By Gaanashree Wood

The World Outline

September 24, 2013

An unholy partnership between peace advocating Buddhism and nationalism has been taking place in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. This new phenomenon of Buddhist extremism or radical Buddhism is sweeping through Asia, shattering all stereotypes about the religion.

Buddhism is typically perceived as a peace loving religion where monks in saffron coloured robes with shaved heads, spend most of their time meditating. Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka and Myanmar have begun a campaign of intolerance which has the two nations gripped in a violent frenzy against non-Buddhists.

Sri Lanka

Buddhist extremism first reared its ugly head in Sri Lanka in early 2012 when the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) began advocating an aggressive stance against Muslims. The BBS meaning the power of the Buddhist force is a Buddhist extremist group that has been steadily gaining popularity on the island. In Sri Lanka about 70% of the population are Sinhalese Buddhist.

The BBS have even released a statement boldly declaring “This is a government created by Sinhala Buddhists and it must remain Sinhala Buddhist. This is a Sinhala country, Sinhala government. Democratic and pluralistic values are killing the Sinhala race.” The anti-Islam campaign has gone as far as calling for a ban on halal products.

During Maghreb prayers on August 10, Buddhist extremists attacked the Molawatte mosque in Colombo, the capital city. The attackers stormed the mosque, smashing windows and injuring five people in the process. The attacks were triggered by long standing conflicts over the location of the mosque which was built too close to a Buddhist temple.

Despite the decision to relocate the mosque by the Minister of Religious Affairs, the mosque was still targeted. There was chanting amongst the masses saying, “this is a Sinhala Buddhist country and the Muslims and mosques should be thrown out.”

According to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Director for the Centre of Policy Alternatives, a Sri Lankan NGO, “This attack was obviously planned. It was perpetrated by ring-wing extremists groups infiltrated by Buddhist monks who resent Muslims. They accuse Muslims of trying to convert everyone. They see Muslims’ high birth rate as a threat to the country. But above all, they are jealous of the fact that a Muslim upper middle class has been flourishing in certain industries namely in fashion and textiles.”

Muslim-owned shops were also attacked in April. To date none of the perpetrators have been held accountable.

Last month UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay visited Sri Lanka where she expressed concerns over the recent attacks on religious minorities. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been downplaying the events and has yet to act in stopping the aggression towards Muslims.

Sinhala Buddhist nationalism seems to have flourished under Rajapaksa’s leadership. These feelings of resentment resonate with those that triggered the Sri Lankan civil war 30 years ago. Sadly, it is obvious that the Sri Lankan government has not learnt its lesson. Should the current situation continue to escalate, Sri Lanka could be doomed to repeat history.

Myanmar

Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk has been inciting religious intolerance and violence against the Muslims who mainly consist of the Rohingya. Wirathu left school at 14 to train as a monk and became involved in the 969 movement in 2001. The 969 movement refers to the nine special attributes of the Lord Buddha, six core Buddhist teachings and the nine attributes of monkhood.

His organisation’s mantra speaks of people who “live in our land, drink our water and are ungrateful to us…we [Buddhists] will build a fence with our bones if necessary to keep supremacist Muslims out.”

Wirathu was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment 2003 for inciting religious hatred but was released in 2010 along with other political prisoners. He has since been slowly gaining a large following all over Myanmar.

Wirathu in his speeches claims that Muslims are the “enemies” of Buddhism and that the Buddhist religion along with its followers, mainly the women had to be protected from the Muslims in the country.

According to several news reports, he is “proud to be called a radical Buddhist.” He has even referred to himself as the “Burmese Bin Ladin.”

When questioned about his radical beliefs, Wirathu claimed “You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog…I call them troublemakers because they are troublemakers.” Many have labelled Wirathu’s propaganda as the “ramblings of a sociopath.”

Wirathu’s anti-Islam campaign has resulted in lynch mobs rioting and attacking Muslims. In March there were attacks against Muslims in the state of Meikhtila which lasted 3 days. By the end, there were more than 40 casualties and the homes and stores of Muslims were looted and torched, leaving 10,000 people displaced.

On 21st July, a car bomb exploded during a Buddhist ceremony in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city. The blast took place about 18 metres away from where Wirathu was and wounded at least 5 people. Although no one has taken responsibility for the blast, fingers are being pointed at Muslims who are seeking revenge against Wirathu.

Early this month, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee established to oversee the country’s Buddhist monkhood issued a directive to curb the growing influence of monk-led movements that incite violence against the Muslims.

Since last year some 237 people have been killed and more than 150,000 have been displaced, the majority being Muslim. Many feel the government is not doing enough to protect its Muslim citizens. Despite the Burmese’s irrational fear of Buddhism disappearing, with just 5% of the population being Muslim there is little chance of Islam taking over.

Thich Quang Duc

Before radical Buddhism began stirring in Asia, Buddhist monks have long been viewed as symbols of peaceful resistance in their fight against colonisations, wars and oppressive governments. One of the most notable figures is Thich Quang Duc.

On 11 June 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk sat in the middle of a busy Saigon street in front of the Cambodian Embassy and set himself alight in protest of the repression against Buddhists by the then South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. Under Diem, Buddhists were restricted from openly practicing their religion, serving in the army and were routinely discriminated against.

When Thich Quang Duc and several other monks demanded religious equality, Diem brushed them off, claiming that no such “discrimination” was taking place.

This famous photo snapped by Malcolm Browne caught the attention of the international community. In reference to the photo, President John F. Kennedy said, “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.”

Following Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation, there was increased international pressure on Diem. However, Diem never implemented any reforms. Following further deterioration in the dispute, Diem was eventually assassinated in a coup on 2 November 1963, less then 5 months after Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation.

This form of protest still continues, especially in Tibet where Buddhist Tibetans continue to face ethnic cleansing by the Chinese government for over 50 years.

Backlash

In July there was a protest in Jakarta the capital city of Indonesia, Islamic hardliners called for a jihad against Myanmar. Protesters from the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) were carrying banners that read “FPI is ready to wage jihad. Go to Myanmar and carry out jihad for your Muslim brothers.” There have been several calls for jihad against Myanmar in the last year.

