Rilek1Corner

Tag: Rohingya

  • Kumpulan Hak Asasi Minta Myanmar Siasat Kematian Gadis Rohingya

    Kumpulan Hak Asasi Minta Myanmar Siasat Kematian Gadis Rohingya

    Para pejuang hak asasi manusia meminta Myanmar untuk menyiasat kematian seorang gadis muslim dari golongan minoriti Rohingya, yang dianiaya di negara itu.

    Gadis tersebut yang ditemui tidak berbaju dan tidak sedarkan diri berhampiran sebuah pangkalan tentera, meninggal dunia bulan ini.

    Gadis berkenaan yang dikenal pasti sebagai Raysuana berusia 25 tahun didapati di sebelah jalan raya dekat kawasan tentera di Sittwe, ibu kota bandar Rakhine di barat Myanmar, menurut para penduduk dan kumpulan hak asasi Amnesty International.

    Beliau hilang semasa berjalan di sebuah kawasan di mana lebih 100,000 penduduk kaum Rohingya tinggal di kemah-kemah sejak Sittwee berdepan dengan keganasan masyarakat pada 2012, tambah Amnesty dalam satu kenyataan pada lewat semalam (30 Ogos).

    Kebanyakan yang dipindahkan adalah golongan muslim Rohingya, golongan yang ramai di Myanmar menganggap sebagai pendatang haram dari Bangladesh.

    Mereka dihalang dari berjalan dengan bebas dan akses kepada jagaan kesihatan dan pendidikan dilarang.

    Hla Myint, seorang pentadbir Rohingya, memberitahu Reuters beliau menerima panggilan daripada seorang korporal dari unit artileri tentera dan diminta untuk mengambil Raysuana yang tidak sedarkan diri pada awal 18 Ogos lalu.

    “Beliau masih bernafas apabila saya melihatnya, tetapi beliau terbujur di lantai. Tiada pakaian di tubuhnya (selain baju dalam) tetapi seseorang menutupnya dengan selimut,” kata Hla Myint.

    Beliau dibawa ke klinik kampung di mana para atenden mendapati kesan lebam pada leher dan darah dari rahimnya, tambah Hla Myint.

    Gadis itu meninggal dunia petang itu juga (18 Ogos), menurutnya.

    Para penduduk di kawasan-kawasan golongan minoriti dan pekerja hak asasi manusia sudah bertahun menuduh tentera Myanmar menyalahgunakan kuasa termasuk merogol. Tentera Myanmar menolak seperti biasa dakwaan tersebut.

    Hal itu timbul sedang Myanmar mengadakan rundingan damai antara pemerintah dengan golongan etnik minoriti hari ini (31 Ogos) dalam satu usaha untuk menghuraikan konflik berdekad lamanya dan meragut ribuan nyawa dan membuat negara itu terbenam dengan kemiskinan.

    AFP melaporkan Setiausaha Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu Ban Ki-moon yang menghadiri rundingan itu menggambarkannya sebagai detik “bersejarah” bagi negara tersebut menyusuli peralihannya ke arah demokrasi.

    Namun, hanya segelinitir menjangkakan keputusan yang kukuh daripada perundingan lima hari itu yang dianggap sebagai permulaan proses kedamaian yang boleh mengambil masa bertahun lamanya.

    Source: Berita MediaCorp

  • Aung San Suu Kyi Asks US Not To Use ‘Rohingya’

    Aung San Suu Kyi Asks US Not To Use ‘Rohingya’

    Myanmar recognizes 135 ethnic groups within its borders. But the people who constitute No. 136? They are the-people-who-must-not-be-named.

    Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s first democratically elected government since 1962, embraced that view last week when she advised the US ambassador against using the term “Rohingya” to describe the persecuted Muslim population that has lived in Myanmar for generations.

    Her government, like the previous military-led one, will not call the Rohingya people by that name because it does not recognize them as citizens, said her spokesman, Mr U Kyaw Zay Ya, a Foreign Ministry official.

    “We won’t use the term Rohingya because Rohingya are not recognized as among the 135 official ethnic groups,” said Kyaw Zay Ya, who was at the meeting. “Our position is that using the controversial term does not support the national reconciliation process and solving problems.”

    The stance does not bode well for the Rohingya or for rights activists who had hoped that Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, would reverse discriminatory policies that have marginalized the Rohingya and prompted many to flee.

