\nSeptember 03, 2013<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nSince the
\nbeginning of Myanmar’s democratization in 2011, the nation has attracted
\ninvestment from all over the world and has been dubbed “the last Asian
\nfrontier.”<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn April,
\nAung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the nation’s largest opposition party, visited
\nJapan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned the favor the following month to
\npromote deepening bilateral ties. It was the first visit to Myanmar by a Japanese
\nprime minister in 36 years.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nUnder
\noppressive military rule, more than 3,000 people are estimated to have fled
\nMyanmar to seek refuge in Japan. While some were able to temporarily return
\nhome, about 200 have been deprived of their nationality and forced to live a
\nrootless life. These people are known as the Rohingya.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe
\nRohingya are a minority who practice Islam and primarily live in Rakhine State,
\nwestern Myanmar, near the border with Bangladesh. While 800,000 were estimated
\nto be living in the nation, at least 500,000 have fled to escape persecution
\nafter the government enforced a law in 1982 that stripped them of their
\nnationality, and limited their movement, ability to marry and other basic
\nrights.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOne such
\nRohingya man is currently living in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture.
\n“Abudullah” is 42 years old and in August 1988, he participated in
\npro-democracy protests in which several thousand of his countrymen were killed.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHe was a
\nhigh school student when he joined a demonstration in a village in Rakhine
\nState. Like many other protests, they were put down by the military.
\nAbudullah’s friend was shot dead, while he was detained for 10 days, during
\nwhich he was physically assaulted.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAfter this
\nmovement, discrimination against Rohingya worsened.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTo escape
\npersecution, Abudullah moved around Malaysia and Indonesia before finally
\nentering Japan seven years ago with a forged passport.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAfter his
\napplication for refugee status was rejected twice, he now lives under
\nprovisional release status as he has no nationality and no home country to be
\nreturned to.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHe cannot
\nhave a job and is dependent on aid and money provided by a nonprofit
\norganization to a mosque. When he becomes sick, he cannot visit a doctor as he
\nlacks the money to pay for health care.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n“Why
\ndid I come to Japan?”<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n“Do
\nthey expect me to steal?”<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThese are
\nthe things he laments when he meets with associates. Although Abudullah married
\nand had children in Indonesia, he is alone in Japan. Fearing for his safety, he
\nwas forced to leave them behind as someone reported him as an illegal
\nimmigrant.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHis
\nhomeland, which is beginning to plant the seeds of democracy, remains very far
\naway.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA volunteer
\nwho visited Indonesia in March brought back a letter from his daughter.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n“Father,
\nhow are you? I’m already a middle school student. I miss you very much since
\nyou left us when I was a first-grader in primary school. I’ve been waiting for
\nyou for a long, long time.”<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEvery time
\nAbudullah tries to read the letter, he cannot finish it.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n“I
\nwant to see my family,” he said with a trembling voice, covering his face
\nwith his hands.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To keep expenses at a minimum, a Rohingya man lives in a small room measuring about six tatami mats. Photo: Yomiuri Shimbun By Daisuke Tomita, The Yomiuri Shimbun Myanmar Times September 03, 2013 Since the beginning of Myanmar’s democratization in 2011, the nation has attracted investment from all over the world and has been dubbed “the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-refugee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}