Will the people of Myanmar soon have
their own derivative for the Nazi term Judenrein? For those who do not
know what Judenrein means, it literally translates to "free of Jews",
and was the term used by the Nazi administration when they had removed
entire Jewish communities from Germany in the lead up to the Holocaust.
As so many Myanma shamelessly
support the government and local authorities' ongoing ethnic cleansing
of the Rohingya people from Western Myanmar, it might not be too long
until we see "human rights defenders", and "political activists" running
around the streets of Myanmar shouting: Rohingya-Kin-Zone
["Rohingya-clean area"]) or Bangali-ma-shi ["No Bangladeshis"].
It took one horrific reaction to
one abhorrent incident to ignite a riot and expose the true depth of
racism and xenophobia in Myanmar society. After three Rohingya men raped
a young Rhakine Buddhist woman, ten Muslim pilgrims (not Rohingya) were
dragged off a bus and violently beaten to death - seemingly in
retaliation.
Five days later, hundreds of
Rohingya men gathered outside a mosque after prayers. What happened next
is unclear. Some say the Rohingya planned an attack on Rhakine
communities in retaliation for the killing of the Muslim pilgrims;
others say an argument started with Rhakine people after a minor traffic
accident outside the mosque. Whatever the cause, hundreds of Rohingya
ended up running through dozens of Rhakine villages, burning houses down, looting and badly beating Rhakine people, some to death.
"As could be expected, the
Rohingya communities blame the Rhakine, and the Rhakine blame the
Rohingya. Both sides are trying to paint a picture that they were just
innocent bystanders, slaughtered by the other side."
The blame game
As could be expected, the
Rohingya communities blame the Rhakine, and the Rhakine blame the
Rohingya. Both sides are trying to paint a picture that they were just
innocent bystanders, slaughtered by the other side. Sitting through an
interview with activists from either community is approaching
excruciating, with neither unable to rationally blame their own
community, and subsequently unable to provide logical solutions to
prevent the violence taking place again.
It is clear both sides are
guilty of atrocities. What is also clear, however, is that within a riot
- based on myths, and decades of inter-communal friction - hides a
renewed push to continue the military's ethnic cleansing campaign of the
late 1970s.
Soon after the riots began, a
state of emergency was ordered, and an all-day curfew put in place.
However, sources within human rights groups soon to publish an official
report on the matter say the curfew only applied to the Rohingya, who
were forced to stay in their homes, while Rhakine groups, hell-bent on
retaliation, made the most of the chaos to drive Rohingya communities
out of the region, teaming up with local authorities with similar
aspirations. It is alleged that the combined
Rhakine-extremists-local-authority-forces burned down Rohingya villages,
beat men to death, looted homes, and raped women.
While the military has been
praised for stepping in and quelling the violence in some districts, the
local authorities, police and Rhakine vigilantes - apparently eager to
rid the area of Rohingya communities - have allowed the situation to
develop, with national security forces reportedly carrying out what appears to be, in my opinion, a form of state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.
It is believed that hundreds, if
not thousands, of Rohingya men have been arrested, many feared dead.
Countless more have been reported missing and have not been seen since
the conflict erupted.
Behind the violence
With the backing of the state
political party, the Rhakine Democratic National Party (RNDP), Nasaka -
the border guard force - and police appear to be conducting an
unprecedented campaign of harassment, torture, and oppression on the
Rohingya people.
For days, reports have been
circulating of family lists - Rohingya families' only proof of state
registration - being confiscated, with influential and educated Rohingya
families reportedly beaten and forced out of the country, while holes
are being made in the border fence to give the Rohingya a quick exit
from the oppression.
While arrests have been made of
Rhakine people, it appears the Rohingya are being overwhelmingly
punished for the riots, through massacres, torture and indiscriminate
arrests. And while it is difficult to confirm information during such a
blackout, and hard to believe the new "reformist" government could be
behind such a serious atrocities, President Thein Sein's press release last week certainly made the reports more believable.
