July 23, 2025

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Announcement of New Website: Rohingya Today (RohingyaToday.Com) Dear Readers, From 1st January 2019 onward, the Rohingya News Portal 'Rohingya Blogger' will be renamed and upgraded as 'Rohingya Today'. Due to this transition to a new name, our website will be available at www.rohing...

Rohingya News @ Int'l Media

Maung Zarni, leader of the Free Rohingya Coalition, speaks at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Thursday. | CHISATO TANAKA By Chisato Tanaka, Published by The Japan Times on October 25, 2018 A leader of a global network of activists for Rohingya Mu...

Myanmar News

By Sena Güler | Published by Anadolu Agency on December 1, 2018 Maung Zarni says he will boycott Beijing-sponsored events until the country reverses its 'troubling path' ANKARA -- A human rights activist and intellectual said he withdrew from a Beijing-sponsored forum in London to pro...

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Oskar Butcher RB Article October 6, 2018 Every night in an unassuming shop space located in Mandalay’s 39thStreet, Lu Maw and Lu Zaw – the remaining members of the Burma’s most famous comedy trio, the Moustache Brothers – present their show: a curious combination of comedy, political sa...

Article @ Int'l Media

A demonstration over identity cards at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh in April, 2018. Image: NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. By Natalie Brinham | Published by Open Democracy on October 21, 2018 Wary of the past, Rohingya have frustrated the UN’s attempts to provide them with documenta...

Analysis @ RB

By M.S. Anwar | Opinion & Analysis The Burmese (Myanmar) quasi-civilian government unleashed a large-scale violence against the minority Rohingya in the western Myanmar state of Arakan in 2012. The violence, which some wrongly frame as ‘Communal’, was carried out by the Burmese armed forces...

Analysis @ Int'l Media

By Maung Zarni, Natalie Brinham | Published by Middle East Institute on November 20, 2018 “It is an ongoing genocide (in Myanmar),” said Mr. Marzuki Darusman, the head of the UN Human Rights Council-mandated Independent International Fact-Finding Mission at the official briefing at ...

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Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar wait to be let through by Bangladeshi border guards after crossing the border in Palang Khali, Bangladesh October 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj MS Anwar RB Opinion November 12, 2018 Some may differ. But I believe the government of Bangladesh is ...

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By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on December 15, 2018 US will not intercede, and Myanmar's neighbors see it through economic lens, so international coalition for Rohingya needed LONDON -- The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday overwhelmingly passed a resolution ca...

History @ RB

Aman Ullah  RB History August 25, 2016 The ethnic Rohingya is one of the many nationalities of the union of Burma. And they are one of the two major communities of Arakan; the other is Rakhine and Buddhist. The Muslims (Rohingyas) and Buddhists (Rakhines) peacefully co-existed in the A...

Rohingya History by Scholars

Dr. Maung Zarni's Remark: The best research on Rohingya history: British Orientalism which created the pseudo-scientific biological notion of "Taiyinthar" or "real natives" of #Myanmar caused that country's post-colonial cancer of official & popular genocidal Racism.  This co...

Report @ RB

(Photo: Soe Zeya Tun, Reuters) RB News  October 5, 2013  Thandwe, Arakan – Rakhinese mob in Thandwe started attacking Kaman Muslims on September 28, 2013. As a result, 5 Kaman Muslims were mercilessly killed and 1 was died in heart attack while escaping the attack. 781 Kaman Mus...

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Rohingya families arrive at a UNHCR transit centre near the village of Anjuman Para, Cox’s Bazar, south-east Bangladesh after spending four days stranded at the Myanmar border with some 6,800 refugees. (Photo: UNHCR/Roger Arnold) By UN News May 11, 2018 Late last year, as violent repressi...

Press Release

(Photo: Reuters) Joint Statement: Rohingya Groups Call on U.S. Government to Ensure International Accountability for Myanmar Military-Planned Genocide December 17, 2018  We, the undersigned Rohingya organizations worldwide, call for accountability for genocide and crimes against...

Rohingya Orgs Activities

RB News December 6, 2017 Tokyo, Japan -- Legislators from all parties, along with Human Rights Now, Human Rights Watch, and Save the Children, came together to host the emergency parliament in-house event “The Rohingya Human Rights Crisis and Japanese Diplomacy” on December 4th. The eve...

Petition

By Wyston Lawrence RB Petition October 15, 2017 There is one petition has been going on Change.org to remove Ven. Wira Thu from Facebook. He has been known as Buddhist Bin Laden. Time magazine published his image on their cover with the title of The Face of Buddhist Terror. The petitio...

