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By Kyaw Ye Lynn
April 10, 2016

Lawyer claims Zaw Zaw Latt and Pyint Phyu Latt sentenced for being Muslims, 'not for breaching any laws'

YANGON, Myanmar -- Two Muslim activists were sentenced Friday to two years prison on charges of contacting a blacklisted organization under Article 17 of Myanmar's Unlawful Association Act.

A court in Chanayetharzan Township in Mandalay, the second largest city and a stronghold of Buddhist nationalist monks, handed down the sentence to 28-year-old Zaw Zaw Latt and 34-year-old Pyint Phyu Latt – already given two years jail on immigration offenses – for a 2013 visit to Laiza city.

Laiza is under the control of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels.

Speaking by phone to Anadolu Agency, Lawyer Thein Than Oo called the sentences “totally unacceptable”.

“If a court decides visiting the rebel control is guilty, many many other people would be jailed. Even [ex] President Thein Sein would be jailed as he had frequently met the people from blacklisted rebel groups,” he said.

“They were sentenced because they are Muslims, not for breaching any laws."

Images -- showing Zaw Zaw Latt with rebels, holding a rifle, and in the company of Buddhist monks, in many cases smiling and laughing -- were posted to Facebook soon after the trip.

They were seized on by the journal of a Buddhist hardline group which claimed Zaw Zaw Latt was working with “Buddhist monks who betray Buddhism” and referenced his contact with the KIA and the photograph of him holding a rifle.

“No one knows who he will be pointing the gun at [next],” claimed journal Ahtu Mashi.

The duo were among three activists on trial from interfaith group Thint Myat Lo Thu Myar (Peace Seekers), which was founded by a Buddhist monk in 2013 after anti-Muslim riots broke out in Meiktila in central Myanmar.

They were arrested along with Hindu activist Zaw Win Bo in July 2015 after Ma Ba Tha -- and other religious nationalists -- waged a public campaign on social media and through Ahtu Mashi against Zaw Zaw Latt.

On Feb. 26, a court in Mandalay handed the three interfaith activists sentences of two-years prison with hard labor for crossing Myanmar's frontier with India, during their trip to Laiza.

“My clients would be sentenced again under this charge until the country’s judiciary system is freed from intervention,” Thein Than Oo told Anadolu Agency last month when the court reopened the trial.

According to Human Rights groups, the sentences illustrate that courts are bowing to pressure from the nationalist anti-Muslim monks, who have claimed that the duo are encouraging interfaith mating and working with those who betray their religion.

Asked if his clients could possibly be released soon under a recently announced government amnesty for political prisoners and activists, Thein Than Oo said “I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen to them.”

“But I am sure they would be released under the amnesty if they were Buddhists.”

By Dr Habib Siddiqui
April 10, 2016

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, wrote, "When fear becomes collective, when anger becomes collective, it’s extremely dangerous.

It is overwhelming... The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a prison for us, so we continue to think, see, and act in the same way... We need the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the opposite direction... because a change of direction can happen only when there is a collective awakening... Therefore, it is very important to say, ‘I am here!’ to those who share the same kind of insight." [The Art of Power]

These are powerful words. I wish Hanh's own co-religionists inside Myanmar had heeded to his advice when it comes to collective hatred that the Buddhists, esp. the Rakhines, continue to espouse against the Rohingyas whose ties to the soil of Arakan, where they mostly live, is older than any other race or ethnicity. These unfortunate people have been victims of the worst kinds of genocide we saw unfolding in this century, not just by a hostile military government but also by ordinary Buddhists and monks who wanted to cleanse the Buddhist majority country of any Muslim living there. The national media inside Myanmar, the Buddhist politicians that lived inside the country and even those who lived a life of exile, plus morally corrupt and bankrupt intelligentsia simply danced with the drum-beats of ethnic cleansing against this most persecuted Rohingyas.

What a shame! There was hardly any voice of protest from the soul of Buddhism, outside those of Dalai Lama and a social activist like Dr. Maung Zarni. Shockingly, many Buddhist leaders cheered for and promoted the genocidal program against the minorities. Even the fascist Buddhist organization, Ma Ba Tha - led by the terrorist monk Wirathu who provoked his countrymen for carrying out ethnic cleansing drives against the Muslim minorities - received an award in February in Thailand for being an "outstanding Buddhist peace" organization. The award ceremony was attended by Wirathu and presided over by an elder from the Supreme Sangha. It was organized by a group called World Buddhist Leaders Organization, chaired by Dr Pornchai Pinyapong who is also president of the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth (WFBY).

Last year, it reportedly donated over a million baht for the Ma Ba Tha to build two radio stations with the aim of spreading its message of intolerance to a wider audience. Wirathu was reportedly present to thank the Thai delegation personally for the donation.

One can only wonder where the religion preached by Siddhartha Gautam Buddha is heading to! It seems to be hijacked by fascist Buddhist monks of the sangha -- not just inside Myanmar, but also in places like Sri Lanka and Thailand -- that reward and endorse violence and hatred over peace and harmony!

So pervasive had been the influence of Ma Ba Tha and the terrorist Buddhist monks that Suu Kyi and her NLD in the last year’s general election did not field a single Muslim candidate anywhere – neither in the Rohingya majority region of northern Arakan (Rakhine) nor in Yangon (Rangoon) where a sizable Muslim population lives.

We are told that the NLD did not want to spoil its chance of winning the election by giving further ammo to the racist and bigoted elements within the population. More inexcusable, however, was the pin-drop silence practiced by Suu Kyi and the so-called democracy leaders in Myanmar when the Rohingya and other minority Muslims were victims of genocide. They chose to keep mum when it was a deadly crime.

Far from Hanh’s call, there was no collective awakening amongst the Buddhists inside Myanmar. They chose to ignore the obvious crime committed in their name and let themselves be imprisoned by self-imposed shackles of intolerance and indifference. Even the Pulitzer-winning journalists like Nicholas Kristof, writing from the killing fields, failed to raise the Buddhist conscience to say enough is enough and condemn those crimes against humanity. There was none to heed!

I have continued to call this genocidal plan against the persecuted Rohingya a national project of elimination that was endorsed, scripted and put to practice from the top and carried out by Buddhist lynch men while the majority chose to either support or condone it nonchalantly. And again, to the utter shame of Hanh’s ‘engaged’ teaching, there were many such willing Buddhist neo-Nazi fascists to carry out the heinous national project of Myanmarism!

