December 2, 2011
H.E. Sheikh Hasina Wajed
The Prime Minister People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Old Sangsad Bhaban
Tejgaon, Dhaka 1215
Your Excellency Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed,
On Behalf of Arakan Rohingya Union and the Burmese Rohingya Association of North
America, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Bangladesh for
addressing the Rohingya refugee issue with the government of Myanmar on many occasions in the past. We warmly welcome your visit to Myanmar which potentially could yield significant results in bilateral relations, including the Rohingya refugee issues and a number of human right problems that the Rohingya ethnic minority is facing in Myanmar.
There has not been any progress in Rohingya human rights and political issues in Myanmar although many promises were made by the Myanmar government before the 2010 election. In fact, situations have deteriorated in the Rohingya areas in Arakan after the new government in Myanmar assumed power. Currently, serious human rights violations against
the Rohingya by the government of Myanmar have reached a new level.
We, the Rohingya people, strongly believe that the future of Rohingya, as citizens of
Myanmar, greatly depends on support from the people and the government of Bangladesh. We also believe that in order for the Rohingya people to regain their rights in Myanmar, the
government of Bangladesh could be instrumental by using its good relations with Myanmar as leverage.
We call upon your Excellency to exercise your good office to address the following Rohingya issues during your upcoming visit to Myanmar and thereafter:
1. Recognition of Rohingya by Myanmar government as an indigenous ethnic minority of
Myanmar and reinstate their citizenship.
2. Repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law of Myanmar adopted by the former military regime.
3. Cease the ethnic cleansing and all the human rights violations against Rohingya by the
government of Myanmar, and reinstate their rights to travel freely, seek education, maintain
their properties, get married without fear, renovate and rebuild their places of worship,
and several other rights.
4. Repatriation of all the Rohingya refugees with guarantee by the government of Myanmar
for their full protection, resettlement in their respective villages, return their properties
that were confiscated.
We are indebted to the people and the Government of Bangladesh for their historic support
and sympathy that Rohingya people have received. May Allah bless the Peoples’ Republic of
Bangladesh.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin
Director General
Arakan Rohingya Union
Download PDF here
၂၀၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ ဒီဇင္ဘာလ ၅ ရက္ေန ့ရက္စြဲၿဖင္ ့၈၈ မ်ဳိးဆက္ေက်ာင္းသားမ်ား မွ လက္ရွိၿမန္မာ့ႏုိင္ငံေရး အခင္းအက်င္း အေပၚကုိ သေဘာထားအၿမင္ ထုတ္ၿပန္ေၾကၿငာလုိက္ပါတယ္။
The ice-breaking visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Naypyidaw ended 50 years of US-Burma estrangement. The Obama administration has signaled desire for US engagement with the pariah regime since 2009, and since March, Burma’s Thein Sein has strived to widen the military regime’s legitimacy both at home and abroad. Hope for reforms is in the air – and this YaleGlobal series analyzes the history, the domestic momentum and big power ramifications of the reforms. Burma’s fiercely nationalistic armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, have been in charge since the nation gained independence from Britain in 1948. The Tatmadaw seems intent on attempting to improve its image, writes Burma specialist David I. Steinberg in the first article of this two-part series, while the Obama administration seeks to reaffirm US strategic interests in Southeast Asia. The long-term outlook may be uncertain, but after 50 long years, the relationship has been abruptly and amazingly transformed. – YaleGlobal
Burma in the US-China Great Game – Part I
The US nudges Burma’s nationalistic military toward reform and diversified regional ties
David I. Steinberg
Ice-breaker: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Burmese President Thein Sein (top); Clinton greets opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
WASHINGTON: Eighteen months ago, no one would have anticipated that two of the world’s most eminent women, each arch critics of the Myanmar government from opposite sides of the world, could have reached supportive conclusions about changes in one of the world’s previously most repressive states.
The Western world’s icon of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, after being held under house arrest for some 15 years since 1989, spoke positively about the reforms instituted by the new president of Myanmar, Thein Sein, a former military man who was prime minister under a junta anathema to the internal opposition and external Western powers: He is "committed to reform... I am sufficiently confident that I will be able to work together with him. I think the way is open for positive change." During the first week of December 2011, Hillary Clinton, on the first visit of a US secretary of state in half a century, spoke of the progress that had been made under the new government: “The United States is prepared to walk the path of reform with you if you keep moving in the right direction.” Both women want continued reforms and progress, but even their guarded optimism could not diminish what has been a startling and welcome set of changes. Whether they are ephemeral or sustainable is one critical issue.
The world is witnessing, with some incredulity, significant changes within a state that the United States, under both the Clinton and Bush administrations, had expected could only be reformed and relieved of its “pariah” status through “regime change,” a policy both assiduously pursued. Some believe that democracy, however defined, is just around the corner, while others consider these reforms are simply window dressing for continuing military control and the denial of democracy and a better life for the diverse Burmese peoples.
The world is witnessing, with incredulity, significant changes within a state regarded as a pariah by the US.
Neither are correct. A half century ago, after the coup of 1962, the military formed the Burma Socialist Programme Party under military domination and stipulated that once one joined the party, one could never resign, thus indicating its attempt to hold perpetual control. The motto over the gate of the Myanmar Military Academy sums up the attitude of the Tatmadaw, or armed forces, “The Triumphant Elites of the Future.”
The military has ruled directly and indirectly throughout most of Burma/Myanmar’s independent history since 1948. Under the new government headed by Thein Sein, inaugurated in the spring of 2011, that control continues through a number of constitutional provisions. These constitutional controls are supplemented by a pervasive government party that swept 80 percent of the legislative seats and is military dominated.
The Tatmadaw has continuously articulated its core concerns. Primary is that the military is the only institution that can hold the multiethnic state together, and thus its continuing role is essential. National unity and state sovereignty are vital, and the military’s responsibility in maintaining them have been pursued with a bombastic vigor that is not simply propaganda, but reflects deeply held nationalistic sentiments. If these elements and military autonomy within the state structure are maintained, for the military are highly patriotic, then reforms are possible in economic, political and social fields. The Tatmadaw is aware of its poor reputation both internally and abroad, and seems intent on attempting to improve its image.
But if the reformers are sincere, and it seems that at least at the apex of administrative power this is evident, then why now? Cynics point to the desire of Myanmar to host the 2014 ASEAN summit, which they did not do in 2006 when their first turn was scheduled, assigned through alphabetic order, as a prime motivating factor. The critics maintain that these reforms should be discounted as superficial changes, likely to be reversed after that date.
Since Obama came into office, both Myanmar and the US have sent signals calling for improved relations.
The reasons are likely more complex. There seems little doubt that receiving approval from ASEAN to hold the 2014 chair was a factor. But Myanmar may also have wanted to ensure that it would not become overly dependent, or perceived so, on China, the source of much of its economic aid, investment, infrastructure development and military assistance. Myanmar has also been inundated with illegal Chinese immigrants – by some estimates 2 million. Myanmar thus sought improved relations with the US and relaxation of the sanctions regimen to achieve a balance-neutralism that’s been its policy since independence.
Since the Obama administration came into office, it’s evident that both Myanmar and the United States have sent signals calling for improved relations. The US wanted Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners freed, and Myanmar wanted relief from sanctions. In July 2009, the US signed the treaty of Amity and Cooperation with ASEAN, which it had not done before because of Myanmar’s membership, and the Obama administration also quietly dropped the cry for “regime change” and opted for “pragmatic engagement” – keeping the sanctions that Congress in bipartisan manner had approved, but adding high-level engagement.
Other possible causes may have prompted the current reforms. Power is now somewhat diversified, without arbitrary top-down leadership. Until 2011, Myanmar had a singular source of power – Senior General Than Shwe. No one seemed willing to disagree on any policy or challenge him. His arbitrary rule was law, and he is said to have a dislike for Aung San Suu Kyi. He is supposedly aged and retired, caring only for protecting the core military concerns and influence, as well as the safety of his family.
The highly nationalistic military is also concerned for its historic reputation. They have rewritten Burmese history to stress their role. Refurbishing the Tatmadaw’s reputation through improving the previously inept economic performance of the military to date, and allowing a significantly expanded space between the state and the citizens, are elements of this attempt to restore the military’s luster and good reputation earned by its success in securing independence from the British in 1948.
By responding positively to Burmese reforms and reformers, the US is strengthening the likely continuity of those changes.
So diverse motivations and circumstances are likely responsible for the unexpected change in attitudes. Sending Clinton to Naypyidaw was both strategically and tactically influential in improving relations with Myanmar.
Strategically, it was the most vital signal the Obama administration could send that did not require intense negotiations with the US Congress and using up valuable political capital for no ostensible domestic benefits. Myanmar is not high on any political list of US priorities. Yet the visit has strengthened Myanmar’s reformers, who can attest that the reforms are having a positive effect. If there had been no substantive response from the US, the strong anti-reform elements within the Tatmadaw could claim that the reforms were ineffective and should be rescinded. By responding positively to the reforms and reformers, the US is strengthening the likely continuity of those changes.
Tactically, the manner of the effort was also significant. President Barack Obama’s personal call to Aung San Suu Kyi and her endorsement of Clinton’s visit have preempted the congressional critics, and those in the anti-military human rights and expatriate groups, challenging their condemnation of the visit; all they can do is call for caution.
The game is afoot and the outcome uncertain, but we have witnessed progress unanticipated, at a pace unheralded, and in fields hitherto unrecognized by the Burmese administration. It has taken 50 years to reach this far. We can only hope that the engagement and reforms will continue.
David I. Steinberg is Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. His latest volumes are Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know (2010) and, with Fan Hongwei, Modern China-Myanmar Relations: Dilemmas of Mutual Dependence (2012).
Credit : Yale Center
An Urgent Letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina regarding her upcoming visit to Myanmar
To:
Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina Wazed,
Prime Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dear Prime Minister,
Assalamu Alaykum. It gives me great pleasure to learn that you are going to visit Myanmar (Burma) soon. I pray and hope that your trip is a productive and safe one.
Burma, as you well know, has potential to become a good neighbor of Bangladesh and can learn a thing or two from your vast experience as a respectable democratic leader that has shown prudent leadership in dealing with minority issues. At the heart of Bangladesh-Myanmar problem is the Rohingya issue, which needs a viable solution that would allow the Diaspora Rohingya community, living a life of uncertainty in Bangladesh and elsewhere, to return to their ancestral homes in the Arakan (Rakhine) state of Myanmar. That can only happen with the revocation of the 1982 Citizenship Law, an universally condemned and illegal racist/xenophobic law that unduly de-legitimized more than a million Muslims of Arakan whose ancestors had lived there from time immemorial, much like their coreligionists living in Chittagong and other coastal parts of Bangladesh. (The attachment below has the necessary information on the Rohingya problem.)
As a well-wisher of Bangladesh, I would like to beseech your kind indulgence on the Rohingya issue during your visit to Burma so that an amicable solution can be found guaranteeing the safe return of the Rohingya people to Arakan.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Habib Siddiqui
(author of 3 books on Rohingyas of Burma, and international peace activist and scholar)
Philadelphia, USA
====================================================
The Rohingya Refugee Problem
1. Background
Recently, bilateral talk has been taken placed in between the government of Burma and Bangladesh regarding refugee repatriation. However, the situation in Arakan, after the election, becomes worst than ever. The persecution and the human rights violation accelerated than before. It is too early to repatriate refugees to Arakan without changing any situations in Arakan. Premature repatriation will repeat mass refugee exodus again as we have witnessed the second mass refugee exodus in 1992, after 14 years time from the first mass refugee exodus in 1978. In order to gain long lasting solution, hosting countries and international bodies need to find out the root causes of the problems.
