The Phnom Penh Post

September 23, 2015

By Mizzima

September 23, 2015

Rohingya mother, Mama Citi, is the first person to give birth on the Australian run offshore detention facility of Nauru. 

Baby Nourkayas was born on 18 September weighing 3kg, both mother and child are reportedly fine according to the Refugee Action Coalition Sydney website. Nourkayas is Mama Citi’s third child, the two other children and father live in the same facility. 

“We are very happy that all has gone well for mother and baby; but it is a risky precedent. The fact that refugees are sent to PNG and asylum seeker mothers are sent to Australia to have their babies says that Australian authorities do not believe that Nauru is safe,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. 

“The Australian government has a responsibility for all babies born to asylum seeker and refugee families; all pregnant women should be brought to Australia to give birth. 

“We wish the family well, but we know the conditions on Nauru – no education, and no resettlement – put a dark cloud over their future.” 

The Australian run facility has come under massive pressure from doctors and whistle blowers after continuous reports and leaks of sexual assaults and rampant mental health issues of those detained. 

In June, 40 past and present workers from detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru wrote an open letter to the Australian government, defying a secrecy law that would see officials who spoke out on detention centre conditions receive a mandatory two-year prison sentence, criticising conditions in the centres.

By Moe Myint

The Irrawaddy

September 23, 2015

Burma’s main opposition party alleges that the Buddhist nationalist group distributed print materials and delivered sermons defaming the NLD and attempting to influence the electorate.

RANGOON — Burma’s main opposition party has filed an official complaint with authorities about potentially unlawful use of religion to influence an upcoming general election, in an early test of the polling commission’s power and impartiality in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 vote.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), chaired by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, filed a number of complaints earlier this month alleging that the Buddhist nationalist group Ma Ba Tha had distributed print materials and delivered public sermons that defame the NLD and attempt to influence the electorate.

While the claims have now been outstanding for more than a week, a senior party official told The Irrawaddy that they have not seen any response from the government despite lodging the claim though official channels and in accordance with election law.

“All we can do is complain to the UEC [Union Election Commission], that’s all,” said NLD central committee member Win Htein, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. “We have not yet heard a response.”

The complaints in question were related to paper pamphlets distributed at a number of rallies held by Ma Ba Tha, also known as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, in celebration of the recent passage of four controversial laws restricting interfaith marriage, childbirth, polygamy and conversion of faith.

Win Htein further suggested that the members of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) were present at several of the rallies and helped to dispense the leaflets, claiming he had photographs clearly identifying them as party affiliates.

A copy of one such pamphlet, obtained by The Irrawaddy, urges the public not to support the “big group that is against nationalism,” later referring explicitly to Suu Kyi’s party, the NLD.

“[The big group] focuses on the human rights of other religious groups, only pointing out corruption of the government, the country’s poverty and the national education law. It is trying to canvass the public with the photo of patriotic leader General Aung San,” the pamphlet reads.

“‘The party’s leader is the daughter of General Aung San,’ and unexpected risks will enter the religion and the country [if the party is elected].”

Win Htein said the materials, which go on to portray the NLD as an existential threat to the national identity of Buddhist-majority Burma, were distributed in several parts of the country including Sagaing and Irrawaddy divisions.

U Pamoukka, a senior monk and spokesperson for the Rangoon Division chapter of Ma Ba Tha, told The Irrawaddy that the pamphlets were not made or distributed on the order of the group’s central authority, but that it was possible that members at the regional level had taken it upon themselves to print and share them. Ma Ba Tha’s central committee had already issued a public statement calling the election “crucial” and “sensitive,” he said, hence the organization has urged its members not to interfere with politics.

“But one thing we do distribute as the message of the leading Ma Ba Tha monks that is quite clearly political,” Pamoukka said, “is that a person who is focused on the Buddhist religion is more appropriate to choose [as an elected official].”

Though Ma Ba Tha has publicly distanced itself from the materials in question, the case underscores concerns that the movement, which has grown exponentially over the past two years, may have risen above the law and beyond the control of its own leadership. The group is associated with the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in the country, which was marred by several rounds of deadly ethno-religious riots since 2012, and some members have publicly decried the NLD as “the party of Islamists.”

Uncharted Territory

The Irrawaddy Division election sub-commission, the highest polling authority in the delta region, confirmed on Wednesday that it had received a formal complaint from the NLD and would refer them to Union-level mediators, though it did not elaborate on the nature of the claim or venture an estimate on when it might be adjudicated.

Sub-commission member Maung Maung told The Irrawaddy that he knew of at least one such complaint filed “about 10 days ago,” but he wasn’t sure exactly when or what would happen next. The UEC could not be reached for comment.

The complaint would likely be considered under Chapter XIII, Article 58(c) of the parliamentary election laws, pertaining to election offenses and penalties, which stipulates up to one year in prison for “uttering, making speeches, making declarations and instigating to vote or not to vote on the grounds of race and religion or by abetment of such acts.”

