By DENIS D. GRAY and ESTHER HTUSAN

Associated Press

July 9, 2016

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — For nearly 30 years, Aung San Suu Kyi starred as arguably the world's most prominent and revered political prisoner, a courageous champion of human rights and democracy in her military-ruled nation. 

As she completes her first 100 days in power, the Nobel Prize laureate's halo has all but vaporized on the global stage: Suu Kyi is being assailed for ignoring the plight of the oppressed Rohingya Muslims, failing to stop atrocities against other ethnic minorities and abetting moves to erase from collective memory the bloody history of the generals she replaced. 

Some have even labelled her a "democratic dictator," an increasingly aloof one-person show who surrounds herself with close friends and loyalists without nurturing a vitally needed new generation of leaders. Gone are the days when the elegant hostess would charm visitors over informal teas and reduce hard-bitten reporters to voicing soft-ball questions.

Even her supporters find it hard to cite concrete achievements of her government during the 100-day period, which ends this week, except for the freeing of most but not all political prisoners and initial efforts to stop rampant land grabs.

However, to the country's Burman majority, The Lady, as the charismatic 71-year-old Suu Kyi is affectionately known, remains a beacon of hope, one who will eventually surmount an array of troubles that would buckle the best of leaders — from the world's longest running insurgencies to abysmal health care and China's rampant exploitation — while somehow breaking the still-powerful grip of the military.

"We should give her 1,000 not 100 days given the legacy of a half century of military oppression. People are still patient, at least the majority of Burmans. But of course, for the ethnics it is different," said Ye Naing Moe, a prominent journalist and educator.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Information Minister Pe Myint cited the government's main achievement to date as progress toward a two-fold "national reconciliation" — between civilians and military, the majority Burman people and the ethnic minorities, which make up about 40 percent of the population.

"I believe we are moving in a positive direction," he said. "The main aim is to build a democratic federal union."

But criticism from foreign quarters has been withering, focused on Suu Kyi's refusal to act on the Rohingya Muslims, who were driven into squalid camps amid waves of killings in 2012, and continue to flee on perilous sea voyages from a country that denies them citizenship despite historic proof of centuries-long residence.

Meanwhile, the generals continue to wage war against several ethnic groups, who rose up against the central government following Myanmar's independence from Britain in 1948. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said his group has received more reports of atrocities by the military in Kachin and Shan states in recent months than similar periods last year under the military-dominated government.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights last month said that the new government "has the responsibility and opportunity to halt these violations" and called for an end to "discriminatory policies and practices by repealing discriminatory laws." A New York Times editorial said "a woman whose name has been synonymous with human rights for a generation has continued an utterly unacceptable policy of the military rulers she succeeded."

Suu Kyi has countered that she needs "space" to sort out such problems as the Rohingya and maintains that she has always stood for human rights and the rule of law.

The question of maneuvering space seems to be key to Suu Kyi's power, or lack thereof. Despite her party's sweeping victory in last November's election, a 2008 constitution guarantees the military 25 percent of parliamentary seats, control of three key security ministries and a constitutional veto. The armed forces also have cornered large chunks of the economy.

"People were expecting miracles (after Suu Kyi's victory). But first of all it is important to remember that this is a government with very limited power," said Bertil Lintner, an author of several books on Myanmar. "The government has hobbled along and been blamed for actions which are beyond its control."

Some observers say Suu Kyi, descending from the high moral ground of a political prisoner, has simply become a pragmatic politician, one who fears that pushing the military too far on human rights and other contentious issues could stop her in her tracks — if not spark a military coup — and never make her laudable end-game possible.

She has not taken up the cause of the Muslims, this line of argument goes, because this would alienate a key segment of her electorate, the Burman Buddhists among whom a virulent anti-Islamic movement has been growing. In another upsurge of violence, Buddhist mobs have recently burned down a mosque and attacked Muslims in several areas of the country.

A less charitable view says that given her massive popular mandate and international backing, Suu Kyi has enough political space in which she could afford to alienate radical anti-Muslims and the generals, who don't appear keen for any breaks with Suu Kyi's government.

Farmaner said that while Myanmar's deeply systemic problems are obviously going to take a long time to solve, "it doesn't take time to release political prisoners. This can be done immediately. Or lift humanitarian aid restrictions on the Rohingya, Kachin and the Shan. That can be done immediately, and this has not been done." More than 60 political prisoners are still behind bars with 140 awaiting trial.

"She is so different from what she was before. People are really questioning who she really is now," said Tun Kyi, once an ardent Suu Kyi supporter imprisoned for 10 years following the 1988 uprising against the military which propelled Suu Kyi to prominence.

The answer for many ethnics and Muslims like Tun Kyi is that while trying to resolve internal conflicts at heart, Suu Kyi views Myanmar as a Burman Buddhist country and will put Burman interests first. And despite her nearly 15 years under house arrest at the hands of the military regime, Suu Kyi retains an abiding fondness for the army — something she herself has acknowledged, noting that her father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, founded the institution.

Some also question the leadership mantle she has assumed.

"She only wants to give orders. She is not interested in listening to those who have opinions other than her own. She has equated her own destiny to the destiny of the country," said Tun Kyi, who works with the Former Political Prisoners Society.

Barred by the constitution from serving as head of state, Suu Kyi said she would "be above the president," and took on the newly created post of state counsellor. She also serves as foreign minister, minister of the president's office and heads the National League for Democracy party. President Htin Kyaw is a close friend and her personal physician Dr. Tin Myo Win acts as the inexperienced negotiator with ethnic groups.

"It has got to be tempting for a woman with a huge to-do list to accumulate power in her own hands, to ignore the niceties of consultation and drive-through solutions: that would be a mistake in a brittle young democracy like Myanmar," said Tim Johnston, Asia program director of the think tank International Crisis Group.

Her to-do list seems endless and it remains unclear on how some of the challenges will be dealt with since the government has yet to issue a comprehensive policy platform.

Myanmar remains one of the world's least developed countries, the second largest producer of opium and this month was listed among the worst offenders in human trafficking by the U.S. State Department. Rife with corruption, it ranks 147 out of 168 countries on the latest index of Transparency International.

With one-third of the population having access to electricity, the government must decide whether to pursue dam construction by China, which has wreaked massive deforestation and other environmental degradation, or risk alienating its northern neighbor by axing Chinese projects. Beijing is currently on a charm offensive to restart construction of the $3.6 billion Myitsone dam, which was suspended by the previous government after nationwide protests.

