Former Myanmar lawmaker Shwe Maung was presented with a stark choice: Use the term “Rohingya” or lose his political career in July 2015. His account brings back to light Myanmar’s longstanding Rohingya identity crisis, where identity, citizenship and political rights are all intertwined. Shwe Maung remembers his meeting with senior USDP official U Aung Thaung. He states that Aung Thaung …

Myanmar – According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Myanmar’s army committed genocide and crimes against humanity in its violence against the Rohingya minority, and that no one in the country is safe as long as the junta is in power. Blinken claimed the assaults on Rohingya were “widespread and systematic” and that evidence amounted to a clear goal …

Malaysia – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has advised Rohingya people who have UNHCR cards not to be obstinate in their actions and to recognize that they are refugees. The government sympathizes with the group’s position, but any activities that generate issues for the nation will be dealt with, according to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin. …

Indonesia – After locals and the world community protested its intention to drive Rohingya migrants into Malaysian seas, Indonesia said that it would allow dozens of them onshore. At least 100 people, primarily women and children, on a damaged wooden sailboat off the coast of Aceh province were refused asylum in Indonesia, where officials claimed they intended to force them …

ASEAN – The UN said yesterday it feared an even greater human rights catastrophe in Myanmar amid reports of thousands of troops massing in the north of the Southeast Asian country, which has been in chaos since a February coup. “We should all be prepared, as the people in this part of Myanmar are prepared, for even more mass atrocity …

KUALA LUMPUR: According to Reuters, Malaysia decided on Wednesday (Mar 24) to postpone scheduled deportations to Myanmar until after a proposed emergency regional summit to discuss the crisis in Myanmar caused by a military coup. When Malaysia sent back 1,086 Myanmar nationals on Myanmar navy ships last month, just weeks after the military seized power in a Feb 1 coup, …

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — After fleeing a refugee camp in neighboring Indonesia, dozens of Rohingya, mostly women, and children, were captured as they arrived by boat in Malaysia last month, police said Friday. Last year, after risky journeys, nearly 400 members of the persecuted Muslim community from Myanmar arrived in Indonesia by sea, and just over 100 now remain in a camp …

This weekend, the police officers reported that nineteen Rohingya and a Thai woman suspected of housing them were detained for illegal entry into Thailand, as fears about trafficking routes for the Muslim community fleeing Myanmar are increasing. In Myanmar, where freedom of travel and citizenship is denied, and access to work, health care, and schooling is missing, the persecuted Rohingya …

The Indonesian government rescued 99 Rohingya refugees who on June 24 entered North Aceh waters. The decision to save them all is based on humanitarian principles. At that time, the Rohingya refugees were in very poor condition which also endangered their lives. Quoted from Pikiran-Rakyat.com from the Reuters website, in the midst of a new coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, countries around …