In Buddhist Myanmar, as her religio-fascist toxic ideology of Myanmarism continued to win humanity continued to lose. Her powerful leader Suu Kyi now inherits an apartheid state that has scores of concentration camps. The aid groups continue to be barred from many areas, and the systematic destruction of the Rohingya remains one of the 21st century’s most neglected human rights catastrophes. That staining specter is simply unforgivable in our time. To put succinctly, it is a crime against humanity. And Suu Kyi can make a difference, if she chooses to erase that bloody stain.

I hope that Suu Kyi and her NLD party will take the country into a different direction than those of the predecessors thereby creating a culture that is inclusive, integrating and awakening that says boldly that 'We are here to change for the better for all our people - Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.' Myanmar needs a rude awakening to change its course.

Is Suu Kyi ready for awakening her countrymen?

Refugee Rohingya children living in Bangladesh eating school dinners provided by Charity Right

April 10, 2016

A BRADFORD charity is starting its latest campaign to provide food to some of the world's most underprivileged children.

Charity Right aims to help malnourished children who do not usually get help from larger charities.

Its latest campaign will provide meals for more than 600 Rohingya child refugees in Chittagong, Bangladesh, for a year.

The Rohinya people, from the country of Myanmar - also known as Burma - are described as one of the most persecuted groups of people in the world, denied citizenship by the Myanmar government due to their Islamic faith, and are deprived of the right to free movement.

As a result of this mistreatment, many fled to other south east Asian countries, with thousands immigrating to Bangladesh.

Charity Right marketing officer, Oliver Gwynne, said that the charity decided to help the Rohingya children because it was realised how something as basic as providing them with meals would have a major impact on their quality of life.

He said: "Charity Right actively seek out hard to reach places and communities, often where other charities don't operate so that we can ensure that our work has the maximum impact.

"A large majority of Rohingya children have not been able to access education, so by providing school meals we are able to ensure that they have the energy to get an education."

The 12-month effort will see 634 refugee children receive school meals, and the charity has teams based near to the refugee camps to provide them with their meals.

Sajad Mahmood, chief executive of Charity Right, which is based in Oakwood Court, off Thornton Road, said that the school meals have a much deeper impact than just feed the children.

He said: "There are so many stories about refugees in the news at the moment, it's easy to see why the Rohingya are being overlooked.

"Thankfully, organisations like ours can offer the forgotten Rohingya children new hope through food and education.

"We know that food nourished the mind and helps to keep poorer children in school, but it also has a bigger role to play, and we have seen how sharing school meals in a safe and friendly environment can help to restore a child's dignity as well as build happy childhood memories most of us take for granted."

Mr Gwynne also thanked the people of Bradford for their support since the charity was set up two years ago.

"The people of Bradford have been so fantastic throughout the last two years we've been operating; we originally started as a project of a larger charity and thanks to local support have been able to grow to the point where we have gained our own charity registration.

"We regularly hold Bradford-based events and volunteer meetings in Bradford and it's so great to see people who actively want to get involved whether its fundraising or donations."

To support Charity Right, visit charityright.org.uk.

Rohingya Muslims are often called one of the world's most persecuted people, and are fleeing their home country by the thousands. (Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

By Melanie Ferrier
April 9, 2016

I Am Rohingya is based on true stories of the actors

A group of young people in Waterloo Region are putting their lives on display at the University of Waterloo's Theatre of the Arts on Saturday, as they perform in a play called I Am Rohingya.

The play is based on the true stories of all the actors, whose families fled Burma, also known as Myanmar, in the 1990s and eventually immigrated to Canada.

"Almost every part of the play reminds me of my past," said Ahmed Ullah, who at 22 is the oldest member of the cast. 

Ullah said he was born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, and that re-enacting that part of his life is painful. 
'It feels like I'm there'

"Sometimes I get stuck on my narration, because it feels like I'm there," he said. "It feels like I'm going all over through it."

But Ullah said he's willing to endure that pain, because he wants people in Canada to understand how his people are suffering in Burma.

Rohingya Muslims are often called one of the world's most persecuted people, and are fleeing their home country by the thousands.

"They're being treated like animals," said Ruma Ruma, 15, who is also acting in the play. "I don't know why."

Haunting memories

Ruma was also born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, and although she was six years old when she left, the memory her early years still haunts her.

She remembers soldiers – from which country, she cannot remember – coming to the place where her family was living. 

"Me and my friends, we were playing outside," she said. "We started hearing shooting noises, and then they shot one of my friends, like, in front of me. I got really scared and I ran away, but my friend, she didn't make it." 

Raising awareness

The story of that death is included in the play, as well as many other traumatic memories. It follows the life experiences of many Rohingya refugees: life in Burma, escape to Bangladesh, and immigration to Canada.

"Our people – Rohingya people – they're still suffering now-a-days, and we want to... show that they need help too," Ruma said.

The youths' efforts to educate Canadians about the persecution and abuse of the Rohingya people seems to have had some success: The play's opening performance on Saturday, April 9 at the University of Waterloo's Theatre of the Arts, was sold out.

Aung San Suu Kyi with military officials at the swearing-in of President Htin Kyaw, 30 March 2016

By Stephen Robinson
April 7, 2016

Having regained her freedom, the Nobel peace prize-winner seems to have lost interest in human rights, according to Peter Popham

Peter Popham is commendably quick off the blocks with this excellent account of the run-up to last November’s Burmese general election, in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy swept the board. At the time of writing this review, Suu is taking four ministries, including foreign affairs. So she will do what she did during her years of house arrest — offer a beautiful human face to the outside world of a country still under the heel of the generals. 

Popham seems to enjoy Burma and to understand it as much as any westerner can. Notwithstanding recent liberalisation, Burma is perhaps the second weirdest state on earth after North Korea, with impossibly complicated ethnic and religious fault lines that are cannily exploited by the army. 

Popham wants to admire Suu, but she emerges from his account as a strangely chilly and ambiguous figure. Though she is a practising Buddhist, who meditates assiduously, she is at root secular and western. 

Heroic leaders of freedom struggles tend to be more loved by the Nobel Peace Prize committee than they are by their inner circles. Martin Luther King was a sex pest who spread pain all around his family; Nelson Mandela was an aloof and occasionally abusive husband, who left behind ex-wives and children emotionally crippled by his indifference. 

Suu was born into the Burmese upper class in 1945 and has never quite shed the hauteur of her upbringing. She was the daughter of Aung San, leader of the independence movement, who was assassinated shortly before Britain formally lowered the flag in 1948.

