US Sanctions Chinese Official for Role in Religious Persecution

VOA

Voice of America
13th May 2021,

The United States has sanctioned a Chinese Communist Party official for involvement "in gross violations of human rights, namely the arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners for their spiritual beliefs."

The sanctions against Yu Hui, former office director of the Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, were announced as Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled the State Department's annual Report on International Religious Freedom.

Yu Hui and his family are no longer allowed to enter the U.S., according to a news release.

100 days in power, Myanmar junta holds pretense of control

The News & Observer

GRANT PECK ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK
MAY 12, 2021

FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, anti-coup protesters stand beside burning tires as they fortify their position against the military during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar. One hundred days since their takeover, Myanmar’s ruling generals maintain just the pretense of control over the country. There are fears the military takeover is turning Myanmar into a failed state. (AP Photo, File) AP

After Myanmar’s military seized power by ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, it couldn’t even make the trains run on time. State railway workers were among the earliest organized opponents of the February takeover, and they went on strike.

Health workers who founded the civil disobedience movement against military rule stopped staffing government medical facilities. Many civil servants were no-shows at work, along with employees of government and private banks. Universities became hotbeds of resistance, and in recent weeks, primary and secondary education has begun to collapse as teachers, students and parents boycott state schools.

Global Islamophobia: China, India, and Beyond

INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST
Mohamed Elshekh
MAY 10, 202

State-sponsored persecution and unlawful vigilantism characterize the sociopolitical conditions of many Muslim minority communities. The French Senate’s latest proposal to ban the hijab in public settings and the ongoing exodus of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar spotlight only a few manifestations of Islamophobia in countries across the globe. The laws and rhetoric against Islam and Muslims have led to violent killings, mass migration, and even genocide. These are not merely isolated case studies of Islamophobia but global trends that need to be challenged. Governments have mobilized targeted efforts against the beliefs and practices of Muslims, effectively rejecting international standards which safeguard religious pluralism and the freedom to worship.

OPINION - Purge genocide culprits from democratic leadership: Myanmar

AA

Maung Zarni

08.05.2021

Hesitating to take stand against Rohingya genocide is costing $1B to National Unity Government and blocks its global recognition

File Photo

The author is coordinator of the UK-based Free Rohingya Coalition, general secretary of Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia, and a fellow of the Genocide Documentation Center in Cambodia

LONDON

It was excruciatingly painful for me to watch the four-minute question and answer between US Congressman Brad Sherman and Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s pro-democracy permanent representative to the UN during the virtual hearing, entitled the Unfolding Crisis in Burma hosted by US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on May 4.

Myanmar anti-coup cage fighter arrested as protests continue

Aljazeera
7 May 2021

Warrantless arrests reported across the country as military struggles to assert control amid defiant protest and mounting death toll.

The death toll from the military crackdown since the beginning of the coup in Myanmar has already reached 772, while 3,738 are currently detained or have been sentenced [File: Stringer/Reuters]

A popular mixed martial arts fighter who joined anti-coup protests in Myanmar has been wounded by a homemade bomb and later arrested following an alleged blast – among many others in at least three cities – as the military government struggles to assert control of the country amid a mounting death toll and defiant protests.

Life at disaster’s edge: What it means to start over – again and again

The New Humanitarian

Mohammad Ahtaram
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh

Freelance researcher who left Myanmar in 2017, now living in Bangladesh’s refugee camps

We Rohingya have grown all too accustomed to starting over with nothing – through catastrophic fires and monsoon floods, or after fleeing our homeland in terror

Abdu Rohim and his family are living proof. They were among at least 48,000 people whose homes were burnt to the ground in March when an uncontrollable fire spread through parts of Bangladesh’s refugee camps.

They lost everything. Abdu’s family, including three young children and his elderly parents, are rebuilding their lives over the ashes of their former home.

“My heart breaks when I see them trembling in the cool evening wind,” he told me.

Beyond the Coup in Myanmar: A Northern View

JUST SECURITY
by Taylor Landis

May 6, 2021

(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the Feb. 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar. The series brings together expert local and international voices on the coup and its broader context. The series is a collaboration between Just Security and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School).

Disclaimer: Taylor Landis is an independent human rights expert who worked in Myanmar from 2013 to 2020. She is serving as the author of this piece on behalf of an individual in northern Burma who wished to contribute to this series but cannot be identified due to the serious security threats she currently faces. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the unnamed individual in northern Burma and do not reflect those of any institution with which Taylor is affiliated.

Three Months After Coup, Myanmar Returns to the ‘Bad Old Days’

The New York Times

By Hannah Beech
May 6, 2021
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版

Police are now stopping random people on the streets. A group of secret informers has reappeared. The killings continue, but so does the resistance.

