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Aman Ullah
RB History
August 10, 2014

One of the prominent features of socio-cultural history of Arakan in the 17th century was the extensive Muslim influence on the Arakan society, which was not an outcome of some sudden occurrences. It was a result of an age-long intercourse between Arakan and Muslim countries that dated back to the period of Arab contacts with Arakan during the reign of Maha-Taing Tsandaya (788-810 AD).

Strong Muslim influence in the late 17th century Arakan has been remarked upon a host of writers: French physician François Bernier, who was in India during 1665-1667, mentions that ‘Although the king of Rakan be a Gentile, yet, there are many Mohamedan mixed with the people, who either chosen to retire among them or have been enslaved by the Portuguese in the expeditions to the neighboring coast.’ Another great European writer Nicolao Manucci, who was also in India during 1656-1712, in support him(Bernier) saying that Shuja found many dwellers in Arakan, Mughals and Phatans. Even San Shwe Bu, an Arakanese archaeologist and historian, agrees that ‘there were numerous Muhamadens settled in the country.’

Various historians and scholars have recorded that Islam began to spread from the eastern bank of Meghna to Arakan since eighth and ninth centuries, long before the establishment of a Muslim kingdom in the frontier region. Since then, the influence grew fast and was consolidated fully by the 17th century.

From the writings of Verthema, Caesar Frederick, Ralph Fitch and also Portuguese it appears that in the sea ports of Bengal coast there was important community of Muslim merchants and residents who were mostly Arabs. A fairly large numbers of Muslims had entered Chittagong and had gone to Arakan considerably before Chittagong came under the independent Sultanate of Bengal in 1338. The tempo of Muslims immigrations to Chittagong and Arakan increased after the Pathan occupations of Chittagong in the middle of 14th century.

The gradual Muslim infiltration into political and cultural life of Arakan became more forceful during the reign of King Min Saw Mwun (Sulaiman Shah) in 15th century. He was forced to take sanctuary with the king Ahmed Shah of Gaur and with the help of the Sultan of Gaur (Jalal-uddin Mohammed Shah) regained his throne. Once restored to his throne he and his successor also took Muslim names and issued coins and medallions bearing the Kaliima (the Islamic confession of Faith). According to MS Collis, ‘Arakan became a feudatory of Sultans of Bengal and oriented towards the Muslim State. Contact with a modern civilization resulted in a renaissance. Min Bin (Zabauk Shah) who ascended the throne in 1531 founded the Arakanese Empire. With him the graduated in their Muslim studies. Arakan had turned into a Sultanate, the court was shaped in Gaur and Delhi and its kings adopted the title of Padashaah. Let. Col. Ba Shin, the then Chairman of Historical Commission, stated that Arakan was virtually ruled by the Muslims from 1430 to 1531.

Besides Manucci and Bernier, Sebastian Manrique who was a Portuguese and a Roman Catholic priest of St. Augustine Order also referred to the great number of Muslim population in Arakan. Manrique visited Arakan twice, in 1629 and 1635. He attended the coronation ceremony of the Arakanese king. He spent six years in Chittagong and Arakan. In 1629, he says, he saw many Muslims on his way to and in the city Mrauk U. While discussing the coronation of the king, Manrique specially referred to the Muslim officers and soldiers in the service of the king. The king Thiri Thudamma postponed his coronation for twelve years because he was told by his wise men that he would die within a year of his coronation. When several year passed (Manrique says nine years), his nobles demand that the king should be coroneted. The king acceded to their demand, but before doing so, as Manrique says, the king consulted his preceptor who was a Muslim and who visited the holy cities of Makah and Medina twice. This preceptor of the king must have been Chief Minister and Manrique’s evidence shows that what a great influence was exercised by this Muslim officer over the Buddhist king of Arakan.

Manrique gives the description of the coronation ceremony of the Arakanese king held on 23 January 1635. He gives a description of the coronation procession and says that of the several contingent of army that took part in the coronation procession, one contingent wholly comprised of 600 Muslim soldiers was led by the Muslim officer called Lashker Wazir who rode on Iraqi horse. In the contingent, led by Arkanese commanders, also there were Muslim soldiers. The evidence of Manrique combined with the fact that there were several Muslim ministers in Arakan gives a good picture of the presence of the Muslim in Arakan in the 17th century. 

The contemporary Bengali, which blossomed at Mrauk-U in 17th century by the Muslim poets of Arakan, gives reference to a number of Muslim nobles who occupied high post of ministers, chief ministers and war ministers in the Arakan in the 17th century. Asrof Khan was a Lashker Wazir (Defence Minister) of King Thiri Thudamma (1612-22). There was Lashker Wazir in the time of Nara Patigyi (1638-45), but among the Muslim officers, Magan Thakur earned great name. He was the Chief Minister of Thado Mintra (1645-52), the nephew and son-in-law of Nara Patigyi. Sanda Thudamma also had Muslim ministers named Sayyid Muhammed and Nabaraj Majlis. Besides the minister there were other major or minor officers also.

The Muslim influence made a deep mark on the society and administration of Arakan. Poet Alwal, in his Sikandernama, refers to the participation of Muslim nobility in the coronation ritual of Arakanese monarch. Majlis Nabaraj, a Prime Minister, officially conducted the investiture ceremony of King Sanda Thudamma (1652-1684). 

Alwal first praises king and then says that Nabaraj Majlis was the Chief Minister among all the Muslims there living in the country of Roshang. When the king died and his prince (new King) came to occupy the throne, he was made to stand outside of the throne facing the east. Majlis then appeared before him wearing his official dress. Nabaraj Majlis then administered the oath as follows: ‘treat your subjects as your son; do not oppress the people; be just in religious and legal matters; do not allow the strong to oppress the weak; you should be kind, truthful and religious; behave well to the good people and destroy the wicked; always be generous and do not vacillate or restless; do not harm anybody for past fault;’ and he advised the king in many other matters. The king agreed to abide by his advice and follow his admonition. Then he saluted Nabaraj Majlis and then others of his family.

The king Sanda Thudamma ascended the throne in 1652, after the death of his father. As he was minor, his mother became regent and Magan Thakur held the reins of government on their behalf. Then Magan Thakur was not only the Prime Minister but also became the guardian of the dowager queen and the boy king. The king was coroneted at the age of 30 years about 18 years after his accession in1670. It means that Magan Thakur held the rein of government about 18 years.

Thus, in the later part of the 17th century the real administrates were these Muslim High officials. San Baw U, in his book ‘My Rambles: Among the ruins of the golden city of Mrauk u’, wrote that, ‘In those times not only the council of ministers in Arakan were so powerful and dominant but strong popular public opinion existed that guided the officers of the state and curbed the king’s power.’

The Indian historian Ramesh C. Majumdar speaks of a decisive role of the Muslims in the history of the kingdom of Arakan and Jamini M. Ghosh (writing in 1960) thinks that the use of Muslim names and the favours granted by the king to the Muslim poets testify to the ‘cultural affinity’ of the Arakanese and the Muslims. Suniti B. Qanungo, writes: ‘The Muslim subjugations of Arakan from time to time undoubtedly increased the Islamic influence in that country.

