So much for Buddhism being the good religion

[Kuya]

Hundreds of Buddhist monks in Myanmar have staged a rally in support of President Thein Sein's proposal to send the members of the Rohingya minority group to another country.

Sunday's rally in Mandalay, the country's second largest city, is the latest indication of deep-seated sentiment against the Rohingya after violence with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in June left at least 83 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The leader of the march, a monk named Wirathu, told the AFP news agency that the protest was to "let the world know that Rohingya are not among Myanmar's ethnic groups at all".

Wirathu was jailed in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature. He was given a 25-year sentence but released in January this year under an amnesty.

The United Nations has referred to the Rohingya, widely reviled by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar, as among the most persecuted people on Earth.

The Rohingya have been denied citizenship even though many of their families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

However, in comments to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, published on his official website in July, he suggested it was "impossible to accept the illegally entered Rohingya, who are not our ethnicity" and mooted sending the group to a third country or UN administered camps.

The proposal was quickly opposed by the UN refugee agency.

Rights groups claim the government did little to stop the violence initially and then turned its security forces on the Rohingya with targeted killings, rapes, mass arrests and torture.

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh but Bangladesh also rejects them, rendering them stateless.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-p...339684455.html

[Kuya]

Background on the Rohingya from wiki:

The Rohingya (Burmese: ရိုဟင်ဂျာ) are a Muslim people who live in the Arakan region in western Myanmar (Burma). As of 2012, 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar. According to the UN, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.[9] Many Rohingya have fled to ghettos and refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, and to areas along the Thai-Myanmar border.

The Rohingya people practice Sunni Islam with elements of Sufi worship. Because the government restricts educational opportunities for them, many pursue fundamental Islamic studies as their only educational option.

They have been stripped of their citizenship since a 1982 citizenship law.[54] They are not allowed to travel without official permission, are banned from owning land and are required to sign a commitment to have not more than two children.[54]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_people

That's fucked up

[Tajin]

Ethnic based hate is fucked up in this day and age, but it is what it is

[Kuya]

Ethnic based hate is fucked up in this day and age, but it is what it is

What do you mean 'it is what it is'?

[Tajin]

Meaning not much to do with all those backwater cultures/beliefs/people.
Sort of pulling another Iraq. I find it sad and fucked up, but I dont think there is a peacwful solution to this kind of things. And it happens all over the world.

[Dimmauk]

America should like totally go save those people right?

[Kuya]

Meaning not much to do with all those backwater cultures/beliefs/people.
Sort of pulling another Iraq. I find it sad and fucked up, but I dont think there is a peacwful solution to this kind of things. And it happens all over the world.

Backwater cultures/people? You're from Mexico. Do you realize Americans say the same thing about you? Have a little perspective.

So what you're saying is, you don't think it has a peaceful solution? Okay, that's an acceptable opinion, but why do you think that?

America should like totally go save those people right?

I dunno, do you want it to?

[Kuya]

I for one think this is a good situation that ASEAN should intervene in, but they are explicitly very conservative about the inner affairs of member countries. I get that they want to prioritize economic development in the region, and feel getting involved in polarizing social issues might compromise that, but a truly successful regional bloc needs to also have some cultural cohesion. I don't criticize them for reaching out to Myanmar even though it's ruled by a military junta, since i think isolation only makes it harder to get rid of a dictatorship.

[Tajin]

Backwater cultures/people? You're from Mexico. Do you realize Americans say the same thing about you? Have a little perspective.

I'm aware of this, and I'm also aware that this problem (ethnic hate) happens / happened in Mexico; now because I'm mexican I'm not allowed to call other persons backwater? (by the way I was including Mexico when I said that).
You're the one lacking perspective here.

As for the peaceful solution; most of the hatred is rooted deeply since many generations ago and its usually the nutjobs that refuse any kind of change; in Myanmar's particular scenario this is even government sanctioned so yeah...

[Mizango]

America should like totally go save those people right?

FUCK YEAH!

[Tajin]

America should like totally go save those people right?

My bad. I shoudl've elaborated that the ONU would have to play USA role here.
Typing in a phone takes forever ._.

[ringthree]

The historical record for Buddhism is just as violent as Christianity or any other religion. New Age Buddhism isn't representative of traditional Buddhism.

[ringthree]

I for one think this is a good situation that ASEAN should intervene in, but they are explicitly very conservative about the inner affairs of member countries. I get that they want to prioritize economic development in the region, and feel getting involved in polarizing social issues might compromise that, but a truly successful regional bloc needs to also have some cultural cohesion. I don't criticize them for reaching out to Myanmar even though it's ruled by a military junta, since i think isolation only makes it harder to get rid of a dictatorship.

LOL ASEAN intervene with what? Their standing army? Oh, wait, there isn't a standing army because ASEAN is basically a talking group. The closest you are going to get is bringing it up in the ARF and they have been doing that for years.

[Churchill]

If we don't go intervene with popular US support now, what in the fuck am I going to bitch about in 5 years?

[Kuya]

LOL ASEAN intervene with what? Their standing army? Oh, wait, there isn't a standing army because ASEAN is basically a talking group. The closest you are going to get is bringing it up in the ARF and they have been doing that for years.

Intervention doesn't just mean sending an army.

Do me a favor, and don't post in the threads i make.

[Cail]

America should like totally go save those people right?

[kuronosan]

FUCK YEAH!

Heard this in the Team America voice.

[archibaldcrane]

Send in Rambo. Burma's a war zone. If you don't bring weapons, you ain't changing nothing.

[Rhinox]

America should like totally go save those people right?

.

[Correction]

If we don't go intervene with popular US support now, what in the fuck am I going to bitch about in 5 years?

a Biden presidency.