By Ro Mayyu Ali

Al Jazeera

October 14, 2017

Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh - I was born in the same year you were awarded your coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

It was one of the greatest honours to be bestowed upon someone from our country.

Everyone in Maungdaw, the area in Rakhine State where I am from, was filled with joy, and rejoiced your award as if it were their own.

For the first time since independence, we - the Rohingya - felt as though we were a part of this country. We were proud to call ourselves Myanmarese.

After suffering years of abuse at the hands of the military junta, your peace prize inspired us, a people who have suffered decades of oppression.

Growing up, my grandfather always spoke highly of you. He would choose the biggest goats and cows to slaughter when members of your party, the National League for Democracy, would visit. He would graciously welcome them.

My father and my beloved grandpa wanted me to follow the path you had chosen, and my mother was drawn to you by your powerful voice and activism.

In 2010, when you were finally released by the military from house arrest, we rejoiced. But seven years on, we, the Rohingya, remain victims of a brutal and genocidal state. This time, at your hands.

Since your general election victory in 2015, you pushed out Muslim representatives from your party. It was the first sign of your political cowardice.

A few months later, your administration launched "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine State. During those months, countless civilians were killed and women were gang-raped.

Despite widespread international condemnation, you denied the crimes.

You even refused to refer to us as "Rohingya", an accurate term that represents the ethnicity of my people - a people who have been living in Rakhine for centuries.

Since the start of the violence on August 25, more than 500,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Over 1,000 Rohingya villagers have been killed, 15,000 homes have been burned down, and those that have remained are trapped in fear and desperation.

On September 1, my parents and I were forced to leave our home.

After three days and two nights, we reached Bangladesh after crossing the Naf river on a small rowing boat. We later found shelter at the Kutupalong refugee camp.

I just received information that my home was burned to the ground. While many will say it was the army or vigilantes that burned it down, I feel as if it is you - Aung San Suu Kyi - that is to blame.

Not only did you burn down my home, you also burned my books.

I had always dreamed of becoming an author, studying English at Sittwe University, but as you know, the Rohingya are banned from enrolling or studying there, so I sought inspiration from books and articles.

You burned Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. You burned Mahatma Gandhi's Autobiography. You burned Leymah Gbowee's Mighty Be Our Power. And you burned your own book, Freedom from Fear.

You are the one who is responsible for setting my hopes and dreams on fire.

And now, as we stand here in Bangladesh as refugees, my father has a question for you: "Why have you never visited the Rohingya, whether in Rakhine State or those forced to Cox's Bazar after everything that has happened?"

Do you even care about our situation?

What hurts most is not that we, the Rohingya, are the world's most persecuted community. What breaks my heart is knowing that we're the most persecuted community in your - Aung San Suu Kyi's - Myanmar.

You've chosen your path, that's clear for everyone to see. Now your name will be synonymous for the millions of Rohingya displaced around the world with the countless tyrants and dictators that have come before you.

Ro Mayyu Ali spoke to Al Jazeera's Faisal Edroos who can be followed on Twitter at @FaisalEdroos

They potentially face the final two stages of genocide—mass annihilation and erasure from the country’s history.

I recently met Penny Green to discuss the situation in Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi’s role in the perpetration of the horrific crimes carried out against the Rohingya.

A professor of law and globalization and the founding director of the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at Queen Mary University of London, Green has been closely monitoring the treatment of the Rohingya in Myanmar for the past five years. In a 2015 report based on 12 months of field work and over 200 interviews, ISCI found ample evidence that the Rohingya have been subjected to systematic and widespread human-rights violations, including killings, torture, and rape; denial of citizenship; destruction of villages; land confiscation; and forced labor. Citing Daniel Feierstein’s Genocide as Social Practice, which outlines six stages leading to genocide, ISCI claimed that the Myanmar regime had already perpetrated four: (1) stigmatization and dehumanization; (2) harassment, violence, and terror; (3) isolation and segregation; and (4) the systematic weakening of the target group. Now the Rohingya potentially face the final two stages of genocide—mass annihilation and erasure of the group from Myanmar’s history.

Neve Gordon: Can you provide some background about the Rohingya’s plight and the processes that have brought us to where we are today?

Penny Green: Burma, known today as Myanmar, received independence in 1948. The country had been part of a vast British colony, and not unlike India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, Burma’s borders were determined partly according to religious lines, with the Bengal state being mostly Hindu, Bangladesh mostly Muslim and Burma mostly Buddhist. The Rohingya, who are Muslim, had been living for centuries mostly in what became Rakhine State in the newly established Burma. In 1950, they were issued citizenship identification cards and granted the right to vote under the first post-independence Prime Minister, U Nu. Until the late 1970s, the Rohingya held important government positions as civil servants, the official Burma Broadcasting Service relayed a Rohingya-language radio program three times a week, and the term “Rohingya” was used in school textbooks and official documents. 

In the early 1980s, we start to witness the beginning of the process that ultimately aims at erasing the Rohingya from Myanmar’s history and geography. In 1982, the Rohingya were removed from the list of Myanmar’s 135 officially recognized ethnic minorities and stripped of citizenship. A little more than a decade later, the government suddenly refused to issue birth certificates to Rohingya babies. It then began to completely erase the term “Rohingya” from the official texts and even to condemn anyone who uttered the word. After the 2012 government-sanctioned Rakhine violence, the Rohingya were restricted to secure zones, detention camps, ghettos, and prison villages, and were excluded from higher education, all professions, the military and the public service.

