Western Burma in Conflict: Rights, Reconciliation, and the Rohingya

Two months of horrific escalations of violence have engulfed western Burma's Rakhine State. While the conflict lurches between reproach and revenge, the media seems to be at a crossroads between better reportage and being forgotten by the drive of the news cycle. The violence threatens to extinguish the tentative embers of hope that have been kindled by the last year's incomplete reform process. 

How can Burma be supported to embrace a future of harmony? How can real reconciliation allow progress with the current climate of contempt, particularly against the Rohingya - who the United Nations and others have called some of the world's most persecuted peoples. It has entwined the Burmese military and former democracy activists into a sinister alliance. In the absence of credible observers (international aid workers have been removed and journalists have been forbidden access), we can still comfortably call for a cessation of violence on all sides. More importantly, we can look at the environment that this communal violence has erupted in so that we might solve this problem in the short and long-term. 

The facts of the matter show that the anti-Rohingya campaign has been vastly heavier-handed in both the number of insults thrown and at the quality of hatred and violence called for. Even a cursory search of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or of the comments sections of any number of online articles will show that the extremist racist and religious bigots use terms like "dog" or "terrorist" to attack the Rohingya. Among the hate sites online, there is even a Facebook group dedicated to "beheading kalars," with 'kalar' being a pejorative term to refer to the Rohingya. The inverse attacks, where there are calls for violence to be committed by the Rohingya against Rakhine Buddhists or against even the Burmese military or any form of violence called for at all? As of this writing I could find none. If such calls exist at all, then it is a much smaller proportion. Instead, the anti-Rohingya campaign wraps itself in calls for ethnic purity, defense of sovereignty, and protection of Buddhism. There are about 800,000 Rohingya in a Burma with nearly sixty million: hardly a threat to Burmese sovereignty any more than the Burmese (refugees and undocumented migrants) in Thailand are a threat to that nation's sovereignty. And even a cursory review of Buddhist (and Muslim) religious texts shows the calls to peace, so wrapping this violence in religion is an insult to faith itself. 

There are disturbing (and increasingly credible) reports that the violence has been disproportionately abetted by state security forces. And there is an unquestionable campaign of hatred and vitriol that has been poured out by the very people who have been calling for freedom in Burma over the last decades. There have been calls to expel the entire Rohingya population or to engage in genocide or to institute an apartheid system against the Rohingya. There have been explicit calls for violence against the Rohingya. And there have been attempts to smear these benighted people with the moniker of "terrorist" and "dog" among others, terms that have an especially repellent resonance with Muslims. Where do these attacks come from? Not just the usual suspects in the military, but so-called freedom campaigners-turned-bigots like 88 Generation leader Ko Ko Gyi, the UK-based Burma Democratic Concern [sic], and mass-market film director Cho Tu Zaw (who is, ironically, seeking asylum in the United States but who feels comfortable engaging in ethnonationalism that might have made Slobodan Milosevic proud). Even the organization that I helped to found, the US Campaign for Burma, was slow to get behind the ball on this one (though they notably haven't joined the chorus of hatred, silence can imply assent and they seem to be doing better now). 

The debate of when the Rohingya arrived in Burma is, in many ways, irrelevant to this crisis. There is solid scholarly evidence of their presence in Rakhine State for centuries. They were citizens of Burma until Ne Win, grim dictator from 1962 to 1988, deprived them of citizenship in 1982. They have maintained themselves under the bleakest of circumstances and still desire one thing: to be treated as equals and human beings. Though there has been some very good on reporting on this and there have been organizations that have had a strong voice for speaking about what is right on this issue (Human Rights Watch, Burma Campaign UK, Amnesty International, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and DVB all come to mind), it has not been enough. We need to add more voices of individuals and more organizations to defend these human rights. 

Reconciliation is imperative, but real reconciliation is possible only when those who care for Burma's future make a commitment to tolerance and human rights protection. Real reconciliation is possible only when truth is seen. The campaign to call death threats onto the Rohingya themselves and to those who would speak out on their behalf? It is unconscionable. That such behavior might be engaged in by the former military regime itself is unsurprising, but that it should be endorsed by previously laudable members of the democratic opposition or that it should find fertile ground in an ugly populist hatred should make us remember the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the mass violence that once convulsed Indonesia's encounter with democracy, or even Burma's past violence against not only the Rohingya but against citizens of Indian and Chinese descent. Burma's national sovereignty and brightly diverse cultural and religious heritage are not under threat by 1.3% of the population living in some of the most abject poverty, but that heritage may be stained in the violence that is getting dangerously frenzied with the idea of ethnic cleansing. 

The future of Burma could be bright if reforms deepen and continue, but nothing will be so great of a blot on the potential of this nation as the attempt by some to baptize the meager newfound hope in the blood of a racist pogrom and attempt at excluding a people who are trying to merely live. Aren't we all? If Burma is to succeed and meet potential, it must learn, as America still is learning, that we all must get along. Can't we all just get along? We must support a reconciliation process, one that recognizes clearly the consequences of hate campaigns are violence. Such was the case in Bosnia, in Kosovo, and elsewhere. We must not allow these things to come to pass in Rakhine State. 