A guide on election dispute resolution issued by the UEC in July provides little additional clarity on what to expect. The booklet, which is available online in Burmese and English, says such a complaint can be filed by voters, candidates, election officials or police officers to relevant authorities, but does not detail what follows its receipt.

The section titled “What should I expect after I file an objection or report?” vaguely states that an investigation will be conducted “promptly, efficiently and impartially and a decision will be issued within a specified period.”

Regardless of what follows, Win Htein said the NLD is confident that it will survive the alleged slander.

“The manipulation of Ma Ba Tha will not have a big impact on the NLD,” he said. “Some people will believe them, but many people are more knowledgeable now.”

By Kyaw Phyo Tha

The Irrawaddy

September 23, 2015

RANGOON — The Mandalay Division government has agreed to a request by Buddhist nationalists to prevent ritual cattle slaughter for Friday’s Eid-al-Adha celebrations, and will ask Muslims to instead sacrifice goats to mark the religious event, according to a government official

The Upper Burma branch of Ma Ba Tha, known in English as the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, sent an official letter of request to the divisional government last week calling for an end to the practice of ritual cattle sacrifice.

“On the occasion of Eid, we feel very uncomfortable to see that many cows, including farm cows, are mercilessly beheaded,” the letter read. “Thanks to the killing, each year we lose many cows, the working companion of farmers and a true benefactor of human beings.”

The letter was signed by four leading Buddhist monks, including prominent Ma Ba Tha figure U Wirathu. It cites the teachings of Ledi Sayadaw, whose campaign to stop cattle slaughter at the end of the 19th century widely influenced Burmese nationalists during the colonial area.

A senior official from the Mandalay Division government confirmed on Wednesday that they had received the letter. He told The Irrawaddy that orders had been sent to district and township administrators to instruct Muslim communities to use goats instead of cattle, and reduce the number of animals slaughtered to mark Eid.

“We don’t want it to affect their religion,” the official told The Irrawaddy, referring to Muslim Eid celebrations. “So we told them to reduce the numbers of animal killed. We want them to cut the numbers down in half as Burma is an agricultural country.”

“Our country has a Buddhist majority. We are supposed to fulfil the requests of the majority,” he added.

Last week, an investigative report by Myanmar Now revealed that Ma Ba Tha had closely collaborated with Irrawaddy Division officials to shut down Muslim-owned slaughter houses in the region.

Cattle rescued from the abattoirs was shipped and donated to Arakanese Buddhist farmers working in the predominantly Muslim northern Arakan State township of Maungdaw, on the border of Bangladesh. Win Shwe, a Ma Ba Tha secretary in Rangoon, told Myanmar Now that the initiative was part of an attempt to safeguard the area against “the influx of Muslims”.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, U Wirathu said that Ma Ba Tha was seeking a total ban of cattle slaughter across Burma, a resolution first reached at the association’s two-year anniversary conference in June.

“Killing has nothing to do with religion, and that’s why we have requested the ban,” he said. “Rather than killing cattle and distributing their meat, they should donate the money that they would spend on the sacrifice.”

U Wirathu said that Ma Ba Tha had yet to receive a reply to last week’s letter from the government. He added that the association had sent another letter to government issues in the time since, asking for action to be taken if the number of animals sacrificed exceeded official permission and to shut down any religious building that hosted a ritual cattle sacrifice.

By Salai Thant Zin & Zarni Mann

The Irrawaddy

September 23, 2015

Celebrating the passage of the race and religion laws, Ma Ba Tha warns that the NLD will attempt to repeal the controversial measures if the party wins November’s elections.

PATHEIN & MANDALAY — Buddhist nationalists have used celebrations commemorating the so-called “race and religion protection laws” to urge crowds not to vote for the National League for Democracy (NLD), claiming that the opposition party is being backed by ‘Islamists’ and foreign countries.

At festivities organized in Pathein on Sunday by the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, also known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha, a roster of speakers warned that the hard-won legislation would be abolished if a “political party supported and backed by Islamists and foreign countries” won the election and came into power.

U Kumara, an abbot from the Mya Taung Monastery in Pantanaw Township and a leading Ma Ba Tha member in Irrawaddy Division, expressed gratitude to President Thein Sein for signing the four laws and stressed the need to safeguard the legislation, saying that Burma would suffer under the rule of political parties that would seek to “destroy the race and religion”.

At one point, U Kumara asked the audience more than 10,000 if they knew which party was supported by the “Islamists”, to which the crowded responded, “NLD”.

He then asked if the audience would vote for a party “supported by Islamists”, to which the crowd shouted back an emphatic “No”.

The four race and religion laws, sponsored by Ma Ba Tha, are widely seen as intended to target Burma’s Muslim minority. Together, the measures make it more difficult for people in Burma to undergo religious conversion and marry into a different faith, in addition to criminalizing polygamy, introducing severe criminal penalties for adultery, and giving regional governments the power to implement some population control policies.

