Comments for Myanmar's Outrageous Racism Excused at http://www.asiasentinel.com , comment 1 to 31 out of 20 comments http://www.asiasentinel.com Sat, 25 May 2013 00:25:34 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-25942 If Ye Myint Aung has traveled by boat through seas and ocean for more than a week without shelter (the way Rohingyas had traveled), he would look uglier than the Rohingya boat-people did. Hence, Ye Myint Aung cannot be a Burman. In fact, not all Rohingyas are ugly ogres. There are, among them, some people who look like Europeans, Arabs, Turkish, Persians, Pathans who are not dark-skin. And of course, there are some people who are Indian origin and dark-skinned. If one goes back to history, it was the Indian origin people who first and foremost built kingdoms and ruled the place now called Arakan before 7th century . That era was called Vesali and the kings of that era were called Chandras irrespective what religion they followed. If Arakan is a part of present day Burma, then these Indian Origin Dark-skinned people must be one of indigenous people of present day Myanmar. Furhtermore, Burman didn't come out of Burma soil. They also migrated from Tibet Region, China. It is only the matter of time that some had settled earlier and some did later. - ANR Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:43:05 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-9318 Sorry, waterboarding not waterboating interrogation - Robertson Sat, 23 May 2009 17:45:44 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-9317 Don't be surprised. Racism is everywhere. Even in the US, alot of injsutice are going on. For example; KKK, Nazi party, Black Panther, Separatist, and so on. What do you think John William Yeattaw's sentence or decree should be? I am thinking, they should put him in water-boating like Americans do. Therefore the world can see how American people treat human being based on violation of Human Rights and Civil Rights. If Burmese people are a very civilized nation, and they might let him go with 20 years in prison with hard labor in Burma. - Robertson Sat, 23 May 2009 17:25:14 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7874 If the religion of Budhisim is peace why they are using all forces against helpless, homless, defencless and more they have made stateless to Rohingya people since 1962 and with making new rule in 1982. That is lying only deceiving the world .It is a big hyprocrcy. It seems like a full of brutality action against helpless nation by making false allegation against their religion believe. Don't worry the world communities are watching you and your all kind of ugly works of inhumanity and injustice. You would be one day accounted in the wotld tribunal and you must be paid all account there. You will never get peace and harmony any where in this world. - Min ko hla Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:19:24 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7812 The problem: some people can't accept the reality that color coded racism is part and parcel in all of ASEAN cultures. Instead they either apologize for it, or dismiss outright. As if that will make it go away. If you buy into the false concept that fair skin is better, than any other skin, you have been brainwashed. And if you are not fair enough like dictator Than Shwe, in your mind you must create a false reality. Thus, pretending you are different than "them" even if you are not! The first step is to reject the stupid constructs of superiority based on color. Than you can move on to other stupid constructs that are designed simply to keep certain people in power, and others out of power! - sammy Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:26:37 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7797 The so called diplomat is indeed in fair complexion and look like Chineses, where as people from Middle of Burma are not like him. They are brown. The dictator Than Shwe is brown with flat nose. The different between Rohingyas and Than Shwe is only different of noses. Now tell me, how are you going judge your father with your theory? - Maung Zaw Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:08:55 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7789 Consul General Ye Mint Aung very clearly stated the Rohingyas are dark and ugly! Complexion has always been a factor to the discrimination practices in Asia. Even the Indian caste system has the dark on the bottom and the fair skinned on the top! Sure there are exceptions to the rule, but in every case, if your skin is darker than milk, you are considered inferior. This is especially true in the cultural mindset of the Chinese. As for the Thais, fair skinned Thais discriminate against dark Thais, it doesn't matter if you are Muslim or Buddhist. Likewise, Thais see Khmers has inferior, and if you ask any Thai why they hate Khmers, their description of the Khmers is almost identical to that of the Burmese description of the Rohingyas. And they conveniently forget, Thai culture comes directly from the Khmers. So the augment of different doesn't always apply. As for the Indonesians and Malays, they are well aware that if the Chinese were in charge, they would suffer the same scorn as the Singaporean Malays and Indians. Don't rewrite the words of Consul General Ye Mint Aung. He knows why he hates the Rohingyas. Yes, there are cultural distinctions, but in his mind, the main distinction is skin color! That is what he wrote. - sammy Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:07:31 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7788 I agreed that