By Delphine Schrank

The Christian Science Monitor

January 29, 2016

DEMOCRACY VS. A MILITARY LEGACY 

The euphoria after electing 'The Lady' and her party is over. On Feb. 1 a parliament of pro-democracy politicians will be seated. Five questions about their task, the ongoing civil war, the old secret police, and the fight against corruption.

Hundreds of new politicians in Myanmar are moving their belongings into scruffy government dormitories in Naypyitaw, the capital. These are the winners in last fall's historic elections that saw pro-democracy parties roundly oust the military-led government. Now, on Feb. 1, they will don silk longyis and Shan turbans and inaugurate arguably the most important and delicate phase yet in a long- delayed but hopeful transition out of authoritarian rule.

Last November, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won 77 percent of the available seats and routed the proxy party of the generals. It was the most open elections in 25 years, and that night, thousands of people poured into the streets of Rangoon, singing, dancing, and waving red balloons.

Now comes the hard work of governing.

“We have been trying [to gain a foothold] for more than three decades,” said U Win Htein, spokesman of the NLD and a former political prisoner, to the Monitor. “We are living the history now.”

Here are five questions that bear on the transition ahead:

1) People often think Myanmar, formerly Burma, is now a full democracy. But isn’t it still a military-civilian system undergoing transition? What is important to watch now?

Yes, under the 2008 constitution, the military retains much power, including a 25 percent block of seats. This gives it a virtual veto over constitutional changes, which require more than a 75 percent vote in parliament. The military also retains critical cabinet posts: the ministries of home affairs, border security, and defense.

Moreover, Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD chairman who is widely seen as the country’s legitimate popular leader, is constitutionally barred from the presidency. In defiance, she has said she will stand above any president. According to Win Htein, the NLD will announce its nominee for the presidency and the vice-presidency within a week of the inaugural session of parliament.

The official handover of the executive branch, including the presidency and the cabinet, will not happen until late March, following an election in the parliament of the NLD's nominee. One of the legislative body's first tasks will be to vote on a speaker and deputy speaker for the upper and lower houses. On Monday, Aung San Suu Kyi and her aides met for nearly two hours with arguably the most powerful man in the country, the Army commander-in-chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. The discussion, according to Win Htein who was at the meeting, was a net positive. The “overall impression was that we can work together for the development of the future of our country,” he said. 

But the subtext of the meeting was that whatever happens now will require a delicate ongoing dialogue between the NLD and the military.

2) Isn’t there an ongoing civil war in Myanmar? 

Conflict has intensified between the Army and a number of armed ethnic-minority militias that want autonomy, mostly along the borders. The key question is whether the NLD can control the military in those conflict areas and initiate a real peace process.

The outgoing government of President Thein Sein signed a hasty cease-fire agreement on Oct. 15 with eight armed groups. But as analyst Bertil Lintner has pointed out, this was a “face-saving” gesture, since it included none of the most serious fighting forces. Those groups, including the the Kachin Independence Army and the Shan State Army, have been lately under attack from Burmese military units.

For years, the NLD in opposition had called for “national reconciliation” between the civilian population, the military, and ethnic minority nationalities. Now, with a sufficient majority in parliament to make senior government appointments, the NLD can finally set the conditions, not just for dialogue but for a ruling coalition.

Spokesman Win Htein confirmed that appointments by the NLD in coming days will include members of other parties. NLD executives recently confirmed that the party's nominees for parliamentary speaker and deputies include a member of the outgoing military-backed party as well as figures from the ethnic Kachin and Rakhine communities. 

3) Up to and during the election campaigning, there were many reports about rising Buddhist extremism and anti-Muslim bias, especially against the Muslim Rohingya.

The main force behind the anti-Muslim virulence, a Buddhist-monk led movement called Ma Ba Tha, has been surprisingly quiet since the elections. The group seemed chastened by the victory of the NLD, which the Ma Ba Tha had begun to target as an enemy of Myanmar’s Buddhist character and legacy. But watch for noise from them again.

