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A mosque in Lashio torched by Buddhist mobs (Photo: Facebook)

May 28, 2013

Muslims and Buddhists clashed in Myanmar's northern city of Lashio on Tuesday, witnesses said, as a wave of sectarian violence reached a mountainous region near China's border.

Phone lines were down in the city of about 131,000 people and the extent of the violence was unclear. Witnesses reported several large fires and said a mosque and Buddhist monastery appear to have been torched.

The violence followed unrest between Muslims and Buddhists in other parts of Myanmar over the past year, including fighting in the central city of Meikhtila in March that killed at least 44 people, mostly Muslims, and razed several Muslim neighborhoods. About 12,000 people lost their homes.

Lashio, capital of Shan State, had been spared from the religious unrest. Known for its strong Chinese influence, it is about 190 km (120 miles) from Muse, a city on China's border.

Hajji Aung Lwin, a Muslim man from a village on the outskirts of Lashio, said the fighting appeared to have begun after a violent quarrel between a Muslim man and a Buddhist woman. After police detained the man, local Buddhists surrounded the police station and demanded he be handed over, he said.

The mob then tried to set Myoma Mosque, near Lashio market, on fire, he said. A second witness reporting seeing flames in the city and a large building on fire.

Sectarian clashes between Buddhists and Muslims, who make up about 5 percent of the population in the Buddhist-majority country, have erupted several times since a quasi-civilian government took power in March 2011 after five decades of military dictatorship.

The most serious attacks took place in Rakhine State in the west in June and October last year, when Buddhists fought against Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship by Myanmar and seen by many in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. At least 192 people were killed.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Pravin Char)
Faine Greenwood
May 27, 2013                     

Rohingya Muslim’s in Burma’s Rakhine state have now been ordered to adhere to a years-old two child policy by the government, in what authorities claim is an effort to defang ongoing tension between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. In reality, this is ethnic cleansing. And it is ongoing in Burma today. 

Restricting the reproduction of a less-than-loved ethnic group is a tactic that’s been trotted out repeatedly through generations of ethnic cleansing and genocide: a bad sign that’s all the more ominous in the face of increasing strife between Rohingya Muslim’s and the overwhelmingly Buddhist population of Burma. 

Human Rights Watch unambiguously identifies the Burmese government as complicit in the abuses against Rohingya, calling it a government-backed “campaign of ethnic cleansing.” Even national icon Aung Sang Suu Kyi has denounced the two-child policy as of May 27th, stating that “They shouldn’t discriminate. This is against human rights” — one of her first statements in defense of the Rohingya, whom she has been largely silent on during the past year. 

More warning signs of potential ethnic cleansing exist. Genocide Watch provides a list of the “Eight Stages of Genocide,” which I feel is decidedly instructive in this situation — an opinion that Genocide Watch appears to share, as they have recently issued a “Genocide Emergency Alert” for Myanmar. 

The stages are, in order: Classification, Symbolization, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Extermination and Denial, and they are rolling by at a distressingly speedy clip in 2013 Burma. (Genocide Watch is not the only entity to create such a “warning signs” list: it’s also worth checking out the United Nations version, which is more detailed). 

First, by the Genocide Watch metric, Rohingya are classified as “other” as compared to the mainstream Burmese population, marginalized both by their Muslim religion and their ethnicity. Although not forced to wear a distinguishing clothing item, Rohingyas are often referred to as “Bengalis” by those who wish to disparage their origins, a powerfully symbolic word that a Rohingya group was recently arrested for rejecting. 

The Rohingya are dehumanized: forced to live in substandard ethnic enclaves with curfews and other restrictions on their freedom — and now with the recent two-child rule, treated rather like an invasive species by the majority Buddhists of Rakhine. 

Violence against the Rohingya is also decidedly organized: although many Rohingya have been victimized by angry mob justice and the like, the government has also been proven to be complicit in the violence, restricting their movements and “looking the other way” during many of 2012′s most violent bloodbaths. 

Polarization is downright obvious when it comes to relations between Rohingya and Muslims: violence against them has been drummed up since the June rape of a Buddhist woman by purportedly Muslim perpetrators, and the government has done little to stop the upswelling of ethnic hatred. Local groups regularly put out pamphlets and other documents disparaging the Rohingya people and casting doubt on their ethnicity — in some cases, explicitly calling for “ethnic cleansing.” 

The preparation stage of an impending genocide or ethnic cleansing is well underway in Myanmar, as Rohingya are regularly herded into ethnic enclaves, denied aid, and separated from non-Muslims in increasingly desperate areas. Increasingly isolated from the outside world and from the resources they need, the Rohingya are necessarily becoming more and more helpless — and, recognizing the “writing on the wall,” are taking to the dangerous sea in ever-increasing numbers. 

Then, there’s the extermination stage, which is arguably already under way after the June 2012 ethnic cleansing. Although the killings aren’t explicitly state-sanctioned, there’s plenty of potential for them to get considerably worse if the Burmese government doesn’t reverse discriminatory policies against the Rohingya, and there appears to be little in the way of political will to stop such an eventuality. It remains to be seen if pressure from Western governments will have much influence, as the Burmese government may hope that the “small problem” of the Rohingya will be overshadowed by other positive moves towards democracy and international commerce. 

Denial is the final “stage” of genocide, and although this hasn’t yet happened to the Rohingya, it seems likely that if it does, the agressors will claim they “brought it on themselves,” mentality already evidenced by the two child policy, which shifts the burden of peacekeeping onto the Rohingya and away from Buddhists. 

As the US and other international power-players hustle to form friendly relationships with Myanmar’s top brass, they should keep in mind a certain disturbing fact about their new business player: the formenting of a possible genocide, with terrible consequences for the Rohingya people, and for the national conscience of the increasingly confident Burmese people.



Participants:

(1) Priscilla Clap, former chief of mission, US Embassy in Rangoon and now with Asia Society, Washington DC
(2) Jia Xiadong, China Institute of International Relations, Beijing, China
(3) Dr. Maung Zarni, Visiting Fellow, London School of Economic

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks to reporters after giving a speech at the first meeting of the central executive committee of the National League for Democracy party in the Royal Rose hall in Yangon May 27, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun
May 27, 2013

Myanmar opposition leader and pro-democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi condemned on Monday a policy by a district government to limit Muslim Rohingya families to two children in an effort to curb their population growth.

The two-child policy dates back to 1994, but it does not appear to have been enforced until recent weeks.

"They shouldn't discriminate. This is against human rights," Suu Kyi told journalists.

An estimated 800,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine State in the west of Myanmar. Many of the Buddhist majority in the country consider them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and the government refuses to grant them citizenship.

