TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA 

from the BUDDHIST TEACHERS NETWORK

URGING YOU TO ADDRESS ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE AT THE UPCOMING ASEAN MEETING IN BURMA/MYANMAR

Dear President Obama, 

We as 381 Buddhist Teachers in America represent a large community that is deeply concerned about the growing anti Muslim violence in Myanmar and across Asia, and the plight of the 1.3 million Rohingyas, many forced to live against their will in inhumane internment camps and permanent ghettoized communities. We know you have been supportive of all Burmese people and have encouraged peace and reconciliation across the nation. Your upcoming visit to Burma is an important opportunity to strengthen your capacity as a peacemaker. We urge you to once again express concern for Burma’s Muslims and Rohingyas in your public speeches and as well as in your diplomatic engagements there. We believe you can do so in a positive way, honoring the Burmese legacy of tolerance and Metta, values shared across all the great spiritual traditions, as nations including our own face challenges of injustice and prejudice. Thank you for your care in this matter that affects so many lives in Burma. 

Yours Respectfully, 

By Bill O’Toole

Myanmar Times

November 3, 2014

In the lead-up to the 2010 general election, the Union Solidarity and Development Party faced a problem in Rakhine State.

Replicating their strategy elsewhere in the country, they sought to recruit influential locals to stand as candidates in the election, which was touted by the military as a key step in the nation’s road to democracy. However, they ran into well-organised opposition from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

Though established just a few months earlier, following the release of election laws in March, the RNDP had managed to generate significant local support by tapping into widespread animosity toward the central government from ethnic Rakhine.

The USDP needed allies in the region. Controversially, they turned to the Rohingya.

“USDP approached us, they said we should participate,” said U Shwe Maung, a community leader who became the USDP representative for Buthidaung in the Pyithu Hluttaw. “They said, ‘The government has changed its policy [toward Rohingya rights].’”

Several Sittwe residents who identify as Rohingya told The Myanmar Times last week that USDP delegations from Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon made several high-profile visits to their communities, and promised that voting for the military-aligned party would usher in a new era of freedoms and rights for the Muslim minority.

“Of course, they gave many promises at that time,” recalled a former civil servant who self-identifies as Rohingya and asked not to be named. “They said, ‘You can get Rohingya [citizenship] cards,’ … so that the people would vote for them.”

U Aung Win, a Rohingya activist based in Sittwe, said the message was always the same: “You can live peacefully and you can cooperate with the government … [if you] vote for the USDP.”

This generated legitimate popular support for the USDP in Rohingya communities, and several Muslim candidates were elected: U Shwe Maung and two others into the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in Nay Pyi Taw, and three more into the Rakhine State parliament.

The RNDP, however, still fared better than any other ethnic minority party in terms of the proportion of seats won. The party, which merged with the Arakan League for Democracy to become the Rakhine National Party in 2013, took out 35 of the 44 seats it contested in state and national legislatures.

The Muslim representatives and their constituents had upheld their part of the bargain. However, they say the government put in place by the USDP has turned its back on them.

“In that context we joined the USDP,” said U Shwe Maung. “Since we became elected in 2010 we have pushed [Rohingya citizenship rights]. Then [when] the Ministry of Immigration started to say ‘no’ … we were confused.”

U Shwe Maung said that discussion about the Rohingya in parliament became all but impossible after June 2012, when Buddhist and Muslim communities clashed around Sittwe. Another outbreak of violence that year took the death toll above 200 and left more than 100,000 displaced, mostly Muslims.

“Since 2012 June this issue became very hot, and Rakhine MPs keep giving pressure to the Union government, the parliament and the media.”

The Rohingya politicians are now facing perhaps their toughest political challenge: a series of amendments to electoral laws proposed by the RNP that would strip those holding temporary identity documents, known as white cards, from taking part in political activities, including voting and joining a party.

While the amendments do not single out the Rohingya, they hold the majority of the white cards issued by the government. If approved, the laws would strip more than 1 million people of the right to vote in Rakhine State alone.