2. Root Causes of the Rohingya Refugees
The Rohingya, who have been living with distinct socio-cultural entity, are not tolerated in Burma, and they have long been oppressed and persecuted in a planned way in order to transform the Arakan into a purely Burmanized Buddhist Arakan. Apparently, the successive military government of Burma with the aid of ultra racist Rakhine (Magh) have been pursuing the policies of de-Muslimization and Burmanization in Arakan applying various kind of inhuman polices to drive them out from the soil of Arakan. Indeed it is a problem of religious intolerance and political persecution and is a systematic eradication of an ethnic Muslim minority from their ancestral land; periodically, armed operations were conducted against unarmed Rohingya civilians since her independence on Jan 4, 1948.
2.1 The armed operations against Rohingyas
01. Military Operation (5th Burma Regiment) November 1948
02. Burma Territorial Force (BTF) Operation 1949-50
03. Military Operation (2nd Emergency Chin regiment) March 1951-52
04. Mayu Operation October 1952-53
05. Mone-thone Operation October 1954
06. Combined Immigration and Army Operation January 1955
07. Union Military Police (UMP) Operation 1955-58
08. Captain Htin Kyaw Operation 1959
09. Shwe Kyi Operation October 1966
10. Kyi Gan Operation October-December 1966
11. Ngazinka Operation 1967-69
12. Myat Mon Operation February 1969-71
13. Major Aung Than Operation 1973
14. Sabe Operation February 1974-78
15. Nagamin Operation February 1978-79
16. Shwe Hintha Operation August 1978-80
17. Galone Operation 1979
18. Pyi Thaya Operation 1991-92
19. Na-Sa-Ka Operation (presently going on) 1992
Out of 19 operations, 18 were carried out within 43 (1948-1991) years time, it means every 2 ½ years there was one operation for Rohingya. Obviously, Rohingyas are constantly and gradually migrated to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arabs Emirate, Thailand and Malaysia to escape from the persecution. However, the junta and the racist Rakhine (Magh) are still not satisfied and the Na-Sa-Ka operation was started in 1992.
2.2 The Na-Sa-Ka Operation (1992-presently going on)
It was the longest and the worst ever operation in the history of Rohingya. It was a new extermination design, with long-term plans and programmes under the command of ex- Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the Chief of the Directorate of the Defence Service Intelligence (DDSI) and the Secretary No. 1 of the SPDC then. Through this operation, the Rohingyas are made educationally backward, economically crippled, socially and culturally de-generated. Many mosques have been destroyed and closed down. Arbitrary killing, confiscation of land, forced labours, forced relocation, forced ration collection for army, extortion of money and raping of women are the tactics used in this operation.
2.3 The Citizenship Law of 1982
1982 Burma citizenship law (Pyithu Hluttaw law No.1982-87) supersedes the 1948 Constitution Nationality Laws. According to the 982 law, there are citizens, associate citizens, and naturalized citizens. Under this law, citizens by birth are Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine and Shan ethnic groups.
The new citizenship law was purposely formulated to target the Rohingya Muslims and denying their rights to nationality and thus rendered them to the status of stateless people.
This particular law will continue to create outflow of refugees which overburden other countries and create threats to peace and tranquillity within the region.
The Rohingya problem is a man-made tragedy recurring in cycle. The neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh, are over burdened with the Rohingya influxes. It creates regional instability posing serious threat to the world peace.
2.4 Racial and religious intolerance
The present situation of the Rohingyas are the result of join oppressions by the ultra-racist Rakhine and Burmese military government through forcible expulsion from their homeland by means of persecution, genocidalmassacres, torture and harassment in the most inhuman manner.
Therefore, prior to any refugee repatriation process, the government of Burma (Myanmar) should accept the following pre-requisites and fully implement them in Arakan.
3. Pre-requisites for repatriation
1. Recognition of Rohingyas as an indigenous ethnic minority of Burma (Myanmar).
2. Issuance of national securitization cards to all Rohingyas.
3. To lift all form of restrictions and harassments such as travel ban, marriage restriction, land and property confiscation, extortion, arbitrary arrest, forced ration collection for army etc.
4. To stop building model villages and sent back all model villagers to their origin.
5. To return all confiscated lands and properties to the original owner.
6. To give assurance for religious freedom.
7. To give access for higher education and to provide enough hospitals and medical facilities in northern Arakan
As all above-mentioned factors are the main elements that directly contribute to uproot and displaced hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas from Arakan, unless and until developing the situation in Arakan, the repatriation of refugee will not fulfill its primary objective that is the durable solution.
4. Creating conducive environment for returnees
Instead of passively waiting for conditions to be changed Burma, refugee agencies, must work actively to create conditions conducive to their safe return. It should emphasize on:
The right of all persons to return to their country
The prime responsibility of countries of origin to establish conditions for safe and dignified return
The obligation of Burma to accept the return of their nationals
Calls on Burma to promote conditions conducive to the return of refugees and to support their sustainable reintegration
5. Welfare of voluntary returnees
It is essential to maintain an image of truly voluntary repatriation. Voluntary repatriation requires asylum, it respects the refugees, and allows them to make unpressured decisions. The returnees should have the following:
1. Overall peace and security
2. Provision of agricultural settlement land or creating job opportunities
3. Improving infrastructures
4. Strong funding support from donors
6. The repatriation dialogues
Apart from UNHCR, the hosting country (Bangladesh) and the country of origin (Burma) there should have representatives of the refugees or community leaders in the repatriation dialogues.
7. Conclusion
Rohingyas had become refugees to two times, portions of them had been repatriated to Arakan, through bilateral repatriation agreement between Rangoon and Dhak in 1978 and 1992, but it does not provide adequate safeguards to the refugees upon their return and yet their problem still remains unsolved.
Sad to mentioned, in both agreements (1978 and 1992), the refugees were not accepted as citizens of Burma, instead, the technical word Myanmar residents was used. Apparently, the Rohingyas were fallen prey again and again to the atrocities of the junta.
After the election, there are no changes at all in Arakan, and rather the situation is further deteriorating.
Therefore, we would like to the government of Bangladesh, UNHCR, US, EU, OIC, and ASEAN to give pressure to the government of Burma to accept Rohingya as an ethnic minority and to grant full citizenship rights before any refugee repatriation process.
Diplomatic Correspondent,
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaves for Myanmar today on a three-day official visit with officials saying that repatriation of Rohingya refugees, energy cooperation, maritime dispute, trade and connectivity is high on the agenda.
During the visit the two countries are expected to sign several deals aimed at boosting economic cooperation and improving bilateral relations, foreign ministry sources in Dhaka said.
The Bangladesh cabinet has given go ahead for signing an agreement on capital investment, development and its preservation in both the countries.
Relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar are considered warm in spite of disputes over maritime boundary and the influx of ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's eastern state of Arakan.
Bangladesh wants Myanmar to speed up the repatriation of about 28,000 Rohingya refugees who have been living in government-registered camps in the border region of Tekhnaf.
Official sources in Bangladesh said another about 300,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar over the years alleging persecution. These unregistered refugees live outside the camps, many of them mingling with the local people.
Bangladesh and Myanmar are also trying to resolve their dispute over the maritime boundary in the resource-rich Bay of Bengal.
The prime minister's trip takes place at a time when the long-isolated Southeast Asian nation's first civilian government in decades are opening up with promises to carry out reforms.
Her trip follows two high profile separate visits to Myanmar by Chinese Vice-president Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The premier will leave Dhaka for Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital of Myanmar, at 2:00pm today on a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, according to foreign ministry officials.
Myanmar's Union Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin will receive Sheikh Hasina at Nay Pyi Taw Airport at around 4:00pm local time. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will accompany the PM, among others.
She will meet Myanmar President Thein Sein and hold talks aimed at boosting bilateral cooperation and removing irritants between the two neighbours.
A host of issues including import of natural gas and electricity, taking lease of land in Arakan for cultivation, building a direct road link, opening direct air and shipping links, easing procedures for issuing business visas and introduction of facilities for banking and financial transactions will be discussed.
From Myanmar the prime minister will fly to Bali, the Indonesian goddess island, on Wednesday to attend an international democracy conference on December 7-9.
Credit : Daily News
By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison ,
PHUKET: A boatload of Rohingya were spotted by coastal residents north of Phuket today, quickly apprehended by Marine Police and immediately turned over to the Thai Army.
Local authorities confirmed that 54 would-be refugees were in the vessel that was intercepted near Ra island, close to the fishing port of Kuraburi, north of Phuket.
A group of 92 boatpeople, apprehended nearby on November 24, was trucked north to the Thai-Burma border in police vehicles to be handed over at some point in unconventional circumstances to the Thai Army.
Today, the Thai Army picked up the 54 would-be refugees in an Army vehicle before carrying them off to an unknown destination.
Local authorities said that the Army's Internal Security Operations Command was involved in today's operation. An Isoc officer had given orders not to talk to the media or send on photographs, one official said by telephone.
As with the 92 men and boys apprehended on November 24, the likely destination and fate of the 54 boatpeople captured today is not known and unlikely to be revealed by Isoc.
Thailand's policy towards the Rohingya boatpeople has again become covert and increasingly of concern to United Nations organisations and international aid groups.
Four days after the first 92 boatpeople vanished, Human Rights Watch called on the Government of Thailand to disclose their whereabouts and explain the Army's role in the unconventional apprehension and detention of the group.
After January 2009, when the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong and Phuketwan revealed that large numbers of boatpeople were being towed out to international waters and cut adrift by the military and paramilitary, the detention of unwanted arrivals by sea on Thailand's coast reverted to Immigration officials.
More boatloads of Rohingya are reported to have sailed from northern Burma or Bangladesh in recent days, disenchanted at the lack of change in the ''new'' Burma, where they remain deprived of citizenship and controlled by repressive measures.
The US was previously one of the Rohingya's strongest public and private advocates.
However, official calls for a change in attitude towards the Rohingya in Burma and Thailand have not been made for some time.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with government leaders and opposition democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma this week.
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said today that Thailand's ''apparently discriminatory'' policy in dealing with the Rohingya gave comfort to the Burmese Government.
Credit here
U Shwe Man Press Conference
၁- ေျမာက္ကိုးရီးယား နဲ ့ျမန္မာ နယူးကလီးယား လ်ိဳလ္၀ွက္ ဆက္ဆံေရးမွာသူမွာတာ၀န္မရိွဘူး။ နယူးကလီးယား အဆင့္မရိွဘူးလို ့ဆိုတယ္။
၂- ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲမႈေတြကို သူလုပ္ျခင္တယ္။ဒါေပမဲ့ အစိုးရထဲမွာ မေျပာင္းလဲျခင္တဲ့သူေတြရိွတယ္။ အဲဒီလူေတြက တင္ေအာင္ျမင့္ဦး တို ့အဖြဲ ့ျဖစ္တယ္ ဆိုတာကို သြယ္၀ိုက္ေျပာသြားတယ္။
သူရဲ ့ အေျခအေနက ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ခင္ညြန္ ့ အာဏာရိွစဥ္က လို သန္းေရြ၊ေမာင္ေအး ေခါင္းမာဂိုဏ္းၾကားမွာ အားျပိဳင္ေနရတဲ့အေျခအေန မ်ိဳးျဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ အဲ့ဒီကာလက ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ခင္ညြန္ ့က သူရဲ ့အခက္ခဲေတြကို
လူထုကို ခုလို ေျပာင္မေျပာျပခဲ့ဘူး။ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရြမန္းက သူရဲ ့ အေျခအေနေတြကို ခုထက္ပို ျပီး ပြင့္ပြင့္လင္းလင္း ေျပာ သင့္တယ္။ သူဟာ လူထု ဖက္ကို ရပ္တည္သင့္တယ္။ သန္းေရြ၊ တင္ေအာင္ျမင့္ဦး
ေခါင္းမာဂုိဏ္းနဲ ့လမ္းခြဲ ေၾကင္းကို အတိအလင္း ထုတ္ေဖၚလုိက္သင့္တယ္။ ဘာပဲျဖစ္ျဖစ္ သူရဲ ့ေဆြးေႏြး
တင္ျပခ်က္ ေတြကို ဟီလာရီကလင္တန္ ကလည္း သေဘာက်တယ္။ ေရြမန္းမွာ Human Sense ကို ေတြ ့ရတယ္ လို ့ ဟီလာရီကလင္တန္ က ဆိုတယ္လို ့သိရတယ္။
Credit : WFWW
By AFP
Troops from the SSA parade in the headquarters of Loi Taileng on the Thailand-Burma border (Francis Wade)
Burma has reached a ceasefire deal with one of the war-torn country’s major ethnic guerilla groups, a mediator said Saturday, in the latest sign the new army-backed regime is reaching out to its opponents.