Nobel Peace Prize-winner Suu Kyi has been heavily criticized for not speaking up for their rights, even after clashes with Rakhine State Buddhists last year in which at least 192 people were killed and 140,000 made homeless.

Most of the victims were Rohingya and many remain in camps they are not allowed to leave.

The Arakan Project, an organization that lobbies for the rights of Rohingya, said in a 2012 report the two-child policy was not enforced after it was introduced 19 years ago.

A commission appointed to look into last year's violence recommended in an April 29 report that if the government went ahead with a proposed family planning program, it should "refrain from implementing non-voluntary measures which may be seen as discriminatory or that would be inconsistent with human rights standards".

A senior immigration official, using the term "Bengali" for Rohingya that is widely used by Buddhists, said authorities in Maungdaw District had decided to enforce the directive "following the recommendations in the report".

"Under this directive, Bengali men are allowed to have only one wife and each married couple can have two children. Where there are more than two children, they are considered illegal," he said, asking not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"As far as I know, there are also plans, according to the recommendations, to encourage Muslim women to go to school and to educate them on the benefits of restricting family size."

One government policy that is enforced requires that Rohingya get official permission to marry. Their access to education and employment is limited.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, told Reuters this month that the government should amend a 1982 law that bars Rohingya from citizenship.

"If they have the right to be citizens, most of the problems will be solved," he said.

Nyan Win said the law should be amended even if that was opposed by Rakhine Buddhists.

"The Rakhine people have no real solution," he said. "They want to kick out all the Bengali. It's not possible."

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)
A wave of anti-Muslim sentiment and violence is threatening country's burgeoning democracy.

Calum MacLeod
USA TODAY
May 27, 2013

OKKAN, Burma — Buddhists and Muslims alike often visit the stall of U Tin Maung, a repairman whose little shop beside the Okkan town mosque has been fixing broken umbrellas and faulty lighters for 25 years.

The seeming harmony was destroyed earlier this month when a mob of several hundred people used shovels, stones and swords to smash the mosque's windows.

"They shouted, 'Kill all Muslims!' We were scared and ran away to hide," says U Tin Maung, 70, a Muslim and trustee of the mosque.

"It was the first time I've ever seen Buddhists attack Muslims. There are rumors that this is only the first step. Next they will loot the shops," he says.

Known officially as Myanmar, the army-ruled nation of Burma has embarked on concrete political reforms after decades of dictatorship that have earned it rewards from the West.

In November, President Obama was the first sitting U.S. president to visit Burma. The Obama administration normalized ties with the country beginning in 2011, when the government announced plans for what were considered fair elections to its parliament in April 2012.

The United States has since named its first ambassador to Burma in two decades, and most of the sanctions against the country have now been dropped. On May 20, general-turned–president Thein Sein became the first Burmese leader in almost half a century to be granted a visit to the White House.

But the changes coincide with a new wave of anti-Muslim sentiment and violence in a country where fewer than 6 million of its 60 million people are Muslim.

Decades-old ethnic conflicts remain unresolved in many areas.

In Okkan, a two-hour drive from the commercial capital Rangoon, one person died and several others were injured when more than 150 properties were destroyed in late April and early May. In March, more than 40 died in anti-Muslim violence that hit the central town of Meiktila.

Last year, more than 200 people died in western Rakhine State, where Human Rights Watch says Muslims are being subjected to "ethnic cleansing" at the hands of local authorities. The New York-based group says more than 140,000 Muslims are in prison-like refugee camps.

Obama told Thein Sein that the violence "needs to stop," but Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say Washington has rewarded Burma without insisting it abide by promises to prevent further violence.

"We hope both presidents will focus on the work ahead, rather than patting themselves on the backs for a job well done," said Frank Januzzi, head of the Washington office of Amnesty International.

Repairman U Tin Maung, 70, right, fixes a broken umbrella at his stall beside the Okkan town mosque in Burma.(Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)
HEIGHTENED DISTRUST

In Okkan, barefoot Buddhist monks and nuns walk daily past the mosque, gathering alms of food or mone.In the current atmosphere, a small incident can spark deadly consequences.

The attack on the mosque happened after word spread that a Muslim woman had knocked a young monk's alms bowl to the ground.

"I used to have Buddhist friends my age, but now they avoid me and only say, 'Hello,' as they pass by," says Aung Aung Oo, 16, Tin Maung's grandson. "I don't think we can be good friends again."

In the past two months, Aung Aung Oo, a motorbike mechanic, has seen Buddhist "969" stickers added to almost all the bikes he repairs. The radical, nationalist 969 movement, led by Buddhist monk U Wirathu, who spent eight years in jail for inciting anti-Muslim riots, calls for a boycott of Muslim-owned businesses.

"I feel sad not angry when I see them, they are spreading hate speech," Aung Aung Oo says.

President Sein blames political opportunists and religious extremists for the violence. Some Burmese suspect army officers eager to derail democratic reforms, and others blame the sticker campaign.

Buddhists here, from barbers to tailors, display the 969 sticker. At a market shoe stall just yards from the mosque, Khin Moe Moe, 44, a Buddhist, put one up after U Wirathu visited Okkan.

"I like the way he wants to protect our national cause; you can't blame him for the conflicts," she says, adding that Muslims attacked Buddhists in six recent incidents.

In a rare attempt here at ecumenical solidarity, the social network "Pray for Myanmar" handed out stickers in Rangoon in April with slogans including, "I, a Myanmar citizen, don't discriminate by religion or race."

"People were smiling and welcomed them, and often stuck them right next to their '969' stickers!" says Htuu Lou Rae, 25, an activist on interfaith issues who founded the group Coexist.

"The more people get segregated from each other, the more alienated people will feel and the more chance riots will break out," Rae says. Unlike during earlier, stricter times, Burma's emerging democracy finally gives such people an opportunity "to air their frustrations in destructive ways," Rae adds.

A cyclist passes a barber's shop sign bearing the popular but controversial "969" sticker.(Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)
Another private initiative, the Peace Machine Group, recently gathered poets and musicians for an outdoor concert for peace beside Rangoon's Inya Lake.

"I've been scared about my own safety, especially alone on the streets at night," says organizer Htet Aung Min, 30, a Muslim. "We must build friendship between the Buddhist and Muslim communities."

Not all agree. Rangoon taxi driver, Koko U, 39, demands that Muslims known as Rohingyas, who most Burmese call Bengalis and consider illegal immigrants, "go back to Bangladesh" even though many Rohingya families go back several generations in Burma.