Finally, in 2014, the Rohingya were excluded from the census. This is crucial in my mind, even more so than the prohibition to participate in the November 2015 elections, since, as history teaches us, when the state stops counting people it means that the state no longer considers them subjects of management and control, and when people are no longer monitored and managed, it means that they are considered superfluous.

NG: Before turning to the current crisis and to Aung San Suu Kyi’s role, can you explain what led to the concentration of Rohingya in camps, prison villages, and ghettos, and could you tell us about the living conditions within them?

PG: The concentration of the Rohingya in camps was a key part of the 2012 violence, which was, in turn, a consequence of a concerted hate campaign backed by the government and orchestrated by a hard-line group within the Buddhist Sangha (a term used for the monkhood) led by Ashin Wirathu. You must keep in mind that even though there were periods of tension before 2012, the Rohingya used to go to school with all the other ethnic groups living in Rakhine, not least the predominant Buddhist population. They lived together, they shopped at each other’s stores, and they participated in each other’s celebrations.

Over the years, however, an anti-Muslim fever effectively gripped the country. While the degree of xenophobic nationalism inside Myanmar is astonishingly high and penetrates every level of society, rendering life extremely difficult for Muslims residing in Mandalay, Yangon, and other parts of the country, the Rohingya in Rakhine State experience a double sense of persecution: both general xenophobia and a specific racial hatred directed against their ethnic group. 

The 2012 violence was directly precipitated by the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, allegedly by three Rohingya men. This was the pretext for the violence in and around Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, which was perpetrated by Rakhine nationalists and fomented by hard-line Buddhist monks and local Rakhine politicians. From the people we interviewed, it was very clear that the security forces did nothing during the first three days, allowing the violence to run its course before they intervened. There were no prosecutions following this violence, even though 200 people had been killed.

As the Rohingya fled their burning homes, they were herded into an area that we now call the camp detention complex. That is where they have been contained for the past five years. A relatively small number of Rohingya remained in Sittwe and live in Aung Mingalar ghetto. They were apparently protected by a Burmese commander, whom we have been unable to locate, but testimonies suggest that he stood up against the Rakhine nationalists and other members of the security forces, protecting the Rohingya from the mob. Aung Mingalar is a very deprived ghetto. It does not receive aid from the World Food Program because it is not a registered camp, and therefore the Rohingya there rely on aid from Muslim communities and limited rations from the state.

When we visited the camps and ghetto in 2014 and 2015, the conditions were utterly deplorable. It was as if we were witnessing a process of social death, to cite Claudia Card’s analysis of genocide. The camps were squalid, and the only livelihood that we witnessed was the collecting of cow dung and drying it off to sell as fuel. There is hardly any access to health care—there are clinics but no local doctors, nurses, medical equipment, or drugs. It is said that Rakhine doctors offer services for two hours per week in camps housing thousands of people. Médecins Sans Frontières were offering emergency health care, but they were expelled from Rakhine State (and later the whole of Myanmar) in 2014 after issuing a report that they had treated 22 people from the village Dar Chee Yar Tan for gunshot, beatings, and knife wounds.

Toilets in the camps are collective and located on the camp’s outskirts, a long way from the living quarters, which could, I would think, be dangerous for women. People are terrified of leaving the camps for fear of violence, and as our fieldwork suggests, their fear is justified, given the vicious attacks perpetrated against those who dared go to Sittwe.

The people we saw were profoundly depressed. We visited the overly crowded huts, and people would just be lying on the floor because there was nothing to do, no work, no food to prepare, nowhere to go, and indeed very limited opportunities to do anything. In all these senses, it felt like we were witnessing first hand Giorgio Agamben’s notion of “bare life.”

NG: In your 2015 report you claim that the Rohingya are under threat of genocide. Do you think what we are witnessing is actually a process leading to genocide, or would ethnic cleansing be a more appropriate term? I ask this because, according to the United Nations, ethnic cleansing is defined as “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.” In other words, the violence associated with ethnic cleansing is directed at emptying a space of certain populations and has a spatial dimension that is vital to the definition of the violence. Genocidal violence, by contrast, focuses on the extermination of populations, and its object is the human body, while the spatial dimension exists but is incidental.

PG: The term “ethnic cleansing” is problematic for a number of reasons. First, it has no legal recourse, rendering it easy for foreign governments to describe what they are witnessing in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing because it places no obligation on them to intervene, either to prevent the violence and protect the Rohingya or to punish the culprits. Another problem is that the term “ethnic cleansing” was initially used by Slobodan Milosevic to mask the genocidal elements of the attacks against the Bosnian Muslims. It is the perpetrator’s term. 

Raphael Lemkin understood that genocide is a process when he first coined the term and campaigned for the introduction of an international law against it. Genocide begins with practices of stigmatization and dehumanization, which we have witnessed in Myanmar for a very long time. In the process of othering the Rohingya, the stigmatization continues, but we move into a stage of harassment, where civil rights are gradually removed, such as the right to vote, the right to take certain forms of transport, and the right to have as many children as you like. The Rohingya have been denied these rights as well as many others. During this period of harassment, you often witness instances of sporadic violence, violence used to test the local population’s capacity to engage in violence against the target group. As I explained earlier, as a result of the 2012 Rakhine-led violence the Rohingya were forced into concentrated spaces and were removed from the sight of the rest of Rakhine’s communities. They were completely isolated. All of these practices are necessary for securing the compliance and active involvement of the local population in the annihilation process.

