Habib Siddiqui

The news below is from KUNA : WASHINGTON, June 11 (KUNA) -- Hollywood actor Matt Dillon has lent his name to the cause of the Rohingya Muslims in Southeast Asia, after becoming the first Western celebrity and human rights advocate to visit the refugee camps in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. The Oscar-nominated actor told reporters at the National Press Club on Thursday that conditions for the stateless Rohingya in Myanmar - particularly close to the border with Bangladesh - are akin to "a Polish ghetto under the Nazis." "The first impression when you visit these camps right away is that nobody would live there if they had the choice," he said, adding that "young men's spirits were broken. You could see it in their eyes." "There were signs of malnutrition among the children. We met people who tried to escape unsuccessfully and spent several months at sea, starved and beaten, only to return for ransom - they had to pay a ransom," he sa...

Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, one of the foremost statesmen of our time, has been very critical of Myanmar. It should be pointed out that without his direct involvement as a prime minister of Malaysia, Myanmar would not or could not become an ASEAN member state. Now that decision is hurting him to see how the savage Myanmar regime has been conducting genocidal activities against the Rohingya people. He is calling the ASEAN to expel Myanmar from its group. Unfortunately, ASEAN will not expel him. It is very dysfunctional when it comes to disciplining one of its rogue members. Dr. Mahathir also laments that Suu Kyi is silent and has not responded to his letter. As I pointed out, the genocide against the Rohingyas of Myanmar has become a national project with enjoying widespread support within the Buddhist community, esp. those inside Myanmar. Suu Kyi is an immoral and opportunist politician with no bite of conscience. To her, getting to the top at any cost, including sitting on the lap ...

My attention was drawn to the recent Economist editorial on the plight of the Rohingya people in which it called the genocide an exaggeration. I am offended by such an assertion by the editor of the UK based magazine, which has been struggling to keep its head afloat with silly and eves-dropping reporters. It has failed miserably to call a spade a spade. Here below is the comment I posted in the Economist: "Only a shallow, dull witted person would fail to see the continued stigmatization, harassment, isolation and the systematic weakening of rights of the Rohingya people as genocide. No wonder that from genocide experts to 10 Nobel Laureates (from Desmond Tutu to Amartya Sen) don't have problem calling the Rohingya's persecution as genocide. It is therefore silly and absurd to see the Economist editorial deny the epithet of genocide on what is happening to the Rohingya people of Myanmar. It is no exaggeration but a fact. Shame on the Economist for failing to say so....

The racist Buddhist monk Wirathu is a war criminal for inciting genocidal activities against the persecuted Rohingyas of Myanmar. In reference to his call for exterminating the Rohingya people, he recently said,   “When you leave a seed, from a tree, to grow in a pagoda, it seems so small at first. But you know you must cut it out, before it grows and destroys the building.” Such messages from the ultra-racist Wirathu have energized many Buddhists to unleash their genocidal pogroms against the Rohingya minorities of Myanmar since 2012. If anyone is looking for finding grounds for which he can be sent to the Hague, there are plenty of such hate-filled utterances by this Buddhist monk.

I was informed by a Rohingya activist that Aye Chan, the Rakhine ultra-racist, preacher of hatred and intolerance and hate-provocateur against the persecuted Rohingya people wants to debate with me. Here below is my reply: When a dog barks, humans don't need to bark with it. I don't want to dignify a savage like Aye Chan who has refused to civilize himself and continues to drum up support for genocidal activities against the persecuted Rohingya people. His education from a third rate university and teaching in a fourth rate university has not prepared him well to qualify for a debate with me. Truly speaking, such savages don't belong on the podium with human rights activists but behind the gallows for their crimes against humanity. If Nuremberg trials are any indications of justice being delayed but not denied in our world, I am hopeful that we shall one day be able to put such war criminals like Aye Chan where they truly belong. 

Scores of boats are currently believed to be  adrift in the Andaman Sea with up to 10,000 people onboard .  Hundreds of the ethnic minority, mainly Muslim refugees from Myanmar, have made it ashore in the past couple of weeks, despite initially being forced back to sea as countries in the region — including Australia — ruled out taking them in. And yet, the government of  Myanmar , the source country that produced these migrants continues to lie and deny their responsibility for the horrendous crimes that it has been perpetrating against these people.  Speaker of Myanmar parliament's upper house, Khin Aung Myint, was in Canberra to help open the new Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University (ANU).  Speaking through a translator Myint today criticized calls for Myanmar to accept the refugees and argued other countries also refused to welcome them.  "I want to urge everyone, to look at everyone among these boat people, they cann...

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of refugees have managed to leave their home countries to settle in host countries. Most of these host countries happen to be Muslim countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.  Sadly, very few western countries - all richer and more prosperous - have allowed these fleeing migrants to settle in their countries. Consider, for instance, the case of Australia not too far from the trouble areas like Myanmar whose state policies of genocide against the minority Muslims have resulted in mass exodus of some 140,000 Rohingyas to flee the country. Australian prime minister famously said that his country will not absorb those boat people.  As I have noted many times, many of the western countries are hypocritical: they say things which they don't live by, or have not learned how to walk the talk. They can talk about human rights but talk is always  cheaper than hosting victims of abuse.  Compare the deplorable western attitude tow...