Myanmar's marginalized Muslims earn country UN rebuke

With a half-century of military dictatorial skin to shed, Myanmar is only just beginning to emerge a democracy. As presidential elections approach, racial-religious conflict is on the rise and threaten to undermine reform efforts. Last week, the United Nations chastised Myanmar, also known as Burma, for neglecting the issue of citizenship for minority Muslims of Bangladeshi origin, known as the Rohingya.

In less than three years, Buddhist mobs have slaughtered at least 280 Rohingyas, with another 140,000 relegated to squalid living quarters lacking adequate medical care, education, and employment. Heavy assaults by majority Buddhists and denial of full citizenship rights by the government have led to the highest rate of seaborne asylum-seekers in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War. An estimated 100,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar’s western shores by boat.

“We have a huge amount of refugees fleeing into Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia … a human catastrophe is happening,” Malaysian legislator Charles Santiago said during a recent news conference.

Prejudice against the stateless, displaced Rohingyas is high. While many were born in Myanmar, the general populous regards them as illegal immigrants, and almost all are denied citizenship by both Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Last month, President Thein Sein invalidated “white cards,” a temporary identification system for those seeking citizenship. According to a recent report from The Nation, government personnel began confiscating white cards from Rohingya camp dwellings.

“People are worried about the white cards being taken back,” Abu Tahay, leader of the National Democratic Party for Development in Myanmar, said. “They don’t have other identification.”

Beyond creating an identity crisis, revocation of white cards equates to a revocation of voting privileges for Rohingyas.

The UN urged Myanmar to give the Rhohingya equal citizenship rights and to crack down on Buddhist violence against religious minorities. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned national authorities the simmering tensions “could be seriously destabilizing,” expressing concern the president’s action looks like “institutionalized discrimination.”

After a fact-finding mission to Myanmar earlier this month, parliamentarians from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) composed a report and appeal letter to area leaders. The appeal noted “troubling signs of anti-Muslim rhetoric and broader incitement to violence,” adding Myanmar’s “protracted culture of abuse … put[s] strains on regional economies and support[s] the rise of extremist ideologies that pose security threats throughout Southeast Asia.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Myanmar’s legislature proposed a series of bills earlier this year to toughen regulations on interfaith marriage and religious conversion. While visiting Myanmar, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski told reporters, using religion to divide people is incredibly dangerous.

“This is really playing with fire and exposes the country to dangers that it is not prepared to handle,” he said.

Only 4 percent of Myanmar’s population identifies as Muslim, and another 4 percent claim Christianity. Both minority groups face staunch persecution from Buddhists, who make up nearly 9 out of 10 residents.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.