"They're creating problems between Burmese Buddhists and Muslims," he says.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a political leader and democratic activist who was freed from 15 years of house arrest in 2010, should have been more outspoken on interfaith issues, says Htuu Lou Rae of Coexist.

But Win Tin, a veteran dissident and senior figure in Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, says Suu Kyi has no need for further comment on the Rohingyas as they are not a recognized nationality here.

If she said more, he says, the Arakhanese of western Burma "will accuse her of siding with the Muslims," referring to Buddhists whose one-time regional state was overrun centuries ago by the Burmese.

At the recent peace concert, Rangoon rock singer Thu Rein talked before he took the stage about how sad he felt about the divide between Buddhists and Muslims.

"We can live together peacefully," he said before reciting a chorus in one of his songs he hopes will spread: "We're all human beings, even though we're different races and religions, we still help each other."

Contributing: Htoo Lwin Myo
By Al Jazeera


A two-child limit has been imposed on Muslim families in a troubled province in Myanmar. The government has blamed a growing Rohingya population for stirring tensions with local Buddhists. They have been described as among the world's least wanted people, and one of the most persecuted. The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and a government-appointed commission has declared that their rapidly growing population is representing a serious threat, that is making ethnic Buddhists feel insecure.


Aung San Suu Kyi talks to reporters after giving a speech at the first meeting of the central executive committee of the National League for Democracy party in the Royal Rose hall in Rangoon on 27 May 2013. (Reuters)

May 27, 203

Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Monday criticised a ban on Rohingya having more than two children in strife-torn Arakan state as counter to human rights, in rare comments on the plight of the Muslim group. 

The opposition leader, who has been accused by activists of failing to speak up for the marginalised Rohingya, said she opposed the controversial rule, imposed by the previous junta and reaffirmed recently by local authorities in the wake of deadly unrest. 

“It is not good to have such discrimination. And it is not in line with human rights either,” the veteran democracy activist told reporters in Rangoon, adding she could not confirm whether the policy was being implemented. 

Arakan authorities on Sunday told AFP that the rule had been reaffirmed in two Muslim-majority townships in the state. 

Win Myaing, spokesperson for the Arakan government, said the order was designed to “enforce monogamy and not to have more than two children”. 

He said the policy had previously been put on hold because of fears over “conflicts among communities” in the state. 

Up to 140,000 people – mainly Rohingya Muslims – were displaced in two waves of sectarian unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Arakan state last year. 

Human Rights Watch has accused the authorities of being a party to ethnic cleansing over the violence, which killed some 200 people and saw mobs torch whole villages. 

It described the population policy as “abhorrent, inhumane” and “completely contrary to human rights”. 

An official commission’s report in April into the unrest suggested voluntary family planning to stem a high birthrate among the Rohingya that it said stoked tensions. 

Local authorities have previously been accused of trying to restrict birthrates among the Rohingya by refusing to acknowledge any more than two children per married couple – thereby denying them legal rights and access to services. 

Burma views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bengali immigrants and denies them citizenship. They are considered by the United Nations to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
RB News
May 26, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan- NaSaKa (Border Security Force) under the commandment area 8 arrested six innocent Rohingyas from the village of Udaung, Southern Maung Daw. Having extorted kyat 700,000, NaSaKa released them later. 

NaSaKa is carrying out this in cooperation with the village administrator, U Tin Maung. But before raiding, NaSaKa send U Maung Mra, brother-in-law, of U Tin Maung to threaten the villagers that they will be charged and arrested if the demanded money is not given. If the villagers refuse to give money, the next day, NaSaKa raid and arrest people and take them to their camp. Then, people are tortured as long as they don’t fulfill NaSaKa’s demands” said a villager.

Yesterday (i.e. on 25th May 2012), four innocent Rohingyas were accused of getting married illegally and subsequently arrested. 

“These kinds of extortion of money are nothing new. It has been going on since the time of ex-general and despot Khin Nyunt. People have been getting arrested with such arbitrary cases. And after the extortion of money, NaSaKa release them” he continued.

The profiles of these four people with the respective amount of money extorted are:

(1) U Shamshu S/o Mv. Shabbir Hussain from Kundan, Udaung, Kyat 150,000
(2) Mg Azizu Rahman S/o Mv Ramullah from Zumma, Udaung, Kyat 150,000
(3) Mv Shamsul Alam from Kundan, Udaung, Kyat 100,000
(4) Mg Syedullah S/o U Rabi Ahmed from Northern Udaung, Kyat 150,000

Although they got released after paying money to NaSaKa, U Maung Mra, the brother in-law of U Tin Maung, is asking for Kyat 300,000 more from them. 

“U Shamshu got released after paying Kyat 150,000. Yet, U Maung Mra is demanding Kyat 300,000 more. Otherwise, he is threatening that he will put some other charges against U Shamshu and ask NaSaKa to arrest him” the villager said.

Besides, NaSaKa arrested Mv. Abdu Shukkor who had been released by the Intelligence Officer, U Aung Kyaw Zin, few days ago after the extortion of money. Besides, his younger brother Ziaurrahaman also got arrested.

“They paid to Intelligence officer for their releases. Again, NaSaKa arrested them knowing that they could extort money. They were released later after extorting Kyat 60,000 from each” he added.

NaSaKa also arrested and beat a young Rohingya who was taking care of his cattle accusing that he was exporting cattle to the other countries.

“Hf Rashidullah s/o Rahmant Ullah was taking care of his cattle. Since their religious school has been locked down, he is working on his cattle. For that, NaSaKa accused him of smuggling cattle from Rathedaung to other countries. And then, they surrounded and beat him. It has always been like this here. There is no law here. NaSaKa and authority beat us as they wish. They extort money from us whenever they wish” the villager exclaimed.

(Translated into English by Maung Aurther)


(Photo: Reuters)
Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury
May 26, 2013

President Barack Obama of the United States of America has urged the Myanmar authorities to stop repression of the minority "Rohingya" community. He has expressed the hope that Yangon government would protect the interests of all religious and ethnic communities. He told no less a person than the president of the Myanmar during the latter's visit to the US the other day that the "Rohingyas" 'deserve fair and better deal' from Myanmar government, while praising the on-going democratic reforms in that former 'pariah' nation. The Myanmar president paid the landmark visit to the US following a series of pro-democracy reforms that have brought it closer to Washington and other Western countries. 