Meanwhile, about 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims face deep hatred and ongoing exclusion from legal membership in the county’s multi-ethnic makeup. Aung San Suu Kyi has been much criticized abroad for a failure to speak out explicitly on the Rohingya’s behalf. But now they must live up to their long-stated ideals of human rights for all, starting with the Rohingyas’ forced segregation in camps in western Rakhine state.

4) Myanmar for years was an authoritarian regime led by a military junta. What has happened to the internal security and spy services?

This is a tricky one. With the “home affairs” portfolio in the hands of the military, it remains difficult to assess if special branch police and related military intelligence units have been dismantled, or if there has been a reform of the sinister monitoring system under the “General Services Administration” that was long used to centralize information and make enemies of the population. The Army itself remains a black box.

Inevitably, though, the security agencies will face scrutiny from an increasingly vibrant media. Myanmar had among the heaviest censorship laws in the world, but they have largely been lifted. There is also a newly flourishing civil society, though people still face intimidation and restrictions on the flow of information. 

And public and private fear – the greatest tool of the junta’s control – has for now vanished. Feeling less fear, as Aung San Suu Kyi once famously suggested, is the first step to freedom.

5) Can the new ruling NLD party root out rampant corruption and cronyism, and to begin to address the country’s poverty?

The NLD has made rooting out corruption a priority, along with improving the “rule of law” and raising living standards in a country that remains among the poorest in the world. The World Bank ranks it 178 out of 213 countries in per capita income in 2014. The Berlin-based Transparency International recently landed Myanmar in 144th place out of 168 countries in its perceived corruption.

In recent years, efforts for reforms under President Thein Sein, and the lifting of sanctions, meant an influx of foreign investment and loosening up of banking. But implementation has been unclear. The operations of military-linked conglomerates has been opaque. They, together with a handful of business moguls, have held a monopoly over key natural resources including oil and jade. That means the NLD economic team will have to tread carefully, according to members of its economic team. To really address an entrenched system of bribery, or “tea money” in the local parlance, will take a generational change, said tycoon Serge Pun.

Ms. Schrank is author of "The Rebel of Rangoon." She reported for the Monitor from Myanmar on the Nov. 8 elections.

By Thin Lei Win 

Myanmar Now

January 27, 2016

The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) in Myanmar is facing a funding shortfall of $51 million to meet all the needs till the end of 2016. The organisation, which has a 250-strong staff in the country, says it provided food and cash assistance to 1.2 million people in 2015. This includes emergency food assistance to half a million victims of disasters and conflict.

Myanmar Now chief correspondent Thin Lei Win spoke to Dom Scalpelli, WFP country director in Myanmar, about what the shortfall means, why Myanmar is still food insecure, and what eradicating hunger and malnutrition would mean to the country.

Question: How concerned are you about the funding shortfall? Or is this part of a long-standing problem?

Answer: The funding shortfalls are a common part of our business, unfortunately. It’s like running a fire department without having the money for the trucks or the petrol in the trucks. Imagine, each time there’s a fire, you need to quickly run around the city and ask for money.

This is a bit like what happens when a flood happens in Myanmar or conflicts displaced people in Shan State. If it’s a new emergency we typically have to run after new money. It’s a constant challenge but that’s the way the system is at the moment. 

What would the shortfall mean in terms of humanitarian assistance?

When there is a funding shortfall, we have to prioritise life-saving activities. This means nutritional support to malnourished babies and children under 5 years old, and pregnant and nursing mothers, assistance to the internally displaced people, especially those that are confined to camps in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan states, and the floods- and landslides-affected people. 

Things like the daily school meals programme - nutritious snacks to about 230,000 children in primary and pre-schools in very food insecure areas - to encourage parents to keep sending their children to school have to be put as a second priority. Same for other development programmes like rehabilitating community infrastructure like dams, fish ponds, roads and bridges, although it helps to prevent or mitigate future shocks and builds resilience. 

Myanmar is a food surplus country, and yet a lot of communities, especially in ethnic areas, are food insecure, leading to malnourished people and children. Why is that?