Throughout the history of Arakan, the Muslims remained predominant and played a distinctive role in all fields. But the general characteristics of civil society in Arakan today is of Buddhist being dominant, acquisitive and exploitative and the Muslims being deprived, exploited and devoid of any significant role in the power structure even in the local level. The Muslim continues to experience severe legal, economic and social discrimination. The historical right Muslim to live in Arakan is still put very much in question. The successive military regimes arbitrarily deny their citizenship status and right to self-identification on fictitious grounds that their ancestors allegedly did not reside in the country at the start of British colonial rule.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gives a speech during the 7th Lower Mekong Initiative ministerial meeting at the Myanmar International Convention Centre (MICC) in Naypyitaw, August 9, 2014. (Photo: REUTERS/ Soe Zeya Tun)

By Lesley Wroughton
August 9, 2014

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday pressed Myanmar's political leaders on Washington's human rights concerns and urged its President Thein Sein to step up constitutional reforms to ensure elections next year are fully credible.

Kerry, in Myanmar's capital for the ASEAN Regional Forum, met Thein Sein and discussed plans for elections in 2015, concerns over the treatment of the minority Muslim Rohingya, as well as the jailing of journalists, a senior State Department official said.

He also discussed these issues with Shwe Mann, the speaker of parliament and leader of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

While officials acknowledged there had been significant change in Myanmar during its political transition since 2011 from military rule, they also said there had been "some resistance and some slowdown" in tackling more difficult issues such as press freedom and constitutional reforms.

Kerry will meet with Myanmar opposition leader and international icon Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Sunday.

She has campaigned for a change to the constitution that bars her from the presidency and gives substantial political power to unelected military members of parliament.

The United States has promised to ease sanctions further if there are more reforms, including the withdrawal of the military from politics.

But U.S. officials said the lifting of remaining sanctions was unlikely until the process of reform and respect for human rights advances.

"Right now the focus is entirely on bearing down on these more fundamental challenges that they are now coming face to face with," the senior official said.

ROHINGYA IN SPOTLIGHT

Kerry got into "quite a few details" about the situation in Rakhine state and the minority Muslim Rohingya community, the official said.

In particular, he addressed the designation of the term "Bengali" which the Rohingya see as underscoring an assertion they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in western Myanmar for generations.

"The name issue should be set aside," the official said.

"To force any community to accept a name they consider to be offensive is to invite conflict, and if the goal is to prevent conflict, then it's better to set that aside."

Kerry also raised specific cases involving the arrest of journalists, the official added.

The senior State Department official said there was no resistance from Thein to discussing the issues.

Ye Htut, Myanmar's minister of information, said on Friday the government had moved in the right direction since elections in 2011 but also recognized it needed to do more.

"We don't deny there are some challenges that we are facing," he said, "But we are moving toward the right direction and we're trying our best to overcome these challenges."

"People in Congress should have more understanding of our situation, and instead of blaming us, they try to find a way to help the Myanmar people to solve all these things," he said. 

(Additional reporting by Paul Mooney; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Naw Ohn Hla, leader of Democracy and Peace Women Network. (Photo: DVB)

August 9, 2014

A Rohingya activist, a Mon activist and a women’s rights advocacy group were the recipients of awards from N-Peace Network, an international advocacy group that supports women’s leadership in conflict resolution.

Wai Wai Nu, a former political prisoner and the director of Women Peace Network Arakan, was awarded N-Peace Network’s “Peace Generation – Young Women and Men Building Peace” award; while Mi Khin Khin Kyu, an ethnic Mon who advocates for women’s rights in Mon State and other parts of Burma, was recognised in the category of “Women Transforming their Communities”.

In addition, Democracy and Peace Women Network was recognised for “Thinking Outside the Box”, an award for bringing new solutions to persistent problems.

Naw Ohn Hla, leader of the Democracy and Peace Women Network, said that her work involves educating farmers and workers about their rights when it comes to land issues – a problem stemming from the extensive land grabbing by Burma’s former military regime. Her organisation also provides assistance to women.

“We also provide as much assistance as we can for women in the workplace,” Naw Ohn Hla said. “Today, farmers and workers in Burma have no peace in life and we will continue to strive to bring about peace in the country.”

Sentenced to prison with her family when she was 18 for pro-democracy activities, Wai Wai Nu was released in 2012 after seven years. Since then, she has been working to build more understanding among Burma’s different ethnicities and has campaigned to end persecution of Rohingyas in Burma.

She said that she is honoured to receive the award and hopes that such recognition would bring more attention to Rohingya issues and the anti-Muslim sentiments they face.

“I think this is a starting point and I could be a more effective voice to the wider community,” Wai Wai Nu told DVB. “I hope that the issues will get more attention from the general public.”

The winners were announced on 31 July, and the awarding ceremony will take place in Bangkok in October.



RB News
August 8, 2014 

Maungdaw, Arakan -- On 17th of July 2014, a group from the Burmese Census Taking Authority visited Hetaliya hamlet (Zulapara) in Maungdaw Township to persuade people to register as Bengalis but no Rohingya from the village agreed to register in the Census as Bengalis. At last, the Census group left without success. 

As retaliation, on the 30th of July the authority came back to the village accompanied by a small group of Border Guard Police (BGP) and raided houses in the village indiscriminately. They robbed the villagers of belongings and then separated the women aside and started harassing them. When the security forces were about to rape the women at gun point the villagers, and many people from neighboring villages, gathered and tried to rescue the innocent women. At that point, the security forces opened fire in the air to disperse the crowd. Later, they arrested a few villagers and took them away at gun point to Kyiganpyin, the Head Quarters of BGP. 

The villagers who were arrested are: 

(1) Ismail son of Ashraf Mei 
(2) Ziyaul Haque son of Ismail 
(3) Rafiq son of Zahir Ahmed 
(4) Mohamed Shah son of Zahir Ahmed.

The villagers came to know that the men who were detained were severely tortured and charged for obstructing the Security forces and organizing anti-census activities in the village. It is obvious that, although the Rakhine State authority are trying hard to register the Rohingyas as Bangalis by threatening with various means, the Rohingyas remain united to safe guard their identity. There is much historical evidence that the Rohingyas have been living in Arakan, Burma for centuries.

In this June 24, 2014 photo, seven-years old Mubari Khuson stands in Dar Paing, a camp for Rohingya Muslims in north of Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. Naked boys and girls run barefoot on the muddy, narrow pathways, or play in pools of raw sewage, exposing them to potential waterborne diseases that kill. Some have black hair tinged with patches of red or blond, a tell-tale sign of nutrient deficiency commonly seen in places experiencing famine. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press)

By Associated Press
August 8, 2014

OHN TAW GYI CAMP, Myanmar — Born just over a year ago, Dosmeda Bibi has spent her entire short life confined to a camp for one of the world’s most persecuted religious minorities. And like a growing number of other Muslim Rohingya children who are going hungry, she’s showing the first signs of severe malnutrition.

