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Tag: Burma

  • Aung San Suu Kyi On Official Visit To Singapore

    Aung San Suu Kyi On Official Visit To Singapore

    Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will make an official visit to Singapore from Nov 30 to Dec 2, announced Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Tuesday (Nov 29).

    Ms Suu Kyi will be here at the invitation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who will host an official welcome ceremony and a dinner for her at the Istana on Wednesday.

    Both leaders will be guests-of-honour on Thursday at the opening ceremony of a three-month exhibition of Myanmar artefacts called “Cities and Kings: Ancient Treasures from Myanmar” at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

    Ms Suu Kyi, who is also foreign minister, will call on Acting President J Y Pillay.

    Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will host her to meals separately and the Nobel laureate will have breakfast at a hawker centre with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

    Also on her agenda is IE Singapore’s Global Conversations dialogue with Singapore businesses, said MFA.

    In 2015, Myanmar was Singapore’s 28th largest trading partner, with total trade at S$3.57 billion.

    For Myanmar, Singapore was its third largest trading partner after China and Thailand. As of end-October this year, Singapore was the second largest investor in Myanmar with cumulative investment at US$15.6 billion, after China (US$18.5 billion).

    During her three-day visit, Ms Suu Kyi will get an orchid named in her honour at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. She will also receive a briefing by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, said MFA.

    Ms Suu Kyi last visited Singapore in 2013 when she was Myanmar’s opposition leader.

    During this official visit, she will be accompanied by Union Minister for Commerce U Than Myint, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs U Kyaw Tin, and officials from the Ministry of National Planning and Finance, President’s Office, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Abdul Rahman Mohamed: Kecewa Pemerintah Singapura Beri Pelonggaran Visa Bagi Rakyat Myanmar Sedangkan Masalah Rohingya Semakin Ketara

    Abdul Rahman Mohamed: Kecewa Pemerintah Singapura Beri Pelonggaran Visa Bagi Rakyat Myanmar Sedangkan Masalah Rohingya Semakin Ketara

    Sudah tentu pengumuman dan langkah sebegini pada masa ini oleh pemerintah akan mengguris perasaan ummat Islam Singapura.

    Tatkala ribuan saudara2 Muslim dibunuh kejam oleh para pengganas Budhist Myanmar, pemerintah kita pula membuat keputusan utk memberi laluan mudah utk rakyat Myanmar memasuki Singapura dengan cara mudah tanpa memerlukan visa!

    Sementara kami disuruh memahami langkah2 yg diambil utk membendung kemasukkan individu2 Muslim yg mempunyai ciri2 Radikal, Extreme dan Pengganas, berkemungkinan yg akan diberi laluan mudah utk masuk ke Singapura ini merupakan individu2 pengganas Budhist Myanmar yg telah mengotori tangan2 mereka dengan darah saudara Islam kita Rohingya.

    Sudahlah segala kekejaman itu dibiarkan tanpa ada suara2 mengutuk tiba2 laporan begini pula yg diumumkan.

    Sangat mengecewakan…….

     

    Source: Abdul Rahman Mohamed

  • Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak To Join Gathering Protesting Myanmar Government’s Treatment Of Rohingyas

    Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak To Join Gathering Protesting Myanmar Government’s Treatment Of Rohingyas

    Malaysia’s prime minister will be joining a gathering organized by the government to protest violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, according to his deputy.

    Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference that the Dec. 4 gathering would later determine Malaysia’s diplomatic ties with Myanmar’s government if it decides to continue military operations in troubled Rakhine State — home to around 1.2 million Rohingya.

    “The gathering would be attended by Prime Minister Najib Razak and other political leaders. To-date, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang has confirmed his participation,” he said late Saturday, referring to the Malaysian Islamic Party.

    Hamidi also urged other major opposition political parties, namely the People’s Justice Party and the National Honest Party, to join the gathering.

    “We put aside our political differences and as Muslims we gather to express our concern for our fellow Muslims in Myanmar,” he underlined.

    The announcement came after thousands of people protesting violence against Rohingya joined demonstrations Friday in the capitals of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

    Over the past six weeks, rights groups have expressed concern over reports of killings, rapes, arbitrary arrests and other violations in villages predominantly inhabited by Rohingya in Rakhine amid military operations launched after fatal attacks on police outposts last month.

    Myanmar has said that since Oct. 9, at least 86 people — 17 soldiers and 69 alleged “attackers” (among them two women) — have been killed, and property destroyed in the area.

    Rohingya groups, however, claim that the number killed in one weekend alone earlier this month could be as high as 150 civilians.

    Humanitarian outfits have called for independent investigations into the initial attacks, the ongoing operations and reported rapes and rights abuses in Rakhine, as with the area placed under military lockdown, rights groups and international reporters have been unable to enter.

    Hamidi said Malaysia remains firm on the principle that it cannot interfere in the affairs of other countries, but said that on humanitarian grounds, it must express its concern to Myanmar authorities.

    “We are not belittling other countries, but we have demonstrated our deep concerns over the Rohingya issues because as fellow Muslims we can feel their sufferings,” he stressed.

    The deputy premier also said the gathering would discuss, and state the country’s stance, on calls for the withdrawal of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, currently the country’s state counselor-cum-foreign minister.

    “If someone who is given the award can no longer maintain peace, it [the conferment] can still be questioned,” Hamidi underlined.

    Meanwhile, Malaysia’s government is also due to send a protest note to the Myanmar government to demand their concern regarding persecution faced by the stateless Rohingya community.

