4.3pc of people are Muslims

ASEAN CENSUS: Proportion of Muslims in Myanmar has not changed in 30 years

THE proportion of Muslims in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar has not increased in 30 years, contrary to the fears of strident Buddhist nationalists.

The government’s release on Thursday of the religion data from the 2014 census showed 87.9 per cent of Myanmar’s 51.49 million people are Buddhists, while 6.2 per cent are Christians and 4.3 per cent Muslims.

Labour, Immigration and Population Minister Thein Swe said members of the Rohingya ethnic minority— who are Muslims — were not officially counted because they refused to identify themselves by the official category of Bengali, which implies they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The 4.3 per cent proportion of Muslims is based on a projection that includes the 1.09 million Rohingya.

Rioting directed against Rohingya in 2012 in western Rakhine state sparked deadly anti-Muslim violence and fuelled the rise of a politically aggressive Buddhist-nationalist movement.

More than 100,000 Rohingya live in squalid displacement camps in Rakhine after the rioting forced them from their homes, while as recently as June, there were two mob attacks on Muslim religious institutions in other states.

Prejudice against the Rohingya remains strong even though the government this past month moved towards curbing Buddhist extremists.

Thein Swe said census enumerators were intimidated sometimes from carrying out their duties in Muslim areas of Rakhine, as well as in the northern state of Kachin and eastern Karen state, where ethnic minority militias hostile to the central government hold sway.

Yoriko Yasukawa, the Asia-Pacfic regional director of the United Nations Population Fund, “expressed hope that the census data will help communities to work together to build an inclusive society that respects and values the rights and aspirations of all people in Myanmar, without exception”.

However, the UN agency also took note of the absence of data on the Rohingya, most of whom “face severe restrictions to freedom of movement, depriving them of access to health services, education and employment”. AP

THAILAND