Bangkok Conference Offers Recommendations for Solving the Rohingya Problem of Myanmar
Violence against the Rohingya people, who are
overwhelmingly Muslim and comprise slightly less than half the total population
in the Arakan (now Rakhine) state, located in the western part of Myanmar
(formerly Burma), close to Bangladesh, is not new in the Buddhist-majority
country. The government media suggested that it was a communal riot triggered
by the alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine woman by a Rohingya youth.
As usual, the regime failed to provide any concrete
evidence proving that such a crime was committed by the alleged rapist. In the
past, racial riots were known to have been orchestrated by the regime when such
crimes would be committed by its own forces and then the body of the
unfortunate victim dumped in a sensitive area. The fact that the alleged rapist
was later found dead by hanging himself in the closely monitored prison cell
once again shows that this may probably be the case here as well. As expected,
with deep-seated racism that the majority Rakhine Buddhists entertain against
the Rohingya Muslims, within days of the rape crime, ten Tablighi Burmese
Muslims (who were not even Rohingya) were lynched to death on June 3 by an organized
Rakhine mob, while the police stood by and did nothing to stop such horrendous crimes.
Then on June 8 when a peaceful funeral gathering of
the Rohingya people was fired upon by the police, a wholesale riot ensued.
Since then dozens of Muslim villages and hundreds of mosques have also been
totally burned down by the Buddhist mob, aided often by government riot police Lon
Htin and NASAKA security forces. Hundreds of Muslim owned businesses, schools
and madrasas have also been destroyed. The Rohingya people were even barred
from attending the Eid prayer, the happiest of Muslim festivals celebrating the
end of the fasting month of Ramadhan. Curfew has been imposed by the
government, which does not allow the Rohingya people to move and buy essential
life saving food and medicine, while the Rakhine mobs are allowed to rob and
destroy Muslim owned homes and businesses. And what is worse, Buddhist monks,
encouraged by racist Rakhine politicians have blocked the sale and movement of
life-saving drugs and food materials from reaching the Rohingya people who now
face starvation and serious dehydration.
In the absence of reliable estimates but based on
internal evidences, gathered by international human rights monitoring groups,
tens of thousands of Rohingya people may have perished in this latest pogrom.
Nearly a hundred thousand Rohingyas are internally displaced and many have been
pushed to seek refuge or asylum in any country willing to provide them shelter.
Since the days of hated dictator Ne Win who stepped
down in 1988 in the midst of violent student protests, the regimes (military or
a quasi-civil-military) have exploited racism and bigotry to divide and rule
the Buddhist-majority country. The on-going violence against the Rohingya
people show that it is part of a very sinister and calculated national project
towards ethnically cleansing them that is orchestrated by the Myanmar
government and widely supported and promoted at the central and local levels by
the ultra-racist elements within the government and civilian population of the
Rakhine state. So pervasive is this national project that even Daw Suu Kyi,
previously deemed a voice of humanity and conscience within Myanmar , is accused
of silently approving of this ethnic cleansing. Many of her NLD party members
have openly encouraged violence against the Rohingya people.
In the midst of international outcry, the Thein Sein
government has lately announced the formation of a 27-member internal inquiry
commission to investigate the causes behind the latest riot. However, its
inclusion of certain Rakhine and Burmese members who had openly encouraged
violence against the targeted Rohingya shows that his government is not serious
about dealing with the problem honestly but is doing everything as a face-saving
measure to avoid an international independent inquiry requested by the world
community.
To find probable solutions to the existing
problems, Arakan Rohingya Organization - Japan (JARO) and Rohingya
National Organization in Thailand (RNOT) jointly sponsored an International
Rohingya Conference in Bangkok ,
Thailand . The
theme of the conference was “Contemplating
Burma ’s
Rohingya People’s Future in Reconciliation and (Democratic) Reform.”
