Diplomatic solution: Zaw Min Htut (second from left) and other Rohingya people in Japan stage a protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in July. AYAKO MIE

Rohingya ask Japan to help stop Myanmar violence

By AYAKO MIE

Staff writer

Rohingya people in Japan, a Muslim ethnic minority in their home country of Myanmar, are asking the government to help ease escalating tensions there between Buddhists and Muslims that experts warn could develop into an international conflict.

Deadly riots first broke out in the western state of Rakhine near the border with Bangladesh in July after an Arakanese Buddhist girl was raped and murdered in May, allegedly by three Rohingya youths. The incident set off an onslaught of revenge attacks against Rohingya.

Even though the Myanmar government announced emergency rule in Rakhine, human rights observers said security forces did little to stop the violence and in some cases took part. At least 78 people were killed and more than 5,300 houses destroyed, according to government figures.

Rohingya in Japan who fled Myanmar to seek political asylum here are pinning their hopes on the Japanese government to pressure the Myanmar government to treat their compatriots better, as Japan has had an amiable history with the government during its years of repressive military rule.

"If there is a government the Myanmar government would listen to, it's the Japanese government," said Zaw Min Htut, president of the Burmese Rohingya Association of Japan.

In 1998, he fled political persecution in Myanmar and came to Japan, where he was first detained as an illegal immigrant. He is one of only a few Rohingya to be granted refugee status in Japan. Of 200 Rohingya who belong to the association, 15 have been granted official asylum.

The government of Myanmar President Thein Sein is now bringing sweeping changes to the once isolated nation since it pledged to transition into a democratic system. It has made reconciliation efforts among Myanmar's more than 100 ethnic minority groups, but not the Rohingya, who were excluded by the government from holding citizenship when the country enacted a citizenship law in 1982.

The United Nations estimates that about 800,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine state and describes them as one of the most persecuted and stateless minorities in the world.

The Rohingya issue is such an emotional one in Myanmar that even opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains silent, even though the ethnic Muslim group has been a staunch supporter of the democratic leader. Some pundits say the hatred against the Rohingya has been ingrained even among the most vocal human rights activists in Myanmar.

In an interview with The Japan Times, Zaw Min Htut said Japan wields more diplomatic clout as it was never a harsh critic of the military junta, while the United States and the European Union imposed economic sanctions against the military dictatorship. When Thein Sein visited Japan in April on the first state visit by a Myanmar leader in 28 years, Japan forgave $3.7 billion in debt to support the country's nascent democratization.

Officials at the Foreign Ministry said they recognize the clashes in Rakhine state, and that the government is paying close attention to developments, but they are on the fence about taking direct action aside from providing humanitarian assistance through the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Mizuho Fukushima, president of the Social Democratic Party and a lawyer who has worked on human rights issues, believes Japan could at least express concern to prompt the government of Thein Sein to take a more humanitarian approach to this issue.

The Upper House lawmaker has been supportive of Zaw Min Htut's human rights activities since the time he was detained by immigration authorities in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

"With the Myanmar government shifting toward a democratic system, more Japanese companies are eyeing business opportunities there," said Fukushima, who met with officials from the Foreign Ministry and Zaw Min Htut to discuss the Rohingya issue in early August.

"It might impact Japanese businesses if the clash escalates even further," said Fukushima, who said she will push the government to support an independent United Nations investigation into the matter.

Following international pressure, Thein Sein launched a commission to investigate the August sectarian killings. But experts warn that the clashes could get worse and have the potential to develop into an international conflict involving Muslim Bangladesh. They say mediation by a third party, such as Japan, is needed.

"It would be a great opportunity to exercise Japan's diplomatic skills," said Kei Nemoto, a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo and an expert on Myanmar, likening the situation to when Japan mediated peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Tamil Tigers in 2003. "But first Thein Sein has to agree to such a third-party mediation framework, which might be difficult."

Source 

Myanmar moderates risk ire to calm sectarian rift

By AFP

Published: August 17, 2012

Nay Phone Latt, who was released in January after nearly four years in jail has become the target of backlash by social media users. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

YANGON: A Myanmar blogger who was a poster boy for online resistance to the former junta has become the target of a backlash by social media users for speaking out against hatred aimed at Rohingya Muslims.

