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1,600 Rohingyas, others land in Indonesia and Malaysia

7 Comments
By MARGIE MASON and ROBIN McDOWELL

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7 Comments
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Really terrible. Only the kids show no despair because they're not old enough to understand how dire their situation is.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Many of these Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar originated from India and Bangladesh which do not want them. Both countries and Myanmar already have more than enough poor people that they can not take care of.

The Myanmar government and the native Myanmar people regard them as illegal and unwanted aliens. Those countries which criticise the Myanmar government should resettle these refugees in their countries instead of being hypocritical.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Many of these Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar originated from India and Bangladesh

You are parroting the Myanmar army script here.

These Rohingyas belong to Myanmar, there forefathers migrated to that country hundreds of years ago. Labeling them as Bangladeshis or Indians is the Myanmar army's way of disowning people who have lived in that country for hundreds of years.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

The Myanmar Government and the masses did heinous crimes against these minorities, they burnt their villages, killed them, looted them and raped their women, but unfortunately the international community and the press remain silent till the social media brought the news out. these people are still suffering in their everyday life.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The Rohingyas, who are Muslim, have for decades suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which considers them illegal settlers from Bangladesh. Attacks on the Rohingyas by Buddhist mobs in the last three years have sparked an exodus to nearby countries.

The reporters should learn Burmese and Arakan history before they wrote about the problem between so called Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Burmese. It’s unfair to accuse and blame entirely on Buddhist Burmese without understanding the whole story.

I have been to Burma many times and researching for any clue about Rohingya in Burmese and British Burmese history for my own curiosity. I found no Rohingya ethnic record in British colony Burma’s achieved, Burmese and Arakan history. Arakan state has Muslim Kaman ethnic but I can not find Rohingya name. Rohingya name was found only after Burma independent from British.

Rohingya was in fact Bengali from Bangladesh. They migrate into Arakan state around 60s without proper paper and more flee to Arakan state during East and West Pakistan war in 1971. And then, the Bengalis continue illegal migrating into Arakan state because of lack of farming land for poor and job opportunity in Bangladesh. Corrupted Burmese immigration officers have took money from illegal Bengali migrants and give them fake ID card. Some rich Bengali peoples have paid hansom money and get family registration and National Identity cards for their family from corrupted Immigration officers in Arakan state. Now 95% population of Buthidaung and Maungdaw Township were Muslim Bengali and only a few Buddhist Arakan peoples were left behind and most of Arakan peoples are moving to other town because they scare to live with Muslim Bengalis.

After the East and West Pakistan war, Burmese Government didn’t ask UN for repatriate Bengali peoples who flee into Burma from East Pakistan during the war. Also Bangladeshi Government didn’t ask war refugees and its former citizens to return to Bangladesh after the war. Indian had repatriated East Pakistan citizen Hindu ethnic peoples to India from Arakan state, Burma after and during the war.

Now those former citizens of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) are stateless because Burmese Government didn’t ask UN for to repatriate to newly independent Bangladesh after the war and the Bangladesh’s law didn’t recognize then as its citizens.

Why Rohingya name was important for Bengali peoples? Because, both Burmese Constitution 1947 and 1982 said indigenous of Burma must be settled within the Union as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 A. D. (1185 B.E.). So the Bengali peoples have tried established they were descendent of 19 century ship wreck Arab merchants and local Arakan women but that story was rejected by historians from Arab and West. Also Arakanese Kaman Muslim ethnic has rejected Rohingya were native peoples of Arakan state.

Also Burma was facing other problem it was native Jumma peoples of Chittagong Hill Tracts fleeing into Burma. Burmese Government has unofficially recognized them as Burmese ethnics and currently Government has resettled them in Arakan State. CHT was former Arakan Kingdom territory but British Colony Government had not returned to Burma along with Assam and Manipur in India when Burma was given independent by British.

Burmese Government has no other choice and must grant citizenship to peoples who illegally entered and settled in Arakan state before 1971 because Burmese Government had failed to act on repatriate of refugees and illegal migrants of East Pakistan after the war was end.

UNHCR has to expect more peoples fleeing from impoverished Bangladesh. Southern part of Bangladesh was sinking into sea because the country was built on very low lying area. It has effect 20 millions peoples’ lives who living on Southern part of Bangladesh. They have to move from their land in next decade. Bangladesh was over populated and currently it has 160 millions peoples. It needs to control population growth rate. More Bangladeshi will flee their country for to escape poverty and heading to Malaysia, Australia and other wealthy Asia countries for work. India has hosting about 4 millions illegal Bengali migrants from Bangladesh. There are ethnic tension between Native peoples and illegal settler Bengali migrants in Assam and Manipur state in India as well as Chitagong Hill tracts in Bangladesh. Bangladesh over populated problem was like a time bomb and half of current population will need to resettle in somewhere else in next decades. UN must pay attention on Bangladesh population growth rate now.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Regardless of who they are, treatment outlined in the story is atrocious and must be stopped.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I found no Rohingya ethnic record in British colony Burma’s achieved,

Maybe your research for faulty and you found only what you wanted to look for.

The British took Bengali Muslims to Burma in the 17th and 18th century, so the Rohingyas have existed in Burma since that time. This is well documented and you do not need to go to Burma to check these facts.

There have been migrations in the 20th century also, but labeling all Rohingyas as Bangladeshis is ignorance.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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