All language subtitles for Burma With Simon Reeve 01 Eng

I'm on a journey around beautiful
and troubled Burma...

one of the largest countries
in Southeast Asia.

A land that's suffered generations
of dictatorship and ongoing war.

They have been fighting now
for decades.

It's supposed to be
a fledgling democracy...

There's a lot of freedom,
or less fear, I would say.

..that's opening up to the world.

This is like Burma's version
of Venice.

All right. More? More?

It's just completely,
totally fantastic.

But Burma is still a place
of tragedy

and now an unfolding catastrophe.

On this first leg of my journey,

I travel through Burma's
Buddhist heartlands

to discover how some are pushing
a religion of peace

towards hatred and violence.

I witness how Burma's
all-powerful military

has turned on its own people,

driving hundreds of thousands of
Rohingya Muslims from their homes.

Like nothing I have seen
anywhere on planet earth.

This speaks of a biblical exodus.

Burma, which is now also
known as Myanmar,

was once part of the British Empire.

I began my journey in Mawlamyine,
the first colonial capital.

TRAIN HOOTS

Right. Let's catch a train.

I think this is the carriage.

I was travelling to Burma's
biggest city, Yangon.

And we're off.

TRAIN HOOTS

This is so atmospheric.

It really is.

No glass separating you
from the outside,

so a lovely breeze coming in.

And a really stunning landscape
outside.

TRAIN HOOTS

In the late 1800s the British
began building railway lines

running almost the entire length
of the country.

At times it can feel like the trains
are of a similar vintage.

So we went for ordinary class
with solid wood benches

rather than upper class, where
you get a comfier, padded seat.

But with added lice.

We thought this was a better bet.

The British ruled Burma
for more than a century.

After a long struggle, Burma finally
gained independence in 1948.

Just over a decade later,
the military seized power,

ushering in decades
of brutal dictatorship.

The military completely
ruined Burma.

They wrecked the economy,
they jailed thousands of dissidents,

they imposed severe censorship

and they cut Burma off
from the outside world.

Under the military,

this became one of the ten
poorest countries in the world.

Poverty is still endemic here.

Around a third
of school-age children

don't actually attend school.

Hundreds of thousands of youngsters

work in fields,
factories and trains.

The military dictatorship in Burma
lasted for nearly 50 years.

It was the generals who actually
renamed the country Myanmar.

Now, both names are still used.

In 2011, the military said
they were stepping aside.

Today the country has a new,
democratically elected government

led by a human rights icon whose
struggle against dictatorship

earned her the Nobel Peace Prize.

The de facto leader of the country,
as I'm sure you know,

is Aung San Suu Kyi.

Daughter of the great
independence hero, Aung San.

She is loved by many Burmese
as a human rights hero,

an Asian Nelson Mandela,
if you like.

Aung San Suu Kyi is hugely popular
across much of Burma,

a country of more than
50 million people.

When her party won elections,

many saw it as the start
of a new era for the nation.

After a ten-hour journey,
we finally arrived in Yangon.

When Burma was ruled
by the military,

the international community imposed
heavy sanctions on the country.

Now, sanctions have been lifted.

Money and investment has poured in

and this huge city and its skyline
is starting to be transformed.

The civilian government has released
hundreds of political prisoners.

Many exiles have returned
from abroad.

I was on my way to meet one of them,
an old friend.

An activist who spent her life

campaigning for Burma's
many ethnic groups.

During the dictatorship
she had to flee the country.

She is brave and brilliant
and her name is Cheery Zahau.

I'm looking for a small green car.

And that is a small green car.

Hi! Cheery!

Oh, my goodness!

Cheery! Can I come in?

Oh, my God! How are you?

You look good! You look good too.

How the hell are you? Good.

Who's this? This is my...
my daughter and my mum.

Hello, Mum. Look at you!

Are you the cutest child
in the whole country?

Hello!

