Military Build-ups Intensify On Burma-Bangladesh Border

(Compilation of translated articles from various Burmese and Bengali blogs last week.)

BGB Battalion-50 inaugurated by General Ahmed.

Last May a new battalion of BGB (Border Guards Bangladesh) the BGB Battalion-50 was established at Ramu (Old Panwar Town as Burmese called it) on the Bangladeshi side of the Bangladesh-Burma border.

The launching ceremony of BGB-50 was held on May-19 at Ramu and BGB-chief Major-General Aziz Ahmed attended the ceremony. Formerly known as Bangladesh Rifles the BGB under the Bangladesh Ministry of Home Affairs is a paramilitary police force responsible for border security in Bangladesh.

Sittwe Is Muslim-Free For 438 Days Today

(Compilation of translated articles direct from the mmcities blog last week.)

A busy street scene of now Muslim-free Sittwe.

If one counts the days since Bengali-Muslims were expelled from Sitwwe one will find exactly 438 days today. That is one year and two months and eleven days. 

The first day of anti-Bengali-Muslim riots was June 9, 2012. One day after the Bengali-Muslims started the riots in the border town of Maungdaw.

At the beginning just after the June-2012 Muslim riots the Yakhin State Government authorities met with the city elders of Sittwe City at the City Hall and asked them if they really wanted to live without Bengali-Muslims as there would be a severe labour shortage without illegal Bengalis-Muslims.

Kantbalu Burning After Gang-Rape Attempt By Muslims

(Compilation of translated articles from various Burmese and Bengali blogs this week.)

A mosque burning in Htan Gone of Kantbalu Town.

Like in many other non-Muslim countries the Muslim Men in our Burma keep their women strictly inside. And as part of their sexual jihad they go out and assault non-Muslim females who have complete freedom to go about outside alone.

In Burma the brunt of these sexual assaults by Muslim men are borne by many young Buddhist women who have much higher degree of freedom than Muslim women.

On the evening of August-24 a group of three horny Bengali-Muslims tried to rape a lone Buddhist-Burmese woman in middle Burma. The place was a large village (almost a small town) called Htan Gone in the Kantbalu Township of Shwe Bo District in Sagaing Division.

Quintana Pissed Off By Local Buddhists At Meikhtilar

(Direct translation of news articles from the Eleven Media Group on 22 August 2013.)

Crying Quintana recalling emotionally his so-called
dangerous encounter with town-Buddhists in Meikhtilar.

Burmese government and the local Buddhists from Meikhtilar in Burma had strongly denied the hated-Qunitana’s emotional claim that his vehicle-convoy was violently attacked by the townspeople in Meikhtilar at about 10 in the night of 19^th August.

“My car was descended upon by a crowd of around 200 people who proceeded to punch and kick the windows and doors of the car while shouting abuse.” in Quintana’s own words.

At his August-21 airport-press-conference just before his departure from Rangoon International Airport the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma Tomas Ojea Quintana recalled his fearful experience in Meikhtilar and claimed that about 200 strong mob bashed the panels and kicked the doors and windows of his vehicle and the police escort with him didn’t do a thing to protect him.

Egypt’s Nasser Laughed Off Muslim Brotherhood (1966)

(Old news article with Youtube video direct from the WorldCrunch on 10 May 2012.)

Late Colonel Nasser the former president of Egypt.

Egypt’s Nasser laughed off Muslim Brotherhood's demand to force ten millions Egyptian women to wear Muslim-headbags.

Hiding for months in plain view on YouTube, a grainy video has begun to circulate of longtime Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser laughing off the Muslim Brotherhood demands that the state uphold Islamic traditions and force ten millions Egyptian women to wear oppressive Islamic garbs.

The clip is charged with historical significance in light of the Brotherhood's rise to power earlier this year in Egypt -- and broader questions about Islam and society in the Arab world. The 1966 video has gone viral with French subtitles after being posted by Paris-based news website Rue 89.

Royal Islamic Australian Navy (Let The Muslim Boats In)

(News article direct from the NAVY DAILY at news.navy.gov.au  on 23 July 2013.)

Captain Mona Shindy the Strategic Islamic Advisor, RAN. 

Chief of Royal Australian Navy appoints an Advisor on Islamic Cultural Affairs.

Ensuring that Navy remains focused on all aspects of diversity is a key priority for the Chief of Navy, which is why he has recently appointed a Strategic Advisor on Islamic Cultural Affairs.

Captain Mona Shindy, RAN who heads up the Guided Missile Frigate System Program Office (FFGSPO) accepted the position in March 2013 and has welcomed the opportunity to create better understanding amongst Defence members and the wider Islamic community.

Meet The Pro-969 American Buddhist

(Alicia Wittmeyer’s OP-ED article direct from the Foreign Policy on 12 July 2013.)

"We love 969 from our heart" poster.

Meet the American Supporting Myanmar's Controversial Pro-Buddhist 969 movement.

He's a self-proclaimed "white American national" who has no family connections to Myanmar and has never visited the country. He's not an expert on its politics either, he tells me -- which becomes clear later in our conversation when he draws a blank on the name of Aung San Suu Kyi, likely the most famous Burmese person alive today, whom he calls a "prime minister candidate" (she's actually planning on staging a run for the presidency).

But something about the 969 movement -- the controversial pro-Buddhist campaign that many hold responsible for the violence that has racked Myanmar in recent months -- has captured the imagination of this man.

Burmese Forces Battling Bengali-Talibans on Border

(News report direct from the Dhaka Tribune on August 17, 2013.)

Section of Bangladesh-Burma Border Fence where Bengali-
Talibans tried to cross into Burma and clashed with police.

Rohingya-Lonhtain gun battle spreads panic at Naikhongchori. Police claims it took place on Myanmar soil near Bangladesh-Myanmar frontier.

Thousands of rounds of bullets were exchanged in a two-day-long gun battle between members of Taliban-trained Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) terrorists and Myanmar’s Lon-Htain Force (security police) at Naikhongchori of the Bangladesh-Myanmar frontier.

The shooting started on Wednesday night (August 16) at around 9:00pm in the area between pillar no. 54 and 55 at Panchori Goritola area under Dochori union and went on at regular intervals until Thursday afternoon, said locals.

Crisis Of Modernity And Secularism In Muslim Nations

(Lailufar Yasmin’s OP-ED article from the OpenDemocracy.com on 17 August 2013.)

Turkish anti-Islamist uprsing (2013).

Whenever democratic space has opened up, people have been eager to choose those who not only provide a better solution for their economic and social problems, but who can also offer them a recognition of the authenticity of their cultures.

The idea that the West has a mission to civilize the rest of the world rests on a conventional view of modernity in which modernity is viewed as involving a separation between religion and the public sphere.

This mission sets out to impose a singular and unidirectional conception of modernity on Islamic countries that overlooks the differentiated experiences and perceptions of non-western societies, as well as the differentiated experiences within the west towards modernity. Instead, religion becomes the decisive factor in determining who is modern and who is not, and, by extension, who is civilized and who is not.