The history of the Jews in the 1930s teaches us that when a group is isolated and systematically weakened—through lack of food, limited access to health care, work and livelihood—and their community is deliberately fragmented, the group becomes extremely vulnerable. This is what has been happening to the Rohingya, and the Myanmar government has been an active supporter of this process. We know, for example, that local politicians were involved in planning the violence of 2012; they organized buses that picked up Rakhine men and women and brought them to Sittwe to torch Rohingya houses. Rakhine nationalists who carried out the pogroms recounted in the interviews with ISCI how free food was laid out for them and how they were given weapons. 

Moreover, it is crucial to understand that genocidal annihilation is not only about decimating the body but also about destroying the ethnic identity of a people. This is what the Myanmar state has been embarking on. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has effectively been the equivalent of a prime minister for over a year and a half, called the US ambassador to her office and told him that the term “Rohingya” was not to be used. Along similar lines, when ISCI was still allowed to work in Myanmar, we had to be very careful not to use the term “Rohingya.” This process of annihilating an ethnic identity fits well with Lemkin’s notion of genocide.

From August 25, 2017, we have been witnessing an escalation of this whole process. As far as I understand, the destruction of villages continues despite the denial of the Myanmar government. We do not know how many people have been killed, but it is undoubtedly in the thousands. Over half a million have fled, crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh. But what most people do not understand is that they are joining another five to seven hundred thousand Rohingya who have fled since 2012. So, all along the Bangladesh side of the Naf River, there are over a million Rohingya living in appalling conditions, in unregistered camps, while only a few hundred thousand are still living in Rakhine State.

In several senses, Myanmar has been successful. The Rohingya who are still living in Rakhine can only identify as Bengali and the term “Bengali” is coded as illegal immigrant. What we are now witnessing is the social reorganization after the annihilation of the Rohingya identity. Former Buddhist prisoners have been resettled under the government’s Na Ta La village program in an effort to change the demographic structure of northern Rakhine State, creating an ever-increasing hostile environment for the remaining Rohingya community.

NG: The world has condemned Aung San Suu Kyi for her silence. What do you think is her role, if any, in this new stage of violence against the Rohingya?

PG: I challenge this idea of silence. Aung San Suu Kyi has not been silent. Every step of the way she has exercised agency. I understand how difficult it is for people in the West to consider her as an active perpetrator of the horrific crime of genocide, given that she is the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal, and literally scores of other significant awards. But let’s remember that Henry Kissinger was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, as he was carpet-bombing Cambodia. It is important to also understand that for the past 19 months, Aung San Suu Kyi has been Myanmar’s State Counselor, the equivalent of prime minister. She is definitely not a minor or weak actor in Myanmar.

During her tenure as premier, she has not once criticized the violence perpetrated against the Rohingya. She has condemned all violence, all human-rights abuses, as if somehow this was a symmetric conflict.… I cannot call it a “conflict,” because this is a one-sided annihilation of a particular people. She, as I mentioned, called the US ambassador and instructed him and all other diplomats not to use the term “Rohingya.” She has not condemned the hate speech pouring out from the monk groups that aim to destroy the Rohingya. She has continuously lied about the situation in northern Rakhine State while simultaneously denying international access to the region, and has actively participated in covering up her government’s crimes.

But even before the current crisis, she participated in sowing the seeds of violence. Although the National League for Democracy had Muslim candidates in the past, in the 2015 elections Aung San Suu Kyi refused to include any Muslims on the party’s list, thus pandering to her constituency and to the Islamophobic atmosphere in Myanmar. In 2017, following the publication of a UN Flash Report that documented mass killings and mass rapes by Myanmar’s security forces in northern Rakhine State, Aung San Suu Kyi’s office declared that these were “fake rapes” and fake news. This is precisely around the same time that Trump began using the term. 

When the most recent cycle of violence began this past August, her office made the ludicrous claim on Facebook that the international community was aiding and abetting the terrorists, by which she meant the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which in August had attacked a security outpost. As a result, all aid and humanitarian agencies were forced to leave Rakhine State, and consequently Rohingya camps were left without food for weeks—another act that precipitated the massive exodus. She has also consistently and unreservedly aligned herself with the military, refusing to condemn its actions against the Rohingya.

Her relationship with the military is interesting, since in the West she is considered the one person who for years stood up against the military junta. We need to keep in mind that her father was Gen. Aung San, who led the independence movement in 1948, and therefore there is a historical family link with the military. She is also a member of Burma’s Bamar, the Buddhist elite. She was indeed held under house arrest for 15 years, but in a rather beautiful house on Inya Lake; she had servants and was on occasion allowed to meet with international visitors. Despite the fact that it was the junta that imprisoned her, she famously declared her love for the Burmese military not long after her release. How can one explain this apparent paradox?

In my mind, Aung San Suu Kyi is a very ambitious and utterly ruthless politician whose primary goal is to become Myanmar’s president, regardless of what it takes. According to the country’s Constitution, because she married an English citizen and her two sons were born in the UK, she is prohibited from becoming president. In the past 19 months, all of her political efforts have been designed to change the Constitution. This, however, is impossible without the military’s support, since according to the deal she brokered before the 2015 elections, the military retains 25 percent of the seats in Parliament, and, to change the Constitution, one needs over 75 percent of the votes. In other words, without the military, the Constitution cannot be altered. Consequently, she not only refuses to condemn the military but has also allowed it to continue controlling three key ministries, defense, interior and borders. She has, in other words, created an unholy pact with those who were her enemies.