Cheery comes from
the Chin ethnic minority,

one of more than 100
ethnic groups in Burma.

During military rule,

Cheery risked her life
to smuggle me into the country.

Ready? Are you ready? Yeah.
As I'll ever be.

Travelling into the remote homeland
of the Chin people,

who are Christians,
was one of my riskiest adventures.

I've travelled to one of the most
repressive countries in the world.

Under the military, many ethnic
minorities suffered terribly.

The Burmese troops
are not so far from here.

That's why the villagers are always
scared of the Burmese troops.

The Chin endured arrest,
torture, massacres.

Villages were burned

as the army tried to crush dissent
and their culture.

I think we should go back.

Our trip was cut short when troops
suddenly appeared nearby.

You were on a wanted list.

Yeah. How much danger were you in
doing this with us?

Life-threatening?

If they get...
they arrest me, of course,

then I don't know
what will happen in prison.

The fact that I took foreigners
into Chin state,

it would be seen as really...
a heavy case.

I mean, obviously, for you,
things have improved.

Here we are.

You've come back from exile.

Yes. In 2012 the government
said people can come back.

People who have been campaigning
for democracy, human rights,

you all can come back.

And... And you didn't think
it was a trap?

Cautious optimism.

We'll show you... Are you going
to be my guide again? Yeah!

What an honour. I'll be your guide.
What an honour for me.

This time not in the jungle.
Not in the jungle. Urban jungle.

Yeah, urban jungle.

It was emotional for me
to see Cheery.

There was so much to discuss,

starting with the basics -
the country's name.

Burma has been officially
renamed Myanmar.

But Burma is still used as a name
by some foreign governments

and many people here use both.

Why do you say Burma
rather than Myanmar?

I use Burma because
the military regime

never conducted a public referendum
to choose the name of the country.

They just changed it?
They just changed it.

So I want to make a statement
by using Burma,

that I'm not being fooled
by the generals. Okay.

This is a beautiful landmark
of Yangon,

or the whole of Burma, Myanmar.

All right. Let's cross.

And this is a... Oh!
..very beautiful place to hang out.

Look at this! Yes, it is!

You can just come here and
sit and, you know, like meditate.

Shwedagon Pagoda
is one of the most famous

and dramatic monuments
in the whole country.

And it's extraordinary

that you are now able to be
out in Yangon at all

and that, to me, signifies some
really positive and profound changes

have happened in the country.

Yes. If you live in Yangon, yes.

There's a lot of freedom,
or less fear, I would say,

to go anywhere you want.

It's a very special time to be here,
actually, at sunset.

And a very strange time as well

because of what is going on
elsewhere in this country.

It is bizarre to be here now
in the city

at a peaceful meditative
Buddhist shrine,

while genocidal ethnic cleansing
against a Muslim minority

is happening elsewhere in Myanmar.

I think most people watching this

will have heard about what's been
happening to the Rohingya Muslims.

Yeah. It is... serious.

Nearly half a million people
were driven out

of their communities in one month.

It's the biggest exodus of,
you know,

people driven out of their
communities in recent history.

But you look around, you would
not... It's as if nothing happened.

You would not have the sense that...
Yeah.

..there is such an
extraordinary thing

going on in the country
at the moment.

Yeah. In Yangon, life goes on
as if nothing happens.

I am astonished that this is
happening in Myanmar today,

with Aung San Suu Kyi as the leader.

Yeah. Are you?

Erm...

Yes, or no.

It's very...

like, taboo topic.

Taboo topic? Yeah.

Even someone like you,
who has risked your life endlessly

for this country and for
the different peoples in it,

there are still some things
you cannot risk,

or it wouldn't be wise
for you to risk saying?

Yeah, exactly. So I will not
tell you everything I know.

Probably wise.
Or everything you think. Yeah.

Okay.

Burma's one million Rohingya people
come from Rakhine State.