The first of these amendments – to ban white-card holders from forming or joining a political party – was passed in September, with support from the USDP.

Another RNP proposal that would remove all voting rights from white card-holders and naturalised citizens appears to be gaining traction with the USDP leadership.

One member of the RNP, who asked not to be named, said his party had already engaged in informal talks with the USDP over the text of the amendment.

According to the MP, the USDP has no issue with taking voting rights away from white-card holders, but would like the law to be amended to ensure all other citizen categories still have the right to vote.

The MP said the proposal had been submitted to the hluttaw office but because the parliament has a full agenda this session – including lengthy discussions over constitutional change and electoral reform – he suspects the bill will not be discussed until the first session of 2015.

The office of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann – who is also chair of the USDP – did not respond to requests for comment last week.

USDP central committee member U Hla Swe said his personal view was that the party “must follow the desire of the majority” but declined to discuss the issue further.

Asked about his party’s campaign in Rakhine state in 2010, U Hla Swe downplayed USDP efforts to court Muslim voters and claimed white-card holders only accounted for a small proportion of the votes the USDP received.

White-card holders concerned about losing voting rights could apply for citizenship under the nation’s 1982 Citizenship Law, he said.

“I want to suggest that they should apply … as soon as possible because it is sure that they become [citizens].”

However, Rohingya community leaders say the white-card issue has arisen only because the government has not properly implemented the citizenship law. When the government switched from National Registration Cards to Citizenship Scrutiny Cards in the early 1990s, it refused to issue CSCs to many Muslims in Rakhine State, they said. Several years later it began issuing white cards, which are not mentioned in the law.

The Rohingya civil servant said both he and his wife hold CSCs but their adult children have only been issued white cards, despite applying for citizenship documentation more than a decade ago. Under the 1982 law, the child of two CSC holders is automatically entitled to citizenship.

U Shwe Maung said he was disappointed that the promises of 2010 had never been upheld but said he believes the fault lies with the government and Ministry of Immigration rather than the USDP.

“I am disappointed with the government, especially with the Immigration Department,” he said. “They are a powerful department with the full power to tackle these issues.”

But others see political motivations in the USDP’s backtracking on promises to Rohingya voters. Richard Horsey, a Yangon-based political analyst, said that anti-Muslim sentiment – in both Rakhine and other parts of the country – could result in the USDP turning away from the voters it once actively courted.

“Given the rise of Burman-Buddhist nationalism,” he said, “the USDP may decide that the Rohingya vote brings more problems than benefits.”

Additional reporting by Ei Ei Toe Lwin

By Editorial Board

Washington Post

November 3, 2014

IN HIS speech at West Point in May, President Obama basked in the promise that democracy was moving ahead in Burma, or Myanmar, “which only a few years ago was an intractable dictatorship and hostile to the United States.” Thanks to the courage of Burma’s people and to the exercise of U.S. leadership, he declared, “we have seen political reforms opening a once-closed society.” He added that “if Burma succeeds we will have gained a new partner without having fired a shot.” 

It is not that easy. The administration was so eager to declare victory and end sanctions on Burma’s economy that U.S. leverage now is more limited than it should be. But when he goes to Burma for his second visit as president, to attend a regional summit on Nov. 12, Mr. Obama must acknowledge the nation’s leadership and military are sliding backward. Despite U.S. efforts to accentuate the positive, there have been serious setbacks for ethnic tolerance, free expression and political plurality. 

The president may have sensed this, and he made important phone calls on Oct. 31 to President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. According to the White House, he emphasized the importance of an “inclusive and credible process” toward landmark elections next year. A vital step in this process is to allow the constitutional changes that would give Aung San Suu Kyi a place on the ballot. The election is the first that her National League for Democracy has contested since the 1990 vote was ignored by the military. The party boycotted the 2010 vote, when Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest.