The sacrifices Aung San Suu Kyi is willing to make are many. The annihilation of the Rohingya is one of them.

Neve Gordon is the author of Israel’s Occupation (2008) and recently completed, with Nicola Perugini, The Human Right to Dominate (Oxford University Press).

By Wa Lone, Simon Lewis

Reuters

October 13, 2017

YANGON -- Myanmar’s military has launched an internal probe into the conduct of soldiers during a counteroffensive that has sent more than half a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, many saying they witnessed killings, rape and arson by troops. 

Coordinated Rohingya insurgent attacks on 30 security posts on Aug. 25 sparked a ferocious military response in the Muslim-majority northern part of Rakhine state that the United Nations has said was ethnic cleansing. 

A committee led by military Lieutenant-General Aye Win has begun an investigation into the behavior of military personnel, the office of the commander in chief said on Friday, insisting the operation was justified under Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s constitution. 

According to a statement posted on Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s Facebook page, the panel will ask, “Did they follow the military code of conduct? Did they exactly follow the command during the operation? After that (the committee) will release full information.” 

Myanmar is refusing entry to a U.N. panel that was tasked with investigating allegations of abuses after a smaller military counteroffensive launched in October 2016. 

But domestic investigations - including a previous internal military probe - have largely dismissed refugees’ claims of abuses committed during security forces’ so-called “clearance operations”. 

Thousands of refugees have continued to arrived cross the Naf river separating Myanmar’s Rakhine state and Bangladesh in recent days, even though Myanmar insists military operations ceased on Sept. 5. 

Aid agencies now estimate that 536,000 people have now arrived in Cox’s Bazar district, straining scarce resources of aid groups and local communities. 

About 200,000 Rohingya were already in Bangladesh after fleeing persecution in Myanmar, where they have long been denied citizenship and faced restrictions on their movements and access to basic services. 

Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has pledged accountability for human rights abuses and says Myanmar will accept back refugees who can prove they were residents of Myanmar. 

The powerful army chief has taken a harder stance, however, telling the U.S. ambassador in Myanmar earlier this week that the exodus of Rohingya - who he said were non-native “Bengalis” - was exaggerated. 

In comments to Japan’s ambassador carried in state media on Friday, Min Aung Hlaing denied ethnic cleansing was taking place on the grounds that photos showed Muslims “departing calmly rather than fleeing in terror”. 

Additional reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Editing by Nick Macfie

Myanmar to Rohingyas: “u do not belong here - go to Bangladesh. If (not) we will torch your houses and kill you.”

Brutal attacks on Rohingya meant to make their return almost impossible – UN human rights report

GENEVA (11 October 2017) – Brutal attacks against Rohingya in northern Rakhine State have been well-organised, coordinated and systematic, with the intent of not only driving the population out of Myanmar but preventing them from returning to their homes, a new UN report based on interviews conducted in Bangladesh has found.

The report by a team from the UN Human Rights Office, who met with the newly arrived Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar from 14 to 24 September 2017, states that human rights violations committed against the Rohingya population were carried out by Myanmar security forces often in concert with armed Rakhine Buddhist individuals. The report, released on Wednesday, is based on some 65 interviews with individuals and groups.

It also highlights a strategy to “instil deep and widespread fear and trauma – physical, emotional and psychological” among the Rohingya population.

More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar security forces launched an operation in response to alleged attacks by militants on 25 August against 30 police posts and a regimental headquarters. The report states the “clearance operations” started before 25 August 2017, and as early as the beginning of August.

The UN Human Rights Office is gravely concerned for the safety of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who remain in northern Rakhine State amid reports the violence is still ongoing, and calls on authorities to immediately allow humanitarian and human rights actors unfettered access to the stricken areas.

The report cites testimony from witnesses that security forces scorched dwellings and entire villages, were responsible for extrajudicial and summary executions, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and attacks on places of worship. Eyewitnesses reported numerous killings, saying some victims were deliberately targeted and others were killed through explosions, fire and stray bullets.

A 12-year old girl from Rathedaung township described how “the [Myanmar security forces and Rakhine Buddhist individuals] surrounded our house and started to shoot. It was a situation of panic – they shot my sister in front of me, she was only seven years old. She cried and told me to run. I tried to protect her and care for her, but we had no medical assistance on the hillside and she was bleeding so much that after one day she died. I buried her myself.”

The report states that in some cases, before and during the attacks, megaphones were used to announce: “You do not belong here – go to Bangladesh. If you do not leave, we will torch your houses and kill you.”

Credible information indicates that the Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the property of the Rohingyas, targeting their houses, fields, food-stocks, crops, livestock and even trees, to render the possibility of the Rohingya returning to normal lives and livelihoods in the future in northern Rakhine almost impossible.

UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who has described the Government operations in northern Rakhine State as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” has also urged the Government to immediately end its “cruel" security operation. By denying the Rohingya population their political, civil, economic and cultural rights, including the right to citizenship, he said, the Government’s actions appear to be “a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without possibility of return.”

The report indicates that efforts were taken to effectively erase signs of memorable landmarks in the geography of the Rohingya landscape and memory in such a way that a return to their lands would yield nothing but a desolate and unrecognizable terrain.

Information received also indicates that the Myanmar security forces targeted teachers, the cultural and religious leadership, and other people of influence of the Rohingya community in an effort to diminish Rohingya history, culture and knowledge.

