Burma: Why persecute people for their religion in Burma?
Do you believe in “coincidences”? I don’t! For the last 3 months, a very sweet Chin ( Tibeto-Burmese) lady kept bumping into me everywhere I went, until finally today I found out that she was a political refugee, harassed & harmed by the Dictatorship because she wanted Human Rights for the Chin people in Burma!
I kept bumping into her all over the city and we kept saying hello but we did not have time to talk. Finally today, as I looked out of my backyard, there she was again! We both just laughed with the joy of seeing one another! I knew that it was the universe saying, “LISTEN to what she has to say!”
I finally invited her into my kitchen. We had a cup of tea and we started talking about random things. Slowly she told me about why she ended up in the UK as a political refugee for 6 yrs because of her work with human rights & her support for Aung San Suu Kyi! She had to flee to India to escape arrest/torture. She told me she was part of the Chin minority: Tibeto-Burman group.
I must admit, I did not know very much about the issue, but after our afternoon chat over tea, I decided to find out a little bit. It was then that I realised some of the atrocious things inflicted on her people. I wondered why I had not heard about this before?
I found this blog from “Real Truth” http://www.realtruth.org quite useful and decided to reblog it as this has obviously been happening for a long time!
Excerpt: ”
Myanmar Dictatorship
Christianity Banned by Regime of Rape and Violence?
- FEBRUARY 28, 2007
In January 2007, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported that the Myanmar (Union of Burma) military government is actively suppressing religious worship among its minority Christian population.
The persecution has varied from “churches in Rangoon finding it difficult to obtain permission to renovate buildings, to pastors in Chin State being killed.” In the same report, the Myanmar Ministry of Religious Affairs stated, “There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practiced.”
Despite denials from the Myanmar government that religious activity is suppressed in their country, the U.S. State Department listed Myanmar as a “country of particular concern” in its 2006 report on International religious freedom.
Perhaps even more alarming was another report released on Feb. 12, 2007, by the Karen Women’s Organization, which documented 959 of the many thousands of rapes and sexual assaults, often followed by murder, reported to have been committed by government troops against women of the minority Shan ethnic group.
In addition, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which provides aid to thousands of refugees fleeing Myanmar into neighboring Thailand, has documented that since 1996 more than 3,000 villages have been destroyed. In 2006 alone, 82,000 people were displaced by violence perpetrated by the government on its own people.”
I thought of this and I am amazed by my new found friends’ patience & optimism in the way she talked about her country, her people and Aung San Suu Kyi!
**** Sometimes the real heroines in life do not always get a Nobel Peace Prize so this is my way of saying, “Wow, I am so sorry I did not see this earlier, my friend!”
What did my new friend do to deserve being persecuted? These were her “mistakes”:
1) She joined The Chin National Democratic Front doing some paperwork at the office, asking for human rights for her people!
2) She wanted to be a Christian in Burma.
http://www.realtruth.org/news/070228-001-asia.html
3) She was born a Chin ethnic minority and a woman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8626008.stm
4) She was part of the movement that voted democratically for Aung San Suu kyi!
Wow, these are SERIOUS Crimes indeed! I am very upset about what happened to her and I am so glad that through all these years of seperation from her family, friends and country, my new friend could still smile! I admire her spirit very very much and know that I have so much to learn from her in terms of patience & forebearance. I don’t know if I would have the strength to not get angry with my oppressors!
She is amazing! Next time I meet her, I would like to see if she would let me lend her a laptop so that she could try to use technology to keep up with her exiled friends from all over the world. There are many Chin people exiled, far away from home, sometimes spending years as a stranger in a foreign land, unable to even contact their families back home for fear of retribution from the dictatorship.
May Burma achieve what it hopes for the most: Freedom, Dignity & Democracy!
X respectfully & full of humility for the way the universe keeps teaching me new stuff Effortlessly & with so much Grace, Cecilia.
18 comments on “Burma: Why persecute people for their religion in Burma?”
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She got out by the hair of her chinny chin chin! (sorry could not resist pun because she is Chin) Glad it worked out but yes, it is Anne Frank.
Yes but the escape was no fairy tale…when the wolves came to the door…:( Thank you for your kind words, I will show her.
The dictotors concentrate on being players in the region. It bothers me that this is Not a game of thrones or machine. Maybe in the future the minorities will do better in those areas, but for now it’s a horrific way to live. Even when they organize and listen to Aung San Suu Kyi, and she is without peer in that regard. If being stuck in Britain sounds more compelling for your friend to reach safety, perhaps it is her best choice. I am appalled.
Yes Jeremy. It is ironic. When according to scummy Britain, she is less entitled to be safe than the local weed dealer whose only contribution to society is to “inbreed” kids and to sell weed to your teenage kids while keeping his own 10 yrs old locked up on the 3rd floor at 5am in the morning while Daddy “goes to work”! That they have people like that living that way for 5 generations and more, indicate how dangerous it was for my friend that she preferred THIS to being “disappeared”….I know….I share your horror.
I love her courage!!!!
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Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative. Cheers!
Thank you. Google has done wonders for my blog…lol. except the times when they cached me and quoted me having a tantrum at some awful communists who thinks death camps in Burma are funny! 🙂 It only happened once or twice. haha….and I made a animation cartoon about it: https://ceciliawyu.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/what-if-i-am-made-of-flesh/
I like what you guys are up too. Such intelligent work and reporting! Keep up the superb works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website 🙂
Thank you, goodluck with your website in Germany! Happy new Year!
You got a very superb website, Gladiolus 🙂 I found it through yahoo.
Thank you very much. Happy New year!
Just wanted to reply and say nice blog, great to read from people who know what they are talking about.
Thank you Domenica. I had a quick look at your blog too! hahahahha. I’ve never really been cheated on but if ever any of my friends suspect anything…I will send them to you! XO (CC)
great information, thanks. hope you add some more posts soon.
Thank you I try to do something more regularly these days…but Time is not always my pal! (CC)
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While I am very happy that Christian persecution watch has added my article to your collection, I just want to point out that this is a simple story about a new friend from Burma I made recently. There may be some politics behind it, as obviously the human rights violation in Burma is very serious. The Religious persecution and suppression of free speech on all level is what I noticed. It is not just christians who are persecuted in Burma…pretty much anyone with any kind of views opposing the dictatorships are! Thank you for your interest.