If you care about the fate of over 800,000 people who are being reviled and hunted by the Burmese military in a strange alliance with former democracy activists, please register this concern. Take a moment and please make the following four contacts:

1. The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission:

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

House Committee on Foreign Affairs

2170 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

#202-225-3599

TLHRC@mail.house.gov

2. Your Congressional Representatives: If you're not sure who to contact, look up your senators and representatives at www.contactingthecongress.org and take a minute to call (better than email) or to carbon copy the letter you wrote to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

3. Your media: Contact any or all papers, radio stations, blogs and television bureaus and ask them to cover this issue.

4. The Burmese Embassy:

2300 S St NW

Washington, DC 20008

#202-332-3344, 202-332-4350, 202-332-4352

info@mewashingtondc.com

Contact these organizations and ask them to: Report with integrity and honesty the full facts of what has been happening in Burma's Arakan State by respecting the human rights of all residents, including the Rohingya minority. Hold people and organizations accountable for their complicity and silence with regard to funding. Ask the media to report fully on this issue.

Impending humanitarian crisis in western Myanmar

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are threatened by an increase in sectarian violence.

More than 300 Rohingya Muslims who fled sectarian violence were turned back by officials in Bangladesh [AFP]

Will the people of Myanmar soon have their own derivative for the Nazi term Judenrein? For those who do not know what Judenrein means, it literally translates to "free of Jews", and was the term used by the Nazi administration when they had removed entire Jewish communities from Germany in the lead up to the Holocaust. 

As so many Myanma shamelessly support the government and local authorities' ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people from Western Myanmar, it might not be too long until we see "human rights defenders", and "political activists" running around the streets of Myanmar shouting: Rohingya-Kin-Zone ["Rohingya-clean area"]) or Bangali-ma-shi ["No Bangladeshis"]. 

It took one horrific reaction to one abhorrent incident to ignite a riot and expose the true depth of racism and xenophobia in Myanmar society. After three Rohingya men raped a young Rhakine Buddhist woman, ten Muslim pilgrims (not Rohingya) were dragged off a bus and violently beaten to death - seemingly in retaliation. 

Five days later, hundreds of Rohingya men gathered outside a mosque after prayers. What happened next is unclear. Some say the Rohingya planned an attack on Rhakine communities in retaliation for the killing of the Muslim pilgrims; others say an argument started with Rhakine people after a minor traffic accident outside the mosque. Whatever the cause, hundreds of Rohingya ended up running through dozens of Rhakine villages, burning houses down, looting and badly beating Rhakine people, some to death. 

"As could be expected, the Rohingya communities blame the Rhakine, and the Rhakine blame the Rohingya. Both sides are trying to paint a picture that they were just innocent bystanders, slaughtered by the other side."

The blame game 

As could be expected, the Rohingya communities blame the Rhakine, and the Rhakine blame the Rohingya. Both sides are trying to paint a picture that they were just innocent bystanders, slaughtered by the other side. Sitting through an interview with activists from either community is approaching excruciating, with neither unable to rationally blame their own community, and subsequently unable to provide logical solutions to prevent the violence taking place again. 

It is clear both sides are guilty of atrocities. What is also clear, however, is that within a riot - based on myths, and decades of inter-communal friction - hides a renewed push to continue the military's ethnic cleansing campaign of the late 1970s. 

Soon after the riots began, a state of emergency was ordered, and an all-day curfew put in place. However, sources within human rights groups soon to publish an official report on the matter say the curfew only applied to the Rohingya, who were forced to stay in their homes, while Rhakine groups, hell-bent on retaliation, made the most of the chaos to drive Rohingya communities out of the region, teaming up with local authorities with similar aspirations. It is alleged that the combined Rhakine-extremists-local-authority-forces burned down Rohingya villages, beat men to death, looted homes, and raped women. 

While the military has been praised for stepping in and quelling the violence in some districts, the local authorities, police and Rhakine vigilantes - apparently eager to rid the area of Rohingya communities - have allowed the situation to develop, with national security forces reportedly carrying out what appears to be, in my opinion, a form of state-sponsored ethnic cleansing. 

It is believed that hundreds, if not thousands, of Rohingya men have been arrested, many feared dead. Countless more have been reported missing and have not been seen since the conflict erupted. 

Behind the violence 

With the backing of the state political party, the Rhakine Democratic National Party (RNDP), Nasaka - the border guard force - and police appear to be conducting an unprecedented campaign of harassment, torture, and oppression on the Rohingya people. 

For days, reports have been circulating of family lists - Rohingya families' only proof of state registration - being confiscated, with influential and educated Rohingya families reportedly beaten and forced out of the country, while holes are being made in the border fence to give the Rohingya a quick exit from the oppression. 

While arrests have been made of Rhakine people, it appears the Rohingya are being overwhelmingly punished for the riots, through massacres, torture and indiscriminate arrests. And while it is difficult to confirm information during such a blackout, and hard to believe the new "reformist" government could be behind such a serious atrocities, President Thein Sein's press release last week certainly made the reports more believable. 

For some, it has also roused suspicions that senior figures in the military allowed, and at the worst, supported the violence, in order to regain national support and take focus away from the conflict with the Kachin, as well as distracting from serious poverty issues across the country. 

"It is impossible for Burma to accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered illegally." 

- Myanmar's Presidential Office

After a long silence, Myanmar's Presidential Office recent anouncement surprised and shocked people around the world. 