ENDS

Mission report of OHCHR rapid response mission to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh 

Wynston Lawrence

RB Analysis

October 12, 2017

Suu has spoken on Myanmar National TV channel on 12 October 2017. She would like to tell her fellows Burmese people how her government is going to confront challenges of Rohingya Crisis. This crisis has gained world attentions with terrible comments from international community. Some has described as Genocide and other used as “Textbook example of Ethnic Cleansing. No matter what they names, these are great crimes under International Laws. Suu has spoken twice on 9/19 and today 10/12. For 9/19 speech, she has been condemned by critics because she failed to criticize violence such as killings, raping, burning houses committed by brutal Burmese Army and Rakhine Buddhists extremist. Some accused her as an apologist for Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide and mass rapes. Today she spoke in Burmese and I will use an official translation of her ministerial government. This translation has been released on official Facebook page of Myanmar State Counsellor Office. But I will include some words in original translation with bracket to free misunderstanding in the community of English language speaking. 

ASSK: ((Report to the (Burmese) People By State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi))

WL: ((She has today spoken for mainly Burmese audiences and reporting for Rohingya Crisis.))

ASSK: ((May all the (Burmese) people be in good health and well-being. May peace be in your hearts. First of all, let me tell you how grateful I am, for standing together with our government, with full understanding and unity, at a time when we are facing extreme challenges. There is no power which can compare with the support of the people, trust of the people and the unity of the people. I believe that no matter whatever difficulties we face, we can overcome, with the unity of our people.))

WL: ((She is expressing gratitude to the Burmese people because there has recently a lot of gatherings in Burma for supporting Aung San Suu Kyi and its government, sometimes they support even Burmese Army. I am not sure why are they supporting Suu Kyi but I think they want to show the world that they are standing with Suu Kyi for whatever she does. Suu acknowledged that she is facing with extreme challenges. I want to point out that if she believe in her own people’s support is so crucial for her, why did she cry out for international supports when she has been defeated by Burmese Army. She failed to recognize important of international supports for her and her country. Is she relying now only on so-called national supports?))

ASSK: ((As all of you know, the attention of the world on the Rakhine issue has been immense, beginning with the attacks on the police outposts in Rakhine State last (year) October, the terrorist attacks which happened again in August of this year and the related problems that grew out of these attacks. There has been a lot of criticisms against our country. We need to understand international opinion. However, just as no one can fully understand the situation of our country the way we do, no one can desire peace and development for our country more than us. That is why we need to tackle these problems based on the strength of our unity.))

WL: ((She talks about deadly attacks on Police stations by ARSA militants in last year, October and this year, 25 of August. She used the words of “terrorist attacks" for ARSA insurgents group but she failed to mention "terrorist attacks" by Burmese Army on innocent Rohingya victims. She may seem to forget to use the word of “terrorist attacks” of Burmese Army on innocent Rohingya civillians. She neglected to express sympathy with half of millions Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh to escape killings, raping, burning alive by Burmese Army and radical Rakhine Buddhists mob. She is saying like ex-dictators that no one in the world better understand Burma than herself and her people. She did not know that it was British historian who told them, you Burman (Bamar) are one of the groups of Tibeto-Burman. It was British people who build Rangoon University and give them latest Modern education in Burma. Burmese people are getting only Buddhist monastic education before British went to Burma. Today she is claiming that no foreigner can understand Burmese’s problems better than Burmaese people. She is also discrediting international desire of peace and developments in Burma.))

ASSK: ((At this time, our country needs to continue doing the things that needs to be done. Furthermore, the things that need(s) to be done, (what) should be done correctly, bravely and effectively. We will implement the commitments we made till progress and success is achieved. Rather than rebutting criticisms and allegations with words, we will show the world by our actions and our deeds. In the Rakhine State, there are so many things to be done. If we are to take stock and prioritize, there are three main tasks: 

a) First, repatriation of those who have crossed over to Bangladesh and providing humanitarian assistance effectively;

b) Secondly, resettlement and rehabilitation; and

c) Third, bringing development to the region and establishing durable peace.

We will enhance our ability to provide humanitarian assistance effectively. We are negotiating with the Government of Bangladesh on the matter of accepting those who are now in Bangladesh. Since our independence, we have twice, successfully negotiated with Bangladesh on the issue. Based on these successful traditions, we are now negotiating for the third time.))

WL: ((Promises of Suu Kyi has become unreliable and untrustworthy because she promised in the last speech that all human rights violators will be punished according to the laws of Burma but no one from Burmese Army and extremist Rakhine Buddhist mob was arrested for their crimes. Moreover her government and Burmese Army indeed used a lot of moneys to encounter international media for her so-called iceberg of misinformation! But the world is not stupid as they think and their systematically media warfare was become very weaken in the international community. That is also a great effect for their blocking international and national medias, except for state-sponsored program, for going to effective areas in Rakhine State. Then she's admitted that systematic Ethnic Cleansing was not started recently but decades ago. First time was in 1978, and following was 1991. In fact these two previous crises was nothing to do with Suu Kyi. They were committed crimes of Burmese military dictators, General Ne Win and Tyrant General Than Shwe. Please note that these previous two repatriations were not successful traditions for Rohingya victims because thousands could not return their ancestral homeland, Arakan. On the other hand, they were successful traditions for Burmese dictators as they don’t want to see any Rohingya in Arakan state of Burma if possible. Past agreements are NOT totally fair for Rohingya. At that time, Bangladesh government did not get enough international supports and they also had their own problems. Today is different; Bangladesh government earned a lot of international praise, sympathy and supports as well they have more stable political situations ever before. Bangladesh was considering to having fair-go and new an agreement with Burmese Government. Furthermore Bangladesh Foreign Minister informed international community within this week, they have sent new agreement proposal to Burmese Government. They are still waiting and getting no response from Burmese government. That’s what Suu Kyi’s government is doing seriously for Rohingya Crisis.))

