Myanmar’s Buddhist-Rohingya Crisis: Resources

Rohingya are ethnic Muslims in Myanmar (formerly Burma) which, as you can see from the map below, borders Laos, Thailand, China, Bangladesh, and India.

The Rohingya are not among the 134 minorities recognized by the Myanmar government. Radical Buddhist monks, led by Ashin Wirathu, charge that the Rohingya Muslims want to create an Islamic state.

Wirathu, who once called himself the “Burmese bin Laden,” wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.  He leads a movement, called the 969 movement, that wants to dispel the Rohingya  from  Myanmar.

The 969 movement uses terror like looting and arson in an attempt to force the Muslims out. In addition, they have forced most Rohingya into so-called refugee camps. Many in the press say these camps are not refugee camps but concentration camps.

One characteristic of these camps, according to Reuters, in a special report, is the movement of Rohingya Muslims into trafficking rings.  That happens when the Rohingya flee into neighboring Thailand.

As thousands of Rohingya flee Myanmar to escape religious persecution, a Reuters investigation in three countries has uncovered a clandestine policy to remove Rohingya refugees from Thailand’s immigration detention centers and deliver them to human traffickers waiting at sea.

For all these reasons, the United Nations call the Rohingya Muslims one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Two of the three videos clips below, the first from the BBC, and the second from Rohingya Video News, review who the Rohingya are and why they are being persecuted.  The third clip, from the Guardian, discusses Ashin Wirauthu and is definitely worth watching.

In addition here are links to excellent stories about  the Rohingya and the Panthay and their tragic plight.

• The New York Times has an excellent story about the Panthay, Chinese Muslims in Mandalay. The story is called “Mandalay’s Chinese Muslims Chilled by Riots.”
• Al Jazeera has a number of good stories about the Rrohingya, one called “Myanmar’s Buddhist-Rohingya ethnic divide,”  another called “Rohingya deaths denied by Myanmar government.”
• Time Magazine has a very readable story about the concentration camps called “These Aren’t Refugee Camps, They’re Concentration Camps, and People Are Dying in Them”
• Reuters has a disturbing story called “Special Report – Thailand secretly dumps Myanmar refugees into trafficking rings“
• New York Times columnist, Keaan Malik, has an edinteresting itorial called Myanmar’s Buddhist Bigots
• The Guardian has a story about the radical Buddhist monk, Wirthau, at the heart of the crisis in Myanmar. The story is called “Buddhist monk uses racism and rumours to spread hatred in Burma.”
• BBC’s Heart and Soul has good 20 minute documentary  about the 969 movement called 969: How Burma’s Buddhist Monks Turned on Islam