"For the next generation, peace is the best legacy to pass on. Our country will develop only if it has peace," Suu Kyi said last month, as preparations began for the "Panglong 21st Century Conference" in late August to persuade more than 20 insurgent groups to lay down their weapons.

The information minister said peace will be some time in coming with a key barrier the highly centralized, military-crafted constitution, which Suu Kyi and ethnic groups want amended to give greater autonomy to minorities. For some ethnic leaders, the conference will prove a non-starter unless such amendments are made and the army halts its ongoing attacks against the Kachin, Shan and others.

"We want to see Suu Kyi publicly condemn the current fighting and war crimes of the past. Without this the talks will fail," said Charm Tong, a leading Shan human rights activist. She has done neither, with her government at least tacitly going along with military efforts to ban public discourse about the army's decadeslong abuses.

"The main success of the government is that it is there. Although with limited powers, it is the first civilian government since 1962. And that gives the people some hope," said Lintner.

The information minister described Suu Kyi's victory as a "dream come true, but people expected something more, something perfect, so they are not 100 percent happy or satisfied."

Aman Ullah

RB Opinion

July 8, 2016

“The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.” Martin Luther King Jr. 

The Problems

The Rohingya problem is one of the long-standing and deep rooted problems of the world. It is widespread, systematic and institutionalized. 

Series of armed operations, with frequent state patronized communal riots, have been engineered one after another, resulting in massive drive of Rohingyas from their homeland of Arakan. As a result, since 1948, about 2 million Rohingyas have been expelled or have to flee their ancestral homeland for their lives.

Hence, it is the result of forcible dispossession of their population and expulsion from their homeland by means of murder, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, executions, rape and sexual assault, military and paramilitary attacks on civilians, robbery and extortion, destruction of cultural and religious buildings and monuments, destruction of homes, confinement of civilians in camps, purposeful starvation, and some others in the most in human manner at the hands of successive Burmese Military Regimes in order to rid Arakan of the Rohingya population.

Moreover, the Rakhine leaders have a long history of vilifying the Rohingya as the cause of their state’s misfortunes. Since 1970s, the anti-Rohingya Rakhine leaders have instilled in Rakhinese society against the Rohingya. They presented the Rohingya as the problem in their society in literature and teachings. Anti-Rohingya Rakhinese falsified history by labeling the Rohingya as foreigners to Burma who were brought in during British colonial rule. The central government’s support of this false story has served to bolster Buddhist hatred toward the Rohingya.

Successive Regimes dehumanized the Rohingya in their official propaganda and depicted as amoral or dangerous to society. Officials falsify history and present justifications for why the entire group, to include the elderly, women, and children, must be viewed as guilty.

The Genesis of the Problems

Across the last two thousand years, there has been great deal of local vibrancy as well as movement of different ethnic peoples through the region. For the last millennium or so, Muslims (Rohingyas) and Buddhists (Rakhines) have historically lived on both side of Naaf River, which marks the modern border with Bangladesh and Burma. In addition to Muslims (Rohingyas) and Buddhists (Rakhines) majority groups, a number of other minority peoples also come to live in Arakan, including Chin, Kaman, Thet, Dinnet, Mramagri, Mro and Khami etc.

The Muslims (Rohingyas) and Buddhists (Rakhines) had been peacefully coexisting in Arakan over the centuries. Unfortunately, the relation between those two sister communities began to grow bitter at instigation of the third parties, during the long colonial rule of more than two centuries. The anti-Muslim pogrom of 1942 has caused rapid deterioration in their relation.

General Ne Win was responsible for this anti-Muslim pogrom of 1942, who commanded the Burma Independence Army (BIA) troops from Bassein. The massacre resulted in a toll of 100,000 Rohingya, a large exodus of them and complete devastation of hundreds of large Rohingya villages and settlements throughout Arakan. These vacated lands or traditional Rohingya areas had been occupied or filled up with Buddhist Rakhines, causing serious demographic changes in complete disadvantage of the Rohingya community and their succeeding generations.

Same general Ne Win took over the power from the civilian government in March 1962 introduced a series of anti-Muslim laws. Since 1974, the launched several Immigration Operations of different categories including the one which is known as the ‘Sabe Operation’. During this operation periods tens of thousands of Rohingyas’ National Registration Cards (NRCs) were seized without any legal authority, on various pretexts which were never returned, for which hundreds and thousands of Rohingya were classified as foreigners alleging illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

In 1978, the government launched another anti-Rohingya military operation in the pretexts of checking illegal immigrant in the name of ‘King Dragon’. As a result, about 300,000 Rohingyas had sought refuge across the border in southern Bangladesh amidst widespread reports of army brutality, rape and murder. Under international pressure, Burma agreed to "take back" most of them in the repatriation agreement with Bangladesh. However, 3 years later; the Burmese government passed the 1982 Citizenship Law, a legal instrument, which may make all the Rohingya illegal status. Since then the Rohingya lost all their rights and privileges. 

Since 1988, the SPDC/SLORC regime turned on eradicating the Rohingyas by way of destroying everything that is Muslim’s or Islamic in the whole of the country. They have been planned and systematic efforts by SPDC to make demographic changes in Arakan with increasing new Buddhist settlements and pagodas in the whole of predominately Rohingya zone of North Arakan, so that it looks like a Buddhist land. The Buddhist settlers have gradually marginalized and elbowed the age-old Rohingya villages out of their homes under the state patronage.

In the direct outcome of these, about 250,000 Rohingya have to cross the border into Bangladesh in 1991-1992. Although many of these refugees have since then been repatriated to Burma, there are still just under 30,000 refugees living in two camps in southern Bangladesh. Moreover, there are also an estimated more than 200,000 Rohingya living illegally outside without access to protection or humanitarian assistance.

After the 1991-92 outflow of Rohingya, the SPDC changed its strategy and engineered a new tactic of slowly and steadily pushing the Rohingya from their homeland, using all sorts of physical abuse and economic obstacles. The SPDC has declared Rohingya as non-nationals rendering them stateless. They have become the worst victims of systematic, persistent and widespread human rights violations in Burma, including denial of citizenship rights, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, education, marriage and religion, forced labour, rape, land confiscation, arbitrary arrests, torture, extra judicial killings and extortion on daily basis.