Suu later went on to read PPE at Oxford, where she met and married the Tibet scholar Michael Aris, ‘with his head in the Himalayan clouds’, before settling into happy domestic life with their two sons. She stumbled into Burmese politics almost casually in 1988, during a visit back to her homeland to see her ailing mother. It was a time of political turmoil, and because she was her father’s daughter, she was asked to address a political rally demanding an end to military rule.

She found she had a taste for it and stayed on, fearing, no doubt rightly, that if she returned to her family in Oxford she would never be let back in. The following year she was placed under house arrest and remained so, with some breaks, until 2010 when the regime wanted to show the world it was changing.

Perhaps she is being very honest, or simply does not wish to plead for public sympathy, but she is oddly dispassionate in reflecting on the personal consequences of her political activities, which meant she went for years without seeing her family. In a speech which one rather hopes her two sons did not read, she asserted that she chose the route she

wanted to follow and I walked that path out of my own free will. There was no sacrifice involved…. If you follow the path of your own choice you are not giving up anything for anyone else.

Reading this book, you cannot escape the view that Suu has been ‘played’ by the generals, who got international sanctions lifted in return for co-opting her into a supposedly democratic settlement, but one that is still controlled behind the scenes by the army through patronage and guaranteed seats in parliament.

There has been no revolution in Burma, and human rights are still trampled upon in the name of stability. ‘Only free men can negotiate,’ Nelson Mandela replied when the white Nationalists in Pretoria offered him conditional release from prison in the 1980s, and then his incarceration became their problem.

Suu can take on the role as public spokesperson for Burma abroad as foreign minister, but she cannot be president because a law, specifically passed to stymie her wider ambitions, states that those with foreign relatives are barred from the highest office.

She has shown great fortitude in her determination to suffer the consequences of her political activism, but Popham notes she is disorganised and can be plain rude to foreign visitors and Burmese allies alike. She is a poor delegator, and at the age of 70 remains wary of anyone who might seek eventually to replace her as the symbol of Burmese democracy.

The Burmese can be touchy about international scrutiny of the shocking treatment of their minority groups, especially the Rohingya Muslims, who live in wretched camps. The BBC’s Mishal Husain — who is of posh Pakistani descent — unexpectedly tore into Suu during a 2013 television interview, demanding to know why this human rights icon was downplaying this treatment. Suu, affronted by Husain’s impertinence, was overheard to mutter furiously: ‘No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim.’ Somehow it is hard to imagine that sort of retort coming out of the mouth of Nelson Mandela.

Religious Affairs Minister Aung Ko, right, meets with U Wirathu at a monastery in Rangoon on Monday. (Photo: Ma Ba Tha / Facebook)

By Lawi Weng
April 5, 2016

RANGOON — Aung Ko, Burma’s new religious affairs minister, has twice in less than a week stirred controversy, with the latest involving his visit to nationalist Buddhist monks from the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion on Monday in Rangoon, including the firebrand U Wirathu.

Ashin Nya Neinda, a spokesperson from the organization better known by its acronym Ma Ba Tha, told The Irrawaddy that Aung Ko met eight senior monks from the Buddhist nationalist group on Monday before later meeting Wirathu. The spokesman did not provide details on what was discussed at the meetings.

“Our country’s majority are Buddhists. Eighty-five percent of the population in the country is Buddhist. Therefore, he came to visit our senior monks,” said Ashin Nya Neinda.

“Our senior monks told him to work for justice, and better treatment of other religions as our country has other religions,” he said.

A Facebook account linked to Ma Ba Tha posted photos from Aung Ko’s visit to a monastery in Rangoon’s Insein Township, where he appeared to offer a cash donation to the monks. One photo posted to the Ma Ba Tha Facebook shows Aung Ko bowing before the monk Wirathu in a traditional gesture of deference.

Some Facebook users criticized the minister’s visit to members of Ma Ba Tha, a group that was blacklisted in a 2015 US budget bill. The spending legislation states that US funding to Burma “may not be made available to any organization or individual the Secretary of State determines and reports to the appropriate congressional committees advocates violence against ethnic or religious groups and individuals in Burma, including such organizations as Ma Ba Tha.”

Tun Nyunt, who is a director of the Religious Affairs and Culture Ministry and joined the minister on his trip, said the visit was routine.

“[It was] just to pay a visit to them, and there was nothing special about the visit. He became a new minister, and he went for introductions,” said Tun Nyunt.

Aung Ko was a member of Burma’s junta regime and later served as a senior member of the formerly ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). He was one of two USDP members appointed to the National League for Democracy (NLD) government’s cabinet.

Aung Ko’s visit to the Ma Ba Tha monks came just two days after he suggested that Muslims in the country were not full Burmese citizens, drawing criticism from Islamic organizations both overseas and within Burma.

The former USDP government was accused by local rights groups and the international community of suppressing non-Buddhist religions including Christians and Muslims, the latter group also being a target of Ma Ba Tha.

Wirathu has been at the fore of anti-Islamic rhetoric in Burma in recent years and the Buddhist nationalist group last year all but endorsed the incumbent USDP over the NLD, viewing the latter as “weak” on the matter of protecting Burma’s majority Buddhist character.

Ma Ba Tha was a leading sponsor of legislation passed last year that was widely viewed as discriminating against Burma’s Muslims, including legislative measures to reduce the reproductive rights of the religious minority and restrict interfaith marriage.

Ma Ba Tha members have also been vocal critics of the international media’s coverage of the Rohingya crisis in western Arakan State, rallying demonstrators to protest against the United Nations and international news networks, which they accused of mischaracterizing inter-communal violence and discrimination. Ma Ba Tha, like the former USDP government, denies that Rohingya Muslims constitute a legitimate ethnic group.

Asked if the new minister on Monday discussed interreligious dynamics in Burma, Ashin Nya Neinda said they had not, but might bring up the issue at a later date.

Aung Ko, Minister of Religious Affairs. (Photo: Thura U Aung Ko / Facebook)

By Lawi Weng
April 4, 2016

RANGOON — Muslim organizations both overseas and within Burma have condemned a statement made by Religious Affairs Minister Aung Ko that those who practice Islam are not full citizens of the country.

In a Voice of America (VOA) interview conducted during his first days in the Cabinet position, the former military general and ex-Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) lawmaker was asked how the new government would treat religious minorities in Burma, as the previous regime has been accused by both local rights groups and the international community of having persecuted these populations.