Her stomach is bloated and her skin clings tightly to the bones of her tiny arms and legs. While others her age are sitting or standing, the baby girl cannot flip from her back to her stomach without a gentle nudge from her mom.

“I’m scared she won’t live much longer,” whispers Hameda Begum as she gazes into her daughter’s dark, sunken eyes. “We barely have any food. On some days I can only scrape together a few bites of rice for her to eat.”

Myanmar’s child malnutrition rate was already among the region’s highest, but it’s an increasingly familiar sight in the country’s westernmost state of Rakhine, which is home to almost all of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims.

More than 140,000 have been trapped in crowded, dirty camps since extremist Buddhist mobs began chasing them from their homes two years ago, killing up to 280 people. The others are stuck in villages isolated by systematic discrimination, with restrictions on their movement and limited access to food, clean water, education and health care.

Even before the violence, the European Community Humanitarian Office reported parts of the country’s second-poorest state had acute malnutrition rates hitting 23 percent — far beyond the 15 percent emergency level set by the World Health Organization.

With seasonal rains now beating down on the plastic tents and bamboo shacks inside Rohingya camps, the situation has become even more miserable and dangerous for kids like Dosmeda.

Naked boys and girls run barefoot on the muddy, narrow pathways, or play in pools of raw sewage, exposing them to potential waterborne diseases that kill. Some have black hair tinged with patches of red or blond, a tell-tale sign of nutrient deficiency commonly seen in places experiencing famine.

After a 10-day visit to the area last month, Yanghee Lee, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, summed up what she saw.

“The situation is deplorable,” she said.
____

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation, only recently emerged from a half-century of repressive military rule and self-imposed isolation. Despite occasional expressions of concern, the U.S., Britain and others in the international community have largely stood by as conditions for the Rohingya deteriorated.

Some ambassadors and donor countries say privately that coming down too hard on the new, nominally civilian government will undermine efforts to implement sweeping reforms and note there has already been a dramatic backslide. Others don’t want to jeopardize much-needed multi-billion dollar development projects in the country.

But their hesitancy to act has emboldened Buddhist extremists, now dictating the terms of aid distribution in Rakhine.

Last month, even Bertrand Bainvel, country representative for the U.N.’s children’s agency — which says the number of severe malnutrition cases has more than doubled between March and June to reach nearly 1,000 cases — apologized for the use of the word “Rohingya.” It was uttered during a presentation about projects for kids in Rakhine, rather than the government-insisted term “Bengali.”

He promised that UNICEF would not use the word again, those present at the meeting said, though he sidestepped repeated queries from The Associated Press about the incident.

The government claims ethnic Rohingya are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship, even though many of their families arrived generations ago. With their dark South Asian features, they are looked upon with disdain by the vast majority of the nation’s 60 million people. Even Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, whether for reasons personal or political, has remained largely silent as members of the religious minority have been chased down by knife-wielding mobs.

Conditions in the camps — and elsewhere in Rakhine — went from bad to worse in February after the government expelled their main health lifeline, the Nobel-prize winning Doctors Without Borders.

A month later, other humanitarian groups were temporarily evacuated after extremist Buddhists stormed their residences and offices, saying they were giving Muslims preferential treatment. Many have since returned, but their operations have been severely restricted.

Doctors Without Borders has remained barred. In a move apparently timed to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s arrival in Myanmar on Friday, the government said the aid group could get back to work, though it remains unclear when that will happen and what conditions will apply.

Reshma Adatia, Holland-based Doctors Without Borders operational adviser, said Kerry and other foreign ministers attending a regional meeting in Myanmar this weekend should pressure the government to allow all aid groups to return immediately without restrictions.

“It’s important for foreign governments and international actors to really push that access to essential humanitarian assistance is required, and it’s required today,” she said. “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands that are at risk right now.”
__

The father of Dosmeda, the malnourished baby, died at sea while working as a fisherman just before she was born.

After Buddhist mobs attacked the family’s home, her pregnant mother, Hameda Begum, moved into the Ohn Taw Gyi camp outside Sittwe.

Unable to work, and without a husband to help, she had a hard time finding enough to eat in the months leading up to her due date. When the baby was born, the 18-year-old mother was unable to produce milk.

“I could only give her what adults ate — rice or ground-up fish,” Hameda said of her first child. “But the food rations we got were small. Sometimes we didn’t get any at all.”

She knew her baby was sick, but she didn’t understand malnutrition was to blame.

“She just kept getting skinnier and skinnier,” she said.

The first two years of a child’s life — when the brain and body are developing — are critical for physical and mental development. Without adequate nutrition, little girls like Dosmeda are prone to stunting, a condition that will shape the rest of their lives. As adults, they are weaker, prone to illnesses and have limited cognitive capacity. They are also likely to be less productive on the job, studies show, earning lower wages that keep them stuck in poverty.

Dosmeda is now getting help from France-based Action Against Hunger, one of the only foreign aid organizations that has been allowed to continue operating in the camps. But she continues to wither, looking worse by the day. The baby is the only family the young mother has in the camp, and she’s desperate to save her.

“All I can think about all day is my daughter. How can I help her? How can I make her healthy, give her a longer life?” Hameda said. “If something happens, I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t think I can live without her.”
____

Associated Press writers Robin McDowell and Margie Mason contributed to this report.

By Tun Khin
August 8, 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Burma tomorrow. Just days before his visit, more than 100 security forces came to an internally displaced person (IDP) camp for Rohingya in Thandawlee village in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State in western Burma. They killed one Rohingya, seriously injured two others, and arrested more than 15 people. At the same time, Rohingyas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw, in northern Arakan State, were arrested, threatened and harassed while the government attempted to collect population data. These attacks are all too common, as impunity reigns for violence against Rohingya. As a President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK http://brouk.org.uk/, I call on Secretary Kerry to prioritise the situation of the Rohingya during his trip and press for accountability for these crimes.

It has been more than two years since an increase in brutal violence againstRohingya and the situation has not improved. In fact, it is getting much worse. In March of this year, hundreds of aid workers were evacuated after facing attacks from nationalist mobs. The expulsion had devastating consequences; for example, more than 150 Rohingyas and 20 pregnant women died in the two weeks after Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/28/doctors-without-borderskickedoutofwesternmyanmar.html were expelled from Arakan State in March. Many children have died from malnutrition. Although MSF has now been invited back into Arakan State, there are still serious restrictions on aid and movement for the thousands of Rohingya IDPs.

To date, there has been no progress on the resettlement of displaced Rohingya. The children in IDP camps are simply dying from insufficient health care and other essential services. President Obama http://www.dvb.no/analysis/what-obama-didn%E2%80%99t-say/25003 has mentioned that Rohingya should be treated with the same dignity as all other people, but still there was little progress that translated into necessary aid for those in need.

The government of Burma uses six main methods to oppress our Rohingya community: discriminatory laws, incitement of hatred, political disenfranchisement, restricting humanitarian access, stopping economic activity, and using both state and non-state physical violence against Rohingya individuals.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47517#.U-SzdqOtqZG has stated that the widespread and systematic human rights violations in Arakan State may constitute crimes against humanity. The US government should be supporting an international investigation into human rights abuses in Arakan State given the ongoing violence and the urgent needs of Rohingya community members.

