Myanmar fixates on Rohingya calculation

By Peter Lee   

 Southeast Asia     Nov 14, 2012   Original Source

To outside observers, the carnage inflicted on the Rohingya minority - a five-month spasm of violence and de fact ethnic cleansing ostensibly stemming from the rape of a Buddhist woman by three Rohingya men - in Rakhine Province is indefensible and inexplicable. 

What is even less understandable to Westerners is the virtually universal closing of ranks among local and national governments, pro and anti-government Buddhist monks, junta apologists and pro-democracy activists, President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi, all uniting to deny the apparently undeniable fact that an old fashioned pogrom is taking place against Rohingya minority and other Muslims. 

UN Asks Asian States to Accept Burma Refugees

Lisa Schlein
November 13, 2012                      Source

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency is calling on countries in Southeast Asia to open their borders to people fleeing insecurity and violence in Burma. The UNHCR said it is seriously concerned by the recent drowning of Rohingya Muslims who fled by boat from Burma’s Rakhine state in search of a safe haven.

Burmeese displaced by recent violence carry their belongings as they arrive by boats to Thaechaung refugee camp, outside of Sittwe (formerly Akyab), the capital of Rakhine State, October 28, 2012.

In the last two weeks, two boats reportedly sank in the Bay of Bengal with an estimated 240 people aboard. The U.N. refugee agency said Rohingyas from Burma’s Rakhine state were among them.  

Rohingya plight hurts group's credibility

By Yang Razali Kassim

04:45 AM Nov 12, 2012      SOURCE

The plight of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar is threatening to blow up in the face of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), just before the regional grouping convenes its 21st summit in Cambodia. 

To help defuse the humanitarian fallout, ASEAN has offered to work closely with the Myanmar government and the United Nations, in the same way this tripartite arrangement effectively provided relief to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008. 

But Myanmar has rejected the offer on the grounds that the conflict is an internal affair, according to ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan. He said that the atrocities, if not ended, could radicalise the Rohingya Muslims and destabilise South-east Asia. 

Dr Surin's warning bell is timely. There are signs of growing agitation, especially within the Muslim communities of South-east Asia, at the seeming lack of peace efforts on the part of the Myanmar government and the international community.