Burma began its political transition from authoritarianism to democracy in 2011 and anti-Rohingya campaign began to intensify in November in the same year. Since then the nationalists have mobilized Buddhist Burmans for their campaign against the Rohingya by presenting Arakan state as the western gate of Buddhist Burma against 'flooding' Muslims from Bangladesh. A radical Buddhist groups have characterized the Muslims as “a most dangerous and fearful poison that is severe enough to eradicate all civilization.” Citing Adolf Hitler, a Rakhine political party has said that crimes against humanity, even the Holocaust, are justified “in defense of national sovereignty” and “survival of a race.”

In June 2012, in the aftermath of the alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine woman by few members of the Rohingya community, all hell broke loose. By invoking medieval conception of justice of punishing everyone for the act of a few errant members, not only did the Buddhist Rakhines inflicted disproportionate harm on the Rohingyas, on occasions induced and led by the monks; the Burmese state too instead of providing protection to the victims became an active party in the carnage. 

Since then, Muslim communities across Burma have suffered horrific violence, whipped up by hate speech preached by extremist Buddhist nationalists. Every aspect of their lives, including marriage, childbirth and ability to work, is severely restricted. Their right to identity and citizenship is officially denied. They have been systematically uprooted.

The then-President Thein Sein responded to the riots by segregating Rohingya Muslims in suburban refugee camps under the pretext of maintaining law and order. Several thousands of Rohingya fled the wretched living conditions at the camps and sailed on small boats to Malaysia and Indonesia as refugees. This has provoked international criticism against Myanmar. The riots further fueled anti-Muslim sentiment among Myanmar's Buddhist majority, which has been behind the rapid expansion of Ma Ba Tha's influence.

By the result, about 200,000 held in internal displacement camps and unknown thousands have taken to sea as refugees. The UNHCR estimates that more than 86,000 people have left the area by boat from the Bay of Bengal since June 2012. The government even denies humanitarian agencies unfettered access in their internal displacement camps. Their homes, businesses, and mosques have been destroyed. Amid the destruction, many Rohingyas have been unfairly imprisoned, with some tortured to death while behind bars. 

Moreover, Than Shwe and his USDP men in order to counter the opposition’s activities, to stop the Constitution reformation and to win the 2015 national election not only stirred the public up for more conflicts in Arakan and generated the notorious Ma-Ba-tha with a ulterior motif of halting Daw Suu from coming into power. 

“To beat Suu Kyi, Burma’s quasi-military rulers need xenophobia, and the Rohingya are their chosen scapegoats,” said Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid activist and himself a winner of the Peace Prize. For the last 60 years the Muslims, Particularly Rohingyas, have been subjected to oppression from the successive regimes of Burma. They have systematically been used as a scapegoat by the military junta of Burma for many decades.

Whenever there are public demands to amend the 2008 constitution, whenever there are public protests against the Chinese projects in Burma, anti-Muslim violence was fomented and created by letting loose groups of well-trained mobs in order to divert the public’s attention. Unfortunately, the odious culture of using Muslims as political scapegoats is long anchored in Burmese politics; Muslims have been the victims of various power struggles in Burmese history.

Ma Ba Tha, launched in June 2013, now has 250 branches across Myanmar and 5 million supporters, according to a public relations official. The group's rally was held in Yangon's Thuwana National Stadium and drew a full-capacity crowd. The core tenet of the group is the rejection of Muslim immigrants, whose population is surging.

Though the 85% of the population of the country consists of Buddhists, the Ma Ba Tha has attempted to justify killing of Muslims in the name of defending Buddhism against the encroaching influence of Islam.

Since then, the Rohingya have been backed into a corner, their lives made so intolerable that tens of thousands have fled by sea, seeking safety and a sense of dignity elsewhere. Surviving the perilous journey to Bangladesh, Thailand or Malaysia is, too often, seen as the only way to finally be free from persecution. 

In May 2015, the Rohingya refugee crisis grabbed international headlines when tens of thousands of Rohingya fled discrimination in Burma on the dangerous smuggler-supervised boat journey to Thailand and Malaysia. Hundreds of Rohingya drowned in the “fleeing season” when their frail vessels collapsed; mass graves of hundreds of trafficked people, many believed to be Rohingya, were found in the forests of Thailand. The human traffickers who work with desperate Rohingya will crowd them into prison camps in the Thai jungle and elsewhere, and, in order to solicit more money, will call their parents and torture them so that their parents can hear their screams of pain over the phone.

This complete dehumanization of the Rohingya has become commonplace throughout Burma and the region, and has infiltrated political and religious discourse. Important government officials have referred to them as ‘viruses’ and ‘foreign entities’ and many important Buddhist leaders have fuelled this kind of sentiment using social media and anti-Muslim rallies.

The abuses perpetrated against the Rohingya population have been flagged by a number of organizations including the UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and the results are chilling.

Accusations of rape, torture, forced removals; forced labour, child labour, detention and killings are widespread and have been well-documented. Further, there have been major restrictions placed upon Rohingya reproductive rights, the ability to move freely and access to basic social services. Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division has called the Rohingya ‘the world most forgotten, abused people’, and the UN has called them ‘one of the most persecuted minorities in the world’.

According to Prof. Schabas, one of the foremost experts on international criminal law, “We’re moving into a zone where the word can be used (in the case of the Rohingya). When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist, denying their history, denying the legitimacy of the right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean that it’s not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide.”

International journalists, genocide scholars, human rights researchers and humanitarian aid workers have all acknowledged Burmese persecution of these Muslim minority people. In the last several years, a growing international consensus is emerging as to the nature of the crime: Human Rights Watch has described the persecution of the Rohingya as ‘ethnic cleansing’ while several major empirical studies published by the University of Washington Law School, Yale University Law Clinic, Queen Mary University of London International State Crime Initiative and Al Jazeera English Investigative Unit have accused Burmese military government of commissioning the crime of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

Virtually, every iconic leader in the world – from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis to Desmond Tutu and George Soros to the youngest Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yusufzai has called for the end of Rohingya persecution and restoration of their full citizenship rights.

On Nov. 8, 2015, NLD win landslide victory and from government which started ruling the country from 1st April of this year. In her first speech the democratic icon leader of ruling party, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi announced that, “This victory should be for the whole country not a particular party or individual”. However, a fundamental question for the Rohingya is whether her vision of “the whole country” includes the Rohingya, who were systematically excluded from voting this election. 

