GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

2. BACKGROUND
a simple phone call to the state minister’s office, 86 and has become much easier to obtain in recent years.
One said:
Before we had to go through so many levels of bureaucracy, for example for the OIC [Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation] protest in September 2012 against their plans to open an office.
But now we don’t even need to ask, we just call them [state government], and tell them we’re
going to protest. We speak to the state government often, we have a kind of relationship, ‘give
and take’, so this is helpful. 87
Rakhine nationalists are free to express hate speech and to publicly challenge international organisations
seeking to offer humanitarian assistance to Rohingya IDPs. Given the climate of ethno-religious tension,
this is tantamount to the authorities green-lighting violent intolerance and religious hatred.
Attacks on the UN and INGOs
Rakhine nationalists go as far as to claim that UN agencies are controlled by Muslim countries driven by
an agenda to Islamise the globe. The following extracts from interviews highlight the hostility expressed
towards the international community/INGOs:
• I feel bad about Ban Ki-Moon using the Rohingya word at the ASEAN [Association of Southeast
Asian Nations] Summit. As a representative of the UN, he should not add to the conflict by
using this word. I worry because the Rohingya word never existed before. It’s not one of the
135 ethnic groups so the government doesn’t accept it either. 88
• INGOs and UN are trying to give citizenship to illegal Bengali people, pressuring the government
on this front. Because of these reasons, people have hostility to the UN and INGOs… The
OIC in other Muslim countries support the Rohingya through INGOs. The Muslim communities
who have lived in Rakhine State for centuries can apply for citizenship, they are currently
trying to apply. The application depends on the 1982 law. The Rohingya are trying to ‘get
around the law’ by creating this [Rohingya] identity. If the international community recognises
the Rohingya as an indigenous people they won’t have to apply as per the 1982 law. 89
• Rohingya is not just a word. Behind the word is the idea that they [Bengalis] are an ethnic
group. The purpose of creating the word is to automatically gain citizenship of Myanmar without
going via the 1982 application process. Even though they use the word Rohingya, those
people have a very strong relationship with Bengalis - the language, religion and culture is
similar to Bengali, they are just trying to create a new identity. 90
86 Maung Maung Ohn’s appointment was announced on 26 June 2012: http://www.dvb.no/news/president-nominatesmilitary-man-as-arakan-chief-minister-burma-myanmar/41856.
Accessed 13 October 2015.
87 ISCI interview with leader of prominent Rakhine civil society organisation, 22 January 2015, Sittwe.
88 Secretary of a Rakhine civil society organisation, interview conducted in Sittwe on 24 November 2014.
89 ECC leader, elder Than Tun, interviewed in Sittwe on 22 November 2014.
90 Ibid.
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