"It is impossible for Burma to accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered illegally," the statement read, going on to offer the Rohingya people to the UN. They suggested the Rohingya should be put in camps for a year, at which time they could be taken to a third country. 

The UN, quite rightly, were quick to reject Thein Sein's kind offer, explaining that communities cannot be repatriated from their own country. While the UN may have, for now, endorsed the Rohingya presence in Myanmar, the government's intentions were made very clear to the world. It was the most transparent, clear cut message that the Myanmar government is now hell-bent on ridding Myanmar of the Rohingya people by any means possible. 

An end to isolation is needed 

International attention is desperately needed to find out what is really happening in Rhakine state. If the government cannot get "legitimate" assistance from the UN to push out the Rohingya communities, then impartial observers need to be deployed to the region immediately, to prevent the government and Rhakine extremist groups forcing Rohingya people out of their homes, off their land, and into life-threatening camps. 

Since the riots began, the authorities ordered all international NGOs to pull their staff out of the region. Dozens of local NGO staff have been arrested, and hundreds remain out of contact. While no one knows why NGO staff are being detained, it is widely believed it is for distributing information during the riots. Probably charged using the same draconian laws that have been used to prevent activists from informing the international community of the regime's human rights abuses and oppression in previous decades. 

The north of Rhakine state, where it is estimated more than 700,000 Rohingya live, has effectively been turned into a complete blind spot. Speaking with NGO coordinators over the past week, there are some eerie reminders of conversations with the same people during Cyclone Nargis. After the cyclone hit, affected communities could not be contacted. NGOs were initially heavily restricted, as were local aid workers. Within weeks the official death toll leaped from a few dozen to more than 134,000 people. Those who spread information to the international community were arrested. And now, once again, NGOs are unable to access the most critical regions, stoking fears throughout Myanmar's NGO community. The world may wake up one day to find that yet another preventable humanitarian crisis has taken place. 

"The heavy rains are likely to increase the spread of water-borne disease and it is believed that diarrhoea and malaria are already increasing rapidly. With high food prices, no work, and restrictions on leaving villages and IDP camps, there is a great risk that many could starve to death."

Rhakine state is one of the largest operations in the world for NGOs. Extremely poor, it already suffers from high disease rate and malnutrition. Now that NGOs are unable to work, many are concerned that starvation and disease could ravage the Rohingya communities in coming weeks. The heavy rains are likely to increase the spread of water-borne disease and it is believed that diarrhoea and malaria are already increasing rapidly. With high food prices, no work, and restrictions on leaving villages and IDP camps, there is a great risk that many could starve to death. If the government continues to prevent NGOs from getting in, and information getting out, it would be reasonable to assume that this is part of a state policy to drive the Rohingya people into a humanitarian crisis. 

Public acceptance 

There is one very disturbing difference between the humanitarian crisis which unfolded after Cyclone Nargis and now. While all the people of Myanmar - including political activists, ethnic leaders, migrant workers and civil servants - made efforts to curtail the suffering of those affected by Nargis, this time, people, some ignorantly, are condoning the dispossession of the Rohingya. 

While the nation lambasted the government for its slow response to Nargis, and the subsequent unnecessary loss of life, people from all spectra of Myanmar society are fully behind the government's desire to drive the Rohingya out, completely regardless of whether thousands of innocent people could lose their right to a family, to a home, and to a life, in the coming weeks. 

How ironic. For years these "human rights defenders" and "political activists" have fought against the state military, tirelessly risking their lives to expose injustice and human rights abuses. The moment the country starts to reform, they completely forget about the atrocities the military has committed, and come out with statements condoning decades of oppression and harassment of the Rohingya people. 

Prominent student leader, Ko Ko Gyi, said: "The Rohingya people are not an ethnic group of Burma and they are invading our country and sovereignty." These are not the words of a human rights champion; they are words which could have been muttered from the former regime leader, Than Shwe, who put Gyi in prison for nearly two decades for his political beliefs. 

Inside Story: What is behing Myanmar's ethnic unrest?

Suu Kyi's role 

It was General Aung San, the father of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who said that all those in the country at the time of independence could consider themselves citizens. During Myanmar's first democratic period, under U Nu, there were four Rohingya MPs, and Rohingya was a recognised ethnicity. It was not until the first military dictatorship, under Ne Win, that the Rohingya were denied Myanmar citizenship. Those in the democracy movement, who now say the Rohingya should leave Myanmar, are going against Aung San, U Nu, and siding with the military dictatorship they have been struggling against for years. 

Ironically, days after receiving a Nobel peace prize, Suu Kyi told reporters she "did not know" if Rohingya were "Burmese". What a disgrace. Suu Kyi is, by not speaking out, also condoning the very military oppression she has spent years fighting against, and in three words completely turning a blind eye to the human rights abuses she would be a fool to not know will subsequently be committed. 

Perhaps instead, some leader, some democracy champion, supposedly such as herself, would stand up and say: "Rohingya people have been in Myanmar for, at the very least, 60 years. Whether they are an ethnic group or not, it doesn't matter, we must protect their human rights; racism and xenophobia are wrong and are constructs and rationale of the military dictatorship propaganda designed to divide and rule Myanmar's people. We must make sure riots never take place in Myanmar again, through understanding and reconciliation between all communities." 