If the US government wants to see clear progress on the Rohingya issue in Burma, Secretary Kerry should set clear and measurable timelines and benchmarks for progress, including restoring Rohingya citizenship and lifting restrictions on aid, movement, marriage and education for Rohingya.

In June a senior UN official referred to the humanitarian situation in western Burma's Arakan State as "appalling" upon concluding a four-day visit to the country.Kyung-wha Kang http://www.dvb.no/news/un-official-appalled-by-situation-in-arakan-burma-myanmar/41607, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters that she witnessed "a level of human suffering in IDP [internally displaced persons] camps that I have personally never seen before."

US Secretary of State John Kerry should support an independent international investigation http://burmacampaign.org.uk/european-union-must-support-international-investigation-into-human-rights-abuses-against-rohingya/149/ into human rights abuses in Arakan. Rohingyas around the world have been calling for an international investigation since June 2012. We faced a massacre in October 2012 and again January 2014 http://brouk.org.uk/?p=85. Anti-Muslim propaganda and hate-speech have increased attacks against Muslims in Burma.

President Thein Sein's http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refdaily?pass=463ef21123&date=2012-07-13&cat=Asia/Pacific previous request to deport all Rohingya from the country has been described as tantamount to ethnic cleansing, and has sent a signal to others in government that they can act with impunity when it comes to violence against Rohingya. An independent international investigation http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/22/burma-end-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims would help end the sense of impunity, establish the truth and make recommendations for action to prevent further violence.

Secretary Kerry should seize the opportunity to change the Burmese government's response to violence against Rohingya. He must put pressure on President Thein Sein to forcefully denounce hate speech against Rohingya, promote appropriate accountability for violence and crimes against Rohingya, allow humanitarian access to all parts of Arakan State, repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law that renders Rohingya stateless, and end the segregation between communities in Arakan State.

A new form of apartheid is being created to segregate us from other people of Burma. Rohingya have been put into camps or isolated villages where life will be so terrible that people will be forced to leave the country, even at great risk to their safety. I call on Secretary Kerry to do everything in his power to stem the tide of oppression and help protect the rights of our Rohingya people.

Tun Khin is President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, which is playing a crucial role to provide a vital voice to policy makers around the world for the Rohingya people.

Muzafar Jalil, who lives in Nashua, is a member of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar that faces increased persecution by Buddhist extremists. (Photo: JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF)

By Jessica Meyers
August 7, 2014

Muzafar Jalil connects to his Burmese past through blurry photos of a son he never saw grow up and a granddaughter he may never meet. He calls to bridge the distance — and to ensure they’re still alive.

The 63-year-old Nashua resident imagined a reunion with his family when Myanmar embarked on democratic reforms in 2011 and opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in half a century.

Jalil, since then, has all but abandoned that hope.

He and his family are among the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in the Southeast Asian nation that faces increased persecution by Buddhist extremists. The United Nations estimates more than 86,000 Rohingya have fled the country since violent attacks began two years ago, and about 140,000 remain trapped in squalid internment camps. The situation has clouded the country’s democratic efforts, spurred comparisons to genocide, and turned into a flash point ahead of a visit this weekend by Secretary of State John Kerry.

The debate pits advocates who demand a stronger response to human rights concerns -- including Representative Jim McGovern of Worcester -- against analysts who urge a more delicate dance of diplomacy.

“The administration can do more on this issue,” McGovern said. “As we tie a nice bow on what we call a success story, we need to make sure we aren’t a cheap date when it comes to human rights.”

The congressman helped spearhead a congressional letter to Kerry last week that warned conditions in Burma had taken “a sharp turn for the worse” and urged more restrictive measures, such as targeted sanctions. More than 70 lawmakers signed on, including all House members from Massachusetts. The Worcester congressman pushed a separate resolution through the House in May that highlighted the Rohingya’s plight, a move he labeled a “friendly reminder” for the White House.

Florida Republican Marco Rubio, ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that reviews relations with Myanmar, asked Kerry on Thursday to confront issues thwarting its democratic progress. Rubio, in a letter co-written by Republican Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois, called the government’s failure to stop the violence “unacceptable” and instructed him to meet with just as many people outside leadership.

Kerry heads to Myanmar for the first time this Saturday to attend regional meetings with his Southeast Asian counterparts. He intends to focus on tensions over the South China Sea but also will sit down with senior Burmese officials in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s shiny new capital. His predecessor, Hillary Clinton, made diplomatic relations with the country a significant goal of her tenure and visited it on several occasions.

Administration officials have offered broad critiques of anti-Muslim discrimination, even if they have avoided harsh rebuke.

“I can anticipate that Secretary Kerry will press Burma’s leaders as he and the president have done, to protect and to respect the rights of all the people in the country, and to put in place greater safeguards for their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Daniel Russel, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters this week.

But it remains unclear just how far Kerry will go in his criticism toward a country often framed as one of the administration’s few foreign policy successes.

“We need to be cautious about wanting to speed it up and going out and making very strong and aggressive statements,’’ said Joseph Liow, Southeast Asia studies chair at The Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies. “Of course it satisfies domestic audiences in the U.S. and lawmakers would be happy. But beyond political points for making such statements, how does that help the problem we are trying to shed light on?”

Many of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya now live in makeshift huts on the poor western coast, far from the first indoor shopping malls and luxury condominiums. The Burmese government, which refers to Rohingya as “Bengalis,” classifies the ethnic minority as illegal immigrants and refuses to grant them citizenship

“If Kerry is going to visit, then he needs to address the fact that the plight of the Rohingya has not gotten better,” said Daniel Sullivan, the policy director for United to End Genocide, a Washington-based organized dedicated to ending mass atrocities. “It’s gotten worse.”

The Myanmar Embassy did not respond to requests for comment. But Burmese officials have pointed to tremendous changes, such as press freedoms and democratic elections.

Beginning around 2010, military leaders from one of the world’s most repressive regimes started to distance themselves from China and North Korea. Generals freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, released hundreds of political prisoners and welcomed investment from Western businesses.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived as the first senior U.S. official in 50 years to visit the country -- strategically positioned between China and India. President Obama became the first sitting president to step onto Myanmar’s soil. Photos of his 2012 visit still hang above stalls selling Buddha relics and wooden boxes.

But success has started to fray.

A parliamentary committee in June voted against a change in the constitution that would have allowed Suu Kyi to run for office in next year’s pivotal elections. The government is considering a law that would require permission from authorities to change religions.

The State Department has not remained silent. In an international religious freedom report released last week, officials acknowledged that local government officials “reportedly participated in anti-Muslim discrimination and failed to stop violence” in the western part of the country. And they noted local officials were slow to respond to ethnic violence elsewhere. Obama also has spoken with Burmese President Thein Seincq about anti-Muslim tensions.

