February 6-12, 2015

Continued Response to Voting Rights for White Card Holders

State-owned media

Myanmar Times, February 9: “Sittwe Residents Begin Protests”

• This story mostly covered developments that occurred last week, with the granting of suffrage to white-card holders.
• It mentionst that the issue is particularly sensitive in Rakhine state, and that several communitybased groups are protesting. o It states that every house in Sittwe is showing a Buddhist flag and a letter written to object to the vote.
• There is not much detail included in this story, and this is the first instance of reporting on the white card conflict

• The status of holders of temporary IDs – widely known as white cards – should be clarified as soon as possible, a leading MP said last week, as parliament voted to give them voting rights in an upcoming national referendum.
• Meanwhile, the head of an ethnic Rakhine party said he plans to submit the issue to the Constitutional Tribunal.
• “If the problem persists into the next generation, it will be rather difficult to settle it. White card holders should not be allowed to vote. They should be recognised as citizens or foreigners,” said U Zaw Myint Pe, chair of the Amyotha Hluttaw National Planning Affairs Committee. 

• After a week of threatened protests and controversy, the Burmese government has decided against granting voting rights to white card holders in the upcoming referendum.
• The move will mostly affect the Muslim Rohingya, who account for about 600,000 of the 700,000 cards, according to the Ministry of Immigration.
• The notification from the President’s Office said the cards would expire on March 31. Holders of the documents will be required to hand them over to the authorities by May 31 and apply for citizenship in accordance with existing laws.

Private media

Democratic Voice of Burma, February 6: “MPS launch petition to oppose White Card holders”

• Upper house MPs initiated a petition to rule on whether a recent motion to grant voting rights to temporary identification card holders is in breach of the Constitution.
• Led by Rakhine National Party Chairman and Upper House MP Aye Maung, the petition has so far garnered 28 MP signatures, including representatives from the National League for Democracy and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. 

• Anti Muslim groups are planning seven days of protest starting from Monday to condemn the parliament’s decision allowing white card holders to vote in the upcoming election.
• Meanwhile the spiritual leader of the 969 movement U Wirathu said that he will organise protests if the government does not rescind the order.
• Rakhine National Party vowed to fight attempts to give white card holders the vote. The chairman of RNP Dr Aye Maung also said that he will seek a ruling from the constitutional tribunal on the issue to see of the move to grant vote to the white card holders is constitutional.

• Arakanese lawmakers and a group of opposition parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), are asking Burma’s Constitutional Tribunal to overturn a recent parliamentary decision to grant white card holders the right to vote in a planned constitutional referendum.
• 27 lawmakers in the house signed a letter asking the Tribunal to review Parliament’s decision
• Arakanese politicians are fiercely opposed to any legal recognition of the Muslim minority in northern Arakan State, who they claim are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. 

• President Thein Sein gave his approval late on Tuesday to hold a referendum this year on amendments to the country’s military-drafted Constitution.
• The referendum could take place as early as May.
• The recent decision to grant ‘white card holders’ such as the Rohingya the vote in this referendum has prompted outrage and protest. Several group are calling for a review of this decision. 

• Hundreds of people have demonstrated in Rangoon, Burma’s biggest city, to protest a government decision to allow people without full citizenship, including members of the Rohingya ethnic minority, to vote in an upcoming constitutional referendum. 

• Story covered as above. o Some 300 nationalists—mostly Rakhine Buddhists and including at least 70 Buddhist monks— marched in Yangon to express their frustration with the decision, saying that as non-citizens, white card holders should not have the right to vote on the referendum.
• “This issue is not only for the Rakhine people, but also for national security and the interests of the whole nation,” Tin Htoo Aung of the Rakhine National Network, which joined Wednesday’s march, told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “That’s why we’re protesting today—to preserve and protect our prestige.”

• An estimated 850,000 non-citizens of Burma are in danger of losing their voting rights after a government backflip on white cards.
• The ID document acknowledges temporary residency and offers voting rights to holders. The President’s Office announced on Thursday that the cards will expire at the end of next month and must be handed over to authorities.
• The decision comes after outrage from Burmese nationalists, who turned out in their hundreds in Rangoon on Wednesday to protest voting rights for non-citizens. 

International media

Reuters Canada, February 6: “Myanmar nationalists threaten protests over Rohingya vote change”

• Nationalist monks and some political leaders in Myanmar have threatened to hold mass rallies to protest a parliamentary decision giving the Rohingya ethnic minority voting rights in a referendum to amend the constitution.
• Many say the constitution needs reform, because it reserves substantial power for the military and bars Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency, among other contentious clauses.
• While members of ethnic minorities including those of Indian and Chinese descent also hold white cards, about two thirds are Rohingya, according to the government.
• "No matter what the parliament has adopted concerning this issue, the ANP will continue fighting relentlessly until the white card holders are not allowed to vote," the Arakan National Party, an ethnic political party from Rakhine state, said in a statement. 