The case of former political prisoner Nay Phone Latt, a rare moderate voice on recent fighting between Muslims and Buddhist Rakhine, underscores the level of anger sparked by the unrest which erupted in western Myanmar in June.

The 32-year-old has faced the ire of social networkers for publishing an article warning of “genocide” if anti-Muslim sentiment spreads around the Buddhist-majority nation.

“I try to be neutral in this case but most of the Facebook (users) criticise me for being neutral. They want me to be on the side of the Rakhine,” he told AFP.

The blogger was sentenced to two decades in prison in 2008 for his links to the “Saffron Revolution” monk-led protests against the junta the previous year.

While detained he won the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in New York for showing the “strength of the creative spirit” in the face of repression. He was released in January as part of a political prisoner amnesty.

Recently, however, a photograph used during the campaign to free him – showing his friends with “Nay Phone Latt” written on their palms — has been circulated online with his name crossed out and replaced with the word “kalar”, a derogatory term for Muslims in Myanmar.

But he said some people realised the situation could lead to “endless fighting” if left unresolved and he had no regrets about speaking out.

Fellow blogger Nyi Lynn Seck, who has challenged one government official for posting controversial Facebook comments on the Rakhine violence, said anger was being stoked by misinformation.

“Some people are intentionally spreading fake news,” he said.

Matthew Smith, a researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said it was difficult for ordinary citizens to be objective because there was a widespread belief that all Rohingya are “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, including at the highest levels of government.

“Young bloggers seeking the truth and attempting to approach the issue objectively should be applauded,” he said.

“Sometimes the protection of human rights depends on courageous voices willing to stand up despite great social pressure, and this is one of those times.”

The official toll from the violence stands at about 80 people dead from both sides, although human rights groups fear the figure could be much higher. Renewed violence left several people dead earlier this month.

Tensions in Rakhine are related not only to religion, but also to a flood of immigration from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule, which ended in 1948, said independent Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey.

“There are just such strong prejudices on this issue that it’s even harder for the government to deal with it in this new democratic era than it was in the past,” he said.

Myanmar’s government, which has denied allegations of abuses by security forces in Rakhine, has veered from statements extolling the racial and religious plurality of the country, to suggestions that the Rohingya should be kept in refugee camps or deported.

Some elements of the country’s democracy movement have also dismayed the Rohingya by rejecting them as an ethnic minority.

One exception is comedian and former political prisoner Zarganar, who has called for equal rights for all regardless of religion or ethnicity.

Even Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has disappointed some campaigners by not offering stronger support to the country’s estimated 800,000 Rohingya, viewed by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

But Aye Lwin, a Muslim community leader at the Islamic Centre of Myanmar in Yangon, said he was satisfied with Suu Kyi’s call for even-handed distribution of aid, adding that any strong pronouncement that seemed to favour the Rohingya would be a “fatal blow for her politically”.

He hopes to send an inter-faith group to Rakhine state to reach out to some monks who he described as “hot-headed” and said had been supporting the unrest.

“Most of the younger generation, they need to be educated, not just emotional,” Aye Win said.

“That goes for the international Islamic community also – they should know the actual facts or else they will do damage instead of helping us.”

Aye Lwin said the mission to Rakhine would try to help both communities.

“In that way we will be able to win them over gradually. But it will take a lot of time. A lot of damage has been done.”

Foreign Secretary stresses need to end violence in Burma

Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke about ongoing violence in Burma

“The UK, as ever, stands ready to assist the government of Burma in its efforts to develop Rakhine State, to share our knowledge and experience of tackling the many complex and long-standing issues to be overcome and, as Burma continues its path towards establishing full democracy,  to support an inclusive political settlement that protects the rights of all members of the local population.

“Whilst the reform process has already borne many fruits, we remain seriously concerned about the nature and extent of the recent violence. We have urged the government to resolve the crisis by taking effective and lawful steps to prevent any further violence, in accordance with international human rights law. We have also called upon the communities based there to act with restraint. We have done the same with our international partners, and in international institutions, such as the European Union and the United Nations.

“We join Mr Quintana in stressing the need to end the violence; to grant full and unhindered humanitarian access to the areas affected; to allow the affected communities to safely return to their homes; and to support the restitution of property that was seriously damaged or destroyed. We encourage the government to ensure that it treats the affected communities fairly and equitably and to ensure that the authorities prevent any further bloodshed. There is also a need to seek a long term solution to the problems they face in a manner which recognises their human rights, including their right to nationality, and to take effective steps which prevents any further forced or involuntary displacement and which does not leave them permanently displaced.