The conference was held on August 15, 2012 at Thammasat University ,
Thaprachan, Bangkok , and was attended by nearly
a hundred participants who came from Thailand ,
Japan , Canada , USA ,
Myanmar , Malaysia , Australia ,
Bangladesh , Cambodia and Singapore . Several members from the
local/international media, NGOs, ASEAN countries, and Thai-based foreign embassies
also attended the conference.
The conference was moderated by Mrs. Chalida
Tajaroensuk, Director of People’s Empowerment Foundation and started with an
opening speech from Mr. Salim Ullah, President of JARO. I was invited
as the keynote speaker. The other speakers included Professor Abid Bahar
(author of the book - Burma's
Missing Dots) from Canada, Mr. Muhammad Anwar Burmi of RNOT, Mr. Suja Uddin (a human rights
activist) from Australia and Mr. Noor Alam (a human rights activist) from
Thailand.
In my keynote speech I cited evidences proving that
the Rohingyas are victims of an apartheid policy that has no parallel in our
time. The 1982 Burma Citizenship Law has effectively rendered them stateless,
thus denying all rights to them – including of movement, marriage,
reproduction, education, health and employment. They are viewed as invaders or
illegal immigrants from nearby Bangladesh
since the British colonial period (post-1826).
In his speech, Prof. Abid Bahar challenged this false
notion. With ample of historical evidences, he demonstrated that the Rohingya
people were neither implanted by the British administration since 1826 nor did
they intrude into Arakan from Bangladesh
after the Union of Burma (Myanmar )
had achieved her independence in 1948.
I noted that until and unless the 1982 Law, which
violates every Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is
amended, this on-again and off-again pogrom to exterminate the Rohingya people
would continue; they would become an extinct community. As such the world
community has a duty to stop this ethnic cleansing one way or another.
In his speech, Mr. Azmi Abdul Hamid, Secretary General
of MAPIM, from Malaysia mentioned
that his organization was organizing an aid flotilla to be sent next month to help alleviate the serious humanitarian crisis
prevailing now in Arakan.
The
conference called upon the Myanmar
government to immediately amend or repeal the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law
thereby removing the burdensome standard of proof for attaining citizenship,
and thus granting the Rohingya and other minority entities full citizenship and
accompanying rights. It asked the government to sign and ratify the 1954
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention
on the Reduction of Statelessness and fulfill its international obligation to
prevent statelessness of all affected people.
The
Myanmar government was
called upon by the conference to address the other fundamental human rights
problems which have caused the Rohingya and other minority communities to flee
to Bangladesh
and other countries, including abolishing the practice of forced labor in
compliance with the 1930 International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on
Forced Labor, which the Burmese government signed in 1955. Towards this end, as
recommended by the ILO, the government was called upon to amend or repeal the
sections of the Village and Towns Acts that legally sanction the conscription
of labor.
The
conference also called upon Myanmar
government to protect the rights of the children, in accordance with the
government's commitment to children's rights through its ratification of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. In particular, it demanded that all
children born of Rohingya parents (and other "stateless" minorities)
should be granted Myanmar
nationality, including those born in refugee camps in Bangladesh , Thailand and elsewhere. It asked
the government to ensure that children are not forced to work under any circumstance,
and that it does not discriminate against Muslim (and non-Buddhist) children in
its provision of education benefits.
Since
nearly half the Rohingya population is forced now to a life of refugee outside,
the conference called upon the Myanmar
government to ensure that all refugees are able to exercise their right to
return and to guarantee their full reintegration with full respect for their
human rights.
While
Thein Sein’s gesture in releasing some political prisoners was appreciated, the
conference called upon his government to release all its political prisoners
and dropping all charges against them and their family members.
The
conference called upon the Myanmar
government to pay due compensation for the loss of lives and properties of the
victims of the current pogrom, and to repatriate and rehabilitate each one of
the fleeing refugees who had fled or sought refugee status outside.
Furthermore, the conference called upon the government to allow international
NGOs and aid agencies to provide material and medical aid to the suffering
people, plus allowing the presence of international monitors, e.g., human
rights groups and journalists, to continuously monitor the restive region so as
to provide needed and accurate information on a timely manner.
