Despite reforms, Myanmar's ethnic violence continues

A Muslim Rohingya man sits at his burnt home at a villaged in Minpyar in Rakhine state in October.

 May 7, 2013

CNN 

Matthew Smith

When the European Union recently lifted economic sanctions on Myanmar, it closed a decades-long chapter designed to encourage democratic reform in the country.

Although an arms embargo remains in place, the action will send an unequivocal message of "mission accomplished."

But while the EU is celebrating the "new Myanmar," Rohingya Muslims in the western part of the country are targets in what appears to be an ongoing campaign of government-supported crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Killings and arson attacks between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims first erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine State in June 2012, and were followed in October by well-coordinated attacks on Rohingya populations. More than 125,000 Rohingya were forced into dozens of internally displaced camps while tens of thousands of others fled the country, launching Southeast Asia's newest refugee crisis.

Satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch from just five of the 13 townships that experienced violence since June show 27 unique zones of destruction, including the destruction of 4,862 structures covering 348 acres of mostly Muslim-owned residential property.

Myanmar's government has repeatedly characterized what happened as "inter-communal violence" between bitter enemies -- Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims -- denying any involvement of the state or abuses by state security officials.

Since June, I visited several sites of attacks and every major camp for the displaced, interviewing more than 100 victims and witnesses of abuse, as well as some perpetrators of violence. There is extensive evidence of complicity of the state in ethnic cleansing.

Following the first wave of violence and without setting foot in Rakhine State, the EU and others were quick to welcome the Myanmar authorities' "measured response" to the crisis. A spokesperson for the EU's high representative on foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, said on June 11, "We believe that the security forces are handling this difficult inter-communal violence in an appropriate way."

The reality on the ground was very different. Rohingya survivors alleged how in June soldiers not only failed to protect them from arsonist mobs, but opened fire when they attempted to extinguish the fires, killing scores. Government authorities in Arakan State were busy bulldozing mosques, blocking humanitarian aid to Rohingya populations, conducting violent mass arrests of Muslim men and boys, and digging mass graves, impeding accountability. Human Rights Watch located the existence of at least four such grave sites.

Two days after the EU's June statement, a government truck dumped 18 naked and half-clothed bodies near a camp for displaced Rohingya, according to Human Rights Watch. Some of the victims had been "hogtied" with string or plastic strips before being executed. The move sent a strong message, consistent with a policy of ethnic cleansing, that the Rohingya should leave Myanmar permanently.

"They dropped the bodies right here," a Rohingya man told me on a visit to the grave site. "Three bodies had gunshot wounds. Some had burns, some had stab wounds."

After the smoke cleared in June, the Arakanese Buddhist monkhood (or the sangha), political operatives, and local government officials allegedly held public meetings in Rakhine State, plotting to drive Rohingya Muslims from their homes. They seized on President Thein Sein's remarks on July 12 that "illegal" Rohingya should be sent to "third countries," and they actively worked to isolate Muslim communities from daily necessities and income. Influential groups released public statements calling explicitly for "ethnic cleansing" and forced population transfer -- the government took no action to stop them.

The planned second wave of violence began on October 22. Thousands of Arakanese reportedly descended by foot and boat on Muslim villages in nine townships, carrying machetes, swords, spears, homemade guns, Molotov cocktails, and other weapons. Plumes of smoke dotted the sky along the fertile patchwork of Arakan State's intra-coastal waterways as entire villages were razed. State security forces once again either failed to provide protection, or actively participated in attacks.

On October 23 in Yan Thei, Mrauk-U Township, security forces took away sticks and other rudimentary weapons from Rohingya and enabled an Arakanese mob to kill about 70 villagers, including 28 children, 13 of whom were under age five.

Today, tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya are being denied access to humanitarian aid, have their movements restricted, and are unable to return home. They live in segregated, squalid camps without adequate food and health services. In just weeks the monsoon season will flood several IDP sites, intensifying the humanitarian emergency.

At the root of the persecution is the question of citizenship. The Myanmar government considers all Rohingya to be immigrants from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship under discriminatory national legislation from 1982, although many families have resided in Myanmar for generations. Official government statements reject their very existence and refer to them as "Bengali," "so-called Rohingya," or the pejorative "kalar."

The world should not be blinded by the excitement of Myanmar's political opening. Rohingya are paying for that approach with their lives.

Matthew Smith is a researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the organization's report, "All You Can Do is Pray": Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State.