ASSK: ((As we work on the resettlement and rehabilitation efforts, we need to work not only for those who will be returning from Bangladesh but also for the very small national races such as Daing-net and Myo as well as Rakhine Nationals and Hindus. We will work to ensure that they will regain their normalcy. We will seek durable, sustainable programs to improve their lives. We have to formulate long term programmes for the development of the region and continue working for durable peace to relieve this region of conflicts in the years to come.))

WL: ((She even doesn’t have a heart to call the name of “Rohingya” while she mentioned nearly all of ethnic groups in Rakhine state by name. According to the Wall Street Journal, Suu Kyi forbid visiting diplomat for using “Rohingya” name. She told that, “They are not Rohingya. They are Bengali. They are foreigners.” That is what she believed about Rohingya but her believed was against historical evidences. Rohingya were NOT the descendants of colonial era "farm coolies" from East Bengal as Myanmar government blatantly lies to the world. Based on the 14th century stone inscriptions, Professor Dr. G. H. Luce described them as "a fine type of devout and scholarly-minded Muslims." They have been indigenous ethnic group to North Arakan since 1400 AD. According to the late Professor Luce, essentially the founder of modern historical studies of the ancient Myanmar or Burma and the mentor of Professor Dr. Than Tun, the presence of the Rohingya (Rohinjas) in Burma was evidenced in the stone inscriptions from the Ava period (AD 1400). [Luce, G. H. 1985, Phases of pre-Pagan Burma : languages and history / by G.H. Luce Oxford University Press Oxford ; New York] The term "Rooinga" (Rohingya) which can also be found in a research "A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in Burma Empire" carried out by British medical doctor, researcher and traveler, Dr. Francis Buchanan in 1799 C.E. Its copy can be received here: http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64276.pdf. Dr. Francis Buchanan's record was done in 1799 C.E., before British colonial period, is based on primary evidence. That is why Western scholars now have no problems to believe that Rohingya people lived in Arakan before Burma occupied Arakan. That is why they find the Muslim Rohingya being unfairly treated for their racial and religious differences with the Buddhist- Mongoloid Burman- Rakhine variety. This is clearly racism.

Suu Kyi wants to use international donations mostly for Rohingya to other ethnic groups as they have been demanded in the past 50% share for non-Rohingyas and other for Rohingya. Their numbers are not the same. Rohingya refugees has highest numbers. If they get any national donations that are going to Rakhine state, they do not consider for Rohingya but only for their fellows Buddhist Rakhine mostly. They have had discriminated Rohingya in many forms. I am not denying that there are some amounts of people who have to Burma from today Bangladesh in the period of British colonial rule. It should be noted that they are NOT illegal migrants because British ruled over Bangladesh as well as Burma. But I would to quote from Israel research Moshe Yegar’s writing. He said, “those Muslims who had resided since the days of Mrauk-U dynasty and the Muslims from Chittagong who immigrated into Arakan in 19th and 20th century were integrated to some extent and comprised the present Rohingyas. [Yegar, Moshe. 2002. Between Integration and Secession: The Muslim Communities of the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, and Western Burma/Myanmar. Oxford. Lexinton Books.])) 

ASSK: ((For each program there are many tasks. Our entrepreneurs, NGOs, CSOs and the people, have stated their wish to participate and help. The international community has also stated their wish to cooperate and assist. This is a matter of national importance. The Union Government and state/regional governments will take the leading role. We will give due regard and serious consideration to the sincere offers of cooperation made at home and from abroad. For the development of Rakhine State, to implement projects in all sectors, we need a mechanism which allows the Union Government, the people, the private sector, local NGOs and CSOs, friendly countries, UN agencies, INGOs to work together in cooperation. We will call this mechanism the "Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine". This enterprise has been established with the aim of allowing the Union Government and all local and international organizations to work in all sectors and all strata of society. In this "Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine", I will act as Chairperson, representing the Government in my capacity as State Counsellor. Dr. Win Myat Aye, Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement will act as Vice Chairman. He is the Chairman of the Committee assigned to implement the recommendations of Dr. Kofi Annan’s Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. We will implement the short and long term tasks effectively. We will use this Programme to show practical and progressive results as we work towards the emergence of a peaceful and developed Rakhine State. I wish to earnestly invite and welcome, all the people of our country, NGOs, CSOs and Business Leaders to join hands and cooperate with us. We will begin the Programme this coming week. As we implement this Programme, I believe that we will be able to utilize the strength of will, determination, and knowledge; bravely and energetically. We will use the power of truth and purity, so that this Enterprise will be worthy of being called a ‘milestone’ in our history.”))

WL: ((This plan is seems to be acceptable but need a lot of times and resources. Importantly there is no SINGLE Rohingya representative in their enterprise. A handful of Rohingya people, who have citizenship of Burma, are living currently in Rangoon, they should be included in Suu Kyi's so-called Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine.))

