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  • Not Welcomed, U.N. Investigator To Assess Human Rights Across Myanmar Barred Before Visit

    Not Welcomed, U.N. Investigator To Assess Human Rights Across Myanmar Barred Before Visit

    GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. independent investigator into human rights in Myanmar called on Wednesday for stronger international pressure to be exerted on Myanmar’s military commanders after being barred from visiting the country for the rest of her tenure.

    Yanghee Lee, U.N. special rapporteur, had been due to visit in January to assess human rights across Myanmar, including alleged abuses against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.

    But Myanmar had told her she was no longer welcome, she said, adding in a statement that this suggested something “terribly awful” was happening in the country.

    “From what I see right now I’m not sure if they are feeling pressured. I’m not sure if there is the right kind of pressure placed on the military commanders and the generals,” she later told Reuters by phone from Seoul.

    She said it was alarming that Myanmar was strongly supported by China, which has a veto at the U.N.’s top table in New York. Other countries including the United States and human groups were advocating targeted sanctions on the military, she said.

    “It has to work. And I’m sure the world has to find a way to make it work. And I think the United Nations and its member states should really try to persuade China to really act towards the protection of human rights,” she said.

    More than 650,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when attacks by Muslim insurgents on the Myanmar security forces triggered a response by the army and Buddhist vigilantes.

    Surveys of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres have shown at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state in the month after violence flared up on Aug 25, MSF said last week.

    The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein has called the violence “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and said he would not be surprised if a court eventually ruled that genocide had taken place.

    Lee had planned to use her visit to find out procedures for the return of Rohingya refugees, and to investigate increased fighting in the Kachin and northern Shan areas of Myanmar.

    Lee, in an earlier statement, said Myanmar’s refusal to cooperate with her was a strong indication that there must be “something terribly awful happening” throughout the country, although the government had repeatedly denied any violations of human rights.

    “They have said that they have nothing to hide, but their lack of cooperation with my mandate and the fact-finding mission suggests otherwise,” she said.

    She was “puzzled and disappointed”, since Myanmar’s Ambassador in Geneva Htin Lynn had told the U.N. Human Rights Council only two weeks ago that it would continue to cooperate.

    “Now I am being told that this decision to no longer cooperate with me is based on the statement I made after I visited the country in July,” she said.

    Lynn did not respond to a request for comment. Neither Zaw Htay, spokesman for Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, nor Kyaw Moe Tun, a spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs that Suu Kyi heads, were immediately available.

     

    Source: uk.reuters.com

  • 8 VS 3, All Myanmar Nationals, Fight Over Cigarettes At Peninsula Plaza, Seven Of Them Got Jailed 12 Months

    8 VS 3, All Myanmar Nationals, Fight Over Cigarettes At Peninsula Plaza, Seven Of Them Got Jailed 12 Months

    Seven Myanmar nationals were sentenced to 12 months’ jail for rioting after they got into a fight with three fellow countrymen over cigarettes at Peninsula Plaza.

    The court heard on Friday (13 October) that on 4 June this year, Cung San Eng, 26, Tluang Uk, 39, Ronal, 30, Lal Tha Siama, 25, Thaung Sun, 29, Van Liaw Aung, 30, Aung Maw, 23, and another unknown male had been consuming alcohol since 3pm near Peninsula Plaza. The seven accused, who pleaded guilty to one charge of rioting, are work permit holders working in marine dredging, shipyards and construction.

    At about 10:35pm, a dispute broke out between the group of eight and a group of three other Myanmar nationals over cigarettes and a fight ensued.

    One of the victims, Wunna, 32, fell as a result of the scuffle. Several of the accused rained punches on Wunna as he lay on the ground. Wunna’s friends Pyae Phyo Zaw, 31, and Min Zaw, 40, attempted to stop the fight but were also assaulted by the group.

    The entire incident lasted for about one and a half minutes. Police arrived at 10:45pm and arrested Cung San Eng, Tluang Uk and Ronal. The rest were arrested after follow-up investigations.

    Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh asked for a sentence of at least nine months for each of the accused, whom she said were part of an unlawful assembly. DPP Poh pointed out that the injuries to Wunna were not minor and that he had suffered a partially dislocated right foot and was given a week’s medical leave.

    In mitigation, the seven Myanmar nationals, who were unrepresented, said through an interpreter that they hoped for leniency. They told the court they were supporting their families in Myanmar and did not have income for four months since they were remanded.

    Referring to the December 2013 Little India riot, District Judge Imran Abdul Hamid said that Singapore takes a “very serious view of rioting offences”. As such, he said that the sentencing needed to be a deterrent so that Peninsula Plaza, commonly known as “Little Myanmar”, does not go the way of Little India.

    DJ Imran backdated each person’s sentences to the date when they were first remanded in June.

    Addressing the group, DJ Imran said, “My advice to you when you go back to Myanmar, tell your friends and family desiring to come to Singapore: Don’t mess around with our laws.”

    The group could have faced a maximum jail term of seven years and been liable to caning.

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • Crisis In Rakhine State Evoked Strong Emotions Across The Muslim World Drawing In ISIS And Al-Qaeda

    Crisis In Rakhine State Evoked Strong Emotions Across The Muslim World Drawing In ISIS And Al-Qaeda

    The plight of the Rohingya, an Islamic minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, has evoked strong emotions across the Muslim world.

    Many countries have protested against the persecution of the community, following a violent crackdown by the Myanmar army that left hundreds dead and sparked an exodus of more than 410,000 people from Rakhine to Bangladesh.

    But as rights groups urge world leaders to impose sanctions on Myanmar’s military, which is accused of “ethnic cleansing”, a darker danger lies ahead.

    Counter-terrorism experts say the crisis has attracted the attention of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as well as Muslim militants and hardliners in Indonesia and Malaysia.

    This may result in another longstanding conflict in South-east Asia, following the ongoing siege in the southern Philippine city of Marawi by Islamist militants.

    Echoing its strategy in southern Philippines, ISIS has routinely, through its online publication Dabiq, claimed that it plans to establish a base in Bangladesh to launch revenge attacks on the Myanmar government over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya.

    Malaysian counter-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said earlier this week that ISIS is exploiting the Rohingya crisis to recruit more fighters, particularly from South-east Asia.

    Indeed, latest developments out of Kuala Lumpur have revealed that a group of Malaysians had travelled to Myanmar, via Bangladesh and Thailand, to take on government troops there.

    Malaysian police in Kelantan state, which shares a border with southern Thailand, told news agency Bernama that it has identified more than 100 “rat trails” used for smuggling, and has stepped up patrols there to prevent the illegal entry of Rohingya and “untoward incidents”.

    Meanwhile in Indonesia, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) had called for “jihadists” to travel to Rakhine to fight on behalf of the Rohingya. The FPI has shown that it has the ability to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people, as seen in the many rallies it led against former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Chinese-Christian politician, for insulting Islam earlier this year.

    FPI spokesman Slamet Maarif was quoted by The Australian newspaper earlier this month as saying that the group is prepared to wage “jihad”, or a holy war, in Myanmar if the need arises. “That is why one of the main requirements for our recruits is the willingness to die as a martyr,” he said.

    Centre for Radicalism and Deradicalisation Studies executive director Adhe Bhakti said the real danger for Indonesia lies in whether elements of the Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local terrorist network with ties to ISIS, join the fray. “More influential groups in the context of ‘jihad’ such as the JAD have yet to appeal for fighters. If they do, that may pose a greater risk,” said Mr Adhe.

    Islamist militant groups have previously exploited the Rohingya crisis for their cause, notably in 2012 and 2015, but this current conflict has drawn wider attention.

    Mr Iftekharul Bashar, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the crisis is unfolding at a time when ISIS is losing much of its territory in the Middle East and is trying to expand its hold in South Asia and South-east Asia.

    “The recent siege of Marawi… shows that ISIS penetration in the Rakhine state conflict cannot be ruled out,” he added.

