The Rohingya crisis and Myanmar's dark road to democracy

TheNewArab

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is set to form a civilian government for the second time in a row following the end of Myanmar's 50-year military rule.

The NLD won by a huge margin of 396 parliamentary seats in the 8 November election against the military-aligned main opposition party the Union Solidarity of Development Party (USDP), securing a second five-year term.

In-depth: Excluded from voting and long denied citizenship, Rohingya Muslims face a precarious future in post-election Myanmar. 

Reversing the Rohingya Crisis: One Woman at a Time

IPS

By Fairuz Ahmed

 

Female Training at centers. Credit: Bidyanondo Foundation

NEW YORK, Nov 16 2020 (IPS) - “This is a crisis without a quick fix that could take years to resolve unless there are concerted efforts to address its root causes”, says Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes.

Macron’s misreading of an Islamic “crisis”

GLOBAL COMMENT

Shaher Tabbaa
Around the Globe Commentary Politics Religion
November 12, 2020

On 2 October, President Macron acknowledged in a speech that France had failed its immigrant communities – immigrants, with lingering animosities, from French colonies where France committed untold atrocities, and with poor living conditions – creating “our own separatism” with ghettos of “misery and hardship” where people were lumped together according to their origins and social background. ‘Districts were created where the promise of the Republic has no longer been kept, and where messages of radicalism found resonance with some inhabitants’.

He also added that Islam is a religion which is experiencing a crisis today, all over the world, citing multiple reasons.

He inadvertently neglected to mention that evil resides in the heart of deviants that would do wrong with little encouragement from a variety of influences: religious hyperbole, greed, racism, ethnicity, vengeance, or political dogma. That those deviants are in the minority, and represent only themselves.

Myanmar Went To the Polls for the Second Time Since the End of Military Rule but the Election Was Not Free or Fair

TIMES

By Wai Wai Nu

November 12, 2020 

Officials of the Union Election Commission count votes during the multi-party general elections at a polling station in Yangon, Myanmar, Nov. 8, 2020.
U Aung—Xinhua via Getty

 

The Rohingya Muslim minority, to which I belong, was again disenfranchised during Myanmar’s election on Nov. 8. My community, which has faced violence and discrimination, is being even further erased from our country. Many ethnic Rakhine, Shan, Kachin, and Karen were also not able to vote. An election that excludes entire communities because of their identity cannot be considered credible, free, nor fair.

War, not politics: Troubled election deepens tension in Myanmar's Rakhine

REUTERS
By Shoon Naing

 

YANGON (Reuters) - Yarzar Tun’s whole family backed Myanmar’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in the landslide 2015 election that swept her to power. As fighting this year in western Rakhine state crept closer to his home, he decided he would not vote for her again. 

People wearing protective gear line up to vote at a polling station during the general election in Taungup, Rakhine State, Myanmar, November 8, 2020. ÊREUTERS/Stringer

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has claimed another commanding win in a parliamentary election on Sunday, the second since the end of half a century of military rule. But in Rakhine the NLD was rejected by voters such as Yarzar Tun and his family, who backed an ethnic nationalist party instead.

Editorial: Time for Aung San Suu Kyi to start acting like the Nobel winner she is

Los Angeles Times

Opinion 
The Times Editorial Board
Nov. 11, 2020

 

Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in 2017.

(Aung Shine Oo / Associated Press)

 

While much of the world has been fixated on the electoral drama in the U.S., another fraught election took place this past weekend in a country racked by violence and human rights abuses.

For only the second time since it transitioned from a military dictatorship into a fledgling democracy in 2015, voters in the South Asian country of Myanmar went to the polls to elect members of its parliament. The ruling National League of Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Sui Kyi, has reportedly won in a bigger landslide than it did five years ago. Just as in the U.S., masses of voters turned out, enduring long lines despite a surge of coronavirus cases.

Japan’s Kirin Suspends Payments to Myanmar Military Firm

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Sebastian Strangio

November 12, 2020

The Japanese beverages firm Kirin has suspended dividend payments to a tentacular Myanmar business conglomerate linked to the country’s military, the company announced this week. In a statement on November 11, Kirin Holdings Company, announced that it had suspended all dividend payments from two Myanmar beer ventures to Kirin and the Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL).