Among the audience at Pathein’s Ko Thane Stadium were more than 3,000 monks from across Irrawaddy Division’s 26 townships. Aung Tin Myint, secretary of the Irrawaddy Division Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), also attended the ceremony and sat on the dais alongside leading local Ma Ba Tha figures.

Last week, it emerged that Irrawaddy Division Chief Minister and USDP member Thein Aung had offered discount licenses to Ma Ba Tha members in order to allow them to take over and shut down Muslim-owned slaughterhouses in the region.

A civil servant told The Irrawaddy that the divisional government had also provided logistical assistance for Sunday’s gathering.

“Some 20,000 plastic chairs were provided by the Irrawaddy Division General Administration Department and arrangements such as laying out chairs and the dais were done by staff of the Pathein municipal government,” said a departmental staff member, who requested anonymity.

In a message to the Pathein event, Ovadacariya Sayadaw U Ti Lawma Bhivunsa, a member of Ma Ba Tha’s central committee, said that those who objected to the race and religion laws in the Union Parliament would annul the laws when given a chance, and urged those in attendance to vote for those who would protect the measures. (Ovadacariya is a religious title conferred upon senior monks by the Burmese government.)

“(People) should be aware of those who would annul the hard-won race and religion laws enacted for the people: those employed by foreigners and those who are conferred titles by people of different races and religions, and those who are already acting as authoritarians before they actually get power,” the message said. “It is of dire importance that such people are not elected.”

Celebrations continued in Mandalay on Monday, with a crowd of around 30,000 participating in a march from a sports ground near Masoeyein Monastery.

Carrying banners that read “women’s security is assured only if national protection is safeguarded” and “the national protection laws are a triumph”, the crowd shouted slogans and sang songs as they proceeded to Mandalay’s famed Mahamuni Pagoda, where they were addressed by firebrand monk U Wirathu.

“The national protection law is meant to protect the Burmese citizens from Islamic jihad,” he told the audience, before launching into a discussion of the large stateless Rohingya Muslim community in northern Arakan State.

“Half of Arakan State, especially in the Buthidaung and Maungdaw areas, is being Islamicized…The Bengalis come into the area and impregnate the Arakan women,” he said, using the perjorative word for the state’s Rohingya community. “This is one way to occupy the region, by increasing the Islamic population. This is one kind of jihad.”

RB News 

By SIOBHÁN O'GRADY

Foreign Policy

September 22, 2015

MYARF 

RB News 

September 21, 2015 

Maungdaw, Arakan – In some townships in Arakan State, the Rakhines are threatening that they will terrorize the Rohingya on the day of Eid, an Islamic holy day on the 25th of September. Rakhines from Kyauktaw, Minbya, Myebon, Sittwe, Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships have been reportedly threatening that the Bengalis will slaughter the cows on Eid day, so they, the, Rakhines will slaughter the Bengalis on that day. 

In Maungdaw and Buthidaung many strangers believed to be from Arakan Army are moving around, according to the residents. Many Rakhine strangers are moving in Ngakura, Kanpyin, Sabei Pyin, Laungdone, Kyain Chaung, Yan Aung Pyin, Thurein, Aung Thayar, Ngwar Yone Taung village tract Rakhine hamlet in Maungdaw North and in Maungdaw South, Vesali, Kaye Myaing, Bawdi Gone, Thayay Konebaw village tract Ywa Thit hamlet, Kaing Gyi, Mawrawaddy, In Taungpyo Latwal sub-township, Thae Chaung, Nant Tha Taung, In Buthidaung Township downtown quarters, villages in northern part, especially in Kin Chaung village. 

Sometime those Rakhine strangers in Maungdaw North were reported moving around by wearing Border Guard Police uniform. At night they organize meetings at monasteries and the big houses of Rakhine residents. 

As many strangers appear in many townships the Rohingyas in Arakan State fear that something may happen on Eidul Adha day. As there threats were made at the same time these strangers were moving suspiciously. 

Local Rohingya are increasingly concerned and worried for their safety. 

Earlier this month, the military seized the weapons from the monastery in Ka Kyat Phat village in Buthidaung Township.

By The Nation

September 21, 2015

Unicef, WFP, & many states back schools in Myanmar's west

THU ZAR MOE, 12, is one of the brightest girls in her class, but she can no longer go to school due to the problems in her hometown of Rakhine. 

In 2012, her family fled their home in Ahnauk San Pya village leaving behind a successful business and ending up dependent on food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP).

Now, Thu Zar lives with her father and four siblings at Thea Chaung displacement camp, near Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state. 

"I preferred living in the village," Thu Zar said. "We lived close to school, and I could go every day. My father owned a mechanic workshop and made a good living. My mother was still alive. Our life was much better then."

