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Myanmar Buddhist monks stage a rally to protest against ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims and to support Myanmar President Thein Sein's stance toward the sectarian violence that took place in June between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar, in Mandalay, central Myanmar, on Sunday. (AP/Khin Maung Win)

Hundreds of Buddhist monks in Myanmar have staged a rally in support of the president and his proposal to send the members of a Muslim minority to another country.

Sunday's rally in Mandalay is the latest indication of deep sentiment against the Rohingya minority after June violence with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists that left 80 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The monks held a banner saying, "Save your motherland Myanmar by supporting the president."

President Thein Sein suggested in July that Myanmar send all Rohingya to any country willing to take them, a proposal quickly opposed by the U.N. refugee agency.

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh but Bangladesh also rejects them, rendering them stateless.
The U.N. estimates that 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar.

Sources Here:

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Update News:

Monks stage anti-Rohingya march in Myanmar

Hundreds take to the streets in solidarity with President Thein Sein's plan to send the Rohingya to another country.

Hundreds of Buddhist monks in Myanmar have staged a rally in support of President Thein Sein's proposal to send the members of the Rohingya minority group to another country.

Sunday's rally in Mandalay, the country's second largest city, is the latest indication of deep-seated sentiment against the Rohingya after violence with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in June left at least 83 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

The monks held a banner saying, "Save your motherland Myanmar by supporting the president", while others criticised United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana, who has faced accusations that he is biased in favour of the Rohingya. 

The leader of the march, a monk named Wirathu, told the AFP news agency that the protest was to "let the world know that Rohingya are not among Myanmar's ethnic groups at all". 

Wirathu was jailed in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature. He was given a 25-year sentence but released in January this year under an amnesty. 

The monks say they will demonstrate and march for the next three days and expect many more people to join them. 

Persecuted minority

The United Nations has referred to the Rohingya, widely reviled by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar, as among the most persecuted people on Earth. 

The Rohingya have been denied citizenship even though many of their families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Myanmar has denied a crackdown on Muslims and launched an inquiry into the violence, while Thein Sein has accusedBuddhist monks, politicians and other ethnic Rakhine figures of kindling hatred towards the Rohingya in a report sent to parliament last month.

However, in comments to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, published on his official website in July, he suggested it was "impossible to accept the illegally entered Rohingya, who are not our ethnicity" and mooted sending the group to a third country or UN administered camps. 

The proposal was quickly opposed by the UN refugee agency. 

Rights groups claim the government did little to stop the violence initially and then turned its security forces on the Rohingya with targeted killings, rapes, mass arrests and torture. 

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh but Bangladesh also rejects them, rendering them stateless. 

The UN estimates that 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar and the country's president has said the trouble in Rakhine state is an internal affair of the country and should not be internationalised. 

Sources Here:

Rohingya in the region are confined to designated areas while all around them monks and authorities stoke anti-Muslim sentiment. And this disdain for the group seems to be receiving the tacit approval of the majority of Myanmar people _ with even Aung San Suu Kyi silent.

he violence started after it was reported on May 28 that a 26 year-old Buddhist woman had been raped and killed by Muslim men. Three Muslim men were detained the following day. 



The case lit the fuse for communal violence in the area and on June 3 about 300 Buddhists attacked a bus in Taungup, killing 10 Muslim men, reportedly in front of policemen and soldiers who did not intervene. 

It is difficult to determine exactly what happened next as there were no independent observers in the area and most people involved claim to have acted in self-defence, but within one week the state was plunged into in an orgy of violence that saw both Rakhine and Rohingya mobs torching houses and committing horrific acts of violence against one another. 

NEGLECTED: Rohingya at Taungup refugee camp about 10km from Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State. 

According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, security forces stood idly by at the outset of the violence before they began shooting at the Rohingya. At one point the conflict even threatened to spread to the rest of the country, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in Rakhine State. 

Official estimates put the overall death toll at 78, a gross underestimate in the opinion of several human rights groups. Thousands of Rohingya refugees tried to flee to Bangladesh, only to be blocked, and sometimes shot, by Bangladeshi security forces. Now there are around 70,000 displaced people in the region, most of them Rohingya living in villages or camps around Sittwe, but also Rakhine people, mainly sheltered in Buddhist monastery camps. 


AN UNEASY PEACE 

The city is now getting back to normal. Everything is peaceful and quiet now,'' said a local member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, who, like many others in Sittwe, refused to be identified. 

His assessment seems correct at first glance. Apart from the curfew imposed by authorities, a sense of normalcy prevails downtown. 

However, that impression changes the further out one moves. All around the city, vast neighbourhoods were burned or destroyed during the riots. One of these is Narzi, a Muslim-majority quarter with a population of 10,000 on the outskirts of Sittwe. After being evacuated by authorities, it now gives the impression of a city devastated by a natural disaster or war. Its streets are deserted apart from the stray dogs and buildings on huge swathes of land have been razed to the ground by fire. 

But the most stark reminder of the violence in Sittwe, a city where Muslims once accounted for as much as 40% of the population, these days there is not a single one to be found on most of its streets. 

According to the official narrative the Myanmar government is playing the role of ``a good referee'' in Rakhine State. 

In a report leaked to AFP, President Thein Sein stated that ``political parties, some monks and some individuals are increasing the ethnic hatred'' against the Rohingya in Rakhine State. The comments came just one month after he publicly called for the expulsion of the Rohingya from the state. 

However, the official view is that security forces from Yangon are less biased towards the Rohingya than their counterparts in Rakhine State and have been sent there to separate both communities to prevent further violence. 

But the situation on the ground tells a different story. Security forces have not merely separated the two communities; they have confined the Muslim population into specific areas: internally displaced person camps outside the city and small ghetto-like quarters heavily guarded by the police and army. And while the rest of the population can move freely, Muslims are confined to their designated camp or specified areas. 

The conditions are dire in Muslim camps like Tat Kal Pyin. A clutch of buildings in the middle of an area reserved for the Rohingya, it houses 3,100 people, living in cubicles of three square metres for each family. The World Food Programme, with the assistance of donors and the government of Turkey, supplies food for the refugees, but some children there show signs of malnutrition. 
The Muslim quarters are off-limits for visitors and journalists, but some residents there said by phone that they don't receive any aid and, as such, their supplies are exhausted and they are forced to buy food from the police at as much as 10 times its market price. They also claim that they do not have access to medical care because most Rakhine doctors refuse to treat them. 

The Myanmar government has not announced any plans to end the confinement of the Rohingya. Meanwhile, the number of refugees in Rakhine camps is dwindling as they return to what is left of their normal lives. Many of them believe that the economic impact of the recent violence will be felt for a long time. 


LONGSTANDING SECTARIAN TENSIONS 

There is a pervasive siege mentality in the Rakhine community and a deeply embedded fear and hatred of the Rohingya and Muslims in general in Sittwe, with damning rumours about them constantly circulating throughout the city. 

Some Buddhist monks Spectrum spoke to were keen to spread such rumours. 

U Chuzarthar, the abbot of Budawmaw monastery in the city, said that the Muslim community in Rakhine State has been infiltrated by al-Qaeda and other extremist foreign organisations. 

