Census data shows Myanmar Muslim population has fallen

After a two-year-delay, the government of Myanmar has finally released controversial data on religion from a 2014 census.

The results of the Myanmar Population and Housing Census had been on hold since results were compiled, due to fears that they may inflame tensions between the country's Buddhist and Muslim populations

Figures released Thursday show that the country's Muslim population has fallen from 3.9 percent of the overall population in the 1983 census to just 2.3 percent -- a figure that does not include around 1.2 million mostly Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine State -- who were not enumerated.

Countrywide, 89.8 percent registered as Buddhist, 6.3 percent as Christian, 2.3 percent as Muslim, 0.5 percent as Hindu, 0.8 percent as Animist, 0.2 percent as "other" and 0.1 percent as having no religion, according to the report.

Violence threatens new Myanmar

Silence from the government in the face of escalating anti-Muslim attacks only adds fuel to the fire and undermines aspirations for a peaceful future in Myanmar, Daniel P Sullivan writes.

The recent destruction of a Muslim prayer hall in central Myanmar, and the burning of a mosque in the north, mark a rekindling of tensions that have been smouldering since the first large-scale attacks against Muslims in the country in 2012.

Those attacks, initially sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in June and followed by more coordinated attacks targeting Muslims in October, ended with 200 dead and 140,000 displaced, mostly Muslims. The timing of these most recent attacks, just as the new Aung San Suu Kyi-led government reached its first 100 days in power, is an inauspicious reminder of the dangers of not addressing those hate-driven dynamics.

Village Administrator Extorted Money From Arakanese Rohigyas in Maungdaw

Maungdaw: Village administrator in Gojondiya village of southern Maungdaw extorted money from innocent Rohingya farmers with the promise of building barriers for their farmlands, which are under salty water now.

In the incident, since last 2 months up to 300 acre of farmlands of the villagers were under salty water, which prevented them from farming even in this rainy season, thus stopping their livelihoods.

When the situation was known to the village administrator Ibrahim S/O Jafar Ahmed (35), he promised to build barriers for every farm lands and extorted 20,000 Kyats from each house from the whole village, which is a home to 300 houses.

It’s been 2 months now no barriers have been built and villagers are in continuous limbo without farming. Poor farmers are in starving and tensed situation due to their cease of farming.

Money Extortion from helpless Rohingyas became a part of their daily persecution schedule, where authorities are held freely with their uniforms for persecution. (Source rvisiontv.com)

Magh (Rakhines) Brutally Injured An Arkanese Rohingya Fisherman in Kyauktaw

KYAUKTAW: Mough villagers attacked a Rohingya fisherman while passing by Mough village on his way to fishing on 11th July,2016, according to an eyewitness.

The victim is identified to be Najim Uddin S/O Abdur Rahim who hails from khazifara village of Kyauktaw Township.

In the incident the innocent fisherman was passing by the Mough village as the way to his fishing was blocked due to the rise of water level of the stream. Therefore, he had to use the road beside Mough Village.

When Mough villagers saw him passing by they used stones to attack, injuring him severely on his hands, legs, and chest.

Earlier in January, 2016 two Rohingya fisherman were also shot dead by BGP.

Attacks and Killing by Government authorities have been a common issue in the daily lives of Arkanese Rohingya, which are made unbearable with the collaboration of Moughs as well. (Source rvisiontv.com)

Suu Kyi Must Share Guilt for Rohingya Deaths, Suffering

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s democracy icon, now the effective head of her country’s government, being both state counselor and foreign minister, has taken into her own hands the job of achieving peace and development in the country’s northwestern state of Rakhine. There’s a lot of power in those hands. There’s also blood on them.

Recently President Htin Kyaw, Myanmar’s nominal head of government, appointed his de facto boss, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as chair of the Central Committee for Implementation of Peace and Development in Rakhine State.

The office of the state counselor said members of the committee would soon go on an inspection trip to Rakhine State but didn’t say exactly when or if Aung San Suu Kyi herself would be going. She did call to the capital city, Nay Pyi Taw, the chief minister of Rakhine and ministers of the national government for a meeting on peace and development.

EU Parliament slams Myanmar's anti-Rohingya practices

The European Parliament condemned Myanmar on Thursday for practices that discriminate against its minority Muslim community in western Rakhine State, home to around a million stateless Rohingya.

In a statement, the EU body expressed “deep concern about the plight of Rohingya in south-east Asia.”

The parliamentarians urged authorities through a non-legislative resolution to “ensure free and unimpeded access to Rakhine State, where some 120,000 Rohingya remain in more than 80 internal displacement camps, for humanitarian actors, the United Nations, international human rights organizations, journalists and other international observers.”

Buddhist nationalists protest NLD’s policy on naming Rohingya

Buddhist hardliners on Sunday staged protests across Rakhine state against the NLD’s call for Rohingya Muslims to be referred to as the ‘Muslim community in Rakhine’.

The new National League for Democracy government has been under pressure from human rights groups and others to accept the term ‘Rohingya, which is how the persecuted minority identify themselves.

Meanwhile Buddhist extremists who see the group as interlopers from Bangladesh have called for the term to be rejected in favor of the word ‘Bengali’. Suu Kyi’s government has been accused of assuaging hardliners by encouraging the UN and others not to use the term Rohingya.