GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

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COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION: GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR Rakhine mobilisation A mosque now under the control of the Myanmar military, downtown Sittwe, January 2015 In October 2013 Rakhine leaders lobbied the President to implement a number of initiatives deemed necessary to the development of Rakhine state. 69 Underpinning the economic and development concerns of these submissions were core demands for the further isolation, segregation and restriction of Rohingya rights. The following extracts from the submissions give a sense of the nature of the lobbying: • I would like to request the parliament to enact a law earlier in order to prevent the population of illegal Bengalis whose population are increasing due to the marriage and having the children unsystematic ways which are not suitable with the cultural norms of human beings. 70 • Providing the right to vote to the foreigners who sneaked into Myanmar without entirely being same race, religion and tradition who cannot speak Myanmar language and the other ethnic languages (at all) will be similar with handing over the sovereignty of the country to 69 Leaked document 1: Submissions presented to Myanmar President Thein Sein by letter, 15 October 2013, by representatives of Rakhine state. Seen and sanctioned by Shwe Mann. Leaked to Fortify Rights; acquired by ISCI researchers from Al Jazeera. 70 Leaked document 1, submission A: Submitted by U Thar Pwin (Lawyer), ‘Peace and stability of Rakhine state and the importance of geo-politics’. 34
2. BACKGROUND the foreigners… [Myanmar’s leaders] should consider entirely terminating the right to vote with illegal white cards [see glossary]. 71 • The situations of Rakhine state and Kachin state in Myanmar are very good projects for NGOs... Until now, there are over 80 INGOs. They just assist IDP of indigenous (Rakhine) on the surface and give much assistance to Bengali population. It was said that in some boxes, there are explosive materials which can be transformed into the weapons. They were primarily based for humanitarian aid but later, they are involving in requesting citizenship for Bengali, and to gain Rohingya race with political willingness. They say from their mouths “humanitarian” but without doing humanitarian, they discriminate and their main strategy is to maintain the conflict in order to get good jobs, salary and opportunities. Therefore, NGOs and INGOs have to be under supervision of central government and Rakhine state government. 72 The government appears to have acceded to several of these anti-Rohingya demands or those demands accord with the government’s own policy agenda. For example, it passed the Population Control Healthcare Bill in May 2015, widely believed to have been drafted specifically to restrict Rohingya reproduction rights. 73 It also disenfranchised the holders of white cards (temporary ID issued mainly to Rohingya that do not confer citizenship) and in March 2013 formally established the ECC (the Emergency Coordination Centre) to regulate humanitarian activities, perceived by the Rakhine as disproportionately supporting Rohingya. Worrying submissions that remain as yet unaddressed include calls to resettle Rohingya living in Aung Mingalar ghetto and in camps near Sittwe University; combating terrorism through the establishment of peoples’ militias, particularly along border areas in northern Rakhine state; and the construction of a wall along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border: • There is only [one] village in [Sittwe] downtown namely Aung Mingalar. The population of that village is over 4,000. It is not convenient for the town people (Rakhine Buddhists) to go and come around there because the security forces have deployed. If the security forces are withdrawn, that village is a wood fire that can burst anytime. That is why; we want to relocate that village to the Bengali areas… This issue is always threatening the stability of the region. We want the [central government] to separate and relocate these Bengalis anyway. 74 • There are illegal Bengali villages along the [Sittwe] road of colleges and University. It is not secure for the students and any problem can emerge any time. So, it is necessary to consider the submission to relocate Bengali villages to other places. 75 • I would like to request to form militias by the military supervision with the suitable numbers. So, the physical security and emotional security of Rakhine people will be increased in that way and the stability will be increased. 76 71 Leaked document 1, submission C: Summary findings of submissions presented to Myanmar President Thein Sein, 15 October 2013. 72 Ibid. 73 Huma Rights Watch, ‘Burma: Reject Discriminatory Population Bill’, 16 May 2015: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/05/16/ burma-reject-discriminatory-population-bill. Accessed 12 October 2015. 74 Leaked document 1, submission A. 75 Leaked document 1, submission D: U Zaw Myo Naing, ‘Submission by a student for the Rakhine State’. 76 Leaked document 1, submission A. 35
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GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

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