In the recent report of UN Human Rights Office on the human rights situation for minorities in Myanmar, stated that “a pattern of gross violations against the Rohingya... (which) suggest a widespread or systematic attack... in turn giving rise to the possible commission of crimes against humanity if established in a court of law.” The report also criticizes the new government steered by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party. There were huge expectations that Suu Kyi, after assuming power, will work to improve the plight of Rohingyas, but she has refused to act. The report lists a number of violations committed against the minorities, which include summary executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and ill-treatment. The report says the new government has “inherited a situation where laws and policies are in place that are designed to deny fundamental rights to minorities, and where impunity for serious violations against such communities has encouraged further violence against them.” 

Now, it is democratic government led by Daw Suu but the Rohingyas problems remain the same as previous regimes. According to UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee, “The home ministry and the Special Branch of the police are the same people from the past government, that is why things have not changed…Old habits die hard.”

Ms Lee urged the government of Myanmar to make ending what she calls "institutionalized discrimination" against Muslims an urgent priority. She said government reluctance to crack down on perpetrators of religious violence out of fear that it would lead to more tension sends the wrong signal.

Lee also criticized conditions in camps for internally displaced Rohingya Muslims. She urged authorities to ease restrictions on their freedom of movement, which makes it hard for many of them to find jobs. The National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, took power in Myanmar in March after 50 years of military rule. But hatred and mistrust between majority Buddhists and religious minorities, especially Muslims, have been simmering for several years and often boils over into violence.

In her statement she said, “The recent establishment of the Central Committee on Implementation of Peace, Stability and Development of Rakhine [Arakan] State signals the priority given by the government to addressing the complex challenges facing both communities”. She also added that, “Nevertheless, my visit to Rakhine State unfortunately confirmed that the situation on the ground has yet to significantly change”.

The Solution of the Problems

The most important task in this time, in Arakan, is re-establishment of trust among the peoples of Arakan, after a long period of bitter antagonism which causes suffering and discord. Healing the hearts of these peoples is essentially a process of reconciliation with a genuine desire to place happiness and well-being of the whole peoples of Arakan, which will require an atmosphere of increasing trust.

The government needs to take confidence building measures in order to create congenial atmosphere in Arakan that will re-establish trust among the peoples of Arakan. In this regards the government should immediately need to take the following steps:-

· Make relieve form the hell like conditions and several restrictions to the peoples of Arakan, particularly the Rohingya.

· Abolish the Rakhine Action Plan and end institutionalized discrimination against the Rohingya, including the denial of citizenship. 

· Recognize the citizenship and ethnic rights of the Rohingya. They should be able to peacefully co-exist in Arakan as equals and common citizens of Arakan with their ‘collective rights’; 

· Hold accountable all those who commit human rights abuses, including inciting ethnic and religious intolerance and violence.

· Take masseurs for rehabilitation (not relocation) of IDPs to their original homes, which need to facilitate the safe and voluntary return of them to their communities. 

· Take masseurs for repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of Rohingya refugees outside the country in their original homes and properties.

· Take masseurs to reintegration of these IDPs to their original society.

· Develop a comprehensive reconciliation plan, including establishing a commission of inquiry into crimes committed against the Rohingya in Arakan.

· Improve the welfare of ethnic and religious minorities and repeal laws and discriminatory practices that pose an existential threat to the Rohingya community. 

Furthermore, the government’s sincere attempts are needed to implementing a genuine dialogue for promoting reconciliation between the two sister communities of Rohingya and Rakhine and for restoring peace and relaxation of tension in Arakan. The international community must urge the new NLD government to constitute a UN mandated ‘commission of inquiry’ into crimes committed against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Neighboring countries should offer protection and assistance to Rohingya asylum seekers.

By Moe Myint
The Irrawaddy
July 8, 2016

RANGOON — United States Ambassador Scot Marciel made his first trip to Arakan State on Wednesday. Talks were held in the state capital Sittwe with the Arakan National Party (ANP) and with stateless residents of a segregated Muslim ward, Aung Mingalar.

Tun Aung Kyaw, secretary of the ANP—which represents the interests of the Buddhist majority in Arakan State—told The Irrawaddy that they received the ambassador at their head office in Sittwe.

Scot Marciel, who started his post as US Ambassador to Burma in April, reportedly asked ANP leaders about their relationship with the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) and the ANP’s plans for developing Arakan State.

Tun Aung Kyaw said they were unable to respond to the latter, since “we have no power to carry out development in the state.”

This was a pointed reference to their marginalization by the NLD, which controls the Arakan State government and appointed the chief minister from within their own ranks—angering the ANP, which has the largest plurality of seats in the state parliament, and which has since vowed to act in “opposition” to the NLD.

The ANP have also been excluded from a high level committee on Arakan State, chaired by Suu Kyi and featuring the NLD chief minister alongside various Union ministers.

During the meeting, the ANP secretary said his party would collaborate with the NLD on any project that could deliver “positive impacts for the Arakanese.” However, they would respond strongly if the NLD were to do things “unacceptable for the Arakanese.”

Such “unacceptable” actions may include granting citizenship to large numbers of stateless Rohingya Muslims. The ANP have been adamant that most of those who self-identify as Rohingya are illegal “Bengali” migrants who do not belong in the state.

The ANP have previously insisted that any granting of citizenship is carried out in strict adherence to the 1982 Citizenship Law, which precludes citizenship for most Rohingya as an “unrecognized” ethnic group in Burma.

Scot Marciel then proceeded to Aung Mingalar, the only Muslim enclave remaining in Sittwe after anti-Muslim riots in 2012. It functions effectively as an internment camp, with a heavily armed police presence and restricted access in and out.

Zaw Zaw, an Aung Mingalar resident who was present at the meeting, said the ambassador had “come to see the situation on the ground for himself.”

Muslim community leaders complained to the ambassador that, contrary to their expectations, their condition had not changed significantly under the new NLD government. Particularly, they wished to regain freedom of movement, so as to access medical care and education and to participate in trading, as was the case before the 2012 riots.

“Our first priority is to get back [to a] normal situation,” Zaw Zaw told The Irrawaddy after the meeting.

He said that, during the 30-minute meeting, they discussed the government’s new scheme of issuing “National Verification Cards” (NVCs) to stateless Muslims, as a precursor to being scrutinized for citizenship eligibility under the 1982 Citizenship Law.

The scheme has been met with suspicion by Muslim communities in some areas of the state, in part because the new cards bear no information on the religion and ethnicity of the bearer.

Prior to his trip to Arakan State, the ambassador had met in Naypyidaw with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who branded the NVC scheme a positive “first step” for stateless Muslims aspiring to Burmese citizenship.

However, according to Zaw Zaw, the residents of Aung Mingalar expressed distrust in the process. They considered it an unnecessarily convoluted and uncertain undertaking for those families who had lived in Arakan State over multiple generations.