Protesters running as security forces arrive during a crackdown, in Ahlone township, in April.Credit...The New York Times

Every night at 8, the stern-faced newscaster on Myanmar military TV announces the day’s hunted. The mug shots of those charged with political crimes appear onscreen. Among them are doctors, students, beauty queens, actors, reporters, even a pair of makeup bloggers.

Some of the faces look puffy and bruised, the likely result of interrogations. They are a warning not to oppose the military junta that seized power in a Feb. 1 coup and imprisoned the country’s civilian leaders.

As the midnight insects trill, the hunt intensifies. Military censors sever the internet across most of Myanmar, matching the darkness outside with an information blackout. Soldiers sweep through the cities, arresting, abducting and assaulting with slingshots and rifles.

Russia: Blinking, Bombing, Blockading And Burma

Strategy Page

May 6, 2021:

Russians are dismayed at the performance of their economy compared to the East European countries that also lost their communist government (and Russian occupation forces) after 1990. Those nations quickly established economic, diplomatic and military links with Western Europe and the rest of the developed nations. Russia tried to do the same but was hampered by more corruption and less experience with free market economies. In 1991 Russia had been without a free market economy for 70 years. There were was no tradition of free market economics. East European countries (as well as China) were different. They had not lost their free market economies until the late 1940s, meaning it was only 45 years since communism replaced free markets. These nations also had a lot of expatriates in the West who had prospered in the free market and still had ties with family back in the communist homeland. A lot of those expatriate kin were welcomed back even if they talked the local language with an odd accent. This made a big difference but Russian politicians chose to ignore this and blame the poor Russian economic performance on outsiders, namely the West. In 2014 the blame game turned violent when Russian invaded Ukraine, partly because Ukrainians wanted to emulate the East European nations. The invasion triggered economic sanctions from the West. Then there was a technical revolution in extracting oil (fracking) that turned the U.S. and Canada into major oil producers and exporters. This cut the world prince of Russia’s main export, oil and natural gas, by more than half. Over the next five years the major East European nations (Poland, Romania and Hungary) grew about 4 percent a year while Russian GDP grew by less than one percent a year. By 2019 most East European nations, including Turkey had higher per-capital income than Russians. This loss was widely felt, and experienced in Russia.

Burma, Moral Character And ASEAN – OpEd

eurasiareview

Kanbawza Win

May 5, 2021 

For the religious adherence of the world, one might be wondering of whether the people residing in Southeast Asia, ever has a moral obligation, just by witnessing the treatment of Burmese given by the group known as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). It can be witnessed that Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, are staunch Buddhist countries, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei are Muslim countries, Philippines is Christian and the Singaporean believes in Confucianism, a traditional philosophy of humanistic, rationalistic religion, and yet not a single aspect of all the world’s religious teachings are ever applied to the current Burmese crisis. Instead, they are all cocked eyed looking for how to exploit Burma’s vast natural and human resources, as they have done since 1988 under the so called “Constructive Engagement Policy.”

Atrocity Alert No. 251: Myanmar (Burma), Afghanistan and Central African Republic

GLOBAL CENTRE FOR THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT

ATROCITY ALERT (GCR2P)
5 May 2021

Myat Thu Kyaw/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

THREE MONTHS SINCE MYANMAR’S MILITARY COUP, THE DEADLY CRACKDOWN CONTINUES

Last weekend marked three months since Myanmar’s military, headed by Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, overthrew the civilian-led government. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 769 people have been killed by the security forces since 1 February and at least 3,696 people are in detention for resisting the coup.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held a high-level summit on 24 April to discuss the crisis in Myanmar and agreed to a “Five-Point Consensus” which includes an immediate cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among all parties, appointment of a special envoy to facilitate mediation, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit by the envoy to Myanmar. The military issued a statement two days later, indicating they would only consider ASEAN’s proposal “when the situation returns to stability in the country.” Since then, the security forces have continued their deadly crackdown.

Anti-coup Burmese protesters take up military training in jungles of Myanmar

Thaiger

Ann Car
Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Members of Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement, including doctors and students, are taking up military training in the jungles, where they fled to escape a violent crackdown by the junta. Crawling on the ground towards their target of a small village isn’t just in preparation for a simulated clash-the training is to help protect them while they continue to resist the February 1 coup.

Small villages in the country’s ethnic border regions are now hosting white and blue collar workers as they learn how to survive military style in the wake of the Tatmadaw, or Myanmar army’s, takeover. The coup, came after opposition to last November’s democratic election which saw the National League for Democracy party win in a landslide. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Laureate, and head of the NLD party was arrested, along with other leading members of the party. The Tatmadaw argued that the elections were riddled with fraud, but has yet to give any evidence.

