Piercing the walls of Naypyidaw
THE Rohingya, or at least some Rohingya, are now being projected as terrorists who are out to kill Myanmar soldiers and civilians. Myanmar leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi have spoken along these lines.
This view of the Rohingya is being propagated by the Myanmar government with greater zeal since a small armed group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked security forces on Oct 9, 2016. These attacks have continued in recent weeks.
In this new wave of violence, it is alleged that 12 security personnel were killed while the Myanmar military and border police have killed 77 Rohingya Muslims.
The way Aung San Suu Kyi and her government colleagues have framed the clashes ignores the brutal massacres committed by the military over a long period of time. The oppression and persecution of the Rohingya by the State and other forces have been thoroughly documented by the United Nations Human Rights Council and other independent human rights groups.
It is well known that as a community, the Rohingya were stripped of Myanmar citizenship in 1982, deprived of basic human rights, tortured, imprisoned and forced to flee their home province of Rakhine. This is why there are tens of thousands of Rohingya living in squalid conditions in Bangladesh or struggling to survive in a number of countries from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia. They have been described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. Simply put, the Rohingya are the victims of a slow genocide, to quote Nobel Laureate Prof Amartya Sen.
To condemn the violence of a minuscule fraction of the Rohingya without taking into account their massive marginalisation and severe oppression is a travesty of truth and justice. It is extreme desperation and hopelessness that has forced some of them to resort to violence.
Of course, violence is not the solution. It will not help to restore the rights of the Rohingya, especially their right to citizenship.
Our concern is that the violence will escalate. The signs are already there. Given the underlying religious connotations of the conflict – though the conflict itself is not root ed in religion per se – it is not inconceivable that the violence will spread beyond Myanmar’s borders and engulf Muslim and Buddhist communities in other parts of SouthEast Asia. This would be catastrophic for Asean, a regional grouping in which 42% of the population are Muslim and another 40% are Buddhist.
Finding workable solutions to the MyanmarRohingya conflict is therefore of utmost importance. It is in this regard that the “Final Report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State” under the chairmanship of former UN secretarygeneral Kofi Annan deserves the urgent attention of all stakeholders.
Announced in August 2017, the report calls for a review of the 1982 citizenship law and notes that “Myanmar harbours the largest community of stateless people in the world”, and urges the government to abolish distinctions between different types of citizens.
Other recommendations pertain to reduction of the poverty rate in Rakhine state which is 78%, improving the socioeconomic condition of the people, enhancing access to health services and education, ensuring freedom of movement and encouraging people’s participation and representation.
Though the report is worded with a great deal of caution and diplomacy, it does send a clear message to the powers that be in Myanmar that the status quo cannot be allowed to persist.
That message is significant considering that the commission was actually initiated by the Myanmar government.
Will it take heed? So far, there is no indication that it would respond positively to the recommendations, which is not surprising. It is the harsh authoritarianism of the government embodied in the power of the military that is primarily responsible for the targeting of the Rohingya as the “ethnic other”, resulting in the genocide we are witnessing today.
Even if the Myanmar government does not act of its own volition, the Kofi Annan report can be used to persuade other govern ments to pressurise Myanmar to act. Apart from Asean governments, civil society groups and the media should also initiate special efforts to convince Beijing, Tokyo, New Delhi, Islamabad, Washington and London to demand that the Myanmar government protects all its citizens without discrimination. If they fail to do so, these capitals should review their economic and/ or military ties with Naypyidaw.
It is with the aim of persuading the leadership in Naypyidaw to change its behaviour that the Permanent People’s Tribunal is holding its concluding session in Kuala Lumpur on the treatment of the Rohingya, Kachins and other minorities in Myanmar from Sept 18 to 22.
As more voices plead for justice and compassion on behalf of the oppressed in Myanmar, they may eventually pierce the walls of Naypyidaw.
DR CHANDRA MUZAFFAR President International Movement for a Just World (JUST)