Asean fails to step into the Rohingya mess

 6 May 2013

Bangkok Post

Saritdet Marukatat

The Rohingya problem in Myanmar could have been a blessing in disguise for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The issue reminds Asean backers that the three "legs" of its supporting pillar _ economic, social and security _ should be going in the same direction, even if at a different pace.

The "club" has moved with a singularity of purpose and made remarkable moves on the economic front as the Asean Economic Community shimmers into view, but there is less cohesiveness on other issues among the 10 members.
The Asean bloc has in fact shown a real seriousness in tightening the economic knot. Most of the promises for economic union have been implemented; the rest will eventually be tackled in time for the launch of the community at the end of 2015. These remaining issues are, of course, the most sensitive ones and are a concern for trade and economic negotiators. However, the fast-approaching deadline will force them to work harder. There could be a heavy price to pay for another delay in the launch of the Asean community, which has already been deferred from the start of 2015 to December that year.
Asean leaders are jubilant at the steps being taken towards closer economic cooperation. That was reflected after the Brunei summit on April 25. "We are pleased with the progress of the Asean Economic Community, where 259 measures _ or 77.54% of the AEC blueprint _ have been implemented," the leaders boasted in a communique from Banda Seri Begawan.
But we must not forget that Asean also has two other legs _ security and social _ besides the economic one that are needed to make the AEC sustainable.
What was sadly missing from the 10-page summit communique was the issue that needs tackling right away _ the growing concern about communal unrest in Myanmar. The Southeast Asian leaders intentionally forgot to call it a regional worry _ at least for the moment.
Asean knows this issue is endangering the group's security stability, but the bloc is still leaving it to be sorted out by Myanmar. The Thein Sein government is showing no desire to turn it into a regional problem. The reality on the ground is it has already stirred up trouble for Myanmar's neighbours, especially Thailand.
The kingdom is currently sheltering 2,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled sectarian violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State and entered Thailand, mostly by ship. Others have landed in Malaysia and Indonesia, their primary destinations for reasons of Islamic religious bonds.
The plight of the Rohingya looks miserable after clashes with Buddhists in the western Myanmar state. Last year alone 200 died and tens of thousands were displaced. And there are no real moves being taken by the Myanmar government to end the problem. It seems it would be happy to see the Rohingya leave.
What is more disappointing is that no other Asean member is shouting loud enough for Myanmar to hear, except Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein during his visit to Myanmar ahead of the summit that he was worried about the conflict. He sent a note in very diplomatic terms saying Jakarta was confident Thein Sein was "trying to do the right thing in terms of getting the communal violence under control".
What happened last week explains why the Indonesian leader is fretting about the unrest in Myanmar. The violence spread to other areas in Myanmar, angering the Muslims in his country enough that they came out to protest against the Myanmar government. Some even planned to bomb its embassy in Jakarta.
But Thailand, which is directly affected by the problem, is being very quiet. No pressure is being put on Myanmar to quickly solve this problem. Myanmar has told Thailand that the Rohingya refugees will be taken back if there is proof that they really came from Rakhine state. That is not a solution but a time-buying tactic for Yangon to wash its hands off the refugee problem. The process to verify their nationality will take months, or years, due to the lack of documentation and other evidence. Thus the verification process for the Rohingya will be outpaced by escalating violence and more refugees.
The Rohingya issue is destabilising the security of Asean as it spills over to other members' turf. But Asean leaders still decided not to take any action _ and that will be their stance until the situation becomes uncontrollable. After long years of eager anticipation of the Asean Community, the grouping's "not-my-business" attitude remains almost unchanged. It is pretending that Myanmar can solve the problem and that the economic issue is the only one that matters. In the meantime, more Rohingya will set out in rickety boats, more houses will be torched and more people will be killed.

Islamophobia: Myanmar's racist fault-line

Aung San Suu Kyi's willful silence on racism in Myanmar suggests only "a form of cynical politicking" [EPA]

April 30, 2013

Al Jazeera

Penny Green

Myanmar's Rohingya suffer brutal state crime because of deeply entrenched and unchecked Islamophobia, writes author.

Abu Tahay is a small passionate man who has something important to say. He has said it to David Cameron, to William Hague, to Hugo Swire and now here in the single air-conditioned room of a small local grass roots organisation (optimistically named "Smile") in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township in Yangon, he is saying it to me. It is a desperate story and he is well-versed in it. 

It is the story of the Rohingya: rendered stateless at the hands of the military junta, brutalised by armed Buddhist nationalists, abused, dehumanised and displaced by the current Myanmar state and now fleeing the country which refuses to recognise them. 

Bare life in Arakan 

The Rohingya are an ethnic group with ancient traditions in Myanmar and a continuous physical presence there for at least past two centuries. But they are defined by the Myanmar state as Bangladeshi nationals with no right to the privileges of Myanmar citizenship. 