It’s true that Myanmar is a rice surplus country and rice is often equated with food. But rice is not in and of itself nutritious in the way it is eaten here. Not many people eat brown rice. It has to be as white as white, and that means all the nourishment are gone. 

Also, when you’re talking about a place like Chin State, just to get from one town to another could be three hours in a good vehicle. The food may be available but it’s expensive. We saw this in the floods when a bag of rice costs $100 when it normally should have been $30, which was already quite high. So access is another issue. 

Food insecurity is common among disadvantaged populations, like the landless, smallholders and minority ethnic groups, due to limited or inequitable access to land and resources, poor agriculture conditions and low resilience. Most farmers only have access to very small areas of land. This limits their ability to cultivate sufficient amount of staple food or vegetables for their household needs during the whole year. Agriculture conditions are not optimal. In the dry zone, soils are sandy and rainfalls are low. In mountainous areas, arable land is limited and cultivating cycles too short to allow the soil to regenerate. 

In ethnic areas, the issues related to access to land and livelihood sources are more important due to movement restrictions and/or insecurity. 

What are some of the most food-insecure places in Myanmar and why?

Essentially, border areas and the central dry zone are the most food insecure areas in Myanmar. In Chin, it’s caused by remoteness and isolation, and lack of job opportunities and arable land. In Rakhine it’s movement restriction and lack of access to job opportunities and land, for all communities in Rakhine. For the central dry zone, it’s poor soil and agriculture techniques.

How bad is malnutrition in Myanmar?

Myanmar is still the third-most malnourished country in Southeast Asia after Timor-Leste and Cambodia. There’s no reason for it. It’s a country that’s rich in resources. It’s just access to these resources, education and behavioural issues, and sometimes cultural practices that need to change to promote better nutrition. 

The worst malnutrition in Myanmar is in the border with Bangladesh in the northern part of Rakhine State. The average stunting rate for under-5 children in Myanmar is about 34 percent, meaning one in every three children under five years is too short for his age. On the border with Bangladesh that is over 50 percent. (Editor's note: Northern Rakhine State's Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships are home to the roughly 1 million-strong stateless Rohingya Muslim minority.)

There were many short people in Japan after the [Second World War] but now if you go to Tokyo there are lots of tall people. It really only takes a generation to break this cycle. It’s doable. Nutrition is not just about food. It’s about health and sanitation. In South Asia for example, bad sanitation ultimately leads to bad nutrition. Things like encouraging exclusive breastfeeding in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life accompanied by nutritious food after 6 months may not be encouraged everywhere according to various cultures. 

Malnutrition can have permanent impacts too, right?

Yes. If a malnourished girl - someone in a food-insecure area here in Myanmar - typically gives birth at too early an age, chances are the child will be malnourished with some sort of deficiency, physical or mental. 

If the baby doesn’t have enough nutrition for the first 1,000 days then the brain will not develop properly. Think about multiplying that across the whole population. There are studies in countries where the economic loss can be, on average, 11 percent of the GDP just because its babies are malnourished. That cycle can be broken. If, while she’s pregnant, she starts to consume adequate, nutritious food and good, clean water etc, and continues to breastfeed exclusively after birth and gives nutritious food afterwards, the child can grow up healthily especially up to the age of two. 

But it doesn’t stop there. The child has to go to school so they understand the importance of nutrition. And the longer a girl stays in school the more likely she’ll give birth at a later age, meaning healthier babies, and the more likely she’ll space her babies.

What can be done to address the problem? What should the new government do?

We’ve just started with the government of Myanmar and a few other organisations to produce fortified foods. We want to try and put (that) on to the market and for us to be able to purchase it for our nutrition programmes. I understand Myanmar is the largest per capita rice consumer in the world, with more than 200 kilograms per person per year. If people are consuming that much of a certain food and it’s fortified, that would go a long way to helping (malnutrition) even though it’s not the perfect solution.

In areas where fortified rice might not reach for now, we have to make sure the populations have access to nutritious food and there’s diversification in agriculture and access to markets. For a country like Myanmar to address this is to make it a priority. You need champions at different levels of society whether politicians, educators, celebrities and sportspeople. Myanmar doesn’t produce qualified nutritionists yet. The willpower and the commitment is important. 

