Rohingyas Feared of Double Victimization

Maung Aurther 

Opinion Editorial 

Rohingya Blogger

May 13, 2013 

As a cyclone in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal named Mahasen is looming around, Rohingyas in Arakan have caught themselves amidst the fear of double victimization. They fear the half of the danger to be inflicted by none other than the authority of Arakan, Security Forces and Rakhine extremists. After all, Burmese government, taking advantage of the instable situation expected during the occurrence of the cyclone, can go to any extent to commit more crimes against humanity in order to get rid of this unwanted community in Burma. If we see on the ground situation, we have some clues that give us rationales to consider -their fear of a catastrophe to be soon inflicted upon- reasonable. 

There are Rakhine extremists who are being trained by the government on weaponry usage. There are Military who are carrying out battle exercises for days now in Southern Maung Daw. Furthermore, NaSaKa and other Security Forces, today, are regularly raiding many Rohingya villages in Maung Daw. Tortures and extortion of money are nothing new to Rohingyas. Destruction of their properties and seizure of the valuable ones by the authority are rampant now. And there are the displaced Rohingyas getting arrested for unfounded reasons in Sittwe. Rohingyas are being Bengalized by the authority by force. Random rapes and gang-rapes against Rohingya women also continue. In short, there is a strong psychological game being played against Rohingyas. 

No precautionary step to protect Rohingyas from the cyclone disasters expected has been taken yet nor is it expected to be taken. As a matter of fact, majority of Rohingyas in Arakan have no clue about the coming storm. They, especially the displaced Rohingyas at the camps in the townships of Sittwe, Mrebun and Min Bra, are not being moved to the higher places. The government only gave mere instructions to the respective administrations of the Rohingya villages that there is a storm to happen soon. As most weirdly as it can be, particularly in Maung Daw, the authority ordered the respective head of the different village administrations to take photograph of each and every scene in the Rohingya villages during their announcements of the warnings regarding the cyclone. One can expect it is just an attempt by the Burmese authority to compartmentalize the international attention to the crises in order to keep space for plausible deniability in case that they commit more crimes either by ignoring the people or intentionally killing them during the storm. 

On the other hand, Rakhines are being moved to the higher places and other protected areas. Worse, the vehicles such as Cars, Vans and other transports owned by Rohingyas are forcibly reserved by the authority in Maung Daw to transport Rakhines to the protected areas. That, in essence, leaves no room for and disables Rohingyas from taking their own preemptive actions to protect their people. And yet, what the cruelest and most heartless act one may think of is that Rohingyas are not yet allowed to move out of their camps or their houses making them die within their living places. 

On one hand, they may become the sole victims of the cyclone and on the other hand, the Burmese security forces and Rakhine terrorists might target them taking advantage of the instable situation. Alas, there will be no reporter, NGO or anyone else during the storm. And even, satellite can hardly track and record the accounts of the violence. The brutal Neo-Fascists in Burma can buck up the blames of their own crimes to the nature. In this vulnerable situation, it will not difficult for one to expect Rohingyas to be most hardly hit by the consequences of the storm. 

Therefore, it is the most critical and highest time for not only international NGOs and community but also international government bodies to pressure the Burmese regime to get rid of the discriminatory steps and to equally try to protect all the people at least for this time. Or else, the entire humanity will have to be answerable for all the catastrophes expected to occur.