Rakhine Women, Monks Protest OIC
More than 500 Arakanese Buddhist women took to the streets of Sittwe
on Wednesday to protest the government decision to allow the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to open an aid office in
Arakan State.
A spokesperson for the OIC, however, told The Irrawaddy that
the office was not intended as a flagship for the Rohingya cause, and
that it would provide humanitarian aid to both Buddhist and Muslim
communities in the form of food and shelter.
Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development
Party (RNDP), said that his party would accept all the help and
humanitarian aid that was provided to those affected by the sectarian
violence in the region. He stressed, however, that the RNDP objected to
an OIC office in Arakan State capital Sittwe, and suggested that the
group base its operations out of either Rangoon or Naypyidaw.
The 57-member OIC is a mostly Muslim bloc of nations which includes
all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as
Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. It encompasses some 1.6 billion people
worldwide.
The OIC signed an MoU with the Burmese
government on Aug. 11 to permit the group to open an office for
humanitarian purposes in Rangoon and Sittwe. A delegation from the OIC
then traveled to Arakan State in September to inspect the aftermath of
communal clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in the strife-torn
region.
Approximately 200 women began demonstrating on Wednesday afternoon in
central Sittwe wearing t-shirts with slogans reading “No OIC.” As the
protest gained momentum, an estimated 300 more women joined in.
“We are protesting because we heard that the OIC is coming to our
country. We do not want them based here,” said protester Nyo Aye.
She told The Irrawaddy that the Buddhist women demonstrators
supported the 1982 Citizenship Law, which fails to recognize the
Rohingya as an indigenous ethnic group of Burma.
“The Bengali Muslims [Rohingyas] are illegal immigrants,” she said. “They should be sent to other countries.”
The demonstration took place just a day after some 500 Buddhist monks
held a similar protest in Sittwe in front of the Bangladeshi consulate.
A spokesman for the monks said they were demanding that the Burmese
government rescind its offer to the OIC to open an office in Arakan State, because it would be used only to support Muslim people.
The Buddhist monks also delivered a letter to the Bangladeshi
consulate calling for Dhaka to investigate and take action against those
who destroyed Buddhist temples and pagodas in southern Bangladesh recently.
On Monday, Buddhist monks held a demonstration outside the US embassy
in Rangoon where they voiced similar sentiments and offered their
condolences to the US for the death of its ambassador in Libya last
month.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, prominent Buddhist monk
Ashin Ottama, who led the protest in Sittwe, said, “We will not let the
OIC open an office in Arakan State even if the government has already
agreed it.”
A delegation
from the OIC met with representatives of Burma’s Ministry of Border
Affairs in Rangoon during the second week of September. According to
Dina Madani of the Muslim Minorities and Communities Department at the
OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Burmese ministry agreed to cooperate
with the OIC in its humanitarian role and in establishing offices in the
country.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday from OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Ms. Madani said, “We are laying the groundwork
to open our offices in Burma by cooperating with non-government
organizations that deal with humanitarian affairs. We will hopefully
open our offices soon.”
In response to a question about the protests by Rakhine women and
Buddhist monks, Ms. Madani said, “That’s unfortunate. But it’s certain
people’s opinion, not the Burmese government’s.
“The OIC is only coming [to Burma] for humanitarian affairs,” she
said. “We will help both sides—Buddhist and Muslim. There should be no
discrimination when it comes to humanitarian affairs.
“I wanted to tell them [the protesters] that we are reaching out to
both societies. We want to be partners in peace-building and
trust-building. We are not there to discriminate on whether they
[partners] are Buddhist or Muslim.
“Without dialogue, there will be more conflict. I do not think the people want this,” she said.
In the meantime, RNDP Chairman Aye Maung said that his party would raise an objection in Parliament to the OIC offices.
He said that the Arakanese people would accept help and humanitarian
aid “from any organization and from any country,” but that it was
unnecessary for the OIC to open an office in the region.
“We are afraid that the OIC will influence religion and politics in
Arakan State,” he said. “It could even threaten the rule of law in our
country.”
He reiterated that his party and the majority of Rakhine Buddhists at
large would not object if the OIC opened offices in Rangoon or
Naypyidaw in coordination with other members of the international
community.
Sources Here:
What a notorious buddhist monks in the world I have seen in Burma who have recently settled there from Bangladesh. Monks have been looting, killing and burning Rohingyas'properties with the full cooperation of Myanmar's bias govt. It's the protesting plan of government too because OIC will must find out main conflict in Arakan state thats why they do not want to enter OIC.