The pact was signed Friday by representatives of the Shan State Army South and the local government in the northeastern state, Hla Maung Shwe, founder of the civil society group Myanmar Egress, who witnessed the agreement, told AFP.
The was no immediate confirmation from the Burmese government or the Shan State Army, but the Irrawaddy news website, run by journalists in exile, said the agreement in the Shan State capital of Taunggyi also included government assurances of economic development and joint efforts against drugs.
It said the next step would be negotiations with the central government.
Burma has made a series of reformist moves in the past year — releasing democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, holding dialogue with the opposition and freeing some political prisoners.
Elections last year brought a nominally civilian government to power, but it retains close links with the army.
Civil war has wrecked parts of the country since its independence in 1948, and an end to the conflicts, as well as alleged human rights abuses involving government troops, is a key demand of the international community.
The Shan State Army South has been one of the biggest rebel forces still battling the government, with thousands of guerilla fighters mostly stationed near the border with Thailand.
Burma’s leaders last month held peace talks near the Thai-Burma border with several ethnic groups fighting a long-running struggle for autonomy and rights, according to people involved.
“They [the Shan State Army South] are the first group who signed the peace agreement among the five groups that we have met,” Hla Maung Shwe said.
He said Burma’s Railways Minister Aung Min was present as a witness while the Shan rebel delegation was headed by Brigadier General Sai Luu.
Mediators were also trying to reach peace agreements with the Karen National Union, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Chin National Front and the Karenni National Progressive Party, he added.
In eastern Karen state, armed rebels have been waging Burma’s longest-running insurgency, battling the government since 1949, while fighting has also raged since June in northern Kachin state near the Chinese border.
Burma state media reported on Thursday that peace talks had been held between the government and Kachin rebels, and the two sides had agreed to continue dialogue.
“The KIA is the most difficult to reach a peace agreement with,” Hla Maung Shwe said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed what she said were efforts by the regime to resolve ethnic conflicts after historic talks with the country’s rulers in the capital Naypyidaw on Thursday.
“But as long as the terrible violence continues in some of the world’s longest-running internal conflicts, it will be difficult to begin a new chapter,” she added.
The mainly Buddhist Shan are the country’s second-biggest ethnic group, accounting for about nine percent of the population, and Shan state covers a vast area of northeastern Burma.
ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္း အတၱဳပတၱိရိုက္ကူးေရးအတြက္ ရုပ္ရွင္အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားႏွင့္ လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးပြဲ.. (Burma VJ Media)(ရုပ္သံ)
ဒီဇင္ဘာ ၃ ရက္ေန႔က ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အေနနဲ႔ ထင္ရွားသည့္ ရုပ္ရွင္အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားႏွင့္ေတြ႕ဆံုခဲ့သည္။ လြတ္လပ္ေရးဖခင္ႀကီး ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္း၏ အတၳဳပၸတၱိအား ရုပ္ရွင္ရိုက္ရန္ေဆြးေႏြးျခင္းဟု ဆိုေသာ္လည္း NLD ပါတီမဲဆြယ္ပြဲေတြအတြက္ အႏုပညာရွင္ေတြ အားကိုပါ သံုးခ်င္ျခင္းျဖစ္သည္ဟု ဆိုၾကသည္။ NLD လည္း ထိုသို႔လုပ္ေဆာင္ရန္ အဆင္သင့္ျဖစ္ေနခဲ့သည္။
ျမန္မာျပည္သူျပည္သားမ်ား ႏိုင္ငံေရးနဲ႔ မစိမ္းၾက။ အနားကပ္ခြင့္မရေအာင္ ပိတ္ဆို႔ထားလြန္း၍သာ အနားမကပ္ရဲၾကျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။
ျပည္သူတခ်ိဳ႕သာမဟုတ္ အႏုပညာရွင္တစ္ခ်ိဳ႕သည္ပင္ ႏိုင္ငံေရးနဲ႔မကင္း ။ စစ္အစိုးရေခတ္က စစ္အစိုးရအတြက္ ဝါဒျဖန္႔သီခ်င္းေတြ ဆိုဖူးၾကသူေတြရွိသည္။ ဝါဒျဖန္႔ရုပ္ရွင္ကားေတြ ရိုက္ဖူးခဲ့သူေတြရွိသည္။ ဝါဒျဖန္႔စာေတြ ေရးခဲ့ၾကသူေတြရွိခဲ့သည္။ ထို႔ေၾကာင့္ မစိမ္း ဟု ေယ်ဘူယ် ဆိုခ်င္သည္။
လက္ရွိ ျမင္မိ၊ သံုးသပ္မိတာ တစ္ခုရွိသည္။ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ တိတ္ဆိတ္ဆြံ႕အေနၾကေသာ ၊ ပုန္းကြယ္ေနၾကေသာအႏုပညာရွင္မ်ား အခုမွ အေမစု အေမစု ျဖစ္ေနသည္ကို တစ္ခ်ိဳ႕ မ်က္မုန္းက်ိဳးသည္ဟု ထင္ရသည္။ မႏွစ္ၿမိဳ႕ဟု ထင္ရသည္။ သာမွေပါင္းခ်င္၍ ေခါင္းျပဴ ထြက္လာၾကသည္ဟု ေျပာခ်င္ၾကသည္။ ထိုသို႔ ထင္ပိုင္ခြင့္ရွိသည္။ ဒါကအျမင္ပိုင္းျဖစ္သည္။
သို႔ေသာ္ တိုင္းျပည္၏ က႑အသီသီး၌ လူ႔အသက္ေမြးဝမ္းေက်ာင္းအျဖစ္ က႑စံုအလိုက္ အလုပ္ကိုယ္စီရွိၾကသည္။ တာဝန္ဝတၱရားအသီး သီး ထမ္းေဆာင္ေနၾကသည္ခ်ည္း။ အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားသည္လည္း သူ႔သေဘာအရ ႏိုင္ငံေရး စိတ္မဝင္စားပိုင္ခြင့္ရွိသည္။ မည္သည့္က႑မွ မဆို စိတ္မဝင္စားခြင့္ရွိသည္။
ဒါအျပစ္မဟုတ္။ ႏိုင္ငံေရးကိုယ္၌က အားလံုးစိတ္ဝင္စားရမည္ဟု မဟုတ္။ သို႔ေသာ္ ေဘာလံုးစိတ္မဝင္စားေသာ္လည္း မန္ခ်က္စတာ၌ေမြး သူသည္ မန္ခ်က္စတာအသင္းအား အားေပးပါလိမ့္မည္။ ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲေရး လိုလားသူမ်ားသည္ ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲေရး လုပ္သည့္သူ သို႔မဟုတ္ အဖြဲ႕အစည္းအား အားေပးျခင္းက သဘာဝက်သည္။ ယခုပြင့္လင္းခြင့္ ရလာ ေသာအခါ ပြင့္လင္းျပလာၾကျခင္းသည္ လြန္သည္မဟုတ္။ ႀကိဳဆိုရမည္ဟု ထင္သည္။
အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားအတြက္လည္း မိမိခ်စ္သည့္ပါတီအတြက္ အသည္းၾကားက မဲတစ္တစ္ျပားစီအတြက္ ျပည္သူေက်နပ္ေအာင္ လံႈ႕ေဆာ္ခြင့္ ရသည့္ အတြက္ ဂုဏ္ယူစရာသာျဖစ္သည္။ ထိုအလုပ္သည္လည္း အႏုပညာအလုပ္အျဖစ္ အခေၾကးေငြခံစားရမည္မို႔ အားလံုးေကာင္းရန္သာျဖစ္သည္ဟု ဆိုခ်င္သည္။ဒီေလာက္ေတာ့ လူတိုင္းရွိၾကသည္။ ထိုရွိျခင္းေလးကို ျပတတ္ဖို႔လိုမည္။ အနည္းဆံုး ကိုယ့္အတြက္သာသည့္ အသင္းအားအားေပးရဲရမည္ျဖစ္သည္။
သို႔ေသာ္ ယခင္ စစ္အစိုးရ၏ ဝါဒျဖန္႔ျခင္းႏွင့္ NLD ၏ မဲဆြယ္ပြဲတို႔ အျပတ္အသတ္ ကြာပါသည္။ ျပဒါးတစ္လမ္း သံတစ္လမ္းျဖစ္မည္။ မဲဆြယ္ျခင္းနည္းသရည္းတို႔အား တစ္ခ်ိဳ႔ အထူးအဆန္းသဖြယ္ အံ့ၾသေကာင္း အံ့ၾသႏိုင္ၾကမည္ ျဖစ္ေသာ္လည္း အမ်ားစုကား အံ့ၾသ မည္မဟုတ္။ ဒါမ်ိဳးသည္ ဒီမိုကေရစီစနစ္၏ လြဲဖယ္ေရွာင္သြား၍မရသည့္ လုပ္ရိုးလုပ္စဥ္ျဖစ္သည္။ အေရးလည္းပါသည္။ လုပ္ရန္လည္း လိုအပ္သည့္အရာျဖစ္သည္။
စစ္အစိုးရလက္ထက္ ကလည္း လုပ္ခဲ့ၾကသည္။ သို႔ေသာ္ ၿပိဳင္ဘက္မရွိသည့္ တစ္ခုတည္းေသာအစိုးရအတြက္ လုပ္ေပးရသည့္ တစ္ဖက္ သတ္ အလုပ္မ်ိဳးျဖစ္သည္။ လုပ္ေပးရျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။ အခု ထိုသို႔မဟုတ္။ လက္ရွိအာဏာရ ႀကံ့ခိုင္ေရအဖြဲ႕ သို႔မဟုတ္ ပါတီမ်ားထဲမွ ဝင္ၿပိဳင္မည့္ပါတီမ်ားႏွင့္ ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ရမည္ျဖစ္သည္။ လြတ္လပ္မည္။ ပြင့္လင္းမည္။ အထူးသျဖင့္ စစ္အစိုးရ အေေရခြံလွဲထားသည့္ ႀကံ့ခိုင္ေရး ပါတီႏွင့္ အႀကိတ္အနယ္ၿပိဳင္ျခင္းျဖစ္မည္။ သည့္အတြက္ လုပ္ေပးရသည့္ အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားမွာ တစ္စံုတစ္ရာ အျပစ္ရဖြယ္မရွိပါ။ လူထုမုန္း ခံရဖြယ္လည္း မျမင္ပါ။ လူထုသည္ ေဒၚစုႏွင့္တစ္သားတည္းက်သလို အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားအားလည္း လုထုကိုသို႔ပင္ ျမင္ပါလိမ့္မည္။ ဒါေသ ခ်ာသည္။
သည္သို႔ မဲဆြယ္မႈမ်ိဳးအား အိုဘားမား လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ ဘုရွ္ လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ ကလင္တန္ဇနီးေမာင္ႏွံ လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ တိုနီဘလဲ လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ ေဒးဗစ္ကင္မရြန္း လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ မဟာသီယာ လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ ဂ်ိဳးဆက္အက္ဆရာဒါ လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ နီကိုလာ့ ဆာကိုဇီ လုပ္ခဲ့သည္။ ဘာလူစကိုနီ လုပ္ခဲ႔သည္။ အားလံုးလုပ္ခဲ့ၾကသည္။ ထပ္မံလုပ္ၾကေပဦးမည္။ လြတ္လပ္သည့္ ဒီမိုကေရစီႏိုင္ငံဆိုလ်ွင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ လုပ္သည္၌ ဘာမွားသနည္း။ မမွားပါ။ လုပ္သင့္လုပ္ထိုက္သကဲ့သို႔ လုပ္ရန္လည္းဝန္မေလးသင့္ ဟုထင္သည္။
တစ္ခုသတိခ်ပ္ၾကေစလိုသည္မွာ ဇာနယ္ဇင္းသမားမ်ားႏွင့္ျဖစ္ေစ ၊ ရုပ္ရွင္ႏွင့္အႏုပညာသမားေတြနွင့္ျဖစ္ေစ NLD အေနျဖင့္ဆက္စပ္လုပ္ ကိုင္ျခင္းအား အျပစ္တင္ မေစာရန္ျဖစ္သည္။ ယခုအခင္းအက်င္းသည္ လူထုႏွင့္တသားတည္းက်ရန္ အလြန္ေကာင္းသည့္ သမယျဖစ္သည္။
အျမင္မ်ိဳးစံု ျဖစ္ႏိုင္သည္။ သို႔ေသာ္ ဦးတည္ခ်က္တစ္ခုသာ အာရံုထားသင့္သည္။ ေဘးထြက္ဆိုးက်ိဳးအား ေျပာဆိုပုတ္ခတ္ျခင္းထက္ ထိုဆိုးက်ိဳးအား ဖာေထးျပဳျပင္ရန္ပို၍ လိုအပ္ပါမည္။
အႏုပညာရွင္မ်ားသာမက အသိပညာရွင္၊အတတ္ပညာရွင္မ်ား ႏွင့္ ကြ်မ္းက်င္ရာဆိုင္ရာပညာရွင္မ်ားပါပါဝင္ႏိုင္ခဲ့လ်ွင္ လူထုကိုယ္စားျပဳ မည့္ တိုင္းျပဳျပည္ျပဳ လုပ္ေဆာင္ခ်က္မ်ား ပို၍ျမန္ဆန္လာမည္။ ပြင့္လင္းျခင္း၊ ပူးေပါင္းေဆာင္ရြက္ျခင္းတို႔ ေပါင္းစုလ်ွက္ လွပသည့္ အနာဂတ္အား အုတ္တစ္ခ်ပ္သဲတစ္ပြင့္စီျဖင့္ တည္ေဆာက္ၾကရမည္ျဖစ္သည္။ အေတြးရွင္းလ်ွင္ အလုပ္ရွင္းမည္ျဖစ္သည္။
ဓာတ္ပံု -ဒီမိုဖက္တီး။
Platon/Trunk Archive
By AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Why does change seem so desirable and so exhilarating in our times? Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was fueled by the promise of change. In Burma today there is continuous debate on whether the new government means real change or whether it is no more than the old army dictatorship in new civilian garb. Almost every day I am asked if I believe that measures taken by the new administration should be seen as mere window dressing or as signs of genuine change in the right direction. After 23 years under authoritarian rule, impatience to see and to experience change is understandable. It has been sharpened by events in other parts of the world during 2011.