Thein Sein needs to get the message. He will have to be much more forthcoming than the empty gesture offered Friday, when he convened a roundtable meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi and others. Afterward, she lamented that it was stage-managed so that remarks were brief, adding that the meeting was not what she had hoped for.

The media in Burma have been freer in the past two years, but the recent death of journalist Aung Kyaw Naing while in military custody is another alarming sign amid frequent complaints from journalists of harassment and intimidation. The army claimed the journalist was a “communications captain” for an armed group — which the group denied — and that he was killed while trying to escape military custody. These claims are dubious. Perhaps it is difficult for military leaders to understand the functioning — and criticism — that comes with a free press, but it will be much more difficult to establish lasting change if a journalist can be killed with impunity. A full and impartial investigation is needed.

A major threat to the promise of a free and democratic Burma is the continued ethnic violence, and in particular the government’s ill-considered plan for the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslims, which would further isolate them. Mr. Obama ought to make it clear to Burma’s president that being inclusive is the only way to begin to reach that “success” he described at West Point.

By Dani Patteran

Devex

November 1, 2014

A leaked government action plan on the crisis in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state suggests future ethical dilemmas for aid groups on the ground.

If implemented, proposals outlined in the draft Rakhine State Action Plan could require humanitarian organizations to compromise on core principles — and even provide support for policies of entrenched segregation in the country.

Released in draft form last month for humanitarian actors to give feedback on, the three-year plan will serve as the government’s blueprint to tackle the sectarian violence between the majority Rakhine population and minority Muslim Rohingya that rocked Rakhine state in 2012, leaving more than 139,000 people homeless and dependent on emergency assistance. More than 100,000 people have since fled the region in boats, human rights group The Arakan Project reported last week.

Although the plan is still in draft form, concerns have been aired behind closed doors by agencies over the potential implications for humanitarian operations in Rakhine, where international nongovernmental organizations are already struggling to cope with a challenging and heavily politicized context.

“The international community is ready to support the Myanmar government in finding long-term solutions for displaced people that allow them to return or resettle in an informed, voluntary and dignified manner in line with international standards.” Pierre Péron, public information and advocacy officer at the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Devex.

But in a recent report, the International Crisis Group noted how “elements of the plan … have provoked major concerns, prompting the U.N. and donor governments to write a joint letter to the authorities.”

Controversial plan

The major difficulty lies in proposals that could push aid groups working in Rakhine to support policies or actions that are at odds with core humanitarian principles or international standards, and deny people’s basic human rights.

A short document with little actual narrative, the plan outlines six areas of focus: security, stability and rule of law; rehabilitation and reconstruction; permanent resettlement; citizenship assessment of “Bengalis”; socio-economic development and peaceful coexistence — with projected timeframes for each action.

One of the greatest concerns is the proposed citizenship verification exercise and the subsequent resettlement or detention of displaced Muslim communities. The Rohingya face abusive discrimination and are not recognized as a separate ethnic group, as the majority Buddhist state demands they register as “Bengali” to qualify for “naturalized” citizenship.

According to the draft plan, those who refuse to be registered as Bengali — out of principle or fear that this opens them to future classification as Bangladeshi immigrants — or who cannot provide sufficient documentation to prove their citizenship, would be held in “temporary camps” for “illegal aliens” with a view to resettle them in another country.

The document names the U.N. refugee agency as a partner to “resettle the illegal aliens elsewhere” — which UNCHR has flatly refused to do.

“Globally, resettlement is one of the durable solutions that UNHCR pursues for recognized refugees who have fled persecution and conflict across international borders,” Medea Savary, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, explained to Devex. But as the Rohingya do not fall into this category, “resettlement is not considered as an option for these people by UNHCR in this context.”

Conundrum for aid groups

International actors were unclear, however, about what long-term solutions would be supported.

Some aid workers privately aired the worry that existing camps for internally displaced people would simply be recategorized as containment camps, making agencies working in those camps de facto complicit in detention.