The "Rohingya" issue has also involved Bangladesh, rightly or wrongly, for a long time. The re-emergence of the "Rohingya" problem for Dhaka last time came somewhat as a bolt from the blue. For, there was hardly any inkling that such a problem involving the "Rohingya" Muslims in Myanmar was at all brewing for sometime past. On the contrary, the South East Asian nation has been very much in the regional and international news in positive terms. In fact, the current reforms, aimed at turning the nation that was hitherto ruled with an iron-fist, into a democratic society, are major ingredients for coverage by the international media; the world at large is veering towards the developments in Myanmar with a great degree of interest and curiosity. Indeed, this is a glorious saga for the country that virtually has been under military rule in different forms since 1962 until the on-going changes were initiated. These have come rather as surprising developments for many. But they have happily been initiated by the present government of president Then Sein. 

Indeed, this has been splendid progress for the nation known for its tough pattern of rule and isolationist policy until the unveiling of the desirable changes that have still a long way to go for reaching the destination. Besides, Myanmar's relations with its neighbour, Bangladesh, are also quite cordial, despite some misunderstanding along the border and centering the "Rohingya" issue. One major irritant was that of the maritime boundary dispute. It has been settled with the satisfaction of both sides; interactions between the two countries in various areas are also increasing. Needless to say, Bangladesh -- even if peripherally -- is involved in the "Rohingya" issue since the Myanmar Muslims known by this name have been intermittently coming into this country for the last few decades. Dhaka is grappling with the problem as several thousand "Rohingya" refugees are still in its territory awaiting repatriation while most of them have gone back. 

The Rakhine province in the north-western Myanmar has become restive following incidents of mayhem involving the majority Buddhists and the minority "Rohingya" Muslims. The trouble spread like a wild fire in the middle of the last year and the government declared then a state of emergency in the aftermath of the dangerous situation resulting in many deaths and scores being injured. The gravity of the situation was such that the United States had called for calm and resolving the problem at the earliest.

The "Rohingya" refugees, who are also sheltered in neighbouring Thailand, demonstrated before the UN office in Bangkok. On the other hand, demonstrators in Yangon and some other places in Myanmar clamoured against the "Rohingyas", calling them as "terrorists from Bangladesh". What has perturbed Dhaka is the creation of a situation for exodus of the "Rohingyas" inside Bangladesh. But the government took a firm position not to allow them again as many are seeking to cross over to this country to escape "atrocities" in Myanmar. Dhaka's position notwithstanding, the issue has also an humanitarian angle. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged Bangladesh to accept the refugees 'who comprise women and children'. After all, the humanitarian appeal has its own value.

The "Rohingya" issue is not a new phenomenon as a large number of such people crossed into Bangladesh way back in 1978. The matter was particularly relevant for Bangladesh as 0.2 million (2.0 lakh) people had reportedly came over from Myanmar. The repatriation of these people remained a irritant between the two countries, but most of the refugees went back in different phases while some more are still left in the camps in Cox's Bazar and other places. Two countries and the UNHCR have been involved in the gruelling process after the issue had hit snags several times owing to different factors. Yangon was not willing to recognise all the refugees as its citizens while many refugees themselves are reluctant to go back, fearing trouble or, being least interested in leaving Bangladesh. 

The repatriation process appeared quite intractable at times because of myriad complexities, but all these could be largely resolved -- thanks to the governments of two countries and the UN. Myanmar has several rebels groups like the "Karen" rebels, but the "Rohingyas" have been identified as a persecuted community in that country by the United Nations. They have taken shelter in both Bangladesh and Thailand for what they allege repression from both the majority community and the authorities.

It is against this background that it sounds plausible that Myanmar government should hold back its nationals from leaving the country. For this to happen, it is imperative to create conditions for their safety. Even if the "Rohingyas" are found guilty, to some extent, of some of the ugly, if not deadly, occurrences in the Rakhine province, the minorities are generally treated with a kid-glove approach everywhere. The same should also apply to the "Rohingyas" for the simple reason that they need security. 

The Myanmar authorities are now on the threshold of bringing about great reforms that would hopefully usher in a new era for the nation. This process may be adversely affected if the ethnic problems like that of the "Rohingyas" continue unabated. As such, the best way for resolving the critical issue is to provide necessary safety so that the Myanmar citizens do not feel themselves compelled by circumstances to leave their country, out of sheer desperation. This will also serve a great cause of friendship for the neighbouring Bangladesh as Dhaka can heave a sigh of relief under such a situation. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her recent visit to Thailand, has underscored the need for resolving the "Rohingya" issue and called for international efforts in that direction. Now that the president of the United States has made a fervent plea for stopping ill-treatment of the "Rohingyas", prospects seem to have brightened about improving the plight of the "Rohingyas". After all, Myanmar has big stakes to gain from the US and its allies for its development programmes and other benefits. But the question still remains: Will the Myanmar government and the radical Buddhists change their heart in this regard?
Photo: Phuket Wan
RB News
May 26, 2013

The authorities of Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Rohingya families. This policy doesn't apply to Buddhists in Rakhine state. 

Al Jazeera had interview with BROUK President Tun Khin on this regard. Have a watch here.



RB News
May 25, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan - U Aung Kyaw Zin, an intelligence officer from Special Investigation Department (SaSaSa), has been extorting money from Rohingyas in Alay Than Kyaw, Southern Maung Daw, under the NaSaKa (Border Security Force) Commandment Area 7 on daily basis through various means. 

"Every week, every shop in the village of Alay Than Kyaw has to pay Kyat 1000 to his office as extortion money. Rohingyas from the surrounding villages are also suffering from similar tortures" said a local villager.

Yesterday (i.e. on 24.05.2013), he arrested and detained Mv. Abdu Shukkor S/o Shafikur Rahman accusing that his younger brother, Hefzur Rahman, from the village of Udaung, under NaSaKa commandment area 8, stayed illegally at his (Hefzur Rahman's) own mother-in-law's house in Alay Than Kyaw.

"The accused was someone and the arrested person was someone else. Mv. Abdu Shukkor was arrested while he was working in his farm. 

Even on half-way, he extorted Kyat 150,000 and released Mv. Abdu Shukkor on the guarantee of Mauzu Rahman, (ex-chairman of the village), the current license holder on Animal Slaughtering. These arbitrary arrests and extortion of money are going on everyday" he continued.

Besides, he went on search for U Rahimullah S/o U Nagu from the village of Zumma of Udaung village tract under the accusation of so-called Human Trafficking to Malaysia. He scolded and insulted the man's wife when he (the searched person) was not found at his home. 

"U Aung Kyaw Zin takes information from U Maung Mya, the father-in-law of U Tin Maung, the administrator of Udaung village, regarding which Rohingya in the village is how rich. Then, he makes up false cases and extorts money from the people" the villager added.

(Translated into English by Maung Aurther)
RB News
May 25, 2013

The camps of the internally displaced Rohingyas at Thay Chaung in Sittwe got flooded due to the heavy rains. Although the government often say that they will send the displaced Rohingyas under shelters, they have not implemented anything yet. Now, the displaced people are finding extremely difficult to even sleep at night.