More recently, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Arakan, an Islamic group declared Burma a new front for jihad. The group which has ties to al-Qaeda is comprised of members from Burma, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

After more than a year of fighting, the Dalai Lama finally spoke out against the attacks in Myanmar. He condemned the killings and pleaded with monks to stop their rampage towards Muslims, “Buddha always teaches us about forgiveness, tolerance, compassion…if from one corner of your mind, some emotion makes you want to hit or want to kill, then please remember Buddha’s faith. We are followers of Buddha.”

Although she has fought for the rights of the Burmese people for decades, one wonders if Aung San Suu Kyi is aware that the Rohingya are part of Myanmar and also deserve the right to live in peace. As the face of Myanmer, Aung San Suu Kyi has yet to make any comments about this issue and has been accused of ignoring the problem.

Mantra of hatred

These monks have been exposed to the violence which engulfed their countries for decades. For years, the monks fought through peaceful means but recently seem to have changed their mantras to “fight fire with fire”.

In order to get their message across, monks have swapped their prayer beads for Molotov cocktails.

They have the power to make change happen just like Thich Quang Duc but there are those who abuse that power by channeling it towards violence and discrimination. Some where along the way, the line was crossed. The line between spiritual and political have now become blurred.

Photo credit: druidabruxux, R.Sterken, druidabruxux & Atlasshrugs

By Colin Hinshelwood

Democratic Voice of Burma

September 24, 2013

A parliamentary panel in Bangladesh has recommended birth control measures for Rohingya refugees, according to reports in Bangladeshi media.

In reporting the move, Dhaka-based news site bdnews24 claimed on Saturday that many of the 30,000 refugees registered at two camps in Cox’s Bazaar strive to have bigger families “to secure more rations”.

The report said that from the day a Rohingya refugee child is born, he or she qualifies for the full UN ration of 12 kg of rice each month, and that was the incentive for Rohingya couples to have large families.

The standing committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka has reportedly recommended stopping rations for any more than two children per family.

The news comes soon after calls were made in neighbouring Burma to introduce a policy limiting the Rohingya community to two children per family.

Neither Burma nor Bangladesh recognises the Muslim Rohingya community as citizens, and both governments have made efforts to force the other to accept the stateless Rohingya – one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, in the words of the UN.

“Myanmar [Burma] has ignored repeated calls by Bangladesh to take back its citizens,” saidbdnews24. “Dhaka claims the illegal Rohingyas are involved with various criminal activities. They have also been caught while accepting fake Bangladeshi passports.”

The parliamentary move to place restrictions on food aid to the Rohingyas with large families follows comments made last month by Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni who told a representative of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, that Bangladesh was “already hosting a huge population of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar [Burma] and could not take in more.”

But Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Arakan Project, pointed to the fact that there are already cases of chronic malnutrition in the Cox’s Bazaar refugee camps in southern Bangladesh. “Cutting food rations to already malnourished children will put their lives at risk,” she said.

By Azaad Bin Arakan (MYARF)

RB Article

September 23, 2013

History teaches us the past. Today, we can learn so much from it. Generally, history is read to practice the good, in order to improve our present world. It is also to learn the bad, in order to it prevent happening in our world in the future. Therefore, history becomes our guiding star. 

According to history, it is very certain that the scale of people killed, is enormously weightier than the scale of recued people. This, because history is loaded with many innocent soul takers. In past, one had killed millions. One had killed thousands. One had hundreds, etc. Also in present, one is killing an ethnic group. One is killing thousands of people. Another one is killing innocent civilians and so on. 

However, not only in past, but also in present, history is not still proud of a person who has ever rescued hundreds or thousands of people. This is what history still lacks! They had killed millions people in their time because the age was power without justice. Today our modern world is full of United groups and organizations but we cannot rescue thousands people in our time. If is internationally possible when a person is merciless to kill another, another person must be merciful to rescue another. A way to know the bound of mereness.

21st century becomes the age of super Bodies! Today, the bodies play neo-dramas in the public world. A baby can release a state. Another one can decay a state. A body can develop a state. Another one can jeopardize a state. Today, on this earth they can do as they wish. To be honest, sometimes no unity in them as well as no justice in their activities. What the most important thing to understand is when there is unity in us, our organizations would be effective and how our world would be peaceful! 

Therefore, let’s try everyone of the world to be weightier the scale of rescued people. Our age will go by quickly. So, we can be changed quickly. All must want to be optismist. We must forget racism, apartheid and discrimination. We must bear goodwill, compassion and kindness so that the lack of our history would be fulfilled. And our future would be brighter! 

By Adam P MacDonald, Halifax

East Asia Forum

September 23, 2013

John Blaxland recently acknowledged that return to military rule in Myanmar is becoming an increasingly marginal (but not impossible) prospect. The expected international and domestic retaliatory actions to a return to military rule in Myanmar are a major deterrent, as they could potentially derail Myanmar’s political stability, economic development and threaten important cease-fires.

This, combined with an entrenched position in the political architecture that preserves their institutional autonomy and influence, has encouraged the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) to play a back-stage and non-disruptive role so far in the democratic reform process. Eliminating avenues of military interference is a necessary condition for such reform, but by itself it will not guarantee Myanmar’s democratic future.

The adoption of the 2008 Constitution, which mandated the creation of a parliament, legalised political participation, and instigated regularly held elections, has fundamentally altered the ways in which power in Myanmar is accessed and wielded. This has transformed Myanmar’s political system from a military junta to a presidential republic. Despite the implementation of these changes, orchestrated by the outgoing State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), victory of the SPDC’s surrogate, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was still assured in the 2010 elections. This phenomenon is best described as a change in, but not of, the ruling regime, due to the large continuation of personalities running the state, but now within a more diverse group of entities beyond the formal military itself.

The Tatmadaw share more linkages with the USDP than with any other political entity. But the USDP is not simply a proxy under military tutelage; it is a political force in its own right with an interest in maintaining its position of power. With the military largely content governing its own affairs there is a growing power struggle within the USDP between President Sein (former SPDC Prime Minister) and Union Speaker Thura Shwe Mann (former number three in the SPDC). This tension specifically concerns the division of responsibilities between cabinet and parliament, an issue which will affect the entire political system.