The main source of concern for the countless people of Myanmar who believe the Rohingya should be taken to a third country stems from a very few, tiny radical Rohingya armed groups which have emerged, and disappeared, over the years. 

Despite the concerns, there was never a threatening armed revolt, and their influence was minimal. To make 99.9 per cent of the Rohingya population suffer, for a few individuals, or groups, is wrong. Most Rohingya hope for nothing more than to live in peace in a land they have known all their lives. The other notion is that the Rohingya are invaders - there is an idea that hundreds of Bangladeshi are flocking into Arakan state every day. In reality, this is completely nonsensical. Arakan state is horrendously poor, which is why countless Rohingya have fled Myanmar since Ne Win took power, and following several state offensives to drive the Rohingya out of Myanmar. 

Myanmar's Rohingya forced back to sea

There is a thin line between ethnic cleansing and genocide. Hitler carried out ethnic cleansing on Jewish communities for years before he attempted genocide. With the whole country, including the democracy movement, seemingly behind the government's plans to expel the Rohingya, urgent intervention is needed to save the Rohginya from a humanitarian crisis, and the potential for a violent campaign by the state, alongside Rhakine extremists backed by local authorities. 

The two communities should not be separated as the government plans; instead there is an urgent need to bring the communities back together, and return the region to normality. Conflict resolution programmes and development is needed as soon as possible. The longer the two communities are apart, the more radicalisation - of both groups - will fester, and whether the government allows it to take place, supports it, or just turns a blind eye, a return to some form of violence will be almost inevitable. 

Now is not the time to argue about century-old history, or the origin of the word "Rohingya", nor is it the time to discuss when the Rohingya arrived in Arakan state. The nation's people should accept the Rohingya are not going to just be shipped off to another country. Instead of inciting counter productive anti-Rohingya campaigns, Myanmar's democracy activists, human rights defenders, and vibrant civil society, should immediately address the impending humanitarian crisis and potential devastation of the Rohingya people. 

There is no doubt that some Rohingya are guilty of terrorising Rhakine people during the recent riots, but this does not mean that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, including countless women and children, deserve to starve to death, or be driven off a land they call home. 

William Lloyd George is a freelance correspondent focusing on under-reported stories around the globe.

Burma asked to explain UN workers arrests

Burma has been asked to clarify why 10 local UN and nongovernmental aid workers were arrested last month in Arakan (Rakhine) State, some allegedly on criminal charges.

The detained staff include three Burmese nationals working for the UNHCR, the agency's spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a UN briefing in Geneva. She declined to give details.

Another UN official said the 10 detained included three workers with the UN World Food Programme and some from Doctors Without Borders.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres met with Burmese officials last week, offering to help the government reconcile Buddhist and Muslim relations in Rakhine State, where widespread violence flared last month claiming up to 79 lives.

UN officials said Guterres presented different proposals to Burmese President Thein Sein and other officials to bring the two two communities together. Rohingya Muslims in Burma are denied citizenship and other basic rights, and the UN says the group is one of the most discriminated groups in the world.

UN spokeswoman Fleming said the UNHCR continues to view the unstable situation in Rakhine with concern.

“We would like to state that in Rakhine State we remain absolutely committed to delivering humanitarian assistance to both populations, the Rakhine and the Muslim without any discrimination,” Fleming said

She said the situation of Royingya fleeing across the border to Bangladesh has slacked off.

“We are absolutely monitoring this and hopeful that things will return back to normal and that relations between the two communities can be re-established,” she said. “But, one of the festering problems is, of course, the statelessness situation, As the nationality law stands, it is based on ethnicity and it does exclude certain groups including the Muslim Rohingya population.”

Fleming said the UNHCR believes nationality should be granted to members of the Rohingya Muslim community who are entitled to have it according to the present legislation. And, others, she said should receive a legal status that would grant them the rights required to develop a normal life in the country.

On Thursday, Mizzima reported that three UN employs appeared before a court for a hearing on their case in the Maungdaw District Court, after being detained by the Nasaka, a border guard force, during the sectarian violence in June.

The Narinjara website also reported a worker with Doctors without Borders was also arrested and appeared in court, but Narinjara was unable to confirm that report.

On June 29, Mizzima reported that 12 aid workers representing the United Nations and Doctors Without Borders had been detained in Arakan State during the unrest. UN officials met with Burma’s foreign minister in Naypyitaw, the capital, two weeks ago to discuss the detentions, but the outcome of that meeting is not known.

On June 16, Reuters news agency reported that police in Buthidaung Township for unknown reasons detained three UN staff members, two from the U.N. refugee agency and one from the World Food Programme. All were Burmese nationals.

On June 12, Doctors Without Borders announced it had suspended its operations in parts of Arakan State, saying that its staff members where unsafe in the area.

Official Burmese government figures say up to 79 people were killed in the sectarian violence that racked the region starting in June, driving tens of thousands of refugees to seek safe shelter. International and domestic aid agencies rushed into the area to offer food, shelter and medicine as the violence continued.

On Friday in Siem Reap, US Secretary of State Clinton raised the issue of Rohingya Muslims in western Burma. Clinton said that the US considers the Rohingya "internally displaced persons," according to wire reports. Thein Sein this past week proposed that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees resettle the Rohingya in a third country or take responsibility for them, a suggestion rejected by the United Nations as unsuitable.

