The majority of the people of Burma are Buddhists, nearly 90%.
Their numbers include a minority of fundamentalists led by the controversial monk Ashin Riyatul.
After his release from prison for incitement to hatred, he took over an anti-Muslim nationalist
movement called 969.
In 2013, together with other monks and civilians, he established the Association for the Protection
of Race and Religion called MA Bata.
The Association participated in a meeting of some 30,000 monks in February 2014.
The objective was to put forward reforms it wishes Parliament to enshrine in law.
It was an initiative by the members of the community 4.7 years ago.
The
In August 2015, their proposals were enshrined in law by the Tessian government,
although civil society groups considered them to be xenophobic and detrimental to women,
and especially the Muslim minority.
Since 2011 and the transformation of the military regime, there has been greater freedom of speech,
but extremist views are also expressed more freely.
Mabata makes use of this greater flexibility.
As a consequence, tensions between Buddhists and Muslims are increasing.
The situation in the camps is really horrible now because after two and a half years,
there is no progress at all and they're not getting enough shelter.
They're just staying in a squalid camp.
People are not getting enough food, even water.
And there is no enough medical care.
So women and children are dying every day.
These camps house mainly Rohingya people,
an ethnic Muslim minority who have suffered discrimination throughout history.
Moreover, even our children are dead, because a Muslim minority lives in Rohingya.
If these people wants some help, no one can direct them to Rohingya and thats no business at all.
To whom? You do not waste children.
of the Muslim community.
Arakan is the most western state of Burma on the border with Bangladesh. Here two-thirds
of the population are Buddhists and a third are Muslim.
In the Arkan state, three kinds of Muslims in our state. Firstly, they came to the Arkan
state and they are our king. Arkan king don't. At that time, when you saw a few number of
the Muslims in our country. Second is, they came from the British period. The British
government brought a lot of the Bengli to work in the land, especially in the Pam, Pettifil.
So the British government brought them to the Arkan state. At that time, they stayed and
not returned back to the Bangladesh. So it is the second Muslim. That is in our cosmopolitan
period, after independence. Our people are very small in the Buddhidom, Mundo. The lens
is very wide, very nice and very good, the pan-land area. So many of the Bengli came
to the Arkan state to settle.
Bangladesh's potential in terms of agricultural production and natural resources is well below
that of Arkan, while its population density is 15 times higher.
For many in Burma, those who call themselves Rohingyas are Bangladeshis who arrived with
the British or subsequently.
In the Myanmar border, what you look at, Thai people, they are ancient name of Siam. But
we have Sian people, Sian and Siam, and the border, similar. When you look at the old
border areas, so every border has shares, similar people. So in the border of Bangladesh
and Myanmar, we are Rohingyas. So the reason why our face and dialects are similar to people
of other side, that doesn't mean we are Bengali. We are from Myanmar.
In April 2014, the Buddhist Arkan community from around the world met for the first time
in 60 years on the island of Chopu.
By designating this minority Bengalis rather than Rohingya or Arkanis, Buddhists deny them
the right to choose their name and, accordingly, their origin.
While they admit that Muslims have lived in this region for centuries, for them they are
not Rohingya.
Rohingyas are divided on the origin of the word Rohingya. Some maintain it first appeared
several centuries ago, while others say it appeared in the 1950s. In 2014, this non-acceptance
of the Rohingya name became the official policy of the state, at the time of the first population
census for 30 years, supported by the United Nations and some western countries. The government
had pledged to meet international standards, but on the eve of the campaign, it changed
its stance, announcing its refusal to allow this minority to choose the name Rohingya,
to designate its ethnic origin.
When 2012 arrived, because of outbreak of this, I would say, violence, June, October,
they are illegal Bengali immigrants. They are intruder. They are not from our land. They
are outsider. They are not owner. They are guests. They don't belong to us, blah blah.
So many. So people have to speak up. People have to tell, no, we are not Bengali. We are
neither Bengali nor illegal immigrant. We are from here. We have history. Our ancestors
call us Rohingya. We call ourselves Rohingya. And we will tell our children, our ethnic
origin name as Rohingya.
You can say the issue and situation. It is like the tip of the iceberg, but there are
a lot of demand, even in the name Rohingya. So when they say Rohingya, they have all these
political set up behind this, this poor name, the most persecuted people crying faces. So
this is politically motivated. That is the biggest insult to our history and our ancestor.