Myanmar government launched the Zero Hunger Challenge in late 2014. It’s a first step. It’s a global initiative and there’s a draft action plan on nutrition and food security, with clear responsibilities so that by 2025 there won’t be any stunted children in Myanmar. 

Dr Zarni's analysis of Myanmar Prisoner Release and Democratic Transition, Impact Program, BBC World News TV, 22 Jan 2016

By Htet Khaung Lin

Myanmar Now

January 2, 2016

RANGOON — Former political prisoner Yan Naing is a politician and activist from the Irrawaddy Delta. A member of Burma’s Muslim minority, he was a second generation supporter of the National League for Democracy.

As a campaign manager for an NLD candidate in the 2012 elections, he faced some resistance from inside the party. He left the NLD before the 2015 elections, in which the party failed to field a single Muslim candidate amid rising anti-Muslim and nationalistic rhetoric in Burma.

Yan Naing, a lawyer by profession, joined the United National Congress (UNC), a historically Muslim party, and ran in Thingangyun constituency for a Lower House seat. Like all his fellow UNC candidates, as well as many other non-NLD candidates, he lost.

He spoke again to Myanmar Now about his thoughts on the future of Muslims in Burma as the new NLD government prepares to take office.

Are you concerned that there will be less discussion on the rights of Muslims in parliament since no Muslim candidate was elected in the Nov. 8 elections?

When it comes to discussing the issues concerning Muslims, perhaps the NLD will take up that responsibility. But they would only be able to say what they’ve heard, as they wouldn’t be able to feel exactly like a Muslim would.

What is the view of Muslims on the political parties that did not field Muslim candidates?

A lot of Muslims feel very sad about this, especially that the NLD didn’t field a single Muslim candidate. But most of the Muslims voted for the NLD anyway in order to get democracy. They still have a lot of confidence in the NLD.

Communal and religious conflicts have broken out in recent years in Myanmar. Some in authority seem to favor nationalistic groups. Do you think the next government will challenge this?

It is good to protect your own religion. But I think it is not appropriate to misunderstand, attack and discriminate against other religions, especially Islam. Some accused the NLD of favoring Muslims and called them all sorts of names. I think the NLD needs to work hard to negotiate with these people. The new government needs to build up mutual trust among the people in different faiths.

There may be some people within the party who have a misunderstanding of Muslims. What do you think?

It depends on Aung San Suu Kyi. She needs to manage this. Our Muslim groups and parties also need to hold discussions with the NLD. In terms of my personal experience, there were people who objected to my appointment as the campaign manager of NLD in Myaungmya Township during the 2012 by-election. It was a shock—the people who protested included those who were close to me. It seems like they didn’t want Muslims taking up important roles in the NLD.

Which kind of laws do Muslims think they will need to ensure citizen rights in the new government?

It is important to align Burma’s citizenship law to meet international norms. The government needs to reform procedures of the immigration department which mention ethnicity and religion to ensure citizen rights for all nationalities. My family is of Indian descent and the third generation here. My grandmother was a Burmese citizen. Some say the colonial era law discriminated against Burmese nationals and favored Muslims, but it is unfair to exact revenge on us now. Today’s Muslims in Burma are (often) descendants of Muslim men and Myanmar women. I think we need to make the new government understand this.

During the post-election period, some nationalistic groups used anti-Muslim rhetoric and claimed the Islamic flag was the flag of ISIS. Do you think this could lead to conflict?

Every Muslim home has the words of the prayer to Allah in Arabic. These words are misused by ISIS. Just because you have these holy words doesn’t make you ISIS. Our Muslim community has the responsibility to explain this. Islamic leaders in Burma have issued statements declaring that ISIS is misusing Islam. We don’t believe in ISIS or al Qaeda and we will not be influenced by them. But I am worried that these accusations of all Muslims being linked to ISIS would push them towards that. Burma’s Muslims may be oppressed but we have no interest in rebelling against our country. The Prophet Mohammad taught us that loving one’s birthplace is half of the faith to Islam.