It seems that President Sein will not run for election in 2015. Meanwhile Mann has indicated such an interest. Therefore, the two leaders will potentially have different motivations and tactics in relation to actioning further reforms. If President Sein has already decided not to seek re-election, he may try to accelerate reforms so as to entrench his legacy as a reformer and deflect any criticism or attempts to hold him to account for his participation in the previous SPDC regime. For Mann, however, his activism may cede to the goal of positioning himself and the USDP for victory. A landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party has been predicted, and, if the 2012 April by-elections are any indication, the USDP is most likely facing not just electoral defeat but annihilation. The USDP, therefore, has a choice: either work to reform aspects of the system from within to improve the USDP’s chances of success or manipulate the electoral system in a similar manner as in the 2010 elections, but in far more discrete ways to avoid public and international retaliation.

The parliamentary committee responsible for making recommendations regarding the constitutional reforms by the end of the year is an important avenue through which these decisions will unfold. Much commentary on constitutional change is focused on removing the privileges and political role mandated to the military, but the most likely changes are to come from a bargaining process between the USDP and the opposition parties, specifically the NLD. For the NLD, the qualifications of candidates for the presidency is a concern as under the current rules Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from the office because she was married to a foreigner. Meanwhile, the USDP may lobby to replace the first-past-the-post system with a proportional representative system due to the distorted results expected for the NLD, like in the April 2012 by-elections. Other entities shall also be involved in these negotiations between the two parties, including ethnic parties lobbying for greater autonomy for their regions.

For reformers, the long-term goal should be the creation and entrenchment of democratic institutions, responsibilities and norms that strengthen the system’s growing permanence and resistance to entities trying to alter it for their own idiosyncratic benefit. For the short term, however, these motivations are creating the political space and landscape necessary for such a system to take root. The USDP stands at a crossroads of whether to continue the democratic reform agenda or use its dominant position to dilute the democratic substance of these structures to ensure its continued rule. The 2015 election will be a test not only of the generals’ willingness to respect the results regardless of who wins but whether the USDP will be willing to admit defeat and assume a new role as opposition. Therefore, the fulfillment of Myanmar’s democratic project remains threatened by the possible entrenchment of a new authoritarian system; a system not defined by force but by the manipulation of democratic structures.

Adam P. MacDonald is an independent researcher based in Halifax, Canada.

PIKE SAKE - Hla Win, an ethnic Rakhine farmer in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, knows all too well the impact of last year’s sectarian violence.

He used to earn more than US$2,500 a year from his 2.4-hectare paddy field, located in a Muslim village adjacent to his ethnic Rakhine community, Pike Sake, in Myanmar’s Pauktaw Township. He used to hire Muslim day labourers to cultivate his field. 

“I won’t earn anything this year,” the 45-year-old father of three told IRIN. “Everything changed overnight. I lost everything.” 

His story underscores the broader implications of last year’s deadly inter-communal violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, particularly in the area of livelihoods, which has been largely off the radar screens of donors. 

“People of both communities, living in IDP camps, face difficulties to have access to livelihoods, such as fishing and farming, and markets to earn incomes,” Ashok Nigam, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, told IRIN. “The thousands of IDPs in Sittwe who were neither farmers nor fishermen need livelihood opportunities. This is of critical importance for durable solutions towards decreased dependency on humanitarian assistance and to bring hope back to these communities.”

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), rice production, fishing and aquaculture, and, to a lesser extent, trade, were the primary forms of livelihood in Rakhine State, with rice paddies accounting for an estimated 75 per cent of land usage. 

Ethnic violence between the communities in June and October 2012 left 167 people dead and more than 10,000 homes damaged or destroyed. Now, more than one year on, the economic fallout has yet to be fully realized, say experts. 

Beyond displacement 

While the international community continues to focus its response on the immediate needs of the more than 140,000 displaced - most of them Rohingyas - in more than 70 overcrowded camps and camp-like settings, little attention has been paid to the vast majority of Muslims still living in their communities, or to neighbouring Buddhist communities, whose livelihoods have been shaken. 

It is estimated that 36,000 individuals live in isolated and host communities in Minbya, Myebon, Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw and Sittwe townships, with little to no access to assistance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported. 

And many believe the true scale of the need is much greater. 

“The numbers are much higher than [those] being reported, and more complex than we think,” said one international aid worker who asked not to be identified. 

In addition to large-scale displacement and the loss of productive assets - including fields, livestock, fish and shrimp farms, farm tools, as well as livelihood-supportive infrastructure - restricted movement and limited access to markets and surrounding natural resources have limited economic opportunities, the UN reported, particularly for Muslim internally displaced persons (IDPs). 

Traditional relations severed 

According to a World Food Programme (WFP) assessment of non-displaced persons, conducted in January 2013, the historic socio-economic interactions that once existed between Muslim and Buddhist Rakhine communities have largely ceased.

At the same time, movement restrictions, including curfews and fears of attack, continue to have an adverse effect on income-generating activities. 

Although Muslim and Rakhine villages are separate in Rakhine State, it is not uncommon for them to be near one another. As a result, mutual cooperation and the sharing of resources were common prior to the conflict.

But today, access to productive lands and activities such as fishing - both in rivers and on the open sea - remain restricted due to communal tensions, the WFP report noted. 

“I still have my boat, but wouldn’t dare go to sea now. It’s too dangerous,” said Mg Hla, a 52-year-old Rohingya fisherman from the fishing village of Sin Tet Maw in Pauktaw. The village's population has spiked in recent months to more than 10,000 following the arrivals of some 5,000 IDPs from Kyauk Phyu in October 2012, and another 7,000 IDPs from Nget Chaung, who arrived ahead of the predicted landfall of Cyclone Mahasen in May of this year. 

Once earning $120 per month, Mg Hla, a father of seven, is lucky to earn half that amount now. 

Many communities used rivers and creeks to access the sea for fishing. But downstream communities are using threats or intimidation to deny ocean access to upstream members of the other community. Many fishermen are finding their river access has been curtailed, as well. 