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A human rights activist and genocide scholar from Burma Dr. Maung Zarni visits Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Extermination Camp and calls on European governments - Britain, France, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Hungary and Germany not to collaborate with the Evil - like they did with Hitler 75 ye...

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Editorial by Int'l Media

By Dhaka Tribune Editorial November 5, 2017 How can we answer to our conscience knowing full-well what the Myanmar military is doing to the innocent Rohingya minority -- not even sparing children or pregnant women? Despite the on-going humanitarian crisis involving Rohingya refugees ...

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In Malaysia, Rohingya arrivals hope to end cycle of abuse, exploitation by smugglers

These recent Rohingya arrivals are slowly recovering in Malaysia after spending months in smugglers' camps. (Photo: UNHCR/B.Baloch)



By Vivian Tan
May 5, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The UN refugee agency is increasingly worried about the terrible conditions and acute needs of Rohingya arrivals in Malaysia after long periods of abuse and deprivation in the hands of smugglers.

Since last November, some 120 Rohingya have approached UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur suffering from varying stages of paralysis possibly caused by poor diets and long-term confinement. Their poor physical condition hints at the long and arduous journey they've taken to escape the harsh situation in Myanmar.

"We have heard accounts of ill-treatment and deprivation by smuggling networks," said Rick Towle, UNHCR's representative in Malaysia. "We've also seen growing numbers of people with acute humanitarian and protection needs, especially among vulnerable groups such as women and children."

Amina,* 45, lost her home in the 2012 inter-communal violence in Rakhine state. She and her son Rahman* lived in a camp for displaced people in Sittwe until late last year, when they boarded a boat with about 80 other people seeking a way out.

"For 18 or 20 days we had a hard time on the boat," she recalled. "There were some oats but not enough food. Three people fell sick and died. Their bodies were thrown into the sea." When they reached southern Thailand, they walked through the jungle for days until they reached the Malaysian border. "We were very weak, almost crawling by then," recalled Amina.

Others suffered in different ways. Abdullah,* a 17-year-old farm worker from the northern part of Rakhine state, paid 500,000 kyat (around US$520) for a voyage to Malaysia. The engine failed en route and he ended up in Thailand, where he was locked up for three months in a smuggler's camp in southern Thailand. Some have reported being held for up to seven months in these camps.

"There were 50 to 200 people in each tent – men, women and children. It was very cramped, bodies were touching. We sat all day and slept sitting up," said Abdullah. "If we talked too loudly they would beat us. They kept asking for money, and beat us when we couldn't give them any. They beat us one to two times a day."

Hassan,* aged 16, was held for two months. He shared a small space with 200 people in another smuggler's camp. Once a day they received a meal of rice, dried fish and cucumber and were allowed just one toilet break as the smugglers feared they would escape. "I was beaten, but I was not the worst," said Hassan, noting that some people died from the beatings. "I got scared. I was afraid I would die too."

The smugglers called his mother in Myanmar, who begged and borrowed whatever money she could to secure his release. Abdullah's family had to sell all they could to raise 1.5 million kyat in ransom. Both teenagers were released and taken across the border to Malaysia. They had to be carried as they could not walk after their ordeal.

A number of recent arrivals in Malaysia have been diagnosed with polyneuropathy (damage or disease affecting peripheral nerves) and severe malnutrition. Serious cases are hosted at a UNHCR-supported shelter where they receive care, cooked food and regular physiotherapy sessions with a visiting doctor.

"UNHCR has been working with partners to support Rohingya arrivals in need of medical attention, psychosocial counselling and other forms of assistance," said Towle. "We have a targeted protection strategy that involves special assistance for the most vulnerable, including women and children."

Three months after his release from captivity, Abdullah still feels great pain in his lower body every time he moves. Hassan can't stand up by himself but says he can walk slowly with a cane. Both are slowly recovering with support from their community and UNHCR.

Abdullah has called home using a borrowed phone. "They said they have no more money left and have to hide from the authorities, sometimes in the mountains. They try to survive by cutting wood and selling it. There's no money for the whole family to leave," he said.

He has no idea where he will go after the shelter. "I don't know why God is doing this to me. There is no peace at home and no peace here."

In Kuala Lumpur, Hassan, Amina and Rahman are living with relatives or former neighbours from their village back home. Hassan is barely on his feet, but already planning for the future: "When I recover I need to work and pay back the money my mother owes because of me. I am confident I can recover."

Since January this year, the Thai authorities have cracked down on several smugglers' camps in southern Thailand, rescuing more than 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis. More are believed to be in captivity.

*Names changed for protection reasons

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