By Dr. Habib Siddiqui
It has been little more than two months that Aung San Suu Kyi was
elected into the lower house of Burmese Parliament. The by-elections
(only the country's third in half a century) in which her party NLD won
44 of the 45 available seats were a crucial test of reforms that
convinced the West to soften its pariah image.
The United States and European Union hinted that some sanctions -
imposed over the past two decades in response to gross human rights
abuses (e.g., against the minority Rohingya Muslims and Kachin and
Karen Christians) - might be lifted, unleashing a wave of investment,
which this impoverished but resource-rich country, bordering
Bangladesh, Thailand, India and China, badly needs.
Last year the U.S. Secretary of State Clinton met with Burma’s
leaders and opposition leader Suu Kyi. Soon after the election in April
Japan has already promised to forgive $3.7 billion of Burma’s debt and
resume aid as a way to support the country’s democratic and economic
reforms. Last month during his visit to Myanmar, the first by an Indian
Prime Minister in 25 years, Manmohan Singh held extensive talks with
Myanmar President Thein Sein and extended a $ 500 million line of
credit to Myanmar as it signed 15 agreements on fields like trade,
energy and connectivity. On June 9, the Australian Foreign Minister
pledged $100m aid to boost its education sector, where less than half
of Burma's 18 million children complete five years of primary school
and only about half of all teachers are qualified.
In spite of such positive developments in the international sector,
the religious minorities remain disillusioned. "We have been forsaken
by the world," a Rohingya human rights activist complained. Similar are
the messages I receive about human rights abuses in Kachin, Shan and
Karen states. My comrades at the U.S. Campaign for Burma remind me that
this year alone there have been at least 750 incidents of human rights
abuses committed by the Burmese troops against ethnic minority
civilians, and that there are still hundreds of political prisoners
behind the bar, and that more and more of the ethnic non-Buddhist
minorities are forced out of their ancestral land to either replant
such territories with Buddhist majority or make way for foreign
investment.
The ongoing diplomacy and the so-called "cease-fires" in ethnic
areas are seen for what they are—an alibi for the abdication of
morality in the altar of profit-making and greed, and a lifeline for
the regime.
Optimistic as I have always been, I try to comfort them that they
are neither forgotten nor forsaken, and better days are ahead of them
when they would be accepted as equal citizens in Myanmar.
As an outsider, living comfortably on the other side of the planet,
little did I know that these unfortunate minorities of Burma would
again be made a target of ugly face of religious and racial hatred. As
I write, Maung Daw – located in northern Arakan (Rakhine state of
Burma) is burning, as if mimicking the pogroms against the Rohingya and
Muslim minorities of Burma that started in the 1930s [see, e.g., an
excellent review – Rohingya Tangled in Burmese Citizenship Politics by
Nurul Islam, UK].
Reliable sources within the territory tell me that on June 3, a mob
of nearly hundred Rakhine Buddhist extremists attacked a bus that was
carrying some ten Tablighi Muslims who were returning to Rangoon after
their religious gathering. They were dragged from their bus by these
brutes in Taungup, situated as the main gateway for travel to central
Burma from the Arakan State. They were lynched to death and their bus
was set on fire. Only the driver was able to flee the scene. It should
be noted here that all this gruesome murder happened based on a false
rumor that those Muslims had something to do with a recent murder of a
Rakhine female teacher whose body was found in Sittwe (Akyab), the
state capital with a mixed Rakhine-Rohingya population. While the
subsequent inquiries had cleared Muslims of any complicity in the
murder of the teacher, to many Rakhines who are prone to imagine the
worst of the ‘other’ people that have as much contesting claim to the
land, if not more, the culprit had to be a Muslim. So they savagely
murdered those innocent Muslims that had visited the region. These
innocent victims were at wrong time at a wrong place!
U Khin Hla, Secretary of the National League for Democracy in
Taungup, told the VOA Burmese program, “I think such an incident
happened due to the lack of law and order because it happened in broad
daylight just around 4:30 pm, and it was also not just an incident in
which a man hacked and killed another and ran away. On the contrary, I
think the officials who are working for the rule of law and order in
the country are responsible for such an incident.”
After the news of the inhuman act of gruesome murder reached the
Muslim community, Muslims in Rangoon held a peaceful demonstration and
asked the government officials to find and try the guilty ones of this
heinous crime. The government promptly formed a 16-member committee to
investigate the matter by June 30 and take legal actions against the
perpetrators. Interestingly, the announcement for investigation came a
day after the government was forced to print a retraction for referring
to the victims as “kalar” – a racial slur for Muslims or persons of
Indian appearance – in their official appeal for calm after the
violence.