Abu Tahay, chair of the Union National Development Party, shows me the historical evidence which positions the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar before the military's pre-colonial citizenship cut-off date of 1823. He shows me research from the Australian National University which identifies 8th century Rohingya stone monuments, in the Myanmar state of Arakan (also known as Rakhine). It is compelling evidence and he leaves nothing out. 

On its basis, the Rohingya are surely entitled to Myanmar citizenship and ethnic minority recognition. Instead, theirs is a "bare life" in which every aspect of social and political life is restricted and diminished. 

The "reforming" government of Thein Sein has shown no sign of affording the Rohingya anything but continued persecution, dehumanisation, discrimination and violence. Unconscionable then, that the International Crisis Group chose to honour Thein Sein with its peace award this year. 

There are an estimated 800,000 Rohingyas living in Arakan state, but the number is dwindling fast. Thousands have fled and continue to flee on boats into the Bay of Bengal to escape the anti-Muslim state-sponsored violence which took the lives of nearly 200 in late 2012. Tens of thousands of Rohingya people were displaced in the terror that ensued, and 130,000 were forced into detention camps near Sittwe after their homes were destroyed in June and October. 

According to Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Arakan Project and Rohingya expert who visited the camps, "They are jails where people cannot even lie down." There are also an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Rohingya refugees in detention camps across the border in Bangladesh and another 180,000 in Thai detention centres. 

State crime and Islamophobia 

During the second wave of violence, however, it was not only the Rohingya, but also Kaman Muslims from coastal fishing villages in southern Arakan were forced to flee as their communities were attacked. Although the Kaman are a recognised ethnic group with full citizenship rights, those rights did not protect them from racist state-sponsored violence that destroyed homes and livelihoods. 

Nor has citizenship protected those thousands of Muslims currently subjected to a vicious wave of anti- Muslim violence across Myanmar - in Meiktila, Yamethin and in the Pegu townships of Zigon and Nattalin. These attacks, which left many dead and thousands displaced, demonstrate that citizenship is no protection against the communal violence and Islamophobia corroding Myanmar's reformist agenda. 

The targets of these attacks were not the Arakan Rohingya as much as Muslim citizens, their mosques, businesses and homes. State-sponsored violence against Muslim communities has been orchestrated by Myanmar's security forces - specifically the NaSaKa border force and assisted by Arakan nationalists, paramilitaries and extremist Buddhist monks. They have been able to act with impunity. 

The cruelty and ferocity of the recent violence has been wrenchingly captured in photographs and footage of charred bodies, blazing villages, displaced people, IDP detention camps, armed monks and Buddhist nationalists. Across the country, the violence is being reinforced by the "969" anti-Muslim campaign. Led by the militant racist monk, Wirathu, the campaign is gaining traction with local groups across the country that are holding meetings and producing CDs, pamphlets and stickers in an effort to persuade the Buddhist majority to boycott Muslim businesses. 

According to Andrew Selth, these anti-Muslim riots are not simply a manifestation of the new freedom Myanmar is experiencing (as some would argue). Rather Selth contends that religious tension has always been a feature of the Myanmar political landscape: 

"Full rights for Muslims were enshrined in the 1947 constitution, but in 1960 Buddhism was made Burma's state religion and after the 1962 coup the military regime tended to equate Muslims with colonial rule and the exploitation of Burma by foreigners. Muslims were not permitted to run for public office, join the security forces or work as civil servants. The number of mosques was restricted, some Muslim cemeteries were destroyed and a number of madrassas were closed." 

Chris Lewa concurs. "Buddhist nationalism," she says, "means that there is strong anti-Muslim feeling here - they are frightened by the change and fearful of losing traditional superiority." Thein Nyunt, chair of the New National Democracy Party, made no concessions in his defence of the current 1982 law when he declared: 

"The citizenship law is intended to protect our race; by not allowing those with mixed blood from making political decisions [for the country], so the law is very important for the preservation of our country." 

Back at the "Smile" office, as our interview draws to a close, Abu Tahay shows me the statistical data he has painstakingly gathered and meticulously compiled on the current abuses suffered by his people. The arrest figures, deaths in custody, deaths in detention camps and rape statistics - all derived from Arakan court records and information drawn from victims' families - are further evidence of his people's anguish. 

He believes it is this kind of proof that will persuade the international community to challenge the Myanmar government on the question of its citizenship laws. This evidence is every bit as - indeed probably more credible than anything produced by the Myanmar authorities and clearly demonstrates that the Rohingya are victims of systematic and enduring state crimes. 