ASSK: ((To develop the Rakhine state, we have invited those who wish to assist us; UN agencies, financial institutions like the World Bank and ADB, INGOs like the Nippon Foundation and friendly countries. We place great hope on our Union nationals living within the country and abroad. No matter where they may be in the world. I have no doubt that all of them would come forth to help us with Metta (loving kindness) and Thitsa (Truth). Although our Union may not be strong, I am confident that we will besuccessful by uniting our will. Our people are well known for their generosity and philanthropy and have even been ranked as number one in the world. We will put to good use this generous nature of our people, systematically. The most powerful force for making our Union peaceful and developed is our people. No matter how much anger, hatred and bullying, we may have to face, we shall overcome all challenges and obstacles by holding fast to Metta, Karuna and Mudita (Loving kindness, Compassion and Sympathetic joy). Let us join hands and work together for the success of the "Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine" with the understanding that we are not working for one region only but for the entire Union. Beginning from Sunday, 15th October, we will announce through our website and State news media how you can help and how to communicate with us. We shall make arrangements, so that all the sons and daughters of our Union and our friends abroad who have goodwill in their hearts may get in touch with the nearest diplomatic missions and Consulates-General to help us in this endeavour. May I once again pray for the good health of all our people, the true strength of our country, whom we trust and depend upon. May you all have peace and tranquillity in your hearts. May all your righteous good wishes be fulfilled.))

WL: ((This part is an ocean of loving, kindness, compassion and sympathetic joy. This should be most welcoming but if they have had these noble attitudes at first place, Rohingya will not suffered these kinds of unimaginable atrocities.))

In conclusion, I can analyzed her speech as follows:

1. She failed to speak about when Rohingya will be recognized as one of the indigenous groups of Burma as they were before in the period of Parliamentary Democracy Era.

2. She failed to speak about when International and National medias will be allowed to go Rakhine State.

3. She failed to speak about when she will issue visas for UN Facts Finding Mission to investigate serious crimes, Ethnic Cleansing and human rights violations in Burma.

4. She failed to speak about how Rohingya who are currently living in Central Rakhine areas, mainly in Sittway District will be provided foods, waters, medicare and so on.

5. She failed to speak about how Human Rights violators from Burmese Army and Rakhine Buddhists mob will be prosecuted.

6. She is trying to divert an attention of International communities mainly for UN Security Council and European Commission. The first speech (9/19) was before UN Security Council meeting on (9/28) and also this speech (10/12) was come out because tomorrow (10/13) UN Security Council has informal meetings with Kofi Annan. Suu Kyist government know that UN Security Council has absolute power to refer Rohingya Genocide or Ethnic Cleansing case to International Criminal Court for full investigation.

Wynston Lawrence is a Political Analyst and Human Rights Activist based in western Australia. 

Follow on twitter @LawrenceWynston

By Prothom Alo

October 12, 2017

Discussants at a roundtable said Bangladesh has been an utter failure in diplomatically handling the Rohingya issue.

They also said the atrocities inflicted on Rohingyas meet all conditions for genocide. 

Shujan (Citizens for Good Governance), a civil society organisation, organised the roundtable, 'Rohingya Crisis: Context, Current Situation and Possible Solution', at the National Press Club on Thursday morning.

Politician SM Akram said, "We have diplomatically failed on the Rohingya issue. Those whom we consider our friend countries, have not stood by us." 

Shujan secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said there are ten conditions for genocide. All of these conditions are met in the incidence of Rohingyas fleeing in thousands to Bangladesh following the crackdown by the Myanmar army in the Rakhine state since 25 August.

Former cabinet secretary and executive member of Shujan Ali Imam Majumder said the Rohingya crisis may exacerbate further in the future. The attention of the international community may be diverted, he pointed out, saying it will be difficult to bear the pressure of one million Rohingya refugees.

Ali Imam Majumder said, "Vested quarters may instigate the persecuted Rohingyas to extremism. As a result, the entire region may become unstable."

Columnist Syed Abul Maksud said after Bangladesh's Independence in 1971, such a crisis like Rohingyas did not emerge in Bangladesh.

"We notice irresponsibility inside the government in handling the issue, which is not expected," Maksud said.

Professor of international relations at Dhaka University CR Abrar said there is no necessity to rehabilitate Rohingyas in Vasanchar and Balurchar.

Human rights activist Hamida Hossain, former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan, former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury, former ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad and Nagorik Samaj (citizen society) convener Bahauddin Chowdhury, among others, spoke at the programme.

By Reuters

October 12, 2017

GENEVA -- Myanmar security forces have brutally driven out half a million Rohingya from Rakhine state, torching their homes, crops and villages to prevent them from returning, the United Nations Human Rights Office said yesterday.

In a report based on 65 interviews with Rohingya who have arrived in Bangladesh in the past month, it said that "clearance operations" had begun before insurgent attacks on police posts on Aug 25 and included killings, torture and rape of children.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein - who has described the government operations as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing" - said that the actions appeared to be "a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without possibility of return".

The latest report by his Geneva office said: "Credible information indicates that the Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the property of the Rohingya, scorched their dwellings and entire villages in Rakhine state, not only to drive the population out in droves but also to prevent the fleeing Rohingya victims from returning to their homes."

The destruction by security forces, often joined by "mobs" of armed Rakhine Buddhists, make the possibility of Rohingya returning to normal lives in Rakhine "almost impossible".

Myanmar security forces are believed to have planted landmines along the border in an attempt to prevent Rohingya from returning, it said, adding: "There are indications that violence is still ongoing."