Thu Zar was speaking as she sat with her father, Hla Kyaw, on the porch of their small house, built with wood, bamboo and part of an old tent from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. It is one of many such homes, tightly packed together. It's raining, and the ground between the houses is wet and muddy.

"I still do some mechanic work here," said her father. "I earn up to 4,000 Kyats a day [about Bt100]. But it's not enough to live on or pay for health care. We get handouts of rice, beans and oil from WFP. We're safe here, but we cannot travel beyond the market. I don't think we will ever be able to go back home."

Without access to health care, his wife passed away.

Rakhine State, one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Myanmar, suffers from complex humanitarian problems and unaddressed development issues. Already marked by a high rate of poverty, the socioeconomic situation in Rakhine further deteriorated in 2012 following the outbreak of violence between majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities.

The floods that hit Myanmar in July and August this year have exacerbated these problems, with no regard for the lines that have divided these communities for so long. Children from both communities - in camps and not in camps - have felt the impact on their education.

Luckily for Thu Zar, there is a way for her to continue her studies. She attends non-formal primary education at a temporary learning centre in the camp, supported by Unicef (the United Nations Children's Fund) and run by the Lutheran World Federation.

The camp is home to 115 children who study at the learning centre. Last year, the top students got a chance to go to a new government-run middle school near the camp. Thu Zar's teacher says that she is also likely to go.

"She learns very well," he says. "I've seen her improve since coming here. She can already speak Rakhine in addition to her mother tongue, and is now learning Burmese and English."

Thu Zar rarely misses an opportunity to learn. "I go to the learning centre in the morning, and in the afternoon I read my books and help with the housework," she says. "I like learning languages. If I can speak and write English well, it will be very useful in life."

Although she has ambitions for her future, Thu Zar also assumes that she will still be living in the camp. "When I grow up I would like to work for WFP, because they give food to other people," she says.

In a village not far from the camp, 11-year-old Hlaing Hlaing Oo's family struggles with poverty. Conditions in their community are poor, and many children and families have some of their basic needs unmet, with limited opportunities to earn a living.

A few years ago, Hlaing's parents left Myanmar to work in neighbouring Thailand as migrant labourers. They left Hlaing and her younger brother with relatives in Yangon. When the family returned to Sittwe, they did not have the right paperwork to get Hlaing into the local school.

Unable to attend regular classes, Hlaing joined a non-formal primary education scheme at Mingan School, supported by Unicef and run by Myanmar Literacy Resource Centres. Classes are held every day in the evenings for out-of-school children, including those who work during the day to support their families or stay at home to take care of younger siblings.

Hlaing completed the programme, and this term she entered formal school as a Grade 6 student.

On the first week of term, the school is full of noisy, excited children in white and green uniforms. Most wear the traditional Burmese longyi skirt. 

"I'm very happy to be back at school," Hlaing says. "My favourite subject is Burmese studies. I prefer coming during the day with the other children. My friend Sen Sen is in the same class as me. When I grow up, I want to be an engineer and construct new buildings."

Although they belong to two different communities and live in different circumstances, both Thu Zar and Hlaing have similar hopes and dreams, and both see the value of education for their future. Education has the power to build on these shared dreams, to bring children together to build a joint future for Rakhine State.

Unicef, with support from Australia, Denmark, the European Union, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, is working to ensure that all children in Rakhine State can develop to their full potential.

As well as the non-formal education provided to Thu Zar and Hlaing, Unicef also supports life skills education for adolescents, provides school backpacks to all Grade 1 students in eight townships in Rakhine State, and stationery for Grades 1 to 5. 

"Unicef has worked in Myanmar for 60 years," says Cliff Meyers, Unicef Myanmar's chief of education. 

"We're now working with the government and civil society to ensure that all children in Rakhine State can access education, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or legal status."

The future of Rakhine lies in Thu Zar and Hlaing's common dreams, as well as the aspirations of their supportive fathers. Thu Zar's father is pleased that she is continuing her education. 

"I really want my daughter to be educated," he says. "She's so smart. I'm very proud of her."

Hlaing's father echoes the same sentiment. "My main hope for my daughter's future is that she gets a good education," he says.

By Michael Sheridan 

The Sunday Times

September 21, 2015

Lashed by the monsoon rains and watched by hostile neighbours, the families crowding into squalid camps along the Bay of Bengal are the forgotten people in Myanmar’s general election.

They will not be taking part. A ruthless and systematic campaign of disenfranchisement has stripped half a million of them of their right to vote in a poll hailed abroad as the most free and fair in the country’s history.

As opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi launched her campaign this month, saying “democracy gives people freedom and security”, members of a Muslim minority known as Rohingya discovered most of their community had vanished from election rolls.

Foreign diplomats in Yangon fear the transition to democracy has gone badly wrong. Myanmar, human rights activists fear, is sliding towards apartheid.

