Ultra-nationalist monks in Myanmar accepted a cash donation from the military on Monday while condemning Aung San Suu Kyi and her government for allowing Rohingya Muslims to enter the country "illegally".Hundreds of monks swathed in saffron and maroon robes filed early morning into a Yangon monastery for the annual meeting of the Buddha Dhamma Parahita Foundation.The group was known as Ma Ba Tha until a ban by the government and religious authorities in 2017 aimed at curbing its inf

From January’s church bombings in southern Philippines which killed at least 20 and wounded scores more, to the decades-old persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya population which has seen a mass exodus of 1.2 million people fleeing for their lives, religious freedom isn’t exactly one of ASEAN’s strong points.With 650 million people in 10 countries, ASEAN’s diversity has long been one of its defining characteristics.

Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. While Muslims in ASEAN share the Ramadan rituals of fasting, charity giving and Tarawih (additional) prayers, the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr varies according to the region, culture and traditions passed down through generations.

The United Nations (UN) said Friday it has registered more than 250,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, providing many with their first ever identification cards and proof of their right to return to Myanmar in the future.The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) also said the registration could serve as a tool for law enforcement to help counter human trafficking."Over a quarter of a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have now been jointly registered and provided with identity cards by Banglad

Fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic Rakhine rebels has escalated in the western state's temple-studded town of Mrauk U, sources confirmed Wednesday, with reports of military jets streaking across the sky.Riven by complex ethnic and religious divides, Rakhine state was the epicentre of a brutal military campaign in 2017 that forced some 740,000 Rohingya Muslims over the border into Bangladesh.But the army is now locked in deadly battles with the Arakan Army (AA), a group that cla

The term Islamophobia has its roots in the Greek word Phobos which refers to the God of fear and is used to denote terror. As such, the literal meaning of Islamophobia would be the ‘fear of Islam’. However, the term has evolved over the years to represent the many prejudices faced by Muslims by virtue of their faith. The modern interpretation is no more obvious than the recent Christchurch shootings. The shooter had no agenda other than prejudice and hatred towards Muslims.

In a vast convention centre in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s sprawling and eerily empty capital, prospective investors listened politely as local companies pitched opportunities and government officials spoke of the country’s vast economic potential.Yet in the hallways, conversations drifted toward one topic: A military-led crackdown that drove more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from the country, prompting allegations of genocide and threats of renewed economic penalties from the United States (US) an

Bangladesh told the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday that it will no longer be able to take in refugees from Myanmar.Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told a council meeting that the crisis over the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya sheltering in his country had gone from "bad to worse" and urged the council to take "decisive" action.Around 740,000 Muslim Rohingya are living in camps in Bangladesh after they were driven out of Myanmar's

When Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League of Democracy (NLD) party won the general elections in 2015, a new wave of hope swept Myanmar. Previously under a military junta for almost 50 years from 1962 to 2011, Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi and her cohort represented the change the country so badly needed; a shift from military dictatorship to a functioning democracy.Throughout the election campaign, Suu Kyi and the NLD promised bold political reforms that would transform the country.