They're Muslims in a country where
90% of the population is Buddhist.

The United Nations has described
what's happened to them

as ethnic cleansing.

Others have labelled it genocide.

I'll be heading to meet the Rohingya
later on this journey,

but first I headed north
from Yangon

and into the Buddhist heartlands
of the country.

You drive on the right but the
steering wheel is on the right,

so the driver can't really see
what's coming at him.

But they drive on the right because
a former leader of the country

had a premonition
or spoke to a fortune teller,

it's not entirely clear which,
which said that they should move

from driving on the left to the
right. So they did, overnight.

I don't imagine it did wonders
for road safety.

Such is the power
of a military dictator.

On a whim, the entire country's
roads were thrown into chaos.

The daft change, combined with rules
that made it almost impossible

to import left-hand drive cars,

is part of the reason Burma
has one of the highest rates

for road deaths
in the whole of Asia.

The generals could be bizarre -

another time switching the currency
to multiples of nine,

again based on advice from
astrologers and fortune tellers.

Across Burma, even today,
people mix Buddhism

with a deep belief in spirits
and the supernatural.

We're just on the outskirts
of the town of Pyay

and we're going to stop here,
probably overnight, actually.

So we're here? We're here.

With a local guide,

I stopped off to meet one of
Burma's famous spirit mediums.

People consult them
with their everyday problems.

They are important and influential.

Lovely to meet you.
You are a Nat Ga Daw?

Have I said that right, and if so,
what is a Nat Ga Daw?

You're a medium for the spirits,
is that right?

Can we come in, is that okay?

Oh, I'm going to get taken! Lovely.

Daw Tin Tin Myaing says the spirits
started talking to her

when she was a child.

Oh, my goodness. Look!

I can see there's a busty figure
over here smoking a massive cigar.

What's going on there?

What's going to happen this evening?

Is it a celebration? Is it a
service? Is it a religious event?

I get one wish and if it comes true,
I have you to thank?

Even before Buddhism came to Burma,
people here worshipped the spirits.

Today, aspects of the two religions
have merged

in a wonderful, unusual way that
can often involve a bit of a party.

Followers, locals
and slightly baffled guests

were all being encouraged
to make donations to the spirits

in return for luck and prosperity.

Being a spirit medium is one of the
few occupations open to gay men

in a country where it's still
technically illegal

to be homosexual.

And many face harassment.

The next morning,
I continued my journey north

towards the ancient capital
of Bagan.

We're just coming into Bagan
and there are temples everywhere.

It's an extraordinary sight.

Bagan was the capital
of the first empire

that united what became known
as Burma.

A huge city of perhaps
over 100,000 people.

This is astonishing.

1000 years ago, Bagan's kings chose
Buddhism as their state religion.

They built around 10,000
Buddhist temples,

more than 2000 of which
survive today.

This is a site to match any
of the great wonders of the world.

It really is.

It's as if you put all the great
Gothic cathedrals of Europe

in an area the size of Bristol.

During colonial rule, the British
deposed Burma's Buddhist kings.

When the military took over
after independence,

they pushed the idea
that to be truly Burmese,

you needed to be Buddhist.

They persecuted Christians,
like the Chin,

and Muslims, like the Rohingya.

The generals tried to use Buddhism
to prop up their power

and they tried to put themselves
at the heart of the faith.

So although almost everything here
looks ancient,

much of it has actually
been renovated

or even built quite recently

and a lot of it by former generals
and serving generals,

partly to atone for their sins,

the crimes they've committed
against their own people.

It is astonishing, really,

that although the dictatorship is
supposed to have ended in Myanmar,

the generals haven't been
prosecuted,

they haven't been tried
for their crimes.

Many of them are still in power
or in business power.

If it makes money still in Myanmar,

then the chances are that a general
or a former general

is benefiting from it.

Despite some dubious renovations,
Bagan is still stunning

and a site to rival
anywhere on the planet.