Aung Ko replied by denying any government abuse based on religion, adding that some groups had simply “misunderstood” the previous administration’s “over support” for Buddhism. He said that in Burma, Buddhists were “full citizens,” and that religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus and Muslims, had not been “deliberately oppressed.”

Perhaps his most controversial statement was that Muslims made up the majority of Burma’s “associate citizens,” implying that those who practice Islam are classified as partial citizens or foreigners.

Muslim organizations have begun sending letters to the new National League for Democracy (NLD) government that appointed Aung Ko in the ministerial role, expressing anger at his statement.

The All Myanmar Islamic Religious Organization said that while they welcome an elected NLD government, the comments in Aung Ko’s VOA interview were “hurtful.”

Abu Tahay, chairman of the Union National Development Party (UNDP), an organization from Arakan State’s largely Muslim Buthidaung Township, said that his party is preparing to contact the government soon, to ask that they refrain from using religion as a political tool.

“Citizenship can not be based on religion. Therefore, it was not appropriate to talk like this,” said Abu Tahay, who is also a leader within the Rohingya community, a Muslim group which has been denied citizenship by the former government, who labeled the Rohingya as migrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

In an April 2 statement from the UK-based Burmese Muslim Association (BMA), spokespeople said they “strongly condemn [Aung Ko’s] careless talk.”

They added that they had expected the NLD—which garnered widespread national support in the 2015 election—to adhere to principles of democracy, human rights, and equal rights on which they had campaigned.

“We have asked the party to give an explanation for what [Aung Ko] said and whether these words came from the party or only from him,” said the statement.

The BMA referenced Burma’s constitutions from 1947, 1974 and 2008, which recognize Islam as a religion practiced by citizens of the country. There is no mention of “associate citizenship” for Muslims in any of these documents, the group’s statement pointed out.



By Dr Habib Siddiqui
RB Opinion
April 3, 2016

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, wrote, "When fear becomes collective, when anger becomes collective, it’s extremely dangerous. It is overwhelming... The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a prison for us, so we continue to think, see, and act in the same way... We need the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the opposite direction... because a change of direction can happen only when there is a collective awakening... Therefore, it is very important to say, ‘I am here!’ to those who share the same kind of insight." [The Art of Power]

These are powerful words. I wish Hanh's own co-religionists inside Myanmar had heeded to his advice when it comes to collective hatred that the Buddhists, esp. the Rakhines, continue to espouse against the Rohingyas whose ties to the soil of Arakan, where they mostly live, is older than any other race or ethnicity. These unfortunate people have been victims of the worst kinds of genocide we saw unfolding in this century, not just by a hostile military government but also by ordinary Buddhists and monks who wanted to cleanse the Buddhist majority country of any Muslim living there. The national media inside Myanmar, the Buddhist politicians that lived inside the country, and even those who lived a life of exile, plus morally corrupt and bankrupt intelligentsia simply danced with the drum-beats of ethnic cleansing against this most persecuted Rohingyas. What a shame! There was hardly any voice of protest from the soul of Buddhism, outside those of Dalai Lama and a social activist like Dr. Maung Zarni. Myanmarism won and humanity lost. There was no collective awakening. Even the Pulitzer-winning objective journalists failed to raise the Buddhist conscience to say enough is enough and condemn the crimes against humanity. Ms. Suu Kyi, the NLD leader, and many others in the democracy front, found it opportunistic to keep silent. It was a shameful display of what is wrong with our time and generation. 

I have continued to call this genocidal plan against the persecuted Rohingya a national project of elimination, endorsed, scripted and put to practice from the top, which was carried out by Buddhist lynch men. And to the utter shame of Hanh, there were many such willing Buddhist neo-Nazi fascists to carry out the heinous national project of Myanmarism!

I hope that Suu Kyi and her NLD party will take the country into a different direction than those of the predecessors thereby creating a culture that is inclusive, integrating and awakening that says boldly that 'We are here to change for the better for all our people - Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.' Myanmar needs a rude awakening to change its course. Is Suu Kyi ready for awakening her countrymen?



By Kyaw Ye Lynn
April 3, 2016

Religious Affairs and Culture Minister riles Muslim expat group by saying Islam a religion of minority associate citizens, but local Muslim groups claim he was misquoted

YANGON, Myanmar -- Muslim officials in Myanmar jumped to the defense of Aung San Suu Kyi's government on Sunday after its new religious affairs minister appeared to make comments detrimental to the country's Muslims.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) only took power Friday after a landslide win in December elections. Many international observers hope the change in rule will lead to positive steps to improve the plight of the country's religious minorities, in particular its persecuted Muslim Rohingya ethnicity.

In an interview with Voice of America radio on Saturday evening, Religious Affairs and Culture Minister Thura Aung Ko said Islam in Myanmar is “a religion by the minority associate citizens” who acquired citizenship through the 1948 Union Citizenship Law.

He went on to say that Buddhists were full citizens, and described Christianity as the country's minority ethnic group.

Buddhist nationalist have long used such allegations to suggest that Rohingya are not the Myanmar citizens they claim to be, instead interlopers from neighboring countries who have no right to be in Myanmar.

Many Myanmar nationalists refuse to even recognise the term "Rohingya", instead referring to the ethnic group as "Bengali" which suggests they are from Bangladesh.

In the interview, Thura Aung Ko -- who served as deputy religious affairs minister under the former military junta -- added that the religions of minority groups were not suppressed in the country -- as human rights groups have claimed -- but admitted that Buddhism was the country’s favored religion.

On Sunday, the London-based Burmese Muslim Association issued a statement strongly objecting to what it called "the irresponsible comments of Thura U Aung Ko”.

“Islam is stated as a religion of full citizenship [descendants of residents who lived in Burma prior to 1823, or were born to parents who were citizens at the time of birth] in three constitutions of the country drafted in 1947, 1974 and 2008," it said.

"The Islam religion had arrived in Myanmar since before Bagan era [AD 652-660],” it underlined

However, talking to Anadolu Agency on Sunday an official at the Yangon-based Islamic Religious Affairs Council for Myanmar (IRACM) said that they suspect the minister was misquoted.

“We don’t think the NLD has such discriminatory policy to minority groups. We feel sad for his comment, but still believe he made the comment unintentionally,” the man -- who did not wish to be named as he was not the IRACM's official spokesperson -- told Anadolu Agency by phone.

“We believe he is fair, and can work to bring religious harmony back,” he added.