According to Zaw Zaw, the ambassador “promised” to relay their concerns personally to Suu Kyi, although he did not specify when he would do so.

Some freelance journalists have posted on Facebook that the meeting in Aung Mingalar was closed to outsiders and they had been unable to gain information about it.

Aung Mingalar resident Zaw Zaw commented on the relatively light security presence during the meeting, and the absence of state-level ministers—in direct contrast to the visit by Yanghee Lee, United Nations rapporteur for human rights in Burma, on June 23.

“It’s quite strange. Nobody followed him,” he said.

At the conclusion of her visit in Burma, Yanghee Lee publicly criticized the police in Arakan State for their intrusive conduct, which included photographing and questioning local interlocutors before and after her meetings with them.

The US ambassador also met with the speaker of the Arakan State Parliament San Kyaw Hla along with other state government officials. The ambassador declared the US government’s intention of supporting agricultural development in Arakan State, although he reportedly did not go into the specifics of such engagement.

Throughout the various meetings held in Sittwe, the ambassador avoided using either of the contentious terms “Bengali” or “Rohingya.” In April, Burmese ultra-nationalists protested outside the US Embassy in Rangoon against the Embassy’s use of the term “Rohingya” in a public expression of condolence over deaths in a recent boat accident.

According to a subsequent Facebook post from the US Embassy, the ambassador also hosted a dinner for trade officials in Arakan State, “to discuss U.S. assistance efforts and how business and trade can improve the lives of communities” in Arakan State.

By Editorial Board

Bangkok Post
July 8, 2016

Mob attacks against Rohingya Muslim communities and the burning of mosques in Myanmar's northern Kachin state and Bago Region in the past weeks remind many of us that there seems to be no end in sight for the chronic and terrifying anti-Muslim violence.

The violence is driven by Buddhist extremists against this minority group in our neighbouring country.

It is worse when those who fall prey to violence are marginalised people who are not entitled to any basic rights. In the latest incidents, security forces stood by and offered no protection.

Despite much hope being pinned on the National League for Democracy-led government, the ongoing violence against Rohingya demonstrates one fact: There is no difference between the Myanmar military regime and the civilian government under de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on this matter.

Upon her election victory, Ms Suu Kyi pledged to prioritise the peace process and end the country's chronic ethnic conflicts. But, sadly, that priority and the peace effort under her leadership has so far excluded the Rohingya while including other ethnic groups. It should be noted that during her recent official visit to Thailand, Ms Suu Kyi succeeded in advocating for the rights of Myanmar migrant workers, a minority here. She however has been cautious in doing the same for the Rohingya -- a minority at home.

Having suffered persecution and discrimination for decades, the Rohingya have endured another round of bloodshed and violence in the predominantly Buddhist nation after tensions between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya erupted and boiled over in 2012. At least 200 Rohingya men, woman and children were killed and over 100,00 of them fled their homes to live in crowded camps.

Fleeing persecution at home by boat and trying to enter Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia via Thailand, tens of thousands of them have fallen prey to human traffickers, been killed at sea or forced to work under hellish conditions.

Upon her return from a 12-day trip to Myanmar last week, United Nations rights investigator Yanghee Lee warned that religious tensions remained pervasive and called for the government to end institutionalised discrimination against Muslim communities. She also asked the government to investigate the latest attacks and hold the perpetrators to account.

Ms Suu Kyi and her government should heed the call of the UN rights investigator. Practical measures to protect this minority from sporadic but prolonged violence and enforce the rule of law against perpetrators are urgently needed.

Meanwhile, long-term solutions to root out the anti-Muslim rhetoric and pave the way for granting the Rohingya basic rights including citizenship should be part of the government's priorities.

The government's recent effort to alternatively refer to Rohingya as "Muslim communities in Rakhine" has failed to keep the tension from boiling over. Buddhist nationalists, who brand the Rohingya as immigrants from Bangladesh, still find the term unacceptable.

While changing the public's hostile sentiment toward the Rohingya may take time, it is essential that the Myanmar government use laws to investigate the violence and prosecute the abusers. This will send out the key message that acts of violence will not be tolerated.

As a popular politician, Ms Suu Kyi should not only think about maintaining popular support. She must do more to end the widespread rights abuses and transform Myanmar into a more open-minded country that will ensure sustainable peace.

Myanmar Times
July 8, 2016

By AFP
July 7, 2016

The European Parliament on Thursday urged Myanmar to end what it termed "brutal repression" and "systematic persecution" against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi insisted in May her new government was determined to address deep hatreds in western Rakhine State, where tens of thousands of Rohingya are confined to squalid displacement camps after waves of deadly unrest with local Buddhists in 2012.

But she and her administration have been widely criticised for not speaking up sufficiently for the group in a country where nationalists even refuse to use the term "Rohingya", which Suu Kyi herself has maintained risks inflaming tensions.

Nationalists in a country where radical Buddhism is on the rise label the group "Bengalis," casting Myanmar's more than one million Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The European Parliament showed its deep concern by passing a resolution calling for the issue to be urgently addressed.

"Parliament reiterates its deep concern about the plight of Rohingya in South-East Asia. This ethno-religious Muslim minority of about one million people is one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, officially stateless since the 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law and unwanted by the Myanmar authorities and by neighbouring countries," the assembly said in a resolution that decried the Rohingya's "extremely vulnerable situation."

European lawmakers said Myanmar must "as a matter of urgency ensure free and unimpeded access to Rakhine State, where some 120,000 Rohingya remain in more than 80 internal displacement camps, for humanitarian actors, the United Nations, international human rights organisations, journalists and other international observers."

They also called on the south Asian country to "condemn unequivocally all incitement to racial or religious hatred and implement specific measures and policies to prevent direct and indirect discrimination against the Rohingya in the future."

A recent UN report expressed similar concern, citing denial of citizenship, forced labour and sexual assault of Rohingya.

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party took power in April, ending nearly half a century of military domination.

She also is a winner of the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, which the EU awarded her in 1990 and picked up only three years ago following 15 years of house arrest.

Mayyu Ali

RB Opinion

July 6, 2016

"1 doctor per 140,000 Rohingyas in Northern Rakhine State. 1 doctor per 681 non-Rohingyas in Rakhine State." Thomas Quintana, former Special Rapporteur based-Myanmar

The population of Rohingyas in Rakhine State, according to 2014 Census is estimated approximately 1,090,000 (536,700 are male and 553,300 are female).

