The UN describes the Rohingya population as among the world's most
persecuted people. The tension, violence and discrimination vents from
the ethnic majority Rakhine Buddhists that view them as illegal
immigrants from Bangladesh although they have been native to Myanmar for
centuries.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace prize winner, has conspicuously remained
silent on their plight, which has drawn international criticism. Tens of
thousands of Rohingyas live in appalling conditions that has been
forced upon them.
Press TV has interviewed Mr. Raza Kazim of the Islamic Human Rights
Commission in London about the repression and abuse of the Rohingyas and
the lack of international response the issue has attracted.
What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Let's look at it in general, why do you think that it is
continuing although there has been pressure especially from the Muslim
nations and communities. In some cases it almost seems as if the
government there in Myanmar is not really paying a whole lot of
attention to it?
Kazim: That's right… and the problem has been that people are turning a
blind eye to what's actually going on - the powers that be, the focus,
the media and so on has been very much different in terms of the way
that people are looking at this.
And I think one of the problems has been the way that Aung San Suu Kyi
was made into a darling of the West, paraded around Western capitals and
seen as if all the problems in Myanmar have gone away because she has
been freed because her own narrative on the Rohingya Muslims was in
itself quite worrying in terms of some of the parallels that you see
with nationalist movements, which are not particularly taking into
account the rights of minorities.
And when you have a leader, a so-called democratic leader, whose
attitude is more nationalistic than actually recognizing that there are
people, all people that need to have rights, then that becomes a
problem.
What’s happened as a result of that, people in the West are thinking
this is something - the problem there, is in the process of going away,
when in fact it's been exacerbated and become a lot worse because of her
attitude.
Press TV: What do you think, you're representing Islamic Human Rights
Commission in London - What do you think needs to be done in order to
put the pressure on the government there in order to get results for
these Muslims?
Kazim: I think we need to look at how and what influence of China in
particular who has had a relationship in the past… what kind of pressure
can be brought to bear from that side.
I think there is also pressure that needs to be brought to bear on the
idea of continuing to make sure that the boycott and sanctions against
the Myanmar government continue - it's something that needs to be
continued in that kind of narrative.
Press TV: What about the amount of media attention or the lack thereof,
especially in the corporate media - What do you see behind this,
especially in the West, there is a very short term memory that if it is
not repeated constantly it's almost as if it no longer exists - What is
the reason behind that?
Kazim: It's about an agenda… partly to do with resources; it's about
making sure that the resources that the Western governments will have
access to as a result of recognizing the government as it currently
exists - giving favorable treatment in terms of having access to those
resources. And that's one the most fundamental problems - that's an
agenda of the government.
And unfortunately media organizations are following the lines of the
Western governments rather than actually critiquing it and analyzing the
reasons for the stances that governments have taken.
You know, when we talk having about a media that will question and see
what the issues are for the stances that governments have taken, we
don’t see that independence actually being carried out in terms of what
is a responsibility of the media in the different Western countries.
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