Empires have risen and fallen.

Dictatorships have been and gone.

But through it all,
Buddhism has been a thread

connecting most
of the Burmese people.

And still today
it plays a critical role,

often doing the job of the state.

Look at this!

"Social welfare,
monastic education school."

My goodness.
I think I'd better do my shirt up.

That looks like
a reception committee.

Oh, my goodness.

Abbot Pyinya Wuntha

is head of this school
in Pakokku in the middle of Burma.

Mingalaba. Mingalaba.

Mingalaba. My goodness.

Mingalaba!

ALL: Mingalaba!

This is a school and a clinic,

but also a monastery
that's training novice monks.

At any one time,

there are said to be around
half a million Buddhist monks,

novices and nuns in Burma,

thought to be the highest
proportion in the world.

Every Burmese Buddhist boy
is expected to become a monk

for a period of anything from
a week to several months.

The monks live an austere lifestyle

and they have to get up at what I
personally consider an ungodly hour.

ALARM RINGS

Bloody hell!

It's 4.30...

and they're heading out.

These young monks are performing
their early morning ritual.

Every day, they'll walk sometimes
up to two miles in bare feet.

Monks across Burma are supposed
to live entirely on donations

from members of the public.

Across the country, monks line up
to collect their breakfast

at donation points just like these.

What do you have
for the monks today?

Chilli. Chilli.

VOICE OVER LOUDSPEAKER

And what is this?
Is this a sermon?

An announcement.

In the nicest possible way,
can I ask why you all do this?

It's 5 o'clock in the morning!

Monks also played
a very special role

in Burma's transition to democracy.

In 2007, tens of thousands
of saffron-robed monks

rose up against the military
to protest against worsening poverty.

One of the biggest uprisings
was here in Pakokku.

The military crushed the uprising.

Thousands of monks were
imprisoned and tortured.

Some were killed.

Monks are the most respected figures
in the country.

The fact they'd stood up
to the military junta

put huge pressure
on the dictatorship to change.

And it's fascinating to see this.

I suppose it creates an
extraordinary culture in a country,

where the monks depend on the
people, and to a certain extent,

the people depend on the monks
as well.

Buddhism is generally seen
as the most peaceful

of the world's major religions.

But there is now a darker side
to Buddhism in Burma.

Some Buddhist monks here
are turning militant.

So we're just on our way
to a very controversial monastery,

and they don't want us to film,

so I think we'll probably put
the cameras down now, go in there,

and see if they'll let us film.

We've had some delicate
negotiations, but I think...

I think we're going to be allowed
to start filming.

I'd gone to visit a group of monks
called Ma Ba Tha,

the Committee to Protect Race
and Religion.

They're supposed to be banned,

and are controversial because
of their rabble-rousing,

particularly against
Rohingya Muslims.

But they're still active and
I was meeting their senior members.

What are your beliefs, then?

How do your beliefs differ

from almost the mainstream of
Buddhist philosophy in the country?

Do you view Islam and Muslims
as a threat, then,

to Buddhists and Buddhism
in this country?

So you're worried that Muslims
are breeding very quickly, then,

that they threaten to breed out
Buddhism in Myanmar, is that right?

That's right.

Right now, the United Nations says
there is an ethnic cleansing

underway in Rakhine State.

What do you say is happening
in Rakhine at the moment?

I was really shocked to hear
such extreme views

coming out of the mouths of monks.

Ma Ba Tha has operations
across the country.

There are at least 600 monks
living in just this monastery,

avidly studying the beliefs
of their teachers,

one of whom has been called
the Buddhist Bin Laden.

There's been violence committed by
Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine,

but the students here
are played inflammatory videos

that put all the blame
on the Rohingya.

Fake news, social media and videos
have played a critical role

in fomenting and spreading hatred
in modern Burma.

Millions here have lapped up
the propaganda of militant monks,

the Burmese military, and even
Aung San Suu Kyi's own government.