But Abu Tahay's struggle for recognition is dictated by and predicated upon the terms of the former racist Junta. If the Rohingya can prove and in turn convince the authorities of their ancient right to citizenship and win their place at the Myanmar minority table they will win something - but they will not win a victory against Myanmar racism or protection from the violence preached by hate-filled Buddhist monks like Wirathu. Unless racism is defeated, the violence we have witnessed against the Rohingya, the wider Muslim community and other minorities will be sure to continue. 

Inside Myanmar, the lack of discussion surrounding the Rohingya Muslims reveals how deeply ingrained and institutionalised Myanmar Buddhist nationalism is. Why are many of the most courageous Myanmar human rights activists, many of them former political prisoners, so unwilling to engage in support of the Rohingya? 

One such activist from 88 Generation told me, "The Rohingya is not our ethnic group. Bengalis use the label 'Burmese Rohingya' as a passport for asylum… we need to examine who should be a citizen… but it will be difficult to support citizenship. If, however, the Rohingya ask for their human rights, we are ready to support." 

Aware of the paradox, but unwilling to elaborate further, he pushed our conversation on to other topics. In my time in Myanmar, this was a common and unsettling experience. 

Challenging an icon 

But it is Aung San Suu Kyi's refusal to speak out against the crimes endured by the Rohingya that has provided cover for the international community's failure to intervene. At the outset of the recent waves of anti-Muslim violence, Myanmar's icon of freedom and democracy was at one with the military-backed government in her singular calls for the restoration of law and order by - it must be noted - the very same state security forces which so terrorised the entire Myanmar population for five brutal decades. 

Rather than stand up against Buddhist-led racism, she has pegged her colours firmly, not to the oppressed Rohingya, nor to the increasing victims of Islamophobia, but to her former military jailors, for whom she shares a "great fondness" and whom she now charges with the task of implementing the rule of law. 

To this, Abu Tahay asks, "But how will the rule of law be reinforced? Why does the government never take action against racist police, the NaSaKa border security forces, the Rakhine [Arakan] nationalist para-military forces who are committing the violence?" 

His question is perhaps the most pertinent challenge to Myanmar's ruling elite. Suu Kyi insists that questions of justice cannot be addressed until Myanmar's constitution is amended and the rule of law is adopted. Why this is so, is puzzling: surely, building a just society requires, at the very least, the immediate demand for justice when injustice abounds. 

Suu Kyi's willful silence on racism in Myanmar suggests only a form of cynical politicking. Until the holy grail of constitutional reform - which would free her to run for President - is within grasp, she is apparently happy to side with a regime which uses brutal force to suppress dissent (see the Letpandaung Copper Mine protests) and engages in the ethnic cleansing of an abject group of Myanmar people whose demands are simply to be recognised as such and treated with dignity. 

Racist fault-lines 

Racism is Myanmar's political fault-line and while the epicentre might reasonably be understood as the ethnic cleansing of Myanmar's Rohingya community in Arakan, the central fracture itself must be understood as institutionalised Islamophobia, deeply embedded and historically informed. 

There is little dispute that the Rohingya Muslims have suffered the most pervasive and brutal of recent state-sponsored crimes, but to focus only on the Rohingya is to fragment the racist violence experienced by the whole Myanmar Muslim community and to be drawn into arcane legal debates around the rights and wrongs of immigration and citizenship policy which pertain most specifically to the Rohingya. 

History forces us to move beyond the immediacy of the Rohingya in order to challenge the more pervasive violence corrupting Myanmar's transition from dictatorship. 

Abu Tahay's faith in the British political elite is touching. "They were very supportive," he tells me about the meeting with David Cameron and other UK government representatives in April 2012. I am sure they were. In the comfortable surrounds of the British Ambassador's Residence in Yangon, it would have been impolite to be anything less. 

But Cameron, Hague and Swire have done nothing at all to help the Rohingya, nor are they likely to. Their signatures were glaringly absent from the December 11, 2012, and April 4, 2013, House of Commons Early Day Motions, condemning the Myanmar government for its treatment of the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities. 

For the moment, the Rohingya must rely on the moral force of their cause. But while there is more economic and political mileage in doing business with their oppressors, the British government will continue to pay only lip service to Abu Tahay and the Islamophobia that underpins the relentless persecution of his community. 

Tahay's stateless people continue to live in cruel isolation with few friends. And Tahay is growing tired, "I don't have the inner strength that's why we need the international community," he says quietly. 

Penny Green is Professor of Law at King's College London and Director of the International State Crime Initiative.

