Ethnic Rohingya Committee of Malaysia

Source   from News yahoo.com, Hundreds of  Buddhist monks  marched in  Myanmar  Sunday to support  President Thein Sein 's suggestion that  Muslim Rohingya  be deported or held in camps, in the biggest rally since the end of junta rule. Lines of clerics wearing their traditional deep red robes passed through the streets of Mandalay flanked by crowds of supporters in scenes not witnessed since a monk-led protest in 2007, which was brutally crushed by the country's then military leaders. "Protect Mother Myanmar by supporting the President," read one banner, while others criticised United Nations human rights envoy  Tomas Ojea Quintana , who has faced accusations that he is biased in favour of the  Rohingya , following deadly unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in western Rakhine state. Wirathu, the 45-year-old monk who led the march, claimed that as many as 5,000 monks had joined the procession, with another several thousand ...

August 29,   kaladanpress Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Rohingya villagers are not free from the arrest of Nasaka, army, Hluntin and police personnel at Maungdaw Township. The higher government authority lets them free to harass the Rohingya community without any fear, according to a school teacher from Maungdaw south requesting not to be named for security reason. On August 25, Aman Ullah (40), son of Madi, Abulu (35), son of Khadir Hussain were arrested by Nasaka with the collaboration of village Chairman U Thein Maung. Both of them belong to  Udaung west  village of Maungdaw south, Arakan State. Villagers said that the village chairman pushes the Nasaka to harass the Rohingya villagers while the concerned authorities want calm in northern Arakan. Besides, on August 27, the Nasaka also arrested Mohamed Hussain (20), son of Abdu Shukur and Lalu (30), both of them hailed from  Fokira Para  of Udaung village tract over the allegation that they were involve...

Source NDPHR(exile) , Rathedaung town 26 Aug: Military authority met with acting Rohingya leaders from Nyaung Pin Gyi(Muzadia), Anauk Pran(Anakpran), Samila and Sangudaine villages and reiterated about their relocation to Maungdaw town. Except from Nyaung Pin Gyi (Muzadia) and 51 houses of Anauk Pran(Anakpran), the rest of Rohingya houses in Anauk Pran(Anakpran), Samila, Sangudaine villages were not set fire. But the military authority said that they could no longer protect the villagers and the relocation will be only solution. The villagers however responded that they would only move to Sittwe town in case they would be forced. Because the military authority in Sittwe are not abusive unlike in Maungdaw . The aid delivered by Yangon based muslim organizations were brought by military in Rathedaung town on 21 Aug. The homeless Rohingya victims were asked to unload the rice packages from the boat. The villages requested to dock the boat closer to the shore. Instead, the mili...

August 29, Dr.Zarni , Source Rohingya Blogger It's great that US Ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, has finally spoken out on the ethno-religious riots between Rohingyas and Buddhist people in the Rakhine state. He points out racism in Myanmar society at large, something some of us have been saying for so long. But the problem with shifting the new focus onto popular racism is that it lets the real culprits - the generals and their troops - off the hook. The Myanmar regime has a direct and immediate hand in the recent communal riots between the Rakhines and the Rohingya - who it only refers to as "Bengali Muslims" - by sending the message that these people do not belong in Myanmar, even though they were born on Rakhine soil and have been in the country for generations. For the record, I place the ultimate responsibility for the outbreak of ethno-racial violence squarely on the Thein Sein government. Successive military regimes since Ne...

DUBAI:  The recent extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) released a 14-point communiqué to pressurise the Myanmarese government to stop the widespread discrimination and administrative hostility being faced by Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State. This was disclosed by Professor Wakar Uddin, director general of Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU), in an exclusive interview with The Gulf Today on Monday. He was in the UAE for a short period after attending the fourth extraordinary OIC summit on August 14-15. “Two weeks ago, the OIC had sent the first ever delegation along with the Red Crescent officials and others to Myanmar, who visited camps full of Rohingya Muslims after they were forced to leave their houses and stay in these camps in a pathetic condition. The second delegation is all set to leave for Myanmar next week and that will be led by the secretary general, OIC, as an exploratory visit to find out facts about the atrocities by the Myanmarese po...

Source  Malaymail , 27 Aug Number of growing casualties played down by authorities, says refugee FOOD BOXES: Rohingya volunteers preparing packages of sardines to be delivered to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh — Pix: Arif Kartono ROHINGYAS  in Malaysia are claiming that media reports on the death toll in the Arakan region of Myanmar are grossly inaccurate, saying thousands of Rohingya villagers have become casualties of the growing unrest. Contractor Abul Kasim, 34. who has been staying in Malaysia for the past 10 years, said the reported numbers were played down by the Myanmar authorities. "This (the violence) is nothing new. It has been going on for some time, many years, in fact. All these years, there has been only discrimination, but the mass murders only started recently," said Abul Kasim, who fled Myanmar about a decade ago to escaped the mistreatment of Rohingyas by the Myanmar junta. "They (army personnel) raped my cousin in front of me. They we...