Thay Chaung Rohingya refugees Camp on May 24, 2013 
Thay Chaung Rohingya refugees Camp on May 24, 2013 
(Photo: Phuket Wan)
May 25, 2013

New measure, which applies to Muslim Rohingya families in western Rakhine state, does not affect Buddhists in the area.

Authorities in Myanmar's western Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists in the area, and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence.

Local officials said on Saturday that the new measure would be applied to two Rakhine townships that border Bangladesh and have the highest Muslim populations in the state.

The townships, Buthidaung and Maundaw, are about 95 percent Muslim.

The unusual order makes Myanmar perhaps the only country in the world to impose such a restriction on a religious group, and is likely to fuel further criticism that Muslims are being discriminated against in the Buddhist-majority country.

China has a one-child policy, but it is not based on religion and exceptions apply to minority ethnic groups.

India briefly practised forced sterilisation of men in a bid to control the population in the mid-1970s when civil liberties were suspended during a period of emergency rule, but a nationwide outcry quickly shut down the programme.

'Overpopulation causes tension'

Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing said the new programme was meant to stem rapid population growth in the Muslim community, which a government-appointed commission identified as one of the causes of the sectarian violence.

Although Muslims are the majority in the two townships in which the new policy applies, they account for only about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people.

The measure was enacted a week ago after the commission recommended family planning programs to stem population growth among Muslims, Win Myaing said.

The commission also recommended doubling the number of security forces in the volatile region.

"The population growth of Rohingya Muslims is 10 times higher than that of the Rakhine (Buddhists)," Win Myaing said. "Overpopulation is one of the causes of tension."

Sectarian violence in Myanmar first flared nearly a year ago in Rakhine state between the region's Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya.

Mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving hundreds of people dead and forcing 125,000 to flee, mostly Muslims.

Witnesses and human rights groups said riot police stood by as crowds attacked Muslims and burned their villages. 

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused authorities in Rakhine of fomenting an organised campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya.
Dr. Maung Zarni 
May 24, 2013

Myanmar has a newly registered Nazi party, the Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP), created ceremoniously in the wake of last year's anti-Muslim ethnic cleansing in western Rakhine State. Naypyidaw has incubated the party, while opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has wined and dined publicly with controversial RNDP leaders, including party chairman and member of parliament Dr Aye Maung. 

Separate branches of the Myanmar state, including the executive office of President Thein Sein, the parliament, and the judiciary, have all tolerated or tacitly backed the neo-Nazi Buddhist movement known as "969". The Buddhist fundamentalist movement, led by fascist monks such as U Wirathu and RNDP leaders like Aung Maung, himself a Bangladesh-born Rakhine, has been pivotal and yet unpunished in recent violence against Muslims that have killed hundreds and displaced upwards of 120,000. 

Underscoring the racist bias, the judiciary recently sentenced a Muslim customer who peeled a 969 sticker off the mirror of a street vendor with his motorcycle key to two years imprisonment for "insulting religion". At the same time, the Thein Sein administration in Naypyidaw has failed to bring anyone to justice for participating in the broad daylight slaughter of 10 Muslim pilgrims in a public space in the southern Rakhine town of Taung-gok in early June 2012. Nor has anyone been prosecuted for this and last year's widely videotaped pogroms against Muslim communities. 

With this type of blatant impunity, it is little wonder that the RNDP openly subscribes to neo-Nazism in its quest to create a pure "Buddhist state". The RNDP's official journal, "Toe-Tet-Yay" (or Progress), regularly uses the Burmese word for "beasts" when referring to Myanmar's Muslims, including the ethnic Rohingya. In media interviews as well as parliamentary discussions, RNDP leaders have with discernible admiration publicly talked about how Rakhine patriots should look to Israel and its apartheid system vis-a-vis the Palestinians as a model for handling the Rohingya. 

An editorial in Progress's November 2012 edition even endorsed the view that while former fascist leader Hitler may have been a monster to Jews, he was a nationalist hero to many Germans. This is a view that any German in his or her right mind would find extremely repulsive and impossible to sympathize with. 

Myanmar's homegrown neo-Nazi party of the Rakhines also calls for national level authorities in Naypyidaw to hold firm against any international pressure, including US rights lobby Human Right Watch's recent characterization of state-linked violence against the Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing", in dealing with the Rohingya situation, including the recent massive displacement of the group along the Bangladesh border. 

Instead, they advocate for the forceful implementation of the blatantly racist 1982 Citizenship Act, which was specifically designed to bar any citizenship rights or recognition for Rohingya who lacked the documentation to prove that their ancestry was based in Myanmar, then known as Burma, before the first British defeat of the Burmese feudal kingdom in 1824. 

(Incidentally, printing machines arrived in the palm-leaf society of feudal, pre-colonial Burma only around the mid-19th century - and even then it was thanks to the Christian missionaries. By this standard, 99% of supposedly "pure-blooded" Burmese would be rendered ineligible for citizenship.) 

The RNDP's racist views have top level support. Speaking recently in New York, Myanmar Immigration Minister and ex-police chief Khin Yi reaffirmed the government's commitment to applying the Citizenship Act of 1982 to the Rohingya who survived last year's pogroms. Khin Yi, who has no exposure to the liberal West or little in terms of critical education, may be forgiven for his bluntness. 

However, Myanmar's intellectual elites, including Western-educated opinion makers with PhDs and other advanced credentials from Ivy League schools and Oxbridge, have echoed Khin Yi's official racist stance on recognizing Rohingya citizenship. During his trip this week to Washington, Thein Sein confirmed the government's commitment to enforcing the racist Citizenship Act. 

Dr Yin Yin Nwe, a PhD in geology from Cambridge University, Thein Sein's gem stones adviser, a presidential Rakhine Inquiry Commissioner, and the older daughter of the late Burmese authors Mi Mi Khaing and Shan feudalist Sao Saimong Mangra, talked about Rohingya women with visible disdain and in effect endorsed eugenics for them in a May 12 interview with Voice of America. 

Another essay in the RNDP's 20-page official publication talks broadly about why certain individuals should not be considered human and hence not entitled to universal human rights. The same article argues that ethnic Buddhist Rakhines are only original inhabitants, or tai-yin-thar, of Rakhine State and that the ethnic name "Rohingya" should not be officially recognized for reasons of "national security". 

Insecure racists
This national security over human rights perspective has also been shared by certain George Soros-funded 88 Generation Peace and Open Society Group leaders, including Ko Ko Gyi, who has openly endorsed the anti-Rohingya view since his meeting last year with ruling United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) chairman and presidential-hopeful ex-General Shwe Mann. 