Meanwhile, Myanmar on Tuesday held inter-faith prayers in Yangon in a bid to improve relations between Buddhists and Muslims since the eruption of deadly violence triggered an exodus of some 520,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.

Wynston Lawrence

RB Opinion

October 12, 2017

Today so many people are giving reasons to mislead international communities that Suu has no power to stop Genocide or Ethnic Cleansing against Rohingya ethnic in Burma. Their excuses were the Army who have had control defence forces of Burma. It's true that the Army has rights to propose three Ministers but the President has the rights to reject anyone and order the Army to propose another candidate. Well known fact is that Army took forcibly 25% of MPs in legislative power but Suu has more than enough MPs to propose any bill and enact any law, except the Constitution, without partnership with any political parties or the Army's MPs. All of following facts are what she can do according to the current Burmese laws and regulations.

1) She has an authority to recognise Rohingya as one of the indigenous ethnic groups of Burma according to the 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law and reinstate their rights. She no need to change the Law. She can do within weeks like her MPs had enacted the law to create her state counsellor position in 2016 within weeks. Please note that Rohingya have been recognised as an indigenous ethnic group in the period of Democratic civilian U Nu government. Prime Minister U Nu also recognised Mayu District as autonomic region for Rohingya. This Mayu district was directly administered by Central Government. Unfortunately, Dictator General Ne Win became in power 1962. He later abolished Rohingya ethnic rights and autonomic District in his authoritarian rule.

2) She can form a large Emergency Immigration Team to process million of citizenship applications made by Rohingya ethnic. Please note that if they have been recognised as indigenous ethnic group according to above-mentioned Act, Rohingya people will become native citizens of Burma if they can prove that they belong to Rohingya ethnic. This may take some times but she can do within one year because of the previous dictatorship governments have already collected paramount datas for so many years, especially from 1974-2015. It's worthy to mention here that the previous President, ex-General Thein Sein admitted as "After we make ground investigation, there are nothing new comers from Bangladesh (after Burmese independent)." This interview was with VOA Burmese News. And his immigration minister, ex-General Khin Yee also challenged the public who has doubts that there are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, they should come and check anytime. He told in interview with RFA Burmese News. He also pointed out that in Rakhine state, most of immigration officers and employees are Rakhine Buddhist ethnic." He was right in this issue as there's no single ethnic Rohingya Muslim officer in immigration department. Rakhine authorities, they even have detail lists for animals that were owned by Rohingya ethnic. Suu can mobilise all available officers from every part of Burma to implement this mission. She can request technical and financial assistances from UN and INGO agencies.

3) She has more than enough MPs in Burmese Parliament to propose a bill of Racial Discrimination Act and vote to become a law of Burma. If this Act becomes active Law within one month, she can defeat any racists, religious bigots and trouble makers legally. All of the Judges and lawyers of Burma are within her authority. It's true that she has no direct power over police forces and the Army but she can defeat them, if they create any minor problems, with the supports of lawyers, judges, political activists, NGO, INGO, international governments, UN and most importantly her largest supporters, the People.

4) She has power to make new an agreement with Bangladesh government to bring back all of the Rohingya refugees who have fled from ancestral home lands, Mayu District to Bangladesh because of Ethnic Cleansing. She announced that she will use an old agreement that was made by her enemies, previous dictator General Than Shwe government. She can do this within three months.

5) She has power to grant visas to the members of UN Facts Finding Mission to investigate human rights violations in Burma. They will investigate whether these violations are amounted to Ethnic Cleansing or NOT. This can be done within days.

6) She has power to give permission to National and International medias to go Rakhine state. She should respect freedom of press and allow them freely. But journalists need to agree any risks they may face from insurgents are totally depending on their own choices. She can give order to Minister of Home Affairs to provide security to journalists. If Minister is not agree, she has power to replace him via her puppet President. 

7) She also has absolute power to allow any INGOs and NGOs to do their humanitarian works in Rakhine state and allow them to go freely within state. She need to lift any rules that were giving troubles to these agencies such as they need to apply repeated permissions to help who are in needs. She may face some troubles from Buddhist Rakhine who are very hostile to INGO and NGO although they have received more than fair shares from those organisations. But she can get supports from Police forces and media to enforce Rules of Laws. She can also do this within days.

8) She may face some protests for these implementations but she can persuade most of the people with short speech. Today there are a lot of rallies to express their standing with Suu. These will help her a lot. Some people need to be taken as seriously along with Police forces, local administrations, her MPs and part's members, democratic Saffron monks, medias and so on.

9) As she has no power to control the Army, she should agree to talk with ARSA insurgents for peace agreement. ARSA recently released a statement on Twitter, they are ready talk with Suu Kyist Administration for ceasefire. She should not give full authority to Zaw Htay to speak on the behalf of her administration regarding with this issue. Zaw Htay is ex-militant and political critics have suspects regarding with his integrity, attitudes and background. He should be immediately replaced with someone who has reputation, skills and post democratic activist.

10) She should also conclude some portions of Rohingya ethnic leaders as Rakhine ethnic leaders in the Implementation Committee for the recommendations of Kofi Annan commission.

In conclusion, she can do most of the above-mentioned facts in short period of times if she is honest and free from racism as well as religious bigotry.

Wynston Lawrence is Political Analyst and Human Rights Activist based in Western Australia. 

Follow on twitter @LawrenceWynston