To prove his point, he showed a VCD featuring images of violence and ``Muslim extremists'', among them a picture of the Thai army detaining insurgents in southern Thailand. He claimed, however, that it was the Myanmar army and that nobody was able to trace the source of the video. 

U Pinnyarthami, the abbot of another monastery, said that he believed al-Qaeda was using international NGOs working in the area and the United Nations to supply local terrorists with weapons. 

His comments were symptomatic of the widespread distrust among the Rakhine towards international NGOs and the UN, who they believe work exclusively for the Rohingya and neglect the Rakhine people, who also suffer in Myanmar's second poorest state. 

Tensions between the two communities have been simmering for decades in Rakhine State, occasionally boiling over into sporadic episodes of violence. These episodes have often been provoked by the government in a bid to divert attention of political problems. 



Rakhine natives and large sections of the rest of the country's population view the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh poised to invade the country and establish an Islamic state in Rakhine. 

Abu Tahay, the head of the political department for the National Democratic Party for Development, a Rohingya party, denies this accusations: ``This is a totally fabricated accusation by some racist politicians. There is no organisation trying to establish a Rohingya state. We are only looking for ethnicity and to qualify for citizenship.'' 



At the heart of the problem lies Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law, which only grants citizenship to those who belong to one of the 135 ``historical ethnicities'' that were in Myanmar prior to 1823, when the British conquered the southern part of the country. 

There is much debate among scholars about when the Rohingya arrived in Rakhine State, but there is no doubt that they have been there for generations. In 1820, for example, British ethnologist Walter Hamilton referred to the ``Rooinga'' as ``the Mahommedans [sic] who have been long settled in the country''. 

Regardless, the Myanmar government contends they arrived much later, making them ineligible for full citizenship. 

As a stateless people, it is virtually impossible for most Rohingya to prove that they or their ancestors were born in Myanmar. They do not have freedom of movement, cannot marry without permission from the authorities and their religious freedoms are severely restricted. 

THE LADY'S SILENCE 

The recent wave of sectarian violence broke just before Aung San Suu Kyi made her first trip to Europe in 24 years. 

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has thus far avoided taking a clear position on the issue, except to say that she doesn't know if the Rohingya should be considered Myanmar nationals and that ``we are not certain exactly what the requirements of citizenship laws are''. It is commonly assumed abroad that Mrs Suu Kyi does not want to take a pro-Rohingya stance for fear of alienating voters prior to elections scheduled for 2015. 

While Mrs Suu Kyi has remained silent, other members of her party have not. 

U Win Tin, a founding member of the NLD and perhaps its second most influential member, told this reporter in late July that the conflict in Rakhine State was ``created by foreigners, by Bengalis''. He said the people of Myanmar ``cannot regard them as citizens, because they are not our citizens at all, everyone knows here that''. He said the problem was that ``they want to claim the land, they want to claim themselves as a race, they want to claim to be natives and this is not right''. 

U Win Tin believes that ``we have to keep our citizenship law very tight''. He refused to comment specifically on the 1982 law, but said: ``We can worsen the problem if we change the law now. The problem must be solved according to the law, maybe the 1982 [legislation], but if that law is not enough we will have to change it.'' 

He also suggested a solution to the crisis: ``The problem are these Rohingya foreigners and we have to contain them one way or another; something like what happened in the United States during World War II with the Japanese. The US government contained them in camps and after the war they were sent to Japan or they could apply for citizenship. We can solve this problem that way.' 
My position is that we must not violate the human rights of these people, the Rohingya, or whatever they are. Once they are inside our land maybe we have to contain them in one place, like a camp, but we must value their human rights.'' 
Other NLD members expressed similar sentiments. 

Nyo Aye, one of the members of the NLD's Rakhine State commission, said she agreed with the proposal of President Thein Sein to put Rohingya people in camps managed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees until they can be sent to other countries. She also stated that the Rohingya "migrated from Bangladesh, so they are not our ethnic people," and added that ``this conflict is related with foreign Muslim extremists''. 

Some in Myanmar defend the Rohingya. Among them is the famous comedian and political activist Zarganar, the monk Ashin Gambari, a leader of the 2007 ``Saffron Revolution'', and Htuu Lou Rae Den, a young Buddhist from Yangon who has launched a campaign called ``Coexist'', advocating peace among Buddhist and Muslim communities in Rakhine State and throughout the country. 

Nevertheless, such voices are in the minority in a country where Islamophobia runs deep. And it is likely that much of this anti-Rohingya sentiment stems from a general consensus on ethnicity as it pertains to nationhood. As Myo Yan Naung Thein, an activist from Yangon and director of Bayda Institute, closely linked with the NLD, put it: ``The military, Aung San Suu Kyi, the 88 generation students and the politicians, we all share the same opinion about national identity.'' 

Sources Here:
It is known to the world that there has been a state-sponsored violence going on against Rohingyas with the cooperation of Rakhine extremists in Arakan of Burma. Rohingyas, old, young, children, educated, uneducated, religious leaders all alike, are being arrested and subsequently killed. Their women including under-aged girls are being raped. Their properties are being looted and torched. Mosques were locked and destroyed using bulldozers and there have been no five times prayer and Juma’at prayer in the mosques for more than two months. In short, they all are physically crippled and mentally demoralized. 

Though Rakhines are the main culprits of the crimes against Rohingyas, the involvement of Burmese government in the crimes is equally undeniable. When the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had rightly pointed out that the government did not stop but fuel the riot despite being able to stop it, the international community started to pressure the Burmese regime to accept international investigation teams. The regime well knows that if they allow the international investigation teams into Arakan, their crimes against Rohingyas in particular and against humanity in general will be exposed. 

Therefore, with the fear of being exposed, now President Thein Sein himself has set up an inquiry commission to investigate the ongoing crises in Arakan. Though one cannot expect impartial investigations when the culprits (Rakhines and the government) who started this ugly racism and committed all these crimes themselves have also taken charge of the investigation, yet investigation is an investigation and it needs to be carried out formally. In the investigation team, there are some neutral and good people who also are given the charge. 

Therefore, with a view to hiding the actual situation and deceiving the visiting investigation team, Rakhines in Maung Daw been rushing to set up temporary camps (tents) in rural areas all over Maung Daw. According to Rohingyas in Maung Daw, there are 100-200 tents that have already been built at almost every village. The few affected Rakhines during the riot are kept safe and sound in the monasteries in Maung Daw. Now, it is said that all Rakhines in Maung Daw will move to the temporary camps irrespective to rich, poor, affected or unaffected ones before the investigation team arrives to the region. Hence, they will stay there as long as there is the investigation team. 

Therefore, it is a clear move of Rakhines to deceive the world and investigation team so as to be able to cover up their crimes. “They are trying to portray a situation or condition in which they actually are not. They are trying to portray a situation to force people think that they all have become displaced. And it is all done according to the direction of Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP) in cooperation with local Rakhine authorities. The victimized Rohingyas in the region hope that the conspiracies and deceptions of the Rakhine extremists led by RNDP will become transparent and clearer to the international community as well as Burmese community” said A. Faiz, a victimized Rohingya, from Maung Daw. 