Myanmar Election Delivers Another Decisive Win for Aung San Suu Kyi

The New York Times 

By Hannah Beech and Saw Nang

Nov. 11, 2020

The civilian leader’s reputation overseas has been stained by her defense of a military accused of genocide. But in voting on Sunday, her party easily secured a parliamentary majority.

Supporters of the National League for Democracy in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday with portraits of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whom many in the country still regard as a bulwark against military rule.Credit...Ye Aung Thu/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 

The political party led by Myanmar’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is poised to stay in power after winning what is only the second truly contested election the country has held in decades, though one in which many voters from ethnic minority groups were prevented from casting their ballots.

Sheltering the Rohingya: The commendable instance of unparalled support by Bangladesh

The Daily Star

Opinion
Captain A F M Ahsan Uddin
November 10, 2020 

 

A boat carrying suspected ethnic Rohingya migrants is seen detained in Malaysian territorial waters, in Langkawi, Malaysia on April 5, 2020. File Photo: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/Handout via Reuters

 

"Water, water, everywhere, not a drop to drink" said Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his famous poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.  

                                                                                           Captain A F M Ahsan Uddin

As a sailor, we always feel this and thus our relation with the sea becomes inseparable in our life. Sometimes we forget the presence of air around us, though we inhale it every second, likewise, at times we tend to realise our engrossed relation with the sea. However, the same feeling suddenly popped up when we saw a forlorn mechanised boat -- at deep sea for months -- carrying a huge number of people including women and children. They even didn't have water to drink, even though they were surrounded by the sea. 

There was news regarding a few hundred of Rohingya at deep sea in mechanised boats seeking refuge to Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand since April 2020. As Bangladesh Navy had been quite vigilant since long and were carrying out   patrols round the clock to prevent illegal migration of Rohingya from Myanmar, we, the sailors at sea, were alert. Our mission was twofold -- first, to prevent another Rohingya influx, and second, to intercept or rescue them if they are stranded.

Myanmar ‘undermining lifeblood of democracy’ before polls

Aljazeera

Andrew Nachemson

7 Nov 2020

 

Anti-Muslim sentiment intensify across the majority Buddhist country ahead of November 8 vote, threatening to disenfranchise minority groups. 

 

 

 

In 2015, the National League for Democracy won Myanmar’s first democratic election in decades in a landslide, catapulting Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to de facto head of state and heralding a new era of anticipated democratic reforms.

The heady optimism all came crashing down in 2017, when some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims were driven out of the country in a brutal campaign of arson, rape and murder which has since been described as a genocide. Shockingly, to some, Aung San Suu Kyi refused to condemn the atrocities and even defended the Myanmar military.

Bangladesh Will Wage a Quiet Battle with China and Russia Over the Rohingya

THE NATIONAL INTREST
by Anders Corr
November 6, 2020

Dhaka could diplomatically distance itself from Beijing and Moscow for insufficiently supporting it on critical issues such as refugees, trade, water and climate change.

Two of the most important political figures in Bangladesh, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Ambassador Muhammad Zamir, did a remarkable thing on Oct. 31. They indicated publicly that Bangladesh could diplomatically distance itself from China and Russia for insufficiently supporting Bangladesh on critical issues such as water, refugees, trade, and climate change.

 

They, the people

The Statemen

Statesman News Service
New Delhi
November 4, 2020 

 

But there was hope that with the passage of time, the military would relax its grip and Myanmar’s democratic structures would gather strength. Certainly, there was hope that the vexed question of the Rohingya, deemed stateless in the nation they live in, would be resolved, substantially if not entirely satisfactorily.

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Ky (File Photo: IANS) 

While the attention of the world remains riveted on an election taking place this week, another election of significance to this region will take place five days later, in Myanmar which was conditionally welcomed into the comity of democratic nations five years ago.

At the threshold, it was known that Myanmar was giving itself a flawed democratic structure for it yielded to its military a quarter of the parliamentary seats and accepted a condition where the country’s best known leader, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi would be forced to play a constricted role because of a constitutional bar on her becoming de facto head of government.

 

A Sham Election May Be the ‘Nail in the Coffin’ for Democracy in Myanmar

WPR

Prachi Vidwans  

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020

Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, attends a ceremony at the National League for Democracy’s temporary headquarters in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sept. 8, 2020 (AP photo by Aung Shine Oo).