In their own country,

the Muslim Rohingya people
are now widely hated.

Most Rohingya lived
in Rakhine State,

in an area closed to foreigners.

I couldn't go on a journey
around Burma

without learning more about
what's happened to the Rohingya.

So I headed to neighbouring
Bangladesh

and on to the river that divides
the two countries.

The Rohingya are one of the most
persecuted people on the planet.

They've lived under a system
described by many experts

as an apartheid system
for decades now.

Many Burmese see the Rohingya
as illegal migrants,

but there have been Rohingya
in the country for centuries.

In recent years, they've been
deprived of their right to vote,

their access to health care
and education was limited

and they were banned from travelling
freely between villages.

The Burmese dictatorship even
stripped them of their citizenship,

making the Rohingya
the largest group

of stateless people on the planet.

This is about as far as we can go

without crossing the border
between Bangladesh and Burma.

It's a part of the country

that we are completely forbidden
from visiting.

In fact, if we get too close
to that side,

it's quite possible Burmese border
guards will start shooting at us.

Holy crap, look.

There's a fire over there.

It could be a normal fire

or it could be the Burmese military
burning a Rohingya village.

The most recent violence
against the Rohingya

is just the latest phase
in a long campaign of oppression.

Waves of Rohingya refugees have been
fleeing Burma for Bangladesh

ever since the 1970s,
to escape persecution.

Most have been held and housed
in refugee camps

just inside Bangladesh.

The largest is called Kutupalong.

I met up with Shamin, a Rohingya
guide who grew up in the camp.

Shamin!

Salaam alaykum.
Wa-alaykum salaam. How are you?

You've been living here
in the camp for how long?

26 years. 26 years? Yeah.

You came across from Myanmar...

1992. An earlier time of crisis
for the Rohingya, wasn't it? Yeah.

In August 2017, a group
of Rohingya militants

carried out a series of attacks
on Burmese police posts.

In response, the Burmese military
unleashed an orgy of bloodshed

on Rohingya men, women and children,

burning hundreds of villages
and killing thousands.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees
poured out of Burma into Bangladesh.

The population of Kutupalong
camp exploded.

This is now the biggest refugee camp
in the world.

Oh, my God. Look at this!

Look at the size of this camp,
this place, this city.

I think like nothing I have seen
anywhere on planet earth.

This speaks of a biblical exodus...

of an entire people
terrorised into fleeing.

Can we hop in this?

The attacks by the Burmese military

caused the most rapid movement of
people since the Rwandan genocide.

God, it's just enormous, this camp.

It is just enormous.

MAN OVER LOUDSPEAKER
What's going on here?

Can we stop? Can we stop?

During the exodus, tens of thousands
of families were split up.

Many are still desperate to know if
their loved ones are dead or alive.

What's happened?

Is this the sort of situation
that can result in a reunification?

You think stolen, trafficked? Yeah.

More than half the refugees who
come to Bangladesh are children.

Some lost their parents
in the chaos.

Others have been left orphaned.

They need protection
and they need support.

So this is a child-friendly space.

This is one of 130 child-friendly
spaces in this area

run by the charity UNICEF,

a vital safe haven for many
of the camp's children.

Shakeel Faisula from UNICEF
invited me to talk to two youngsters

in the charity's care.

Yousef came to the camp
with his sister, Rosina,

after the August attacks.

I promise you, it's not a gun.
It's a camera, OK?

I promise you.

What this lad is immediately
saying is that Jonathan's camera,

which has a handle on it at the front
with almost a trigger,

he's saying immediately,
"It looks like a gun."

You can go and have a look.
It's okay.

All right? So you know
it's not a gun, don't you?

Why did you have to...

Why did you have to come here
to Bangladesh. Do you know?

Do you feel safe here now?

INTERPRETER: Yes, I feel safe here.

Shakeel, these are horrific stories.