For some, it has also roused
suspicions that senior figures in the military allowed, and at the
worst, supported the violence, in order to regain national support and
take focus away from the conflict with the Kachin, as well as
distracting from serious poverty issues across the country.
"It is impossible for Burma to accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered illegally."
- Myanmar's Presidential Office
After a long silence, Myanmar's Presidential Office recent anouncement surprised and shocked people around the world.
"It is impossible for Burma to
accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered
illegally," the statement read, going on to offer the Rohingya people to
the UN. They suggested the Rohingya should be put in camps for a year,
at which time they could be taken to a third country.
The UN, quite rightly, were quick to reject Thein
Sein's kind offer, explaining that communities cannot be repatriated
from their own country. While the UN may have, for now, endorsed the
Rohingya presence in Myanmar, the government's intentions were made very
clear to the world. It was the most transparent, clear cut message that
the Myanmar government is now hell-bent on ridding Myanmar of the
Rohingya people by any means possible.
An end to isolation is needed
International attention is
desperately needed to find out what is really happening in Rhakine
state. If the government cannot get "legitimate" assistance from the UN
to push out the Rohingya communities, then impartial observers need to
be deployed to the region immediately, to prevent the government and
Rhakine extremist groups forcing Rohingya people out of their homes, off
their land, and into life-threatening camps.
Since the riots began, the
authorities ordered all international NGOs to pull their staff out of
the region. Dozens of local NGO staff have been arrested, and hundreds
remain out of contact. While no one knows why NGO staff are being
detained, it is widely believed it is for distributing information
during the riots. Probably charged using the same draconian laws that
have been used to prevent activists from informing the international
community of the regime's human rights abuses and oppression in previous
decades.
The north of Rhakine state,
where it is estimated more than 700,000 Rohingya live, has effectively
been turned into a complete blind spot. Speaking with NGO coordinators
over the past week, there are some eerie reminders of conversations with
the same people during Cyclone Nargis.
After the cyclone hit, affected communities could not be contacted.
NGOs were initially heavily restricted, as were local aid workers.
Within weeks the official death toll leaped from a few dozen to more
than 134,000 people. Those who spread information to the international
community were arrested. And now, once again, NGOs are unable to access
the most critical regions, stoking fears throughout Myanmar's NGO
community. The world may wake up one day to find that yet another
preventable humanitarian crisis has taken place.
"The heavy rains are likely to
increase the spread of water-borne disease and it is believed that
diarrhoea and malaria are already increasing rapidly. With high food
prices, no work, and restrictions on leaving villages and IDP camps,
there is a great risk that many could starve to death."
Rhakine state is one of the
largest operations in the world for NGOs. Extremely poor, it already
suffers from high disease rate and malnutrition. Now that NGOs are
unable to work, many are concerned that starvation and disease could
ravage the Rohingya communities in coming weeks. The heavy rains are
likely to increase the spread of water-borne disease and it is believed
that diarrhoea and malaria are already increasing rapidly. With high
food prices, no work, and restrictions on leaving villages and IDP
camps, there is a great risk that many could starve to death. If the
government continues to prevent NGOs from getting in, and information
getting out, it would be reasonable to assume that this is part of a
state policy to drive the Rohingya people into a humanitarian crisis.
Public acceptance
There is one very disturbing
difference between the humanitarian crisis which unfolded after Cyclone
Nargis and now. While all the people of Myanmar - including political
activists, ethnic leaders, migrant workers and civil servants - made
efforts to curtail the suffering of those affected by Nargis, this time,
people, some ignorantly, are condoning the dispossession of the
Rohingya.
While the nation lambasted the
government for its slow response to Nargis, and the subsequent
unnecessary loss of life, people from all spectra of Myanmar society are
fully behind the government's desire to drive the Rohingya out,
completely regardless of whether thousands of innocent people could lose
their right to a family, to a home, and to a life, in the coming
weeks.
How ironic. For years these
"human rights defenders" and "political activists" have fought against
the state military, tirelessly risking their lives to expose injustice
and human rights abuses. The moment the country starts to reform, they
completely forget about the atrocities the military has committed, and
come out with statements condoning decades of oppression and harassment
of the Rohingya people.