As a result, virtually all rivers and creeks are now divided into areas dominated by either Muslims or Buddhists. Muslims say they are refraining from travelling to the town of Sittwe altogether. 

And even when they are able to fish, they are often blocked from reaching the local markets. 

“I used to be able to take my fish to the Sittwe market. It’s too dangerous for me to do that now,” Mg Hla said. 

Access 

According to an FAO needs assessment released earlier this year, undertaken in 17 villages in Sittwe, Mrauk Oo and Pauktaw townships, residents cited access to land as one of their biggest challenges. 

Of the 161 to 323 hectares of farmland each village owned, only 25 to 30 percent appeared to be under cultivation when the assessment was conducted, due to security concerns, the report revealed. 

Land abandonment appeared to be the result of mutual exclusion, where adjacent Muslim and Buddhist communities denied access to each other’s land through violence, threats and intimidation. 

In some villages, there were no threats or violence, but rather the perceived risk of it, which proved sufficient to stop or limit farmers' access to their fields, the report noted. 

According to a post-crisis livelihood and early recovery sector assessment undertaken by the UN Development Programme in February, Muslim communities cited movement restrictions and restrictions to market access as the main barriers to economic recovery. 

Access to the labour force has also been limited. In the past, Muslim villages were net suppliers of labour and Buddhist villagers were net purchasers, due to disparities in land holdings and population sizes.

“I used to have seven Muslim workers cultivate my land,” Hla Win confirmed. “Even if I could access my land now, I still wouldn’t be able to get the labourers to work it.” 

According to FAO, Buddhist villages are disproportionately affected by labour shortages and high labour costs, while Muslim villages are suffering from acute unemployment. The cessation of these economic interactions has had a ripple effect, WFP said, limiting productivity for both communities. 

Purchasing power has subsequently declined, leaving many unable to afford basic food needs, the January assessment found. This has lowered demand in the marketplace and forced farmers to sell goods at lower prices, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to pay back loans taken to purchase agricultural inputs. 

Fragile state 

All this is taking place in one of the least developed parts of Myanmar, an area characterized by high population density, malnutrition, low income, poverty and weak infrastructure, compounded by recurrent storms and floods. 

According to the latest Integrated Household Living Condition Survey (2009-2010), Rakhine State ranks second worst in terms of poverty (after Chin State), with 43.5 percent of residents living in poverty compared to a national average of 25.6 percent. Ten percent of the state lives in “food poverty”, compared to the national average of 4.8 percent. 

The state has also been affected by two major disasters in recent years: flood and mudslides in northern Rakhine in June 2010 and Cyclone Giri in October 2010, affecting 29,000 and 260,000 people respectfully. These events also resulted in the loss of lives and livelihoods, reported the Humanitarian Country Team's $109 million revised interagency Rakhine Response Plan, released in August. 

Agencies report that over 800,000 vulnerable people in the northern townships of Rakhine could face chronic humanitarian problems, mainly due to poor access to basic services, restricted movement and lack of clarity over their legal status. 

By UNESCO

September 22, 2013

The Ministry of Education in Myanmar has approved UNESCO’s peace education project in Northern Rakhine State. The announcement of the project’s approval aptly coincides with the International Day of Peace on 21 September with the theme of “Education for Peace.” This reaffirms the commitment of the Ministry of Education to promote peace education as a means for fostering mutual respect for cultural diversity at the school level and to jointly implement the project with UNESCO through funding support from the Belgium government. 

Following the recent communal violence in Rakhine State, resulting in an ongoing humanitarian situation which has affected hundreds of schools and thousands of students, the government of Myanmar and international community has identified peace education as one of the priority to address underlying causes of the communal tension. The overall aim of the peace education project is to enhance the capacity of school teachers, students and their parents to facilitate inclusive problem-solving processes and consensus-building around community priorities and to strengthen the commitment to an inclusive civic national identity. Through a conflict-sensitive approach to education, the project will support local leaders, teachers, students, parents and civil society to facilitate constructive civic dialogue that promotes inter-cultural awareness and peaceful co-existence. The project will promote the long term goal of education to overcome discrimination and exclusion through human rights-based, quality education. 

The project will be implemented in three townships in Northern Rakhine State – Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung— and will train 350 teachers from 40 conflict-affected schools in peace education, benefiting approximately 10,000 students. The project also aims to reactivate 40 Parent Teacher Associations and set-up three Community Learning Centres. The Ministry of Education indicated interest in seeing the training modules developed under this project rolled-out for use in other cease-fire areas in Myanmar.

By Fiona MacGregor

Myanmar Times

September 22, 2013

When ethnic tensions erupted into bloody riots in Rakhine last year the immediate toll of the destruction to life and property was graphically evident.

Less instantly obvious was the long-term financial fallout. It has hit not just those who lost breadwinners, businesses and property in the riots, but also the entire state and Myanmar’s international reputation as a stable place to do business. 

As concerns grow about the impact of Rakhine’s troubles on foreign investment, some experts say a focus on the economic costs of sectarianism can help change attitudes.

It’s an idea that is increasingly making itself felt and can be heard from diverse and influential figures including government ministers, opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, religious figureheads and business analysts.

When the national government announced earlier this month it was launching the tender process for the Kyaukpyu special economic zone in the south of Rakhine, ministers downplayed the trouble and sought to assure international investors that they had nothing to fear from local tensions. 

U Maung Maung Thein, deputy finance minister and vice chairman of the Kyaukpyu SEZ bid evaluation committee, said, “The conflict is not very huge, not a gigantic problem ... They are not insurmountable problems. It can be tackled in due course.”

Rakhine‘s newly appointed minister for planning and economics, U Maung San Shwe, last week assured The Myanmar Times that “we will provide 100 percent security for investors. We won’t let the conflicts continue anymore.”

Yet Rakhine State government officials do acknowledge the violent clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims – which left over 200 people dead and 140,000 homeless last year – have had a significant impact on the economy, scaring off foreign investment from the resource-rich state.

With tensions remaining high on both sides and over 120,000 people, mainly Rohingya, still living in camps for displaced people, long-term social solutions remain vague at best, and concern over violent flare-ups remain. At present attempts to “prevent conflict” seem more focussed on tough policing around the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps rather than boosting economic strength.