Are you hearing this a lot
from children? Yes.

These are kind of common stories
that we are hearing

from many of the children.

We kind of feel that their childhood
has kind of been stolen from them.

And now they are here,

we are just trying to make sure
that at least they have a future

because in any case,
you really can't claim

that these children
will forget these things.

These will remain within themselves.

Forever.
Forever.

For the time being,
we can just tell them that,

yes, this has happened,
this has happened,

but we have to continue.

What are the things that you do here
or in life

that really make you
laugh and smile?

Have you got a favourite team?
Barcelona.

Barcelona is your favourite
football team in the world.

You're a good man.
Thank you for talking with us.

Big guy!

Oh, wow! Look what we've
been offered, Shamin!

Oh, this is very nice.

Oh, what a VERY kind offer.

Do you like cake? This is cake.

We've got some cake.

This is biscuit. Biscuits!

Oh, I love biscuits.

You've brought us some tea
and some biscuits and some cake!

Yeah. Delicious!

There we go. In my country, we love
putting our biscuits in our tea.

Yeah.

Can you cut me some cake, please?

Because if I cut it,
I'll have it all!

Thank you.

What do you like most
about coming here?

One of the many wonderful things
about a centre like this,

a sanctuary like this,

is that it gives children
who often have very little

and many of whom are traumatised,

it gives them a chance
just to be children again.

Her brother is calling.

Her brother is calling her,
all right.

They've been through more than
most people can comprehend,

haven't they, some of them?

The scale of the killings,
rape and torture

committed against these people
by the Burmese military

has led the United Nations
to label it as ethnic cleansing.

Burma's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi,
a Nobel Prize winner,

has not condemned
the army's actions.

She has blamed the crisis
on tensions

between the Buddhist and Muslim
communities in Rakhine

and violence on both sides.

International observers have not
been allowed to visit the area.

I'd heard that people were
still trying to flee Burma

and that thousands were still stuck
at the land border

between the two countries.

Bangladeshi border guards
were closing crossing points

and setting up checkpoints to stop
more Rohingya entering the country.

(Speaks Bengali)

Let's go.

How close to the border
are we now, Shamin?

This is also Burmese fence. Look.
INAUDIBLE

Just there?! Yes, this one.

This is the main.
Can we stop? Can we stop?

Let's just hop out.

Okay, let's have a look.

This is the border.

Myanmar and Bangladesh border.

This is the border?

Yeah, this is the border and...

Right here?! Yeah. Not the water?

Yeah. The water is the border?

Yeah, this is Bangladesh
and that is Myanmar.

This is the fence and
pillar of the Myanmar.

Okay, so they are trapped on almost
a no-man's land, almost...

Yeah. ..between the Myanmar fence
and the Myanmar border,

which is just here.

So they're being allowed to come
to this side just informally?

Informally, to take medicines
and to take food,

to take aid and
just to bring water also.

Okay. So...

This little bridge here...
Yeah, bamboo bridge.

..is one of a very few sort of
actual crossing points?

Yes. An informal crossing point.

This is utterly horrific.

I mean, thank God the Bangladeshis
are letting the Rohingya come across

to pick up aid, otherwise
these people would have nothing.

But, of course,
you may well be asking

why won't they let everybody cross
into the safety of this side?

It's a very fair question.

Obviously, Bangladesh is
a desperately poor country.

They've already absorbed and are
housing tens and tens of thousands

of Rohingya refugees.

But there are tensions starting to
develop between the community here,

of course, and the people coming in.

Then we spotted Burmese
soldiers watching over the camp

from the hill above.

What happened? One is running.

One has just run up.
Over there.

Bloody hell.

So she stepped on a land mine?

No... Yeah. She...

Lost both her legs. Yes.

Relations have never been good
between many of the Burmese

and the Rohingya, but this is...

this is apocalyptic.

It is a completely, erm,

devastating situation.