Do you think statements and interfaith conferences are enough to resolve misunderstandings? What more can be done?

Those who misunderstand Islam usually do not attend these interfaith conferences so the impact is still limited. I think if we can really explain clearly what Islam is and isn’t, the misunderstanding would be reduced.

What is your view on recent attempts by Myanmar authorities to send Kaman Muslims to refugee camps in Ramree of Arakan State?

It is a violation of human rights and citizenship rights. They are Burmese citizens, and they have rights to visit any part of the country. I moved to Rangoon from Myaungmya more than a year and a half ago. But immigration officials have not allowed us to have our family registration in Rangoon. This is a human rights violation.

What reform plans should be made in immigration sector?

They need a lot of changes. The motto of “Your race will not disappear by the earth swallowing you, but by another (race) swallowing you” seems to target Muslims. This motto is quite extreme and aggressive. Due to unfair and corrupt immigration officers, those who cannot speak the Burmese language have national identity cards, but those who can speak it and have been living for many years in Burma are still holding foreigner registration cards. This needs to be resolved.

By Press TV
November 25, 2015

Press TV has conducted an interview with Liaqat Ali Khan, a professor at the Washburn University from Kansas, to ask for his insight into the impact of political change in Myanmar on the fate of the country's Rohingya Muslims.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It’s quite clear that Myanmar’s path towards democracy isn’t as democratic as many would like it to be.

Khan: That’s very true. I think the National League for Democracy, which is the political party of the Nobel laureate has won landslide more than 70 percent of the seats in both houses; so, one would hope that the situation of Rohingyas will change, but I would suggest that there should be two international pressures that should be brought on the government of Myanmar.

One is through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the other is through the Human Rights Council. Now, we know that in the Human Rights Council, there’s a special rapporteur, who is monitoring the situation in Myanmar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and many other Islamic countries around their council.

And they should push the rapporteur to find what exactly is the persecution in Myanmar and then do something about it.

And I think the other is the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, 56 Muslim states, and does feel like they’re helpless and they can’t take care of 1.3 million fellow Muslims who are the most persecuted minority on this planet.

Press TV: Will any of this works specifically considering that even Aung San Suu Kyi herself has failed to address the plight of the Rohingyas when asked and prodded about it, she even went on to say that the situation is being grossly exaggerated by media outlets?

Khan: Well, let in she’s not in power and she was not in a position to say something very strongly, because the elections were under way.

And now that her political party has won, hopefully she would change her stands and she would be more sympathetic to the situation of Rohingyas.

After all she has a Nobel Peace Prize and it is obligatory that she takes care of the rights of Rohingya people.

I hope she would change, but if she doesn’t change, I still would ask that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, 56 Muslim states, they should do something to pressurize the new government that they recognize the rights of Rohingya people.

Press TV: How much would Aung San Suu Kyi’s party in the form of a government have power to bring about change, so to speak, because, let’s not forget that the military junta still retains much of the power in one way or another.

Khan: That’s very true. I think right now the military is still in power and the power will change in February next year.

That’s been the new political party would take power and you’re right that previously the military did not allow the same party, who won the elections, to take power. 

So, it remains to be seen whether the National League for Democracy would actually be able to take power and we don’t know. I think the military records are seriously anti-democratic in Myanmar.

By Ben de la Cruz

NPR

November 21, 2015

Where do you call home?

It seems like a simple question. But for ten million people around the world, there is no easy answer: They are stateless. They lack basic documents like a passport or a national ID card. And so they may not be able to go to school, hold a job, own land, get health care.

Photographer Greg Constantine calls them "Nowhere People" — that's the title of hisnew book, which documents the daily lives these individuals.

Constantine's first encounter with the world of the stateless came in 2002, when he moved to Japan to teach English and start a photography career.

His initial freelance story was about North Korean refugees hiding from authorities in China. Many of the women gave birth to children while living illegally in China. So neither the women nor their children had any legal documents. Their uncertain future sparked his decade-long work documenting the lives of the stateless.

