Julie Bishop gives another $5 million for a total of $50M to help out Islamists in Burma's Rakhine state
Sunday, 10 September 2017
Islamists around the world are waging a very effective campaign against the Buddhist people of Burma.
Aung Sun Suu Kyi's government - to be more precise, Burma's military - have had enough of Islamist attacks in Burma's Rakhine province.
Islam's apologists have many excuses for the Rohingya's violence.
Theirs is a tale of British colonialism, Japanese occupation, Arab traders from the 1400s and the many monarchies that lived and died in the region through the ages.
But what can't be argued is that the most recent crackdown - however you weigh its proportionality - is in direct response to Islamist Rohingya attacks on Burma's military and police.
Rakhine province could be like the many provinces in Thailand where Muslims live relatively peacefully alongside Thailand's other citizens.
Thailand would not tolerate the level of Islamist insurgency we've seen in the Rakhine. Australia wouldn't tolerate it within our borders either.
If the Rohingya stop fighting and fulfil their responsibilities as Burmese citizens, the violence will stop.
Until then Australia has no business in underwriting their Islamist expansionism.
Thanks to a lazy media we are woefully ill-informed on this Islamic hotspot in our region.
Sky News today tells us Rohingya is a place, not a people.
Sky was reporting on Minister for Celebrity Causes Julie Bishop who has sniffed the breeze and dug out the cheque book.
The key to her announcement is in the last line - not the misleading headline.
The money is for the Rohingya themselves - not for authorities in their country Myanmar (Burma). Australia is calling on Burma to show restraint - but makes no such call or criticism of the Islamists.
Assistance for Myanmar? Bullshit.
I have lived in the region. There are many South East Asian communities where Muslims and Buddhists live together without too many problems. But where there is Islam, terror and violence is never far away.
I have never seen Buddhists trying to expand their religion or philosophy by violence or terror. Terror and violence are however central to Islamist teaching.
I would go easy on the rush to condemn Aung Sun Suu Kyi. I'd have no such hesitation in relation to Muhammad.
Here's a little background on Buddhism - from Wikipedia.
Buddhism teaches people how to end their suffering by cutting out greed, hatred and ignorance. When people do bad things, they will get bad consequences. When people do good things, they will get good consequences.
The ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to reach the state of enlightenment (Nirvana) and liberate oneself from endless reincarnation and suffering.
Buddhism was started by Gautama Buddha (563–483 BC) in Lumbini, Nepal, while he was a rich prince. He gave up everything to find a way to end suffering. His teachings spread, after his death, to Central Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan and have now spread to the west.
According to the Buddha, overcoming suffering allows a person to be truly happy. The Buddha taught that if people make good decisions they would be happy and have peace of mind. The Buddha taught that life is imperfect and that we will suffer. He taught that we suffer because of desire, anger and stupidity, and he showed that we could end our suffering by letting go of desires and overcoming anger and stupidity. The complete letting go of these negative influences is called Nirvana, meaning "to extinguish", like putting out the flame of a candle. The end of suffering, when one is fully awake (put an end to one's own ignorance) and has let go of all desire and anger, is also called Enlightenment. In Buddhism Enlightenment and Nirvana mean the same thing.
- "To avoid all evil
- To do good.
- To purify one's mind.
- This is the teaching of all the Buddhas."
- --Dhammapāda, XIV, 5 ,
So how to reconcile Burma's Buddhists rounding on the Rohingya?
Burmese Buddhist Monk Wirathu puts it this way:
"You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog."
"If we are weak, our land will become Muslim."
This summary of the Rohingya and their history is taken from the Wall Street Journal.
8th Century: The Rohingya, a people of South Asian origin, dwelled in an independent kingdom in Arakan, now known as Rakhine state in modern-day Myanmar.
9th to 14th Century: The Rohingya came into contact with Islam through Arab traders. Close ties were forged between Arakan and Bengal.
1784: The Burman King Bodawpaya conquered Arakan and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to Bengal.
1790: Hiram Cox, a British diplomat sent to assist refugees, established the town of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where many Rohingya still live today.
1824 to 1942: Britain captured Burma—now known as Myanmar—and made it a province of British India. Workers were migrated to Burma from other parts of British India for infrastructure projects.
1942: Japan invaded Burma, pushing out the British. As the British retreated, Burmese nationalists attacked Muslim communities who they thought had benefited from British colonial rule.
1945: Britain liberated Burma from Japanese occupation with help of Burmese nationalists led by Aung San and Rohingya fighters. Rohingyas felt betrayed as the British didn’t fulfill a promise of autonomy for Arakan.
1948: Tensions increased between the government of newly independent Burma and the Rohingya, many of whom wanted Arakan to join Muslim-majority Pakistan. The government retaliated by ostracizing the Rohingya, including removing Rohingya civil servants.
1950: Some Rohingya resisted the government, led by armed groups called Mujahids. The insurgency gradually died down.
1962: General Ne Win and his Burma Socialist Programme Party seized power and took a hard line against the Rohingya.
1977: The junta began Operation Nagamin, or Dragon King, which they said was aimed at screening the population for foreigners. More than 200,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, amid allegations of army abuses. The army denied any wrongdoing.
1978: Bangladesh struck a U.N.-brokered deal with Burma for the repatriation of refugees, under which most Rohingya returned.
1982: A new immigration law redefined people who migrated during British rule as illegal immigrants. The government applied this to all Rohingya.
1989: The army changed the name of Burma to Myanmar.
1991: More than 250,000 Rohingya refugees fled what they said was forced labor, rape and religious persecution at the hands of the Myanmar army. The army said it was trying to bring order to Rakhine.
1992 to 1997: Around 230,000 Rohingya returned to Arakan, now known as Rakhine, under another repatriation agreement.
2012: Rioting between Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists killed more than 100 people, mostly Rohingya. Tens of thousands of people were driven into Bangladesh. Nearly 150,000 were forced into camps in Rakhine.
2016: Rohingya militant group Harakah al-Yaqin attacked border guard posts, killing nine soldiers. The army retaliated. More than 25,000 people fled Rakhine to Bangladesh, bringing accounts of killing, rape and arson. Aung San Suu Kyi’s government denied the atrocities.