Several foreign aid groups have already come under fire from critics who argue that international NGOs are supporting government policies of segregation by delivering assistance in the camps, where IDPs are forbidden to leave, even to seek work.

But many agencies have said that the scale and severity of the emergency in Rakhine required a humanitarian response, with the goal of eventually finding longer-term solutions. Without assistance, tens of thousands of IDPs would be left without medical health care, food, water or other basic services.

“The current situation is not tenable,” Péron said. “You have up to a million people who are in effect stateless and 140,000 living in IDP camps two years after the main violence. There has got to be some sort of resolution to the issue. But that resolution has to be just and equitable, and follow international norms and standards.”

If residents of current IDP camps were declared illegal aliens, this resolution may end up as forcible resettlement elsewhere or lengthy detention in camps as stateless persons, with international organizations expected to sustain assistance to keep people alive. But it would require a powerfully coordinated aid effort by all donors and implementing agencies to draw a line in the sand, and refuse to provide aid on those terms.

The plan also raises questions about the role of longer-term development actors. For those individuals granted citizenship, the proposed solution is resettlement within Rakhine state.

Given the levels of fear and bitter tension between the two communities, it is unlikely that this would be resettlement or return to original home villages. Human Rights Watch have slammed the plan as a “blueprint for segregation,” citing previously high levels of coexistence.

Development assistance to newly resettled Muslim communities could be seen, then, as implicit acceptance of this segregation.

“Some aspects of the verification process and draft action plan will further marginalize Muslim communities, could entrench segregation and may exacerbate intercommunal tensions,” the ICG noted in its most recent report.

Further negotiations

Humanitarian actors have provided feedback on the draft plan, and the final version has yet to be released. The expected wait is not long — many of the activities outlined in the plan are slated to have started already in July, and the government is keen to be seen as finding solutions to the Rakhine crisis ahead of next year’s general election.

One positive development is that the government has expressed willingness to change some components of the action plan, particularly that involving camps. But the changes may likely be superficial and only involve revising terminology.

“In the old action plan we put all the people in the camps,” Maung Maung Ohn, chief minister for Rakhine state, told Channel NewsAsia yesterday, adding that the government will change the plan and build “villages,” following international law. “We will not use the word ‘camps.’ That will be changed in the action plan.”

More than 100,000 Rohingya people have now fled the desperate conditions in Rakhine state, a figure that is likely to sharply increase with the start of the sailing season this month. UNOCHA reported that 40 percent of those fleeing by boat were unaccompanied children.

At a review of the Myanmar reform process in August this year, Myanmar President Thein Sein urged government officials to “handle communal violence in Rakhine state with care, as the international community is regarding that as a major weakness of the government during the transition period.”

By Reuters

November 1, 2014

Washington -- The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a prominent lawmaker and businessman in Myanmar for undermining economic and political reforms in the country, ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's planned visit next month.

The U.S. Treasury Department said Aung Thaung, who was industry minister under the former military government and is now a member of Myanmar's lower house of parliament, has been involved in attacks on the democratic opposition.

Concern has grown in Washington about the country's lagging progress on human rights abuses and political reforms and peace talks with ethnic rebels.

"By intentionally undermining the positive political and economic transition in Burma, Aung Thaung is perpetuating violence, oppression, and corruption," Adam Szubin, the Director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.

The action freezes any assets Aung Thaung has in the United States, and prohibits Americans and U.S. firms from dealing with him. Many international banks also adhere to the U.S. sanctions list to avoid dealing with enemies of the United States.

"Serious allegations have been made against Aung Thaung both for his complicity in past crackdowns and for his abuse of government posts for personal and familial gain -- including in business ventures involving human rights abuses like land grabs and forced labor," said John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.

On the eve of Obama's trip, the sanction sent the message that Washington was "not satisfied with the transition process in Burma and that there are still too many members of the military-linked elite standing in the way of reform," he said.

OBAMA CALLS MYANMAR LEADER

Aung Thaung has served in leadership positions in the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and was considered a hardliner in peace negotiations with ethnic rebel militias in Kachin State.