Thein Sein's response to Clinton on the issue was to describe the situation as "very dangerous," said a US official. Clinton also expressed concern about the detained UN workers.

World Rohingya Body Appeals President Thein Sein to Retract His Comments on Rohingya

Press Release

On behalf of the Rohingya community worldwide, the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) calls on President Thein Sein to retract his comments and proposal to the visiting high-level United Nations delegation on July 11, 2012 regarding the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar. The unfounded accusation, claims, and proposal made by President Thein Sein seriously undermines the credibility of the President who holds the highest office of the country.

President Thein Sein’s accusations of Rohingya as illegal Bengali settlers has no basis in fact. The Rohingya are a long-established ethnic community with deep and exclusive links to Arakan/Rakhine State in western Burma/Myanmar. The President must produce evidence for his claims to the contrary. Racist references to their physical appearance, and to the cultural and religious overlaps between people of South Asia and those of Western Burma, must not be used as evidence for his claims. The President must also acknowledge the heavy influx of Bengali Rakhine illegal settlers from Bangladesh in historically Rohingya regions of Arakan/Rakhine State for over half a century.

President Thein Sein’s statement about Rohingya as non-citizens of Burma/Myanmar arguably invalidates the Burmese/Myanmar electoral process and the victory of the military’s USDP party in the Rohingya regions which enjoyed the overwhelming majority of votes from Rohingya people in the 2010 election. The President owes an explanation to the people of Burma/Myanmar and to the international community how the alleged non-citizen Rohingyas could participate in the electoral process, yet merit no protection from or fundamental rights within the State.

The ARU calls on the United Nations urgently to deploy teams of monitors to investigate the recent violence against Rohingya and the current mass arrests and other serious violations against Rohingya in Arakan/Rakhine State.

The ARU is a global association formed in May 2011 by 25 Rohingya groups from around the world; see www.arunion.org The ARU supports a united, federal and democratic Burma/Myanmar respecting all human rights.

AIPMC condemns persecution and killing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

PRESS RELEASE
July 16, 2012

AIPMC condemns persecution and killing of
Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

JAKARTA — As president of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), I feel it is important to express my deep regret for the failure of the world to react appropriately to the killing and persecution of Muslim ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

It is also regrettable that the recent visit of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Southeast Asia occupied the attention of most international media while neglecting and thus tolerating the casualties of grave crimes against humanity in Myanmar.

AIPMC is deeply troubled by the sectarian strife in Rakhine State and is concerned by the solution to the violence proposed by President Thein Sein. The President’s proposed solution to decades of sectarian violence and unrest does not express a willingness to promote National Reconciliation, which the President campaigned under as on part of his democratization agenda. Despite the flow of some of new migrants from Bangladesh, many people of the Rohingya minority have lived in areas of Western Myanmar for more than three generations. AIPMC therefore urges the government of Myanmar to find a fair and just solution to the current unrest, which includes a permanent solution for the hundreds of thousands stateless Rohingya that live in Western Myanmar and in makeshift refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. The Rohingya who have lived in Myanmar for generations must be recognised and granted citizenship. The Myanmar government has a duty to protect and provide for these people; seeking to unload responsibility onto the United Nations is not an acceptable solution and its suggestion from the country’s President betrays the systematic persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya population for generations.
AIPMC also urges ASEAN and the United Nations to urgently respond to this latest outbreak of the crisis and take immediate actions to protect people, including women and children, from violence and persecution and work to provide emergency assistance to thousands of refugees displaced from their homes by recent violence. ASEAN must work with the Myanmar government to find a lasting solution to the problems of Rakhine State and stand up against any persecution of individuals due to ethnic and/or religious grounds, especially if it comes from state authorities.
AIPMC finds it difficult to accept the US government’s decision to ease economic sanctions in Myanmar due to supposed reforms in the ASEAN member state, while a blind eye is turned to the clear violations of international law in the persecution of the Rohingya people by neighbouring Arakanese as well as the Myanmar government’s refusal to grant them citizenship on ethnic and religious grounds.
A serious and concerted effort is urgently needed to work to avert further violence and find a lasting solution to the problems faced by the Rohingya. A failure to of the international community to act is reprehensible and could threaten the long-term success of Myanmar’s nascent reform process. Immediate action is necessary to end the suffering of the Rohingya people.
Eva Kusuma Sundari
For further information and interview requests please contact Agung Putri Astrid on +62 81514006416, or by email at info.jakarta@aseanmp.org.
###
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) is a network formed in an inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur, on 26-28 November 2004 by and for parliamentarians from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. The aim is advocating for human rights and democratic reform in Myanmar/Burma.  Its members represent both the ruling and non-ruling political parties of countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Cambodia.

The OIC expresses grave concern over the situation of Myanmar Rohingya Muslims

The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, in a statement issued in Jeddah today, strongly condemned the renewed repression and violation of human rights of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim nationals since last June 2012 that has resulted in deaths of innocent civilians, burning of their homes and mosques and forcing them to leave their homeland. He added that over the past three decades, the Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim citizens have been subjected to gross violation of human rights including ethnic cleansing, killings, rape, and forced displacement by Myanmar security forces.