Other Muslim organizations in Yangon contacted by Anadolu Agency on Sunday refused to comment, but agreed that the comment had been unintentional.

Analysts have said that the incident once again illustrates the pressure that the NLD is under to solve religious discrimination, while at the same time acting without offending Buddhist hardline groups such as Ma Ba Tha (the Race and Religion Protection Organization) which hold tremendous political sway.

Ma Ba Tha was formed after communal violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in 2013 left 57 Muslims and 31 Buddhists dead, around 100,000 people displaced in camps and more than 2,500 houses burned -- most of which belonged to Rohingya.

The organization has a focus on what one of the group's monks has called the Islamic "invasion" of Myanmar, and is responsible for a series of laws seen as designed to stop Muslims having multiple wives, large families and marrying Buddhist women.

It draws its support from the country's uneducated Buddhist masses, and has rapidly become one of the country's most powerful religious organizations.

Last week, international media reported that the NLD leader had lost her cool following a tense Oct. 24 2013 interview with BBC presenter Mishal Husain, in which she was heard to mutter "no one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim".

The incident is reported in a recently released novel by Peter Popham to have happened while the 1993 Nobel Prize for Peace winner was being challenged on alleged anti-Islamic attitudes in the country, and violence towards Muslims.

Popham is the author of a previous autobiography about Aung San Suu Kyi titled “The Lady and the Peacock”.

Analysts have pointed out that the comment may not necessarily have been anti-Islamic, but rather a sign of frustration by Suu kyi with her advisors for an apparent failure to brief her on the religion of her interviewer, which would have been a hint to the line in questioning on what continues to be a highly sensitive issue in Myanmar.

Saturday's interview -- in which the controversial comments were made -- was, however, preceded by an announcement that suggested that the NLD may be making its first steps to tame unruly monks.

Earlier in the day, Thura Aung Ko's ministry of Religious affairs and Culture announced that monks and novices who breach laws and orders would be brought to the civil court and punished accordingly.



By Daniel Sullivan
April 3, 2016

The State Department’s minimization of the plight of the Rohingya is sending dangerous, mixed messages to Myanmar and its neighbors.

The US State Department’s recent declaration of the Islamic State (IS) being responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims, captured headlines across the globe. The news came out of a congressionally mandated report.

However, the biggest story out of that report was not about IS, but rather the failure to find anything more than “discrimination” and “persecution” against the Rohingya in western Myanmar. Such a shockingly understated conclusion and downplaying of atrocities against Rohingya sends a dangerously mixed message at a time of important transition.

It is not so much that the State Department did not find that the Rohingya are facing genocide. Proving intent is always a difficult and controversial barrier for genocide determination. Rather, the greater damage is in the blatant minimization of the plight of the Rohingya and what it means for increasing the risk of further atrocities against them.

THE EVIDENCE

The threat is real. The Early Warning Project at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, a sophisticated system of state-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative analysis, continues to place Myanmar at the top of its list of countries at the greatest risk of mass killings. Multiple independent human rights group reports, including by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Fortify Rights, United to End Genocide, and ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, have documented abuses and warned about the high risk of genocide and mass atrocities in Myanmar. Yale Law School’s Human Rights Clinic has found “strong evidence” that genocide is already taking place.

Even if one disagrees with such a determination, it is clear that the risks are high and that the Rohingya face much more than your run of the mill “discrimination” and “persecution.” United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng has warned about rising religious hatred and marginalization of the Rohingya and the need to address the situation “or face the risk of further violence and potentially, more serious crimes.” Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his last report on Myanmar to the UN General Assembly, cited no major improvements to “long-standing and institutionalized discrimination against the Rohingya community.”

Even the State Department report itself lists a litany of abuses that beg for a stronger and more accurate conclusion. The report cites the deaths of over 200 people and the displacement of 140,000 in intercommunal violence targeted against the Rohingya in 2012. It states, “There have been numerous acts of violence against Rohingya over the last few years,” and cites the UN Refugee Agency’s estimates that 160,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar by sea since 2012. The report finds that government policies continue to restrict freedom of movement, access to vital health care and education services, and rights to marry and have children. It further finds that the government “restrict(s) access for humanitarian agencies providing life-saving services” and that the government has “enabled discrimination and targeting of members of the Rohingya population.”

BLATANT MINIMIZATION

Yet the State Department findings leave out significant events and fail to add up to an adequate conclusion. Strangely, the crisis in 2015 that saw thousands of Rohingya and other migrants and asylum seekers trapped at sea gets no mention. Similarly, the fact that hundreds of lives were put at risk when the Burmese government expelled Doctors Without Borders in February 2014 goes unmentioned. While the group has been allowed back in, it is at a much reduced scale and with greater restrictions. UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee continues to report on “preventable deaths due to lack of access to emergency medical treatment.” Exact estimates of deaths are difficult given the ongoing access restrictions, but the report’s authors do not seem to make the connection between the stated restrictions and the very real loss of life.

President Barack Obama had a perfectly good opportunity to emphasize treatment of the Rohingya not only to Myanmar, but to all of its neighbors when he hosted regional heads at the US-ASEAN Summit in February. But the Rohingya did not even make the agenda.

The minimization is particularly striking coming in parallel to the strong language on the Islamic State. Whereas the State Department’s report comes to the damning conclusion that IS has committed mass atrocities, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, the Rohingya are treated like an afterthought, getting the surprisingly low key summary sentence: “Meanwhile, we remain concerned about current acts that constitute persecution of and discrimination against members of the Rohingya population in Burma.”

While freely referring to atrocities committed by IS, the report seems to go out of its way to avoid the use of the word “atrocities” in regard to abuses against the Rohingya. Key subheadings refer to “atrocities in the Middle East,” but just “the situation in Burma” (emphasis added). While the IS determination was rightfully deemed of such great importance that it required an address by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the Rohingya determination came up only in a cursory exchange with the State Department’s spokesperson at the prompting of a reporter.

THE DANGERS OF MINIMIZATION

So what does this all mean?

First, such minimization sends a dangerous note to the new government led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). Shortly, after the NLD’s historic electoral victory in November 2015, NLD Spokesman U Win Thein said the Rohingya would not be a priority and suggested talking to Bangladesh about returning them. Suu Kyi has answered questions about the Rohingya by saying their plight should not be exaggerated.

Many Rohingya are optimistic about their future under an NLD-led government, but with such statements, it is not at all clear that their situation will be any better. This is all the more reason for the US to clearly include treatment of the Rohingya as an essential part of US-Myanmar bilateral relations. The US State Department report muddles that message at best.

