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BurmaTimes Newsletter

July 19, 2015 - Issue 1. www.burmatimes.net info@burmatimes.net

Movement restrictions will be over if

green card is accepted, say Lawaka
Lawaka officials entered Sidhar
fara in Maungdaw on Wednesday
afternoon.

have greatly limited livelihood

options for Rohingyas and created
near starvation conditions in many
neighbourhoods.

They asked Rohingya Muslims in

the area to accept the green card
as it would mean an end to all their
troubles.

Starvation in Pauktaw
Starvation is spreading in the

An official told the Rohingyas that

the government was saddened by
the sufferings of the Muslims and
has thus devised the green card
scheme for them.
The green card is given to
foreigners naturalised by the state.
Rohingyas however claim they are
indigenous to Arakan.
Rohingyas told the Lawaka men
that there was a checkpoint every
kilometer to prevent them from
moving. They expressed fears that
things will not change even with
the green card.
The Lawaka men however claimed
once they accepted the green
card, the movement restrictions
will be over.
Under the laws of Arakan state,
Rohingya Muslims are forbidden
from moving from one area to
another unless authorised by local
authorities. Movement restrictions

Pauktaw IDP camp as hundreds are

simultaneously denied aid and the
right to work.
In October 2012, violence erupted
in the township after blood frenzied
Buddhist mobs attacked Muslims,
mainly from the Kaman community.
The mob engaged in an orgy of
rape and murder driving out the
Muslims from the area.
As things calmed down, many
Muslims,
both
Kaman
and
Rohingyas gradually returned and
settled in an IDP camp built under
government supervision. However
the authorities do not let the
displaced Muslims leave the camps
thus depriving them of any
livelihood option.
However around 500 residents
have been cut off from aid. As a
result, many spend days without
food.
Officials who sympathised with the
plight of Muslims were moved out
after
complaints
from
their
colleagues.

01

Rohingya children
keep
dying
in
Bangladesh,
no
access to medical
care.
Burma Times Correspondent: July
14, 2015
Rohingya refugees in Shaplapur
say that they suffer from a
complete
lack
of
medical
treatment. The situation is same in
the nearby Leda refugee camp
where Bangladesh government
has halted all aid operations since
March.
Due to an outpour of sympathy
from
the
world
community,
especially
Muslims,
aid
to
Rohingyas in Bangladesh has
increased. But many destitute
refugees say the aid seldom
makes it to them. Even when they
get the aid, as soon as the donors
are gone, they have to pay a
percentage to the community
leaders and religious clerics.
In light of such a situation,
refugees
are
asking
the
international Muslim community
and Rohingya leaders based
abroad if there was any way to
improve medical facilities for the
entire community. That way, there
will be less corruption and
Rohingya refugees will receive
more tangible benefits.
Refugees say if the donors could
establish medical facilities, at least
the number of infant deaths would
most certainly drop.
Many
Rohingya
children
in
Bangladesh die from easily
preventable diseases. Scores
have died this year alone as
parents have been unable to
organise medical treatment.

02

Segregation in Maungdaw high school.

Students in Maungdaw high school have been separated by religious affiliation
following the collapse of the classroom roof.
In the past few days, heavy rain has destroyed the roof of the class ten room.
When the roof started leaking, all the Buddhist students were moved to another
more secure room. But the Rohingya Muslim students are still in the old room
under the broken roof.
Students say they have to do their classes often under the heavy rain and the
remaining portion of the roof can collapse anytime. The head teacher however
said that locals will get preferential treatment over foreigners.
Rohingya students have also been warned not to cross the boundaries of the
school in the break time though Buddhist students have no such restrictions.
Students say before the 2012 riots, there was easy going relationship between
the children of the two communities. But since then, they have been segregated
along religious and ethnic lines. Buddhist children speaking to the Rohingyas
are reprimanded by higher authorities.
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occaecat adipisicing mollit deserunt.

