The Burmese government recruited 300 Rakhines as temporary police staffs in Maungdaw Township last week, which is thought to be a part of many plots reported to have been taking place against Rohingya ahead of the country’s controversial upcoming election. 

The police recruited for one month have been deployed at every Rakhine village in Maungdaw Township, an act claimed by the authorities to be for the security of Rakhine villages. However, no such security protections have been provided around Rohingya villages.

A local Rohingya in southern Maungdaw expressed his concern “the 300 Rakhines recruited as temporary police mostly include pick-pockets and hooligans. We fear deploying them around our villages will cause problems and unrests during the times of the elections.

They may attack us taking advantage of the authorities and uniforms provided to them.”

The temporary police recruits somehow fall in the category of volunteer police and each of them will reportedly enjoy a payment of Kyat 150,000 for his one-month service.

On the other hand, Captain Tin Tun Oo, the in-charge of the Border Guard Police (BGP) in Nyaung Chaung village in Buthidaung Township, visited a few Rohingya villages – Pharung Chaung, Sein Nyein Pya and Phaya Pyin Aung Pha — along with his group on October 29. He gathered Islamic Religious Scholars, the Rohingya community representatives and some other Rohingyas during his visit on pretext of holding meetings with them.

However, he just took photographs of the people gathered and left saying “Thank you,” according to an eyewitness.

Similarly, the military deployment in the ghettoed Rohingya area in Sittwe (Akyab) Township called ‘Aung Mingalar’ Quarter have been withdrawn and replaced with Security Forces known as ‘Hlun Hteins.’

“Military mainly composed of Bama (Burmese) Buddhists, while Hlun Hteins are formed mainly with Rakhine Buddhists. And most of these Hlun Hteins secretly act upon the instructions by the Rakhine politicians with vested interest.

And the military have been replaced by Hlun Hteins. It is something to be worried about. A lot of conspiracies have been going on against us, the Rohingya people, nowadays ahead of the coming elections.

Nevertheless, I urge my Rohingya compatriots to be well-aware of the situation, to not react upon instigations and stay calm. We should not give the extremists any chance,” said elderly man in Aung Mingalar Quarter.