Many have criticised Ms Suu Kyi for failing to speak out ­directly in support of the ­Rohingya — even though she herself is a victim of institutional prejudice. Her party, the National League for Democracy, may win the most votes but under Myanmar’s constitution she cannot become president because her late husband, Michael Aris, was British, as are her sons, Alexander and Kim.

Instead the job could go once again to the man behind the moves to strip the Rohingya of their voting rights — President Thein Sein, a former general.

He boasted in a video message of his personal part in banning the Rohingya and in shaping new, discriminatory, laws to protect “race and religion”.

“There’s a mobilisation of bias and hatred against the Rohingya across Burmese society and the government is jumping on this,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch.

Militant Buddhist monks started the campaign against the 1.1 million Rohingya, a stateless people seen as “Bengali” immigrants even though for generations many have served Myanmar as soldiers, policemen and civil servants.

Tens of thousands of them have been forced to hand over the white identity cards that gave them a precarious status in Myanmar.

More than 25,000 fled in rickety boats across the Andaman Sea earlier this year, many falling victim to people-smugglers, ­extortion, kidnap and murder.

About 140,000 remain confined in the camps in Rakhine state — also known as Arakan — trapped by local militias and police who seized control of schools and hospitals and succeeded in driving out most international aid groups.

“Their situation is horrific — there is not enough food, completely inadequate medical services, no access to education, no livelihoods. It’s effectively a state of apartheid,” said Mr Robertson, citing the latest reports from aid workers.

“A lot of the Rohingya have realised that the future for them in Myanmar has gone.”

They have slipped from sight as attention has moved on to fresh crises. But ominous signs are multiplying for a group that has been called the world’s most persecuted people.

The government rejected an appeal by nine foreign embassies, including those of Britain and the US, for “tolerance, mutual respect and equality under the law to ensure the elections are peaceful and inclusive”.

Western influence in Myanmar — a strategic prize poised between China and India that has lured British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama to visit its “reformers” — appears minimal.

Four bills passed by parliament will force women to apply for permission to marry a Muslim, require anyone changing religion to seek state approval, restrict women in certain regions to having one child every three years and outlaw polygamy.

The laws are meant to stop what Buddhist chauvinists claim is a threat from the small Muslim community. “They are an unmitigated rights disaster,” said Mr Robertson.

Buddhist hardliners argue the Rohingya are “a spearhead” and should be sent to Bangladesh ­because they are ethnic Bengalis.

“Some are planning to control our country by pointing to the boat people and the Rohingya,” said the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of a militant ­clergy faction that calls itself the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion.

“If about 60 million people from Bangladesh come into our country, Myanmar will be under other countries’ control,” he said.

There are few reliable statistics in Myanmar, but a census put the population at about 51 million last year; the CIA World Factbook ­estimates 4 per cent are Muslims.

Sectarian intolerance has expanded beyond the Rohingya to all Muslims. Not one Muslim candidate has passed stringent citizenship tests imposed on anyone who wants to run for parliament.

Last week a new investigative team of local journalists, Myanmar Now, exposed official support for a campaign by an extremist group to boycott Muslim businesses.

The elections on November 8 will choose representatives for parliament and regional assemblies. In the Rohingya camps, many people will not wait for the results. When the monsoon ends late next month and the seas calm down, aid workers say they will take to the boats once again.

By Ishaan Tharoor

Washington Post

September 21, 2015

Myanmar Times

September 21, 2015

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd during a rally in Nay Pyi Taw at the end of August. Photo: Zarni Phyo / The Myanmar Times

By Prakash Bhandari

The Statesman

September 20, 2015

Europe is facing an unprecedented refugee situation as desperate families from war-torn Syria and political crises-ridden Hungary are making a beeline for various countries there, travelling long distances by train, road, rickety boats and even walking to reach a “safe haven”. More than 19 million people have been forced to flee their home countries because of war, persecution or oppression and every day another 42,500 join the ever-growing numbers. Most of them look at Europe as their next home.

But no one cares to know about the thousands of refugees who are floating in the Andaman Sea, seeking a place to land in the hope of finding food and jobs. In May and June this year, an estimated 6,000 refugees were helplessly stranded in overcrowded boats in the Andaman Sea without drinking water, food or medical supplies.

When Thailand navy helicopters dropped food packets in the Andaman Sea for a large number of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis abandoned by human traffickers, the refugees jumped into the water to grab them. They had a proper meal after many days as the crew of the ship had escaped because of a crackdown from the Thai government to prevent the entry of illegal Rohingyas. They have striking similarities with Bangladeshis, particularly the Muslims, among the Rohingyas (an ethnic people from Myanmar) by dint of speaking Bengali, dress and food habits. Such Bengali-speaking Rohingyas and Bangladeshis were found stranded not only in the Andaman Sea but also along the coast of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. These “boat people”, as they are called, are human traffic tricked by agents with promises of a better future in those Southeast Asian countries.