Rights group condemns bill on interfaith

marriage.
July 10, 2015

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned the bill on interfaith marriage saying the
government was playing with fire.
Its shocking that Burmas parliament has passed yet another incredibly dangerous law, this
time legislating clearly discriminatory provisions targeting the rights of religious minority men
and Buddhist women to marry who they wish without interference, said Phil Robertson,
deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia division.
The Buddhist Womens Special Marriage Bill passed Tuesday effectively bars Buddhist
women from marrying men of other religions. The law was passed following campaign by
Buddhist nationalist groups who fear that Muslims are converting Buddhist women to Islam.

Living through Ramadan in shelters.

Burma Times: By Harun Yahya -15 July 2015
WHILE we are breaking fast at the
plentiful tables of Ramadan, which
inspires tranquillity in our hearts with
its profound spirituality particular to it
and is enjoyed by about 1.5 billion
Muslims, we must not fail to recall our
brothers of faith who are being
oppressed in every corner of the
world.
Without a doubt, the Rohingya
Muslims are among our brothers we
call to mind in every bite.
The world has come to such a state
that innocent people are amassed in
boats and left to die on the high seas
on one hand, while millions of people
are attending meetings in their offices
during the day, messaging each other
via social media, watching television,
eating with friends at a restaurant or
sipping their coffee.
These people, who are struggling to
stay alive for years and have been on
the international agenda time and
again, are the Rohingyas, one of the
most persecuted communities in the
world.
The Rohingyas have been denied
citizenship since 1982 in their own
countries and were given refugee
status on that account. They have
been living as stateless persons ever
since and taking shelter in camps
where eight to 10 families are forced

to reside one within the other.

Recently, the Rohingya people were
impelled to set out on a dreadful
journey to save their lives due to the
overwhelming oppression by the
Buddhist Myanmar administration;
hundreds of them have been set on
fire alive, beaten by the dozens, their
wives and daughters raped and their
property seized.
As a consequence, scores of
Rohingyas crammed onto rickety
boats were towed out to sea to an
unknown destination with nothing but
the clothes on their backs.
The entire world bore witness to the
humanitarian
plight
of
these
unguarded human beings in the 21st
century in a way beyond words while
they remained stranded at sea for two
months on the brink of hunger and
starvation.
What is more, the number of
Rohingyas that were tortured by the
human traffickers and lost their lives
on these boats is estimated to reach
over one thousand. Reactions from
the international arena grew and
Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to
take in the Rohingyas adrift and offer
shelter to them.
The Rohingyas, who were given
temporary shelter and provided with

These people, who are

struggling to stay alive
for years and have been
on the international
agenda time and again,
are the Rohingyas, one
of the most persecuted
communities in the
world..
clothing and food aid, have
expressed their gratitude to the
Indonesians and Malaysians for their
support and how delighted they were
to be able to worship freely and fast
during Ramadan. Nevertheless, their
concern and their longing for their
families they left behind are read in
their faces.
One of the rescued Rohingya
migrants stated that they were taken
out of Myanmar by force in a group of
450 people, not given food most of
the time and stayed alive on only
10kg of rice.
Another one, a 35-year-old teacher,
explained they were rescued off the
coast with around 580 other migrants,
and were thankful to God because a
Muslim country accepted them.
Others,
such
as
16-year-old
Muhammad Shorif, said he missed
his mothers cooking while he was in
the refugee camp but added that he
was very happy to be in Aceh.
The 13-year-old Muhammad Abdul,
who came ashore by jumping from a
boat, described the horror he
encountered with the following words:
They kept us under the deck in the
boat. We asked for water, but they did
not fetch it.
We were beaten by the guards.
Some were even beaten to death. I
saw that the dead bodies of children
and adults were thrown into the sea.
One of the most intense concerns of

...
03

..