Myanmar launched widespread economic and political reforms in 2011, convincing the West to suspend most sanctions on the country, though keeping individuals and others on the U.S., blacklist. Critics say the changes are now starting to unravel.

In a call late on Thursday with President Thein Sein, Obama urged Myanmar's government to make every effort to conclude a national ceasefire and protect the rights of minorities and stateless Rohingya Muslims.

Obama will visit Myanmar for a regional summit on Nov. 12-13, his second visit to the country that he initially lauded as a foreign policy success.

The announcement of the measures against Aung Thaung coincided with an unprecedented meeting in the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw on Friday of the president and military chief with opposition political parties and ethnic minority groups.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by David Storey, Alan Crosby and Andrew Hay)

By Associated Press

November 1, 2014

UNITED NATIONS – A new U.N. draft resolution takes aim at Myanmar’s aggressive campaign to have its Rohingya Muslims identify as a term they reject, urging “access to full citizenship on an equal basis.”

The European Union-drafted resolution, obtained Friday by AP, is one piece of international pressure on the Southeast Asian country to change its campaign, preferably before world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, arrive for a regional summit in less than two weeks.

Myanmar’s 1.3 million Rohingya have emerged as a sensitive issue as Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, tries to move away from decades of repressive military rule toward democracy.

The Rohingya have been denied citizenship and have almost no rights. Attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps. Others are fleeing the country.

Authorities want to officially categorize the Rohingya as “Bengalis,” implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The Rohingya counter that many of their families have been in Myanmar for generations. Effectively stateless, they are wanted by neither country and say the Myanmar government’s campaign feels like an effort to have them systematically erased.

The vast majority of Rohingya live in the state of Rakhine. President Thein Sein, a former general, is considering a “Rakhine Action Plan” that will make people who identify themselves as Rohingya not only ineligible for citizenship but candidates for detainment and possible deportation.

The resolution now before the General Assembly’s human rights committee is nonbinding, but a strong vote in its support will send a message that international opinion is not on Myanmar’s side.

A Myanmar diplomat assigned to that committee, reached by telephone Friday for comment, said, “It’s too early to say.”

The resolution expresses “serious concern” about the Rohingya’s status. It calls on the government to “allow freedom of movement and equal access to full citizenship for the Rohingya minority” and to “allow self-identification.”

Myanmar’s plan worries some in the Muslim world, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation pushed for strong language in the resolution.

Last week, Tim Kyaw, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the General Assembly’s human rights committee that his country is not “targeting a religion.” He warned that “insisting on the right to self-identification will only impose obstacles to finding a lasting solution” to ethnic tensions.

Vijay Nambiar, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special adviser on Myanmar, said last week that Myanmar’s government is facing increasing pressure to allow the Rohingya to identify as something other than Rohingya or Bengali.

But, Nambiar said, “In the immediate future, the government says that’s not possible.”

By Al Jazeera

US President urges Myanmar leader to support civil and political rights of the stateless Rohingya Muslims minority.

US President Barack Obama has urged Myanmar's president to address ethnic tensions in his country, while also discussing political reforms with the opposition leader.

The White House said Obama had separate telephone conversations on Thursday with President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ahead of a second presidential visit to Myanmar next month.

His visit in mid-November comes amid growing US concerns about human rights abuses in Myanmar, including the jailing of journalists and alleged oppression of stateless Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities caught in conflict with government troops.

Obama urged Sein to take additional steps to address ethnic tensions and support the civil and political rights of the Rohingyas.

The White House said Obama welcomed the commitment of President Thein Sein and his government to the peace process, and urged that every effort be made to conclude a national ceasefire in the short term.

Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine state on the western coast of the predominantly Buddhist country. Almost 140,000 Rohingya remain displaced after deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.

Fledgling democracy

Obama's call came just before Thein Sein and Myanmar's powerful military chief were due to hold an unprecedented high-level meeting on Friday with major political parties and ethnic minority groups as cracks widen in the fledgling democracy ahead of an election next year.