    “She is not saying anything about the Rohingya people in Myanmar and their rights to religion and education and health care,” said Aung Win, a Rohingya community leader in Rakhine state. “As a Nobel Peace Prize winner, why is she so silent?”

    The US Embassy confirmed that the newly arrived ambassador, Scot A Marciel, had met with Ms Suu Kyi but would not comment on their discussions.

    Her position on the name has taken on great significance as her party, the National League for Democracy, establishes the country’s first nonmilitary government in decades. Barred by the military-drafted constitution from serving as president, she holds the posts of state counselor and foreign minister, among others, but she is the country’s de facto leader. The new government took over in March.

    The Rohingya in Myanmar, Muslims in a primarily Buddhist land, are denied basic rights, including citizenship, freedom of worship, education, marriage and freedom of travel. More than 100,000 who were driven from their homes by violence in 2012 are in resettlement camps. Many fled on dangerous sea voyages.

    Many nationalist Buddhists reject the name Rohingya and call them Bengalis, implying that they are interlopers from Bangladesh, a position also taken by the former military government.

    The US Embassy recently drew criticism for using the word Rohingya in a statement expressing condolences for the deaths of at least 20 people whose boat capsized on April 19 off the coast of Rakhine.

    Nationalist Buddhists challenged the new Myanmar government to protest the Americans’ use of the word and staged a demonstration outside the United States Embassy in Yangon.

    At an April 28 news conference, Marciel responded by saying that it was standard practice around the world to let communities decide for themselves what to be called.

    “And normally, when that happens, we would call them what they want to be called,” he said. “It’s not a political decision; it’s just a normal practice.”

    Suu Kyi’s decision to raise the issue with Marciel the next day was an apparent concession to the extremists and was welcomed by the nationalist Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, also known as Ma Ba Tha.

    “We don’t want that word because they are not our nationality,” said Thaw Bar Ka, a leader of the group. “And now I read the news that the Foreign Ministry agrees with us. It’s really good. At first, I thought the new government would be useless on this issue.”

    Rights advocates expressed disappointment that Ms Suu Kyi was not willing to go against popular opinion and support a dispossessed people.

    “It’s dismaying that the new NLD-led government is continuing this wrongheaded effort to police the language of Yangon-based diplomats about the Rohingya,” said Mr Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.

    Mr Kyaw Zay Ya said Suu Kyi had not ordered the Americans to stop using the word or threatened consequences if they did.

     

    Source: TODAY Online

  • Kebakaran Besar Musnahkan Kem Pelarian Muslim Rohingya

    Kebakaran Besar Musnahkan Kem Pelarian Muslim Rohingya

    Satu kebakaran besar memusnahkan sebuah kem pelarian Muslim Rohingya di wilayah Rakhine, Myanmar. Ia menjejas sekitar 450 keluarga Muslim Rohingya yang tinggal di kem tersebut.

    Menurut Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UN), kira-kira 50 tempat perlindungan rosak teruk, menjejas 2,000 orang. Sisa-sisa atap kayu dan atap besi yang bengkok dapat dilihat melalui asap tebal yang muncul selepas kebakaran itu berlaku.

    Kawasan perkhemahan itu dihuni oleh sekitar 100,000 anggota kaum Rohingya.

    Kebakaran itu dipercayai bermula dari sebuah dapur. Angin yang kencang menjadi punca api merebak dari rumah ke rumah, di kawasan yang kering itu.

    Seorang pegawai polis memberitahu AFP bahawa api itu dapat dipadamkan selepas ia membakar rumah 448 keluarga.

    Sekitar 140,000 penduduk, sebahagian besarnya dari golongan minoriti Rohingya, kini tinggal di kem-kem seperti itu setelah mereka melarikan diri daripada keganasan agama, melibatkan penganut muslim Rohingya dan penganut Buddha pada tahun 2012.

    Konflik tersebut memecah belahkan wilayah Rakhine dan masyarakatnya berdasarkan agama dan melemahkan ekonomi tempatan.

    Source: Berita Mediacorp

  • Muslims From Violence-Hit Rakhine Show Support For Aung San Suu Kyi

    Muslims From Violence-Hit Rakhine Show Support For Aung San Suu Kyi

    THANDWE, Myanmar – Muslim supporters of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Saturday they hoped a government lead by her National League for Democracy (NLD) would improve their lives in Rakhine State, where many still face discrimination after violence in 2012 and 2013.