From generation to generation, they are Rohingyas who have a great hope for the democracy administration of Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the late General Aung San. To accomplish the hope, many Rohingya souls have given, many had to fled the country, many belongings of Rohingyas have supplied and many efforts and endeavors of Rohingyas have sacrificed for her. And many have passed away by hoping without fulfillment.

Outstandingly, when the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the general election in November, 2015, she is now in power becoming the key player of this new government wearing many rolling hats. And now, it is 3 months over of its new civillian administration in Myanmar. Even though, human and civil rights violations have been slipping backward in the country particularly on Rohingya people in Northern Rakhine state.

Do you know that there were (6) rape incidents and (1) assassination against Rohingya women in the first half year of 2016 in northen Rakhine state? (For privacy reason, database is not attached hereby but can ask to mayyuali@gmail.com for more details)

Let's keep an eye to the today-life of 553,300 displaced and undisplaced Rohingya women!

They think themselves that they are useless. They decide themselves to end up their life. Their fate brings an unusual life for them having been the rape of mothers in front of their children, the sexual assault of wives in front of their husbands, the molest of sisters in front of their brothers and the torture of daughters in front of their fathers. This, then leads them enthralling to end up their life, indeed.

90 percent of their basic health assistance is denied in Northern Rakhine State. They are the only women in Myanmar who always have to take off their veils and being checked up even their bodies during passing the check points. For any tiny thing of else, a kick with long shoe is a normal harshness of the Border Guard Police (BGP) except the extortion of accusing for no village administration authorization and absence of identification card. In fact, there is no Rohingya who has no fear and distress for passing the check points.

(1) Their pregnant life

Most of them cannot afford to eat balanced foods during their pregnancy period. Many of them have husbands who cannot afford even medical consultation costs to have a safer pregnancy for them. Where is no income sources of members in a family, there is the frequency of family conflict, domestic violence and influence at home. The nausea and lose of appetite are the impacts of such situations. And the average weight of them is found as (25-40) kg. 

Too few of them are enough capable of hospital delivery. It is difficult for most of them to go to clinics and health centres for pregnancy consultation, due to financial contingency and transportation unavailability. Those who are able have to face the misbehavior and blood-boiled frailing words of non-Rohingya medical staffs in hospitals. Then, this leads them to be reluctant to go there again even for vaccination. Home delivery with a traditional birth attendant is a common resource for them. And some of them face early pregnancy and miscarriage, too. However the risky of complication is, even pregnant women are not allowed yet to cross the check points at night to go to downtown hospitals for delivery. Nevertheless, it is seven heavens of delight for them that INGOs such as Malteser International and Medicine Sans Frontier (MSF) provide assistance to transfer to downtown hospitals for few of delivery complications in some coverage village tracts of Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships. So, Rohingya women have to carry on a heavy emotional pains of burden on their mind meanwhile they carry on a fatigued pregnancy in their womb. 

"The night is going so long and my pain is screaming me loud. No nurse is around of us. When my husband bribed 30000 MMK, the nurses of night in-charge come out and see me", said Fatema, age 27 from downtown of Maungdaw.

"Paying the bribe is not worse than dying in pain when they can kill us with their pills", added Fatema. 

It was on 8 of January, 2016 when she was hospitalized for her first delivery in Maungdaw hospital. Daw Kyi Kyi Htun is one of night duty running nurses who takes bribes for thier nursing priority to hospitalized patients in Maungdaw hospital. In this regard, there are other kinds of making-money practices of medical staffs in downtown hospitals in northern Rakhine state. 

"Pregnant women are dying. Children are dying", urged Dr. Zarni to the world during the last Oxford Conference of Rohingya Genocide.

(2) Their lactating life

Many new born babies are found as low weight birth then thus, are prone to malnutrition. No good access of medical assistance for their lactation due to several kinds of restriction. Some have no chance to rest and reduce their domestic workload after their poor delivery. 

All of them are not well-aware of the advantages of feeding colostrum, yet. Many are able neither to practice exclusive breastfeeding nor to breast-milk to their babies in a way of good attachment and position as the lack of attention on them during it. Infants before 6-month of age have to introduce artificial feeding for less breast-milk production of weak mothers. Some lactating mothers are found as moderately malnourished And it causes 60 percent of their children suffering acute malnutrition. 

Very few have the knowledge of child well-being and are able to fulfill the needs of their children. They are those mothers who always worry about the secure and safety of their children. 

"Suddenly, my baby was snatched from my bosom. It is a wolf when I look at. And I scream...", mourned Monuwara (nick name), a Rohingya lactating woman, age 33 to her neighbors. 

It was on 14 of May, 2016, at midnight 3 am. It took place in a mountain hamlet (Goona Para) of (Ward-2) Pauk Taw Pyin, northern of Buthidaung Township. She is one of the most vulnerable women in the area. The door and shelter of her house are not enough secure to protect them. And her husband is too weak and blind to save his family. And the hungry wolf could take away the baby from her bosom at midnight. When she was screaming, all the neighbors came to see and followed the wolf but they could not save the baby. When the day broke, they found the dead body in the mountain but not eaten because the wolf gave up when the villagers followed it. 

(3) The life of Rohingya young women

Rohingya young women are those women who grow up in a garden without a good gardener. The access of fertilization for them is too scarce to promote their talent and potential. 

Most of their parents have less motivation of educating them in schools not because they cannot afford their education costs but because they see no benefits of educating them. Even now, their last only one source for higher education of Sittway University is restricted to go there to study since 2012. Moreover, there is no employment for them in public services since decades.

Extortion, arbitrary arrest, incarceration and ongoing restrictions in several ways against their innocent parents and brothers make them to have a life of rage and helplessness. The daughters of those parents who are not able to pay the dawry for their marriage flee the country in sale of human traffickers to find the grooms in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. During their adventure, some are drowned in simultaneous sea. Some are raped by human traffickers. And some are reselled to others. On the other hand, some of them have a single life for long without affording a marriage in northern Rakhine State. 

To use a common phrase, they too are the princess of hope and dream. But for being minority Rohingyas in Myanmar, things in their daily life seem quite different. Their expectation always evaporate, their hope always shatter and their dream always change.

"My dream has turned to nightmare", said Khin Me Me Htun, 22 years old, one of the displaced Rohingya young women out of many thousands.