In
my talk, I also mentioned that the protection of minorities against injustice
and intolerance was not a matter of compassion or sympathy of the
majority. Human rights in a democracy are held to be inalienable – no
human being could be deprived of those rights in a democracy by the will of the
majority of the sovereign people. As such, I called upon the government to
correct its age-old xenophobia, hatred and intolerance of the Rohingya people
through all means necessary including education and media outlets, plus punishing
the culprits – both the perpetrators and promoters of hatred.
The
conference criticized the attitude of the so-called democracy leaders in Myanmar who
through endorsement or silence thereof on-going extermination campaign against
the Rohingya minorities have proven to be closet fascists. They were warned
about the serious consequence of their actions and that if they did not correct
their ways, they could face prosecution in the international courts (much like
what has happened with Julius Streicher of the Nazi era in the Nuremburg
Trial).
In
my closing talk on finding solution, I discussed the problems with the ideology
of new “Myanmarism”, which promotes ultra-nationalism of the dominant race and religious
intolerance against the minority races, which are sure recipes for a failed
state in our time. I also mentioned that citizenship based on ethnicity or race
is a feudal concept that has no place in the 21st century. As such, if Myanmar were to avoid becoming a failed state,
it must abandon this toxic ideology and promote a series of dialogues between
the leaders of the Rohingya and Rakhine community immediately towards
reconciliation, inclusion and integration within Myanmar without any
prejudice.
The
conference also warned the Myanmar government that its failure to resolve the
crisis -- by amending or removing the Citizenship Law, which is at the heart of
the Rohingya problem -- could result in its leaders being pursued in the
International Criminal Court (similar to those faced by the likes of Slobodan
Milosevic of former Yugoslavia) for serious violations of international
humanitarian laws against the Rohingyas of Myanmar.
It
further noted that if Myanmar
were to survive as a Federal Union, enough trust-building provisions were
necessary so that every minority community – religious, ethnic, or otherwise – could
feel equal with other dominant races and groups. The true spirit of
Republicanism, in clear distinction to 'Myanmarism', must be embraced as the
only alternative for survival of a future democratic Myanmar .
As
to the treatment of the refugees, the conference, called upon the member states
of the United Nations to stop the ‘push back’ of fleeing refugees from Myanmar against
their wishes, and instead, to ensure adequate provisions for food, education,
job and healthcare. They should not be barred from seeking asylum in a third
country.
The
conference also noted the cat-and-mouse tactics of the Myanmar regime and as
such called upon the UN member states, esp. the veto-wielding powers, to press
the Myanmar government to immediately repeal its 1982 Citizenship Act that is
highly discriminatory and in violations of several international laws and
charters of the UN and its member agencies. It also asked the world body to press
the Myanmar government to
stop its inhuman and degrading treatment of all minorities, esp. the Rohingyas
of the Rakhine State . It also called upon the UNSC to
put a time limit of six months to amend the citizenship issue, thus, restoring
citizenship rights of the Rohingya, failing which to prosecute the regime in
the Hague for its horrible records of crimes against humanity, and to declare
the Mayu Frontier Territories (in northern Arakan) a ‘safe’ territory for the
Rohingyas of Myanmar so that they could live there with honor, dignity, safety
and security.
In
my concluding remarks I duly noted that unless Myanmar government corrects the
Rohingya problem allowing them to live as equal citizens the agenda could be
hijacked by extremists on both sides of the Muslim-Buddhist divide which could
lead to war of secession of the troubled region.
How
serious is the so-called reform minded government of Thein Sein to take his
poverty-stricken country to the twenty first century which is increasingly becoming
plural and open to possibilities? If he is serious, he ought to listen to the
voices heard in the Bangkok international conference which while discussing the
problem of current violence plaguing his western frontier territory did not shy
away from offering needed recommendations that could help stabilize the country
and attract much needed foreign investment.
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