Myanmar is preparing to hold general elections this Sunday, an occasion that might have marked a significant milestone in its ongoing transition from decades of military rule. The previous polls, in 2015, saw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy finally win the presidency and a majority of seats in parliament, following the dissolution of the military junta in 2011. Hopes were high that Suu Kyi, who is now Myanmar’s de facto leader, would usher in a new era of peace and expanded freedoms. Yet the consensus today is that Myanmar’s democratic transition has stalled—if it can even be said to be transitioning at all.

EU mobilizes international donors to support Rohingya refugees and countries in the region

europorter

EU Reporter Correspondent

October 27, 2020

Last week the European Union, along with the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees co-hosted the International Donors' Conference in solidarity with Rohingya refugees and countries in the region.

The EU mobilized a total of €96 million for Rohingya refugees in 2020 for humanitarian, development co-operation as well as conflict prevention support.

Representing the EU at the conference, Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič said: “Today the international community came together to show its support and deliver further assistance to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees and the communities hosting them. We must do all we can so the Rohingya crisis does not become a forgotten tragedy. At this difficult time, the EU continues to stand by the most vulnerable with this emergency humanitarian support.”

India Transfers Myanmar’s First Submarine Amid Tensions with China

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Blake Herzinger
October 27, 2020

he submarine acquisition fulfills a long-held ambition of the Myanmar Navy, but could prove costly in the long run.

The long-awaited transfer of a Russian-made Kilo-class submarine from India to Myanmar took place last week during Myanmar’s Bandoola fleet exercise. The submarine, UMS Min Ye Thein Kha Thu, a decades-old diesel boat, is only a single vessel but it has significance in Myanmar’s immediate neighborhood and is also indicative of the increasing strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific.

OP-ED: Democracy without rights

Dhaka Tribune 

Md Jahid Hashan
Published : October 26th, 2020 

A call for postponing the elections was confidently dismissed by the ruling NLD REUTERS

The 2020 Myanmar general election is already shaping up to be fundamentally flawed.

The 2020 Myanmar general election is scheduled to be held on November 8. This election is a significant landmark, as Myanmar’s second general election is based on a multi-party democracy. It is also a crucial litmus test of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) ability to rule properly.

Myanmar Genocide Lawsuit Is Filed at United Nations Court

The New York Times 

By Marlise Simons

Updated Jan. 23, 2020

Continue reading the mai

Gambia, on behalf of Rohingya Muslims, opens an international dispute with Myanmar in an effort to have the country’s leadership tried for genocide.

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar after crossing into Bangladesh in September 2017.Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times

PARIS — An arsenal of international laws has failed to confront the impunity of Myanmar’s government and security forces for their deadly purge of the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee a campaign of rape, arson and killing.

But on Monday, Gambia filed a lawsuit accusing Myanmar of genocide, summoning the case before the United Nations’ highest court in an effort to open a legal path against the country’s authorities.

We Cannot Condone the Myanmar Government’s Lies with Silence

JUST SECURITY
Kerry Kennedy and Angelita Baeyens
October 21, 2020

Myanmar soldiers’ confession shows the moment is now to give the Rohingya justice and accountability. 

Of course, the details never added up. But now, with recent confessions from two Myanmar Army soldiers, the truth hangs in the open air, exposing the blatant lies that government officials have told about their genocide against the Rohingya.

That truth was already clear to the dozen of us—human rights lawyers, activists, documentarians, former members of Congress and political aides—who took part in a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights expert delegation trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2018. We arrived in the country hoping to gain a detailed and updated understanding of the Rohingya crisis.

China-linked Myanmar businessman debarred from November Parliamentary polls

The Economic Times 

Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury

Oct 19,2020 

Since entering Myanmar from China in 2013, Michael Kyaw Myint has purchased several buildings and land plots in Yangon, Naypyitaw and Pyin Oo Lwin

NEW DELHI: Michael Kyaw Myint, till recently chairman of the United Democratic Party (UDP), which was set to field more than 1,130 candidates in Myanmar’s November’s general election—almost as many as the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), is well connected to Chinese transnational organized crime syndicates signifying Beijing’s major attempts to influence politics in the SE Asian country.

Myanmar Calls Off Polling in Rakhine, Shan Conflict Zones

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio
October 19, 2020 

 The cancellations were expected, but some say the decisions were selective and benefit the ruling National League for Democracy.

On October 16, Myanmar’s Union Election Commission (UEC) announced the cancellation of the upcoming national elections in conflict-ridden regions of the country, including swathes of territory in Shan and Rakhine states.