Ihsanoglu said that the recent restoration of democracy in Myanmar had raised hopes in the international community that oppression against Rohingya Muslims citizens would end and that they would be able to enjoy equal rights and opportunities. However, the renewed violence against Rohingya Muslims on June 3, 2012 had caused great alarm and concern to the OIC. He said that when efforts of the international community including the United Nations were underway for a peaceful resolution of the issue, the OIC was shocked by the unfortunate remarks of Myanmar President Thien Sein disowning Rohingya Muslims as citizens of Myanmar. Secretary General stressed that the Myanmar Government as a member of the United Nations and the ASEAN, must adhere to the international human rights instruments including the relevant conventions and declarations, in treatment of their citizens.
Secretary General Ihsanoglu referred to the United Nations declaration that the Rohingya are an ethnic, religious and linguistic minority from western Burma, and historical facts show that Rohingyas have been present in the land of Myanmar centuries before the British came in and after they left, before the formation of Burma, and very clearly before the formation of the current state of Myanmar. In spite of this, the government of Myanmar continues to persecute and discriminate against the Rohingya minority, particularly the citizenship law 1982, which violated international norms by stripping the Rohingyas unjustly of their rights of citizenship.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu hoped that the Myanmar Government would respond to the concerns of the international community in a positive and constructive manner so that all its Rohingya Muslim citizens are able to return to their homeland in honour, safety and dignity. He said that the OIC Charter stipulates the Organization to assist Muslim minorities and communities outside the Member States to preserve their dignity, cultural and religious identity. In this spirit, he also expressed the OIC’s determination to remain seized with the issue and to bring it in the agenda of the concerned international interlocutors including the United Nations, Human Rights Commissions, ASEAN, the EU as well bilaterally with the Myanmar Government, for a peaceful and lasting resolution of the issue. Myanmar should recognize that its new engagement at the international level doesn’t only come with opportunities but also with responsibilities.

Update information of Maungdaw Township on July 15, 2012

Two Rakhines with arms arrest in Maungdaw

On July 14, at about 5:30 pm, two Rakhine villagers namely U Maung Soe Tha and U Soe from Oo Daung (Rakhine) village with guns pretending to be army robbed Rohingya villages of Maungdaw south and raped Rohingya women. However, they were arrested by the Nasaka personnel from Sector No. 8 of Maungdaw Township, said a villager.
“Rohingya villagers are demoralized by the persecutions of police, Hluntin (riot police), army and Sarapa (Military Intelligence) since June 8. Meanwhile, some of the Rakhine goons taking this advantage, they ( Rakhine goons) went to Rohingya villages and robbed the goods and raped  women by pretending as army. Where did they get guns and uniforms?”
Rohingya admit hospital for beating in Maungdaw
Beside, a Rohingya named Iqubal from Myoma Khayoungdan village, was beaten by Rakhine who is now admit at the hospital (Maungdaw) today, according to a villager from Myoma Khayoungdan village.
Maungdaw township administration office force Rohingya to open their shops
Maungdaw Township administration officer forced Rohingya traders to open their shops in Maungdaw, today but Rakhine youths were trying to attack and loot the goods, according to a trader from Maungdaw. “We are aware for our security while we open the shops, the officer will take our security or not.”
Missing
On July 12, a Rohingya man named Mohamed (35), hailed from Zeebon Chang, under the Nasaka area No. 4 was missing when he went to his betel farm near a Rakhine village. Rohingya villagers believe that he was killed by the Rakhine villagers. The dead body was not found so far.
Seizing family lists in Maungdaw
On July 5, a group of Nasaka from Nasaka camp No.12 of the Nasaka area No. 5 went to the Pawet Chaung village of Maungdaw Township and seized family lists of some villagers without finding any fault. The victims are: Nur Alam (50), son of Dudu Meah, Abu Siddique (48), son of Ali Hussain, Ayub (35), son of Abdu Suban, Ali Ahmed (40), son of Mohamed Amin, Abdu Sattar (48), son of Dildar Hussain, Abu Kalam (47), son of Abdu Khalek, Sodu (49), son of Abdu Fatta, Amir Hussain (30), son of Mohamed Hussain and Saydul Islam (29), son of Mohamed Hussain.
The Nasaka asked the victims to pay Kyat 200,000 per family list to be returned, said another villager on condition of anonymity.
How the villagers tolerate the harassments of— Nasaka, police, Hluntin, army, Sarapa and local Rakhine goons—. The authorities are totally destroying the economics of the Rohingya community by imposing state of emergency only for Rohingya community, not for Rakhine community. The authorities encourage the Rakhine community to attack the Rohingya community
World community believes that the recent violence is occurred between Rakhines and Rohingyas, but actually, the violence is created by the present quasi-civilian government to divert the minds of the people for political benefit.

Is the Theme of ‘World Refugee Day’ becoming a farce?

Dr. Habib Siddiqui

June 20 marked the World Refugee Day. It was supposed to raise awareness of the plight of the estimated 42 million displaced people worldwide. A United Nations report released that week showed that 800,000 people were forced to flee across borders last year — more than any time since 2000. In a message to mark the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “We must not turn away from those in need. Refugees leave because they have no choice. We must choose to help.”

