ROHINGYA: THE MOST PERSECUTED AND FORGOTTEN MUSLIM MINORITY

UNIW COUNCIL MEMBER MAKES OBSERVATORY VISIT TO MYANMAR

Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State, located in the west of Myanmar, are under oppression and are victims of recent atrocities since early June while the international community is oblivious of the real dimensions of the tyranny and unjust practices applied upon Rohingya people by the Buddhist Rakhines with the support of the police force in the country.

Mr. Ahmed Azam Abdul Rahman, UNIW Council Member for Malaysia & Chairman of Global Peace Mission, Malaysia (GPM), paid a visit to Myanmar between 11 and 13 July in order to make am observation on the situation of Muslim Rohingyas in Arakan. We share below the brief report prepared by the visiting delegation:-

ROHINGYA: THE MOST PERSECUTED AND FORGOTTEN MUSLIM MINORITY

1. A fact finding mission by Global Peace Mission, Malaysia (GPM) and Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) was sent to Yangon, Myanmar from 11-13 July and  relevant Muslim organizations in Myanmar to seek ways and means to assist the Rohingya Muslims suffering continuous persecution from the majority Burmese Buddhists in Myanmar.

2. We met political party leaders and others representing the Rohingya, NGOs, journalists, businessmen, ulama and youth leaders.

3. We were informed that the General (Retired) Thein Sein's party, Union Socialist Development Party (USDP) which is the ruling party, is trying to mediate Myanmar's transition to democracy amidst a hardcore military junta that is against it. The competing forces between Thein Sein, Aung San Su Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Military junta in the newly democratic space created under the pressure of the Western nations remain fluid with uncertainties.

4. However, ironically, on the issue of Rohingya, all of them seem to be with one voice i.e. Rohingyas are Bengalis migrating from Bangladesh and thus they are illegal immigrants and are regarded as non citizens. Even Aung San Suu Kyi, the icon of democracy and human rights of Myanmar gave a very lukewarm response on this issue. She said that the Rohingya issue has to be settled within the purview of the legal framework of Myanmar.

5. On the 13th of July, President Thein Sein made a very shocking and revealing statement to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The commissioner was on an official visit to Myanmar to mediate on the Rohingya issue. President Thein Sein told UNHCR that there are only two solutions for the Rohingya i.e. either sent them to the Refugee camps or sent them to a Third country. This uncompromising and arrogant stand coming from the President of Myanmar exposes the true face of the Myanmar government i.e. Islamophobic and Xenophobic. This statement has rendered the Rohingya as a permanently stateless community just because of race and religion.

 6. The United Nations, European Union, Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) have expressed grave concerns on the statement by the President of Myanmar, and a flurry of diplomatic engagements is reported being carried out to find solutions to the Rohingya issue.

REPRESSION, DISCRIMINATION, MASSACRE, FORCED DISPLACEMENT, ETHNIC CLEANSING

7. The Rohingya has suffered grave human rights violation perpetrated by successive Burmese regimes since Independence in 1947. Arbitrary killings, rape, torture, land confiscation, forced labour, forced relocation, theft, extortion and a pattern of discrimination perpetrated by Government authorities in cohort with the local Rakhine Buddhist happen continuously since then. In 1982, dictator General Ne Win enacted The New Citizenship Law which stripped the Rohingya as citizens of Burma (Myanmar – the new name of the state instituted by the Military Junta). Since then, the Rohingya were treated as illegal immigrants where fundamental human rights such as freedom of movement, right to education, right to employment and right to healthcare are being denied. The situation was so unbearable that it has forced 1.5 million out of 3 million Rohingya to migrate to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Europe. The ethnic cleansing policy has resulted in cutting the Rohingya population into half. The recent massacre started in June 3, 2012 is believed to be a deliberate and preplanned policy by the Myanmar government to complete the ethnic cleansing policy of the rest of the 1.5 million Rohingya to third countries.

8. After almost one month of the planned massacre, the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD), a political party representing the Rohingya reported number of casualties resulted from the planned crisis as follows:

43 villages being attacked

5,915 houses burnt

555 being killed (number varies from 500 to 10,000) There is no way to verify these information due to strict government control on any news coming out of Arakan.

300 injured

34 mosques destroyed

4 universities destroyed

24 schools destroyed

300 arrested

35,400 become refugees. UNHCR put the figure as 90,000 refugees.

500,000 lost their source of income due to curfews. They could not work on their farms.

20,000 had to live by the river banks and jungles to escape persecution.

9. We expect more atrocities and casualties in the next few weeks especially after the statement by President Thein Sein, has encouraged and motivated the Rakhine Buddhist militia to complete the ethnic cleansing policy with extreme zealousness. We also expect hunger and starvation to be rampant and beyond control.

WHAT CAN BE DONE - MODUS OPERANDI

10. We have decided to launch the "IFTAR RAMADAN for ROHINGYA" campaign during this month of Ramadan as an emergency relief to ward off the eminent hunger and starvation calamity. We are working with the Chairman of All Myanmar Islamic Relief Organization, Mr. Abdul Hafiz @ Aung Naing to provide the 5 basic needs of the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) i.e. rice, flour, cooking oil, beans and milk for 15,000 families (1 family x 6 members) approximately 90,000 IDPs for one month at USD70 per family. We must raise at least USD1,050,000 during this Ramadan.

 11. All Myanmar Islamic Relief Organization (AMIRO) consist of 5 major Muslim organizations i.e. 1. Jamiyyatul Ulama of Myanmar 2. Islamic Religious Affair Council of Myanmar 3. All Myanmar Maulvi Organization 4. All Myanmar Youth Religious Organization 5. Myanmar Muslim National Affairs Organization. All these bodies are given Consultative status with the Religious authorities of the Government. They are recognised and authorised by the Myanmar government to deliver humanitarian aid to the Rohingya IDPs in Arakan. In fact they were flown to Arakan by the government to witness the intensity of the crisis. Immediately after the visit, AMIRO organised a relief campaign amongst Muslim communities in Yangon and managed to deliver food packages worth USD200,000 and another USD600,000 by vessels to Arakan for distribution.

12. AMIRO is willing to assist UNIW through Global Peace Mission to distribute any humanitarian aid into Arakan.

13. Global Peace Mission(GPM) and the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia has already launched 'IFTAR RAMADAN FOR ROHINGYA' with the support of UNIW to raise at least USD 1,050,000 for food assistance by the end of Ramadan to enable the IDPs to celebrate Eidul Fitr as well.

 14. All donations can be channeled through GPM accounts, and then it will be directed to AMIRO for them to organise the distribution. There are requests by donor organizations to visit Arakan during the distribution process. Please bear in mind that Arakan is still under curfew, and only a limited number of United Nation agencies are being allowed access to the conflict zone. AMIRO will seek advice from the Government on allowing foreign NGOs entering the conflict zone for purely delivering humanitarian assistance.

  

Ahmad Azam Abdul Rahman

UNIW Council Member

Chairman, Global Peace Mission, Malaysia.

(courtesy of  Union of NGOs of the Islamic World UNIW  http://www.theunity.org )
*edited for language