been killed since Myanmar began its anti-insurgency operations in the Rakhine state in early October after attacks on border outposts that killed several policemen.

The latest crackdown has rendered an estimated 30,000 Rohingyas homeless.

Bernicat said: “We have been putting pressure on Burma both before and after the election to respect all the people living in the country including Rohingyas.” (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)

Re-impose sanctions on Myanmar?

Rakhine is burning. The hapless Rohingyas are being butchered, children are thrown into fire, women are disrobed in public before being gang-raped and houses are looted, torched and razed. In the process Rohingya neighbourhoods are destroyed. 

In the past, extremist members of the majority Buddhist community carried out such dastardly acts while the security forces looked the other way. Denial was the order of the day and little punitive measures were taken against the perpetrators. Over the last several weeks the situation has taken a turn for the worse. The law enforcement agencies, including the armed forces, have actively unleashed violence. The attack on the security forces allegedly by radicalised Rohingyas was a flimsy pretext for a violent crackdown on this marginalised community. There is a strong body of evidence to argue that such an assault on the Rohingyas was part of a well-prepared strategy involving non-state actors and state agencies. In October 2016, mainstream international media began reporting distribution of lethal weapons among a section of the population in the Rakhine state. This was soon followed by gruesome acts of violence against the Rohingya minority that is now being aptly described as 'planned genocide'. (Courtesy of thedailystar.net)