Ko Ko Gyi, of course, is not alone. From presidential spokespersons such as Zaw Htay and Ye Htut, to Myanmar's National Human Rights Commission, to Western donor-funded human rights educators such as Aung Myo Min of the Human Rights Education Institute and other self-styled "civil society" leaders and organizations, all find it "unacceptable" to characterize last year's mass violence against Rohingya and other Muslims of western Myanmar as "ethnic cleansing" or as "crimes against humanity". 

As Rakhine State spokesperson Win Myaing recently put it to Reuters, "How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group." 

These expressions of racial hatred were not entirely unpredictable. As early as 2004 Rakhine dissidents in exile based along Thai-Myanmar border areas such as Mae Sot were found to be reading and discussing Hitler's infamous tract Mein Kampf, or "My Story". It thus would not be surprising if Myanmar's neo-Nazis among the Rakhine and multiethnic public may be inclined to learn German so that they may read Hitler's racist treatise in the original. 

According to a retired German ambassador to Myanmar who recently wrote a commissioned analysis on the rise of what many have referred to as a "neo-Nazi Buddhist movement", the German Foreign Ministry was adamant against his use of the labels "Nazi" or "neo-Nazi" to describe what he viewed as just that. Apparently the word "Nazi" is too close to home for Berlin, which was actively engaged Thein Sein's quasi-civilian regime. 

German officials are not alone in feeling squeamish about the overt labeling of recent genocidal and Nazi-like developments in Myanmar. Yangon-based Western diplomats charged with engaging Thein Sein's government are known to be hostile to any characterization of the clearly coordinated and Naypyidaw-backed mass violence against Rohingya and other Muslims as "ethnic cleansing", not to mention the use of the term "genocide". 

But after advocating for human rights and democratization in Myanmar since the end of the Cold War, the West-led "international community" has lately come to play the lamentable role of "genocide enablers". From the United States to the European Union, from Britain to Japan, from the Paris Club to the Asian Development Bank, not to mention the "Burma-pernicious" International Crisis Group - as Australian economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, Sean Turnell puts it - all have looked the other way in pursuit of their broader commercial and strategic interests. 

Herewith is a shortlist of the concrete ways in which Western players have instilled a sense of invincibility in Thein Sein's fascist leadership and his proxy genocidal RNDP:
  • US President Barack Obama stops in Myanmar for six hours, claiming the visit as a foreign policy "success story" (Nov 2012);
  • The Paris Club cancels US$5.7 billion of Myanmar debt (Jan 2013);
  • Japan forgives $3.7 billion of Myanmar debt (Apr 2013);
  • The Brussels-based International Crisis Group awards Thein Sein its "In Pursuit of Peace Award" (Apr 2013);
  • The European Union lifts its long-held economic sanctions on Myanmar (Apr 2013);
  • Obama gives Thein Sein reciprocal red carpet treatment at the White House, while a senior US senator indicates he will let sanctions-related legislation lapse (May 2013). 
With such international rewards and accolades coming in the direct aftermath of anti-Muslim ethnic cleansing, it is not surprising that Naypyidaw feels comfortable in ignoring its critics. Obama steered studiously clear of the term "ethnic cleansing" when stating his mild concern about the recent anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar. After all, who would want to refer to their budding business and diplomatic partners as genocidal perpetrators of crimes against humanity?

Maung Zarni is a Burmese activist blogger (www.maungzarni.com) and visiting fellow of Civil Society and Human Security Research at the London School of Economics. The above was adapted from a May 18 entry on his personal blog.
May 24, 2013

Muslims in Arakan have to bribe officials in order to bury their dead.

NEW YORK -- Director General of Arakan Rohingya Union, Wakar Uddin, said that Rohingya Muslims in Arakan still had sufferings, despite the messages during Myanmar's President Thein Sein's visit to US. 

The sufferings of the Rohingya Muslims in Arakan (Rakhine) or those who have fled to neighboring countries, have not yet ended. The burnings and looting of their houses in the villages in a number of towns in Arakan are still ongoing. Many are forced to flee to neighboring countries, who are not well received.

During his visit in US, President Thein Sein was warned of the violence towards Rohingya Muslims. US President Barrack Obama called on Myanmar's President Thein Sein to stop ethnic killings of Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Previously, it was stated clearly in US Annual Report on International Religious Freedom that Rohingya Muslims faced serious discrimination and violence.

According to the report Rohingya Muslims faced legal, economic, social and educational discrimination as well as violence and denial of their citizenship.

Wakar Uddin spoke to AA evaluating the recent developments in Arakan as well as the recent visit of President Thein Sein to US. 

Claiming that Myanmar government was trying to balance between China and the western world, Uddin said it was clear that the government did not want to be dependent economically on China only. 

"We are pleased to see that the warning of President Obama against violence towards Rohingya Muslims is serious enough," said Uddin, adding, "time will show how effective the messages of Obama will be."

Uddin pointed out Thein Sein and his government used 'Bengali' for Rohingya Muslims and said changing the terminology was a prerequisite to the solution of the existing problems in Arakan. 

Stating some Myanmar security officials forced Rohingya Muslims to sign a document saying they were 'Bengali', Uddin added that if the Muslims did not allow the officials to write 'Bengali' in their forms, they were faced with violence, arrestment, and destruction of their properties. 

"All the mosques are still closed in Arakan," said Uddin, adding, "they are not allowing us to perform prayers during the funerals. Muslims in Arakan have to bribe officials in order to bury their dead."

Moreover, Rohingya Muslims are also forced to sign another document saying they are coming from Bangladesh, which will pave the way for sending them to Bangladesh in the future.
By Dr. Maung Zarni

Since the first wave of Rohingya genocide in Feb 1978 which expelled nearly 200,000 refugees from all across Western Burma in to the neighboring newly independent Bangladesh, Burma's military regimes have committed themselves to erasing that the Rohingya were a constitutive ethnic nationality group (or Tai-yin-thar), who 'are found on both sides of East Bengal (or now Bangladesh) and Burma. Their transboundaries community is not unlike the Shan or Tai of Burma and Northern Siam, the Jeng-hpaw of Northern Burma and Southern China, the Mons of southern Burma and Thailand, the Karens of Eastern Burma and Thailand. Myanmar authorities and scholars, as well as deeply ignorant Myanmar public have denied that these "Tai-yin-thar ever existed in Burma while insisting them to be nothing but 'illegal migrants' from Bangladesh - all despite available mountains of evidence to the contrary. On its part, the international media simply repeats Myanmar's official line - or lie - that the Rohingyas are state-less people, who have never been Tai-yin-thar or a constitutive ethnic group of Burma.