ASEAN, Myanmar and Rohingya crisis

Prothomalo

M Sakhawat Hossain
05 May 2021,

I was speaking at a digital seminar at the Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies (BIISS) on 21 April. The topic of the seminar was ‘Rohingya Crisis: Response of the International Community and Repatriation Process’. My presentation was on ‘ASEAN, Myanmar and the Rohingya Crisis’. In other words, I discussed the stance of the ASEAN member states on the Rohingya crisis and Myanmar.

BIISS is better known as the foreign ministry’s think tank and so naturally the ministry’ s Myanmar desk director was present at the seminar. State minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam, as chief guest, gave the concluding speech. The issue was discussed quite openly and the general consensus was that Bangladesh would have to actively step up pressure on Myanmar. While keeping the doors open to continued bilateral talks and repatriation, diplomatic efforts would also have to be increased in the international arena.

OP-ED: What is happening in Myanmar?

Dhaka Tribune
Opinion, Op-Ed
Umran Chowdhury
May 4th, 2021

Bangladesh should strategically plan for any potential deterioration of the situation

The junta in Myanmar badly underestimated the reaction of the country’s public to the first overthrow of a civilian government since 1962. The people of Myanmar have been out in droves since the military coup on February 1, 2021. People from all walks of life have joined the protests. Many diplomats of Myanmar, including the country’s UN envoy, have defected to the opposition.

Young protestors have proven to be as tech savvy as their counterparts in Hong Kong. More than 700 people have been killed in the military’s crackdown against the burgeoning pro-democracy movement. The junta continues to hold political prisoners, including the country’s constitutional president and state counsellor. Recent arrests have included the detention of Wai Moe Naing, a 25-year-old Muslim man who became a prominent anti-coup activist.

On global social media platforms, the hashtag #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar has been trending since the coup. International condemnation of the coup has been swift and widespread. Even China, the military’s longstanding ally, has warned the junta about the security of its investments. Mobs have targeted Chinese-run factories. China has also reportedly reached out to Myanmar’s opposition which styles itself as the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH).

The CRPH considers itself to represent the legitimate government and parliament of Myanmar. It has announced the formation of a National Unity Government after getting the support of ethnic minority rebel groups.

At an ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia took the lead in calling for the release of political prisoners. Singapore’s prime minister described the military’s actions as regressive. Malaysia has withheld its recognition of the junta. India also wishes a return to the democratic path.

During a visit to Washington, the foreign minister of Bangladesh alluded to the pending genocide lawsuit against the Tatmadaw in the International Court of Justice. He also shared Bangladesh’s frustrations over the delayed repatriation of Rohingya refugees, stating “four years almost till now, not a single Rohingya has gone back. We tried bilaterally. We tried multilaterally. We tried trilaterally. We even went to the ICJ court. Nothing worked.” The International Criminal Court is also investigating the unlawful deportation of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh.

Protestors in Myanmar have openly called on the international community to exercise the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine to stop the junta’s attacks on civilians. The military has launched air strikes on Karen rebels near the Thai border. Armed clashes between Karen rebels and the military have caused refugees to flee across the border into neighboring Thailand. There are fears of a broader civil war as rebel groups control large parts of the country, including frontier regions on the borders of northeastern India and southwestern China.

There are also genuine concerns over radicalization, including the prospect of religious extremism taking a foothold in Rakhine State. Extremists also include communists and fascists.

The junta’s commitment to protecting the country’s cultural heritage is also questionable. Reports from Sittwe indicate that a century old mosque is facing possible destruction. The Santikan Mosque, dating to the 15th century period of the Bengal Sultanate, is already in ruins.

The opposition in Myanmar has attempted to forge a federal coalition encompassing all rebel groups. Federal democracy has been a long cherished goal of the people of Myanmar since independence.

Dr Sasa, one of the key CRPH leaders, called on “Rohingya brothers and sisters” to join the pro-democracy movement. Indeed, the Rohingya have been ardent supporters of democracy for decades. It was a grave injustice to see them betrayed by the government of Aung San Suu Kyi before the coup.

The repatriation of the Rohingya hinges on legal reforms like the restoration of citizenship and removal of restrictions on access to public services. The question is whether the opposition in Myanmar will clearly commit to such legal reforms that are essential for federal democracy.

Bangladesh and the international community should maintain communication channels with the CRPH and its National Unity Government. The sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees requires dialogue with all stakeholders in Myanmar, including the country’s political and civil society.

Bangladesh should also strategically plan for any potential deterioration of the situation in Rakhine State. In the past, the government of Bangladesh has spoken of a humanitarian corridor under the oversight of the United Nations. Such a corridor can now be potentially coordinated with the CRPH and its National Unity Government in response to their demands for R2P.

Umran Chowdhury works in the legal field.