Sunday, 2nd September 2012 

Mohammed Sheikh Anwar is an activist studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College Malaysia 

Abu Dhabi: The Khalifa Bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation has sent a relief team to Myanmar to organise humanitarian aid for the Rohingya Muslims. This is in line with the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to provide emergency aid in the wake of the atrocities against the Rohingyas. 

The team, in collaboration with the Kuwaiti embassy in Myanmar, has started relief operations, which include distribution of essential food and other supplies.


The Khalifa Foundation also brought three ambulance vehicles for emergency evacuations.
Sources Here :

PORT KLANG - Malaysians again proved their generosity as they donated more than 560 tonnes worth of food, toiletries and medicines to help the Rohingya refugees in Myanmar.
The Putra 1Malaysia Club, which mounted the drive on Aug 22, said the collection exceeded the targeted 480 tonnes, the maximum load to be carried by KD Indera Sakti.
Its president, Datuk Abdul Azeez Rahim, said the overwhelming response from Malaysians of all races, made it possible for them to breach the target in just a week.
Abdul Azeez said the group was supposed to head for Bangladesh yesterday, but the trip was postponed as Wisma Putra was awaiting approval from the Myanmar government to allow the ship to dock at its Sittwe Port.
He said 90 people had volunteered to join the mission, but the ship could only accommodate 38 people.
The group will head for Sittwe on Wednesday and return on Sept 16 after transporting the aid to some 200,000 Rohingya refugees staying in camps at Kutupalons and Mayapara, 120km from Chittagong, Bangladesh, near the Thai-Myanmar border.
Abdul Azeez said the club had collaborated with hypermarket chains Giant and Mydin to channel the contributions. The team will also bring RM310,000 (S$124,000) worth of medical supplies and 15,000 burial shrouds to be distributed to the refugees.
"We simply want to distribute food, clothing and medicine to the Rohingya, especially women, children and the elderly."
"The Rohingyas did not have proper burial shroud and make do by using mats and whatever material they could spare to bury the deceased.
The Rohingya Muslims suffered under the junta since 1978 and were restricted from becoming Myanmar citizens.

Sources Here :

 CHAIRMAN BO AUNG DIN OF THE PDP DECLARES THAT WE WILL NOT TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE MILITARY JUNTA ATROCITIES AGAINST THE MUSLIM ROHINGYA MINORITY

Date: 31st August 2012

I and the PDP leadership and our supporters strongly condemn the military Junta's inexcusable device of creating situations by its own actions, which excite passions in particular communities against other communities, which the Junta has labelled them non-national of Burma. This is the case in the situation of the Rohingyas. The military has by illegal administrative fiat introduced arbitrary laws, which deprived citizenship to the Rohingya community. Further, it waged a campaign of harassment, persecution, and vilification and inciting other communities to join the bigotry, which they have started.




On 2nd September 2012, in the name of supporting the President, an anti-Muslim campaign will legally be held leading by Chief Monk WIRATHU (Ma-Soe Yein) titled Baddan-Tawi-SeitTa-Biwentha, head of the Damma-Thahaaya School of Mandalay New Masuyein Monastery. 

The agenda of his campaign is to “Put Rohingyas in the Refugee Camps and Send Them to Third Countries.” This is the first speech of the President Thein Sein to the UNHCR Chief Antonio Guterres concerning Rohingyas. U Thein Sein himself gradually stepped back after he had said the same speech when he realized that he was regarded as the one who had been leading or supporting the Rohingya genocides and international community have been trying to bring him into the International Criminal Court (ICC). USA and other western countries regarded him as a reform-minded president and his stepping back from his earlier stand gradually deemed his direct involvement in the crimes. 

The instigator of the riot between Buddhists and Muslims in Kyauk Se Township, Wirathu, has himself given the leads in burning and killing Muslim families there. Now he, Wirathu, is continuing his conspiracies to kill and oust all Muslims by portraying a picture into the simple and honest minds of ordinary Burmese people that Rohingya means all Muslims. According to him, by showing their supports to the President speech and using it as their ground, they will continue oppressing Muslims. In hisfacebook,http://www.facebook.com/ven.wirathumsy, he mentions a paragraph on his own definition of JIHAD as his back-up for the campaign. 

If they only want to racially target and attack Rohingyas, there is no point in his using of the word “JIHAD” which is related to all Muslims. What he is trying to say and portray is that Muslims are doing JIHAD and using force to increase their members in Myanmar and hence it is necessary to attack all the Muslims so that they can’t come into Burma any longer. Therefore, it is obvious that they will attack and oppress all Muslims in Myanmar by manipulating the Rohingya case. 

Wirathu, he himself, knows that Muslims in Myanmar, historically, have never done any such JIHAD as he defines. Similarly, he also knows that there is no reason for Muslims in Myanmar to do such JIHAD in the future. However, the way he has been translating and spreading the news and literatures of anti-Islam campaigners in foreign countries by being In-Charge is clearly indicating that he maliciously wants to attack Muslims in Myanmar. Therefore, he has been a conspirer of carrying out genocides against other races and human beings in saffron against the Monk-Way of life. It has become questionable whether the effort to kill and cleanse Myanmar Muslims by manipulating the happenings in other parts of the world is a part of a Buddhist Monk’s life and his honour. The words “Oust these people” used by a Monk will be taken as “Kill or cleanse these people” by the ordinary people. The world is now disgusted and fed up of these Monks with Metta (loving-kindness) who are saying something and practically doing something else. 

We will also make our own efforts to let the world watch his (Wirathu’s) behavior and acts and every movement of his supporters. 

The Programs of the Campaign 

The talks on and the propaganda of the world’s revolutionary groups will be conveyed: 

       1) In Chan-Aye-Tha-Zan Township, Maha-Aung-Mye Township and Aung-Mye-Tha-Zan    on Sunday, 2nd September, 2012 
    2) In Pye-Gyi-Tan-Khun Township and Chan-Mya-Tha-Se Township on Monday 3rd September 2012 
     3) And in Amara-Pura Township on 4th September 2012 respectively. The campaign will go on for non-stop three days. 

The Campaign to Show Supports to the President 

“It will be the campaign that we will show our supports to the President’s stand on the Arakan violence and that we will condemn Mr. Quintana.” 

Aims or Purposes 

- To let the world know that the so-called Rohingya Bengalis are not citizens of Burma 

- To let the world know that all Burmese citizens condemn the terrorisms of Bengalis 

- To protect and give securities to the door of Rakhine state and Rakhines by the government 

Banners 
In the banner No.1, 

There will be a photo of the President with “the Tick or Right Symbol” on it and that of Mr. Quintana with “the Cross.” Besides, the words “Save Your Mother Land, Myanmar by Supporting the President” will be written on the banner. 

In the Banner No.2, 

The three speeches of the President will be written by putting the photos of the President and UNHCR Chief Antonio in the background. The three speeches are: 

       1) The so-called illegal Rohingyas are threatening the country’s peace and solidarity 
       2) We will hand over Rohingyas to UNHCR and put them in the refugee camps 
       3) We will send them to third countries if there any to accept. 

Only these two banners will be allowed to use and fifteen hand-banners are banned. 

The campaigning hours is reduced to one hour from two hours. Besides, gathering places, targets and roads are also changed. 

The Places and the Timetables for Sunday, 2nd September 2012
(Wakaung La’Sok 1) 

       1) In Chan-Aye-Tha-Zan Township 
           At 12:00 Noon, people will start to gather at 33x79 Road Junction 
           At 1:00 PM, People will start marching. 
          It will start from Road No.33 along the Road No. 79 and will end at the end of road no. 26-B. 
           Marching Time: 1 Hour 
           At 1:30 Pm, Securities will be provided. 
         2) In Maha-Aung-Mye Township, 
           At 1:30 PM, people will start to gather at 80x35 Road Junction 
           At 2:30 PM, People will start marching 
            It will start from Road No.80 along the Road No. 35 to the end of road no. 80. 
          Along Road No. 84 from No. 35 to the Paung-Lay Condominium at the Road No.39 Angle 
           It will end the Paung-Lay Condominium 
           Marching Period: 1 hour 
        3) In Aung-Mye-Tha-Zan Township, 
           People will start to gather at 3:00 PM 
           At Road-12x80, the angle to the north-west of the Drain 
        Marching will start at 4:00 PM along the Road No. 80 from the West of the Drain towards the South 
          At the Road No. 19, we will take West and March to the Nyaung Pin Market at the Road No. 86 
            It will end at the road No. 12 from Nyaung Pin Market 
            Marching period: 1 hour 

Anyone who wants to participate, to help, to donate and to feed people in this campaign will be able to do so without any restrictions irrespective to his or her religion and race. 

To Contact: 
        1) Chan-Aye-Tha-Zan Township 
            U Ti Law Ka------ ----------------------------09-402581411 
            U Maung Maung San (Tin Pya Dan) -----09-73504622 
        2) Maha-Aung-Mye Township 
            Daw Thaung Thaung Myint-------- --------09-43101964 
            Ko Ye Tun------------------------------------ 09-402625838 
         3) Aung-Mye-Tha-Zan Township 
            U Myint Aung (Shwe Oo Nyan)------------ 09-43170214 
            Ma Myint Myint Kyi-------------------------- 09-402577249 

Who and how can anyone in the world believe the childish shouting and nonsense of Wirathu telling the world that Rohingyas are invaders? The world and international community have already known Rohingyas as one of the world’s most persecuted people. That is what they are, fascist Wirathu in the saffron!!! 

Written by Htay Lwin Oo 
Translated into English by M.S. Anwar


What immediately comes on your mind when you hear the name, Burma (Myanmar)? For most of the people especially foreigners, Burma is a country that has been ruled by one of the world’s most oppressive regime that never cares about its citizens. So is for its citizens, Burmese. Burma has been being ruled by the dictators (which itself synonymous with sociopaths) since 1962. In 1962, an ultra-nationalist, General Ne Win, who later came to be known as one of the world’s worst dictators, seized the power from U Nu’s government, the first and only ever democratically elected government in Burmese history and the dictatorships began. 

Quite expectedly, Burma has become one of the poorest countries in the world from the richest country in South East Asia due to his isolationist policy and mismanagement of macro-economy. The people of the country which was once known as the bowl of rice faced famine under his reign. When politically oppressed and economically crippled people started to demonstrate, they were violently crashed down. There were student protests against his reigns in 1965, 1969, 1970 and there was a labour protest in 1974. Again in 1974 December 5, there was a huge students’ demonstration against Ne Win’s regime for not honouring the then UN Secretary General from Burma, U Thant. The protests continued in 1975, 1976 and 1987. Yet he defied all. But he had to step down in 1988 due to country wide uprising of public, students and monks altogether. Thousands of students and people merciless killed during his reign. 

Besides, he carried out several attempts and operations against Rohingyas either to cleanse them or to depopulate their numbers. He killed thousands of Rohingyas and drove many more thousands out of the country. It helped him earn much appreciation from the racist segment of Burmese society at the critical times and to successfully divert the people's attention from the problems the country was facing. And not to forget anti-Chinese riot that took place in 1967 and continued throughout 1970s. The racial animosity and the riot against Chinese community in Burma was instigated and supported by the Ne Win's regime in order to divert public attention from economic crises such as the uncontrollable inflation, scarcity of consumer goods and ever rising prices of rice. Many Chinese were killed during the riot, some Chinese school girls were burned alive, looting and setting up fire to their properties. 

In stead of trying to find out ways to fulfil people's demands and solve their problems, Ne Win, in his ego and delusional ideologies, brutally broke down all the protests that killed thousands of people, while imprisoning and torturing many thousands. He made people fight against people and a race against another until he stepped down in 1988. He lied to the world with the straight face about all the crimes against humanity he had committed. He left no stone unturned and no trick untried to put the world and international community in the dark. 

After Ne Win had stepped down, the military coup led by Gen. Saw Maung took over the power. In 1990, in the most popular election of Burmese history, NLD had the landslide victory in the election. But the military kept holding on the power and ruling the country ignoring the results of the election. That caused great dissatisfactions among general Burmese people. Consequently, that led the Burmese regime face many political, economical and social crises which were threats to their retaining power. Like teacher like pupils, the then new military government followed the same footsteps, political games and "Divide and Rule Policy" to divert attention of the majority Burmese Buddhists, they created a new Rohingya saga in 1991-1992. Burmese Junta and Rakhine Buddhists carried out extrajudicial-killings of Rohingyas, increased the forced labours, tortures, rapes dramatically. Consequently, it caused a mass exodus of 0.25 million Rohingyas to Bangladesh and to other countries. Again, the regime's effort to cleanse Rohingyas was appreciated by ultra-nationalist Burmese people and could successfully continue holding power. Amidst the Rohingyas' outcry, Burmese regime shamelessly lied to the international community and put them in the dark by denying International Media getting access to the region and with the biased investigation of the Junta. 

Besides, there were more brutal cracks down of student demonstrations in 1997, conspiracy to kill Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Depayin in 2002, inhumanely breaking down of Saffron revolution in 2007 and the disaster caused during cyclone Nargis in 2008 due to Junta's denial of foreign humanitarian assistances. Despite all these, through all these years, they survived because of the strong back-ups of politically communist and economically capitalist China that wants to only exploit Burma's natural resources and turn it into a graveyard without any resources. More importantly, they survived through the means of lying as to their ideology that "Lies are the Basic Concepts of the Truths." The Burmese regime commits crimes again and again and lies again and again. They lie so much so that lying has become their second nature and it naturally comes to them. 

Coming to the present situation in Burma, it no longer needs to tell the world what is going on in Arakan state, the western-most-part of Burma and Kachin state, the northern-most-part of Burma. In both parts, there are hot genocides going on. Kachins have long been struggling for the equal rights because they are treated inferiorly on account of their religion (Christianity), their race and language in an overwhelmingly Buddhists and Bama majority country. In an effort of Burmese regime to break ethnic armed resistances, they broke the decades-long treaty with Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and started the offensive war against KIA and innocent Kachin civilians last year and it is still going on. As a result, thousands of innocent Kachin civilians are displaced, many were killed and their women are being raped. As usual, the regime started lying about the situation and trying to cover up all their war crimes. 

Then, the world and humanist segment of Burmese society started to pressure Burmese to end the genocidal war against Kachins. Besides, there were demands from Burmese people to end the Myitsone Damn project. There were farmers and labors demonstrating for their rights. The country was facing electricity and water crises, health problems and extreme poverty. More importantly, the regime was extremely worried of Daw Suu Kyi’s popularity among Burmese people. Amidst regime’s inability of solving these political and economic crises, they again saw Rohingya as their perfect political scapegoat as they had seen before. 

The director of the president office, Bomuu Zaw Htay, through his facebook name “Muu Zaw,” started to racially instigate general Burmese accusing Rohingyas as illegal foreign Bengali invaders. Not surprisingly, it was followed by a so-called rape against Rakhine woman on 28th May 2012, a rape case which had no eyewitnesses. With no evidences, the three Rohingyas were accused for the rape case. Later, according to Burmese authority, the main culprit of the rape case committed suicide in the JAIL (which is hard to believe) and another two were sentenced to death. When, where and in front of whom was not revealed. I still wonder these three people actually existed on this earth!!! For the worse, the state media blamed Muslims or the followers of Islam for the rape instead of culprits or criminals. 

Shockingly, on 3rd June 2012, 10 Muslim pilgrims, who were neither Rohingyas nor had any connections with the rape, were crushed to death on their way back from their religious efforts in Than Dway by 300 Rakhine hooligans at a place nearby an immigration office. The state media, for example, MRTV used a term “Kalar or Kular, a derogatory term for the people of south-Asian descends in Burma” in broadcasting the incident, which was a clear sign of racial instigation among Burmese. The actual violence against Rohingyas was started from Maung Daw on Friday, 8th June 2012, following Rohingyas’ refusal to disperse their congregational prayer for the 10 pilgrims killed. 

Since then, Burmese military, Security Forces (Hluntin), Police and others in cooperation with Rakhine extremists have carrying out all kinds of violence against Rohingyas. Rohingyas, old, young, children, educated, uneducated, religious leaders all alike, are being arrested and subsequently killed. Their women including under-aged girls are being raped. Their properties are being looted and torched. Mosques were locked and destroyed using bulldozers and there have been no five times prayer and Juma’at prayer in the mosques for more than two months. Moreover, no Tarawih prayers in the month of holy Ramadan and no Eid prayer were allowed. If it is not the religious violence, then what is it? 

Besides, there has been martial law declared in Arakan since June 10 that locked Rohingyas in their houses Rohingyas are lost almost their ways and access to foods and medicine due to the martial and boycott against them led by Rakhine Buddhist Monks. It has been already more than two months. Many of them every day are dying due to starvation. Shockingly, the martial law is only applied for Rohingyas and Rakhines are set free and can do any barbaric acts and all kinds of tortures against Rohingyas: stabbing, beating and looting etc. On one hand, the government and Rakhine extremists are committing genocides and carrying out ethnic cleansing and quite naturally on another hand, they have been lying and deceiving the world about the situation and trying to cover up their crimes against humanity through using the state media and social media like facebook and twitter. They are taking every step to put the international community in the dark by not giving permission to International Media, Independent Observers and humanitarian workers to get access to the place. 

Recently, President Thein Sein claimed “the riot in the region is not religious but communal. International community and media are politicizing the matter,” while the fact that they have been instigating violence against Rohingya and propagating racial hatred among general Burmese people and to turn them against Rohingyas by using Buddhism as a tool is no longer needs to be explained. Government and Rakhine extremists accuse Rohingyas to be threats and dangers to Buddhism. So, Rohingyas need to be cleansed. What are all these if not lies? 

Furthermore, President Thein Sein recently in an interview to VOA said “Bengalis (his own term for Rohingyas) have been living there for generations. We have been considering modifying 1982 citizenship law.” Is it not contradictory to his earlier statement to UNHCR Chief Antonio Gutterres “they are recent Bengali Immigrants and the only solution to the problem is to settle them in third countries?” Is not he an oxymoron? They are using members of Hindu society (who look like Rohingyas) and taking pictures and making video showing their daily activities to portray that the situation in Arakan has become peaceful and come to normality. Hence, no investigations are needed, no observers and media to sent and not even humanitarian assistances, at a time when they continuously committing crimes against humanity. Lying and deceiving again and again!!! 

When UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana visited Arakan, Burmese authorities prepare some hindus and few of their puppets from Rohingya community to meet and lie to him. Besides, he was not free access to meet people. The similar case happened with Turkish Foreign Misnister Ahmet Davutglo when he visited Arakan. The government vetted translator mistranslated and omitted words in the translation of a Rohingya’s words to him. The government pained the only reaming Masjid in the Sittwe (the capital of Arakan) town area and made him pray there. 

Now President has set up an inquiry commission to investigate the ongoing crises in Arakan. How can one expect impartial investigations when the culprits who started this ugly racism and committed all these crimes themselves have taken charge of the investigations? A conflict which was started by the government themselves? I wonder who will be the ultimate sufferers as a result of this investigation when the people in the government itself are criminals. In fact, cheating is not new to the Burmese government. They are popular even among Burmese community for that. 

On 17th August 2012, Thein Sein released an 18-paged statement in which he said “some political parties, monks and individuals incited extreme racial hatred and encouraged people to commit irrational racial attacks against Bengali Muslims (his own term for Rohingya Muslims).” But under the heading of religious affairs at point number 34, he said “Mosques, Islamic Schools and Religious scholars (Molvis) should be reduced within the boundary of law and legitimacy.” What is he trying to say? Is he indirectly saying that they will make every effort to eliminate Islam from Arakan gradually? When the criminal Rakhine extremists have become angry with the president’s statement, the director of the president office Bomuu Zaw Htay declared that it was not the opinion of the president but his analysis of different reports of different organizations, NGOs, INGOs etc. They are lying, aren’t they? 

All in all, throughout Burmese history, different regimes have tried various political tactics to sustain their rules. Many of the times, they have become deeply unpoplar among the general people due to their brutal handlings of the situation. But this time, knowing the Burmese intolerance and endemic hatred towards other religions and races, the regime has successfully made Rohingyas as their political preys. In fact, the regime has earned many political gains by creating such a violence against Rohingyas. According to many analysts, they have successfully diverted public attentions from the poltical and economic crises they were having, depopularized Daw Aung San Suu Kyi among some segments of Burmese society and international communtiy, gained much required public supports, discredited international media and eventually implemented their fascist policy of wiping out of Rohingya Muslims . 

There have been terrible man-made human catastrophes going on in Burma. As usual, the regime is lying and deceiving international community being sociopathic liars. But international communities should not fall into the trap of regime's lies. It is the high time for all of us to realize the crimes of these generation criminals and to bring them into international criminal court of justice (ICCJ) in an effort to stop the crimes on the earth forever. 

Mohammed Sheikh Anwar is an activist studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College Malaysia.


Dear respected Ms Yu Ko,

I am quite sad after reading the news (about the present Rakhine-Rohingya riots). I should be surprised and angry but I do not suffer much because since the news started earlier, I have already expected that these could happen and actually all these happen one after another as I have expected.

For those political pundits, the racial riots like the present Rakhine-Rohingya conflicts are not strange or unexpected wonderful events. Like all other dictators around the world, a group of Myanmar Military dictators are doing the same things repeatedly to hold on their power. Since 1962 Coup, “to hold on the power of military dictatorship” they have done to disunite the people by numerous “divide and rule” methods.

Myanmar people are divided politically, racially, religiously, economically, educationally and in all fields by using the various media, news, books, various entertainment platforms etc. Military rulers put wedges between the various strata and groups of Myanmar people to divide into numerous factions and sub-groups. The worse is that as the military dictators have successfully installed a deep seated mistrust and fear inside the hearts and minds of the people and they never trust each other anymore.

Even during the recruitment exercises for the rebels in the Ethnic Minority areas, instead of advocating to fight the Military Dictatorship, they wrongly used the propaganda to fight the “Maha Bama dominance system.” So they became the victims of suspicion, disunity and mistrust. These could weaken the people’s spirits of “Union-Nationalism” and “Panlong Unity” will. These brought in suspicions, frictions and tension between the Bamas and other ethnic groups of Myanmar. This is the result of the systematic propaganda used for the survival of a group of people in the military dictatorship regime in Myanmar.

There is no true democracy and human rights violations are practiced for more than 50 years in our country. (Exactly speaking it is 5 months more than 50 years.) For a 50 year old man, he has never even able to taste what democracy, freedom, human rights, equal rights, justice and fairness in his whole lifespan. Our citizens are hungry for democracy and human rights for many decades and we all are madly wishing and yearning for these universal values.

Ms Yuko’s Japanese and democratic people from other side of the world are all same human beings like our people. But are we lost and are denied of democracy? We are now living in the 21st century and in the age of globalization but our democracy is destroyed our basic principles of human rights are still violated in our country.

During the Saffron Revolution in 2007, the guidance of the Buddha’s religion: peace and loving-kindness were violently destroyed. People around the world know that we did not use any violence but just give the peaceful pronouncement and prayers of Buddha’s Dahhma and marched for peace only. We have been shot, some were killed and many were beaten violently and thrown into long term jail by the military government.

Because of that, Thomas Ojea Quintana of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights had spoken out clearly that it was the act against humanity.

Illegal Myanmar Military government had tried me with unjust laws and regulations and sentenced me for 68 years’ jail term. I not only lost the freedom but my health and education for about four years in the prison.

Present Government is flaunting the world that it is a legitimate government elected by the people of Myanmar and now is also pretending to look as if they are decently honest and innocent. But they are the same old Military Generals disguised as civilians by just leaving their uniforms in their closets and wearing the mufti (dress). But they have not changed anything even during this so called “Transformation period to Democracy” but they are used to their old habits of “Divide and Rule politics” which they have shown on the President’s interview with VOA Myanmar Section head. Once there appeared localized sporadic protests by the disgruntled people demanding their needs and requests for Human Rights and other Rights around Myanmar, the Military Generals conveniently created this Rakhine-Rohingya Racial and Religious conflict to divert the people’s attention.

This trick is a very simple and obvious one for as the Government had incited the monks to invoke hatred on its Muslim citizens on numerous occasions to create Religious Riots before. Now as there are “Metta Campaign for Peace” with the slogan for “peace and democracy” amongst different religions, it is difficult for the Military Dictators to start an Anti-Muslim Riots in the mainland Myanmar proper. So they turn to create an easy job of Rakhine-Rohingya Riots in Arakan State. (I am sad to see that) Military disguised “civilian” government is even supported by some people known as democracy activists.

Even if the initial problem of crime were true, they need to take action according to the criminal law. No need to play up the racial issue. Whether they are Rohingyas or Rakhines or Bamas or Shans, all must be treated equally under the law. Why highlight the Race in order to create a Racial Conflict? Why repeatedly reported and emphasize that only the Rohingyas are wrong. In Bangladesh, if any other races do crimes against Buddhist Marama Gyis or Marghs, Bangladesh government always used to take action on the criminals irrespective of race and religions.

I am very sad to know that some Buddhist monks joined these stupid demonstrations and campaigns discriminating against Rohingya.

We enlightened the whole world with the light of the Dharma in 2007. Do I need to explain the details of the words of Buddha: Ahintha, Metta, Dharma,Peace and Thitsa for all of you? I wrote a letter to the family about the Thima-Thatbeida and Banna Thima while I was in the jail. I just remember that the Thima-Thatbeida written by a Japanese monk was translated by a Myanmar lady journalist and published in the “Ah Twe Ah Myin” (Opinion) magazine in May 2010. I want to discuss with you if I have a chance to send its copy.

Ms. Yu Ko, as you know, my health is not so good and I need to rest a lot. Once released from the prison, I wish to write about my experience of the revolution, my prison experiences, my dark days there, about my lost of hope there and later about the current political conditions in our country. But I could not write all those desires and experiences into practice because of my ill health. May be I could write all these when my health is better. Even now I am trying to write this because my heart could not continue to bear (the injustices of the Rohingya Riots) although I am suffering from severe head ache. Please reply after reading my letter.

Respectfully
With Metta


Signed (26.8.2012)
Gambira @ Hlaing Bwa
Meikhtila Industralized Zone
26.8.2012

 Translated by Dr. Ko Ko Gyi

By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Daniel Ten Kate

Seamstress Thida Htwe was walking home from her tailoring work on a remote Myanmar road in late May when attackers took the 27-year-old by knife point to a forest where they raped her, slit her throat, and took her gold jewelry before dumping her body in the mangrove trees.

Local Burmese, including Buddhist monks, distributed incendiary pamphlets about the crime, and allegations quickly spread among the Buddhist majority in Rakhine state that Rohingya Muslims were to blame, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch. The group based its report on the incident and its aftermath, which United Nations officials confirmed, on 57 interviews with both Rohingya and Burmese.

Six days later, as three Rohingya suspects sat in jail, a Buddhist mob stopped a bus in a nearby town and killed 10 Muslim men on board. Local police and soldiers watched without intervening, according to Human Rights Watch and UN officials. Within a week, President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency to quell riots that have killed 88 people and left villages in ruins.

The ethnic strife is complicating Myanmar’s evolving ties with the U.S. and Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, as authorities struggle with how to treat the Rohingya, a minority that’s denied citizenship in Myanmar and faces persecution in Asia similar to that of other stateless Muslim groups such as the Mideast’s Kurds.
‘Serious Issue’

“It’s a serious issue that will hurt Myanmar’s reputation in the long term,” said Jim Della-Giacoma, Southeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels- based policy research organization. “If Myanmar wants to enter the fold of modern and democratic states, it needs to grapple with this very fundamental issue to give equal rights to all ethnic groups, all religious groups.”

The Rohingya’s status leaves them trapped doing unskilled, poorly paid labor in one of the world’s poorest nations.

While Myanmar has begun to attract companies such asVisa Inc. (V) and Coca-Cola Co. (KO) after taking steps toward democracy, the Rohingya’s plight has flummoxed both Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Neither openly supports citizenship for the Rohingya, and Suu Kyi, though a democratic icon, skirted the issue on a European tour in June when she collected a Nobel Peace Prize she won during her 15 years under house arrest.

“They are very loath to discuss this issue directly, publicly and internationally,” Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations’ top adviser on Myanmar who visited the area immediately after the unrest broke out, said in an Aug. 6 interview in New York. “They see this very firmly as a refugee issue and an issue that the international community should solve and ‘take away these people.’”

Three Convictions


The three Rohingya suspects were convicted for the rape and murder, according to Human Rights Watch. One reportedly committed suicide in prison, and the other two were sentenced to death, the rights group said in its report. In contrast, there have been no convictions in connection with the killing of the 10 Muslim men “despite hundreds of witnesses to the attack,” according to the report issued last month.

Human Rights Watch says about 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar. The country, formerly known as Burma, has a population of about 64 million, according to the International Monetary Fund. Many Burmese consider the Rohingya illegal migrants from what’s now Bangladesh, according to Human Rights Watch, which says their presence in modern-day Myanmar predates the start of British colonial rule in 1824.
‘Potentially Destabilizing’

Thein Sein said in June that the violence spread because of “instigations based on religion and racism” and called on all people to show “a sense of wisdom” and “loving kindness” to halt the fighting. In July, he urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to accept Rohingya as refugees and resettle them in third countries -- a suggestion the UNHCR promptly rejected.

Even as the nation undertakes economic and political reforms, the tension among its more than 100 ethnic groups “remains a potentially destabilizing factor,” the Asian Development Bank said in an Aug. 20 report, “Myanmar in Transition.”

Spurred by increased foreign investment and commodity sales, Myanmar’s economy may grow as much as 8 percent a year over the next decade as inflation remains low and the government increases trade ties with neighbors China and India, according to the bank.

While U.S. President Barack Obama last month eased some sanctions that were placed on Myanmar’s former military regime, he’s still considering whether to waive an import ban that Congress voted to extend this month, partly due to concern about the Rohingya.




‘Ethnic Cleansing’


The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned the “ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Myanmar government,” according to a statement released in May. The group, which includes Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria, called for the Rohingya to have citizenship and offered humanitarian assistance for Rakhine state.

Myanmar has gone on the defensive, forming a 27-member commission on Aug. 17 that includes Muslim leaders to investigate the violence. Authorities moved to halt the ethnic fighting as quickly as possible, the government said in an Aug. 21 statement, saying the clashes occurred “between two communities within a State of Myanmar following a criminal act.”

“We will not accept any attempt to politically regionalize or internationalize this conflict as a religious issue,” the government said. “Such attempts will not contribute to finding solutions to the problem, but will only complicate the issue further.”


Turned Away


Bangladesh, Myanmar’s predominantly Muslim neighbor, has turned away Rohingya trying to reach safety in makeshift wooden boats. Human Rights Watch says about 200,000 Rohingya live in Bangladesh, a nation with a population of about 169 million, according to the IMF.

In one account chronicled by Human Rights Watch in its 56- page report this month, a Rohingya mother of six said her five- year-old daughter died of starvation after Bangladesh authorities denied entry three times and left her floating under a hot sun in the Bay of Bengal for four days.

“Why should we allow them to enter our country?” Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed told Al Jazeera television in a July 27 interview. “It is not our responsibility; it is theirs. Bangladesh is already an overpopulated country.”

Bangladesh had influxes of about 250,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in 1978 and in the early 1990s, followed by repatriation efforts “that were not wholly voluntary,” the UN’s refugee agency said in a December report.



Not Recognized

Ethnic violence against the Muslim minority there can be traced to the departure of the British after Burmese independence in 1948, the paper said.

A 1982 citizenship law grants nationality to people in ethnic groups that were present in the country before the British conquest. That law excludes the Rohingya, along with other minorities of Indian and Chinese descent that aren’t on a list of 135 official ethnic groups.

Myanmar’s recent moves to allow greater Internet freedom have exposed deep-seated hatred toward the Rohingya on social- media sites. Burmese bloggers refer to the Muslim minority as “dogs” or “black,” according to two UN human-rights officials who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
‘Absolute Denial’

When asked about Burmese attitudes toward the Rohingya, the UN’s Nambiar said, “There is a kind of scare that ‘these’ people from outside are coming over and taking over ‘our’ resources.”

“This has now taken a life of its own,” with “a large number of Burmese in absolute denial,” he said.

Thein Sein undoubtedly will face questions about the Rohingya when he makes his first appearance as president at the UN General Assembly in the final week of September, Nambiar said.

UN officials have told the president, directly and indirectly, “you have to take this head-on. It is incumbent on the government to do more to allay the fears, anxieties and suspicions,” he said.

Suu Kyi may be asked about the issue when she travels to Washington for a scheduled Sept. 19 ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda to accept the Congressional Gold Medal, which lawmakers awarded in 2008 while she was under house arrest in Myanmar. She is also scheduled to receive an award from the Atlantic Council in New York on Sept. 21. It will be her first return to the city where she worked at the UN Secretariat from 1969 to 1971.
Denied Citizenship

“We have to be very clear about what the laws of citizenship are and who are entitled to them,” Suu Kyi told reporters in Geneva on June 14. “All those who are entitled to citizenship should be treated as full citizens deserving all the rights that must be given to them.”

For a democracy icon who endured years in detention to protest an oppressive military regime, Suu Kyi’s equivocation on the Rohingya has drawn rare criticism.

“There are a lot of theories on why she is silent,” said John Sifton, director of Asia advocacy at Human Rights Watch. “The simplest and most plausible is that it does not win you friends.”
Saffron Revolution leader Ashin Gambhira (aka Ko Nyi Nyi Lwin) has been struggling with his health since his release from prison earlier this year. In a new letter, he speaks about the current conflict in Arakan State, and the fighting between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines. 

“I feel very sorry after reading the latest news. I don’t feel so much surprised as angry because I knew something like this would happen soon. One step leads to another. It is actually not so surprising for our country Myanmar, because neither people nor politicians have good understanding.” 

The Military relies on conflict to stay in power 

“The violence between Rakhines and Rohingyas in Arakan State is an example of how dictatorships all over the world use and rely on conflicts to stay in power. If all people were united, a military dictatorship could not survive. Division and enmity in the minds of the people only keep the military strong. Because of this, the military systematically uses division-and-rule policies on the grounds of nationality, religion, economic and education status, etc., to divide people, to keep the military ‘necessary’, relevant, and in power. So the Burmese people are kept separated in groups, each group for themselves, without unity or cooperation. Everybody lives in fear and distrust of the other. Everyone sees the other with a suspicious mind. With this pressure, the people are defeated. 

Nationalism is used to the keep the military system alive 

“The new freedom fighter groups were organized under a wrong system of a Burma nationalist policy. These national revolution organization systems are a mistake. They produce suspicions and tensions between Burmese and their fellow landsman. Furthermore, it is slowly destroying the meaning of ‘union’ until the ‘union mind’ will disappear. This is the situation that the Burmese military uses to keep the military system necessary and alive. 

 The thirst for human rights 

“We haven’t had human rights or true democracy in our country for over fifty years. For the last fifty years and five months, an old man couldn’t get a taste of democracy, human rights, freedom, justice, or equality. Some people have not known any of these things their entire lives. This means we were so thirsty for human rights that we sometimes demanded them like fools. 

“We are living in the 21st century now, in a time of globalization, but in our country the principles of human rights and democracy are terribly broken. So our understandings of Dhamma, Metta, peace, and human rights are very rough, and we are beaten, arrested, killed, and destroyed. 

“Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, has said clearly that during the 2007 Saffron Revolution, crimes against humanity were committed. The illegal government acted against me with unjust laws and rules. I was sentenced by a judge to 68 years in prison. I lost my time, health, education, and freedom for the sake of my motherland. I spent nearly 4 years in prison. Everyone around the world knew that the people and monks were marching non-violently with love, Dhamma, and peace, and we didn’t have as much as a nail with us. But we were broken down very violently, beaten, shot, and killed. 

“The same people who were ruling Burma then are now presenting themselves to the world as a legal government. They show themselves to be honest, polite, and clear. But nothing has changed in Myanmar, even in this changing period. The neo-military dictatorship has exploited and fostered a new national crisis, a religious conflict, the Rakhine-Rohingya conflict, for its own purposes. 

“This is a very simple and effective strategy. It has happened several times in the past. There have been conflicts between Buddhist monks and Muslims before. They have been fighting each other, and the military dictatorship benefited from it. These clashes were encouraged by the military to keep the people separated. 

“We had started a Metta campaign in our country with slogans for peace and democracy. The campaign includes members of all religions. But now, the Rakhine and Rohingya have turned against each other violently in front of the world. Even some members of the democracy movement have followed the threat of politics by the military regime and have changed sides. 

The rule of law 

“I want to say one additional thing. We need to count from the beginning. We only needed to judge with the rule of law those three Rohingyas who raped a girl. Rohingyas or Rakhines, Burmans or Shan, everybody must obey the rule of law. Why encourage racism, why create a crisis? Why blame only Rohingyas and put all of the purnishment on all of them? 

“In Bangladesh, in a minority village on the border with Myanmar, several people were robbed by Bengali groups. The Bangladeshi government took effective action against the robbers with the rule of law, and a crisis was averted. 

“I feel sad to know that some Buddhist monks have joined demonstrations and campaigns against Rohingyas. We already previously kindled a fire of Dhamma for everyone around the world to see in 2007. Do I need to explain in detail the meaning of the Buddha’s words, of Metta, Dhamma, peace, ahitha, thitthar, ageha, for everyone? 

“As you know, my health is not so good, so I have been taking a rest lately. Actually, the past revolution experience was a very dark and hopeless situation inside the prison for me. I faced it, and survived this condition after I was released into the present political situation. I really want to write more about it. But I have to take care of my health first. In the future when I am better, I hope I can do it. Even writing this letter hurts my eyes and causes severe headaches. The deep pain inside my body is bad, but I needed to write and send this to you.” 

The original letter was written in Burmese by U Gambhira (aka Ko Nyi Nyi Lwin) on August 27th to Ms. Yu Yu Ko. The letter was given to The Best Friend International e.V. for publishing. Special thanks for the first translation from Burmese to English by Ko Nyi Nyi Lwin, Tokyo.

Sources Here :

During the past week, the media spotlight has zoomed in heavily on rape. Everyone - from Salma Yaqoob to Laurie Penny - has weighed in on the subject. George Galloway sparked off the debate in the UK, with a video podcast describing the allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as "bad sexual etiquette." The feverish speculation ("Did he use a condom every time?") continues, with little in the way of resolutions.

What has seemingly been forgotten about, however, is a crisis of grave proportions on the other side of the globe. A crisis that features systemic violations of women's bodily integrity as its currency. As John Hemming MP pointed out in his blog, the Assange saga may be entertaining for the media, but there is another situation that warrants our urgent attention, on a continual basis: (http://johnhemming.blogspot.co.uk/).

Two months ago, as Burmese Nobel Laureate Aung San Syu Kii toured the UK to great acclaim, her countrywoman Amina (not her real name) met her death in the most terrifying way possible. Having been assaulted and held down by soldiers, Amina was gang-raped in the village of Pandaung Pin (Nalwborna Para) in Maungdaw, Myanmar. Since 8th June 2012, dozens of girls and women - some as young as twelve and barely acquainted with menstruation - have suffered the same fate. As a 27-year-old man told Human Rights Watch in July 2012: "They tried to snatch the gold jewellery she had, her earrings and her nose ring, but she didn't let them. Then they cut her ear lobe and her nostril with a knife to take it. When she tried to stop them, they tore her blouse open and then raped her. Twelve military and Nasaka [Myanmar's border security force] entered two houses and they raped the women."

Nobody knows the names or faces of these women, or the fact that they come from one of the most under-reported minorities in the world - the Rohingya.

The Rohingya constitute an ethnic and linguistic minority group, who profess Islam as their religion and are related to Chittagonian Bengalis. Based in Myanmar's Northern Rakhine state, their number is estimated at 725,000 or about 80% of the total population of that area (UNHCR). They have faced many years of discrimination at the behest of state authorities, which led to thousands of refugees fleeing to Bangladesh during 1978 and 1991. The role of Bangladesh has come under scrutiny once again (due to the latest clashes), but it has adopted a closed border policy. In any case, Rohingya women get a rough deal in the existing refugee camps, where they are also likely to suffer from sexual violence.

Back in Myanmar, rape has been used as an age-old weapon of war. Many Rohingya men have been killed or put into concentration camps, handing security forces further opportunities to assault women from the inside out. This, in turn, enables them to expunge the men who are still alive. The upshot is the kind of damage which will reverberate for decades, long after the restricted-access cameras have stopped rolling and the bloggers have stopped blogging.

There are additional dimensions to the problems faced by Rohingya women and girls (as cited in the Arakan Project's submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in October 2008). The social norms imposed on them by their own milieu have long since excluded them from decision-making on community matters. Divorced women and widows are ostracised, and once again, find themselves vulnerable to sexual violence. While arranged marriages operate with a reasonable degree of success, forced marriages are not uncommon, and are sometimes initiated for the purpose of trafficking.

The longer this crisis - and its attendant implications for women's autonomy - lasts, the more intractable it seems. However, there are two measures that would get the ball rolling. Firstly, the international community should increase pressure on the Myanmar Government to repeal its 1982 Citizenship Law, as this has effectively rendered the Rohingya stateless. Any new legislation must comply with international human rights standards, including Article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (which establishes equal citizenship rights for women). Secondly, further evidence needs to be collected, in the form of victims' testimonies and presented at the UN Committee Against Torture. The late Professor Rhonda Copelon, a personal heroine of mine, was instrumental in re-characterising rape as a form of torture in international law. As Co-Founder of the International Women's Human Rights Clinic at City University New York, she made tremendous strides for sexual violence victims in Haiti and Iraq, among others. It is high time the abuse of the Rohingya women was treated with the same urgency, regardless of their citizenship status in a country they have existed in since (at least) the 15th century.

Tehmina Kazi,Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy

    • Rohingya Exodus