The political upheavals of the Arab Spring have been of such proportions that fundamental and irreversible changes are expected throughout the Mideast and Arab Africa in 2012, with possible copycat effects elsewhere. Whether such expectations will be fulfilled will depend on many factors, not least the degree of commitment by those who wish to create a brave new future. I’m thinking of commitment here as passion, in the social theorist Max Weber’s sense of passionate dedication to a cause.
Were the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya led to topple seemingly indestructible regimes by such passion, or were they merely moved by what Weber denigrated as “sterile excitement?” It would surely be sophistry to label as sterile an outcry that led to such convulsive results. It might be argued, though, that the emotion fueling the Arab Spring was the kind that burns itself out speedily, after setting off the first sparks of defiance.
If the original impulse needed some help to turn those first sparks into a full-scale conflagration, another more effective catalyst must have been at work. Could that have been power? People power, or IT power or the power of global democratic solidarity or, simply, in the end, military power, either the use of it or the decision to refrain from using it?
Power is by nature latent until a force sets it in motion. What starts up the engines of power, whether they be tanks and fighter jets and nuclear weapons or diverse individuals linked by a shared cause and modern technology? The means to unleash power that could change frontiers or crush men and their aspirations can become active only when an initial force sweeps away irresolution and inhibitions. The power of defiance, too, needs that first impulse to encourage passive individuals to put aside the inaction fostered by decades of fear or by natural human caution.
So then, is it “passion vs. power?” Does it have to be versus? Are passion and power natural opposites, or mutually exclusive in promoting political change, either of the ordinary variety brought about through constitutional processes in established democracies, or of the revolutionary brand that reshapes the destinies of peoples and nations?
There is also the kind of change that defeats easy categorization. The U.S. presidential election of 2008 was certainly not ordinary, but whether the election of Barack Obama should be regarded as a seismic event in the history of the United States or just a political landmark is a matter of opinion. There can, however, be no controversy about the outcome of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa; it changed the political landscape of the nation, and it changed perceptions with regard to race and color the world over.
What prevented the now toppled regimes of Tunisia and Egypt from using all their administrative and military might? What convinced the despots of Libya and Syria to make war on their own people? And what made the anti-government forces of Libya and Syria persist even after it was clear the fight would be prolonged and brutal?
Is there not, behind the iron mask of autocracy, the flesh and blood of human will, just as there is a steely, collective will behind a motley, unarmed crowd determined to exercise its right to cry out its woes and perhaps even to take up arms to assert that right? And is not will — which is, after all, deliberate, controlled purpose — closely joined to passion? It may be joined either as an intense, transitory emotion, which may well be no more than “sterile excitement,” or as a long-term, firmly rooted dedication to principles or a cause — something as broad as freedom or as limited as self-preservation.
As a member of a movement that has been engaged in a long struggle to effect change through nonviolent means, I have learned to value above all other attributes in colleagues and supporters disinterested, active commitment. Such commitment is seldom given to pyrotechnic display, but it is always there, and it provides constant assurance that the essential flame that keeps our cause vibrant will not die out. It is passion, not of the sterile breed, but passion that moves hearts and minds and makes history. It is passion that translates into power. When such passion is brought to bear on public issues, it is a potent instrument for political and social change.
In Burma, again and again, the most active members of our party and other forces committed to the struggle have been placed under detention, their voices silenced, their faces almost forgotten by the public. Again and again they have emerged, arousing the world to their cries. In 2002, after I was released from my second term of house arrest, I toured the country, and the commitment of our supporters translated into large, enthusiastic rallies that made the authorities feel the power of our passion. Quite recently, concern over the fate of our Irrawaddy River united peoples from all walks of life. Our passionate appeal for a reappraisal of the dam project was so powerful that the president announced the suspension of the project for the duration of his term.
Can the process be reversed, can power become passion? Power that effects political change cannot be defined as an isolated, unique brand different from all other powers. Party power, money power, media power, pressure group power and many other powers strongly influence political evolution and revolution. Power as the authority of the ruler(s) backed by the machinery of state might, however, be considered a contrast to passion. The distinction between despotic power and democratically invested power is relevant here.
When do those in authority wish to work for political change? The impulse of those who hold the powers of state is generally toward conservation, not transformation. Only when problems arise, and not always then, do rulers begin to consider the need for change. Intelligent rulers are quick to grasp when change becomes unavoidable. But realizing the need for change is not the same as having the means to make it possible.
In pluralistic societies, government alone cannot bring about change. Many other players are involved. The bipartisan negotiations to push through the U.S. debt deal that did not seem to please anybody demonstrated that the president of the United States does not have sufficient means to effect the change that not only he but many of his countrymen consider necessary.
If presidential power can be considered an impetus toward change, it is one that is easily dissipated by other powers. Commitment, perseverance, persuasion, the ability to win hearts and minds can be counterweights to these opposing powers. Passion can fill in the gaps when power alone is not enough.
It is easier for an authoritarian government untroubled by counteracting powers or passions to act in accordance with its own will. A ruthless despot allowed to proceed unchecked can change not just the political scene but the very psyche of a nation. For a time. Under Stalin’s brutal absolutism, terror seeped into the very bones of citizens and made them unrecognizable to themselves. For a time. Then the despot died, and the country woke from its nightmare. People began to ask what had happened and why. Did power alone transform a whole society? What enabled Stalin to exercise power with such single-minded brutality?
Whether Stalin was fired by dedication to a cause or whether personal ambition motivated him, it could be said the element that initially fueled his ruthless machine was passion, albeit of the worst kind. As his iron rule continued, an all-consuming preoccupation with the preservation of his inviolability, obsession rather than passion, moved him to commit some of the greatest political crimes in history.
Stalin was not alone in establishing his reign of terror. Vast numbers collaborated, and some of those who did so consciously and willingly were fired by passion: as commitment to the political and social changes they believed Stalin would achieve for their country or as dedication to the man himself. Power can generate passion; and power needs passion as its agent.
In all its might, power is less self-sufficient than passion; passion generates its own power. Passion is in itself a kind of power that is by its very nature a kinetic force.
Power, on the other hand, tends naturally toward entrenchment. When power moves in the direction of political change, it usually does so because external forces — from popular uprisings to poll predictions — have become irresistible.
Passion is more effective than power as an impetus for political change. Meaningful political change, however, needs to be sustainable. For that, passion and power must work together as mutually supportive partners.
We all wish for change, but there is no guarantee that change will take place or that it will live up to expectations. There is always an element of risk when we step out into the unknown. The greatest challenge for Burma and the countries of the Arab Spring, as well as all peoples who hope to enjoy the flowers and fruits of their endeavors in 2012, will be to bring wisdom to bear on passion and power, to create a blend of the two that is both effective and wholesome.
Aung San Suu Kyi was born in 1945 in Burma, now called Myanmar. Her father, the nation’s independence hero, was assassinated when she was 2. She left the country as a teenager when her mother was named an ambassador, then returned from Britain in 1988 and became a pro-democracy leader. She won the Nobel Peace Price in 1991, one of 15 years she spent under house arrest.