Second, the report sends a dangerous message to Myanmar’s neighbors, those who have taken in tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees. The initial reaction by member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the boat crisis in May 2015 was woefully inadequate, and the status of Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers in those countries remains tenuous. If Myanmar’s neighbors get the message that the situation faced by the Rohingya is not so dire, then why should they provide refuge?

OBAMA MUST SPEAK OUT

Sadly, this appears to go above the US State Department. President Barack Obama had a perfectly good opportunity to emphasize treatment of the Rohingya not only to Myanmar, but to all of its neighbors when he hosted regional heads at the US-ASEAN Summit in February. But the Rohingya did not even make the agenda.

When Obama first visited Myanmar in November 2012, addressing the situation in Rakhine State was one of 11 commitments made by now outgoing President Thein Sein. In the final days of the Thein Sein administration, it is clear that the Rohingya situation has not gotten any better. The question remains: Will Suu Kyi and the NLD do anything about this? As long as that is a question, President Obama must be clear in his message that she must.

The bar for doing better in regard to the Rohingya is not high, but the consequences for not doing better may just be genocide and mass atrocities, the very threats that the State Department seems so intent on ignoring.


By Usaid M. Siddiqui 
AlterNet
April 3, 2016

In exclusive interview with AlterNet, a leading expert on the Rohingya genocide slams Suu Kyi, Hillary Clinton and Samantha Power.

Burmese Nobel Laureate and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly lost her composure when questioned about the dire conditions of Muslims in her country during a BBC interview two years ago. When pressed by BBC personality Mishal Hussain, a Muslim, Suu Kyi expressed her displeasure in an off-the-record remark, allegedly complaining, “No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim!”

The disclosure was made in a new book about Suu Kyi, leader of the current ruling party National League For Democracy (NLD), titled The Lady and the Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s Struggle for Freedom, by British author Peter Popham. In the same BBC interview with Hussain, Suu Kyi denied any evidence of genocide of the Burmese Muslim group Rohingya. She equated their suffering with Burmese Buddhist residents who are over 90% of the population, whereas Muslims only comprise 4%.

Recognized as a hero in the west for her struggle for democracy, Suu Kyi has been lambasted by critics for her lackluster response to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and persecution of Muslims in Burma.

The plight of the Rohingya became a serious but temporary news fixture in 2012 when violence broke out in the state of Rakhine, next to the Bangladeshi border. The ensuing violence led to approximately 125,000 Muslims, including Rohingya, to be displaced from their homes.

A damning 2013 report by Human Rights Watch titled "All You Can Do Is Pray": Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State highlighted the grave atrocities committed in 2012. “The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement,” said Phil Robertson, HRW’s Asia director.

A group of radical Buddhist monks have led the charge against the Rohingya and Burmese Muslims in general. Infamous monk Ashin Wirathu has led protests against Muslims, especially the Rohingya, in the Arakan state. Dubbed the Buddhist bin Laden, Wirathu has accused Burmese Muslims of establishing an Islamist state in Burma and has urged the Burmese people to avoid Muslim-run businesses.

Burmese government officials have helped spur on the actions of nationalist monks like Wirathu. After the violence in 2012, former Burmese president Thein Shein suggested that the Rohingya be deported from Burma. Last year, his administration passed severely restrictive religious laws that were certain to discriminate against the Burmese Muslim population, an overture Wirathu and his ilk fully supported.

As the government continues to isolate its most vulnerable minority, many Rohingya have tried to escape the country. Horrendous stories of Rohingya people fleeing in boats while being killed or stranded at sea has left international observers in a state of alarm. The official government policy has been to put anyone seen escaping into refugee camps. Currently over 100,000 people, many of them Rohingya, are said to be languishing in these filthy camps. 

As the crisis rages on, Suu Kyi’s indifference and apparent lack of concern has been notable. Maung Zarni, a former visiting fellow at Oxford and Harvard and founder-director of the Free Burma Coalition (1995-2004), spoke to AlterNet on the subject. Zarni who is the co-author of a paper titled The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar's Rohingyas, characterized Suu Kyi’s false equivalency between Buddhists and Muslims as “deeply ignorant."

“It is utterly pathetic for anyone to create this moral parity in terms of the scale of the sufferings experienced by the Buddhist Rakhine, who outnumber the Rohingya by three to one, and the sufferings experienced by the Rohingya,” Zarni told AlterNet. “It would be like assigning the same moral responsibility to the Palestinians and the Israelis,” he added.

Zarni was wary of the term "ethnic cleansing," being used to describe the situation of the Rohingya. Genocide and crimes against humanity are the better suited terms, he said. He said his own work and that of Yale and Queen Mary university, all multiyear studies published within the last two years, have arrived at the same conclusion—that a slow but sure genocide of the Rohignya people is taking place.

Suu Kyi’s muteness on Rohingya and Muslim persecution is a product of both “election calculus” and “personal racism,” Zarni told AlterNet.

Zarni asserted that he had discussed Suu Kyi’s racism, which he says “incidentally pervades Burmese society at all levels," much earlier than the recent revelations in Popham’s book, which he says is simply “a publicity ploy” rather a genuine concern for the Rohingya people.

For Zarni, what is far more revealing is how Suu Kyi has conducted her party affairs, such as the NLD refusing to field any Muslim candidates in the most recent elections.

“According to some of her closest advisers in the NLD, ASSK was 100% responsible for cleansing the entire party of all Muslim MP candidates,” Zarni told AlterNet. “Even her deputy chair and co-founder ex-general Tin Oo was amenable to the proposal by the junior colleagues to field at least two very qualified NLD members of Islamic background in the 2015 elections last November.” 

Furthermore, he added, “Today, NLD becomes the first political organization with no single Muslim representation in Burma's recorded political history. The past pre-colonial feudal rulers and all the anti-colonial nationalist political resistance movements had allowed participation and representation by Muslims in the country.” 

“Even the most repressive Burmese military's political front would allow token Muslim participation. Aung San Suu Kyi would not even adopt token representation. That's the depth of her anti-Muslim racism,” Zarni asserted.

Zarni believes that with her actions Suu Kyi is “setting an extremely dangerous precedent and emerging as a toxic role model,” especially since “the masses in Burma kiss the ground she walks on.” 