Change can’t come soon enough for Jalil, who has not returned to Myanmar since he fled three decades ago. Burma Task Force USA, an organization set up last year to assist Burmese Muslims, counts about 600 Rohingya in the U.S. Jalil, along with 20 other Rohingya families, now calls Nashua his home.

My family “is in homes but they cannot go even to the market,” he said, because they fear attacks. “Like an open prison.”

Jalil considers Kerry’s visit a small window of hope. “If the situation change,” he said, “then maybe I can go to see them.”



One Rohingya killed and two injured ahead of John Kerry’s visit to Burma

Date: August 7, 2014

Just days before US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to visit Burma, more than 100 security forces came to the Rohingya IDPs camp in Thandawlee village in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State, and killed one Rohingya and seriously injured two others. More than 15 Rohingyas were arrested by security forces. At the same time, Rohingyas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw, in northern Arakan, have been arrested, threatened and harassed while the government attempts to collect population data. 

“If the US government wants to see clear progress on the Rohingya issue in Burma, John Kerry should be setting timelines and benchmarks for progress, including to restore Rohingya citizenship and for the lifting of restrictions on aid, movement, marriage and education in Arakan,” said BROUK’s President Tun Khin. 

Since June 2012, violence against the Rohingya has continued and the situation continues to deteriorate. In March, hundreds of aid workers were evacuated after facing attacks. More than 150 Rohingyas and 20 pregnant women died in the two weeks after Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were expelled from Arakan in March. Many children have died because of malnutrition. Although MSF have now been allowed back into Arakan, there are still serious restrictions on aid and movement for the thousands of Rohingya IDPs.

“The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma has stated that the widespread and systematic human rights violations in Arakan State ‘may constitute crimes against humanity’. The US government should be supporting an international investigation into human rights abuses in Arakan State” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK.

BROUK urges US Secretary of State John Kerry;
  • To support an independent international investigation into human rights abuses in Arakan. 
  • To put pressure on President Thein Sein (i) to stop immediately the violence and crimes against the Rohingya and to protect the lives of Rohingya (ii)to allow humanitarian NGOs full and free access to the Rohingya in all parts of Arakan; (iii) to repeal or amend the 1982 Citizenship Law in order that it conforms with international standards; (iv) to stop the segregation of communities in Arakan and replace it with a proactive policy of ‘peaceful co-existence’. 

For more information, please contact Tun Khin +44 7888 714 866.
Aman Ullah
RB History
August 6, 2014

The building up of the Muslim society in Arakan is a long process of gradual growth. The composition of a society quite naturally changed also deferent from century to century. Two factors were mainly responsible for swelling the ranks of the Muslims in Arakan: (I) the immigration of the Muslims from various countries, and (II) merging of the local populace in the Muslim society after their conversion.

The people of many countries came into Arakan on several occasions. There came traders and businessmen in their commercial activities; there came Sayyids, Ulema, Sheiks and Saints in their religious and cultural pursuits; statesmen, administrators, and solders by invitation, and artisans and craftsmen in search of employment. There came Arabs, Persians and Truks; there came Afghans, Moors, central Asians and Northern Indians; there came Bengalis, Rajputees and other nationals.

They introduced new elements in the society. They came under banner of Islam, but they bought with them their particular ways of life, and as far as practicable, tried to keep homogeneity of their groups.

The first groups to leave its mark upon the culture of this area were the Arabs. R.B Smart stated that the Arabs traders were in close contact with the peoples of Arakan as early as 788 AD, and that; they introduced the religion of Islam there, in as early as that time. (1) After the advent of Islam in Arabia, the Muslim followed the foot prints of their fore-fathers in trade and commerce. The Muslim Arab merchants made contact with Arakan. In those days the Arabs were very much active in sea-trade, they even monopolized trade and commerce in the Eest. As Dr. Rahim rightly remarks, “the eastern trade of the Arab merchants flourished so much so that the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal turned into Arab lakes. (2) They extended their trade from the Red sea to China. Many of these Arabs settled in Arakan.

Not all the Arabs settled in Arakan did so by choice; because of shipwrecks some were forced to seek refuge on the shore and remained there to settle; because of political vicissitudes and rivalries within the Islamic land some had to take shelters in countries far beyond the reach of their government. (3) The Arabs presence in Arakan continued in seventeenth century. 

Usually the Arabs did not bring their women and probably took local females as wives. The decedents of the mixed marriages between the local wives and the Arabs no doubt formed the original nucleus of the Rohingyas in Arakan.

The second most important contribution to Rohingyas’ identity and extension in the Arakan region came as a consequence of the Burmese invasion of 1404. Narameikhla (Soliaman Shah), the king of Arakan (1404-1434), was expelled from his kingdom by the Burmese; he found shelter in the court of the Muslim ruler of Gaur, and was reinstated on his throne by the armies send from Bengal. The armies of the Gaur accompanying Narameikhla (Soliaman Shah) were mostly Turkish, Iranian and afghan origin. They settled in a village near Mrauk-U and, built the Sandi Khan Mosque in 1430. They introduced Persian Language in the court of Arakan.

In addition to those soldiers, there also came a large numbers of Muslims who held important posts in the court as well as in the field of trade and commerce, possessing a far superior culture and civilization. Two Persian inscriptions said to be engraved in 1494-95 A D refer to the names of a Muslim governor and his subordinate officials holding Persian tittles thus testifying to the fact of the penetration of the Muslims into Arakan. (4) For the next hundred years from 1430 to 1531, Arakan remained feudatory to Bengal, paid tribute, learned its history and politics. During this period Persian Language and Turko- Mughal court etiquette were dominant factors in the way of life of Arakan Society.

Muslims conquered Chittagong in 1338 and held under their sway till 1538, and Chittagong formed an integral part of Arakanese up to1666. During these period of more than three hundred years a large number of Muslims from Sonargaon, Gaur and other parts of Bengal spread themselves over the entire area from Chittagong to the Arakan court. Muslims gradually became predominant in the Arakan court and a cultural infinity was developed with the Muslims of Chittagong and Arakan ever since the Arabs had settled there. (5)

“The end of the sixteenth and the first half of seventeenth century was a period of political instability and transition caused by break-up of the Afghan State in Bengal and the gradual advance of the Mughals.

One of the social and demographic efforts of this political change was the flight of a large number of Afghan nobles and other Muslims of rank and position towards the easternmost district of Bengal. Quite a few of these people found shelter at the court of Arakan where they filled up important positions in the government. Under the patronage of these men a number of such invited Muslim intellectuals continued the cultivation of Bengali literature.” (6) 

“The Pathan (Afghan) adventurers, warriors, fortune hunters, who came to Chittagong after its conquest did not return to upcountry after the breakdown of Pathans Power. The Mughals, the successors of the Pathans in the subcontinent were their arch enemies. Therefore, they preferred to remain in Chittagong rather than the risk of being killed or enslaved by the Mughals. With the conquest of Gaur by the Mughals many more Pathans took refuge in Chittagong. They offered their services to whoever held the possession of Chittagong. The Arakanese required their services in fighting out the enemies, the Mughals and the Portuguese all of whom were the enemies of the Pathans. Due to their martial vigor, they were appointed to responsible posts. (7)

Another important factor which helped increase the Bengali contribution to Muslim culture in Arakan came as a result of the Portuguese presence in the eastern seas of the Bay of Bengal in the seventeenth century at a time when there existed a weak government in Bengal. It was early in that century that the Portuguese reached the shores of Bengal and Arakan. They came in contact with the Maghs to establish piracy in civil-war-torn Bengal.