Prominent student leader, Ko Ko Gyi, said:
"The Rohingya people are not an ethnic group of Burma and they are
invading our country and sovereignty." These are not the words of a
human rights champion; they are words which could have been muttered
from the former regime leader, Than Shwe, who put Gyi in prison for
nearly two decades for his political beliefs.
Inside Story: What is behing Myanmar's ethnic unrest?
Suu Kyi's role
It was General Aung San,
the father of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who said that all those
in the country at the time of independence could consider themselves
citizens. During Myanmar's first democratic period, under U Nu, there
were four Rohingya MPs, and Rohingya was a recognised ethnicity. It was
not until the first military dictatorship, under Ne Win, that the
Rohingya were denied Myanmar citizenship. Those in the democracy
movement, who now say the Rohingya should leave Myanmar, are going
against Aung San, U Nu, and siding with the military dictatorship they
have been struggling against for years.
Ironically, days after receiving a Nobel peace prize, Suu Kyi told reporters she
"did not know" if Rohingya were "Burmese". What a disgrace. Suu Kyi is,
by not speaking out, also condoning the very military oppression she
has spent years fighting against, and in three words completely turning a
blind eye to the human rights abuses she would be a fool to not know
will subsequently be committed.
Perhaps instead, some leader,
some democracy champion, supposedly such as herself, would stand up and
say: "Rohingya people have been in Myanmar for, at the very least, 60
years. Whether they are an ethnic group or not, it doesn't matter, we
must protect their human rights; racism and xenophobia are wrong and are
constructs and rationale of the military dictatorship propaganda
designed to divide and rule Myanmar's people. We must make sure riots
never take place in Myanmar again, through understanding and
reconciliation between all communities."
The main source of concern for
the countless people of Myanmar who believe the Rohingya should be taken
to a third country stems from a very few, tiny radical Rohingya armed
groups which have emerged, and disappeared, over the years.
Despite the concerns, there was
never a threatening armed revolt, and their influence was minimal. To
make 99.9 per cent of the Rohingya population suffer, for a few
individuals, or groups, is wrong. Most Rohingya hope for nothing more
than to live in peace in a land they have known all their lives. The
other notion is that the Rohingya are invaders - there is an idea that
hundreds of Bangladeshi are flocking into Arakan state every day. In
reality, this is completely nonsensical. Arakan state is horrendously
poor, which is why countless Rohingya have fled Myanmar since Ne Win
took power, and following several state offensives to drive the Rohingya
out of Myanmar.
Myanmar's Rohingya forced back to sea
There is a thin line between
ethnic cleansing and genocide. Hitler carried out ethnic cleansing on
Jewish communities for years before he attempted genocide. With the
whole country, including the democracy movement, seemingly behind the
government's plans to expel the Rohingya, urgent intervention is needed
to save the Rohginya from a humanitarian crisis, and the potential for a
violent campaign by the state, alongside Rhakine extremists backed by
local authorities.
The two communities should not
be separated as the government plans; instead there is an urgent need to
bring the communities back together, and return the region to
normality. Conflict resolution programmes and development is needed as
soon as possible. The longer the two communities are apart, the more
radicalisation - of both groups - will fester, and whether the
government allows it to take place, supports it, or just turns a blind
eye, a return to some form of violence will be almost inevitable.
Now is not the time to argue
about century-old history, or the origin of the word "Rohingya", nor is
it the time to discuss when the Rohingya arrived in Arakan state. The
nation's people should accept the Rohingya are not going to just be
shipped off to another country. Instead of inciting counter productive
anti-Rohingya campaigns, Myanmar's democracy activists, human rights
defenders, and vibrant civil society, should immediately address the
impending humanitarian crisis and potential devastation of the Rohingya
people.
There is no doubt that some
Rohingya are guilty of terrorising Rhakine people during the recent
riots, but this does not mean that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya,
including countless women and children, deserve to starve to death, or
be driven off a land they call home.
William Lloyd George is a freelance correspondent focusing on under-reported stories around the globe.
Source: Al Jazeera
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