Since then, he's traveled from Southeast Asia and the Middle East to Africa and Europe to capture in photographs and words the experiences of some of the world's largest communities of stateless people.

I spoke with Constantine about this work. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Is there one picture that captures what it's like to live as a stateless person?

The photograph on the cover of the book says a lot, although it doesn't say it all. The photo was taken in southeastern Kenya in 2008. It is a photo of handprints that a group of stateless children had left on a wall of an abandoned school. I shared this photo with a group of fifth grade students in St. Louis a few years ago on a school tour in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. One student said something to the effect of, "It's like those kids are trapped behind something invisible. You know they are there because of their handprints but you can't see their faces. Its like they are trying to tell the world ... we are here!"

You've taken many photos of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. What's their life like?

The story of the Rohingya is really the most extreme situations of statelessness in the world today, at least in my experience. The 140,000 Rohingya living in camps inside Burma basically live an apartheid-like existence, totally isolated and segregated from the Buddhist community. They can't leave the camps. They can't work. They receive meager humanitarian aid and very little or no access to healthcare. While so many are celebrating the success of the recent elections in Myanmar, and for good reason, an ethnic cleansing is taking place at the same time.

One images shows Rohingya boys hauling mud at a camp. Do these kids have a chance to go to school?

Since mid-2012, Rohingya children living in the camps have not received any form of education. As a result, you have young Rohingya trying to help their families survive.

You've included some lighter moments – like this photo of this boy with his chest puffed out and arms flexed.

I met this 11-year-old boy while I was working on a photo essay about stateless people in the Roma community living in Serbia. Most of the Roma who have difficulties with citizenship in Serbia are originally from Kosovo. Many of the children were born in Serbia but for any number of reasons, much of it discrimination and lack of birth registration, are stateless.

[The boy] and his brothers and sisters are without documents, but he had this amazing confidence. He was completely aware of the situation he was in. He experienced it every day in the inability to go to school and also travel within the city freely for fear of being asked by some authority for his ID or documents. But still, he was confident his situation would change. I asked to take a few last portraits of him and that is when he puffed up his chest and flexed his arms. His determination crystallized right at that moment.

What do you hope people will take away from your photos?

I hope people see the photos and then have a much greater understanding of the scope of this issue and the condition stateless people live with. While stateless people are some of the most excluded people in the world, I hope the photos help people also see how incredibly determined, resourceful and talented stateless people are. They have so much to contribute to larger society and have so much potential, yet they aren't permitted to make this contribution.

What can be done to help stateless people?

The solution for statelessness is having the political will to change laws and recognize communities and open up pathways for people to become citizens and be recognized in the country where they were born.

Unfortunately, there's zero political will to make those changes.

By Lally Weymouth

The Washington Post

November 20, 2015

By Myanmar Now

November 6, 2015

Arakan National Party chairman Aye Maung is confident his party will sweep the state in Sunday’s poll. 

Aye Maung is the chairman of the Arakan National Party (ANP), the largest political party in Arakan State of Myanmar after the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). 

The ANP is contesting 29 seats in the Arakan State legislature and 34 seats in Union Parliament. In an interview with Myanmar Now, Aye Maung said that his party expects to sweep the state, winning over 90 percent of all seats it is contesting. The victory, he claims, will enable the party to control the state legislature and strengthen the influence of the Buddhist Arakanese in the region, home to more than a million stateless Rohingya Muslims.

Aye Maung himself is contesting a state parliamentary seat for Munaung Island and says he is aiming to be appointed the state’s chief minister. 

How is your campaign going? 

As you know, this island is located at the center of the Arakan State and has been one of the least developed towns in this region. The roads are bad and we don’t have telephone service here. But the southern part of this island is more undeveloped than the northern part where we have fishing industry. We have a greater public support in the northern part than in the south where there is a sense of insecurity. The sense of fear means the greater influence of the USDP, I would say.

Some NLD candidates said in their campaign speeches that if the Arakanese people vote for your party, there will be a split of votes that can result in the USDP winning against NLD and remaining a ruling party in the parliament. How do you respond to that? 