The talks will be the first of their kind in Myanmar and will see Suu Kyi meet the powerful armed forces chief, Senior General Min Aung Holing for the first time, talks that the Nobel laureate has sought since she became a lawmaker in 2012.

Obama also spoke with Suu Kyi about the upcoming elections, and how Washington can "support efforts to promote tolerance, respect for diversity, and a more inclusive political environment," the White House said.

"Obama expressed his appreciation for Aung San Suu Kyi's work to promote a more democratic Burma," it added.

Myanmar's last general elections in 2010 were marred by widespread accusations of cheating and were held without the National League for Democracy or Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate who was detained until days after the vote.

Since then, Thein Sein has implemented a number of dramatic reforms, and Suu Kyi has entered parliament.

Her party is expected to win a good number of seats in the legislature in next year's polls, and parliament will select a president.

But the 69-year-old Suu Kyi is currently barred from taking the top job by the constitution because her late spouse and children are foreign nationals.

By Reuters

October 31, 2014

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama spoke on Thursday to Myanmar President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in separate calls in which they discussed the country's political reforms and the need to address ethnic tensions, the White House said.

Obama is due to make his second presidential visit to Myanmar in mid-November to attend a pair of regional summits, amid growing U.S. concerns about human rights abuses in Myanmar, including the jailing of journalists and alleged oppression of stateless Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities caught in conflict with government troops.

In his call with Myanmar's president, Obama stressed the importance of Thein Sein's government taking additional steps to address the tensions and the humanitarian situation in Rakhine state as well as measures to support the civil and political rights of the Rohingya people, the White House said.

It added that "Obama welcomed the commitment of President Thein Sein and his government to the peace process, and urged that every effort be made to conclude a national ceasefire in the short term."

Violence erupted across Rankine state in 2012 between ethnic Rankine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, killing at least 200 people and displacing 140,000, most of them Rohingya.

In Obama's call with Suu Kyi, they discussed the status of Myanmar's political and economic reforms and the need for an "inclusive, credible process" for conducting the 2015 elections, the White House said.

Obama's call came just before Thein Sein and Myanmar's powerful military chief were due to hold an unprecedented high-level meeting on Friday with major political parties and ethnic minority groups as cracks widen in the fledgling democracy ahead of an election next year.

The talks will be the first of their kind in Myanmar and will see Suu Kyi meet for the first time with the powerful armed forces chief, Senior General Min Aung Holing, talks that the Nobel laureate has sought since she became a lawmaker in 2012. 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Peter Cooney; Editing by Sandra Maler)

RB News 

October 31, 2014

Maungdaw, Arakan – The Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) and the Myanmar Army have raided many villages in Maungdaw Township of Arakan State over the past month. They have arrested many innocent Rohingyas on the false accusation that they connected with rebel group which isn't in existence in Myanmar nor Bangladesh. 

At at 2pm on October 27, 17 innocent Rohingya arrestees appeared at the Maungdaw Township court. They were arbitrarily sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour. The court had accused them of violating Immigration act no. 13/1. An innocent Rohingya, Mufizurahman (a.k.a) Kyaw Myint s/o Basa Miah (Age 42) from Bandoola village argued to the court that he has never been to Bangladesh and that he had never seen that country. The judge dismissed his rebuttal and responded to him that they were arrested and sentenced for living in a border area. 

None of the innocent arrestees were allowed to hire a lawyer to defend themselves. Their family members were not allowed to appear at the court. The so-called plaintiffs, the BGP, couldn’t prove that their accusation was true. The arrestees were unjustly sentenced by the courts.

According to locals, another six innocent Rohingyas have been prosecuted with the same act. Their family members are worried as they will be sentenced the same as the previous 17 innocent Rohingyas. 

The authorities are keeping all of the arrestees away from their family members. None of them are able to meet with their love ones or allowed to hire a lawyer.

Rohingya Eye contributed in reporting.