Rakhine’s finances have been affected by fallout from the violence, said U Mra Aung, former state minister for planning and economics who is now responsible for development affairs.

“Due to the crisis, investors from foreign countries are not brave enough to come. Because of that finances of Rakhine State are a little bit not okay,” he said last month.

He said to help address the problems, ministers are considering building a special industrial zone at Ponnakywn township some 60 kilometres (37 miles) outside of state capital Sittwe in a separate project from Kyaukpyu. The proposed zone could provide up to 100,000 jobs in light industry.

A feasibility study is currently underway, and according to financial analysts the proposal could help ease ethnic disputes as well as boost state coffers.

Jeremy Rathjen, vice president of research at Myanmar financial consultants Thura Swiss, said, “It is definitely possible that developing an economy could relieve tensions. The tensions in Rakhine are not just social and religious tensions, they are economic ones too.”

He said an industrial zone could help change perceptions and the status of the Rohingya in Rakhine because there would be a demand for labour.

“Many people in Myanmar consider the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants. That is something that remains unclarified because of the citizenship law, which is a key issue,” he said.

He added that if the Rohingya were to be given some kind of legal status, even if it were just temporary work permits that allowed employment in factories in the special industrial zone, it could help raise their status.

“If you look at the US, many of the people who are pro-immigration are business leaders because they need workers. If a lot of entrepreneurs were to start factories in Rakhine then they might well be pro-Rohingya because they could provide labour.”

It is a view which allows for some optimism, but such is the divide between the ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya communities right now that it is difficult to envisage them working side by side on a production line.

Much of the Rohingya population may have worked in low-level jobs before the troubles, but such roles play a vital part in propping up the rest of the economy, especially in a port town like Sittwe where manual labour is in high demand.

Most wealthier Rohingya businesspeople have long since fled the area, taking their money with them. Small businesses formerly run by Rohingya remain closed, their owners often surviving on handouts in the IDP camps next door. 

Government attempts to set up official markets in the camps have been met with distrust by residents. “I don’t want to open a business here because I don’t want to stay here. I want my old shop in Sittwe back,” explained one 31-year-old Rohingya IDP.

Although many former Rohingya business properties in Sittwe have been taken over by Rakhinese, a large number remain empty or ruined from the riots.

“Even the streets in Sittwe remain unswept because there is no one to do the job. They are struggling to get porters at the port”, international NGO workers in the area pointed out.

So far the potential contribution the Rohingya people could be making to the state’s economic recovery is not enough to ensure they are welcomed back to the community.

Thousands of Rakhine Buddhists also lost their homes and businesses in the riots. In the large new settlement created for Rakhine IDPs on the edge of Sittwe, small enterprises sprang up within days of people moving in last month. There is no lack of entrepreneurial spirit, but scars from the conflict remain and there is a distinct lack of will to do business with the Rohingya community.

However even political groups who were previously accused of promoting anti-Muslim tensions are recognising the economic need for change. U Aye Maung, chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said his party plans to make a proposal to the township government to create a SEZ where Arakanese and Rohingya can do business.

“The local government should protect the livelihood of both the Arakanese and of the Bengalis,” he said, though he went on to reaffirm his belief that the two communities should mostly live and work separately, at least for the next five or ten years.

Meanwhile influential religious leaders are also starting to put out the message that allowing the conflict to continue leads to economic suffering for the entire population.

Earlier this month Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met for behind the scenes talks with senior Rakhine Buddhist monks in Yangon.

The NLD leader has faced international criticism for not tackling head-on the human rights abuses of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, while simultaneously drawing condemnation from many within the country when she has spoken out on the highly sensitive issue.

During the meeting on September 8, she and the most venerable Alodaw Pyei Sayar Daw Kyi discussed the impact of last year’s violence in Rakhine on the state’s economy, said the venerable Ashin Kumara, who attended the meeting.

He added Sayar Daw Kyi had said peace must be established if the economy in Rakhine was not to suffer and that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that if rule of law was established the sector could perform confidently.

Finding a solution to the human tragedy in Rakhine may seem far away, but factions looking at its economic potential offer a possible solution. However, persuading investors it is a safe place to do business may be more difficult.

“At the moment the risk is so high that foreign investors are not going to touch it, but Rakhine with its border and coastal position could do a lot to attract investment,” said Mr Rathjen.

According to state ministers potential investors from China and Japan have expressed interest in the SEZ outside Sittwe.

Mr Rathjen said Asian investors tended not to be so adverse to the political repercussion of investing in a controversial region such as Rakhine.

“The potential to repair Rakhine’s reputation is there. It’s going to take time, but people have short memories and in two or three years’ time [foreign investors] won’t remember the trouble, as long as there isn’t more of it.”

Washington - ARU-DG Dr. Wakar Uddin and three other witnesses testified at the US Congress Foreign Affairs Asia Sub-committee’ hearing “An Unclear Roadmap: Burma’s Fragile Political Reforms and Growing Ethnic Strife.” Strong testimonies were provided by the witnesses on the slow pace of reform, ethnic minority issues, and US Government’s relaxation of sanctions. Rohingya, Myanmar Muslim, and Kachin issues dominated most of the testimonies by the witnesses. Dr. Uddin asked the US Government to look into the inconsistencies between the often reconciliatory tone of Burmese Government at Nay Pyi Taw and the serious human right violations by the Burmese forces on the ground in Arakan and Kachin state. Dr. Uddin stated that it is imperative to know the cause of these persisting human right abuses – whether the signal for this is coming from the Nay Pyi Taw or there is a serious gap in enforcement of law and order in the lands those lands that the Government of Burma governs.