How can you ever go back?

What did you do before you came
here, before you had to flee?

You studied psychology?

The Rohingya see themselves
as part of Burma.

Everyone I spoke to
wanted to return home.

The Bangladeshis want them to go.

But clearly it's not safe.

HORN BEEPS

Yeah, we've got some stuff.
We've got some stuff.

There's a guy been injured.

(Man speaks Burmese)

Yeah, we've got bandages.

Here. I'll try and find
a better one.

That's probably the best thing.

Not far. Yeah?

OK. If you go on here.

Oh, man, he's been badly beaten.

Kairo went back into Burma
to check on his farm.

He was caught by Burmese soldiers.

Why did you want to go back?

(Speaks own language)
Patient, patient. Yes, yes.

Just here? Yes, yes.

where people have been
across the border,

are being still brought in now,
beaten up, attacked, tortured?

Daily. Every day?

Yeah.

He's lucky to be alive.

They could've killed him. Mm.

They want the Rohingya
to stay out of Myanmar?

It's hard to know how the Rohingya
will ever be able to go safely back

to Burma.

30 minutes ago.

There is a small fracture.

He's got a fracture on his skull?

Yeah, a small fracture,
no need to operate right now,

but we'll just take him
to the observation

and see through the night
how he goes.

After all that's happened,

surely the Rohingya would
need cast-iron guarantees

and an international force
to protect them if they returned.

Wouldn't you?

The Burmese government has
always blamed Rohingya militants

for starting the latest
bout of violence.

There is a small, violent
Rohingya resistance movement

called the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army, or ARSA.

In August 2017, they coordinated
a series of attacks,

mostly with knives and sticks,
on remote Burmese police outposts.

We're in a blacked-out
vehicle because we're heading

to try and meet
some of the militants

behind the initial attacks.

I heard about a guide who could
help take me to the group.

I couldn't be sure
what I was getting into.

Are these the guys here?
Salaam alaykum.

NARRATION: ARSA has been accused
of receiving support

from foreign terror groups.

Salaam alaykum.
Wa-alaykum salaam.

What inspired you,
what forced you to join the group?

What did you do?

Oh, God.

During one of the attacks that
the Burmese say was responsible

for causing their...their military
crackdown, as they put it?

Do you have any regrets about
the attacks that you launched?

What is it that you want us to know?

Are you part of an international
group or organisation

or are you just for the Rohingya?

Are those international fighters,
are they al-Qaeda?

Look, I'm going
to go out on a limb here.

I'm going to say that
if you or I had been through

what these people have been through,

there is every chance that many of us

would at least sympathise
with that group.

What an appalling situation this is.

I tell you, what worries me is that
international jihadi groups

are starting to latch
onto this situation.

If they get involved
in the conflict,

they will poison relations
around this region

between the different ethnic
groups and different religions.

Unless the Rohingya are given safety
and security and their land back,

then I fear for the safety of
Myanmar and of this wider region.

The Burmese government claims
they'll welcome the Rohingya back

into Burma, but from everything I'd
seen, that seems more than unlikely.

Evidence suggests the Burmese
army attacks were systematic

and organised -

possibly in advance.

Many of the Rohingya villages
attacked by the soldiers

have now been bulldozed.

The state-run media in Burma
is busy spreading fear of Muslims

and anti-Rohingya feeling inside
Burma is shockingly widespread.

I confess, I hadn't realised
how bad things are for the Rohingya

until coming here.

The point is,
they've been bad for decades.

I can't really understand why the
rest of the world hasn't spoken up

about their treatment
more assertively.

I think it was because recently

we've been a bit blinded by the fact

that Burma is supposed to have
changed into a democracy.

And we haven't wanted
to criticise it

and we haven't wanted to criticise
the country's de facto leader,

Aung San Suu Kyi.

We thought she was an Asian Mandela.

How wrong we were.

Captions (c) SBS Australia 2018