“Bengalis” is a term often used pejoratively by Myanmar officials to describe the Muslim Rohingya minority, 1.3 million of whom live in the predominantly Buddhist country but are not recognised citizens. The widespread persecution of the impoverished community in the Rakhine state of Myanmar is one of the primary causes for the current regional exodus alongside growing numbers trying to escape poverty in neighbouring Bangladesh.

A majority of the Rohingyas have faced the wrath of Myanmar’s Buddhist rulers and are fleeing Arakan in the face of persecution. Several thousand Rohingyas died in Arakan and more than 150,000 of them have been herded into the so-called “internally displaced people camps” with no adequate provisions for food, clothing or health care and without future prospects of livelihood. All these reasons have forced the Rohingyas to migrate to neighbouring countries as illegal migrants after abandoning their centuries-old homes in the hope of a better future. In India, more than 130,000 of them live in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Maharashtra, Bihar and even Kashmir.

These Rohingyas are recognised as Bangladeshis and a large number of them have entered the Kashmir valley and married natives, creating ethnic strife. So much so that the Union government recently called a meeting of the chief secretaries of all the states where they reside in large numbers. The government is trying to frame a uniform policy to confront the illegal Rohingyas who enter India.

The Rohingya Muslims are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine state, denied Myanmarese citizenship. Three years back, 140,000 of them were displaced in deadly clashes with majority Buddhists ans, later, over 100,000 fled overseas, to mainly Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. “For years, the Rohingyas have been subjected to maltreatment that has been described by international watchers as ‘crimes against humanity’ or ‘manifest genocide’. Unmindful, the Myanmar government has been completely ignoring these ethnic people who look different and resemble Bangladeshis. The apathy of the Myanmar government has forced them to become floating coffins on the sea,” says Maji-Ul- Haque, a former Foreign Service official.

Bangladesh, which created problems by flooding India with its citizens, is now facing the music as millions have migrated to its shores. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics even launched a headcount of such Rohingyas, who live in five districts bordering India. Several years ago, the USA had taken the initiative of accepting Rohingyas and even resettling them in other “third countries” that include Canada, Australia, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and Norway. In what then that 309 Rohingyas went to Canada, 242 to Australia, 190 to the UK, 82 to Ireland, 56 to New Zealand, 19 to Sweden, 14 to the USA and four to Norway. But the process, which started in 2006, has now been stalled. The USA initiated the move again but Australia has refused to take them as this would further encourage illegal migration of the “boat people”.

“The Australians now feel that by giving asylum to such Rohingyas it would be committing a grave mistake. If they are provided refugee status, it would encourage more such illegal migrants,” says Muhammed Zameer, a former Bangladesh ambassador.

In Bangladesh, there is a documented case load of 32,713 Rohingya refugees, which the authorities want interested “third countries” to adopt. But as they are uneducated, most countries find it difficult to resettle them. They can only be accepted as labourers, sweepers or cleaners, at best. Gambia being an Islamic nation has offered to take the Rohingyas as they are “Muslim brethren” and Gambians feel they cannot turn a blind eye to Muslims starving. The Philippines has signalled that it is ready to take in thousands of migrants stranded on Asia’s seas, thus becoming the first country to announce such a move. It is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and the government has taken this stand on emotional lines as, being a Catholic nation, it feels that serving suffering humanity is a noble cause. The Philippines’ stand is laudable but it has also clarified that genuine asylum seekers need to be sorted from those who are simply looking for greener pastures.

Bangladesh’s state minister for home affairs Asaduzzaman Khan clarified that the majority of boat people are Rohingyas, while the Myanmar government has countered the claim by saying they are Bangladeshis. The Bangladesh government feel threatened with a large influx of Rohingyas, who, in turn, feel that since Bangladesh has a Muslim majority they could fit into the system more easily. But to prevent the Rohingyas from entering Bangladesh, the government has decided to set up border operation posts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

A sizeable number of Bangladesh’s fortune seekers, who earn handsomely by working abroad, are held in high esteem socially and serve as an inspiration to many starving people back home. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was critical of the large number of “boat people” who were abandoned in the Andaman Sea by human traffickers. She said, “It is not true that everybody is moving this way because of want. Many people put their lives in danger to go abroad by illegal means, chasing the proverbial ‘golden deer’.”

The official document –The Bangladeshi Country Report 2012 on human trafficking — says that continuing disparities and discriminations against marginalised communities, especially women, are some of the major reasons for the forced migrations. Factors like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, lack of awareness, gender discrimination, gender-based violence, natural disasters and lack of proper implementation of the 2012 Prevention of Human Trafficking Act are also to blame.