We are fighting against the USDP and regard the NLD as our ally. But the NLD officials at the lower level do not view us as their ally. They are saying that the votes of the Arakanese will be wasted if they vote for us. So this gives a chance to the USDP to exploit the situation. But I am confident that I am getting over 60 percent of the local public in my constituency and that the ANP will win over 90 percent of all the legislative seats in Arakan State.

We have heard about a resurgence of public support for the NLD in the southern Arakan State after Suu Kyi visited there last month. Is that correct? 

That may not be true. The NLD officials at the lower level may boast to their party leaders in such a way, thinking that the NLD will repeat their victory in these towns like in the 1990 general elections. But since the violence with “Bengalis” in 2012, the Arakanese have rebuilt their unity while the ANP has penetrated down to the grassroots level. (Editor’s note: “Bengali” is the word used by the government and many in Arakan State to refer to the region’s Rohingya population.)

Are you saying that the NLD is not as strong in the southern parts of Arakan State as its officials claim? 

The NLD was strong before the 2012 riots but not after that. Since Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said “the majority should not bully a minority” after the incident in Taungup, all the NLD strongholds in the southern Arakan collapsed. (Editor’s note: Aye Maung is referring to an infamous 2012 incident in which 10 Muslims were dragged from a bus and murdered while passing through Taungup, in an apparent reprisal attack for the rape of a young Arakanese woman by three Muslim men earlier that year.) After contemplation about the history of their ancestors and the future of their entire race, the Arakanese realized that they need to strengthen themselves again.

Did you make any attempt to form a political alliance with the NLD? 

I have personally advised Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to build alliances. Her visits to the ethnic areas should be for the sake of friendship with the ethnic groups. I accept her as a leader of the public. I also adore her. But the visits to the ethnic areas should not be for canvassing purposes. They should be used for the purpose of building friendship with the ethnics. If that’s the case, then the game (the elections) will be a very good one. But since her people are attacking us in a partisan way, we have to reciprocate.

How come your relation with the NLD has faltered despite your close relations with the NLD leadership? 

We have different policy objectives. We are trying to dominate the state legislature, for which we also need to be present in the Lower and Upper Houses. We will have the political bargaining power in the bicameral parliament only if our MPs are represented there. But the NLD’s policy is “we will let you take state legislative seats but we will get all the lower and upper house seats of Arakan State.” That is the wrong strategy of the NLD party.

My opinion is the transition must come together with a guarantee for the rights of ethnic groups. The Union government must be a coalition government, not NLD-dominated like the current one is dominated by the USDP. The NLD would have a better chance of forming a government if it gets 20 percent of support from the ethnic parties. It cannot get its own president without the support of ethnic parties in this political context.

There are accusations that your party has secretly decided to work together with the USDP, and that you’ve been accusing NLD of being pro-Muslim at your campaign events.

That’s not true. The first is not true and the second is also not true. We are on the defensive here. How many were there in Arakan in the past? It is said that around 7 million were killed during the monarchial days. Then the British colonized us. The Arakanese spread out and reached Bangladesh and India. When the Arakanese had no jobs or economic opportunities and became impoverished, the Arakanese people were spread all over the world. In Arakan State now there isn’t even 1 million left. The strength of the people who have entered illegally is now almost 1 million. That’s the scariest difference. It’s been 68 years since we gained independence. The Arakanese people don’t have the authority to manage Arakan State. That’s why we are here—to control the Arakan State parliament and the Arakan State government during this transition.

Imagine—you now have a union government that is democratic and completely understands human rights. The international community puts pressure. If the Union government and president are from the NLD, there won’t be any chance to defend (ourselves). They will start measuring (everything) using a human rights yardstick, as per their party policy. That’s why we Arakanese don’t have any choices. We need a government that sees things the same way. Otherwise, we will disappear.

What are your expectations for the elections in Arakan State? Do you expect that most of the seats will be won by Arakanese people?