She has finished her (B.A, English) attending Sittway University in 2010 academic year. She has a dream to continue her furthermore study of diplomacy moving to Yangon. When the riots broke out in her town, Sittway, she and her family became hopeless. And her dream has changed to the life of so-called concentration camp. She then became a displaced woman. Now, she has a life of hardship without enough food and secure shelter. 

Of course, this is the today-life of Rohingya women who has escaped from the death of the flame of arson, the blade of swords, the shoot of bullets and the sink of sea in back four years. In northern Rakhine state, the same wind for them is still blowing, the same wave for them is still striking and the same day for them is still going on.

Do not ask me why it is like that. Ask me why it should not be like that. It is just a page of the first half year of this 2016's on-going persecution to genocide against Rohingyas that a lazy student can find to read. If someone willing to see them with a keen eye, an impartial ear and a kind heart going in Rakhine State, he or she would surely find out the suffering what human beings can be.

However, it remains only 10 days out of 100 Days of Scheme of the first new civillian democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, she is still ignoring the dignity of the world's most persecuted 553,300 Rohingya women in Northen Rakhine State.

Perhaps, I am too a son of those mothers, a brother of those sisters, a husband of those wives and a father of those daughters. 

Mayyu Ali is a member of Myanmar Youth Activist for Rohingyas Freedom (MYARF). He has written many Burmese and English genres about the sufferings of his Rohingya people.

By Moe Myint
The Irrawaddy
July 1, 2016

RANGOON — Arakanese nationalist groups from Sittwe, Arakan State, sent an open letter to President Htin Kyaw and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi objecting to the government’s new terminology for those who self-identify as Rohingya prior to a protest they have planned for next week.

About 500 residents and 70 Buddhist monks signed the letter, which objected to the administration’s preferred “Muslims from Arakan State” jargon, which the government trotted out in hopes of easing tensions between the local Buddhist and Muslim communities.

The statement was delivered to Burma Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Upper and Lower House Speakers, the ministries of defense, home affairs, information, and labor, immigrations and population, as well as the Arakan State government.

Last weekend, about 300 Arakanese nationalists, monks and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the state capital of Sittwe decided to launch a poster campaign for every Arakanese house with signs that said, “Rakhine is Rakhine, Bengali is Bengali,” highlighting that they would continue to use the word “Bengali” to describe the self-identifying Rohingya—who they believe are interlopers from Bangladesh—instead of taking on the government’s new nomenclature.

Two weeks ago, Burma’s representative to the United Nations (UN), Thet Thinzar Htun, said that using “the Muslim community in Arakan State” instead of the contentious term “Rohingya” would help foster harmony and mutual trust between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Arakan State.

Days later, Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, visited Arakan State and met with both Buddhist and Muslim communities. During her time in the country, the Ministry of Information officially instructed state-owned publications to use the terms “the Muslim Community in Arakan State” and “the Buddhist Community of Arakan State.”

The National League for Democracy (NLD) government hoped to chart a neutral course with its new terminology, but both sides have rejected it and doubt that it will succeed.

The open letter stated that if the Union government adopts the new labels, it is intentionally hiding the Muslim community’s Bengali origins and will be viewed as an attempt to destroy the Arakan race.

“We strongly object and will not accept any term except Bengali,” stated the letter.

Arakan nationalist Than Htun claimed that the groups have already obtained official permission to peacefully assemble in every township in Arakan State on July 3. Police chiefs in Sittwe, Buthidaung, Thandwe, Kyauktaw and Maungdaw townships all confirmed that they were aware of and would allow a massive protest.

Khin Maung, Kyauktaw Township police chief, told The Irrawaddy that a demonstration with up to 1,000 protestors had been approved.

On Friday, an invitation letter from the Arakan State government circulated on social media, requesting that influential nationalist monks who would join the rally first hold talks at the state government’s offices on July 2. Arakan State Chief Minister Nyi Pu was unavailable to comment for this story.

U Eainda Sakka, an abbot from Sittwe, was invited to the government meeting but said there was no specific information or explanation included in the letter. He said he assumed it was related to the upcoming rally, but that if the chief minister hoped that they would avoid emotive slogans [Suu Kyi previously labeled ‘Rohingya’ and ‘Bengali’ as emotive terms], they would not acquiesce, as they had already received permission in accordance with the law.

“Maybe they will tell us to manage the rally and keep the situation calm,” he added.

By Associated Press

July 1, 2016

YANGON, Myanmar — Conditions in camps for members of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority, forced from their homes four years ago by communal violence, remain poor with overcrowding, the deterioration of temporary housing, and a lack of proper sanitation facilities, the U.N.'s special human rights envoy to the country said Friday.

Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee, speaking to reporters in Yangon at the end of her fourth trip to the Southeast Asian country, said ending institutionalized discrimination against the Muslim communities in western Rakhine State must be an urgent priority, and restrictions on them cannot be justified on grounds of security or ensuring stability.

There are more than 100,000 Rohingya living in the squalid camps, with restrictions making it impossible for most to make a living.

Her 12-day trip was her first since the new, democratically elected government took power at the end of March, ending more than 50 years of repressive military or military-dominated rule.

Discrimination against the Rohingya is widespread and the government refuses to recognize most as citizens, treating even long-term residents as illegal immigrants.

"It is clear that tensions along religious lines remain pervasive across Myanmar society. Incidents of hate speech, incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence, and of religious intolerance continue to be a cause for concern," Lee said in a prepared statement.

The violence that was originally directed toward Rohingya in Rakhine has since affected Muslim communities in other parts of the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

Lee expressed concern over recent incidents of Buddhist encroachments or attacks on property of other religions, which have been met with little response by the authorities.

"It is vital that the government take prompt action, including by conducting thorough investigations and holding perpetrators to account. I am therefore concerned by reports that the government will not pursue action in the most recent case due to fears of fueling greater tensions and provoking more conflict. This is precisely the wrong signal to send," she said.

While highlighting other human rights problems, including abuses by both sides in insurgencies involving other ethnic minorities, Lee said the situation was still encouraging since the party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took power in March, succeeding an army-backed government.

"The peaceful transition to a democratically elected and civilian-led government after five decades is a significant milestone for Myanmar," she said. "My visit thus takes place at an important juncture for the country. After the euphoria in the wake of last year's elections, the reality of the significant and wide-ranging challenges facing the new government has not significantly dampened the sense of optimism and hope amongst many sectors of the population."

By Fiona Macgregor

The Myanmar Times
July 1, 2016

Now here is an interesting juxtaposition of cases: On the same day that ministers announced there would be no legal action against members of a mob that broke into a mosque and assaulted a Muslim man in Bago Region, we learned that U Gambira – a former monk and Saffron Revolution leader – is facing new charges relating to an incident in 2012 when he allegedly forced open monasteries sealed by authorities after the monk-led uprising.