Ghosts of Myanmar's past refuse to be buried

April 27, 2013
The Nation/Asia News Network


These past few weeks have been somewhat hectic for the government of Myanmar. First, there was the prestigious peace award given to President Thein Sein by the International Crises Group, recognizing his work toward a peace that can be achieved.
Then came the lifting of all sanctions by the European Union, except for its arms embargo. Afterward the government released 100 prisoners, 56 of whom were said to be political internees. More than 800 political prisoners have been freed in amnesties between May 2011 and last November.
But later the mood among the country's political leaders wasn't so festive, nor among Western countries.
A 153-page report from the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) entitled “All You Can Do is Pray: Crimes against Humanity in the Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State” quickly re-established a sense of reality about Myanmar.
HRW accuses the Myanmar government and other local authorities of taking part in the displacement of more than 125,000 minority Rohingya and other Muslims.
“Burmese officials, community leaders, and Buddhist monks organised and encouraged ethnic Arakanese, backed by state security forces, to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim neighborhoods and villages in October 2012 to terrorize and forcibly relocate the population. The tens of thousands of displaced have been denied access to humanitarian aid and been unable to return home,” the report said.
Critics also slammed the Myanmar government for not doing enough in the recent anti-Muslim disturbances in other parts of the country.
As expected, Myanmar dismissed the report and other allegations.
It wasn't that long ago that many in the international community were using terms such as “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing” to describe the atrocities committed by the then-military government of Myanmar.
There were reports accusing government soldiers of using rape as a military weapon to demoralize ethnic people such as the Shan and Karen. Countries including the U.S. threw their weight behind some of these reports. Myanmar, in short, was the big bad wolf, a pariah among nations.
And then came the political reform, and with it a breath of fresh air. The international community rushed in along with foreign investors looking to establish a presence in this resource-rich country sandwiched between China and India.
From the geo-political point of view, one can't deny the strategic appeal of Myanmar. But the world hasn't fully decided whether it's willing to let bygones be bygones. Have we forgotten about the alleged atrocities from the reams of reports over the past decades?
Certainly the rape victims and the displaced villagers — thousands of whom are stranded in makeshift camps on the Thai side of the border — have not forgotten.
What is just as appalling is the fact that the country's leaders continue to cynically deny that their troops committed any of these atrocities.
Perhaps it is too early to abandon the carrot-and-stick approach when it comes to Myanmar. Western countries that claim to be champions of human rights and democracy seem all too eager to extend all sorts of incentives to the government.
While we can't deny that much progress has been made over the last couple of years in terms of political and economic reform, the world must think carefully about completely closing the book on alleged atrocities over the past five decades.
If so, can we also apply this logic and treatment to the drug lords, some of whom, like the Wa leaders, have been indicted in Thai and U.S. courts for heroin trafficking?

Myanmar continues atrocities

The Australian
April 26, 2013 

The West might need to reconsider economic sanctions

MYANMAR's rulers will need to do better than just release another batch of political prisoners if they want to assuage mounting concern that the international community may have gone too far, too soon in rewarding them for progress towards dismantling dictatorship and establishing democracy.
After the UN concluded that the country's Rohingya Muslims were among the most persecuted minorities on earth, the Human Rights Watch organisation has issued an even more damning report -- a shameful indictment of a regime that the world has tried to help.
The HRW report details ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity committed by chauvinist Buddhist mobs. It includes footage of police and soldiers standing by idly or joining violence that has left hundreds dead and wounded and 150,000 homeless.


Many Rohingya, who are denied citizenship, are living in appalling conditions. They are seeking to flee in rickety boats, adding to the wave of desperate asylum-seekers in our region.
By failing to end the violence, President Thein Sein's government has breached repeated assurances given to the international community in return for lifting sanctions.
In the case of the EU which, like Australia, has now cancelled all sanctions other than an arms embargo, Myanmar promised to release all political prisoners, end the persecution of the Rohingya and improve their status and welfare.
That hasn't happened. And while the regime has announced the release of another 60 political prisoners, hundreds more remain incarcerated.
It was always naive to be starry-eyed about the Myanmar regime's democratic pretensions. Lifting economic sanctions in return for political reform made sense, but only as long as Mr Sein and his colleagues kept their side of the bargain.
The international community has lost a substantial part of its leverage, but it must maintain its pressure not just on Mr Sein but also on opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been regrettably mute about the outrages.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr is right to advocate robust discussion about human rights and democracy with the regime. A new order in which abuses such as those against the Rohingya are allowed will be a democracy in name only, little better than the odious dictatorship of the past 50 years.