The capture and enslavements of prisoners was one of the most lucrative types of plunder. Half of the prisoners taken by Portuguese and all the artisans were given to Arakanese king. The rest were sold on the market or forced to settle in Arakan. (8) Year after year they wadded and plundered the lowlands Bengal, carrying off the inhabitants as slaves. The fury of the raids continued almost unabated during the first half of the eighteenth century. Tallish described the widespread destruction caused by the Magh-Firingi plundering raids as an eye witness, ‘As they ( the pirates) for a long time continually practiced piracy, their country prospered, and their number increased, while Bengal daily became more and more desolate, less and less able to resist and fight them. Not a householder was left on the both sides of the rivers on their track from Dacca to Chittagong. The districts Bakla, a part of Bengal, lying in their usual part, was (formerly) full of cultivation and houses and yield every year a large amount to imperial government as a duty on its betel-nuts. They swept in with it broom of plunder and adduction, leaving none to inhabit a house or kindle a fire in all the tracts.’ (9) In the Rennell’s map of 1771 the whole area of Sunderbans is shown as a tract depopulated by the Maghs.

The large number of captive Muslims brought by the Magh-Firigi pirates gave rise to the Muslim population of Arakan. According to Sir A.P. Phayer, they (the captive Muslims) formed about 15% of whole population. (10) According to Tallish, "Many high born persons and Sayyids, many pure and Sayyid born women were compelled to undergo the disgrace of slavery." (11)

One of the many other factors that contributed to the preponderance of Muslim population in Arakan was a large scale conversion of non-Muslims. It brought the problem of composition and structure of the Muslim society. They hailed from different ranks in the society. The large majority came from the general mass, who, being attracted by the miracles and piety of the Muslim Saints. According to, U Kyi, a Burmese historian, that “The Arabs merchants and mystics carried on missionary activities among the locals. The superior moral character and high missionary zeal of those devote followers attracted large number of people towards the Islam who embraced it en masse.”(12) G.E. Harvey sated that, “doubtless it is Mohammedan influence which led to women being more secluded in Arakan than Burma.” (13) According to Dyniawadi Sayadaw U Nyanna, during the reign of Min Bin (Zabuk Shah 1531-1553) Muslims missionaries from Persia (Iran) and India came to Arakan to propagate Islam where considerable number of Buddhists confessed Islam. (14)

There were also the children of mixed mirages. According to D.G. Hall foreign residents and visitors to Burma and Arakan were encouraged to form temporary alliance with the women of the country. But in the case of Arakan, they were afraid of leaving behind their offspring through local wives for fear of the conversion to Islam. (15)

The next and perhaps last event which helped influence the Rohingya character and number in Arakan was in 1661 when Shah Shuja, the Maghul prince utterly defeated by Aurangzeb, was driven to seek refuge in Arakan. He and his family and followers were assured of welcome by the Arakanese king. But he and most of his followers were murdered on February 7, 1661. Descendants of Shah Shuja’s followers still survive among the Rohingyas as sub-group with their special name,”Kaman.”

Thus, the Muslim population of the kingdom of Arakan attained a sizeable quantity to form a society of their own. The immigrants and local converts together formed society distinct from that of the non-Muslims. There were diverse professions and groups. The existence of different categories of peoples in the society is also well attested by the contemporary Bengali literature. Poet Daulat Qazu while speaking his patron Ashrof Khan writes, “Asfrof Khan patronized many other Muslim immigrants, Sayyid, Sheiks, Maghuls and Pathans, besides others from among Brahmans, Kshartriyas and Sudras.” (16) Another poet also contemporary to Daulat Qazi named Mardan states his birth place to be Kanchipuri in Arakan where there lived a number of “Ulema” and “Sheiks’ together with Brahmans and Kyacthas who were engaged in literary activities. (17) Poet Abdul Karim Khandkar while speaking about a village named Bander in Roshang (Arakan) says, "there lived in that village Qazis, Muftis, Ulema religious Faqirs and darwishe. Those high-ranking Muslims living there, used to converse with the king on equal and friendly terms." (18)

Sayyids were the descendants of Prophet, Ulema or Alims were those who were well versed in the Islamic science or theology. The Ulema received training in Muslim law, logic, Arabic letters and the religious literature like Hadiths, Tasfir and Kalam. The Shieks were Sufi- Saints, some time non-worldly ascetics, who were known for their spiritual attainments. The Qazis were the Muslim judicial officers appointed to try the cases of the Muslim community of the kingdom.(19) Poet Alaol says that people from various countries and belonging to various groups came to Arakan to be under the Care of Arakanese king. He mentioned the people from Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, abbyssinia, Rumi(Turkish) Khurasan, Uzbekistan, Lahore, Multan, Sind, Kashmir, the Deccan, Hind (north Indian), Kamrup and Bengal, Karnal, Malayees, Achin, Cochin, and Kanartak country. The Poet also refers to the Sheiks, Sayyids, Mughals, Pathan, Rajputs, and people of Ava, Burma, Shyam(Indo-China), Tripura, Kukis; the Armenians, the Dutch, the Danish, the English, the French, the Spanish and the protuguese were also found in Roshang. (20) 

The Muslim society of Arakan was, thus, a melting pot for centuries in which various foreign traditions imported by the immigrants as well as local influence were fused. They are not an ethnic group, which developed from one tribal group affiliation or single racial stock. Tides of people like Arabs, Persians, Turks, Afghan, Moors, Mughals, Bengalis and people from central Asia, came mostly as traders, warriors and saints through overland and sea-routes. Many settled in Arakan and mixing with the local people developed the present stock of people known as “Rohingya”.

Thus, the history of Rohingyas reveals that they developed from different stocks of people who concentrated in a common geographical location. They have a more than 1300 years old tradition, culture, history and civilization of their own expressed in their shrines, cemeteries, sanctuaries, social and cultural institutions found scattered even today in every nook and corner of the land. By preserving their own heritages from the impact of the Buddhist environments, the Rohingyas formed their own society with a consolidated population in Arakan well before the Barman invasions of Arakan in 1784 AD.