Thousands of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis chose this path of entering the so-called “land of opportunities”. But does the European situation differ from the one in the Andaman Sea? EU members have all ratified the Refugee Convention on top of the 1967 Protocol, while Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand have not. Similarly, the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons was signed by most EU member-states, but again not by those Asian countries. Both conventions are relevant to the situation of the Rohingyas as they fit the definition of “stateless persons” and “refugees”. Even though the Asian countries involved have not signed the conventions, most of the rights enshrined in them have become part of international human rights law and should, therefore, be respected by all countries. This means that countries cannot, for example, force refugees to return to their country of origin or discriminate against stateless persons in their immigration policies.

The recent experience of refugees trying to reach Europe and also the case of the Rohingyas and Bangladeshis warrant a relook at the UN’s old conventions and protocols.

By Hanna Hindstrom

Al Jazeera America

September 20, 2015

Nationalist monks celebrate new repressive laws as Rohingya candidates are culled from general election ballots

YANGON, Myanmar — The celebrations began shortly after dawn. A cluster of monks in saffron robes gathered beneath this city’s historic golden Shwedagon Pagoda to murmur prayers and chants. A procession of vans then took the men to a monastery on the outskirts of Yangon, where groups of monks, nuns and civilians huddled under umbrellas before a large stage lined with senior abbots and emblazoned with Buddhist insignia.

This was no ordinary religious festival. The Sept. 14 gathering was the start of a two-week nationwide anti-Muslim event organized by Myanmar’s powerful Buddhist nationalist group, known locally as the Ma Ba Tha. The cause for celebration was the recent adoption of a package of laws to “protect race and religion” in the Buddhist-majority country, further marginalizing its beleaguered Muslim minority.

"Victorious! Victorious!" the crowd bellowed as a soft-spoken monk took to the stage.

The four bills, sponsored by the Ma Ba Tha and signed into law last month by President Thein Sein, restrict interfaith marriages and religious conversions, criminalize polygamy and adultery and demand that women wait three years between the birth of each child. The legislation is broadly viewed as an attack on the country’s Muslims. A Muslim man recently became the first target of the new monogamy law, facing seven years in prison for living with a Buddhist woman after separating from his wife.

This comes at a time of high religious tensions in Myanmar, which has been gripped by bouts of anti-Muslim violence since emerging from decades of military dictatorship in 2011. Ma Ba Tha’s celebrations coincide with the launch of campaign season in Myanmar, which is preparing for a landmark general election on Nov. 8. A rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric raises concerns that religious nationalism will be used for political goals.

Also this month, the government-backed election commission culled more than 100 candidates, most of them members of the Rohingya Muslim minority from western Myanmar. The commission cited concerns about their citizenship. Nearly 1 million Rohingya Muslims were stripped of their right to vote earlier this year after pressure from Buddhist nationalists.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has increasingly found itself the target of the Ma Ba Tha. “There are many parties and people who can bring the best reforms to Myanmar,” a monk told the audience at a Yangon monastery during the Sept. 14 gathering, reading a statement from Ma Ba Tha leader Ywarma Sayadaw. “It is extremely crucial to avoid and not to vote for those who claim they work for the people but look to abolish the race protection laws … and help those from other races and religions for money.”

In a separate speech that day, another nationalist monk, Maw Kyun Sayardaw, reportedly likened the opposition party to a “league of prawns” — an insult in Myanmar culture associated with stupidity.

Suu Kyi’s party — which is expected to win a landslide victory in the elections — has publicly criticized some of the race protection bills. That has provoked the ire of Buddhist nationalists, many of whom view Suu Kyi, a democracy icon who spent most of her life outside Myanmar, as too sympathetic to international interests. (Suu Kyi, whose late husband was British, is barred from running for president because of a constitutional provision that excludes individuals with foreign family members from the position.) She is no stranger to criticisms of her foreign connections, enduring regular smear campaigns on social media for her perceived pro-Muslim bias. But the attacks have escalated in recent weeks as Myanmar’s elections — expected to usher in the first democratic transition of power in over half a century — draw nearer.

Firebrand monk Wirathu — infamous for his incendiary sermons likening Muslims to “mad dogs” who rape Buddhist women — has publicly backed incumbent Thein Sein for the presidency. He has accused the NLD of using campaign tactics that violate Buddhist teachings. Wirathu’s organization is broadcasting interviews in which members of the Ma Ba Tha interrogate political candidates about their positions on immigration and religion.

In a statement published on Facebook on Sept. 15, nine embassies expressed concern “about the prospect of religion being used as a tool of division and conflict during the campaign season” in Myanmar. The government has rejected the allegations, accusing the signatories, including the U.S. government, of fomenting “misunderstanding and doubts” among the people.

U Ye Htut, the head of Myanmar’s Ministry of Information and Thein Sein’s spokesman, defended the Ma Ba Tha’s right to campaign for candidates perceived to support Buddhism.

“In the United States [the] Christian right and anti-abortionists also talk about voting for the candidates who support the anti-abortion [agenda], so this is normal for them to express their opinion,” he said. “It is not the candidates asking the Ma Ba Tha to campaign for them, so it’s very different.”