Credit : NYtimes
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္သည္ လာမည့္ၾကားျဖတ္ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ေကာ့မွဴးမဲဆႏၵနယ္၌ ဝင္ေရာက္အေရြးခ်ယ္ ခံမည္ဟု အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမိုကေရစီ အဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္ (NLD) မွ ဗဟိုအလုပ္မႈေဆာင္တစ္ဦးက ေျပာၾကားသည္။
“ေဒၚစုက တရားဝင္ မေၾကျငာေသးေပမဲ့ ေကာ့မွဴးမွာ ဝင္ၿပိဳင္မယ္ဆိုတာကေတာ့ ေသခ်ာသြားၿပီ” ဟု ၎ကဆိုသည္။
ေကာ့မွဴးၿမိဳ႕နယ္ ျပည္သူ႔လႊတ္ေတာ္တြင္ ဝင္ေရာက္အေရြးခ်ယ္ခံၿပီး အႏိုင္ရသြားေသာ ႀကံ႕ခိုင္ေရးႏွင့္ ဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးေရးပါတီအမတ္ ဦးစိုးတင့္သည္ ေဆာက္လုပ္ေရးဝန္ႀကီးဌာနမွ ဒုဝန္ႀကီးရာထူး တာဝန္ထမ္းေဆာင္ရသည့္အတြက္ ေကာ့မွဴးမဲဆႏၵနယ္သည္ လစ္လပ္ေနရာျဖစ္သြားေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
ႏိုင္ငံေရးအင္အားစုမ်ားထဲတြင္ တခ်ိဳ႕က ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကို လာမည့္ၾကားျဖတ္ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲတြင္ မဝင္သင့္ေသးေၾကာင္း ေျပာဆိုၾက ေသာ္လည္း တခ်ိဳ႕ကမူ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္သည္ လႊတ္ေတာ္ထဲသို႔ သြားေရာက္ရန္ ေနာက္က်ေနၿပီဟု သံုးသပ္ေျပာဆိုလ်က္ရွိသည္။
လစ္လပ္ေနရာတစ္ခုျဖစ္သည့္ မရမ္းကုန္းၿမိဳ႕နယ္တြင္ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအင္အားစုမ်ားက ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ဝင္ေရာက္ အေရြးခ်ယ္ခံႏိုင္သည္ဟု သံုးသပ္ၾကေသာ္လည္း မရမ္းကုန္းၿမိဳ႕နယ္တြင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ လံုးဝဝင္ၿပိဳင္မည္မဟုတ္ေၾကာင္း အထက္ပါပုဂၢိဳလ္က အတည္ျပဳေျပာၾကား လိုက္သည္။
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ဝင္ၿပိဳင္မည့္မဲဆႏၵနယ္တြင္ တိုင္းရင္းသားစည္းလံုးညီညႊတ္ေရးပါတီ(တစည) က လံုးဝဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္မည္ မဟုတ္ ေၾကာင္း တစညပါတီမွ တာဝန္ရွိသူတစ္ဦးက ေျပာၾကားသည္။
၎အျပင္ NLD ပါတီက လစ္လပ္ေနရာ ၄၈ေနရာစလံုးတြင္ ဝင္ေရာက္အေရြးခ်ယ္ခံမည္ျဖစ္သည္အတြက္ အတိုက္အခံပါတီမ်ားက ၾကားျဖတ္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲတြင္ ဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ေရးႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ ျပန္လည္သံုးသပ္ေနၾကေၾကာင္း ႏိုင္ငံေရးအသိုင္းအဝိုင္းမွစံုစမ္းသိရသည္။
“တကယ္ေတာ့ ေဒၚစုအဆင့္က ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဝင္ၿပိဳင္ရမယ့္အဆင့္ေတာ့ မဟုတ္ဘူးဗ်” ဟု NLDမွ ဗဟိုအလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္ ဦးဝင္းထိန္က ေျပာၾကားသည္။
တရားဝင္ေၾကျငာထားေသာ လစ္လပ္ေနရာ ၄၈ေနရာတြင္ ျပည္သူ႔လႊတ္ေတာ္၌ ၄၀ေနရာ၊ အမ်ိဳးသားလႊတ္ေတာ္၌ ၆ေနရာႏွင့္ တိုင္းေဒသႀကီး လႊတ္ေတာ္တြင္ ၂ေနရာ ျဖစ္သည္။
NLD ပါတီသည္ လာမည့္သတင္းအပတ္အတြင္း ပါတီမွတ္ပံုတင္ခြင့္ရမည္ ျဖစ္သည့္အတြက္ လစ္လပ္မဲဆႏၵနယ္မ်ားတြင္ ေအာင္ႏိုင္ေရး အဖြဲ႕မ်ား ဖြဲ႕စည္းေတာ့မည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း၊ လစ္လပ္ေနရာမဟုတ္သည့္ ၿမိဳ႕နယ္မ်ားတြင္မူ ဝန္းရံေရးအဖြဲ႕မ်ားကို ဖြဲ႕စည္းသြားမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းသိရသည္။
Credit here
The region of South East Asia is almost entirely Buddhist. To account for Islam in Burma is to account for Islam in a Buddhist environment. In our contemporary period, surviving as a Muslim in the Burmese Buddhist environment has become very challenging. The biggest challenge before the Muslim leadership seems to be to learn to fight the common local and international stereotypes propagated against Muslims.
A study on the themes of Buddhist-Muslim dynamics and the uses and abuses of religious themes in contemporary Burmese politics is likely to shed some useful light on this important issue. This paper raises the question that in the face of these challenges whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep Muslim identity or it will keep it in tandem with the Burmese in this very unique societal context. Other emerging
questions that as a minority religious ethnic group whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma or following the fatalist view remains isolated within themselves. In addition, one can also ask whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies but also develop local roots that are both appropriate and contextual or in the face of challenges just abandon their identity.
Introduction
Islam as a world religion exposed itself to all over the world. It is seen to survive in Christian, Jewish, Hindu and here in Burma’s Buddhist environment. “I saw some Muslims kneel down and pay respect to the
Buddhist monks,” said Pan Cha, a Burmese Sikh businessman who arrived at the Thai-Burmese border in early October after being involved in the September demonstrations. (1) Buddhism is world religion. Majority of its followers populate in Asian countries.
China —102 000 000
Japan —8 965 000
Thailand —55 480 000
Vietnam —49 690 000
Myanmar —41 610 000
Sri Lanka —12 540 000
South Korea —10 920 000
Taiwan —9 150 000
Cambodia —9 130 000
India —7 000
Source: http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/buddhism-statistics.html
Section 1: Burmese Muslims
Muslims and Buddhists in Burma lived in relative peace until the beginning of Ne Win’s military rule in 1962. Previous to this there were powerful Muslim advisors worked with Burmese kings and in the recent past there were government Ministers in Aung San’s and also in the U Nu’s cabinet.
(2) When did Muslims begin settling in Burma? How did Islam survive in Burma? What were the causes of its contemporary letdown? It is estimated that Muslims began to arrive in Burma from the 8th century
A.D. (3) Their ancestors arrived to Burma from almost every nationality of the world. The current population of Myanmar Muslims are the descendants of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Moors, Indian-Muslims, Pathans,
Bengalis, Chinese Muslims and Malays who settled and intermarried with local Burmese (4) From “1255-1286, in the first Sino Burman war, Kublaikhan’s Muslim Tatars attacked and occupied up to Nga Saung Chan.
Mongols under Kublai Khan invaded the Pagan Kingdom. During this first Sino Burman war in 1283, Colonel Nasruddin’s Turks occupied up to Bamaw. (Kaungsin) (5) As a result of the various historical forces present in Burma, there developed a Muslim religious ethnic minority which is spread
all around Burma.
The various groups of Myanmar Muslims are:
(1) Panthay (Burmese Chinese Muslims),
(2) The Indian-descended Muslims live mainly in Rangoon.
(3) Muslims of Malay ancestry in Kawthaung, people of Malay ancestry
are locally called Pashu.
(4) Rohingya population is mostly concentrated in five northern townships of Arakanstate: Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Akyab, Sandway, Tongo, Shokepro, Rashong Island and Kyauktaw. (5)
Despite their history of long settlement and now being indigenous to the land, Muslims are still considered as “foreigners” in Burma. “ . . . violence and discrimination against Burma’s Muslim minority has been commonplace over the last four decades. Islamic leaders in Rangoon believe that attitudes among the predominantly Buddhist Burmese population began to change from tolerance to persecution after General Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962. Since then, Muslims have been deliberately and systematically
excluded from official positions in the government and the army.” (6) “Over the decades, many anti-Muslim pamphlets have circulated in Burma claiming that the Muslim community wants to establish supremacy through intermarriage. One of these, Myo Pyauk Hmar Soe Kyauk Hla Tai (or The Fear of Losing One’s Race) was widely distributed in 2001, often by monks, and many Muslims feel that this exacerbated the anti-Islam feelings that had been additionally provoked by the destruction in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. (7)
One of the major Burmese Muslim groups called the “Rohingyas” lately was even declared by the military government as the noncitizens of Burma. (8) Surprisingly, Muslims who only comprise from 5-10% of the population are identified as the #1 enemy of the Burmese people. Questions often asked “why?” Are Muslims the “easy targets?” (9)Are they themselves intolerant to the Burmese culture? It is not easy to answer these questions.
Causes of anti-Muslim xenophobia and genocide
The present research found most observers blame the military for spreading anti-Muslim xenophobia. There are also the others that blame Burma’s Theravada Buddhism’s political dimension, some others identify the
anti-Muslim Hindu fundamentalist influence from India for the problem, while still others blame the “militant Islam” for Muslim’s lack of respect to the Burmese Buddhist environment. In dealing with these problems this paper also raises the question, what Muslims should do to overcome these challenges; whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep it in tandem with the Burmese ethnic dynamics or keep their strong and pure Muslim identity in this very unique and hostile societal context. Other emerging questions asked that as a minority whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma. In other words, whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies such as educating themselves in Burmese, and at the same time encourage higher education as the strategies of survival.
Problems and the Prospects
The biggest problem Muslims face today is xenophobia. Research shows that it comes originally from the common reactionary stereotypes spread by Western missionaries and the early Hindu Mohashoba fundamentalist campaign in Burma against Muslims during the early part of the 20th century.
Historically speaking, during the British period, we see the penetration of Indian Hindu influence in Burma. Such reactionary alliances launched from India by the fundamentalist Hindus from India for a Hindu-Buddhist alliance against Muslims resulting “from mid 1930s there appeared to be a succinct
polarization between Buddhists and Muslims of Burma, . . . U Ottama, the leading Pongyi activist and friend of India who led the entire Pongyi movement during 1920s, became twice the President of Hindu Mahasabha in 1930s.” Swapna Bhattacharya says, “We should however restrain ourselves to stamp out this revolutionary monk as orthodox and anti-Muslim. He demanded a “closer cooperation between Hindus and Buddhists.” U Ottama was from Arakan.”(10) The stereotype that Islam was instrumental in the destruction of Buddhism in India and in Afghanistan and now a threat to Burma is a major problem Muslims face today. In the face of this, should Muslims keep low profile? Historically speaking, for an ethnic group living in a hostile environment, keeping inactive has always proven to be less effective.
Then should Muslim leadership educate Burmese people of the historical fact that the stereotypes were only myths. Contrary to the myth, one would find that after Asoka, (the Buddhist emperor’s death), it was the rise of Hindu fundamentalism that led to the destruction and massacre of Buddhists in India and in Afghanistan. As a result of this historic event, Indian Buddhists continued to take shelter in Sri Lanka, in China and in South East Asia. (11) .
A study on the themes of Buddhist-Muslim dynamics and the uses and abuses of religious themes in contemporary Burmese politics is likely to shed some useful light on this important issue. This paper raises the question that in the face of these challenges whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep Muslim identity or it will keep it in tandem with the Burmese in this very unique societal context. Other emerging
questions that as a minority religious ethnic group whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma or following the fatalist view remains isolated within themselves. In addition, one can also ask whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies but also develop local roots that are both appropriate and contextual or in the face of challenges just abandon their identity.
Introduction
Islam as a world religion exposed itself to all over the world. It is seen to survive in Christian, Jewish, Hindu and here in Burma’s Buddhist environment. “I saw some Muslims kneel down and pay respect to the
Buddhist monks,” said Pan Cha, a Burmese Sikh businessman who arrived at the Thai-Burmese border in early October after being involved in the September demonstrations. (1) Buddhism is world religion. Majority of its followers populate in Asian countries.
China —102 000 000
Japan —8 965 000
Thailand —55 480 000
Vietnam —49 690 000
Myanmar —41 610 000
Sri Lanka —12 540 000
South Korea —10 920 000
Taiwan —9 150 000
Cambodia —9 130 000
India —7 000
Source: http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/buddhism-statistics.html
Section 1: Burmese Muslims
Muslims and Buddhists in Burma lived in relative peace until the beginning of Ne Win’s military rule in 1962. Previous to this there were powerful Muslim advisors worked with Burmese kings and in the recent past there were government Ministers in Aung San’s and also in the U Nu’s cabinet.