    “A cabinet meeting has decided to send a protest note to the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur,” Hamidi added.

    A law passed in Myanmar in 1982 denied Rohingya — many of whom have lived in Myanmar for generations — citizenship, making them stateless.

    The law denies the Rohingya rights to Myanmar nationality, removes their freedom of movement, access to education and services, and allows arbitrary confiscation of property.

    Myanmar nationalists have since taken to referring to the Rohingya — which the United Nations calls one of the most persecuted people in the world — as Bengali, which suggests they are not Myanmar nationals but interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh.

     

    Source: www.worldbulletin.net

  • Muhammad Shamil To PM Lee: Help Singaporeans And Singapore Find Peaceful, Lasting Solution To Rohingya Genocide In Myanmar

    Muhammad Shamil To PM Lee: Help Singaporeans And Singapore Find Peaceful, Lasting Solution To Rohingya Genocide In Myanmar

    Dear PM Lee,

    Peace be upon you.

    I hope you and loved ones are well.

    Sir, with all due respect, forgive me for trying to reach out to you on a seemingly informal channel like FB. I just believe it is one of the most powerful channels today to directly communicate with leaders and other people. And instead of sending a private message, I have made it public to help spread news of the apparent issues in Myanmar and encourage others to speak to their leaders to do something about it. So pardon the medium and heed the message please.

    Prime minister, I am deeply troubled and saddened by what is happening in Myanmar and as a citizen of this country, I humbly ask for our government to help and/or tell me what I can do to assist in this humanitarian crisis at our very doorstep. As published in Channelnewsasia, a UN official claims that the government of Myanmar is “pursuing ethic cleansing of Rohingya” (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/…/myanmar-pursu…/3317908.html). The article speaks of genocide, civilians being killed, raped and tortured in a neighboring country. I shudder to think of the horrors Rohingya men, women and children are going through this very moment, should these reports be true and pray for their safety and comfort.

    Sir, I am no expert in the matter but I would like to help, and am sure many others would like to help too but simply don’t know how. It’s not like they are suffering from just severe poverty or famine, in those types of situations, at the very least, people could donate money but here the situation is worst, they are systematically being wiped out. I am humbly turning to you, the leader of our very powerful government, as an ordinary Singaporean, to help find a peaceful solution to the problem. Pressure and work with Myanmar leaders to ensure that the crisis is handled in a more humane manner.

    This is not the first time in recent history that the powers that be in Myanmar have resorted to violence against civilians. But I hope these acts of seemingly state sanction terrorism stop. And I hope Singapore plays a big part in bringing about and maintaining peace in the region.

    We live in a most peaceful multiethnic, multi-religious country, yes there are flaws, but it is something in Singapore I am so very proud of and grateful for. It’s a thing of beauty. So how can we sit idly by while others in Asean are literally being killed simply because of their religion, claimed ancestry or colour of their skin? We have to be a force for good in the region, we are Singapore. Siapa tidak kenal Singapura, negara terindah berbilang bangsa?

    Our silence will not save them. Let’s do something to help now.

    Majulah Singapura.

    Thank you kindly.

    Sincerely,
    Muhammad Shamil Bin Zainuddin

     

    Source: Shamil Zainuddin

  • Dalai Lama On Rohingya Muslims: If Buddha Happened, He Would Protect The Rohingya Brothers And Sisters

    Dalai Lama On Rohingya Muslims: If Buddha Happened, He Would Protect The Rohingya Brothers And Sisters

    Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has a moral responsibility to try to ease tensions between majority Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, her fellow Nobel laureate, the Dalai Lama, said on Monday.

    The Tibetan spiritual leader said he had stressed the issue in meetings with Suu Kyi, who came to power in April in the newly created role of state counsellor in Myanmar’s first democratically elected government in five decades.

    “She already has the Nobel Peace Prize, a Nobel Laureate, so morally she should … make efforts to reduce this tension between the Buddhist community and Muslim community,” he told Reuters in an interview in Washington.
    “I actually told her she should speak more openly.”

    Violence between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims in recent years has cast a cloud over progress with democratic reforms in Myanmar. Rights groups have sharply criticized Suu Kyi’s reluctance to speak out on the Rohingya’s plight.

    The Dalai Lama said Suu Kyi, who won worldwide acclaim and a Nobel Peace Prize as a champion of democratic change in the face of military persecution, had responded to his calls by saying that the situation was “really complicated.”

    “So I don’t know,” he said.

    There is widespread hostility towards Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country, including among some within Suu Kyi’s party and its supporters.

    More than 100 people were killed in violence in western Rakhine state in 2012, and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are stateless, took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted.

    Thousands have fled persecution and poverty in an exodus by boat to neighboring South and Southeast Asian countries.

    The Dalai Lama said some Buddhist monks in Myanmar “seem to have some kind of negative attitude to Muslims” and Buddhists who harbored such thoughts “should remember Buddha’s face.”

    “If Buddha happened, he certainly would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters,” he said.

    The new Myanmar government announced late last month that Aung San Suu Kyi would lead a new effort to bring peace and development to Rakhine State.

    The announcement offered no details on how the group would go about addressing the state’s multitude of problems.
    Suu Kyi said during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last month that the country needed “enough space” to deal with the Rohingya issue and cautioned against the use of “emotive terms”, that she said were making the situation more difficult.

     

    Source: http://indianexpress.com