When approached at her NLD office, the Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi
expressed concern at the handling of the situation by local Rakhine
authorities, esp. their failure to dampen anti-Muslim sentiment after
the woman was attacked. “If the very first problem was handled
effectively and quickly, this flicker wouldn't have become a flame,”
she said. Urging understanding between Rakhine's religious communities
she advised, “don't base your actions on anger.”
Apprehensive of potential troubles to brew in Maung Daw, a Muslim
majority district, close to Bangladesh border, the district
administrator and police chief met with Muslim community leaders and
sought cooperation against any retaliation. Muslim leaders assured them
of their cooperation. A decision was taken by Muslim religious leaders
to apprise the community on Friday, June 8, during the Jumu’aa prayer
service, of the assurance that they had received from government and
the absolute importance of peace and avoidance of trouble.
After Friday congregation prayer, when a group of Muslims were
trying to join a payer at Kayandan Tabligh Centre in Maung Daw for
those 10 Muslims who were murdered by the Rakhine extremists at
Taunggup, the security forces, however, tried to stop them and then
started firing at the crowd killing at least two people and injuring
many others. Some extremist Rakhines, hiding behind the police, threw
wine bottles against the Muslims, further fueling the already tense
situation.
While curfew has been imposed in Maung Daw from dusk to dawn,
several Muslim villages have already been gutted down. Almost all the
Muslim shops and business centers have also been attacked and ransacked
by the Rakhine mob. On Saturday armed security forces with Rakhine
extremist equipped with lethal arms were seen roaming Maung Daw town
and surrounding villages. That morning four Rohingyas were carried away
from Fayazi village of Maung Daw. Their whereabouts still remain
unknown.
Eye witness accounts have shown that the Rakhine extremists and the
security forces Hlun Htein and NASAKA had jointly collaborated in
causing such crimes. On Friday, Rakhines were seen piling up weapons in
the Maung Daw main Buddhist temple (Phongyi Chaung) and planning
attacks at nightfall. Since Friday, Buddhist monks and Rakhine
extremists have been seen being escorted by security forces while they
were announcing ‘War on Kalas’, (war on blacks, foreigners – meaning
the Rohingyas) along the streets of Maung Daw. This dangerous message
spread like a wild fire all over Maung Daw and Buthidaung townships.
Many of the security forces, dressed in civilian clothes, were seen
firing on the Rohingya Muslims. As a result, at least a hundred
Rohingya Muslims have reportedly died. Several mosques have also been
set on fire.
The Myanmar government has dispatched military troops and naval
vessels to calm the violence. In a statement in official newspapers on
Saturday, the All Myanmar Islam Association condemned "the terrorizing
and destruction of lives and properties of innocent people" and called
on Muslims across the country to live in peace.
How could this be happening when we thought that we had said
sayonara to the old days of Burmese and Rakhine pogroms directed
against the persecuted Muslims of Burma? In the Rakhine state where
tensions between Muslims and Buddhists run high, and has been witnesses
to such riots many times since at least the 1930s, a mere mention of
the term ‘Rohingya’ is enough to ignite passion amongst the Rakhines
who view them at best as unwanted immigrants from Bangladesh and at
worst “invaders.”
The truth of the matter is Burma, in spite all the newer
developments – mostly cosmetic or superficial – still remains our
planet’s worst den of hatred by any name - bigotry, racism, xenophobia,
etc. For many people in Burma, a Burmese is a Buddhist by definition;
Buddhism forms an essential part of their identity; there is no place
for people of other religious persuasions.
The decades-old military government in Burma has been replaced by a
hybrid group of civil and ex-military personnel that promises change.
However, the life of an ethnic minority, esp. if it is a non-Buddhist,
has not improved an iota there. They are persecuted and are easy
targets for ethnic cleansing. They are treated as if they don’t exist.
As noted by Mr. Nurul Islam of ARNO, “U Thein Sein’s government has not
changed their attitude towards our people. It is still holding onto to
past policies which excluded, discriminated and persecuted the Rohingya
population. We need to remind the government Rohingyas are an integral
part of the Burma’s society regardless of the fact that their
appearance, ethnicity and religion is different than the majority of
the population.” He added, “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi so far has been
surprisingly silent regarding the persecution of our people. As a
democratic icon, advocating for human rights for all, we urge her to
use her influence to speak out on behalf the Rohingya, who have no
voice in Burma.”
