’Rohingya’ ferry victims not Rohingya.
[su_row][su_column size= »1/3″] 
[/su_column] [su_column size= »2/3″]
The loss of life in rough seas on April 19 after the sinking of a boat carrying 40 to 60 people from Sin Tet Maw in Pauktaw township soon hit social media and then international headlines. A US embassy statement expressed deep concern, using the controversial name Rohingya to describe the victims.
That wording prompted protests outside the US embassy in Yangon on April 28 from nationalists who vehemently object to the term and insist that they be called by their official label of “Bengalis”. [/su_column] [/su_row]
But a Myanmar Times investigation reveals that most on board were internally displaced persons – IDPs – who originally came from Kyaukphyu and were of Kaman ethnicity. Their families and community are angry that more people, locally and internationally, do not defend their rights and recognise they are different from the Rohingya.
“People should not call us Rohingya. We are Kaman and we have rights,” said U Khin Maung Hla, leader at Sin Tet Maw IDP camp. Continue Reading …