He said that “anti-Muslim racism is not just the exclusive world view of the largely ignorant electorate who grew up in ignorance about Islam, but has infested even the most elite circles of western educated Burmese. Aung San Suu Kyi is only the most famous—now infamous—one.”

Hailed as a champion for freedom and democracy in the west, criticism of Suu Kyi's actions from American and European leaders has largely been muted. Current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised the November elections in Burma as historic, while claiming part credit in convincing the former Burmese general to make a democratic transition.

"When I was Secretary of State, President Obama and I worked with Aung San Suu Kyi and others on the ground in Burma to nurture flickers of progress into a real opening," Clinton said in a statement, in the aftermath of the elections that Suu Kyi’s party won.

The fact that Rohingya and other Burmese Muslims were barred by Suu Kyi from contesting in the NLD was glossed over.

Zarni singled out Samantha Power, the current U.S. ambassador to the UN, as being particularly culpable in ignoring the ongoing atrocities. He said that while Power may have written a book criticizing U.S. inaction in ending genocides around the world, in her current role as UN ambassador and one of Obama’s closest aides, she hasn’t raised any alarms.

Since 2012, when the Rohingya crisis first made global headlines, the situation of the ethnic group has gone from bad to worse. While Burma’s transition to democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi are globally celebrated, the discrimination against Burmese Muslims is hardly paid lip service.

When asked if a future President Clinton could turn things around, Maung Zarni does not mince words: ​“Hillary Clinton is one of the most unprincipled and uncaring politicians," he charged. "You can expect virtually nothing progressive or emancipatory from her, if you are a part of what Fanon called the 'wretched of the Earth,' the oppressed. She is for herself and for the Wall Street that pays her.”



How Long Tonight Would Last More?

 Mayyu Ali (MYARF)
RB Poem
April 3, 2016

One's night is a day for another.
And one's day is a night for other. 
Has anyone on the earth ever seen a new day without crossing that night? 
Indeed, the night is a mother of our future! 
And in mine... 
A full-moon in lunar eclipse A dim light as well, with zero-watt 
Not because it's well-sorted 
But because it's well-filtered In a quite surely select and drag. 
Thus, my night is full ornament of miseries, at all... 
No breeze after the storm. 
No soft rain after the thunders. 
No down-fall after the flood. 
No brigade after the fire. 
No tranquility after the exposure. 
And no peace even the lives later. 
Though a lots have endured on within my night... 
Is not it to dawn yet, even then? 
Oh! My doom... 
When would the sun rise on me? 
How long tonight would last more?

Aung San Suu Kyi with army members during the handover ceremony of outgoing President Thein Sein and new President Htin Kyaw at the presidential palace, March 30. She will not be president, but will exercise considerable power. (Photo: Reuters)

By Mark Woods
April 2, 2016

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has campaigned for freedom and democracy in her country for decades, and paid the price. She spent 15 years under house arrest, accepting separation from her husband and children as the price of her commitment to her country. Her moral standing has been unimpeachable and her party's victory in the election last year that saw the end of military rule was been hailed around the world.

She is constitionally barred from serving as president of Myanmar – also known as Burma – because of her marriage to a foreigner, Michael Aris (now deceased). But today, a bill allowing her appointment as a state counsellor with a role similar to that of a prime minister passed Myanmar's upper house. It is certain to become law.

For the first time, Aung San Suu Kyi will have real power. However, along with the obvious problems her country faces – poverty, education, energy, health, the rebuilding of civil society after years of repression – is one that offers few returns in terms of votes, but has the potential to tarnish even a legacy such as hers.

Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants wait on board a fishing boat before being transported to shore, off the coast of Julok, in Aceh province, Indonesia, on May 20, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Religious nationalism in Myanmar is a powerful force. The Patriotic Association of Myanmar, abbreviated to Ma Ba Tha, has offices across the country. It's run by extremist Buddhist monks convinced Islam poses a deadly threat to Myanmar's identity. It's opposed to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, seeing it as soft on Muslims and too open to Western influence. It supports laws severely restricting religious freedom.

One of its most outspoken advocates, Ashin Wirathu, has called Muslims 'mad dogs'. Ma Ba Tha's precursor, the '969' movement, was implicated in violence in Rakhine state in 2012 that left more than 200 dead and a quarter of a million displaced. Many of them were Rohingya Muslims.

The Rohingya – to whom Myanmar denies citizenship, saying they migrated to the country from Bengal (though the Rohingya claim they are indigenous to Myanmar) – have borne the brunt of Buddhist nationalism. They face discrimination at every level. Many live in ghettos and refugee camps. Their land has been expropriated and given to Buddhist settlers. Violence, poverty and insecurity have driven many to take to boats in an effort to reach safety, as they believe, in Thailand; many have been left to drown.

But Buddhist nationalists have attacked Christian communities too. Myanmar ranks 23rd on Open Doors' World Watch list for Christian persecution. Many Christians belong to ethnic minority groups – including Rohingyas – who are targeted by nationalists.

Buddhist monks led a protest march to denounce foreign criticism of the country's treatment of stateless Rohingya Muslims, in Yangon, Myanmar May 27, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

One sign of the power of the military-nationalist ideology is a law passed last August restricting religious conversion and interfaith marriages. Among other provisions, the law law will create local Religious Conversion Scrutinisation and Registration Boards. Anyone wishing to change their religion will have to be over 18 and will be required to file an application with a local board, including the reasons for the conversion.

The law was greeted with alarm by rights organisations, including Open Doors, which expressed hopes that a new government would repeal it, and Human Rights Watch, whose deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said: "Allowing local officials to regulate private faith so closely is a pathway to repression of religious freedom. In their zeal to protect Buddhism, the authors of these laws are imperiling other religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus, and especially Burma's persecuted Muslim minority."

But now that Aung San Suu Kyi is effectively in charge, surely things will improve?

Perhaps. However, there are worrying signs that religious liberty and the plight of minorities are not at the top of her agenda – and that she may even be personally resistant to change.

Suu Kyi was interviewed in 2013 by BBC journalist Mishal Husain and was challenged about anti-Islamic attitudes in Burma. When Husain pressed her, she said: "I would like to make the point that there are many moderate Muslims in Burma who have been well integrated into our society, but these problems arose last year and I think this is due to fear on both sides.

"This is what the world needs to understand; that the fear is not just to the side of the Muslims but on the side of the Buddhists as well."

According to a book by Peter Popham, The Lady And The Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi And Burma's Struggle For Freedom, she was incensed by the questioning and was heard to mutter off-air, "No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim."