(2) When did Muslims begin settling in Burma? How did Islam survive in Burma? What were the causes of its contemporary letdown? It is estimated that Muslims began to arrive in Burma from the 8th century
A.D. (3) Their ancestors arrived to Burma from almost every nationality of the world. The current population of Myanmar Muslims are the descendants of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Moors, Indian-Muslims, Pathans,
Bengalis, Chinese Muslims and Malays who settled and intermarried with local Burmese (4) From “1255-1286, in the first Sino Burman war, Kublaikhan’s Muslim Tatars attacked and occupied up to Nga Saung Chan.
Mongols under Kublai Khan invaded the Pagan Kingdom. During this first Sino Burman war in 1283, Colonel Nasruddin’s Turks occupied up to Bamaw. (Kaungsin) (5) As a result of the various historical forces present in Burma, there developed a Muslim religious ethnic minority which is spread
all around Burma.
The various groups of Myanmar Muslims are:
(1) Panthay (Burmese Chinese Muslims),
(2) The Indian-descended Muslims live mainly in Rangoon.
(3) Muslims of Malay ancestry in Kawthaung, people of Malay ancestry
are locally called Pashu.
(4) Rohingya population is mostly concentrated in five northern townships of Arakanstate: Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Akyab, Sandway, Tongo, Shokepro, Rashong Island and Kyauktaw. (5)
Despite their history of long settlement and now being indigenous to the land, Muslims are still considered as “foreigners” in Burma. “ . . . violence and discrimination against Burma’s Muslim minority has been commonplace over the last four decades. Islamic leaders in Rangoon believe that attitudes among the predominantly Buddhist Burmese population began to change from tolerance to persecution after General Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962. Since then, Muslims have been deliberately and systematically
excluded from official positions in the government and the army.” (6) “Over the decades, many anti-Muslim pamphlets have circulated in Burma claiming that the Muslim community wants to establish supremacy through intermarriage. One of these, Myo Pyauk Hmar Soe Kyauk Hla Tai (or The Fear of Losing One’s Race) was widely distributed in 2001, often by monks, and many Muslims feel that this exacerbated the anti-Islam feelings that had been additionally provoked by the destruction in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. (7)
One of the major Burmese Muslim groups called the “Rohingyas” lately was even declared by the military government as the noncitizens of Burma. (8) Surprisingly, Muslims who only comprise from 5-10% of the population are identified as the #1 enemy of the Burmese people. Questions often asked “why?” Are Muslims the “easy targets?” (9)Are they themselves intolerant to the Burmese culture? It is not easy to answer these questions.
Causes of anti-Muslim xenophobia and genocide
The present research found most observers blame the military for spreading anti-Muslim xenophobia. There are also the others that blame Burma’s Theravada Buddhism’s political dimension, some others identify the
anti-Muslim Hindu fundamentalist influence from India for the problem, while still others blame the “militant Islam” for Muslim’s lack of respect to the Burmese Buddhist environment. In dealing with these problems this paper also raises the question, what Muslims should do to overcome these challenges; whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep it in tandem with the Burmese ethnic dynamics or keep their strong and pure Muslim identity in this very unique and hostile societal context. Other emerging questions asked that as a minority whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma. In other words, whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies such as educating themselves in Burmese, and at the same time encourage higher education as the strategies of survival.
Problems and the Prospects
The biggest problem Muslims face today is xenophobia. Research shows that it comes originally from the common reactionary stereotypes spread by Western missionaries and the early Hindu Mohashoba fundamentalist campaign in Burma against Muslims during the early part of the 20th century.
Historically speaking, during the British period, we see the penetration of Indian Hindu influence in Burma. Such reactionary alliances launched from India by the fundamentalist Hindus from India for a Hindu-Buddhist alliance against Muslims resulting “from mid 1930s there appeared to be a succinct
polarization between Buddhists and Muslims of Burma, . . . U Ottama, the leading Pongyi activist and friend of India who led the entire Pongyi movement during 1920s, became twice the President of Hindu Mahasabha in 1930s.” Swapna Bhattacharya says, “We should however restrain ourselves to stamp out this revolutionary monk as orthodox and anti-Muslim. He demanded a “closer cooperation between Hindus and Buddhists.” U Ottama was from Arakan.”(10) The stereotype that Islam was instrumental in the destruction of Buddhism in India and in Afghanistan and now a threat to Burma is a major problem Muslims face today. In the face of this, should Muslims keep low profile? Historically speaking, for an ethnic group living in a hostile environment, keeping inactive has always proven to be less effective.
Then should Muslim leadership educate Burmese people of the historical fact that the stereotypes were only myths. Contrary to the myth, one would find that after Asoka, (the Buddhist emperor’s death), it was the rise of Hindu fundamentalism that led to the destruction and massacre of Buddhists in India and in Afghanistan. As a result of this historic event, Indian Buddhists continued to take shelter in Sri Lanka, in China and in South East Asia. (11) .
Surprisingly, the xenophobic mentality has reached to a new height during the colonial period that “Muslims were stereotyped in the society as ‘cattle killers’
(referring to the cattle sacrifice festival of Eid Al Adha in Islam). The generic racist slur of ‘kala’ (black) used against them as the perceived “foreigners” has also negative connotations when referring to Burmese Muslims.(12)
During U Nu’s time Hindu fundamentalist influence in Burma became even greater. “U Nu as the devoted Buddhist was pressured by the wealthy and influential Hindi merchants and the former ordered the prohibition of slaughtering the cattle. Although he relaxed that during the Kurbani Edd (Hariraya Haji), Muslims had to apply the permits for each cattle and strictly follow under police supervision.”(13)
Common themes and strategies for Buddhist-Muslim understanding Muslims in Burma live in Buddhist environment. Despite the rise of a great deal of propaganda and hatred, Muslims should find ways to bridge friendship with their fellow Buddhist citizens. It seems that there is a great deal of resources common among the Buddhists and Muslims. Therefore, the leadership should find Islam’s especially Sufi Islam’s common themes of unity with Buddhism and find ways to interfaith dialogue and involve in local community works and disapprove the present day extremist Muslims strategy of self destruction for the Burmese Muslims.
(1) Dialogue:
This is obligatory to the faithful Muslims because the Quran says, “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise (each other).” (Qur’an, 49:13) It is true,” . . . dialogue with the other requires patience, flexibility and open-mindedness which were clearly revealed in Prophet Muhammad’s dialogue with others even if they were idolaters and this is why Allah praises him,”(14) The Quran says,
(referring to the cattle sacrifice festival of Eid Al Adha in Islam). The generic racist slur of ‘kala’ (black) used against them as the perceived “foreigners” has also negative connotations when referring to Burmese Muslims.(12)
During U Nu’s time Hindu fundamentalist influence in Burma became even greater. “U Nu as the devoted Buddhist was pressured by the wealthy and influential Hindi merchants and the former ordered the prohibition of slaughtering the cattle. Although he relaxed that during the Kurbani Edd (Hariraya Haji), Muslims had to apply the permits for each cattle and strictly follow under police supervision.”(13)
Common themes and strategies for Buddhist-Muslim understanding Muslims in Burma live in Buddhist environment. Despite the rise of a great deal of propaganda and hatred, Muslims should find ways to bridge friendship with their fellow Buddhist citizens. It seems that there is a great deal of resources common among the Buddhists and Muslims. Therefore, the leadership should find Islam’s especially Sufi Islam’s common themes of unity with Buddhism and find ways to interfaith dialogue and involve in local community works and disapprove the present day extremist Muslims strategy of self destruction for the Burmese Muslims.
(1) Dialogue:
This is obligatory to the faithful Muslims because the Quran says, “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise (each other).” (Qur’an, 49:13) It is true,” . . . dialogue with the other requires patience, flexibility and open-mindedness which were clearly revealed in Prophet Muhammad’s dialogue with others even if they were idolaters and this is why Allah praises him,”(14) The Quran says,
“It is part of the Mercy of Allah that you deal gently with them. Were you severe or harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you: so pass over (their faults), . . . ; and consult them in affairs (of moment) . . .”
(Qur’an, 3:159)
(2) Education: It has proven over and again that education and research helps. Muslim leadership should urge its people to educate and inform themselves in both Islam and Buddhist themes and not remain isolated within its madrassa education and within its own community.
(3) Finding similarities: Muslims believe that Allah had sent more than 124,000 prophets to our world. It is possible that the various religions are just the various forms of a common faith with different approaches. “And certainly, We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36](12) It is true, “the word Muhammad is also spelt as ‘Mahamet’ or ‘Mahomet’ and in various other ways in different languages. The word ‘Maho’ or ‘Maha’ in Pali and Sanskrit mean Great and Illustrious and ‘Metta’ means mercy. Therefore ‘Mahomet’ means ‘Great Mercy’.Here are some other links regarding Gautama Buddha’s Prophecy about Muhammad being another Buddha (Maitreya Buddha)”(15) According to Buddhism, “Great compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world.” “ . . . according to Islamic doctrine, there is no problem in establishing peaceful relations with Buddhists. It cited three reasons for this. First, certain modern Islamic scholars have asserted that the Prophet Dh’ul Kifl—the “man from Kifl”—mentioned twice in the Qur’an, refers to the Buddha, with Kifl being the Arabic rendering of the name of Buddha’s native kingdom, Kapilavastu. The Qur’an stated that the followers of Dh’ul Kifl are righteous people. Secondly, al-Biruni and Sehristan, two eleventh century Islamic scholars who visited India and wrote about its religions, called Buddha a “Prophet.” Thirdly, Kashmiri Muslims who settled in Tibet from the seventeenth century married Tibetan Buddhist women within the context of Islamic law. His Holiness Dalai Lama opened the dialogue by explaining that if both Buddhists and Muslims remain flexible in their thinking, fruitful and open dialogue is possible. (16)
Julian Ruth notes “His Holiness Ashin Adissawuntha, the Abbot or Head of Buddhist Monastry of Narathiwa, Thailand visited the Jame Mosque of Narathiwa on last Friday, and meet with Muslim Religious teachers and said that” Buddhists & Muslims have to work hand in hand for PEACE in the world. His Holiness said both Buddhism & Islam are based on Logic and
Reason . . . Lord Buddha said . . . you have to investigate about it and it you find truth in it, than believe it. The Prophet Muhammed also encouraged his followers not to follow blind doctrines but reason, ponder and think and believe. The great Lord Buddha treated human beings as same without any discrimination or race, colour or nationalities and the Prophet Muhammed did the same. The last sermon of Prophet Muhammed can be said “the fist Human right declearation in the histroy of the world”.(17) The similarities between Islam and Buddhism are outstandingly similar.
Buddha’s teaching emphasized on self-enlightenment and self-liberalization similar to Islam’s jihadi Akber, the greater Jihad. Sufi meditation tradition, emphasize the practice of love, compassion and service. Gautama the Buddha and Prophet Mohammed never claimed to be God. Both were rebels and fought against discrimination by the upper class. Both wanted suffering to end but through different methods. The other similarities are that ethics is given priority; compassion is one of most important virtues in both religions. Buddha told the Brahmins and householders of a certain village as follows: “A lay-follower reflects thus: How can I inflict upon others what is unpleasant to me?’ On account of that reflection, he does not do any evil to others, and he also does not cause others to do so” (//Samyutta// 55,7).(18) The Quran says: “And certainly We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36] (4) Survival of the Fittest: While the xenophobic military is to blame for the suffering of ethnic groups including the Muslims, it is also important that Muslims by religion are obliged to know and learn to live in their environment, in this case in the Buddhist environment. Islam says, “read,” “seek knowledge,”“come and learn; you can be what you want to be.” From the above it seems that the old maxim “knowledge is power,” still holds truth for the Muslims of Burma. The main idea should be to learn about “the other’s beliefs and cultures.” Increasing contact and cooperation between Buddhists and Muslims is a necessary condition. In the interfaith dialogue, they should encourage themes that can lead to more understanding between religious groups and avoid tendency toward fundamentalist expressions.