The emerging refugee crisis inside Burma (Myanmar) makes a mockery of Ban Ki-moon’s statement. His office has failed not only to stop refugee crises in our world from emerging but also in ensuring that the refugees are not turned away.
According to several human rights groups thousands of unarmed Muslims may already have been killed in the apartheid state of Myanmar. Many Rohingya young men, picked up by the government forces, have simply disappeared, and are now feared death. Many victims – old and young, afraid of being ambushed and tortured to death by the Rakhine extremists and their partners-in-crime — the government forces, have ventured out to seek asylum as refugees in Bangladesh, where they have been denied entry.
Despite the theme for this year’s World Refugee Day being: ‘Refugees have no choice. You do,’ the international response to the Rohingya crisis has been rather too slow and too safely guarded.
The Government in Bangladesh has pushed back fleeing Rohingya refugees seeking asylum. “Bangladesh never signed any kind of international act, convention or law for allowing and giving shelter to refugees,” said the foreign minister Dipu Moni recently. “That’s why we are not bound to provide shelter to the Rohingyas.” But how can Bangladesh ignore its obligations – not just islamically, but also under international obligations? Has she forgotten that Bangladesh itself was born in 1971 amid a massive refugee crisis? And now to deny such humanitarian help to suffering Rohingyas is simply inexcusable!
As noted by investigative journalist Dan Morrison, Bangladeshi officials might have served their case better by condemning the violence while pointing out that Bangladesh is among the world’s poorest and most densely populated countries, that in 1978 and 1991 it sheltered Rohingyas fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and that as it struggles to meet the aspirations of its 160 million citizens, it cannot consider another “temporary” influx of refugees. Instead Dr. Dipu Moni’s statements came across as callous at a time when images of suffering Rohingyas are being flashed across the world.
No action has been taken by the world community to either prevent a repeat of genocidal campaigns against the persecuted Rohingya people or punish repeat offenders – those responsible within the Union (of Myanmar), state and local government, and the civilian provocateurs of hatred. Interestingly, while the ultra-racist provocateurs within the Burmese and Rakhine Buddhist community continue to justify the denial of citizenship rights to the Rohingyas of Burma, and preach and provide material aid for extermination campaigns against them, many of these hypocritical monsters have no moral bites to living as naturalized citizens in countries like the UK and the USA. Nothing has been done to stop these neo-Nazi spiritual children of Julius Streicher amongst the Buddhist community of Burma.
But if the world community is serious to stop the refugee crisis, it is not too late. It can still stop the bleeding process by ensuring that violence against targeted minorities is a crime. It can stop such war crimes by bringing the advocates and perpetrators of crime to justice either through the local government agencies or the World Court in the Hague. And above all, it can pressure its governments to not reward the criminal state.
Sadly, however, morality is long gone in our world, and is replaced by hypocrisy. And this fact is well known amongst the perpetrators of such war crimes, and thus, there is no end of such crimes in a foreseeable future. Consider, e.g., the governments in the USA and the UK (and there are plenty of such examples). The Obama administration has lately announced that it would waive longstanding sanctions on investment and financial services in Burma. The new policy does not restrict U.S. companies from partnering with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Burma’s state-owned oil company and the main source of revenue for the previous military government. The decision was timed to coincide with a trip by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cambodia.
Similar is the case with the UK. Recently, Britain’s trade and investment department has opened an office in Rangoon as the latest move by the UK government to increase its presence in Burma. According to a report by The Telegraph, the opening of the new trade office came during a three-day visit last week by a trade delegation that included executives of some of the UK’s most influential companies, e.g., Anglo American, BP, British Gas, Ernst & Young, Rolls Royce and Shell.
The European Union, Australia and other countries have also eased sanctions against Myanmar. By lifting the investment ban, the West has lost the leverage necessary to bring about reform, while people inside are still suffering from human rights abuses and mass atrocities. When we reward a criminal for its crime, how can we expect it to reform?
Remember the June 30 dateline set by the Thein Sein government for an inquiry report on current violence in the Arakan (Rakhine) state, triggered by the lynching of ten tablighi Muslims (visiting from Rangoon) on June 3? It came and went. No one has heard anything about that report.
Instead, what the world community heard lately is simply bizarre! Myanmar presidential office released a statement last week citing that it would not recognize the Rohingya and would hand over responsibility for them to the UN’s refugee agency in Arakan State, adding that it was also “willing to send the Rohingyas to any third country that will accept them.” How wonderful! So, just like that a minority Muslim community that has known no other home outside the Buddhist-majority country is now treated as if they are outsiders, thus, ducking responsibility of the Myanmar government, which not only has failed to prevent the crisis but also has been a partner-in-crime in what appears to be a well-orchestrated pogrom against the Rohingya Muslims of Arakan. It has neither allowed foreign journalists to get to the troubled area, nor has it allowed foreign NGOs to come to the aid of the internally displaced minorities. What a travesty! This behavior is typical of a lawless ‘Mogher Mulluk’ with no accountability, no justice and no fair play. It is simply disgusting!
The Rohingyas are being targeted for this horrendous crime simply because of their race and religion. Looking darker and closer to the South Asian race (found in Bangladesh and India) as opposed to the more oriental (Mongoloid) looking majority – the Rakhines in the Arakan state and the majority Bamar inside Myanmar, and being Muslims as opposed to Buddhist, the Rohingya have been targets of state sponsored ethnic cleansing.