Reference:

1. R.B Smart, Burma Gazetteers (Akyab District) Vol. A Rangoon (1957) P.19

2. Mohammad Abdur Rahim, Social & Cultural History of Bengal, Vol. 1 Karachi (1963) P. 37.

3. Dr. Mohammed Mahar Ali, History of Muslims Bengal, Vol.1-A Riyad (1985) P.36.

4. Dr. S.B Qanungo, A History of Chittagong, Vol.1 Chittagong (1988) P.289, also JASP, XI (1966) P.123.

5. S.N.H Rizvi, Bangladesh District Gazetteers (Chittagong) Dacca (1975) P.122.

6. Supra (3) Vol.1B P.865.

7. Supra (4) P. 201.

8. Ibid P.326.

9. Ibid PP.328-329, also Fathyya Ibrariya in JASB Calcutta (1907) PP.722-25.

10. JASB, X (1841) P.681.

11. JASB, Calcutta (1907) PP.722-25.

12. U Kyi, History of Burma, P.160.

13. Harvey, G.E Outlines of Burmese History, Calcutta (1957) P.90.

14. Dyniawadi Sayadaw U Nyanna, Rakhine Razawin Thit, Vol. II PP.161-163.

15. JBRS, XXVI, I Rangoon (1960) P.72.

16. Supra (3) Vol. I B P.866.

17. Ibid P.868.

18. Ibid P.795.

19. Dr. Abdul Karim, Social History of the Muslim Bengal (Down to AD 1538) Chittagong (1985) P. 194.

20. Abdul Karim and Enmul Huq, Arakan Rajsabasha Bangla ahitya, Culcutta (1935) P.12.

ASEAN flag and flags of ASEAN member countries. (AFP/Romeo Gacad)

By AFP
August 6, 2014

YANGON: Myanmar faces being called to account for stalling reforms when it hosts a top global diplomats at a security forum later this week, with religious clashes and curbs on press freedom taking the sheen off its emergence from military-rule.

The former pariah nation has enjoyed praise since a quasi-civilian government launched ambitious political and economic reforms three years ago, heralding the end of most Western sanctions. But the international community has voiced increasing frustration as Buddhist nationalism appears to tighten its grip on the nation with fresh attacks against Muslims last month, while journalist arrests have also raised uncertainty over the extent of newly-won press freedoms.

Several Western nations have raised concerns over rights issues in Myanmar in recent weeks, but the main message is likely to come from US Secretary of State John Kerry as he tests the water ahead of a possible visit by President Barack Obama later in the year.

Meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will begin as regional foreign minister talks on Friday (August 8) and widen to include world powers over the weekend, will likely be dominated by ASEAN wrangles with Beijing over the South China Sea, but Kerry is also likely to seek to raise Myanmar's rights record America's top diplomat will urge the government to protect all of Myanmar's people and "put in place greater safeguards for their human rights and fundamental freedoms", according to Danny Russel, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.

Talks on Sunday for the ASEAN Regional Forum are set to bring the regional bloc together with leading diplomats from global powers, including China, the European Union and the United States, which has touted Myanmar's reforms as a key foreign policy success.

"Many of the Western powers have a lot invested in the Myanmar 'successful transition story', and issues such as the religious violence and the erosion of press freedoms place that narrative in peril," said Sean Turnell, associate professor at Australia's Macquarie University. While pressure on Myanmar would probably be expressed behind closed doors, Turnell said the talks could also hand China an "in" to act as a shield to its smaller neighbour -- a role it often played during the junta era.

LONG ROAD AHEAD

A series of dramatic reforms since 2011 has seen most international embargoes dropped and enticed a horde of foreign investors eager to tap into one of Asia's last frontier markets. Veteran democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was welcomed into parliament, hundreds of political prisoners were freed and draconian press censorship was lifted.

But the country is still grappling with ongoing insurgency in its far north, muffling hopes for a long-delayed national ceasefire deal. Rights groups have also raised growing fears over religious unrest and signs that the country is backsliding on press freedoms and the detention of dissidents.

"I think Kerry realises he is not coming in for a victory lap, it's going to be pretty tough," said David Mathieson, a researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The US in July said that jail terms of 10 years -- with hard labour -- handed down to five journalists over a report accusing the military of making chemical weapons sent "the wrong message". One Western diplomat said the country's now boisterous local media could face increasing censure as the government comes under pressure in the run up to crucial 2015 polls, widely expected to be won by Suu Kyi's opposition.

While unsure if the journalist convictions represent "a wholesale regression", the diplomat, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, was braced for similar cases as the election nears.

Deteriorating religious relations "is probably the only area where the Myanmar Government might feel vulnerable", Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador to several Southeast Asian countries told AFP.

REFORMS VEERING 'OFF-TRACK'

Myanmar has appeared to founder in its response to anti-Muslim violence that began with deadly clashes in western Rakhine state two years ago. Violence has since erupted sporadically across the country, most recently in the second largest city of Mandalay, fuelling fears of a destabilising impact on Myanmar's democratic transition.

Some 140,000 people, mainly Rohingya, remain trapped in miserable displacement camps in Rakhine, which is now gripped by a severe health crisis. And the government's own roadmap for the future of the tumultuous state risks creating permanent segregation there, said United Nations' human rights envoy to the country, Yanghee Lee, after her first official visit last month.

President's Office Minister Soe Thein asked for "understanding" when reforms veered "off track", during a rare briefing with diplomats and United Nations agencies in July. "We are going surely along the path to democracy, we will not reverse," he said.



RB News
August 6, 2014

Sittwe, Arakan -- Police Open Fire on Villagers from Thandawli village, Sittwe IDP camps, in Arakan State, Myanmar. Several Rohingya were arrested and one man has died, after police crackdown on the village for refusing to turn over a woman who reportedly eloped with her husband.

Police arrived at Thandawli village after complaints that a woman there was being kept from a marriage to the son of an inn owner at nearby Manzhi Junction. The owner of the Inn complained to police after the village rejected the marriage between the Inn Keepers son, and brought the woman back to Thandawli, where she was from. Once the police arrived the villagers refused to turn the woman over to the Inn Keeper, and were reported to have protected her from being taken. At 9:40 PM Police shot and killed 29 year old Shomshul Alam, son of Mogul, who had no connection to the woman, or knowledge of what was happening. It was reported that prior to this that false rumors had been spread by police that the son of the Inn Keeper had been killed, and Shomshul was falsely accused of this before he was shot. He died instantly, and photographs suggest he was shot in the head. Shomshul’s body was removed by police and taken with them.

Then, at around 10pm, when Police were unable to take the woman they attempted to do so by force, first firing shots above the villagers, and then arresting beating several villagers. The total number arrested is currently hard to determine as most of the villagers scattered and fled after police fired towards them and then began making arrests. A young man named Yunus, who runs a small internet cafe near Thandawli, was taken from his bed while he was sleeping in his shop and beaten by police, although he had nothing to do with the events prior, and did not even know about them. Another young boy, only 12 years old, was beaten before he escaped police. The boy reported that he witnessed the police killing Shomshul Alam.

Police reportedly returned twice to Thandawli, at 10:30PM and 12AM and shot towards the village in the air. They also returned once more at 1AM. As Myanmar is currently conducting an operation to register Rohingya as Bengali, and attempting to force and intimidate Rohingya to not claim their ethnic name it is strongly suspected by Rohingya that this attack may have been taken as an opportunity to show brute force to the Rohingya in Sittwe IDP camps, and cause them fear of police and government.