The excuse given by Bago Chief Minister U Win Thein for the lack of action against the anti-Muslim lawbreakers is that the regional government is worried arrests will lead to more violence. “If we take action on people, the situation will be bad,” he told this paper.

Meanwhile, U Gambira, whose legal woes have been decried internationally as being politically motivated – and who suffers from serious mental health issues relating to his incarceration and torture as a political prisoner – faces years longer in jail.

How clearly we see that this government can be as willing to be complicit in persecution – political or religious – as its predecessor was.

There is no indication that U Gambira – also known as U Nyi Nyi Win – injured anyone. His lawyer claims the former monk simply needed a place to stay after being released from prison during a presidential amnesty. As for religious hatred, U Gambira has been one of only a few high-profile Myanmar Buddhists to publicly condemn monks’ involvement in sectarian protests.

He has been charged with “mischief” (causing monetary loss or damage) and “trespassing”. The offences carry penalties of two years and one year of imprisonment, respectively. Meanwhile, those whose rampage in Bago’s Thaye Thamain village also included ransacking the injured man’s home, destroying a Muslim cemetery and damaging a building under construction have been allowed to act with impunity.

“Impunity” is a sensitive word in this country. For those campaigning on gender issues – which is the usual focus of this column – military impunity for crimes of sexual violence is perhaps the single most emotive example of the absence of rule of law and the government’s failure to uphold the rights of women and ethnic minorities.

It is disappointing that the new administration has so far not done more to prioritise this. The continued constitutionally enshrined power of the military certainly makes it challenging to bring its members to account in civilian courts. But State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has also repeatedly made clear that she sees keeping the generals on-side as more important than holding them accountable for crimes past and more recent.

With an extremely delicate peace process to negotiate, such reticence to pursue justice is disappointing but in some ways understandable. But the National League for Democracy government’s continued reluctance to uphold the basic legal rights of the country’s Muslim population against crimes by other civilians is entirely untenable.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi made remarkably few clear policy pledges throughout the election campaign that swept her and the NLD to power last November.

But the one thing she was adamant about – that she repeated so often one wondered at times if she actually had any other practical solutions worked out – was the importance of “rule of law”. This was to be the foundation stone of her new democratic Myanmar.

How then to justify a situation where her ministers allow religious hate crimes to go unpunished because they claim that applying rule of law will further inflame violence?

This was the same implausible and unreasonable excuse used by the last military-backed government to justify bowing to the demands of violent extremists in Rakhine State and allowing brutal crimes there to go unpunished.

It requires us to believe that the very same security forces which have a long history of oppressing peaceful democratic protests suddenly become impotent in the face of sectarian violence.

Not only that, but it also requires us to accept that we should bow to rule of mob instead of rule of law. Yes, cases involving religious tensions in Myanmar require sensitive handling. But that does not justify the NLD abandoning its key democratic principle and its promise to the people of this country.

U Win Thein’s vow that the regional government will “supply aid to the Muslim people who suffered in the quarrel” offers neither justice nor reassurance.

More than 200 of the village’s 268 Muslim residents fled their homes after the violence. One only need look to the tens of thousands trapped in internment camps in Rakhine State for the past four years to see how government “aid” can work out for displaced Muslim people living in Myanmar.

If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is serious about addressing the religious hatred that has become a national disgrace for this country, she must ensure that her ministers publicly uphold the rule of law she has championed for so long.

To do otherwise is to abandon democracy at the first hurdle. The people of Myanmar deserve better.

By John Zaw

UCA News
July 1, 2016

Myanmar's new civilian-led government is involved in a controversy for suggesting the term "Muslims in Rakhine State" and avoiding describing the community as "Bengalis."

The Ministry of Information instructed state media on June 16 not to use "Rohingya" or "Bengalis" and to use "Muslims in Rakhine State" and "Buddhists in Rakhine State" to describe the local people in the state.

Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party was democratically voted to power after decades of military rule, has asked several high-level dignitaries to refrain from using either term, including requesting the United Nations Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee currently visiting Myanmar to do the same.

The Muslim minority in Myanmar's state of Rakhine self-identify as Rohingya. Earlier governments had insisted on referring to the Rohingyas as Bengalis, implying that the minority group are instead illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. This is done despite the fact that vast numbers of the Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for decades.

Soe Naing from Rakhine Social Network, said that they have decided on protests in several townships in Rakhine on July 3, including sending objection letters to the president, over the government's new term.

"We don't accept the new term as they are 'Bengalis' so we will express our strong objection by rallying," Soe Naing, an organizer for the July 3 protest told ucanews.com.

Kyaw Min, chairman of the Democracy and Human Rights Party in Yangon, told ucanews.com that the government should stress on equal rights for the minority Muslims instead of emphasizing on the term to describe them.

Kyaw Min who in 2005 was sentenced to 47 years in prison for his pro-democracy work with Suu Kyi says that he had high hopes on her but sadly, she is "cautious and silent" on the Rohingya issue.

Last week, the Arakan National Party (ANP)-hardline Buddhist party in Rakhine, released a statement rejecting the government's new terminology.

"We feel that the new government attempts to treat as the same ethnic Rakhines and 'Bengalis'," Aye Nu Sein, chairwoman of ANP, told ucanews.com.

Kyaw Hla Aung, a Rohingya activist from Thetkaepyin refugee camp near Sittwe, said the community wants to self-identify as Rohingya and so won't accept the government's new term.

"If we accept the 'Muslims in Rakhine State' term, we worry about losing our Rohingya identity and true history," Kyaw Hla Aung told ucanews.com.

Hatred and bigotry toward the minority Rohingya have been deeply rooted in Rakhine State.

In recent years there has been growing nationalism spearheaded by hardline groups such as the Ma Ba Tha that is led by senior Buddhist monks.

More than 120,000 Rohingya Muslims were forced into squalid camps with apartheid-like conditions since 2012 when anti-Muslim violence left scores dead.

"Rohingya" simply means "inhabitant of Rohang," the early Muslim name for Arakan.

Muslims probably arrived in what was then the independent kingdom of Arakan (now Rakhine) as long ago as the 8th century. They were seafarers and traders from the Middle East, and were joined in the 17th century by tens of thousands of Bengali Muslims captured by the marauding Arakanese, according to an Economist report from June 2015.