“Furthermore, we also join Mr Quintana in calling for the release of all those people who have been arbitrarily detained, irrespective of their ethnic background, and express the need for the government to carry out an independent, fair and prompt investigation in to the violence, in particular the allegations of serious crimes within the communities and human rights violations by the security forces, and for those found guilty of such crimes and human rights violations to be held accountable. In addition we repeat our calls on the government to release and rehabilitate all remaining political prisoners.”

OIC slams global inaction on Myanmar Muslims

Jeddah: The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed disappointment over the inaction of the international community to stop the massacres, injustice and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Myanmar government against Rohingya Muslims in the Arakan region.

In his speech at the extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee on this issue on Sunday, Ihsanoglu explained the steps being taken by OIC to protect Muslim minority in Myanmar.

He said that the neglect of the rights of Rohingyas by the international community and the lack of unity among Rohingya organizations spurred the OIC to exert earnest efforts to unite these organizations for the first time at the OIC headquarters in May 2011.

 

The OIC General Secretariat had directed its offices at the United Nations in New York to coordinate with its member states which are also non-permanent members of the UN Security Council (Azerbaijan, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo) to urge the Council to consider the plight of the Rohingyan minorities, he noted.

 

The secretary general condemned the continued repression and ethnically-motivated oppression of the Rohingyan Muslims as well as to demand restoration of their legitimate rights and request member states, particularly those with representation with the Myanmar government, to do all within their means to convince the Myanmar government to repeal the arbitrary 1982 Citizenship Law which led to withdrawal of citizenship from Rohingyan Muslims.

Ihsanoglu also urged countries, especially Myanmar’s neighboring countries, as well as Islamic organizations and bodies to provide urgent assistance to the Rohingyan Muslims.

He proposed that the Islamic Group in Geneva should dispatch and urgent request to the Human Rights Council to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the massive violation perpetrated against the Muslims inhabitants of Arakan.

The OIC Secretary General also proposed that setting up of an Islamic fact-finding committee on the events should be considered, and that a report in that regard should be submitted to the next ministerial conference. 

He also proposed that an Islamic ministerial contact group should be established to find a just radical solution to this pending issue by contacting all relevant parties, including the government of Myanmar, as well as international and regional organizations and bodies.

 

Ihsanoglu called on the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission to consider the issue at its next session to be held in Turkey at the end of August.

4,000 Muslim Rohingyas killed, 8,000 blank in Myanmar

By Myanmar News Linking Site

Speaking to Today’s Zaman on Monday, Tin Soe, a ubiquitous executive of a Kalaban Press Network, a internal media opening determined by Muslim Rohingyas in Bangladesh, pronounced a atrocities took place as a outcome of irritation by Buddhists and a coming of built reports in a media.

Soe claimed that a built reports of a rape and murder of a Buddhist lady by 3 Muslims were consciously disseminated and led to widespread atrocities opposite Muslims. However, Soe argued that rapes of Muslim women, woe and mass killings of many Rohingyas have not come to a courtesy of a world’s media.

According to Soe, before a attainment of United Nations Human Rights observers, several scenarios were played out, with Rakhine Buddhists sanctimonious to take preserve in temples and schools to remonstrate UN officials that they are victims of intra-communal violence. In return, camps in that thousands of Rohingyas had collected were diluted to remonstrate officials that they were empty.

Since a initial reports about atrocities pennyless in universe news agencies, Buddhists have strong their aroused acts opposite Muslims and killed 10 Muslim Rohingyas.

Since May 29, scarcely 4,000 Muslim Rohingyas have been massacred and a predestine of 8,000 others who have left blank is unknown, Soe claims.

Fears and concerns have flared about those that are missing, in that they competence be being hold in jail or buried in mass graves. The Myanmar supervision has declined to criticism on a emanate so far. Soe, who is himself an racial Muslim Rohingya, pronounced a many cryptic areas are located along both sides of a Naf River between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Maungdaw and Bulhidaumg are a cities where a systematic killings are holding place, he said.

Noting that a supervision of Bangladesh is incompetent to accommodate a needs of a 500,000 Muslim Rohingyas who have taken preserve in a country, he pronounced a supervision is usually able of providing