Saed Arkani contributed in reporting.

(Photo: IRIN)

August 6, 2014

A court in Myanmar's Rakhine state has extended the detention of a prominent Rohingya human rights activist.

Kyaw Hla Aung was arrested last year by Myanmar police who accused him of instigating protests against government efforts to register Rohingyas as 'Bengali', and not Myanmar citizens.

Human rights organisation Fortify Rights says the case against Kyaw Hla Aung is totally without merit.

Executive director Matthew Smith has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific the 74-year-old activist's public profile has made him a police target.

"He's been meeting with ambassadors and other people who had visited Rakhine state who were very concerned about the human rights situation there and this, and some of his other activities, exposed him to the Myanmar authorities in a way that we think led to his arrest and detention," Mr Smith said.

"There are some Rohingya who do have connections to the outside world, to areas outside of Rakhine state and internationally, and there are some who have the ability to communicate the plight of Rohingya.

"Kyaw Hla Aung is one of those people."

"He hasn't done anything wrong, hasn't violated any laws, but he's being persecuted because he's a human rights defender."

"We're trying to urge the central government now to intervene because much of the problems with this particular case stem from the local authorities."

How effective that lobbying will be remains to be seen.

Matthew Smith says the Myanmar government routinely denies the very existence of the Rohingya ethnicity, and severe human rights abuses occur daily against the Muslim population, in spite of international condemnation.

But he says Kyaw Hla Aung has been in detention for more than a year and there are concerns for his health and well-being.

"He has suffered from ill-health in the past," he said.

"Rakhine state is a very difficult place to be if you suffer from health problems, and being in prison in Rakhine state is even more difficult.

"This should be reason alone to do something about his incarceration right now."

Fortify Rights says since violence started in 2012, authorities have arrested more than one thousand Rohingya men and boys, and an unknown number remain behind bars.

Matthew Smith says the international community needs to get serious about the severe human rights violations that are persisting in Rakhine state.

"What we're trying to do now is to press upon various actors in the international community to pressure not only Naypidaw, but also the local authorities in Rakhine state, to respect and protect the human rights of the Rohingya community."

Providing Relief items by boat to camps in the Rakhine State (AMS 2014)

By Amjad Saleem
August 5, 2014

As international community focus centres on the events unfolding in Gaza, in Myanmar, the silent genocide of the Rohingyas is still continuing as it has been for decades previously. Like the Palestinians, the Rohingya are not only stateless or lack citizenship rights, they are officially in the eyes of the Government of Myanmar, identity less. Like the Palestinians with Israel and Zionism, the Rohingya are also dealing with a racist and xenophobic system & culture that links ethnicity to religion, a purist form that ironically saw an emergence in the early 20th century with Nazism.

The entire Myanmar nation is complicit, from the president down to the grassroots, in terms of how the Rohingyas are perceived, accepted and treated. The situation is so bleak that calls for the extermination of the race of the Rohingyas are not uncommon. This intolerance is not just reserved for the Rohingya community, but observers will testify that it exists towards Muslims (and even Christians) i.e. anyone non Buddhist. These anti minority sentiments especially against the Muslims are not as some claim an 'unfortunate social consequence of transition from authoritarianism to democracy'. They are part of a decade long persecution of the community in the country often led by the authorities who have manufactured, endorsed, committed and allowed to be committed such violence. Myanmar's military in particular have played a large part in manufacturing this Burman-Buddhist nationalist ideology and institutionalizing a culture of fear and distrust of minorities. In recent times, the Military have taken a back step largely due to Myanmar's chairmanship of ASEAN as well as planned elections of 2015 as reasons why there has been a restrained effort by the government whilst indirectly proxies have been allowed to perpetuate the violence and keep alive this xenophobic nationalistic rhetoric.

It is this fear of "the other" within Myanmar's society especially when it comes to the issue of the Rohingyas that are the "elephant in the room" for the international community much more adept at black-and-white depictions of Myanmar's history as a struggle between military and "democratic" civilian forces. So far the international community have failed to put pressure on the Government or indeed its famous opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (who has famously remained reticent on this issue). It is also an issue that donors have been reluctant to chastise the government on. If anything, the international community has gone out of its way to avoid unnecessary criticism for the fear that it could jeopardise not only the transition of the country to democracy but more importantly the economic benefits that such a transition could bring.

This can only be the reason to explain the meekness behind certain actions of the international community this year itself. Take for example, the recent apology issued by UNICEF for using the term Rohingya in an official document, something that they tried to deny. Or the violence in March of this year that saw the destruction of millions of dollars of assets of the UN and other INGOs, which caused the agencies to withdraw for a few months from humanitarian operations in the affected areas of the Rakhine State. Despite such wanton destruction, unlike in other country there was hardly an international outcry.

The recent census which took place at the beginning of the year supported largely by the international community against the advice of activists and observers is yet another example of a confused position. Despite the government's undertakings to allow a self-identification of the Rohingya as well as an agreement on allowing Rohingya enumerators to conduct the census, both of these promises were broken. People were not allowed to self -identify while in some cases, officials had to be bribed in order for people to be allowed to participate in the census. The recent violence in Myanmar's second biggest city Mandalay against the Muslim community has sparked fears of a demographic redistribution in the preemption of a census not showing the desired ethnic distribution by the extreme elements of Myanmar.

This reluctance by the International Community to engage on the issue in the hope that democracy will wash away the problems is ideologically problematic. It doesn't fully comprehend the history of community relations; minority existence and ethnic tensions of the country. There are deep seated problems which cannot be solved merely through elections and a legal system. It needs a deeper engagement between faiths and a deeper social understanding of the concept of citizenship. This needs time and patience. It needs to undo the power of the military (and their vision of nationalism) and the influence that they have even within some of Myanmar's Buddhist monasteries.

Building trust and better relationships between ethnic groups from the grassroots level should be a priority for the Myanmar government supported by the International Community. A democratic system is not just about elections, but about citizenship and understanding basic notions of political rights. Much more effort and investment needs to be undertaken to ensure that these mechanisms and institutions are set right at the grassroots level before imposing a top-down electoral process. More must be done to hold the government accountable for the role it has played in supporting organizations and movements responsible for inciting hatred and violence. Its institutions need to understand the basis of the rule of law and ensuring safety and security for all.

Otherwise, there is a great danger of repeat violence prior to next year's elections. Myanmar and its people need to fundamentally understand the roles, rights and responsibilities of citizens in a multicultural, democratic country. This takes time, effort and investment and cannot and will not be solved by prematurely pushing for a census or elections. Programs at all levels of society need to be quickly developed to teach people how they can be part of a democratic process.

If Myanmar is to truly join the global community, the floor must be open to debate the issues of the Rohingya and other ethnicities. Approaching the problem both sensitively and directly, unlike even powerful figures in the pro-democracy movement, has to be part of the international community's much-needed road map for this country. If the foundations of democratic understanding at the grassroots level are not built, the 2015 elections will be a superficial showpiece and Myanmar runs the risk of retreating back into its shell.


    • Rohingya Exodus