In the News

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on October 9, 2020 Lack of action from UN and world community encourages Myanmar to commit atrocities against ethnic communities LONDON — Almost three decades ago the UN had established the mandate of Special Rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Myanmar, under the Commission on Human Rights Resolution number 58 of 1992. But the UN-mandated human rights missions have not deterred Myanmar’s successive governments from perpetrating human rights crimes against dissidents, government critics, and national minorities. Besides, it is indicative of Myanmar leaders’ typical hostility towards the human rights-focused approach, adopted

By Maria Siow | Published by SCMP on September 27, 2020 Controversial China-backed projects like the Myitsone Dam and the Belt and Road Initiative will be key election issues as Myanmar heads to the pollsWhile Chinese plans face resistance, analysts say Beijing can win over the locals if it plays its cards right Come November, anti-China sentiment could well be the issue that sways a pivotal election – and not only in the United States. As Myanmar approaches its second vote since the end of military rule in 2011, all eyes will be on how Naypyidaw walks the tightrope between maintaining healthy ties with

By Maria Siow | Published by SCMP on September 26, 2020 Ongoing ethnic conflicts and the plight of the Rohingya don’t appear to have taken the shine off ‘The Lady’ with votersHer National League for Democracy are favourites to win on November 8 – though Covid-19 could prove a curveball, as could a surge for ethnic parties During the 15 years Aung San Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest by Myanmar’s military leadership, she was seen as an icon of democracy and a glimmer of hope for the people of the Southeast Asian country.Now, five years after her National League for Democracy (NLD) party took power

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on September 9, 2020 Arakan Army/ULA emerging as an unseemly ally and collaborator of Rohingya victims seeking justice and a peaceful homeland LONDON — It is really welcome news for the Rohingya campaigning for justice and accountability that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has reportedly brought to The Hague two Myanmar army deserters who could provide first-person accounts as perpetrators in the genocidal killings of Rohingya families, including women and babies. The two are named as Myo Min Tun and Tun Naing Win, respectively with the Myanmar army’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on August 27, 2020 Past 3 years, Rohingya are defined not by victimhood, but by incredible ability to survive, revive, rejuvenate as people LONDON  The third anniversary of Myanmar’s largest wave of the genocidal purge of the Rohingya community in western Rakhine province on Aug. 25 was marked by the memories of massacres, rapes, and displacement of 750,000 people from nearly 400 villages. Due to both the COVID-19 lockdown and the nearly one-year-long internet ban imposed by Bangladesh, survivors of Myanmar genocide in the camps could only engage in “silent commemorative events”

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on August 5, 2020 Sitagu offered scriptural justifications for ‘killing millions of non-Buddhists’ LONDON — In November last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) moved to begin the full investigation into Myanmar’s violent international crimes and other events connected to the exodus of Rohingya from western Myanmar in decades. In August 2017, Myanmar Tatmadaw, or the military, launched the “Security Clearance Operations,” which resulted in the exodus of 750,000 Rohingya from across the borders into the adjacent Bangladesh city of Teknaf. As the ICC proceeds with its full investigation, it needs to

By Maung Zarni | Published by FORSEA on July 28, 2020 No global justice or international accountability process will be complete without Sitagu being named as a criminal who despite his saffron robe and high honours has provided spiritual patronage to genocidal leaders of Myanmar while offering scriptural justifications for “killing millions of non-Buddhists.” On July 20, 2020, in the 12-minute FB Live clip, FORSEA co-founder and leading Burmese genocide scholar, Dr Maung Zarni, delivered the most blistering expose of Myanmar’s most influential Buddhist monk Nyar Neik Tha Ra (better known as abbot Sitagu) for his instrumental role in the

By Maung Zarni | Published by FORSEA on July 18, 2020 The painful but necessary question – How will or can Myanmar be de-constructed, or more alarmingly, disintegrated? – needs to be asked openly and debated publicly. Sunday – July 19 – marks the 73rd anniversary of the assassination of U Aung San, the father of Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and a group of his multi-ethnic colleagues in his pre-colonial cabinet, including the Muslim leader and educator Mr Razak from my hometown of Mandalay. As the country prepares to commemorate its Martyrs Day, I begin to feel

In Spanish: Académico: ‘Cuestión rohinyá en Myanmar va más allá del paradigma de musulmanes contra budistas’ In Bahasa Indonesia: EKSKLUSIF: ‘Persoalan Rohingya bukan paradigma Muslim vs Buddhis’ In Arabic: باحث “بوذي”: قضية الروهنغيا ليست “مسلمين مقابل بوذيين” (مقابلة) In Macedonian: „Прашањето за Рохинџите не е парадигмата муслимани против будисти“ In an exclusive interaction, Maung Zarni said Myanmar was taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India By Mehmet Ozturk, Iftikhar Gilani, Sorwar Alam and Ahmet Gurhan Kartal | Anadolu Agency | June 27, 2020 ANKARA/LONDON — Maung Zarni, 56, scholar and activist, known for his opposition to the violence in

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on March 30, 2020 Genocides start with an act of framing human community, with their distinct group identity, typically vulnerable and weak, as ‘a virus’ or ‘existential threat’ LONDON — The SS, Hitler’s ruthless deliverers of death, came to believe their own racially-charged propaganda about diseases being spread by Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. They succumbed to their own fears of viruses and other contagions. So much so, that during the deportations of Jews from the ghetto to the camps, the SS troops in Krakow would not enter the Jewish ghetto hospital set up