So we have nothing left in our hand. Every day, our people are going out of our state
and for work as migrant workers. And guys are recruited to the Burmese Army. And people
are not going to the school because they are so poor. So it is sad. It was a nation, an
empire, you know. It is falling apart and it will get disappeared.
Even before the first Burmese Empire of Bagan in the 11th century, Arakhan territory was
at the center of great empires at a crossroads between the Sultanates of South Asia, China
and the Kingdoms of Southeast Asia. Plourishing port cities, trading centers, were a step
on the road towards the east from the Middle East and Europe. These cities hosted the first
inhabitants of the Muslim faith. Politicians, representatives of civil society
and officers of the different Arakhan armies openly exchanged on the future of their state
during five days of debate open to the public. The fear of an invasion is a constant theme.
The fear of an invasion is a constant theme. The fear of an invasion is a constant theme.
The fear of an invasion is a constant theme. The fear of an invasion is a constant theme.
The Arakhanese lost their kingdom and sovereignty over their territory since the invasion by
the last Burmese Empire 230 years ago. Colonized by the English 50 years before the rest of
the country, the Arakhanese have been under the domination of the Burmese central government
since independence. The transition period today and its promise of greater autonomy for the
ethnic groups to manage their states, mean Arakhanese Buddhists now believe that the danger
to their cultural identity no longer comes from the east and the Burmese majority as
before, but from the north and its Muslim population.
The fear of an invasion is a constant theme. The fear of an invasion is a constant theme.
The fear of an invasion is a constant theme. The fear of an invasion is a constant theme.
In our immigration procedure is very strict. If you arrive as a guest from another village,
you have to report to the village headman who called guest list and if you are a stranger,
you are not registered, you will be interrogated, checked and reported and you will be arrested.
And every family has their own family member list. There is no way, no reason an stranger
or a foreigner or a person cannot come as they. For decades, corruption at the border
and in immigration offices has allowed some people from neighboring countries to become
Burmese, but their number is insignificant compared to the one million Rohingya who live
in the country. And while today there is a refusal to accept their existence of this
community, this was not the case at the country's independence.
In 1947, Bama drew their constitution. It was a sponsor. There was an election for the
constitutional assembly. At that time, Aung San was alive. He also gave us citizenship
rights. In that election, no foreigner can represent because Bama will get independence
after some months. Only native citizens were allowed to vote and send their representative
to the assembly. We had the right to select our own representative from Northern Rakhane
State. Three Muslim members were in that assembly.
In 1951 to 1957, this time, the government issued to our people, Rohingya peoples, 2,550,000
registration card. This is my grandfather. He was born in 1957 in our village. Also,
he got the registration card. You know the green card? Yes, that's right.
He's already got it in the 1954 time. 1957. She is my grandmother. Both of them are Rohingya.
Yes, they are Rohingya. Grandfather for my mother's side, 4456.
In 1956, they got the registration card. With that, national registration card. That
is citizenship card. You can enjoy all rights as citizens can, as citizens deserve. You
got government jobs, you got Nema fast food, you got the right to own properties. You can
contest in parliament. The shift in the policy of the central government
towards the Rohingya arrived during the dictatorship of General Nehwin. He launched the military
operation called Dragon King against illegal immigration in Arakhan in 1978. This turned
into a witch hunt against Muslims. 250,000 people fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, most
of them the holders of valid identification cards. Pressure from the international community
forced the dictator to stop his campaign. Until 1982, news, citizenship, access and
force, there are only two kinds of cards. One, national registration card, another foreigner
registration card. Those people who came from India, China and other countries had to hold
that foreigner card. They are law concerning foreigners. All these Rohingya got national
registration card because they are bombing citizens. The new law on nationality enacted
in 1982 listed 135 official ethnic groups in Burma. The Rohingya were excluded. They were
forced to surrender their national identity cards in exchange for temporary papers known
as white cards. In fact, they had lost their Burmese citizenship and were now stateless
persons. This was the first step in a process of depriving them of all their citizens rights.
The second step came in early 2015. The government asked the holders of white cards to surrender
their temporary identity cards. At the same time, they lost one of the few rights they
still had, that of participating in the country's political life. Now they can no longer vote
or stand for election. The last step has been the Iraq and action plan, whereby nationality
must be defined using only the criteria of the 1982 citizenship law.
Yes, two views. In the views of local authorities, they said these people are required to apply
for nationalization, the forms. But the people in the Northern Iraqis feel that they are
originally from there and socially they have been living there. So they don't have to apply
for nationalization as a foreigner. Nationalization always is for a foreigner.