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Asia Sub-committee. The political climate in Burma has not fundamentally improved over the past two years, despite great expectations by the people of Burma and the international community for a genuine change, after half a century of dictatorial rule. The junta’s strategy of maintaining the “status quo” was effectively implemented through the national election in 2010. The impact of the false democratic process has disproportionately impacted the ethnic minorities including Rohingya, Kachin, and Myanmar Muslims over the Burmans/Bamma. The military junta’s imposition of its apartheid policies for Rohingya such as travel restrictions, marriage restrictions, land confiscation, deprivation of education, deprivation of freedom to worship, closure of places of worship, In fact, there has been further tightening of these impositions on the Rohingya in recent months in Rakhine/Arakan state. Currently, there are some elements within the Burmese Government colluding with Rakhine/Arakan state officials to make the (IDP) camps permanent or semi-permanent. The media is still not free for most people. Certain groups of people who have connections to the Government enjoy these rights than others. Rakhine National Democratic Party (RNDP), in collusion with the Burmese government and the Ministry of Immigration, has introduced legislation in the parliament to launch a re-investigation into the Rohingya MPs’ ancestral background. 

About US Government’s easing sanctions and overall engagement with Burmese Government, the Obama Administration has moved too quickly in easing the sanctions on Burma. We believe that moving too quickly to ease sanctions is shortsighted. The relaxation of the sanctions should have been more gradual and firmly incremental with benchmarks. The Burmese government should meet each expectation by the international community before the second bar may be lifted. About the United State’s military-to-military relations with Burma, I am not a military strategist who can provide a detailed analysis of proposed military-to- military relations between Burma and the United States. However, as a concerned citizen knowledgeable about the Burmese military establishment, I urge the US government to avoid military relations with governments guilty of some of the worst crimes of our time. Establishing military-to-military relations between the United States military and Burmese armed forces would be premature. 

Conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim populations are overwhelmingly one-sided attacks on the small Muslim minority by the Buddhist majority that have been backed by Burmese security forces. Denial of basic rights and systematic discrimination against Rohingya by the Burmese government created fertile ground for nationalist Rakhine leadership and radical Buddhist monks to instigate fresh violence against Rohingya that has spilled into Burmese Muslim areas across Burma. 

The “Burmanization” policy, an ideology of purity in race and religion of the Burmese government has been the primary cause for warfare in ethnic areas for the past several decades. The violence against Rohingya and Burmese Muslims is part of a pattern of ultra-Buddhist nationalism led by the 969 movement spearheaded by the radical Burmese monk Wirathu and his supporters. Recently, the Burmese government in coordination with Rakhine State and local officials reportedly designated the Rohingya prisoners as non-political prisoners. In recent days, hundreds of Rohingya prisoners (ages 12 to 60+) have been quickly sentenced to life or long jail terms. 

Achieving national reconciliation with the ethnic groups is not as complex as the Burmese government has painted it to be. Government is the key to this. Reconciliation between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya can be achieved within a short period of time as the government has tremendous influence on nationalist Rakhine leadership. The Burmese Government must abandon its hostile policies against the Rohingya and position itself in the middle as true and sincere facilitator (for the peace, reconciliation, and communal harmony in Arakan, Burma). 

Thank you very much.

ARU Testimony At The US Congress Hearing

RB News 

September 22, 2013

Maungdaw, Arakan – The headquarters of the now disbanded Nasaka became the headquarters of Hlun Htaine police in Kyigan Pyin village of Maungdaw Township in Arakan State. The Hlun Htaine police launched a check post in front of the headquarter. They are checking Rohingya travellers who are arriving from Area 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 by buses, hilux cars and motorcycles. The buses, cars and motorcycles needed to stop back from the check post. The travellers need to walk to check post to answer the questions from police.

The check post is checking for White Cards (Temporary Registration Card) and Travel Permit. All Rohingya travellers must pay 500 Kyats even if they have all the required documents. The police claimed that they are checking for security reasons but it is quite disturbing as the police abuse them in several ways. 

The duty of the police is to protect the public but they couldn’t find the culprits of a robbery cases that took place in Maungdaw in the past weeks. Rohingya villagers know that the robbers were wearing Hlun Htaine police uniforms. The authorities forced them not to say that they were police. Instead authorities arrested some innocent Rohingyas for the crime. One was beaten to death while in custody. They also extorted money from some people on false allegations. 

The check post in front of Hlun Htaine headquarters was launched in the name of "security reasons" but their real work is to extort money as well as to abuse and torture the Rohingya travellers. 

On September 15, 2013 a group of authorities led by Maungdaw District Immigration Head came to Northern Maungdaw and met the Rohingyas. In the meeting, the immigration head told that no travel permit will be needed while travelling within the township and can travel with White Card but it will be needed if they want to travel to other townships. The travel permits will need to be obtained from immigration office. However, now the check post at Hlun Htaine headquarters and other check posts are extorting money, abusing and torturing Rohingyas who do not have travel permits while traveling from one village to another. 

Maungdaw Township Administrator Kyi San took huge amounts from people who wanted to be village administrator when he was selecting village administrators. That is one of the reasons that the village administrators are extorting money from villagers by various means. They need to get back their capital that they invested to get the village administrator post. The village administrators do not issue the travel permit giving the reason of security concerns but one could get one if they bribe them. In a few villages, the village administrators are openly charging Kyat 1000 for travel permit. 

“We are travelling for necessary cases but the authorities are disturbing us a lot. They are dealing us like animals at the check post. We need to get down from cars and need to walk. They are scolding us. They are extorting money. These are not their jobs but they are doing. Although they have to protect our properties they are unable to do so. Their works are extorting money, torturing and abusing us. What we believe now is the authorities’ duties and responsibilities are those nasty works.” a Rohingya told RB News.

RB News 

September 21, 2013

Maungdaw, Arakan – The shops in the market, on roadside and other shops have the licenses from municipality for the business. Despite this the police officers and police from Kyain Chaung police station in Northern Maungdaw Township in Arakan State are extorting money from the business owners. The shopkeepers are each forced to pay 20,000 kyats monthly.

Starting this month, the shopkeepers who are selling kerosene and petrol have to pay an extra 10,000 kyats. So the shopkeepers who are selling those now need to pay 30,000 kyats per month. 

The extortion is being carried out by the assistant police officer, Zaw Zaw Aung. He is specially appointed for extorting money and torturing the Rohingyas. Although Sabai Gone village is not under Kyain Chaung police station, the police forced to them to pay 10,000 kyat per month. 