    The Muslims have put their hopes in the NLD even though the party did not field a Muslim candidate on its lists of over 1,100 hopefuls standing in the Nov. 8 election and has been criticized for not speaking out against their marginalization.

    The campaign ahead of what is billed as Myanmar’s first free and fair election in 25 years, which started a month ago, has seen a spike in tensions stoked by anti-Muslim hardline Buddhist group Ma Ba Tha, which has sharply criticized the NLD.

    On Saturday, Suu Kyi spoke in Thandwe, where in October 2013 five Kaman Muslims were murdered during a flare-up in religious violence.

    Many Muslim residents of Thandwe and surrounding villages who came to see Suu Kyi said they still supported her and hoped the NLD would help to end their discrimination and foster reconciliation between Buddhists and Muslims.

    “We have a little hope,” said Win Naing, 41. “We don’t have equal rights. I hope that if Mother Suu wins the election, we will get equal rights,” Win Naing said.

    Another supporter, Tun Win, 48, from a village outside Thandwe, said Muslims faced bullying from Buddhists and that many Muslims had been denied national identity cards by the government, curbing their freedom of movement. He hoped the NLD would make obtaining them easier.

    “They say, ‘go to Yangon,’ but we can’t because we don’t have any identity cards,” he said. “We come and go around here and it is like a prison.”

    Suu Kyi made no mention of the violence in Thandwe during her speech on Saturday. During a speech in the nearby town of Tongup on Friday she also did not mention the 2012 killing of 10 Muslims, who were pulled from a bus by a mob in the town.

    While avoiding references to specific incidents, Suu Kyi made broader points about religious tensions and violence.

    “It is very important that all people regardless of race and religion living in our country must be safe,” she said. “We can have peace in our country only if the people feel safe both mentally and physically,” she said.

    Unlike the marginalized Rohingya Muslims, who also live in Rakhine, the Kaman from Tandwe are one of Myanmar’s 135 recognised ethnic groups. The Rohingya live predominantly in Sittwe and northern Rakhine, where 140,000 were displaced by violence in 2012.

    Suu Kyi will not visit Sittwe or northern parts of Rakhine during her three-day trip through the western state. The Nobel peace laureate has been criticized for saying little about the Rohingya’s plight.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Three Myanmar Men Charged With Conspiring To Kill Own Citizen In Singapore

    Three Myanmar Men Charged With Conspiring To Kill Own Citizen In Singapore

    Three Myanmar men were charged on Wednesday with conspiring to murder a fellow national in Singapore with a gruesome collection of instruments including a chainsaw, a meat mincer, a cleaver and a chopping board.

    Myanmar nationals Yae Wynnt Oaung, 32, Phyo Min Naing, 31, as well as Singapore permanent resident Zaw Min Hlaing, 37, were charged in a district court with plotting to murder another Singapore permanent resident, Aye Maung Maung Thet, 28.

    A fourth suspect, 29-year-old Myanmar national Win Kyaw Kyaw Aung, left Singapore on Monday morning, police said.

    The offence is punishable by up to 14 years in jail plus a fine.

    The four men attempted to abduct Aye Maung Maung Thet at a suburban carpark on Sunday evening, with two of them assaulting him with a taser, an electrical device designed to stun and disable a person, court documents said.

    The men fled when the victim’s cries for help attracted the attention of passers-by.

    They were arrested the following day, two of them at a rented seaside chalet in Singapore’s eastern region.

    “Items such as a meat mincer, chainsaw, kitchen knives, gas cooker, gas cylinder tank, a tool set, trolley bags, plastic sheets, cable ties, cleaver, aprons, chopping board and rubber boots were also recovered from the chalet and seized as case exhibits,” the police said.

    In court on Wednesday, the three men, dressed in civilian attire and handcuffed, appeared sombre as the charges were read to them in Burmese, the Myanmar national language, by an interpreter.

    No pleas were entered. They were ordered remanded in police custody for one week to assist in investigations.

    The case follows a spate of murder cases in neighbouring Malaysia last year involving Myanmar nationals, mostly in the northern state of Penang. In some cases, victims were decapitated or had some of their body parts severed.

    Malaysian police have said they believed the attacks are related to violent clashes in Myanmar between members of the Buddhist majority and its population of Rohingya, a Muslim minority.

    But the motive for the botched murder plot in Singapore has not been disclosed.

    Gruesome murders are rare in Singapore, a densely populated island of 5.5 million, 40 percent of them foreigners.

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com