After all, both Muslims and Buddhists are Burmese people and only dialogue can bring peaceful existence. (5) To get rid of the stigma that Muslims are a “dangerous people,” Muslims have to develop their popular news media among the Burmese people and employ effective intellectuals to help them in this democratic and humanistic endeavor.
Struggle for Democracy and Law and Order Suffice to say, the failure of the Muslim community in the South East Asian region in the similar Buddhist environment, such as in Thailand, the Thai Muslims and in Cambodia, the Cham Muslims suffered; the latter in a Buddhist environment faced genocide of near extinction. In Burma, mosques had been attacked by Buddhist monks, there has been genocide going on in Arakan against Rohingya Muslims.(19) Burmese people irrespective of religions “should focus on fighting poverty, diseases, unemployment and bloodshed on its soil and not on destroying relics, which are a living lesson of history.” The research findings will recommend for Muslims of South East Asia to learn to be both competitive, loyal, and at the same time effective. This is more important in a military ruled hostile environment in Burma. Again, the focus should be on education, a regularly held bi-yearly global conference on Muslims of Burma and being informed of both an inward-looking strong tradition based Muslim identity as well as to be a strong Burmese in the outward-looking identity could be one of the most useful survival strategies for Burma’s Muslims and its emerging leadership to adapt Muslims are Burmese People .It is not easy to be a Muslim in Burma despite the fact that “most Muslims are indistinguishable in appearance and behavior from the country’s Buddhists population: they dress the same, wear longyis, speak Burmese, and understand Burmese culture and history.”(20) However, as a result of their common suffering, the Muslim minority of Burma historically has become an ethnic group. In this never ending struggle, it seems that only in a democratic Burma Muslim can have their future and Muslims should fight and utilize every democratic means to promote their survival strategies of peaceful living in Burma. Muslims of Burma should know that their ability to adapt and survive in this Theravada Buddhist environment as the fittest will decide their fate either of survival or extinction.
Section 2:
Rohingya Nation: Contemporary Problems and Making Certain of the Uncertain Future Rohingya people comprise the biggest block of Burmese Muslims. Historically speaking, Rohingya people have been driven out of Arakan in large numbers starting from A.D.1784, 1942, 1978, and 1992. But the worst one is taking place now. In the words of FIDH International Federation of Human Rights: The . . . exodus is a deep, sustained trickle of low visibility. The Rohingyas progressively leave Burma in small groups, families or individuals . . . . Little by little, the population is being forced to leave Arakan because of a deliberate policy of cleansing.” Today over a million people, approximately 200,000 live in Bangladesh, 20,000 in Malaysia and about 700,000 in different Arab countries and smaller numbers in Western countries and in Japan. There are still another 1 and a half million Rohingyas live in Arakan under serious hardship and repression. Burma continues to have anti-Rohingya xenophobic military government. The scenario doesn’t look good. From the times of Sindhi Khan who conquered Arakan, until the time of U Nu Rohingyas lived as a prosperous community in Arakan But today, Rohingyas are at their lowest existence. They are now identified as a stateless people. Rohingyas lost almost everything. But until now what was not lost was the identity—“Rohingya.” Are they presently losing it? Yes, in Bangladesh, it has been a historic trend that Rohingya people to escape repression in Arakan cross the Naff River and try to amalgamate with the Chittagonian people of Southern Chittagong. To escape from the continued oppression, this has been a historic trend by the suffering Rohingya people.
This continued practice of crossing the border to Bangladesh for shelter helped neither them as individuals nor their community to return to their ancestral homes later on to make claims on their properties because Rohingyas once left Arakan never returned back again to Arakan. The few Rohingya returnees to Arakan were almost always identified as Chittagonians and invariably put in jail as foreigners. While in Bangladesh, out of a fear that if they identify themselves as the Rohingyas, they would lose their earned privileges; they preferred to abandon their Rohingya identity. This is not a healthy and creative thing for the Rohingya survival. In their exiles what is needed is that they are needed to keep up their identity alive.
It is my understanding is that Southern Chittagong is almost all inhabited by the Rohingya people. Historically speaking, beginning from 1784 and 1942 and in the later time influxes, helped to the development of about two thirds of the people of Cox’s Bazar district. These were the original Rohingyas of Arakan. In 2007, I met M.A. Habibullah, the famous author of the book, Rohingya Jatir Etihas, who kindly travelled from Cox’s Bazar to meet me in Chittagong city, and I had the privilege to meet him. He said to me that his forefathers were Rohingyas that escaped the 1942 genocide. To strengthen the Rohingya future, Rohingyas like the Rakhines of Southern Chittagong, the latter are already citizens of Bangladesh should do something about Bangladeshi Rohingya identity. This has to be done by the Rohingya leadership as a thought-out plan with Bangladeshi Rohingya sympathesizers to secure Rohingya rights in Bangladesh. The point is if the stranded Biharis can have their rights to be the citizens of Bangladesh, why not the Rohingyas. In addition to the above, there is a large group of up to 700,000 Rohingyas in the Middle East, most live there as Bangladeshis. This anonymous nature of the Rohingya existence has to be removed and Rohingyas has to identify themselves as the members of the Rohingya nation. With this change, they will enjoy more freedom and recognition in Arakan especially in abroad.
It is evident in the Rohingyas in outside Arakan that those who identify themselves as Rohingyas get more privileges. I am almost certain that the identity of a Rohingy nation and its recognition by Arab/ Muslim nations will give the Rohingyas in the Middle East and elsewhere more advantages. Advocate Nurul Islam (U.K.) and U Mohiuddin of New York and the other capable leadership who have contacts with Arab Organizations should work in this direction. To me, Rohingyas lost their country but they still have their national identity, the Rohingya nation. There are complains of Fascist and fundamentalist superficial elements in the leadership. If it is true and Rohingyas continue to lose this due to the weakness in their leadership, like in the past Rohingyas will risk losing everything. It seems to me that to the Rohingya people, the identity Rohingya nation is their only survival design. If there is any hope of returning to Arakan, the identity Rohingya nation as a survival mechanism can only help them to return to their ancestral homeland or at least in future will help them to see the unfolding of a much better future than what is presently now for the Rohingya people that are scattered around the globe. The spirit of Rohingya nation has to be kept alive not through the blame game and reiterating the hopelessness but through involving young leadership with the experienced ones and through initiating creative workshops, and yearly conferences. This should be done by the leadership both inside Arakan and in abroad. Once initiated this continued intellectual process will slowly undermine division in favor of consensus among the people of the Rohingya nation.
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.bmnetwork.org/bmc/index.php?option=com_content&task= view&id=132&Itemid=2
(2) Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(3) Ibid
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid
(6) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper,
July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(8) About the Rohingyas, Human Rights Watch/Asia, “Burmese Refugees in
Bangladesh: Still No Durable Solution,” May 2000.
(9) ‘Easy Targets: the persecution of Muslims in Burma,’ Karen Human Rights Group, May 2002; Muslim Quarter in the heart of Maungdaw town ordered to vacate, Rohingya Times, July 16, 2003.
(10) Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti), Islam in Arakan: An interpretation from the Indian perspective: History and the Present. 2006.
(11) Why did Buddhism disappear from South Asia? Brahmin atrocities that destroyed Buddhism in the Subcontinent, Posted on February 3, 2008 by Moin Ansari http://rupeenews.com/2008/02/03/why-did-buddhismdisappear- from-the-south-asian-subcontinent-summary-of-brahmin-atrocitiesthat- destroyed-buddhism-in-the-subcontinent/; I M A G E S A S I A,
PART 1: REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt; Abid Bahar,
Tagore’s Paradigm Exposed in “Dalia” News from Bangladesh, 2008
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidDate=2008-06-03&hidType=HIG hidRecord=0000000000000000202967 ;
http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_ buddhist_dialogue.html;Michael Young says “Afghanistan has been a Muslim country for only a slightly shorter period than Egypt. The Taleban claim that the age-old Buddhist monuments are “an insult to Islam”. Yet until now no regime in the country’s well over a thousand years of Muslim rule has sought to damage or destroy Afghanistan’s priceless, pre-Islamic cultural heritage.” “When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (raa) conquered Jerusalem, he refused the opportunity to offer salat within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for fear that some ignorant Muslims after him might claim the church and convert it into a mosque because he had once prayed there. He left the church with its icons and works of Christian religious art intact. Michael Young, The Latter-Day Kharijites of Kabul March 3, 2001;
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-of-antimuslim- riots-in-bagopegu/
(12) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma; REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt
(13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Muslim_Congress.
(14) Shahid Khan mail2shahid@gmail.com, mail2shahid@gmail.com, June 30, 2008”
(15) Buddhist Muslim Unity Association, Was Prophet Muhammad a Buddha? Edited from the book, MUHAMMAD IN PARSI, HINDOO AND BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES by A.H.Vidyarthi & U.Ali. Common virtues of Buddhism and Islam
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/common-virtues-ofbuddhism-
and-islam/
(16) http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_buddhist_dialogue. html; Link: Dalai Lama http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/ islamic_buddhist_dialogue.html
(17) Julian Ruth, Buddhists and Muslims work together for the PEACE in World Monday, May 8, 2006 11:58:56 AM
(18) http://biblia.com/theology/buddhism7.htm
(19) Abid Bahar, “Xenophobic Burmese Literary Works—a Problem of Democratic Development in Burma.” http://www.rohingya.org/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&id=182&Itemid=70 Chapter 2 of Abid Bahar’s book Burma’s Missing Dots-the Emerging face of Genocide in Burma, 2008.
(20) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm Also see Anti-Muslim picture of Monks destroying Mosques in Bago/Pegu in 1997 «http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-ofanti- muslim-riots-in-bagopegu/
(Adapted from Abid Bahar's Burma's Missing Dots, Xlibris, 2010)
(Qur’an, 3:159)
(2) Education: It has proven over and again that education and research helps. Muslim leadership should urge its people to educate and inform themselves in both Islam and Buddhist themes and not remain isolated within its madrassa education and within its own community.
(3) Finding similarities: Muslims believe that Allah had sent more than 124,000 prophets to our world. It is possible that the various religions are just the various forms of a common faith with different approaches. “And certainly, We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36](12) It is true, “the word Muhammad is also spelt as ‘Mahamet’ or ‘Mahomet’ and in various other ways in different languages. The word ‘Maho’ or ‘Maha’ in Pali and Sanskrit mean Great and Illustrious and ‘Metta’ means mercy. Therefore ‘Mahomet’ means ‘Great Mercy’.Here are some other links regarding Gautama Buddha’s Prophecy about Muhammad being another Buddha (Maitreya Buddha)”(15) According to Buddhism, “Great compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world.” “ . . . according to Islamic doctrine, there is no problem in establishing peaceful relations with Buddhists. It cited three reasons for this. First, certain modern Islamic scholars have asserted that the Prophet Dh’ul Kifl—the “man from Kifl”—mentioned twice in the Qur’an, refers to the Buddha, with Kifl being the Arabic rendering of the name of Buddha’s native kingdom, Kapilavastu. The Qur’an stated that the followers of Dh’ul Kifl are righteous people. Secondly, al-Biruni and Sehristan, two eleventh century Islamic scholars who visited India and wrote about its religions, called Buddha a “Prophet.” Thirdly, Kashmiri Muslims who settled in Tibet from the seventeenth century married Tibetan Buddhist women within the context of Islamic law. His Holiness Dalai Lama opened the dialogue by explaining that if both Buddhists and Muslims remain flexible in their thinking, fruitful and open dialogue is possible. (16)
Julian Ruth notes “His Holiness Ashin Adissawuntha, the Abbot or Head of Buddhist Monastry of Narathiwa, Thailand visited the Jame Mosque of Narathiwa on last Friday, and meet with Muslim Religious teachers and said that” Buddhists & Muslims have to work hand in hand for PEACE in the world. His Holiness said both Buddhism & Islam are based on Logic and
Reason . . . Lord Buddha said . . . you have to investigate about it and it you find truth in it, than believe it. The Prophet Muhammed also encouraged his followers not to follow blind doctrines but reason, ponder and think and believe. The great Lord Buddha treated human beings as same without any discrimination or race, colour or nationalities and the Prophet Muhammed did the same. The last sermon of Prophet Muhammed can be said “the fist Human right declearation in the histroy of the world”.(17) The similarities between Islam and Buddhism are outstandingly similar.