Asia Pacific News, 25 Aug JAKARTA: The  Indonesian Red Cross  sent a team of aid workers on Saturday to western Myanmar, where deadly sectarian violence in June left dozens dead and thousands of Rohingya displaced. The eight-member team took off in a military jet from an airbase in the capital Jakarta in the morning with 500 hygiene kits, 3,000 blankets and 10,000 sarongs for the first phase of their mission. "This is an agreement between the president of Myanmar and the Indonesian Red Cross," Indonesian Red Cross chief Jusuf Kalla told reporters. "We expect the team to stay for around a year, but that will depend on coordination with the government and other Red Cross and Red Crescent teams." Sectarian violence between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya has flared in Rakhine state, where clashes in June left around 80 people dead, according to official estimates deemed low by rights groups. Villages were razed and an estimated 70,000 people, the majority of them Rohing...

August/25/2012,   Daily News Myanmar President Thein Sein shakes hands with Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu. AA photo Buddhist monks, politicians and other ethnic Rakhine figures are kindling hatred toward Muslim Rohingya in an area plagued by sectarian violence, Myanmar’s president, Thein Sein, has warned in a report. In an assessment of the role of Buddhists in unrest in Rakhine (Arakan) state, which has left scores dead on both sides and displaced tens of thousands of people, Sein also said ethnic Rakhine could not accept the Rohingya as fellow citizens, Agence France-Presse reported.  As part of efforts to raise awareness of killings of the Rohingya in western Myanmar, Turkish Foreign Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu  visited the country on Aug. 8. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan, and daughter, Sümeyye Erdoğan, as well as the foreign minister’s wife, Sare Davutoğlu, accompanied the minister, who met with Sein during his visit, discussi...

August 24, 2012 by kaladanpress Buthidaung Township: The house of Mogul Ahmed, hailed from Phoneyu Lake village, under the Nasaka area No. 9 of Buthidaung south was robbed by army on August 19, at about 1:00 pm. The army robbed 50 Ticals of gold and Kyat 20 million after fastening all the family members, said a village elder from the village. On August 7 and 8 in Kyangdang Village of Buthidaung Township, six girls including women were raped by army. They are identified Mostafa Khatun (35), daughter of Abdul Hakim, Femani (40), wife of Subhan, Nur Ayesh (18), daughter of Eliyas, Afam (20), wife of Esague, Amina (16), daughter of Rafiqual Kader and Tasnima (19), wife Khaled Hussain. They severely beat up a female named Anzam (35), wife of Sayed Alam as she resisted the army’s attempt to rape and made hue and cry, according to a close relative of the victims. The army, Nasaka, Hluntin and police raped many Rohingya women and girls since the violence was occurred in J...

Source Fair Observer , 23 Aug The recent violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has brought to the fold the hidden tensions within a society long isolated from the international community. This is part one in a series of two articles. Myanmar’s Road to Democracy A refugee camp for Rohingyas in Myanmar // Source: Common Creatives / Flickr / EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection The two most repeated words in the English Language are “Never Again”, heard in commemorations of the Holocaust to express the commitment that genocide will never again take place. Yet “Never Again” has also come to symbolise the absolute weakness in the will of the international community to act against genocide. This weakness was exposed in Bosnia and in Rwanda and now it seems that it is being exposed yet again, now in Myanmar with its ethnic Rohingya people, a Muslim minority living in the Arakan region. As reports of mass killings, mass graves, rape, and torture come out...

Source from NDPHR(exile), A gang of Rakhines with six guns and explosives devices have been arrested by military forces in Khaungdok Rakhine village situated between two muslim villages of Falom and muslim- Khaungdok Kyaukatw town on 21 Aug.  According to ERCA member Rofiq, the members of armed gang fought each others through opening fires in the morning around 10:30am. Soon, the military forces followed to the tract of where the sounds of gun fires coming out and captured 5 armed Rakhines. Mr Rofiq said that there were more than a dozen during the fights but the rest were escaped. The five captives were taken to the Battalion Camp-378. It is also found that most of the armed Rakhine captives are the ex-members of the Arakan Liberation Party-ALP and members of RNDP. The ALP's ambition to establish its head quarter in the deepest hilly areas of Paletwa town, Chin state, has been rejected by the Chin state administration. Therefore, its forces have been s...

The Wall Street Jornal , 24 Aug 2012, Ambassador Derek Mitchell, Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin, and BRANA Information Secretary Nay San Oo at the State Department on May 11,2012 YANGON—Intolerance toward Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar has dented some Americans' perceptions of the country, but hasn't significantly altered Washington's views on easing sanctions, the U.S.'s new ambassador in Yangon said. Like other Western nations, the U.S. has eased some sanctions against Myanmar in recent months, and has signaled it could take further steps to reward Myanmar if its recent round of political and economic reforms continues. But even as relations between the two countries warm, sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas that left at least 88 people dead and displaced thousands of others has added a new strain. "I have to say it did surprise us to the degree that there would be violence so quickly, that it would spread so terr...