Living through Ramadan in shelters.....

from page 3

all the Rohingya rescued off the boats

is being sent back to Myanmar again.
Abdul Razik recounts why he does
not want to go back to his homeland:
I never want to go back to my country
again. My home was set afire. The
houses of all my friends here were set
on fire. My mother was burnt alive.
We want to stay here.
On this basis, we have to be mindful
of the fact that Islam is a religion
commanding all Muslims who have
faith in God, a love of God and who
act in the way of God to come
together in unity like a well-built wall
and be guardians of one another.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of all
Muslims in the world to protect and
take care of the Rohingyas who are
so ruthlessly persecuted in their own
land, whose villages and homes are
set on fire, and mothers, fathers and
children are tortured, whose
men are slain in cold blood,
and who are forced to take
shelter in other countries in
difficult conditions.
The Rohingyas held highranking offices as grand
viziers, scribes, governors,
generals and ministers and
contributed significantly to
the political history of their
country for more than 350
years.

04

However, their Muslim identities were

denied following the 1962 coup, and
they were declared to be foreigners
by means of various propaganda
methods, expelled from their offices
and all their rights and freedoms were
restricted. Turning a blind eye to the
plight of our Rohingya brothers,
whose very right to exist has been
denied to them, would mean
assenting to the oppression of
ruthless rulers.
For that reason, the responsibility
falling upon all believers with good
conscience in every part of the world
is to defend the rights of our brothers
of the Rohingya Muslims just like all
the other innocents who suffer at the
hands of oppression and tyranny and
we must make the utmost effort in
order to put a halt to their
maltreatment and improve their living
conditions.

It is obvious that taking a step to that

end in order to establish public
opinion so that they may win their
rights and carry out the most
influential efforts in that regard is an
obligation for all Muslims.
We are gratified with joy as our love
and devotion to God, our Lord, is
strengthened by means of this holy
month of Ramadan, and we pray and
ask from God for the salvation of all
persecuted
Muslims
and
our
Rohingya brothers during our fast.
Thus, we must never fail to remember
that we need to make utmost effort to
hasten the Islamic Union, which is the
essential principle for the serenity and
security of the Islamic world. This is
how our prayers must be so that we
can put behind us the separation and
resentment between Muslims and
establish unity as soon as possible.
The writer has authored
more than 300 books
translated in 73 languages
on politics, religion and
science. He may be followed
at
@Harun_Yahya
and
www.harunyahya.com

November 8 is election day

Burma Times Desk Report: July 09, 2015

The date for the much-anticipated

election has been set at November 8,
according to Burmas Union Election
Commission (UEC). Despite a playing
field heavily tilted in favour of the
military backed reformist regime, this
is the first time in more than two
decades a competitive election is
taking place amidst much excitement
both locally and internationally.
The main opposition party NLD which
commands wide support among much
of the populace has however not
confirmed its participation. Without the
participation of the NLD, the election
will lose significance. The leader of
the party Aung Saan Suu Kyi is barred
from standing as president.
Meanwhile recent reports indicate
reformist president Thein Sein might
stand for another term.
Altogether 1,171 seats will be
contested
between
the
Union
Parliament and regional legislatures.

Teenager tortured on
false rape allegations
A teenager has been tortured by BGP
on false allegations of rape in Merulla,
Maungdaw South.
On Monday, 15 year Anwar Sadek
was
arrested
by
the
BGP
on
allegations of raping a 17 year
woman.
Our sources however confirm the
woman was forced into a sexual
relationship
with
a
local
BGP
commander who threatened to kill her
father if she refused.
The woman is now four months
pregnant.
Neighbours
have
long
known about the threats of the BGP
commander and his nightly visits to
the womans home.
The BGP commander advised the
woman to marry the teenager and
claim that Sadek had committed the
rape.
Sadek was released on Wednesday
after being continuously tortured.

05

Police arrest Mandalay

Muslim activist
Police arrested a Muslim peace
activist in Mandalay on Tuesday.
Zaw Zaw Latt was accused of
having links with a blacklisted
organisation.
Visitors have been refused access
to meet him.
Zaw Zaw Latt is a member of Thint
Myat Lo Thu Myar, which works to
promote
harmony
between
different religious groups.
In recent years, a small number of
activists from all religions have
taken a stand against the hatred
preached by Buddhist nationalists.
However, the nationalist lobby has
more influence with the regime
and has been popular among
large segments of the populace.