complexion is not the main discrimination of Burmese people to Rohingyas. But the main thing is that they have totally opposite culture with Burmese people and even they stay in Burma for a long times, they never changed their culture, especially in marriage which is not totally acceptable for Burmese culture. We have a lot of Musilm people who has the same rights like other people inside Burma and they stayed inside Myanmar and also love to stay in our culture. But Rohingyas cannot be the same like other musilm inside Myanmar. That is the main fact for Burmese people to accept the Rohingyas. Today's Burmese people do not practice strong religious discrimination, but Burmese people are really culturalisms. So! why all the international organizations are emphasing on only for the Rohingya's right? Burmese people also have their own right to protect their own culture and all the internationals should emphasize only on the issues on migrants in Thailand. - Sabai Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:41:21 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7782 ALL countries in ASEAN practice racial discrimination. That's why all the miinisters in the ASEAN countries cannot criticize Myanmar. OK, the Myanmarese psersecute the Rohingyas, The SIngaporean Chinese discriminate against Indians. The Indonesians and Malaysian Malays discriminate against the Chinese, as well as all non-Muslims, the Thais discriminate against the Muslim Thais in the south, The Filipinos discriminate against Muslims, The Thais and Cambodians(Khmers) discriminate against each other, well the Laotians being the poorest of the lot have to tolerate everybody else, and the Vietnamese discriminate against the Chinese and set off a wave of boat refugees which were mostly Chinese, and the Brunei (oops I forgot they exist, and anyway all of them belong to the sultan). So you see, how can any ASEAN country criticize any of their fellow country in ASEAN? - Yang Yang Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:34:45 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7781 Neanderthals 'distinct from us' Neanderthals lived in Europe and parts of Asia until they became extinct about 30,000 years ago. They were the closest relatives of currently living humans, sharing between 99.5% to 99.9% of our DNA sequence. "I don't think they became extinct due to something in their genome," he [Prof Svante Paabo from Germany's Max Planck Institute] said. "It was clearly something in their interaction with the environment or with modern humans that caused them to be extinct. "That will not be something you can see from their DNA sequence." Did modern humans kill them all? Read the Ramayama for a description from our pre-literate past of our uniquely human ability to cast "the other" as ugly ogre, to justify mass murder. No different today. - John Francis Lee Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:22:44 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7780 I think dark skin is beautiful and the Rohingyas are a very attractive people with soft features... And who said that dark skin is not soft? This guy is an idiot! - dark lover Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:53:05 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7779 """Myanmer people are fair and soft!!!!GGGGGGGGGood looking as well!!!""hahah...you're funny!!!!i've gotten better letter frm drunken monkey.........ow ya......u proved u r DonkeY....!!!! - love 4 Rohingya Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:25:10 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7773 Consul General Ye Mint Aung raises an interesting question: Can nationality be determined by beauty? If that is so, the geo-political landscape of our planet would change dramatically, and be much simplified in the process: instead of over 200 countries and territories and all the related problems, we will have one small country for the beauties and one very big one for the rest of us. Now, since we know that beauty is not everything, we also need a place for people with a beautiful mind and for those without. Come to think about it, let's have one more - a small island should be sufficient - for the true ogres in body and mind. We will send Ye Mint Aung there to practice his diplomatic skills. - Sanda Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:26:10 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7772 The comment of consular clearly shows that he is an ultra racist. It ,in fact depicts the behaviour of brutual regime against the peace loving indigenous rohingya people because a diplomate talks on behalf of his/her government when it comes to national isse. People around the would are not foolish like him or his illegitimate fathers in the regime. Now it is easier for the world community to understand how vulnerable rohingyas are in their homeland and therefor need to take effective actions against the regime. - K Amin Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:57:57 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7769 Indonesia and Malaysia should recieve the boat brethens as refugees rather than economic refugees. Surely we cannot expect the infidels in West to grant our brethen sanctuary. - Mamakthir Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:24:01 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7768 Outrageous! You have proven what kind of people and Government to you are representing. It makes easy for world communities to understand how racially prejudiced you and government have been. I thank you for making people around the world understand you and your