Now (1) Mansur, son of Zahid Hussein, (2) Salim, son of Mohammed Siddique, and (3) Arafat, son of Siddique Ahmed are paying this monthly extortion fee because they are selling kerosene and petrol. Zaw Zaw Aung said that they have to pay this because they are selling Bengali products.

“We are selling Bangladesh, China and Thai products. All of the products are foreign made. It is lame excuse that they are extorting money from us for selling foreign products. They have to work for our security but they are not doing their jobs. What they are doing is extorting money from us and is torturing us.” a villager told RB News. 

The police Zaw Zaw Aung was born in Kyain Chaung village and he grew up there. He knows who can efford the money in the village and is targeting those people. Recently he extorted 160,000 kyats from Nabi Hussein and 110,000 kyats from Molvi Ayub. Similarly a Hlun Htaine police, Kyaw Than Aung is also reportedly disturbing the local Rohingyas and extorting money from them by various means. 

The Rohingyas from disbanded Nasaka area (1), (2), (3) and (4) are coming to Kyain Chaung village market for shopping. Zaw Zaw Aung is asking them to show their White Card and Travel permit. Whoever fails to show, will need to pay extortion of 50,000 kyats to 100,000 kyats.

September 20, 2013

Buddhist as well as Muslim businessmen believe the local economy of this central Burmese town of 100,000, one-third of which are Muslim, will need time to recover. 

Zarni, the owner of a small motorcycle spare parts shop, says business has never been worse. "Only 50 percent of my customers come today," the Muslim shop-owner whose inventory was looted during the conflict, lamented. 

Other small businesses, like Daw Nu's grocery store, are also struggling. "Compared to before, I earn just one-third of my previous income now," said the Buddhist woman. 

Yet residents of both communities note the small but encouraging signs that inter-communal relations might be improving, despite their being divided just six months earlier. 

"We exchange smiles whenever we meet in the street or in the market. Why should there be problems between us?" asked Ma Win, 40, a Buddhist woman. It is a sentiment echoed by others. 

"There is no reason to hate each other. Why can't we be like before?" asked Mar Mar, a 52-year-old Muslim woman whose Buddhist neighbours looked after her property when she fled to safety during the violence. 

According to a report [http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/phr-documents-systematic-patterns-of-anti-muslim-violence-in-burma.html] issued one month earlier by Physicians for Human Rights, the Burmese government needs to do more to address anti-Muslim propaganda and a culture of impunity regarding religious violence, or risk "catastrophic" levels of conflict. 

While the current situation appears calm, a failure to properly investigate and deal with the root causes of the tensions risks further clashes, the US-based group warned.

RB News 

September 20, 2013 

Maungdaw, Arakan – The village administrator of U-Daung village tract of Maungdaw Township in Arakan State is continuously extorting money and torturing Rohingya, villagers according to locals. 

On June 25, 2013 RB News reported 26.1 million kyats in extortion by U-Daung village administrator Tin Maung. Aziz Ullah, son of Hashim (48-years-old) was among the victims in the report who had 1.8 million kyats extorted from him by Tin Maung over the past 3 months over false accusations. A few days ago, Aziz Ullah was threatened again by Tin Maung to pay more money but this time Aziz Ullah having grown tired of being forced to pay to stop false accusations. As a result Tin Maung brought Hlun Htaine police and arrested him. He was released after three days. 

On September 19th at 10 am, Tin Maung met Aziz at a tea shop nearby U-Daung bazaar. It is reported that there Tin Maung beat Aziz Ullah until he was bleeding from his lips and forehead for speaking out over the extortion scams of Tin Maung at Hlun Htaine outpost. Wanting to escape the abuse of Tin Maung, Aziz ran to his house which is nearby the tea shop. Tin Maung and his 5 associates then followed him into the house and where they beat him and his wife Hamida as well. Tin Maung then threatened arrest and imprison the couple. As a resut the couple fled from the village to escape the arrest. 

In a similar reports, Anis Ullah, son of Karim Ullah (16-years-old) was arrested by Tin Maung on September 15th on false accusation that he was using a Bangladesh mobile phone. He was released after paying 500,000 kyats as extortion. Another victim was Lal Miah, son of Fawzu (65-years-old), who was reportedly set up by Tin Maung who placed a Bangladesh mobile phone into Lal Miah's shop and then arrested Lal Miah’s son on the accusation of being the owner of the phone. He was also extorted 500,000 kyats for this. 

In similar events Nawzir Rahmat, son of Muzair (50-years-old) and Salim Ullah, son of Shawmu Luk (55-years-old) were accused by Tin Maung of farming betel illegally in the paddy field. The two Rohingya men were forced to pay 170,000 kyats. Finally, Nur Salam, son of Mardi (53-years-old), and 8 associates were accused of letting the water from their paddy fields leak over into the prawn lake of Na Pa Ka. They were extorted 300,000 kyats for the accusation.

By The Malay Mail Online

September 20, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad raised the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar as a cautionary tale for Muslims in Malaysia yesterday, at a time when Umno is again reaching out to PAS ostensibly for the sake of Islamic unity.

In a posting titled “The Rohingyas” on his blog, the former prime minister said the troubles of the ethnic minority were not unique but representative of the predicament facing Islamic nations the world over.

“Almost all Muslim countries and people are in trouble today. The latest are the Rohingyas of Myanmar,” he wrote in his latest blog entry.

“They are being forced to leave their own homes and country, to flee in leaky boats, overloaded and prone to being wrecked and they would be drowned (sic). All countries refuse to help these unfortunate creatures and they and their leaky boats get pushed back into the sea.”

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar over sectarian violence with Buddhists. Malaysia alone is host to some 80,000 such refugees from the country.

But Dr Mahathir said this was in part their own doing, claiming that Muslims across the world were being “bullied” from a failure to stand up together and for themselves.

“The weak of today are the Muslims. And the Muslims are weak because they choose to be weak,” Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister wrote in his latest entry.

According to Dr Mahathir, this weakness was born from the complacency that Muslims have allowed themselves to be lulled into with wealth and resources.

“Since the Muslims care not for each other or for Islam anybody can beat any Muslim to death in full view of the other Muslims.

“We Muslims in Malaysia think this will not happen to us. So why should we care about what happens to the Rohingyas. It is their problem, not ours,” he added.