Suu Kyi has never made a clear statement opposing the persecution of Rohingyas and other minorities and she has refused to endorse the judgment of Human Rights Watch about Buddhist nationalist responsibility for violence and discrimination. She has been widely attacked for her apparent acquiescence in wrongdoing.

However, reflecting on the incident, Popham wrote that her background was tolerant and liberal. He suggests her domestic enemies have always attacked her for being too close to the West and not 'Burmese' enough and that she became "hyper-sensitive" to the charge. By depicting her as foreign, her enemies "tried to lump her together with the Muslim minority who are also regarded by many Burmese Buddhists as aliens with no right to remain in the country", he says. "My hunch is that Suu Kyi feared that if she spoke up for the Rohingya, it would make it easy for her enemies to repeat this argument – and if the Burmese masses fell for it, that could erode her standing and her chances of coming to power."

Now, Popham thinks, it might be different.

But though Suu Kyi has come to power with an enormous amount of moral and political capital, it is fatally easy for politicians to lose such advantages by a few missteps. She may feel that keeping the powerful nationalists on side is more important than fighting for an unpopular cause, no matter how righteous it might be.

In that case, she might like to consider the example of America's President Lyndon Johnson. When he took office after the assassination of JF Kennedy, one of his advisers tried to persuade him not to waste his time on the lost cause of civil rights.

He replied: "Well, what the hell's the presidency for?"



H.E. U Htin Kyaw
President of Republic of the Union of Burma
Nay Pyi Daw
Myanmar

1st April 2016

Dear President U Htin Kyaw,

We, Burmese Rohingya Organization UK welcome your inauguration as the new President of Burma. This is a significant milestone on the path to democracy for our country. We also congratulate our mother Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her significant achievement after sacrificing so much for so many years for our country. 

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK has been advocating for human rights and democracy for all the people of Burma regardless of religion and ethnicity, for many years. We worked with the NLD LA and Burmese communities in the UK campaigning to release political prisoners, and end human rights violations in all ethnic areas as well as where Rohingya face serious persecution in the western part of Burma. BROUK is very pleased to see former political prisoners whom BROUK advocated for, now MPs in Parliament, government ministers and other high-level civilian government posts. 

For decades successive regimes and governments in Burma have pursued a twin-track policy of impoverishment and human rights violations in order to attempt to wipe out Rohingya from the country. Under the government of President Thein Sein human rights violations against the Rohingya sharply escalated, as he attempted to use Buddhist nationalism and anti-Muslim prejudice in the country to win public support.

Human Rights Watch stated that human rights violations against the Rohingya met the legal definition of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Fortify Rights also found evidence of crimes against humanity. Studies by the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School and Fortify Rights, and by the International State Crime Initiative of Queen Mary University London, found evidence that amounts to genocide of the Rohingya. There is a humanitarian crisis in camps that Rohingya fled to in 2012, and senior members of the nationalist Arakan National Party continue to whip up hatred against the Rohingya. 

The NLD government presents the first opportunity in decades to not only halt the escalation of anti-Rohingya policies and laws, but also put it into reverse, ending violations of international law and applying the rule of law and international human rights standards. 

Addressing the root causes of prejudice and human rights violations against the Rohingya will take many years, but in order to start this process, and to have an immediate impact saving lives and reducing human rights violations, here are practical steps an NLD government can take in its first six months. 

1) Action against hate-speech and extremists
2) Humanitarian access and the safe return of IDPs to their homes. 
3) Reform or repeal of the 1982 Citizenship Law
4) Justice and accountability

Four Steps:

1) Action against hate-speech and extremists

Long term a comprehensive multi-faceted strategy needs to be adopted, and the international community should provide significant resources and expertise to develop and implement such a plan, starting with a national conference bringing together representatives of all areas of Burmese society together with international experts and high level government ministers from the international community. This will take time but planning should begin immediately.

In the short term, there are two other practical steps the NLD could take.

First is to take action to prevent hate speech and incitement of violence, including prosecuting those inciting or organising violence. To date those inciting hatred and violence have done so with complete impunity. 

Second is to demonstrate moral leadership, with Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders personally and specifically speaking out against prejudice and hatred, and challenging the extreme nationalist narrative. The election result demonstrates the support and power Aung San Suu Kyi has. Her leadership on this issue would make a significant difference and give others in Burma who support human rights for the Rohingya to have the ‘cover’ and confidence to add their voices. In this way the terms of the discussion and debate over the Rohingya can start to be changed.

2) Humanitarian access

An NLD-led government should immediately lift all restrictions on the operations of international aid agencies in Rakhine State and take action to ensure the security of aid workers.

An NLD government should also start to devote more government resources to assisting IDPs and isolated villagers.

State level restrictions and rules should all be immediately lifted. These need to be comprehensively identified.

We all must learn to live side by side, in tolerance and in peace. For many years Rohingya and Rakhine were living side by side. We Rohingya reject violence as a way of solving political problems. We simply want to live in peace in Burma, our homeland. We do not seek our own state, or the imposition of our religion or culture on anyone. Burma is a country of many ethnicities and many religions. 

The state government has to ensure that displaced Rohingya people can return to their original villages safely and provide them protection as needed.

3) Reform or repeal of the 1982 Citizenship Law

At the root cause of the denial of rights of the Rohingya is the 1982 Citizenship Law. The lack of full citizenship lies at the root of most of the discrimination faced by the Rohingya, including lack of freedom of movement, and access to health and education services. There is no way this issue can be avoided, and it is much better that an NLD-led government bite the bullet and deal with it at the start of their period in government when they have a new and strong mandate, strong party unity, and elections are years away. Changing this law will undoubtedly be controversial but it cannot be avoided. It will have to be addressed at some point. Better it is done while the NLD-led government is strongest.

4) Justice and accountability

There is credible evidence of multiple violations of international law, including ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and possible genocide, against the Rohingya. These crimes cannot go unaddressed and those responsible cannot remain unaccountable for their actions. Impunity encourages and enables continuing human rights violations against the Rohingya. Justice and accountability are a highly effective tool to discourage further violations.

An NLD government should set up a credible independent investigation with international experts to investigate these crimes and propose action. If the NLD led government fails to set up an inquiry, the United Nations should establish its own Commission of Inquiry.

We hope that you will consider and implement these proposals and would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your representatives to discuss them further. 

Respectfully


Tun Khin
President
Burmese Rohingya Organization UK


    • Rohingya Exodus