SITTWE, Myanmar — The Buddhist abbot tucked his legs under his robes and began to explain. Rohingya Muslims do not belong in Myanmar, and they never have, he said. Their fertility allowed them to overwhelm the local Buddhist population. But now, somehow, many Rohingya seemed to be gone. read more
I don't condone or excuse the violence. But it would be unfortunate hyperbole to call it state-sponsored ethnic cleansing. What is needed in Burma is a comprehensive Constitutional solution which deals with all the ethnic and religious differences as that has been the source of warfare and strife since Burma's independence in 1948. read more
“A U.N. human rights envoy said Myanmar is continuing its ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingya with a ‘campaign of terror and forced starvation’ in Rakhine state, but it is impossible,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. read more
The divergence between how Myanmar and much of the outside world see the Rohingya is not limited to one segment of local society. Nor can hatred in Myanmar of the largely stateless Muslim group be dismissed as a fringe attitude. read more