He deflected criticism of a recent video posted on the official Facebook page of the president’s office, which appears to brag about Thein Sein’s anti-Muslim policies. The slickly shot film lists among the president’s key achievements the rejection of the existence of Rohingya Muslims, a persecuted minority denied citizenship by the government and dismissed by many as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The video also praises Thein Sein’s role in pushing through the four race protection laws.

“If President [George W.] Bush or Prime Minister [David] Cameron’s office shared their opinion of their policy on some religious or church group, that doesn’t mean they are using religion for political purposes,” said Ye Htut. “Everyone can express their opinion in a democratic society.”

NLD members suspect that the attempt to stir up religious nationalism is an effort to diminish the party's chances in the elections. “[The Ma Ba Tha] is attacking the NLD and also other political parties,” said U Nyan Win, the NLD’s spokesman. “This is an act against the law.”

Myanmar’s election law and 2008 constitution strictly prohibit individuals or political parties from exploiting religious tensions for political gain.

According to Nyan Win, the NLD filed a formal complaint with the Union Election Commission but has yet to receive a response. U Ko Ko, the commission’s spokesman for Yangon, declined to answer questions about the Ma Ba Tha. “We are doing our election job, and they are doing their job,” he said. “I cannot say exactly that they are violating election law.”

But even some members of the Ma Ba Tha appear to disagree. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the group, a senior member of Ma Ba Tha conceded that while the organization had “no official policy” to target Suu Kyi’s party, some members were clearly doing so. “I personally dislike this,” he said. “I think it is a breach of the constitution, which prohibits using religion for politics.”

Myanmar’s leadership, a quasi-civilian administration dominated by former military brass, has a history of exploiting Muslims. In the 2010 elections, Rohingyas were offered citizenship in exchange for voting for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party — a promise the government reneged on. The party roped in a number of Rohingya candidates to represent it in Muslim-majority parts of northern Rakhine state. One of them was U Shwe Maung, who resigned from the party after the mass disenfranchisement of Rohingya voters earlier this year. He was planning to run as an independent candidate in the November elections, but his application was rejected. U Kyaw Min, a winner in Myanmar’s 1990 elections, which were won by the NLD but were annulled by the junta, also saw his candidacy bid rebuffed. Meanwhile, a candidate for the ruling Union Solidary and Development Party, whose parents are Chinese citizens, was not rejected.

Kyaw Min, who set up the Democracy and Human Rights Party to represent the Rohingya in 2012, believes the outlook for his ethnic group is bleak. Seventeen of 18 candidates from his party were turned down, most of them Rohingya Muslims. The elections will be the first in Myanmar’s history in which Rohingya won’t be able to participate.

“We have to appeal,” said Kyaw Min, sitting in a gloomy downtown apartment in Yangon as traffic blared outside. “But we are not hopeful, because our rejection is not according to the law. It is according to the wish and whim of the government.”

The U.S. State Department has described the government’s decision to exclude certain candidates as “opaque and discriminatory,” one that “risks undermining the confidence of the Burmese people and the international community in these elections.” The November polls have been viewed as a crucial test for Myanmar’s commitment to democracy.

But the elections could see the Rohingya’s situation further deteriorate. Kyaw Min recently returned from a visit to northern Rakhine, where more than 140,000 people remain interred in concentration-camp-like conditions after sectarian clashes with Buddhists in 2012. Nearly one-tenth of the Rohingya population is estimated to have fled by rickety boats across the Andaman Sea in desperate bids to flee persecution and poverty.

“They are living a subhuman life in Rakhine state,” he said. “They don’t know what will come in the night or the next day. Everyone is living in fear.”

With Rohingya voters and politicians excluded from the November voting, analysts fear that Muslim-majority areas could be won by political parties that want to see the Rohingya expelled from Myanmar. Despite being painted as a pro-Muslim party, even the NLD has been reluctant to speak for the minority. Instead, the NLD appears to have succumbed to pressure from the Ma Ba Tha and is fielding no Muslim candidates in the elections. On the issue of Rohingya rights, Suu Kyi has remained tight-lipped, and some party members are outright hostile.

“We don’t support the Rohingya,” said Nyan Win. “They are Bengalis. They come from the Bay of Bengal.”

For Kyaw Min, the NLD’s drift into anti-Muslim rhetoric has been a particular disappointment. In 2005 he was sentenced to 47 years in prison for his pro-democracy work with Suu Kyi, whom he viewed then as the best hope for his people. The military junta even jailed his wife and three children as punishment for his crime. That period, he said, was “the darkest” of his life.

But three years after his release from prison, Kyaw Min is beginning to view Suu Kyi in a different light.

“It is a bit difficult to believe that Aung San Suu Kyi will work for us,” he said. “She is very cautious and silent.”