Link : Here

‘Now We Are United’: Myanmar’s Ethnic Divisions Soften After Coup

The New York Times

By Hannah Beech
May 3, 2021

Amid the resistance to military rule, some are saying that democracy can’t flourish without respecting the minorities that have been persecuted for decades.

A student protest against military rule in Yangon, Myanmar, earlier this month.Credit...The New York Times

The Myanmar military’s disinformation was crude but effective.

Army propagandists claimed an ethnic group called the Rohingya was burning down its own villages and wanted to swamp Buddhist-majority Myanmar with Islamic hordes. The Rohingya were spinning tall tales, the military said in 2017, about soldiers committing mass rape and murder.

The truth — that troops were waging genocidal operations against Myanmar’s ethnic minorities — was perhaps too shocking for some members of the country’s Bamar ethnic majority to contemplate.

But as Myanmar’s military seized power this year and killed more than 750 civilians, Daw Sandar Myo, an elementary-school teacher, realized that the decades of persecution suffered by the Rohingya and other minorities was real, after all.

Movement in Myanmar could turn towards armed struggle

Socialist Worker
Mon 3 May 2021

Police in Myanmar (Pic: OneNews/WIkimedia commons)

The slaughter of democracy protesters in Myanmar ramped up again last weekend—just days after the regime pledged itself to more “peaceful” methods of repression.

Soldiers, armed police and plain clothed shooters were out in force to chase down protesters marking the third month of military rule.

The killing spree came after last week’s Asean conference of southeast Asian leaders. It had sought to bring stability to Myanmar in the hope that protests and fighting wouldn’t spread beyond its borders into neighbouring China and Thailand.

But the Myanmar military’s apparent acquiescence was clearly just for show.

Calling Out China

SCOOP

Keith Rankin

Tuesday, 4 May 2021,

We humans seem to have a need to coalesce into tribes, and we do this by identifying – and sometimes demonising, or holding in condescension – others who are not us. We also like to anthropomorphise, treating both animals and nations as if they were humans. Thus, 'Peter Rabbit does this'; and 'India does that'.

Of late one of our favourite activities has become 'calling out' others; we like to 'tell off' – even 'cancel' – individual people (or people stereotypes), and we like to tell off countries (or country stereotypes). In doing this we are usually 'letting off steam', and our actions tell us more about ourselves than the targets of our volleys.

Beyond the Coup in Myanmar: Don’t Ignore the Religious Dimensions

JUST SECURITY

Susan Hayward

May 3, 2021

(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series on the Feb. 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar. The series brings together expert local and international voices on the coup and its broader context. The series is a collaboration between Just Security and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School).

The 2007 democratic uprising in Myanmar looked a lot different from the current anti-coup resistance. Sparked by a rise in fuel prices that created further economic burden on an already struggling population, thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns across the country took to the streets in defiance of the military. In a country in which religious actors, institutions, practices, and ideas are deeply influential, the so-called Saffron Revolution, the most recent mass mobilization prior to the current one, had seismic consequences – contributing to the military’s decision to shift to quasi-democratic rule the following year.

They are hunted and in hiding but Myanmar's journalists continue to report the truth

ABC (KTEN)

By Helen Regan, Rebecca Wright and Paula Hancocks, CNN Business

Monday, May 3rd 2021, 

Journalist Ye Wint Thu was already on the run when his name and photo appeared on a wanted list broadcast by Myanmar's military junta.

For weeks, he had been documenting protests in Yangon against the military coup. But in early March, after a colleague was violently arrested in the south of the country, and the junta revoked the licenses of five prominent media organizations, his included, he got word that he should go into hiding.

"I got a call from my source saying I should run right now because they are going to arrest you tonight," said Ye Wint Thu, who is in his late 30s.

Myanmar Swimmer Ditches Olympic Dream In Protest Against Military's 'murderous Regime'

R. REPUBLIC WORLD
Bhavyata Kagrana
2nd May, 2021

The swimmer, Win Htet Oo said that the military government will use him going to the game as propaganda and he doesn't want to stand against his people.

Credit: Win Htet Oo/Twitter

One of Myanmar's top swimmers, Win Htet Oo has left his Olympic dream behind because he does not want to be a part of the "propaganda" regime. According to the swimmer, his participation in the game would mean standing against his people who are currently suffering under the military government. 26-year-old Win abandoned his dream and said that he is no longer going to Tokyo, reported Frontier Myanmar.

"Military government in Myanmar 'murderous'"

He called the current government 'a murderous regime' and added that he will not accept the MOC (Myanmar Olympic Committee). In a Facebook post of April, Ko Win Htet Oo wrote that he won't "march in the [opening ceremony’s] Parade of Nations under a flag steeped in my people’s blood.”