Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.
On August 25, 2017, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked some 30 police outposts and an army base in Rakhine State, causing the Myanmar Army to respond with security clearance operations.
The renewed violence has sent thousands of Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists fleeing their homes to temporary camps in the region or across the border to Bangladesh.
Is the international media mistaken when they use phrases like “genocide of the Rohingya?”
Yes, a lot. Journalists have to focus more on diversifying their sources of documentation. I agree it may not be easy. I think there is enormous responsibility on media in Myanmar now that is opening up. Myanmar writers, Myanmar ethnicities take a responsible stand on this. It will not help if they take sides. But you need to be critical and self-critical. All we can say for now is Rakhine is in a critical state, no one is safe there.
International media should not escalating the 'hate' to the world with unclear statements.
The Rohingyas maintain the view that they are long standing residents of western Myanmar, and they also maintain the view that their community includes a mixture of precolonial and colonial settlers. The official stance of the Myanmar government, however, has been regarded they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Myanmar's government does not recognize the term "Rohingya" and it prefers to refer to the community as Bengalis.
Prior to the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis and the military crackdown in 2016 and 2017, the Rohingya population in Myanmar was around 1.1 to 1.3 million, 98% of the total population in Rakhine are Rohingya.
They reside mainly in the northern Rakhine townships.
As of today, Rohingyas have fled to southeastern Bangladesh as well as to India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
More than 100,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar live in camps internally as displaced, and the authorities restricted their movement or allowed them to leave. Probes by the UN have found evidence of increasing incitement of hatred and religious intolerance by "ultra-nationalist Buddhists" against Rohingyas while the Burmese security forces have been conducting "summary executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and ill-treatment and forced labour" against the violent group of Rohingyas community.
International media and human rights organizations have often described the Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
According to the United Nations, the human rights violations against the Rohingyas could be termed "crimes against humanity".
No comments:
Post a Comment