Government even better. I know for a fact that you have no knowledge about Rohingya people or their History by reading your letter. You are living prove that human cruelty, racism, double standard and religious narrow-mindedness still exist. Don’t forget! People are much more knowledgeable than you are and there are millions of photos of Burmese people on the net. They know how good looking you people are. I have a suggestion for you, try to clean your heart and mind, you will know how to respect human dignity. Human Live is more important and Skin color is not the answer. mhjilani - mhjilani Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:22:50 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7762 It might sound extremely simplicit to say "most Burmese are racists", but this is true. As a naive, born into traditional Burmese Buddhist family, I can assure how the mainstream Burmese think about Myanmar of South Asian decents. It is a sad story that the world doesn't seem to know. Now Rohingya case, a vast (let me repeat... a vast) majority of the Burmese (including ethnic minorities) agree with SPDC and racist Arakanese that Rohingya are not native or ethnic of Burma. Even when these Rohingya people were dying in Thailand, many of the so-called democratic activists and bloggers support and agree with SPDC-cumed bloggers writing about Rohingya and South Asian decents in extremely racist and oppressive language. This is the same as what happened during Nagris. Instead of saving the dying people, SPDC was busy with doing what they want (i.e. forcing people to vote). Now, instead of saving the victims, even the so-called right activists and (shamelessly) western educated writers and students are busy with oppressing Rohingya that they are not even citizens of Burma. As a Burmese myself, I do strongly think, without start seeing every singly person in the country as having an ability for the country, but keep promoting hatred between Muslims and Buddhists, between Burman minority ethnic groups, Burmese will never be in peace. [Also, we should note, while Arakanese reject Rohingya like Burmese SPDC, ethnic groups 'hate' Burman. In the same vain, Burmese think ethnic people are backward, and jungle people. In Thai-Burma border, Burman activists see ethnic activists as unable and, some compare them with dog as I have heard it personally. - Myint San Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:42:21 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7761 this letter surprise me not one bit as we - the citizens of burma, know very well that only idiots and morons serve in the 'government'. - saw Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:37:54 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7757 First, Consul General Ye Mint Aung ill-bred statements are routinely made in private throughout Southeast Asia. It is not surprising that feels this way, it is only shocking he put it in an official document - which gives evidence to his utter stupidity. Apparently, the author is uncomfortable to learn ASEAN, in some part, is in agreement with this dogma Primitive notions of color, beauty and superiority are deeply rooted in Asian cultures. The backward and ignorant concept that fair skin is equivalent to soft and good looking; while dark skin equals ugly and dump, is very common place. In fact, the idiocy of this nonsensical thinking goes unchallenged. All one has to do is visit Thailand. Within minutes you will be bombarded with skin whitening commercials and advertisements. In most of these regions, overt racism and discrimination against dark people is the norm. It is so indoctrinated into the mindset of the masses; most dark people simply accept their unfair treatment without ever considering mass revolt. It goes without saying that only fair skin people can be leaders, managers, actors, models, and such. One Thai friend told me, he must use skin whitening cream in order to land a job. Attaching pictures to a resume is one way to filter out all the “ugly ogres.” I can’t count how many times I have been told by dark skin Thais, “I am dark, is it okay?” To ask such a question, suggest being brainwashed from birth that dark skin is wrong and fair skin is right. It absolutely amazes me that many people seem incapable of discussing the biology behind human skin color. One educated Thai told me he never heard of melanin. One more point, for those who prefer to hold onto archaic viewpoints, skin color is determined by the amount and type of melanin, the pigment in the skin. Human skin color can range from almost black (due to very high concentrations of the dark brown pigment melanin) to nearly colorless (appearing reddish white due to the blood vessels under the skin) in different people. Variation in skin color is largely due to genetics. As a general pattern people with ancestors from tropical regions (hence greater sunlight exposure) have darker skin than people with ancestors from subtropical regions. This is far from a hard and fast rule however, because many light skinned groups have managed to survive at the equator by way of social adaptation. The same can be said of dark skinned groups living at subtropical latitudes. - Simon Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:49:30 +0100 index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1718&Itemid=168#comment-7754 Dear Asia Sentinel Editor, Please do not lend legitimacy to the regime by using the word 'Myanmar'. Only the generals and their cronies use it; everyone else in the country calls it "Burma." - YukPui Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:18:41 +0100