Of course, the denial of citizenship rights of the indigenous Rohingyas of Arakan is nothing new, and did not start with Thein Sein’s statement last week; it started full-blown from the Ne Win era. A series of ethnic cleansing drives has since been launched by the military regime, in full cooperation of the racist Buddhist elements within the Arakan state and Burma. Thus, before the 1982 Citizenship Law was enacted, there were Shwe Kyi Operation (1959), Kyi Gan Operation (1966), Ngazinka Operation (1967-69), Myat Mon Operation (1969-71), Major Aung Than Operation (1973), Sabe Operation (1974-78), Naga Min (King Dragon) Operation (1978-79) – which alone saw the forced exodus of some 300,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh, Shwe Hintha Operation (1978-80), and Galone Operation (1979). Lest we forget, after 1982, there was the infamous Pyi Thaya Operation of 1991-92, which again saw the forced exodus of some 268,000 Rohingyas out of Burma. The aim of all these genocidal campaigns has been crystal clear: deny all the rights to the Rohingyas; falsely claim that they are outsiders from Bangladesh, or more specifically from Chittagong; continue periodic extermination campaigns with support from the local Rakhine Buddhist community; drive them out of the apartheid state of Burma by making their lives simply unbearable and  miserable.
While this slow but steady genocidal campaign has been going on inside apartheid Burma for more than half a century, with little notice from the outside world (after all, the country still remains closed to most foreign journalists and international monitoring agencies), draconian measures violating each one of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were taken to ensure that the remaining Rohingyas opt out. And surely the evil strategy has been working: majority of the Rohingyas are now refugees outside Burma. Those daring to stay within remain the most persecuted people on earth. They have no freedom of any kind, in much contrast to most of us living outside who take such privileges for granted.
With the so-called reforms initiated by the new regime of Thein Sein (a former military general) since last year, our hopes have been rather high imagining that his is a departure from the feudal past, and that he understands what it would take for his most impoverished country of Southeast Asia to survive and prosper in the 21st century. No, we are wrong. Nothing truly has changed inside Myanmar. It remains locked in its savage, feudal/imperial past. Racism and bigotry remain the apartheid character of this Buddhist majority country to drive out others, making the country exclusively for the majority race and religion.
It is not difficult to understand why Suu Kyi, the so-called democracy icon, remained noticeably silent on the subject of anti-Rohingya prejudice. Through her silence to condemn gross violations of human rights of a persecuted community, she has proven to be another immoral politician that cannot be trusted as a leader. Many of her supporters within the Rakhine and Burmese Buddhist communities are part of the country’s ‘pro-democracy’ movement. They are outright hostile to non-Buddhists and Rohingyas of Burma.
Thus, there is no camouflaging any more. The so-called democracy movement has been a farce; its leaders have proven that they are nothing more than neo-fascists of our time. Their brand of democracy is for their particular race and religion only. It is not of inclusion but only of exclusion. There is no place for a Shan, a Kachin, a Karen, and of course, a Rohingya, and countless nameless ethnic and minority groups in that equation. There is no place for a non-Buddhist in Myanmar. Period! Thus, the state remains at war everywhere inside.
More than 70,000 people have been displaced in the north by the on-going conflict between the Kachin Independence Army and the Burmese Army. On 6 July, nearly 1,500 residents in Panghsai township, near the border with China, attempted to cross into China after being ordered to evacuate their villages by the Burmese army. The refugees were then driven back into Burma by Chinese border guards. The displaced communities are now living in makeshift tents on the Burmese side, near the Chinese border and in Myitkyina, while others continue to hide in the jungle. In spite of a recent peace agreement with the Karens, some 60,000 officially recognized refugees still live in camps along the Thailand-Burma border. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) the total number of refugees (including the Rohingyas) living in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border is 150,000. There are some 50,000 refugees (of various ethnic groups) that live in Northeast India and another 12,000 living in temporary settlements inside Malaysia. And as to the Rohingyas, more than a million are now living as refugees in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and elsewhere. The UNHCR estimates that some 91,000 people (mostly Rohingyas) have been affected by the latest extermination campaign against the Rohingyas of Arakan.
On July 11, Antonio Guterres, the UNHCR chief, met Thein Sein in Naypyidaw. He told reporters at a press conference in Rangoon the following day that the Rohingyas are an internally displaced people. He said, “The resettlement programs organized by UNHCR are for refugees who are fleeing a country to another, in very specific circumstances. Obviously, it’s not related to this situation.”
The latest salvo from Thein Sein once again shows that the Rohingya community is in a perilous situation. In recent weeks, villages belonging to the Rohingya have been burnt to the ground, whilst refugees fleeing to other countries have been refused entry and left to fend for themselves onboard rickety boats on rough seas. The Myanmar Government refuses to accept the Rohingya people as citizens, who as such have no rights in a country they call their motherland. This treatment of its inhabitants is in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles 3, 6, 13, 15, and 16. Reports covered by the Guardian of UK have suggested mass burning, looting and murder of Rohingya men, women and children. Anti-Muslim prejudice is endemic in Burmese society.
It’s a shame to think that many Burmese, who suffered for so long under military dictatorship, harbor such racism and bigotry.
As noted by human rights group, this issue is much larger than a Myanmar-only problem; it is fast becoming one of the worst cases of ethnic cleansing alongside the likes of Rwanda and Bosnia.  Can the world community afford to witness another such crisis in our time? If not, what should it do to stop the massacre of the Rohingyas of Burma?