GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

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COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION: GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR A common feeling expressed by the Rakhine is that they suffer from discrimination and neglect under Bamar rule. A local civil society leader, referring to the fact that Rakhine State’s former chief minister, Maung Maung Ohn, was both Bamar and a former general, said: ‘We feel that we are being ruled by the army’. 48 He elaborated: We feel like we are under neo-colonialism because everything is controlled by the Burmese – education, economics, everything. In all townships, the most important positions are for Burmese. Township officers here in Mrauk U are all Burmese. The Arakanese feel like we are still living under colonialism. 49 In early 2015, Rakhine civilians, accused of links with the outlawed rebel Arakan Army, 50 were harassed, arrested and tortured under Myanmar’s notorious Unlawful Association Act. Tensions were raised when, following clashes between the tatmadaw (Myanmar’s armed forces) and the Arakan Army in April 2015, the tatmadaw was accused of blocking aid to displaced Rakhine. 51 Rakhine activists have also been imprisoned for peacefully protesting against the Shwe Gas pipeline. 52 Several interviewees expressed concern about the project and described forms of resistance to it. According to one: The gas from the Shwe Gas pipeline, US$1.5 billion per year for 30 years, it’s all going to China. We demonstrated, made statements… but nothing happened. The benefits from the pipeline are nothing for us. All profits are going to Nay Pyi Taw. We have many natural resources – seafood/ fishing, marble, titanium, bamboo forests, rice paddy and gas, but we’re still the second poorest state. 53 The Secretary of a Rakhine civil society organisation elaborated on the detrimental impact the pipeline is having: Recently, the Rakhine Women’s Network has been working with [Rakhine] labourers who have been working on the Shwe gas pipeline under terrible conditions. They have no shelter, no toilets, no water. 54 48 Senior Member of a Rakhine civil society organisation based in Sittwe, interviewed on 12 November 2014 in Sittwe. 49 Interviewed on 25 January 2015 in Mrauk U. 50 The Arakan Army was formed in 2009 and is based primarily in Kachin state. Its mission is ‘to protect our Arakan people, and to establish peace and justice and freedom and development’. See: Ye Mon, ‘Rakhine chief minister hits out at army over fighting’, Myanmar Times, 1 May 2015: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/14221-rakhine-chief-ministerhits-out-at-army-over-fighting.html. Accessed 10 October 2015. See also: BNI, ‘Army accused of torture in Rakhine state’, Mizzima, 1 May 2015: http://mizzima.com/news-domestic/army-accused-torture-rakhine-state. Accessed 10 October 2015. 51 Nyein Nyein, ‘Burma Army Blocked Aid to Fleeing Arakan Villagers: Relief Group’, The Irrawaddy, 22 April 2015. http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/burma-army-blocked-aid-to-fleeing-arakan-villagers-relief-group.html. Accessed 20 October 2015. 52 See: ‘Burma: Release Ten Arakanese Activists, Amend Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Processions Law’, Shwe Gas Movement, 29 September 2013: http://www.shwe.org/burma-release-ten-arakanese-activists-amend-peaceful-assemblyand-peaceful-processions-law/. Accessed 10 October 2015. 53 Interviewed on 25 January 2015 in Mrauk U. 54 Interviewed on 24 November 2014 in Sittwe. 30
2. BACKGROUND The perceived Bamar occupation and economic neglect of Rakhine state has contributed to a particularly extreme form of nationalist scape-goating among Rakhine which frames Muslims, and the Rohingya in particular, as the primary economic and cultural threat. For example, a Rakhine elder told ISCI: ‘There are more jobs now because there are no Muslims anymore’. 55 Rakhine civil society Rakhine civil society is still in its infancy. It combines traditional human rights activism around land, labour, environment and development issues, with an extreme form of anti-Rohingya propagandising. ISCI found that the Myanmar government has successfully manipulated the Rakhine into believing that their primary enemy is not the State but the Rohingya. As one Rakhine interviewee said, ‘The government have told us – “we are not your enemy, the Bengali are your enemy”.’ 56 Some civil society activists admitted that they had been distracted by the ‘Bengali issue’ to the extent that their campaigns against land grabbing, forced evictions and economic exploitation had been marginalised. One prominent Rakhine human rights activist spoke of the Myanmar government’s manipulation of the conflict to advance economic exploitation: Sometimes the government manipulates the Rakhine, you know? Because they want to continue the projects, like the gas pipeline project, oil pipeline. We have a lot of campaigns, so they just manipulate the Bengali conflict, then everyone worries about the refugees and then nobody cares about the Kaladan project! These projects, even though we have conflict here they continue. The government diverts our attention!... The government creates trouble between the two communities. It is also because of the development projects. Their strategy is for the regional development projects like Shwe Gas Project and Kaladan Project… we demand a share in the profits, you know, from the government. We have had campaigns against these projects, like our 24 hour electricity campaigns… This campaign was growing, spreading from Sittwe, Kyauk Phyu, to other regions… and the government is using the conflict, creating problems between the communities, and using this to take the profits… 57 ISCI also found that Rakhine civil society organisations and the state’s dominant political party, the ANP, to be closely aligned. For example, one activist and member of the ANP reported: ‘There are different organisations in Mrauk U, but they are all the same. If we do a movement, we do it all together.’ 58 Fears associated with the erosion of Rakhine culture and history exacerbate the perceived Muslim threat. Rakhine consistently expressed concern regarding illegal immigration from Bangladesh, which they blame on a porous border managed by corrupt officials, a densely populated neighbour, Bamar dominance over the Rakhine, and tensions between communities at the border area. Extracts from interviews with civil society activists give some sense of the feelings: 55 Interviewed on 6 December 2014 in Sittwe. 56 Interview conducted with a group of male Rakhine activists in Sittwe, 14 February 2014. 57 Senior Member of a Rakhine civil society organisation based in Sittwe, interviewed on 12 November 2014 in Sittwe. 58 Interviewed on 25 January 2015 in Mrauk U. 31
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GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

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