Transcript of Aung Gyi's speech
Brigadier General Aung Gyi, Vice Chief of Staff of the Burmese Armed Forces (Army) and 2nd in command under General Ne Win seen here addressing THE ROHINGYA, singing the latter's praise as a good, cooperative national people, 15 Nov 1960 
Esteemed Malvis, ROHINGYA Leaders, etc. "Today will go down in history as the greatest (modern) milestone, after our country's independence in 1948, in the history of May Yu district which had not seen peace since 1942.

Prime Minister U Nu: "in the Bhu-thee-daung and Maung Daw areas adjacent to East Pakistan are found the Union nationalities called the ROHINGYA. They are Muslims". There are also Mujahaddins (across the borders in East Pakistan) who want to establish an independent Islamic state.

The front cover of the Union of the Socialist Republic of Burma High School Geography Textbook cover (1978)
In the High School Geography Textbook this illustration included ethnic distributions. On the northern most districts closest to Bangladesh in the coastal Arakan state are 'Rohingya", Thet, Khami,and Myo. 

30 Years Anniversary Publication (book) of the Burmese Broadcasting Service, Government Printing Press


Lumyo or race: Rohingya Muslim
Issued by Board of Management of the Rangoon Post
29 July 1968
In order to enhance union spirit among all ethnic nationalities (Tai-yin-thar) several national language programs are added to the existing Shan, etc.
Head of Rohingya Taiyintar Language Program (U Ba Tun, BA, BL)

Rohingya ethnic nationality language (Taiyinthar) is scheduled to broadcast 3 times a week 10 minutes each slot.
The effective administration of the May Yu District of Northern Arakan State begins only in May 1961 for a variety of reasons although it was supposed to be administered directly by the Border Administration. 
Burmese Official Government-issued Encyclopedia (1964)

May Yu districts has a total population of about 400,000 to 500,000. Seventy-five % of them are Rohingya and their religion is Islam. There are also Rakhine, Dai-net, Kha-mei, Myo, etc. Many of them are engaged in agriculture and fishing

The future of May Yu (District), second printing, 1960. Ministry of Defense
By Dr. Maung Zarni
May 23, 2013
Two Rohingya children terrorized, half-starved and perceived as "viruses and threats to Burma's national security" by the pro-democracy dissidents, civil society, Buddhist Order and the military state
A Rohingya child's pictorial memory of life in Rakhine State
A street scene in the Third Reich, 1930's
As chillingly reminiscent of the Third Reich and its Nazism, un-Buddhist, un-factual and ethnocidal as some may sound, these select statements are an accurate reflection of the sub-consciously neo-Nazi world of the ethnically dominant Burmese ruling elite and counter-elite who are forging ahead one grand coalition with their former jailers to turn Burma into 'the last Asian tiger' and build 'discipline flourishing democracy', apparently at the expense of religious and ethnic minorities who make up 40% of the population. 

Ironically, local Rakhines, generally widely disliked by both the Burmese public and the military, and the Rohingya Muslim, one of the world's 'most vulnerable' peoples, have been pitted against one another by the internally colonial State and Society in Burma, since 1940's.

1. Burma's Ambassador to the UN (Geneva)

Rohingya 'as ugly as ogres'

"In reality, Rohingya are neither Myanmar people nor Myanmar's ethnic group. It is quite different from what you have seen and read in the papers. (They are as ugly as ogres)."

- ex-Major Ye Myint Aung, then Consul General of Myanmar Consulate, Hong Kong and subsequent to sending his rather racist and derogatory written note to the UK-based diplomatic missions, was promoted to Ambassadorship in the UN, Geneva, 10 Feb 2009

2. President Thein Sein, the man and his office

2. A "According to our government, we don't have a policy of discriminating based on religion or race."

President Thein Sein, Interviewed by CNN'S AMANPOUR, 20 May 2013

2. B  “There is no Rohingya among our races. We have Bengalis who were brought to do farming during colonial days. Some of them settled.” He spoke approvingly of a 1982 law that has been used to deny them citizenship.


2. C "(I)t is impossible for Burma to accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered illegally ... (and Myanmar is) “willing to send the Rohingyas to any third country that will accept them.”

Myanmar Government Official Statement out of President Thein Sein's office, 12 July 2012

2. D “The UN and other organizations have done what they should do. The [Rakhine-Rohingya] situation is moving in a positive direction. A report containing harsh accusations is un-constructive, and does not represent 60 million people.”

Sit Myaing, a former police colonel and a member of the Myanmar (official) Human Rights Commission


3. Madam Aung San Suu Kyi

3. A "I don't know".


3. B "She believes, in Burma, there is no Rohingya ethnic group".

Nyan Win, Aung San Suu Kyi's official spokesperson

4. "We, the 88 Generation, who fought for human rights for so many years, are unhappy about the HRW report. I feel that it is an insult to our nation. The main thing is that this is not an ethnic problem, it is the fact that the Rule of Law in Myanmar is so weak."

Min Zay Yar, a well-known former student leader from the 1988 student uprisings

5. Ko Ko Gyi, (considered by his peers as the "brain" of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society Group, a former international relations undergraduate student, Rangoon University, 1988)

5. A “Rohingya issue”—that is, the status of Arakan State’s Muslim minority — is essentially a matter of sovereignty. 

Ko Ko Gyi - 88 Generation Peace and Open Society Group

(paraphrased by Aung Zaw, Irrawaddy)

5. B "I will resign from this commission if it uses the word 'human rights' in association with these Bengali".

Ko Ko Gyi

(Personal phone conversation with Zarganar, the fellow commissioner on the Rakhine Sectarian Violence Inquiry Commission set up by President Thein Sein, Fall 2012)

5. C "The job of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar Professor Tomas Quintana is to investigate human rights abuses. This (violence between the Rohingya and the Rakhine) is ethnic conflict. So, it's not really his job to examine the inter-ethnic violence."

Again, Ko Ko Gyi, to a group of international visitors who research on human rights atrocities in Western Burmese state of Rakhine or Arakan, Rangoon, the weekend of 27-28 Apr 2013

6. Major Zaw Htay, Thein Sein's official spokesperson 

"Although there are some who criticized [Myanmar] quoting the Human Rights Watch's report, [you can see] Myanmar has been praised recently for its human rights progress by the US which promotes human rights activities around the world."

Zaw Htay, the director for the President's Office on his Facebook page on April 22, 

7. Former Mae Sot, Thailand-based exile and human rights educator

“In such a sensitive situation, the use of the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’ is unacceptable. Ethnic Cleansing means eliminating other ethnic groups. This is not the case [in Rakhine State].”