Although the former prime minister makes no mention of it in his entry, the message bore hallmarks of the call for Muslim unity that has formed the basis of attempts to get Umno and PAS to co-operate supposedly for the sake of the Malay community at large.

Muslim unity is a common rallying cry from the Malay nationalist party, which appears to view the elusive goal as a panacea of sorts to the various problems facing the country’s largest religion.

It is often used interchangeably with Malay unity, given the constitutional requirement that Malays must also be Muslims.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin resurrected calls for unity talks between the two rivals, coincidentally following a fresh agitation from the Islamist party’s ulama (clergy) class for it to reassess its partnership within the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition pact.

“It is important for the country’s Muslims to be united because the Muslims still face many challenges. There is a need to work together or otherwise we would have problems.

“That is why (when it comes to) talks about Umno and PAS, we have no problem with that,” the Umno deputy president said at a forum at the International Islamic University here on Tuesday.

This came after members of PAS’s ulama approved a resolution at its Multaqa Ulama Se-Malaysia convention on Sunday that the party should reconsider the “harm” of its continued links to partners PKR and the PR pact.

Party sources later told The Malay Mail Online that the call was likely alluding to the ongoing legal tussle over “Allah” between Muslims and Christians here stemming from a 2009 court decision upholding the latter’s constitutional right to use the Arabic word.

Unity talks between PAS and Umno have continually surfaced after Election 2008, when Barisan Nasional (BN) lost its parliamentary supermajority to the then-fledgling PR pact.

It came to a head in December 2010, when top leaders from both parties met quietly in a Christmas Eve dinner hosted by the Terengganu Palace to discuss the issue of Malay-Muslim unity.

The engagement collapsed when PAS ― chiefly spiritual advisor Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat ― adamantly expressed support for non-Muslims’ right to use the word “Allah”.

But the “Allah” issue does not split just the two rivals; the ulama class in PAS also share Umno’s stance that the term was exclusive to Muslims, leading to schism within the party.

And with the recent losses suffered by the Islamist party’s progressive leaders during the May 5 general election, the previously dormant issue may resurface as the conservatives push their way back into the limelight ahead of the PAS elections.

By Hanna Hindstrom

Democratic Voice of Burma

September 19, 2013

Australia is set to deport over 100 Rohingya asylum-seekers to detention centres in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru in the coming weeks, in spite of accusations that the move would breach international human rights law.

It follows a decision by the former government in July to redirect all asylum-seekers to its poorer Pacific neighbours in an effort to stem the influx of boat people to Australia – which the newly elected Conservative prime minister has vowed to uphold. 

All new arrivals – of which 1,585 were recorded in August – will be sent onwards to Nauru or Manus Island in PNG where they will be resettled if successful, despite allegations of mistreatment and abuse at local detention facilities.

According to a local campaign group, at least 100 Rohingyas fleeing conflict and persecution in Burma’s western Arakan state are among those to arrive in Australia since the government announced its new policy. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration confirmed to DVB on Wednesday that 72 Burmese nationals and 284 stateless individuals – which is likely to include some Rohingyas – were set for removal. 

Although he would not lay out a concrete time frame, he said that “regular transfers” of asylum seekers had taken place since July, with exceptions only being made for those with urgent medical needs.

“Everyone who’s arrived since 19 July is subject to transfer – initially to processing on Christmas Island and then onwards to either PNG or Nauru,” said the spokesperson. 

Meanwhile Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was sworn into office on Wednesday, has moved to implement an even more draconian immigration policy by authorising the navy to intercept and physically drag boats back to their country of origin, usually Indonesia. 

“It’s so important that we send a message to the people-smugglers that from today their business model is coming to an end,” Abbott said at his inaugural ceremony.

Part of the AUS$440 million (US$397 million) scheme includes buying old fishing boats from Indonesia in a bid to prevent traffickers from using them, which activists say raises serious safety concerns for Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma.

Chris Lewa from the campaign group, the Arakan Project, described the plan as “totally ridiculous”, adding that it will only punish the victims and not the traffickers. 

“It’s definitely not going to stop [the boats] that’s for sure,” Lewa told DVB on Thursday. “Here I’m asking [Rohingya] people in Malaysia if they are still planning to go to Australia, and they say ‘yes’.”

More than 300 Burmese nationals have arrived in Australia this year, along with nearly 2,000 stateless people – who are all counted as one group but include Rohingyas, Kurds, Palestinians and others.

Earlier this week a group of Australian lawyers vowed to challenge their government at the current UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, after criticising Abbott’s policy as tantamount to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.

It follows reports that G4S, the security firm responsible for running the detention facility on Manus Island – under a scheme that will cost Australian taxpayers up to AUS$1 billion (US$950 million) – has been implicated in serious abuses against inmates, including rape and torture. 

A recent investigation by The Guardian exposed “serious” gaps in the government’s oversight mechanisms for the company’s management of the Manus Island facility. But Australia has already laid out expansion plans for the centre, including cramming 10,000 more tents onto the island.

The UN Refugee Agency has accused Australia of subjecting asylum-seekers to “arbitrary detention that is inconsistent with international human rights law” and identified “significant shortcomings” in PNG’s protection mechanisms for processing refugees. Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, Australia is obligated to assist victims of political oppression.

But a spokesperson for the Refugee Council of Australia (RCA) told DVB that the government – from both sides of the political spectrum – has actively “pursued policies to deflect responsibility for people seeking protection from persecution” over the past year.

“This not only contravenes Australia’s international human rights obligations, it undermines efforts to improve refugee protections in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Andrew Williams, Communications Manager at RCA.

“The treatment of Rohingya, who are often treated as ‘illegal’ or unwanted in their country of birth and in other places they seek asylum, highlights the need for much better answers and greater sharing or responsibility for refugee protection.”

It is unclear whether Rohingya refugees who are accepted in Nauru will ever be able to obtain citizenship status, while the Christian-majority PNG is considering adopting a bill that would prevent other religions from being openly practiced.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship in Burma, have fled the country since two bouts of communal clashes with Buddhists last year, which left nearly 140,000 displaced and 200 dead.