    Datuk Ayob warned that Myanmar’s proximity to Malaysia would encourage ISIS to tap the conflict in Rakhine. “Myanmar is closer to Malaysia than Syria and the southern Philippines… and now Rakhine has become their latest destination for ‘jihad’,” he told Bernama news.

    The resurgent Al-Qaeda, which was behind the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, has also started to make its move, issuing a statement on Sept 12 calling for attacks against the Myanmar government over the Rohingya.

    While most of the attention by security agencies has been on ISIS, Mr Bashar warned that Al-Qaeda, and its affiliate in the Indian subcontinent known by the acronym AQIS, is equally dangerous.

    AQIS has not carried out any major attacks in Bangladesh in the past few years, but it has recently mentioned the Myanmar military as a key target, added Mr Bashar. “Although the majority of Muslims still support a peaceful settlement with Rohingya returning to their homeland, a smaller segment thinks that an armed ‘jihad’ is the only solution left to end the plight of the Rohingya.”

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/

  • Asean No Longer Able To Handle Rohingya Issue, Says KL

    Asean No Longer Able To Handle Rohingya Issue, Says KL

    Asean is no longer able to handle the issue of Rohingya persecution in Myanmar, said Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.

    “I think Asean can no longer handle this issue. Within Asean, I have given up hope. We had seven meetings, and Malaysia had expressed our concerns to Myanmar and they (Myanmar) promised to address the concern.

    “Until today, nothing has been done. Therefore, Malaysia may raise it at other levels, like the United Nations and OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation),” he said on Wednesday when asked to comment if Malaysia would bring up the issue of the continuing violence against the Rohingya at this month’s United Nations General Assembly.

    The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Myanmar envoy U Sein Oo to express Malaysia’s displeasure over the latest violence in Rakhine state. In a statement that day, Mr Anifah was quoted as saying that Malaysia was gravely concerned over the “sustained violence and discrimination” against the Rohingya in Myanmar.

    Some 164,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have now crossed into Bangladesh in the last fortnight to escape fighting between militants and Myanmar’s military, the United Nations said yesterday.

    The latest data means more than a quarter of a million Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since fighting first broke out last October.

    Those flocking into Bangladesh have brought with them harrowing testimony of murder, rape and widespread arson at the hands of Myanmar’s army. Myanmar’s government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has, however, rejected allegations of atrocities, accusing the international media, non-governmental organisations and the UN of fabrications.

    Ms Suu Kyi on Wednesday blamed “terrorists” for “a huge iceberg of misinformation” on the strife in the north-western state of Rakhine but made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled. Yesterday, she repeated that her government was doing its best to protect everyone in Rakhine.

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/

  • Tutu: If The Political Price Of Your Ascension To The Highest Office In Myanmar Is Your Silence, The Price Is Surely Too Steep

    Tutu: If The Political Price Of Your Ascension To The Highest Office In Myanmar Is Your Silence, The Price Is Surely Too Steep

    South Africa’s outspoken Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Thursday (Sep 7) castigated Aung San Suu Kyi over the Myanmar government’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslims and urged her to intervene in the crisis.

    The United Nations on Thursday said that nearly 164,000 Rohingya have escaped to Bangladesh over the past two weeks in the wake of a massive security sweep and alleged atrocities by the country’s security forces and Buddhist mobs against the Rohingya.

    Aung San Suu Kyi, feted for her years of peaceful opposition to Myanmar’s military rulers, has been urged to speak up for the Rohingya, with Muslim nations and the UN leading condemnation of her government.

    Tutu, who helped dismantle apartheid in South Africa and became the moral voice of the nation, joined in the condemnation.

    “If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep,” Tutu said in a statement.

    “It is incongruous for a symbol of righteousness to lead such a country; it is adding to our pain,” he said noting that “the images we are seeing of the suffering of the Rohingya fill us with pain and dread.”

    “As we witness the unfolding horror we pray for you to be courageous and resilient again … for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people,” said Tutu.

    Witnesses in Myanmar’s Rakhine state say entire villages have been burned to the ground since Rohingya militants launched a series of coordinated attacks on Aug 25, prompting a military-led crackdown.

     

    Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com