• Myanmar's president declared Wednesday that a system of temporary identification cards for people seeking citizenship will become invalid at the end of March, negating an earlier decision that would have allowed card holders to vote in an upcoming constitutional referendum.
• The announcement of President Thein Sein's action came just hours after hundreds of people demonstrated in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, against allowing non-citizens bearing the cards, including many members of the Rohingya ethnic minority, to participate in the referendum.
• Most of those protesting Wednesday were Rakhine Buddhists, and the crowd of about 300 included at least 70 Buddhist monks.
• Thein Sein's move came as a surprise and details remained unclear, along with the reason for the sudden decision. 

Attempts to Implement Rakhine Action Plan

Private media

Burma Times, February 6: “Attempts to Implement Rakhine Action Plan in Akyab”

• The government has begun its attempt to relocate refugees of IDP camps in Akyab. 
• The former neighbourhoods of these Rohingyas have been taken over by Rakhine nationalists in the 2012 riots.
• The population of the IDP camps numbering around 140,000 people are forbidden by security forces from moving out leading to a desperate humanitarian situation as there are little livelihood options. International media has described the IDP camps as open air prisons where food rations, housing conditions, sanitation and other basic amenities are deplorable
• Despite such a desperate humanitarian situation, the Rohingyas, fully aware of the Rakhine Action Plan rejected the offer and told the authorities they refused to move elsewhere other than their former neighbourhoods. 
• The Rakhine Action Plan has been described by human rights organisations as the blueprint to segregate and ultimately drive the Rohingya Muslims out of the country altogether. One of its provisions is to transfer Rohingyas to remote places. 
• Human rights groups condemned the plan last year

Myanmar Halts Citizenship Verification Process for Muslim Minorities

International media

International Media:  Voice of America, February 6: “Myanmar halts citizenship verification process for Muslim minorities”

• Burma, has halted a national pilot project to verify the citizenship status of Muslim minorities in western Rakhine State.
• Since the program began last year, only 40 Muslims were given citizenship and more than 200 were granted temporary citizenship because only those who identified themselves as Bengali were accepted. 
• Most Muslims in the state refer to themselves as Rohingya, a term rejected by the government, which sees the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and refers to them as "Bengalis."
• Officials said that the situation is too complicated to continue, and verification is difficult because applicants are applying with an identity that does not exist in the country.

Incidents of Assault by Military

Private media

Burma Times, February 7: “Rohingyas assaulted for protesting chicken theft”

• A group of military personal and Rakhine miscreants brutally assaulted six Rohingyas leaving them unconscious.
• The group were stealing chickens from impoverished households in Rathidaung township. When the group of Rohingyas saw this, they protested and were brutally beaten. 
• Afterwards the military threatened them not to disclose the incident. Despite this, the Rohingyas went to their local representatives, but to no avail. 

• Military personnel and 969 activists apprehended four Rohingya Muslim men and assaulted two women when they protested their stealing of goats and chickens from the neighbourhood.
• A group of military personnel began robbing goats and chickens from a Rohingya village. When a group of Rohingya men protested, they were taken to a nearby military base and assaulted two women.

• An army physician was hacked to death by a soldier for treating Muslim patients on Wednesday.
• In Rakhine State, Rohingya Muslims are not allowed treatment in hospitals. But the army physician was known in the locality for giving treatments to Muslims in IDP camps where the humanitarian situation is extremely bad.
• His colleagues discovered this and he was killed. 

*Note: There were several other isolated incidents of assault against Rohingya by military and nationals this week. Each was very similar to these stories.

Rohingyas Intercepted at Ukhia

Private media

Burma Times, February 7: “Rohingyas intercepted at Ukhia”

• A series of attempts by Rohingyas to flee Burma have been repulsed by Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB)
• Altogether, 36 Rohingya were turned away at the border.
• Neighbouring Bangladesh has traditionally been the main entry point for Muslim refugees escaping persecution at home.
• Rights activists say that Bangladesh is flouting international law by not accepting refugees who are escaping persecution.
• At least 400,000 Rohingyas have fled to the neighbouring country following brutal persecution in Arakan where the present population is now estimated at a million

UN Official Hits Back Over Government Statement

State-owned media

Myanmar Times, February 9: “UN Official hits back over government statement”

• A senior UN official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak about Ms Lee’s mandate, questioned why the government criticised Yanghee Lee last week.
• He noted that the government had not issued similar statements condemning foreign leaders, such as President Barack Obama, who had also spoken out about the poor treatment of the Rohingya. 
• “The government doesn’t dare to criticise the United States, for example. They just attack the UN because we have more limited avenues for responding,” he said.
• He said the government also failed to respond to derogatory remarks made about Ms Lee, including those by U Wirathu.