Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

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pilgrim
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by pilgrim »

I agree with Dymtro that the international news agencies have been one-sided and reporting from the perspective of oppression of the Rohingya only. The issue is, as remarked by many, quite complicated and the media paints it as though the Rohingya have always been the victims. The other side of the story has been pretty much ignored.

The Rakhine try to live peacefully in Arakan but have been consistently terrorized by gangs of Rohingyas who pillage isolated Rakhine villages. Over the decades the Rohingya numbers have swelled and crimes have become increasingly violent and brazen. In the eyes of the Rakhine, the Rohingya who have no legal status in the country, are illegal immigrants who use their overpowering numbers and violence to displace the Rakhine from their villages and homes. Buddhist or not, these are poor people living in a agrarian community with little support from their government. Their options for facing up to this problem is pretty limited.

In the ensuing riots, the Rohingya have run to the international community and the middle east countries playing the victim card. Pakistani media even reported a ridiculous number of 50,000 Rohingya were massacred. The Burmese government, on the other hand have few friends, and most countries are already pointing accusing figures of genocide, when facts indicate they have brought a measure of control and calm to the region.
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Ben
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Ben »

Mr Man wrote:
Ben wrote:Greetings LY,

Anything you hear needs to be taken with a grain of salt.


Ben
So was Aung San Suu Kyi held under house arrest for many years? It's your opinion that most of the reports of human rights abuses in Myanma are fictional?
Be assured that there are very powerful vested interests at work behind the scenes and manufacturing consent via the stories you are reading or learning about via the media (btw, which includes the ex-patriot organs for the Burmese opposition - The Irriwaddy and the Democratic Voice of Burma - and Amnesty International).
Question everything and follow the evidence.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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Mr Man
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Mr Man »

Ben, of cause there are vested interests at play but that does not negate the culpability of a despotic regime. to "disregard just about every news report on activities in the country" is, in my opinion, ostrich like. :)
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Ben
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Ben »

As I said, Mr Man, question everything and follow the evidence.
If that makes me 'ostrich like', then so be it.
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Mr Man
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Mr Man »

Ben you also said "I am inclined to disregard just about every news report on activities in the country". Not sure how easy it is to follow the evidence.

-----

Here is a news report from Phucket: http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phuket-mil ... ves-16364/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mawkish1983
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Mawkish1983 »

Regardless of the facts (or otherwise), the media reporting does affect the western public perception of Myanmar and Buddhism. Some of my friends smuggly present at these news reports as evidence that 'Buddhism is just another religion' and to show that 'all religions cause war'; or words to that effect. I try not to engage in those types of discussions because I don't know the facts and any defense of Buddhism would seemingly be driven from pride in the path I've chosen. Again, the facts become hidden by the effect of third party perception.
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imagemarie
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by imagemarie »

Ben wrote:question everything and follow the evidence.
Is right I think. And I thank drifting cloud for raising the topic. I have, as a result, been doing my own researches on the internet.
but what good is there in condemning the monks, the Burmese, the Muslims, or the ethnic groups involved? It is a complicated issue
No good at all. But we can seek to understand, as much as possible, our own reactions to events that are reported, and to see where WE are invested.

:anjali:
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SDC
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by SDC »

drifting cloud wrote:I am a little disappointed that this thread has garnered so little interest
You should be happy. Chalk up the lack of interest to people not seeing this issue as anymore important than any other just because it involves Buddhism.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
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Assaji
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Assaji »

A credible view from inside:

88 Generation Leaders Speak Out on Rohingya Issue

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11004" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Assaji
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Assaji »

An article from independent source:

How big is the Rohingya uprising?

http://www.facebook.com/notes/may-thing ... 7478288810" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(also at http://moemaka.org/index.php?option=com ... Itemid=309" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
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Kim OHara
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Kim OHara »

Thanks for those links, Dmytro.
No references to Buddhist monks participating in any of the unrest there.
:juggling:

Kim
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Assaji
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Assaji »

I lived for a long time in a big country which enthusiastically fought for freedom of oppressed people worldwide.
There were daily stories of minority heroes struggling against the unjust persecution abroad.
Schoolchildren wrote compositions in support of regime victims, and collected humanitarian aid to send abroad.
Newspapers mourned the poor people abroad, suffering from exploitation.

Actually, these were the crocodile's tears - the Soviet Union, under the guise of fighting for freedom, supported the subversive and terrorist groups worldwide.
Now this country is gone for good.
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Mr Man
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Mr Man »

Dmytro, so do you think that there is no reason for concern with how Rohingya are treated in Myanmar?


An article from independent source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 872635.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Assaji
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Assaji »

Mr Man wrote:Dmytro, so do you think that there is no reason for concern with how Rohingya are treated in Myanmar?
Mr Man, the problem is wider. The immigrants from Bangladesh won't come to Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia if the conditions in Bangladesh weren't even worse.
Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia won't grant them citizenship, so they are left without place to live.

Now that the climate change brought extensive flooding to Bangladesh, this exasperates the Bangladesh extreme conditions.
The climate change will bring a big northward wave of immigration worldwide.

Imagine for a moment a big wave of immigrants from South Africa settling in Greece, Italy and Spain, not assimilating culturally, and demanding their own autonomy.
Or a wave of Mexican immigrants oversweeping the border due to Mexican desertification.
This would also cause ethnical clashes.

Rohingya region is somewhat like Kosovo - there's no easy solution which would preserve the delicately balanced multinational integrity of Myanmar.

Surely there are grave reasons for concern. There's an urgent need for people who would be able to comprehend the entire situation and help to solve it without blaming and accusations. Perhaps UN would be helpful in this regard.

Even BBC, unfortunately, presents a biased view.
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Mr Man
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Re: Rohingya Massacres, Theravada Complicity?

Post by Mr Man »

Dmytro, The Rohingya have generaly been settled in Myanmar for many decades. They, for the most, are not recent imigrants from Bangladesh they are not bengali. Myanmar it their home and they deserve to be recognised as a distinct ethnic group within that country.
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