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
*edited for language