So according to that action plan, only those who qualify for citizenship will get their
citizenship card and they will be resettled. Those who do not qualify for nationalization
even, not full citizen, will be sent to detention camps. From there, Myanmar governments will
communicate with international community or United Nations and send them to bad countries.
Before applying this measure throughout the state, it was first tested in a municipality
where many Rohingya had agreed to be defined as Bengali in the 2014 census.
The Rohingya in Mibong got nationalized citizenship. If you take this one vote for Moundo, Puthidong and Sitweb, and more than 600 or 800 Rohingya will remain without citizenship, you see.
They will become illegal immigrants or illegal Bengalis. So it is not right solution. It is, they are going to carry out what they wish.
They are not going to do things, to solve things according to law.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The votes will travel to India, crossing the entire country northwards, including regions where a majority of the population are Rohingya.
Most important, there are the two Shui pipelines that carry oil and gas to China. Some facilities are close to the Chöpu city, but the common Muslim minority lived before the riots of 2012.
Our peoples are driven out of the cities. City property is available. These governments have no intention to resettle them in the cities.
So it is a governmental planning to deprive of peoples of the facilities of downtown areas, you see. They want to distribute it among themselves, among the Rohingya peoples, or to sell to foreigners for foreign projects.
A demonstration led by monks against Western NGOs turned into a riot in March 2014 in Sitwe. The NGOs were accused of favouring the Rohingya community.
As a consequence, supplies and care for refugee camps were cut off for several weeks.
Some people created the problem because the agitech motivated people to attack the NGO office. But the government arrested only the poor people, not the leader, who are behind the attack.
Because you know who was behind the attack, or who was organising the attack?
Some people, some people in the city. You identify some of the people? No, because I cannot identify them.
Dangerous, dangerous.
There are six or seven people in a motorbike and a king in the NGO. After that, let another police, people follow their people. If they want to stop, they want to control it, they can easily, because the police fire into the air.
You know, the power and the police. But the government is silent.
Complicity between state services such as the police, border guard forces, the army and the extremist Buddhist population of Arakand sometimes goes much further than mere demonstrations.
At 9 p.m. a group of police, 70 police went to the village, Dutyeran village, and then they entered a house and we heard they tried to rape a women and a women scream out.
And at the same time, and then the villagers came and there was quarrel with the police and the villagers.
Then police ran away, go back to the station and suddenly there was a news spread. A police was killed or disappeared.
Then again at 3 p.m., more than 50 police and army, they came to the village again and they surround the village and they shoot the village.
A group of Buddhist civilians reportedly accompanied the armed forces.
The United Nations announced dozens of deaths, but two surveys conducted by the government of the state of Arakand and Myanmar National Human Rights Commission concluded that no violence had occurred.
What cannot be denied, however, is the subsequent flight by boat at the risk of their lives of thousands of Rohingya accompanied by Bangladeshis.
There are many只有 ones also in this area.
Where is one more but it did not happen.
Summoned by one.
One more with me is only
Thank you.
Taking advantage of xenophobic monks and their followers amongst the masses, the political
elites of Arakhan are today taking out on the Rohingya what they and their populations
suffered during the decades of military dictatorship.
A policy of burmanization of ethnic territories accompanied by theft and murder at the hands
of the Urmina.
They have only been able to do this with support from nationalist members of the Tain Sin
government, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Border Affairs.
Articulated by the racist or extremist fringe amongst the monks,
this speech was heard again and again during the campaign.
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biggest ethnic party in the country's assembly.
International pressure remains high regarding the situation in which the Rohingya minority
laid.
After a few months a special advisor to the newly elected president, Ansan Suu Kyi sought
initially to diffuse the debate by asking foreign officials to replace Rohingya by Muslim
of Arakhan, thereby meeting one of the demands of the extremist fringe of the population.
She then formed an advisory committee on the problems of Arakhan led by the former Secretary
General of the United Nations, Pofianan.
In October 2016, a group of Rohingyas, some of whom were linked to foreign Islamist fundamentalist
groups, staged violent attacks against police stations in Northern Arakhan.
In retaliation, the army and police completely cut off access to the area and cracked down
on the local population, committing looting, rapes and murders.
Today, the situation of the Muslim minority in Arakhan remains a major challenge for the
government of Ansan Suu Kyi, as it attempts to reconcile all of the country's population.