Yes, the results would be very good. Have a look—Gwa, Thandwe, Taungup, Marn Aung. It’s all good. We now know that USDP is trying to cheat with advance votes everywhere. (If we do well) then those who are opposing us will change. The NLD…would have to agree to an alliance with us behind the scenes. You have to divide power and responsibilities…the main thing is we won’t endorse and will criticize any party, including ethnic armed groups, that oppose our nationalist welfare.

We want to be a state within an eternal union. We can’t let it disintegrate in our time. Future steps should be done in consultation with every member of the union.

By Radio Free Asia

September 18, 2015

In an interview with reporter Myo Zaw Ko of RFA’s Myanmar Service, Ashin Wirathu of the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion (Ma Ba Tha), lays out his Buddhist nationalist group's views on the Nov. 8 general elections, national security and communal relations in a country torn by strife between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims.

RFA: What do you think of the Sept. 15 statement by nine foreign embassies, including the U.S. and Britain, warning against the use of religion in the election campaign? 

ASHIN WIRATHU: We should talk about the NLD (National League for Democracy), which asked its members to campaign for Muslim votes. The NLD appointed its Mandalay vice-chairman, Daw Win Mya Mya to do this. The NLD is the only party to appoint someone to campaign in Muslim society. Other parties have been doing normal campaigns for all religions with their policies. The NLD’s ways of campaigning are not according to Buddha’s teaching.

RFA: Can you please tell us which ways are not according to Buddha’s teaching?

ASHIN WIRATHU: Something like (Aung San Suu Kyi's speech), 'to vote by looking the party, not by looking party candidates'. Buddha said, not to give any precedence or priority, like love, hate or fear. We have to look at policy, not party; to see qualification of people, not groups persons. We have to select candidates who can work for people in our constituencies. If we look at only the party, it means we have to select even an NLD candidate who is an alcoholic or a gambler.

RFA: We have heard that some organizations have asked your Ma Ba Tha to make sure that the NLD can’t win the election. What do you say to these comments?

ASHIN WIRATHU: Nobody can make demands on our organization, as Ma Ba Tha is formed of head monks and abbots. Nobody or no organization can control Ma Ba Tha, not even (Barack) Obama or Ban Ki-moon. Ma Ba Tha is working to protect our nationality and religion.

RFA: Does Ma Ba Tha ask or order someone or some organizations to do something?

ASHIN WIRATHU: Yes, we have been telling people our policies, such as not to select candidates because you love them, not to ignore them because you hate them, just select candidates who can work for your districts and not have an obsession with any party.

RFA: Which parties are following your policies?

ASHIN WIRATHU: We are close with small parties, such the National Democratic Force, The National Union Party, and the Democratic Party. We see that these parties revere and respect protecting our nationality and religion.

RFA: What do you believe all monks, including you, should practice, and what attitude should they take, during the election period? 

ASHIN WIRATHU: Monks are like Suns or Moons. We shouldn’t stand for a party or a side. Instead of asking people to vote for a party or a person, we should teach them to select candidates who can work for people. Also, monks should check and observe around all voting places while other international organizations are doing it. If so, we can solve problems if we see any unfair things on election day.

RFA: Do you think the upcoming election will be free, fair and peaceful?

ASHIN WIRATHU: The political weather is not good. Even right now, people are complaining about one another. As the election is getting closer, it could become like the clashes between Red Shirt and Yellow Shirt groups in Thailand. We do not wish for things to become like that. I would like to urge all monks to control or take care of problems. I will do so.

RFA: In your opinion, what kind of government would be the best for our country after the election?

ASHIN WIRATHU: We want a government that can work well for national security and development. Other parties will work for development. We want a government that can work for the country’s development by creating our own democratic system that suits our country, not by copying other countries' democracy.

RFA: What is your definition of National Security?

ASHIN WIRATHU: Some are planning to control our country by pointing to the boat people and Rohingya. We should see and take care of our country’s safety and security when we have these kind of problems. A country’s security will be broken if we open our doors for these people and problems by listening to international pressure or force. If about 60 million people from Bangladesh come into our country, Myanmar will be under other countries’ control. We just want a government that can work very well to protect national security.

Reported by Myo Zaw Ko for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar.