Although a normal person like me doesn’t deserve to point to a person recognized by the world as ‘peace icon’ and called ‘Mother’ by a nation of 60 million sometimes and ‘aunt’ sometimes, I believe the situation of rapes of hundreds of virgins, killing of thousands of innocents, being refugee of about 100,000 person in their own homeland and burning of thousands of houses, mosques and properties into ashes justifies my writing here few words.

Here is a NLD membership card signed by the Lady. Let me translate it first for non-Burmese speakers.
This card is issued by NLD to a Rohingya member where NLD recognized his race a ‘Rohingya’ and his religion as ‘Islam’. After she had signed this card, where will she will hide the face with which she said, “I don’t know’’ when asked in her Europe trip about the world most persecuted minority of her country? If it means anything, it means nothing except that this people is weakened during 70 years of systematic persecution to the extent, as she might think, that they can’t protest if said the Sun rises from the west.

She has been making the world fool for five month by her deceiving words bearing double meaning. Also her answer to the question regarding Rohingya was ‘Rule of Law’. Do you, Dear Aunt, mean the democratic law that is enjoyed by your son in USA, that made the ragged child of African dessert lead the most powerful nation of the world, or you mean the law that you suffered from as a home arrestee in Burma? Really if you meant true democratic law, those human lives, bloods and dignities would not be so cheap in Arakan, the tears would not be so fruitless. As an icon of democracy, If you had uttered few words abiding by UDHR, we wouldn’t see the tragedies in Arakan.

Let me know what would be the attitude of the Martyr of freedom Mr. Aung San if his daughter was being raped by evils like Rakhines who are practicing all crimes against Muslim women in Arakan.

"I am urging tolerance but I do not think one should use one's moral leadership, if you want to call it that, to promote a particular cause without really looking at the sources of the problems," Suu Kyi told the BBC. The genocidal atrocities have been ongoing for five month. Perhaps after eradicating Muslim existence fully you will look at the sources of the problem. When will you move to calm the situation down? Rohingya don’t demand your moral leadership. Just speak out in favor of either side you see the truth with. Let me know what are these in your sight: hundreds of Rohingya women are raped, sometimes into death (not only a claim, but we have full databases) ; Muslims are swept out of tens villages; thousands of youth are arrested for no reason and sentenced to 10 to 20 years of jail; thousands of innocents are killed; more than 100,000 are displaced?

How ill-luck this Rohingya is who have to become Refugee in his own homeland!

There is also no stronger proof of government support for Rakhines in the current riots than its failure to stop the so-called sectarian riots for five months, while it cracked down in few days the nationwide anti-government uprisings like 2007 Saffron Revolution and 1988 student uprising, while it has been defending its country against all minority arm rebel like KNU, ALP, etc. for about seven decades.

Is it democracy or hypocrisy?

You should be deceived neither by the thinking that your Burmanization plan will sooner or later come to exist nor the thinking that the Rakhines will leave you without making next target after they get rid of Rohingyas in the cause of fulfilling their dream of founding alleged Rakhine kingdom.

In conclusion, I want to call you ‘The Daughter’ while people call you ‘the Lady’. Because the first massacre committed by these Rakhines against the Rohingyas occurred in the time of General Aung San in 1942 that left a bitter scar in the hearts of Rohingyas. Before having been healed, the current bloodshed is the next bloody aggression that occurs in your time. 

Maung Zarni
Al Jazeera
November 15, 2012

Myanmar's reforms are more about the interests and longevity of the country's military than about public welfare.

President Thein Sein's government has embarked on reforms, ending Myanmar's international pariah status and half-century of isolation, both self-imposed and externally-maintained [EPA]

In a week's time, US President Barak Obama is scheduled to visit Asia's - and perhaps the world's - hottest destination: Myanmar. He should "see" the ugly realities of the country's reforms that lie just beneath their surface and hear the cries of the wretched of Myanmar, such as the Muslim Rohingya and the Christian Kachins.

These days, Myanmar's coming out party is the talk of the town since President Thein Sein's government has embarked on reforms, ending the country's international pariah status and half-century of isolation, both self-imposed and externally-maintained.

The generals' rule since 1962 has resulted in policy-induced poverty, prolonged internal conflicts and international isolation, with devastating societal consequences. Despite its firm grip on power, the generals never really felt either secure or confident about their reign. They have always felt they are riding on the back of an angry and wounded tiger.

Through their eyes, reforms - and bringing on board Aung San Suu Kyi, their long-time nemesis - is the last resort both for themselves and the society at large. This is the existential background against which changes in Myanmar need to be understood.

As a welcome gesture, just about every leader of both the "free world" of the West and "un-free and semi-free worlds" of the East have hurried their way to Naypyidaw, Myanmar's purpose-built capital replete with North Korean-designed underground tunnels and bunkers. The freshly re-elected US President Barak Obama will top this list of international visitors who have thrown their weight behind the generals' reforms, with the Lady's blessings.

Development and humanitarian packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been pledged, a significant quantity of foreign debt to the tune of $3.7bn forgiven and official superlatives praise about Myanmar's changes thrown around in Washington, Tokyo, London, Berlin, Paris, Oslo, Brussels and so on. New offices are springing in Myanmar. Every visitor or long-stay visitor to Myanmar is now involved in "institution- and capacity-building" of one kind or another. Investors, insurers and do-gooders alike are all elated. Finally, Myanmar has arrived.

But there is more to the hyperboles of this "model transition", as Washington put it, than meets the eyes.

Collective future of Myanmar

What really triggers these changes is as important to understand what prospects - and challenges - lie ahead. Further, what real-world impact are these unfolding reforms having on the lives of the public, ethnic majority Bama and non-Bama ethnic minorities such as the Kachins in the North, the Rohingya in the West, the Shans and the Karens in the East?

Historically, it was the generals' fear of the loss of their half-century grip on power and wealth that led to state-ordered chronic waves of bloodbaths since "8.8.88 Popular Uprising" when the entire nation rose up against the one-party military dictatorship of General Ne Win. In 2012, nearly a quarter century after the country's greatest revolt in modern history, it is again the same fear factor that has propelled the generals to make moves: Reform the institutions and reform the way they rule the population.

Shwe Mann, Speaker of the Lower House, reportedly admitted the generals' collective fear. Within an hour of his meeting with the visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the parliament in December last year, the former third most powerful general in Than Shwe's ruling council was telling the Myanmarese journalists, "We do not want to end up like the Arab dictators. One day they were very powerful. The next day they died ignoble deaths."

Of course, Washington's new strategy of "pivoting" back to Asia has also made it possible for the generals to come out of their bunkers, literally and figuratively. The Americans wanted the Myanmarese to walk away, as much as geo-strategically possible, from Beijing's embrace. The Myanmarese, on their part, are grateful to Washington in helping wean them of China's international protection, ironically, against Washington's perceived attempts at regime change in Myanmar. This is a classic geo-strategic symbiosis that is looking increasingly promising for the Myanmarese and the Americans.

However, through the natives' eyes, that is, the Myanmar public, the country's recent history stands in the way of embracing the outsiders' rose-tinted views of Myanmar's reforms. They don't share the international community's "reckless optimism" about its collective future. The generals' past waves of nation-building have been nothing but national nightmares.

Since 1962, Myanmarese military leaders have made and re-made themselves first as "socialist soldiers" bent on building a socialist economy and now overzealous "capitalist democrats" embracing the Free Market with fist and fury.

Fifty years ago, the late General Ne Win, then commander-in-chief, green-lighted to deputies to end the country's fragile parliamentary democracy and build a "socialist democracy". Overnight, military officers who had never dreamt of socialism to be their guiding light were ordered to become the cadres of the Burma Socialist Programme Party. This socialist experiment ended up as a policy and system failure with devastating societal consequences in terms of human resources, public health, ethnic relations, economy and culture. The 25 years of continued military rule post-socialist dictatorship has only made the social legacy even worse.

Almost 50 years after the late General Ne Win's military's socialist experiment, the "retired" Senior General Than Shwe ordered his juniors to discharge their new mission of building a "discipline flourishing democracy". Like the theatrical director, he slotted his deputies to play Speakers of the Houses, Chairman of the new army-backed ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, Commander-in-Chief, and so on.

'Buy-the-impoverished-population' approach

In Naypyidaw's new play, the soldiers are to form the backbone of reform push as "democratisers", while western educated technocrats with developmental nationalism are to be advisers. Importantly, in this new cast of characters, the Lady too has an important role to play. The psyche-war savvy generals have worked on the Lady with a "soft spot" for the Army which her martyred father founded three years before she was born. Through the regime's eyes, it has bagged the only thing in the world it needed to make itself entirely acceptable to the West.

Indeed Aung San Suu Kyi has ceremoniously helped sell the generals' new play to the world while unceremoniously choosing to remain silent on the military's war crimes against the Kachin minorities in Northern Myanmar, the ethno-religious cleansing of the Rohingya in Western Myanmar, or economic disempowerment of ordinary farmers whose ancestral land is being confiscated by army-owned mining and commercial agricultural companies.

To belabour the obvious, the ex-military officers and their active-duty brethren retain complete monopoly control over all aspects of reforms. In the new era of "democratic transition", these men, in skirts or in green shirts, continue to hold all levers of state power at all levels of administration, including "people's bicameral parliament", judiciary, foreign affairs and finance, besides their legitimate domain, namely state security apparatuses. And it is these "men on horseback", not collaborating dissidents or the advisory developmental technocrats, who determine the reforms' nature, scope, priorities and pace.

This is the picture that increasingly worries the Myanmar public who have borne the brunt of the military's policy, leadership and system failures. Here, the cynical Myanmar public know best.

Thousands displaced amidst Myanmar violence

In dealing with unhappy Arab Streets, the House of Saud, for instance, has thrown billions at the Sultanate subjects to placate the latter while the Jordanian crown has created wiggle room for its subjects. Former generals in Naypyidaw, or "Abode of Kings", have in part adopted this "buy-the-impoverished-population" approach. The catch here though is this: Unlike the House of Saud which sits on the world's largest reserve of "black gold", the cash-strapped reformist President Thein Sein - cash-strapped because the country's revenues have been stashed away in personal bank accounts of senior and junior generals - wants the international community, including the UN, international lending agencies and development banks, and "donor" countries, to foot his administration's bill.

Take, for instance, the literal cost of Naypyidaw's peace negotiations with ethnic armed resistance organisations. According to former Colonel Aung Min, the Union Minister for Peace and a confidant of the President, his government does not even pay the hotel bills for peace negotiators. Thankfully from Naypyidaw's perspective, Oslo, bent on rebuilding its tarnished image of a global peacemaker par excellence post-Sri Lanka conflict, has stepped up to the plate, and so have the local Myanmar cronies from Myanmar Egress, the best-known proxy for the Myanmar intelligence services. Everyone in the peace process is poised to reap commercial and/or strategic gains, if and when the country's war zones are transformed into multi-billion dollar special economic zones and ethnic guerrilla fighters "swap their guns for laptops", as President Thein Sein poetically put it.

Emphatically, the generals are, however, pursuing reforms largely for the wrong reasons - for their own long-term survival, both as powerful military families and as the most powerful institution with "a deeply ingrained corporate sense of entitlement to rule". Motives do matter. As a direct consequence, they remain wholly unprepared to do the needful in terms of what will really promote public welfare and advance the cause of freedom, human rights and democracy.

Negative consequences of the generals' reforms

As a matter of fact, the reforms are contradictory, reversible and fragile. They are confined to such narrow domains as freedom of speech, new business and investment law. That is, the areas important to middle class Western liberals and attractive to venture capitalists and corporations. Further, reform moves bypass active conflict zones, strategic buffer areas and resource-rich virgin lands.

When it comes to economically and strategically important regions on the country's peripheries, that is, the ancestral homes of the country's 40 percent of ethnic minorities such as the Kachin, the Rakhine, the Shan, the Karen, the Mon and the Karenni, the reforms simply translate into forced displacement, the rise in militarisation, a sharp increase in war-fleeing refugees, loss of livelihoods and so on. It is indeed no coincidence that all fresh waves of violence, atrocities and raging wars happen to be in the ethnic minority regions designated to be homes of virtually all mega-development initiatives, commercial projects, resource extraction, Special Economic zones and industrial agricultural schemes - worth billions of dollars.

Curiously, both the origin and tail of China's 2,800-plus kilometre-long twin pipeline bear witness to the unfolding violence: Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in the coastal region where the pipelines begin and the hot war against the Kachins in the Sino-Myanmar highlands of Northern Myanmar. To date, close to an estimate 100,000 Rohingyas have been caged in new UN-financed refugee camps on the west coast while roughly the same number of Kachins in the North have fled the war on their ancestral highlands. On the eastern side of Myanmar along Thai-Myanmar borders, donor agencies, for instance, Britain's Department For International Development (DFID) and the host country of Thailand are preparing to repatriate another 150,000 Karen and Karenni war refugees back to their regions, despite the absence there of either a meaningful and functioning ceasefire or lasting peace.

Because these wars and atrocities are off the beaten-path and largely inaccessible to the UN and other aid agencies, the dark side of Myanmar's economic reforms by and large go unnoticed except by the US military's surveillance satellites, which captured images of entire neighbourhoods in the strategic deep-sea port city of Kyauk Phyu razed to the ground. Why pay compensation for relocating a popularly disliked ethnic and religious minority community from strategically and commercially important locations if you can drive them out to the sea and torch their homes completely? These state-orchestrated crime scenes also lie outside the purview of the growing pool of visiting dignitaries, renowned experts and international statesmen and women on their whirlwind state visits to Myanmar.

More ominously, many international agencies and national governments by and large view this ugly side of development - ethnic, class and provincial conflicts, large scale displacement, pervasive land confiscation, absence of human and food security, growing income disparity, etc - as the necessary cost locals must bear if they are to enjoy projected fruits of developmental reforms in some distant future. Here, the prevailing two-fold ideology of unfettered development and "sustainable economic growth" is at work.

Even the country's iconic politician Aung San Suu Kyi, who has never set foot on active war zones of ethnic minorities, lacks any empirical understanding or experience to truly appreciate the negative consequences of the generals' reforms she is helping market in Western capitals with great success.

New era of reforms and 'Buddhist' racism

The regime's pursuit of peace with armed ethnic resistance communities warrants a closer scrutiny than has been subject to. While running the country that has not seen real peace since independence from Britain 60-plus years ago, the generals talk the talk of peace, but do not walk the walk.

Take, for instance, its hyped-up ceasefire talks with two of the country's oldest and most resolute revolutionary organisations - the Karen National Union in Eastern Myanmar and the Kachin Independence Organisation in Northern Myanmar. The widespread perception among the Kachin and Karen negotiators, and respective communities, is that the reformist government is more intent on imposing peace on its own terms, more or less. Naypyidaw is far more interested in exploiting natural resources in minority regions and securing strategic and commercial routes there than discussing seriously about the root cause of the country's ethnic rebellions, namely political autonomy founded on the principle of ethnic equality.

The Kachins who maintained a truce for 17 years no longer feel they could trust the Myanmar generals who attempted to lure them into trading the Kachins' collective drive for political autonomy in a genuinely federated Union of Myanmar for commercial deals for the Kachin upper crust.

This has led to Ko Mya Aye, one of the most prominent dissidents from the 88 Generation Group who travelled to the war zone and met with the Kachin resistance leaders, to remark pointedly, "The Burmese government knows what to change in order to have peace, but they do not want to do it. The government just does a little to look good to the international community". Myanmar's reforms are, upon closer look, more about the interests and longevity of the country's military and army-bred crony interests than about inter-ethnic and inter-faith peace, public welfare or democracy.

Upon a closer and honest look, Myanmar's extraordinary reforms begin to lose their lustre.

There is no denying that the country's quasi-civilian government has ushered in a new era of reforms. However, the types of reforms that President Thein Sein - an ex-general and a figurehead - is pursuing are the ones that will protect the military's core interests above all else. At heart, the reforms are largely geared towards creating a "late developmental state" along the lines of Vietnam and China, a benign Leviathan that will secure the generals' electability on the basis of its economic performance and along popular "Buddhist" racism. When the illiberal society's deeply ingrained racism thunders the traditionally liberal discourses of human rights, democracy and multi-culturalism go muted.

The current reform movement therefore lacks any real potential to result in a new democratic polity which will build, and in turn feeds off, a new and sustainable economic system. Sadly, the West and the rest alike are choosing to overlook the apparent pitfalls of Myanmar's reforms, ignoring the cries of the wretched of a new Myanmar.

Maung Zarni is founder of the Free Burma Coalition (1995-2004) and a visiting fellow (2011-13) at the Department of International Development, London School of Economics. His forthcoming book on Myanmar will be published by Yale University Press.

Bernama
November 14, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR -- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has urged re-elected US President Barack Obama to raise the critical issue of violence against Rohingya Muslims, during his visit to Myanmar on Nov 19.

He urged the president to raise the issue with Myanmar's highest authorities and its opposition leader, to end the violence immediately. He believes that this is the first step to restoring peace in the country and for national reconciliation in maintaining its democratisation.

This should also include the protection of human rights for all ethnic minority groups, the OIC reported him as saying in a letter to Obama on Tuesday. According to several reports, Obama's purpose of going to Myanmar is to meet President Thein Sein, as well as Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The OIC secretary-general also drew the president's attention to the critical situation of the Rohingya minorities in Myanmar, who are facing continuous repression and violation of human rights.

Ihsanoglu said, this was an issue of serious concern for the international community and particularly, for the Muslim world, adding that OIC was concerned with the scale of violence which was becoming dangerously close to a situation of ethnic cleansing.

He said that on Sept 5, a high-level OIC delegation had gone to Myanmar to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Myanmar Government to set up an office there. However, the office was not established as the Myanmar Government had retracted from the agreement.

He added that a special discussion on the Rohingya issue would be held during the 39th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in the Republic of Djibouti from Nov 15 to 17.

There is a lot of emphasis on the Rohingya issue because the OIC is concerned about the disastrous effects it could have on the country and the world, with regard to peace and security.

In his letter to Obama, Ihsanoglu also pointed out that the OIC had repeatedly urged the Myanmar Government to take immediate steps to end the violence and create a conducive environment for national reconciliation. This could be done by addressing the root cause of the problem, such as the exclusion of the Rohingya Muslims from ongoing reform process.

"The Rohingya minorities should not be overlooked because of the new regime in Myanmar.

"The government of Myanmar has a moral and legal obligation to protect the oppressed minorities, to restore their citizenship, to allow them to return to their homes and to put an end to the hate campaign against them," he noted.

AFP
November 14, 2012

PERTH: President Barack Obama will discuss the deadly sectarian violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state during his historic visit to the country, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

She will accompany Obama next week when he makes the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president, during which he will meet both President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Clinton said unrest between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in the western state of Rakhine would "of course" feature in Obama's talks.

The clashes in that region have so far claimed 180 lives and forced more than 110,000, mainly Rohingya, into makeshift camps.

"We've condemned that violence, we've called for calm and a meaningful dialogue to address the legitimate needs that are at the base of these underlying issues," said Clinton.

"And certainly we expect the Burmese authorities to ensure the security and safety of all of the people in the area and to act expeditiously both to stop violence and investigate it, and bring those responsible to justice."

During the visit Obama will deepen his support for the reform process launched by Myanmar's president which has seen Suu Kyi, who had been under house arrest for years, become a member of parliament.

Clinton said Obama's visit was a sign of how far long-isolated Myanmar, formerly know as Burma, had come and reflected an "action-for-action" approach to positive changes there.

"The reforms have a long way to go, the future is not certain, but we are making progress and we want to see that progress continue," Clinton told reporters.

Washington restored diplomatic relations with Myanmar and ended sanctions on investment in July. 

WASHINGTON, America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization today called on President Obama to use his upcoming visit to Myanmar (formerly Burma) to address the systematic persecution of that nation's Rohingya Muslim minority.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the Rohingya people are denied citizenship and land rights, despite having lived in Myanmar for centuries. Hundreds of Rohingya have been killed and thousands displaced by what appears to be systematic ethnic-cleansing backed by elements of the Myanmar government.

According to a Reuters news agency investigation: "The wave of attacks was organized, central-government military sources told Reuters. They were led by Rakhine nationalists tied to a powerful political party in the state, incited by Buddhist monks, and, some witnesses said, abetted at times by local security forces."

Government Forces Targeting Rohingya Muslims here 

In a letter to President Obama, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote:

"I congratulate you on your recent re-election and look forward to the strengthening of our nation's economy and security. A significant part of America's strength is derived from our defense of human rights worldwide.

"I therefore respectfully request that you speak out clearly and forcefully in defense of the human rights and physical security of Rohingya Muslims during your upcoming visit to Myanmar.

"While we all welcome Myanmar's recent move to democracy, our nation must not turn a blind eye to what is one of the worst examples of human rights violations in recent history.

"I urge you to make any upgrade in the status of Myanmar as a trading or political partner contingent on its government's willingness to recognize the rights of Rohingya Muslims and to protect them and their property from harm."

In August, CAIR sent letters to the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh seeking protection for Rohingya Muslims who faced a renewed wave of ethnic and religious persecution.

SEE: CAIR Asks Myanmar, Bangladesh to Protect Rohingya Muslims http://tinyurl.com/a9kst3a

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

Evidence is mounting that attacks on the Rohingya are not just skirmishes but an organised pogrom

“Please treat us like human beings” the sign reads. It is one of several placards held up by the emaciated inhabitants of a refugee camp in Rakhine state, Burma, captured in a photograph taken by locals. 

It can hardly be said to be an unreasonable plea. Sadly, it may be a hopeless one-for those making the appeal- the Rohingya people of Burma- are not treated like human beings. Instead, they are a stateless minority, suffering from the continual threat of racist violence from their neighbours. This year 100,000 or more have been driven from their homes by mob attacks, which destroyed entire villages and neighbourhoods  . 

Sources within Burma have sent a plethora of photos, pixellated phone videos, and messages to me this week, desperate to share visible records of their suffering. The refugee camp protest photo is certainly among the least upsetting files I’ve received. Some appear to show the victims of ethnic violence in June; others appear to be from last month’s equally bloody riots. They are, for the most part, harrowing and gruesome: shots of dead babies; corpses putrefying on beaches; young people shot in the groin or stomach; purported torture victims. Such horrors, I am told, are the result of intentional pogroms - not mere “ethnic skirmishes” as some have portrayed events. 

Police attacks 

In addition to visual evidence, I have received compelling witness testimony. One source from Sittwe told me that he had clearly observed police involvement in some of this year’s violence. He stated that a group of thousands of Rakhine “including police, security forces” had surrounded the Rohingya area in June and that “everybody [in the mob] had a sword, some had weapons, some guns.” He saw that houses were subjected to arson attacks, after which time the occupants fled their homes only to be attacked by the crowd. “Rakhine started killing us, our people tried to protect [themselves]…at that time police shot us.” 

Such claims of systematic, discriminatory violence are supported by independent analysis. Andrew Heyn, Britain’s ambassador to Burma told Radio 4 recently that “there’s compelling evidence, that this latest wave of attacks [against the Rohingya]...were pre-planned, coordinated and organised.” 

Adding to the case for high-level involvement, a Reuters investigation released this weekend quoted senior political sources as stating that the recent attacks against Rohingya were “led by Rakhine nationalists tied to a powerful political party in the state, incited by Buddhist monks, and… abetted at times by local security forces.” 

It’s clear that the Rohingya have also been the target of hostility from a large number of Buddhist monks, who are influential among the population. Yet one prominent Buddhist figure has spoken out, arguing that political forces are seeking to stir up inter-communal animosities for their own gain. Ashin Gambhira, a monk who was heavily involved in 2007’s brutally suppressedSaffron revolution, wrote recently: “the neo-military dictatorship has exploited and fostered a new national crisis, a religious conflict, the Rakhine-Rohingya conflict, for its own purposes… These clashes were encouraged by the military.” 

This is ethnic cleansing 

American human rights advocate Dr. Nora Rowley, drawing on her experience of working in Burma, told me that the attacks on the Rohingya were “absolutely” being backed by members of the former military junta, now incorporated into the political elite. She suggested “what we need right now is to connect the regime with what’s going on so the international community know it’s not an internal matter.” 

I asked her what she believes will happen if nothing is done to protect the victims. “Ethnic cleansing completion,” was her terse reply. 

The recent news that Barack Obama is set to visit Burma’s President Thein Sein in coming days has been the source of some hope to those that imagine he may seek to press Burma on the plight of the Rohingya. Yet there is room for pessimism: American business interests in the country are strong, as are geo-political concerns - Burma sits between two regional powers, India and China, and Washington will be mindful of the importance of gaining a stronger foothold in the strategically-positioned country. As a result, Obama may not push too hard on an issue that is domestically controversial in order to advance other agendas. 

However, as I have argued before, the safety of the imperiled Rohingya people is an issue of major concern to those who value the rights of threatened minorities - and the shame will belong to all of us if the world fails to prevent an entirely predictable humanitarian catastrophe in the near future. More has to be done. 

- Independent UK-

UNHCR is seriously concerned at recent boat tragedies in the Bay of Bengal involving people fleeing feeling insecurity and violence in Myanmar. We are calling on countries in the region to strengthen burden-sharing in the face of this growing humanitarian emergency.

In the last two weeks, there have been reports of two boats sinking in the Bay of Bengal with an estimated 240 people, among them Rohingyas from Myanmar's Rakhine state. UNHCR cannot confirm the figures as we have no presence near the wreck sites, but available information is that more than 40 people have been rescued from the two boats. There were reports of bodies seen floating in the water.

These two incidents mark an alarming start to the traditional sailing season in the Bay of Bengal, when a mix of asylum seekers and irregular migrants risk their lives on fishing boats in the hope of finding safety and a better life in South-East Asia. An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people left from the Bay of Bengal during the previous sailing season from October 2011 to March 2012. There are fears many more could follow in the coming weeks, driven by desperation and hopelessness.

UNHCR is urging the government of Myanmar to take urgent action to address some of the main push-factors especially issues connected with the problem of citizenship and statelessness in relation to the Rohingyas. The already precarious situation in Rakhine state was exacerbated in June and most recently again in October this year when inter-communal violence broke out, killing dozens of people, destroying thousands of homes and displacing more than 110,000 people.

A fragile calm has returned but tensions remain high. In addition to providing urgent humanitarian assistance to both affected communities, the root causes need to be resolved for the Rohingyas so that they can lead normal lives where they are.

In the meantime, UNHCR is calling on governments in the region to keep their borders open to people seeking asylum and international protection from Myanmar. We stand ready to support states in assisting and protecting these individuals.

UNHCR is alarmed by reports of countries either pushing back boats from their shores or helping them on to another country. We are appealing to these governments to uphold their long tradition of providing humanitarian aid to refugees instead of shifting the responsibility to another state.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

In Bangkok: Vivian Tan, mobile +66 818 270 280

In Geneva: Babar Baloch on mobile +41 79 557 9106

-AlertNet-

RB News Desk

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Pauktaw Township, Arakan (Rakhine) State, have refused to sign government-issued registration forms in order to push for recognition as an official minority.

Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project humanitarian group which works for Rohingya rights, told The Irrawaddythat local people are not happy that the authorities erased the term “Rohingya” from completed forms and instead replaced it with “Bengali.”

Almost all members of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Pauktaw Township have since refused to cooperate with the fortnight-old registration process which was ostensibly initiated to get accurate numbers for the different communities present there.

Local people feared that they would be declared illegal migrants and deported if they registered under the loaded term “Bengali,” which used by many Burmese in the belief that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. This claim is vehemently denied by the Rohinyga who highlight that many of their community have lived in Burma for generations.

Border authorities, Burmese soldiers, immigration officials, police and Arakanese politicians from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) have been attempting a house-to-house registration procedure to check personal details.

A field report from the Arakan Project revealed that from the very first day those who refused to use the term “Bengali” were removed from the survey.

On Saturday, Rohingya in Set Kyi Pyin Village informed the local authorities that they would only sign the forms if United Nations and Association of Southeast Asian Nations representatives were present as witnesses, according to the Arakan Project.

Meanwhile, Thet Tun, a MP for the RNDP in the Arakan State Parliament, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the term “Rohingya” was invented. “They are Bengali, but they do not accept it any more now and they only accepted the term Rohingya,” he said.

Thet Tun added that around 1,800 displaced people at a refugee camp In Nget Chaung Village refused to cooperate with the authorities and register unless they were allowed to be called Rohingya.

The Arakan Project accused the local authorities of forcing people to sign the registration form by threatening that they otherwise would not receive clothes for their children or help rebuilding burned houses.

The Arakan State government formed a committee last month to register every township in its boundaries. From this body, 15 separate groups attempted the village-to-village registration process in Pauktaw Township.

Individuals being surveyed were presented with a four-page form. The first details name, age, village, occupation, education, marital status, race and possessed documents. The second has ancestral details, grandparents, great-grandparents and immigration information. The third includes criminal convictions or proceedings, while the final page is for a signature or fingerprint. There are 135 official ethnic groups in Burma according to the widely-condemned 1982 citizenship law enacted by former dictator Gen Ne Win. The Rohingya are not included amongst this number and have faced restrictions on travel, marriage and reproduction as a consequence.

Sources :The Irrawaddy.

RB News
November 13, 2012

Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, spoke today at a press conference held in British Parliament on the Rohingya crisis. The press conference was organized by Rushanara Ali MP, Labour shadow minister for International Development. The main speakers at the press conference are Rushanara Ali MP Jonathan Ashworth MP, Baroness Kinnock Chairman of All Party Parliamentary Group Democracy for Burma, Sadiq Khan Shadow Justice Secretary, Baroness Uddin from House of Lords, Tun Khin President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Mark Farmaner from Burma Campaign UK. At the Press conference MP’s office staffs, NGOs, Foreign Common Wealth Office staff and Medias were attended.

All MPs spoke about their continued efforts on Rohingyas crisis and will continue to pressure the British government to speak up for Rohingya people and other people who are facing human rights violations. MPs pointed out they will keep up the pressure in Parliament and elsewhere to make sure that Rohingya issue is not forgotten and they all will campaign together to make sure people lives are protected. End of the press conference MPs made some future action plans and interviewed by some MPs.

Tun Khin, BROUK President, said, “We are grateful to British high profile MPs and Ministers who are concerned about ethnic cleansing on Rohingyas. It is very encouraging for all the Rohingya people that British MPs and ministers are so active on Rohingya issue. The Burmese Government must be held to account for how they are treating the Muslim people of Burma. Injustice is being done to the Rohingya people.”

BROUK highlighted to the MPs Burma is failing to protect its Rohingya population, the “responsibility to protect” them or the duty to prevent and halt mass atrocities, now lies with the international community”. Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK urged UK government and international community for the followings;

1. Put pressure on the Burmese government to stop all violence and intimidation against the Rohingya.
2. Support sending UN Peacekeeping Force and international observers to Arakan State.
3. Ensure unhindered delivery of humanitarian aids to the victims.
4. Support the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry in order to establish the true facts and bring those responsible to justice.
5. Put pressure on the government of Burma to repeal and replace the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law with a law in line with international law standards and human rights principles.

For more information, please contact Tun Khin +44 7888 714 866.

Nyi Nyi Aung
RB News
November 12, 2012

Pauktaw, Arakan - Yesterday (i.e. on 11th November 2012), Six Educated Rohingyas from the refugee camp of Thantet Maw (Sandama), Pauktaw Township, were arrested by Police. These internally displaced people were the victims of the recent violence in Kyauk-Phyu Township who sought refuge in Pauktaw. The details of the arrestees are given below.

No. Name Father’s Name Age Address in Kyauk Phyu

1. U Kyaw Oo U Kyaw Daing 40 Paik Seik
2. U Tauyub U Farooque 40 Paik Seik
3. U Hla Phyu Chay U Nazumuddin 28 Paik Seik
4. U Maung Maung Chay U Nazumuddin 30 Paik Seik
5. U Jalal U Nazumuddin 35 Paik Seik
6. U Ba Phu U Nazumuddin 37 Paik Seik

Though Police did not give any reason why they have arrested these people, according to other Rohingyas, they were arrested because they refused to sign on the paper terming themselves (Rohingyas) as Bengalis. Besides, the similar process is being carried out against Rohingyas in the village of Anauk Rai, Pauktaw Tsp as well. Authority is forcing Rohingyas to sign on the papers on which it is written that they (Rohingyas) are not Rohingyas but Bengalis. Those who refuse are being inhumanely tortured and detained.

Recently, Burmese government has formed a commission consist of Military, NaSaKa (Border Security Affairs), Immigration and Rakhine extremists in response to the call of the UN High Commissioner for the Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, to give Citizenship to Rohingyas. But what actually Burmese government doing is the re-implementation of a black law established by the late dictator Gen. Ne Win. This 1982 Citizenship Law of Burma was coined and specifically designed to expulse Rohingyas out of Myanmar. The law clearly violates Article 15, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Edited by M.S. Anwar

Yesterday’s announcement that President Obama will become the first U.S. President to visit Burma marks an historic step in the United States’ engagement with Burma. In the past year, since President Obama first noted “flickers of progress” in Burma – and since Secretary Clinton became the most senior U.S. official to visit since 1955 – we have seen continued progress on the road to democracy. Several opposition political parties have been permitted to register legally for the first time and their members – including Aung San Suu Kyi – have been elected to parliament. Restrictions on the press have been eased. Legislation has been enacted to expand the rights of workers to form labor unions, and to outlaw forced labor. The government has signed an action plan aimed at ridding its army of child soldiers; it has pledged to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to help ensure that Burma’s natural wealth is not squandered to corruption; and it has announced fragile ceasefires in several longstanding ethnic conflicts. 

Seeing these signs of progress, we have responded in kind, with specific steps to recognize the government’s efforts and encourage further reform. We have eased sanctions, appointed our first ambassador in 22 years, and opened a USAID mission. At the same time, we have also updated sanctions authorities that allow us to target those who interfere with the peace process or the transition to democracy, and we created a ground-breaking framework for responsible investment from the United States that encourages transparency and oversight. 

We are clear-eyed about the challenges that Burma faces. The peril faced by the stateless Rohingya population in Rakhine State is particularly urgent, and we have joined the international community in expressing deep concern about recent violence that has left hundreds dead, displaced over 110,000, and destroyed thousands of homes. There is much work to be done to foster peace and reconciliation in other ethnic conflicts, develop the justice sector, and cultivate the free press and robust civil society that are the checks and balances needed in any stable democracy. But we also see an historic opportunity both to help Burma lock in the progress that it has made so far—so that it becomes irreversible—and to meet the many challenges in front of it. In May 2011, as the Arab Spring took hold, the President noted that America’s interests are served when ordinary people are empowered to chart their own political and economic futures. And to governments, he made a promise: if you take the risks that reform entails, you will have the full support of the United States. 

Last month, as part of our effort to fulfill that promise, the Obama administration held the first-ever official bilateral dialogue on human rights with the Government of Burma. Led by Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy Human Rights and Labor, the purpose was to initiate a new channel between our two countries to discuss challenges ahead – a high-level exchange on urgent and delicate issues that would have been unthinkable a year ago. Our delegation included not only Posner, Ambassador Derek Mitchell, and other State Department officials, but also senior officials from the White House, the Vice President’s office, USAID, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense, including both civilian officials and uniformed military. The delegation included experts on labor rights and economic development, rule of law and political reform, ethnic conflict and reconciliation, land-mine removal, and criminal justice. Our hosts included senior advisors to President Thein Sein and ministers and senior officials from across the Burmese government and military. Aung San Suu Kyi attended in her capacity as a member of parliament and the chair of a new legislative committee on the rule of law. 

Before the official dialogue began, the U.S. delegation spent three days in Rangoon meeting with former political prisoners, ethnic minority leaders, labor advocates, LGBT organizations (who said that this was the first time any government had ever invited them to meet together), and other members of Burma’s nascent civil society. When we sat down for our official dialogue in Naypyidaw, we were able to convey the concerns raised in these meetings to our counterparts, while also stressing the importance of their building an inclusive reform dialogue that would seek inputs from Burmese civil society. 

The U.S. government engages with many countries around the world in official dialogues on human rights. While these discussions are often a useful forum for diplomacy, it is fair to say that these conversations can sometimes be stilted, characterized by predictable presentations rather than a spontaneous back-and-forth in which uncertainty can be expressed. The U.S.-Burma dialogue was unusually high-energy and candid. 

We both recognized the need to empower reformers in and out of government, protect against backsliding, and ensure the broader Burmese public feels the changes afoot. One of the most challenging aspects of reform is enlisting the country’s military, which governed the country through authoritarian rule for five decades. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Francis Wiercinski drew on his own experiences to make a powerful case to senior officials from the Burmese Defense Ministry that national security is helped rather than hindered by transparency and independent monitoring, and by compliance with international humanitarian law and human rights law. The discussions, which emphasized areas where commitments to reform are necessary – including on child soldiers, forced labor, and in conflict areas – underscored that the gradual process of normalizing our military-to-military relationship will hinge on progress on human rights. 

Many of the issues that we discussed in detail will likely feature in the President’s upcoming trip to Burma. These included: 

Prisoners of conscience. The release of more than 700 political prisoners in the last year has been unprecedented. But as Secretary Clinton has made clear, for the United States even one prisoner of conscience is too many, and the State Department has passed along a list of those we are concerned remain imprisoned. In addition, as one ex-prisoner put it, “we have been released, but we are not free.” The released prisoners have a huge amount to offer a democratic Burma, but, as we noted, the government will need to lift outstanding travel and other restrictions in order for them to participate fully in society. 

Political reforms. Reforms have begun to change the political landscape, particularly as parliament has become more inclusive, and as representatives are increasingly answerable to their constituents. But efforts to build civil society, make government ministries responsive to the public, and create a more inclusive political process have just begun. In particular, the central government needs to tackle the challenge of ensuring that any reforms that are made by the parliament and central government are felt at the local level and especially in Burma’s border areas where the majority of the country’s ethnic minorities reside. 

Rule of law. The parliament and the executive branch have tackled part of an ambitious agenda for remaking Burma's law and legal institutions. But the judicial branch remains the least developed of Burma's political institutions. Judicial reform, repealing outdated and restrictive laws, educating citizens of their rights, creating a vibrant civil society to protect those rights, and remaking the legal system and the legal profession all are required to lay the foundation of rule of law in Burma, and all have a long way to go.

Peace and reconciliation. The challenge of ongoing ethnic and sectarian violence -- including in Shan State, Kachin State, and Rakhine State – remains an area of deep and on-going concern. If left unaddressed, it will undermine progress toward national reconciliation, stability, and lasting peace. Serious human rights abuses against civilians in several regions continue, including against women and children. Humanitarian access to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons remains a serious challenge and on-going crisis. The government and the ethnic nationalities need to work together urgently to find a path to lasting peace that addresses minority rights, deals with differences through dialogue not violence, heals the wounds of the past, and carries reforms forward. The situation in Rakhine State and the recent violence against the Rohingya and other Muslims last week only underscores the critical urgency of ensuring the safety and security of all individuals in the area, investigating all reports of violence and bringing those responsible to justice, according citizenship and full rights to the Rohingya, and bringing about economic opportunity for all local populations. 

Ultimately, Burma's reforms will succeed or fail based on the efforts of the Burmese people themselves. President Obama's policy approach has been to support reform and those championing it – an investment in Burma’s future that the President will personally reinforce later this month in Rangoon. Behind this investment is a commitment to helping the Burmese people see the promise that lasting reform holds for their country. As they take charge of their destiny, the American people stand ready to help. 

Samantha Power is the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the National Security Council .

Source: The White House Blog

President Barack Obama 

The White House 

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 

Washington, DC 20500-0004 

Date: November 09, 2012 

Sincerely,


Ko Ko Naing
Campaign Director (West Coast)
Tel: +1-561-628-0536
Email: knaing@freerohingyacampaign.com 

Geneva, IANS) The World Food Programme has said that it urgently needs $11 million to buy food for some 100,000 people displaced in the sectarian violence in Myanmar.

The food will be supplied to people in Rakhine state for next six months, WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said Tuesday.

Thousands of Muslims people have been affected in the state after communal violence erupted in June between the majority Buddhists and minority Muslims.

Byrs said that without an immediate donor response, WFP will be forced to cut the existing ration supplies.

-siasat-

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is preparing to hold a foreign ministerial meeting next week to discuss recent developments in Myanmar, where many Rohingya Muslim villages have come under attack by Buddhist mobs, forcing thousands to flee.

OIC is also mobilizing efforts to have the issue of the Rohingya Muslims, a group exposed to deliberate and systematic violence in Myanmar, addressed at the UN Security Council.

The OIC has been very active in bringing international attention to the plight of Rohingya Muslims. The organization held a high-level summit in Mecca in August, where resolutions were adopted providing tangible actions for implementation, including financial support and the appointment of an OIC special envoy for the issue.

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu had dispatched two high-level fact-finding delegations to Myanmar who met with Myanmar President Thein Sein, senior officials and members of the Rakhine community, in whose region the violence has been perpetrated. İhsanoğlu also sent letters to President Sein, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and Nobel Peace laureate and Chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi on the issue of Rohingya Muslims.

A total of 1 million Muslims live in Arakan province in Myanmar, the location of the recently escalating violence in the country, near Bangladesh. The first sign of violence appeared in June after claims that three Rohingya Muslims raped a Buddhist woman. After the incident, fanatical Buddhists started killing Muslims living in Arakan province and also burned houses and workplaces belonging to the minority group.

An estimated 9,000 Rohingyas took to land and sea routes in an attempt to escape the violence, adding to around 70,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) already in refugee camps before the recent attacks.

-Todayszaman-

-(Reuters) -