Illegal laws

By Nyo Tun

RB Opinion

February 26, 2014

A reflection of thoughts arose in my mind from my reading of the following news in the Democratic Voice of Burma’s reports:

(1) Amending 59(f) will allow foreigners to exploit ‘simple’ Burmese, says Wirathu 

(2) Rohingya crisis: Burma govt implicated in ‘Crimes against Humanity’ and the complete report of Fortify Rights

I will briefly describe what are the main contents of these topics including Fortify Rights' report. For example, in the Number 1 Wirathu said: “The Amendment of the Article 59(f) will allow deceitful persons to exploit the Burmese people who are simple and naïve. Our people don’t have high enough intelligence”.

I will argue against this statement by illuminating that it is entirely illegal to make the laws by such belief of Wirathu: "we must make the laws with our blood", or "with our national heritage" or "with our majority's will " or " by our intellectuals' reasoning power". Validating the assumption of 'lest the deceitful will do such and such harms' in making the laws will split the nation into friends and foes; who are standing close to the authority and who are standing distant from the authority; and such law-making process with the intent of purging 'the deceitful' will legitimize untranslatable languages of dominant groups' lusty emotions and passions.

In a similar way, I would reinforce the finding of Fortify Rights that Myanmar government intentionally outstrips Rohingya of fundamental rights that amount to the Crime against Humanity. The report said Myanmar government has prescribed various illegal laws to oppress the Rohingya communities, simply because these 'Bengalis' are 'deceitful'. I would also like to add that this is also the currently prevailing opinion and attitude against Rohingyas in many Burmese communities. As in No.1, I will argue that such a law-making process immersed in the founded assumption of conceiving a particular group as inferior-minded and ill willed is entirely illegal.

In brief, I will describe the current prevailing opinion of the law-making process and evolving attempts to legitimize such discriminatory law-making practices are unacceptable for a democratic nation and continuing to hold such discriminatory practices in law-making will lead to what I can only describe as crime perpetrated by the government itself.