Buddha’s teaching emphasized on self-enlightenment and self-liberalization similar to Islam’s jihadi Akber, the greater Jihad. Sufi meditation tradition, emphasize the practice of love, compassion and service. Gautama the Buddha and Prophet Mohammed never claimed to be God. Both were rebels and fought against discrimination by the upper class. Both wanted suffering to end but through different methods. The other similarities are that ethics is given priority; compassion is one of most important virtues in both religions. Buddha told the Brahmins and householders of a certain village as follows: “A lay-follower reflects thus: How can I inflict upon others what is unpleasant to me?’ On account of that reflection, he does not do any evil to others, and he also does not cause others to do so” (//Samyutta// 55,7).(18) The Quran says: “And certainly We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36] (4) Survival of the Fittest: While the xenophobic military is to blame for the suffering of ethnic groups including the Muslims, it is also important that Muslims by religion are obliged to know and learn to live in their environment, in this case in the Buddhist environment. Islam says, “read,” “seek knowledge,”“come and learn; you can be what you want to be.” From the above it seems that the old maxim “knowledge is power,” still holds truth for the Muslims of Burma. The main idea should be to learn about “the other’s beliefs and cultures.” Increasing contact and cooperation between Buddhists and Muslims is a necessary condition. In the interfaith dialogue, they should encourage themes that can lead to more understanding between religious groups and avoid tendency toward fundamentalist expressions.
After all, both Muslims and Buddhists are Burmese people and only dialogue can bring peaceful existence. (5) To get rid of the stigma that Muslims are a “dangerous people,” Muslims have to develop their popular news media among the Burmese people and employ effective intellectuals to help them in this democratic and humanistic endeavor.
Struggle for Democracy and Law and Order Suffice to say, the failure of the Muslim community in the South East Asian region in the similar Buddhist environment, such as in Thailand, the Thai Muslims and in Cambodia, the Cham Muslims suffered; the latter in a Buddhist environment faced genocide of near extinction. In Burma, mosques had been attacked by Buddhist monks, there has been genocide going on in Arakan against Rohingya Muslims.(19) Burmese people irrespective of religions “should focus on fighting poverty, diseases, unemployment and bloodshed on its soil and not on destroying relics, which are a living lesson of history.” The research findings will recommend for Muslims of South East Asia to learn to be both competitive, loyal, and at the same time effective. This is more important in a military ruled hostile environment in Burma. Again, the focus should be on education, a regularly held bi-yearly global conference on Muslims of Burma and being informed of both an inward-looking strong tradition based Muslim identity as well as to be a strong Burmese in the outward-looking identity could be one of the most useful survival strategies for Burma’s Muslims and its emerging leadership to adapt Muslims are Burmese People .It is not easy to be a Muslim in Burma despite the fact that “most Muslims are indistinguishable in appearance and behavior from the country’s Buddhists population: they dress the same, wear longyis, speak Burmese, and understand Burmese culture and history.”(20) However, as a result of their common suffering, the Muslim minority of Burma historically has become an ethnic group. In this never ending struggle, it seems that only in a democratic Burma Muslim can have their future and Muslims should fight and utilize every democratic means to promote their survival strategies of peaceful living in Burma. Muslims of Burma should know that their ability to adapt and survive in this Theravada Buddhist environment as the fittest will decide their fate either of survival or extinction.
Section 2:
Rohingya Nation: Contemporary Problems and Making Certain of the Uncertain Future Rohingya people comprise the biggest block of Burmese Muslims. Historically speaking, Rohingya people have been driven out of Arakan in large numbers starting from A.D.1784, 1942, 1978, and 1992. But the worst one is taking place now. In the words of FIDH International Federation of Human Rights: The . . . exodus is a deep, sustained trickle of low visibility. The Rohingyas progressively leave Burma in small groups, families or individuals . . . . Little by little, the population is being forced to leave Arakan because of a deliberate policy of cleansing.” Today over a million people, approximately 200,000 live in Bangladesh, 20,000 in Malaysia and about 700,000 in different Arab countries and smaller numbers in Western countries and in Japan. There are still another 1 and a half million Rohingyas live in Arakan under serious hardship and repression. Burma continues to have anti-Rohingya xenophobic military government. The scenario doesn’t look good. From the times of Sindhi Khan who conquered Arakan, until the time of U Nu Rohingyas lived as a prosperous community in Arakan But today, Rohingyas are at their lowest existence. They are now identified as a stateless people. Rohingyas lost almost everything. But until now what was not lost was the identity—“Rohingya.” Are they presently losing it? Yes, in Bangladesh, it has been a historic trend that Rohingya people to escape repression in Arakan cross the Naff River and try to amalgamate with the Chittagonian people of Southern Chittagong. To escape from the continued oppression, this has been a historic trend by the suffering Rohingya people.
This continued practice of crossing the border to Bangladesh for shelter helped neither them as individuals nor their community to return to their ancestral homes later on to make claims on their properties because Rohingyas once left Arakan never returned back again to Arakan. The few Rohingya returnees to Arakan were almost always identified as Chittagonians and invariably put in jail as foreigners. While in Bangladesh, out of a fear that if they identify themselves as the Rohingyas, they would lose their earned privileges; they preferred to abandon their Rohingya identity. This is not a healthy and creative thing for the Rohingya survival. In their exiles what is needed is that they are needed to keep up their identity alive.
It is my understanding is that Southern Chittagong is almost all inhabited by the Rohingya people. Historically speaking, beginning from 1784 and 1942 and in the later time influxes, helped to the development of about two thirds of the people of Cox’s Bazar district. These were the original Rohingyas of Arakan. In 2007, I met M.A. Habibullah, the famous author of the book, Rohingya Jatir Etihas, who kindly travelled from Cox’s Bazar to meet me in Chittagong city, and I had the privilege to meet him. He said to me that his forefathers were Rohingyas that escaped the 1942 genocide. To strengthen the Rohingya future, Rohingyas like the Rakhines of Southern Chittagong, the latter are already citizens of Bangladesh should do something about Bangladeshi Rohingya identity. This has to be done by the Rohingya leadership as a thought-out plan with Bangladeshi Rohingya sympathesizers to secure Rohingya rights in Bangladesh. The point is if the stranded Biharis can have their rights to be the citizens of Bangladesh, why not the Rohingyas. In addition to the above, there is a large group of up to 700,000 Rohingyas in the Middle East, most live there as Bangladeshis. This anonymous nature of the Rohingya existence has to be removed and Rohingyas has to identify themselves as the members of the Rohingya nation. With this change, they will enjoy more freedom and recognition in Arakan especially in abroad.
It is evident in the Rohingyas in outside Arakan that those who identify themselves as Rohingyas get more privileges. I am almost certain that the identity of a Rohingy nation and its recognition by Arab/ Muslim nations will give the Rohingyas in the Middle East and elsewhere more advantages. Advocate Nurul Islam (U.K.) and U Mohiuddin of New York and the other capable leadership who have contacts with Arab Organizations should work in this direction. To me, Rohingyas lost their country but they still have their national identity, the Rohingya nation. There are complains of Fascist and fundamentalist superficial elements in the leadership. If it is true and Rohingyas continue to lose this due to the weakness in their leadership, like in the past Rohingyas will risk losing everything. It seems to me that to the Rohingya people, the identity Rohingya nation is their only survival design. If there is any hope of returning to Arakan, the identity Rohingya nation as a survival mechanism can only help them to return to their ancestral homeland or at least in future will help them to see the unfolding of a much better future than what is presently now for the Rohingya people that are scattered around the globe. The spirit of Rohingya nation has to be kept alive not through the blame game and reiterating the hopelessness but through involving young leadership with the experienced ones and through initiating creative workshops, and yearly conferences. This should be done by the leadership both inside Arakan and in abroad. Once initiated this continued intellectual process will slowly undermine division in favor of consensus among the people of the Rohingya nation.
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.bmnetwork.org/bmc/index.php?option=com_content&task= view&id=132&Itemid=2
(2) Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(3) Ibid
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid
(6) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper,
July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(8) About the Rohingyas, Human Rights Watch/Asia, “Burmese Refugees in
Bangladesh: Still No Durable Solution,” May 2000.
(9) ‘Easy Targets: the persecution of Muslims in Burma,’ Karen Human Rights Group, May 2002; Muslim Quarter in the heart of Maungdaw town ordered to vacate, Rohingya Times, July 16, 2003.
(10) Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti), Islam in Arakan: An interpretation from the Indian perspective: History and the Present. 2006.
(11) Why did Buddhism disappear from South Asia? Brahmin atrocities that destroyed Buddhism in the Subcontinent, Posted on February 3, 2008 by Moin Ansari http://rupeenews.com/2008/02/03/why-did-buddhismdisappear- from-the-south-asian-subcontinent-summary-of-brahmin-atrocitiesthat- destroyed-buddhism-in-the-subcontinent/; I M A G E S A S I A,
PART 1: REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt; Abid Bahar,
Tagore’s Paradigm Exposed in “Dalia” News from Bangladesh, 2008
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidDate=2008-06-03&hidType=HIG hidRecord=0000000000000000202967 ;
http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_ buddhist_dialogue.html;Michael Young says “Afghanistan has been a Muslim country for only a slightly shorter period than Egypt. The Taleban claim that the age-old Buddhist monuments are “an insult to Islam”. Yet until now no regime in the country’s well over a thousand years of Muslim rule has sought to damage or destroy Afghanistan’s priceless, pre-Islamic cultural heritage.” “When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (raa) conquered Jerusalem, he refused the opportunity to offer salat within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for fear that some ignorant Muslims after him might claim the church and convert it into a mosque because he had once prayed there. He left the church with its icons and works of Christian religious art intact. Michael Young, The Latter-Day Kharijites of Kabul March 3, 2001;
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-of-antimuslim- riots-in-bagopegu/
(12) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma; REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt
(13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Muslim_Congress.
(14) Shahid Khan mail2shahid@gmail.com, mail2shahid@gmail.com, June 30, 2008”
(15) Buddhist Muslim Unity Association, Was Prophet Muhammad a Buddha? Edited from the book, MUHAMMAD IN PARSI, HINDOO AND BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES by A.H.Vidyarthi & U.Ali. Common virtues of Buddhism and Islam
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/common-virtues-ofbuddhism-
and-islam/
(16) http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_buddhist_dialogue. html; Link: Dalai Lama http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/ islamic_buddhist_dialogue.html
(17) Julian Ruth, Buddhists and Muslims work together for the PEACE in World
(18) http://biblia.com/theology/buddhism7.htm
(19) Abid Bahar, “Xenophobic Burmese Literary Works—a Problem of Democratic Development in Burma.” http://www.rohingya.org/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&id=182&Itemid=70 Chapter 2 of Abid Bahar’s book Burma’s Missing Dots-the Emerging face of Genocide in Burma, 2008.
(20) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm Also see Anti-Muslim picture of Monks destroying Mosques in Bago/Pegu in 1997 «http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-ofanti- muslim-riots-in-bagopegu/
(Adapted from Abid Bahar's Burma's Missing Dots, Xlibris, 2010)
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