Aung Myo Min, Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB)

8. Presidential Inquiry Commissioners (Myanmar Genocide Whitewashers)

Myanmar Presidential Inquiry Commission on the Rakhine Sectarian Violence at the Western donor-funded Myanmar Peace Center (29 Apr 2013)

From left to right (Aung Naing Oo, Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing (Secretary and President Thein Sein's adviser), Dr Yin Yin Nwe (ex-daughter-in-law of the late despot General Ne Win), Ko Ko Gyi (88 Generation Peace and Open Society Group) and Zarganar
The following are the on-the-record statements/views of Presidential Inquiry Commission on the Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State.

(For my critique of this commission and its blatantly ethnocidal report, see my Myanmar whitewashes ethnic cleansing )

8. A Dr Myo Myint

"They (the "Bengalis" from across Bangladesh) are here already. We can't simply kick them out. What to do?"

Dr Myo Myint (PhD in History, Cornell), former lecturer of history at Mandalay University, retired Director-General, Religious Affairs Department (Ministry of Home Affairs), Chairman of the Rakhine Sectarian Violence Presidential Inquiry Commission, 17 Aug 2013 (YouTube)

8. B Dr Myo Myint

"You don't need to report to the President about the situation on a regular basis. The security and welfare of those people ("Bengali") are not our commission's responsibility". 

Dr Myo Myint, a recorded phone conversation with one of the Muslim Commissioners who was fired, arrested and later released by the Special Branch, 2 days prior to his arrest in November 2012 

{Compiler's note: I listened to the 10-minute recorded conversation earlier this month, and with absolute certainty I can verify that it was THE voice of Dr Myo Myint, my old history tutor at Mandalay University (1982)}

8. C Dr Yin Yin Nwe

"These un-educated Bengali women procreate like mad. On average one woman has about 10-12 children, and men are allowed to have more than 1 wife. I even told them I have only 1 child and even then the cost of education is quite expensive. Because of this population explosion, now 90-plus % of Buthidaung and Maung Daw population is made up of Bengali and only about 5-6 percent are Rakhine and Bama. So, think for yourself who is a majority here and who is minority. That's why, we proposed population control - albeit on a voluntary basis."

Dr Yin Yin Nwe, (PhD Geology, Cambridgae), ex-daughter in law of the late dictator Ne Win, Thein Sein's gem stones adviser, member of the Presidential Inquiry Commission on the Rakhine Sectarian Violence Commission, the Voice of America Burmese TV Interview, 12 May 2013

{Compiler's remark: With this single interview she has become an instant celebrity extremely popular with the Burmese YouTube viewers and social media virtual public, both inside Burma and in diaspora}

8. D Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing, Secretary and Presidential Adviser

"It's untrue to say that our government is not doing anything. We are doing interfaith dialogues among Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Rakhine and Rangoon. We surveyed about 2,000 people in Western Burma. There is a lot of hatred there". 

Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing (PhD in Government, Cornell), former student of Commission Chairman Dr Myo Myint and himself, Secretary of the Presidential Inquiry Commission on sectarian violence in Rakhine 

(It was in response to a question by a Burmese Muslim retiree U Win Aung from the Voice of America and the Burmese Broadcasting Service regarding the situation which Human Rights Watch characterizes as "ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity" of the Rohingya of Western Burmese state of Rakhine, the Voice of America Burmese service townhall meeting with President Thein Sein, Washington, DC, 19 May 2013).

8. E Zarganar (a.k.a Dr Thura), a key commissioner member who knew a lot of purposely and verifiably false statements were inserted into the government official inquiry commission report, but he chose to endorse it publicly.

"This is a made-up report (that is, the damning report of the Human Rights Watch on ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Burma)". 


Dr Thura or better known as Zarganar is the country's best known political comedian and recipient of many human rights awards, film educator and 4-times political prisoner, a key member of the aforementioned inquiry commission and a member of the political prisoners verification committee - in reference to Human Rights Watch's damning report indicting the State, its leadership and institutions in the organized mass violence against the Rohingya in the two bouts of violence in June and Oct 2012. (see the report here: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/04/22/all-you-can-do-pray-0)

9. The Rakhine Voices

9. A “This is unfair. Our party does not accept the statement at all. All the local people in Rakhine State know the incidents from A to Z. The violence did not occur racially or religiously. It happened between those who want to seize the territory and those who want to defend that territory. Ethnic cleansing is not the matter of that issue.”

Aung Mya Kyaw, Rakhine State Parliament MP Aung Mya Kyaw of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party in reference to Human Rights Watch's report "All You can Do is Pray: Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity against the Rohingya of Western Burma", 22 April 2013

9. B “I don’t know whether the HRW’s wording is linked to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. We will say that their use of term ‘Rohingya’ is wrong.” 

"We don't have Rohingyas in our country. We can only say that they are Bangladeshi or foreign Bengalis. Now, the words used by this group have reached the level of hurting the country and its people. [They] often kept saying ethnic cleaning. Actually, it's not a racial or religious issue. It's called communal violence… Politically, it includes competition of groups living inside the country and abroad. We have been living together with Muslims since a long time ago and we didn't have any problems. The group will know if they come [to Myanmar]".

Dr U Maung, vice chairman of the Araken League for Democracy

9. C "We have to restore Rakhine villages (to the pre-Bengali period). We need to take inspiration from Israel and model our restoration (of Rakhine State only for the Rakhine) from Israel."

MP Aye Maung, Chairman of the Rakine National Development Party, in his interview with Burma's local news magazine - Venus News, Current Politics section, 14 Aug 2012

9. D "How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group".

Mr Win Myaing, Rakhine State Government Spokesperson, quoted in Reuters, 15 May 2013

10. The Venerable Wirathu, New Ma-soe-yein Teaching Buddhist Monastery

"Whatever (the Muslims) do they do it with their 'national' Muslim interests in mind. They have designs against our country, our faith and our society. They now have monopoly over the construction sector in Rangoon. They have come to dominate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. Even she is only riding the niggers' cars. All these national dissidents such as Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Ko Naing dare not speak a word about the Rakhine Crisis (during which our brethen Rakhine are suffering at the hands of the Bangali). Our national political emblem has been replaced by the Islam's symbol of beards! They are the worst violators of human rights and religious freedom. So, you Buddhist lay public must do everything with the (anti-Muslim) nationalist ethos. Only do business and socially interact with those who embrace 969 ethos of economic boycott and societal exclusion and ostracism against the (Muslim) enemy".


    • Rohingya Exodus