There are clear evidences that the authorities in Arakan state have
been guilty of collaborating with Rakhine leadership to sow anti-Muslim
sentiment among the Buddhist people so that they can be terrorized, to
help prevent Muslim migration and settlement into central Burma from
the region.
As eye witness accounts and social media outlets show when the
Rakhine mob attacked the Tablighi Muslims on June 3, the army and
police personnel did not do anything to stop the carnage. One eye
witness said, “The police and the army were there when the mob was
beating the victims, but they did not do anything to control the mob or
protect the victims.
The attack happened right in front of their eyes.” He added, ““If
the army or police had controlled the mob, they would have been able to
save the victims. They knew the situation well, but they did not do
anything to control the mob or protect the victims.”
The level of deep-rooted Rakhine racism against the Rohingya can be
understood from the hateful statement of Khaing Kaung San, a local
Rakhine activist in Sittwe, who said, "They [Rohingyas] are fighting to
own the land, occupy the entire state." "They don't need weapons; just
by their numbers they can cover the entire land."
Obviously, such false assertions epitomizing intolerance, racism and
hatred are not new and cannot disappear overnight when it is so deeply
entrenched touching every walk of life in Burma, esp. in places like
the Rakhine state. The politically dominant Rakhine community doesn’t
want to share the state with others. This, in spite of the fact that
serious works of research have proven convincingly that the Rohingyas
are the descendants of the indigenous people (bhumi-putras) of this
coastal region whose ties to the land precede those of the Rakhines by
few centuries. [See, e.g., this author’s work - Muslim Identity and
Demography in the Arakan State of Burma, Amazon.com; and Dr. Abid
Bahar’s – Burma’s Missing Dots – the emerging face of genocide.]
The recent riots in the Rakhine state once again highlight the
vulnerable status of the Rohingyas of Burma. Declared stateless, they
are unwanted inside Myanmar and unwelcome as fleeing refugees in
neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Thailand. This is the
greatest tragedy of our time. They are caught between crocodiles in the
sea and tigers on the ground.
Where would they go? Should they become an extinct community much
like what had happened to so many others before in the annals of
history? Or, must they wander in the wilderness for two millennia and
suffer repeated persecution, humiliation and genocide to qualify as
equals in our world?
For my part, I have petitioned my Congressman to cosponsor the
Resolution H. J. Res. 109 to renew the Burmese Freedom and Democracy
Act, which is the only leverage the U.S. has left to push the Burmese
regime to move forward with positive changes and hold them accountable
for widespread human rights abuses and mass atrocities they commit
against the people of Burma.
It is not enough, but better than doing nothing and being a silent spectator to violence!
Lines in the margin:
General Aung San assured full rights and privileges to Muslim
Rohingya Arakanese saying “I give (offer) you a blank cheque. We will
live together and die together. Demand what you want. I will do my best
to fulfill them. If native people are divided, it will be difficult to
achieve independence for Burma."
"The former first President of Burma Sao Shwe Theik stated, “Muslims
of Arakan certainly belong to one of the indigenous races of Burma. If
they do not belong to the indigenous races, we also cannot be taken as
indigenous races.”
"The previous parliamentary government listed 144 ethnic groups in
Burma. But Ne Win put only 135 groups on a short list, and then was
approved by his BSPP regime’s constitution of 1974. The three Muslim
groups of Rohingya (Muslim Arakanese), Panthay (Chinese Muslims), Bashu
(Malay Muslims) and six other ethnic groups were deleted. "
Photos of burned and killed Tablighi Muslims in recent Rakhine carnage.
Color-coding of individuals - Hitler's Nazi regime was into
color-coding and other forms of classification of peoples and
individuals. "In 1989, colour-coded Citizens Scrutiny Cards (CRCs) were
introduced: pink cards for the full citizens, blue for associate
citizens and green for naturalized citizens. Rohingya were not issued
with any identity cards which are very essentials in all their
activities."
http://danyawadi.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/rohingya-tangled-in-burma-citi...
http://cbnbd.com/?p=6738
http://rafiquearakani.blogspot.com/2012/06/security-personnel-and-rakhin...
http://rafiquearakani.blogspot.com/2012/06/briefing-on-situation-in-nort...
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/distrust-fuels-anti-muslim-...
http://cbnbd.com/?p=6738
http://rafiquearakani.blogspot.com/2012/06/security-personnel-and-rakhin...
http://rafiquearakani.blogspot.com/2012/06/briefing-on-situation-in-nort...
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/distrust-fuels-anti-muslim-...
- Asian Tribune –
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