1st International Conference on the Problems of Democratic Development in Burma and the Rohingya People has successfully Completed in Japan-First Day

Press Release

July 16, 2007

Tokyo Conference Day 1, Successfully Completed Tokyo, Japan

We are glad to announce the successful completion of the first day event for the "First International Conference on Problems of Democratic Development in Burma and the Rohingya People" in Tokyo, held on July 16, 2007. The conference was attended by Japanese and Burmese NGOs, Rakhine, Karen members and representatives from Japan's ministry of Justice, members from foreign affairs and Rohingya exiles, including the senior members of BRAJ.

The conference was presided over by U Maung Sein, President of NDPHR (exile). Mr. Salim Ullah, President of JARO, welcomed all the guests, speakers and attendees. For the benefit of non-English speaking attendees, gists of the speeches were shared in the Japanese and Burmese languages. In his welcome speech, Mr. Salimullah said, “Good Evening Ladies and gentleman.
I would like to welcome you all to our First International Conference on the Problems of Democratic Development and the Rohingya People. Assalamu Alaikum, Minglabar, Kunichiwa”.

In the beginning of the conference, I would like to thank our special guests from the United States of America, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Burma, and other countries. I particularly want to thank our distinguished guests - Dr. Habib Siddiqui, Dr. Abid Bahar and Br.Mohiuddin. We are very happy to have them among us. Please give them a hand.
…..(applaud)

Once I was told by one of our senior Rohingya brothers, "For a good initiative, you don't need to ask anybody." Yes, this is not a political gathering; it is an educational and intellectual conference. It must be a good cause. But I still thought it is necessary to inform our people, our
Rohingya brothers, our Rakhine brothers, and the fellow Burmese brothers. That is why we have invited them all.

Rohingyas are a stateless people. We don't have a country that we can call our own. The world is our country. We have to work hard to get rid of Burma's discriminatory Citizenship Act to be able to call Burma our country. It is high time that Rohingyas should be united to fight for restoring their citizenship rights.

The conference abstracts have already been published on the Internet. It addresses the problems of Xenophobia, Citizenship issues, Human Rights violations by the military and certain so-called democracy movement leaders. They say we have never heard of the Rohingyas.

We have the experts to tell us. To tell you, what are the problems and what are the issues that have to be understood and resolved to bring an end to the Rohingya suffering.

Now I am opening the floor for the speakers."

The papers presented on the first day were by

Dr. Habib Siddiqui from USA
Dr. Shwe Lu Maung from USA
Dr. Abid Bahar from Canada
Dr. Than Aung from UAE
U Maung Sein from USA.

The abstracts:
1. Dr. Habib Siddiqui – Chief Guest; Director, Arakan-Burma Research Institute, human rights activist

Topic: Human rights violations in Burma (Keynote speech)

Abstract: The human rights situation in Burma has led to fleeing of hundreds of thousands of people of various ethnic groups to neighboring countries. The Rohingya Muslims from Arakan state are vulnerable as they have no legal status in Burma and are considered to be non-citizens. The plight of the Rohingya demonstrates how people without citizenship rights in their own country can be forced out and become refugees, leaving them still vulnerable and without citizenship in the country of asylum.

2 Dr. Shwe Lu Maung, author of the books - The Price of Silence, Muslim-Buddhist War of Bangladesh and Myanmar – A Social Darwinist’s Analysis.

Topic: We, the People

Abstract: In this slide presentation, the author reviews mistakes of the multi-racial, -cultural,
-religious, -ethnic Union of Burma. An analysis of origin of the terms – Rakhaing and Rohingya – is provided, along with a review of population size, Muslim political movements in contemporary Burma. A case for true republicanism in the yet-to-be released 2008 reformed constitution is suggested for uniting all races, faiths and ethnicities.

3. Dr. Abid Bahar, Professor, Dawson College, Montreal, Canada

Topic: Xenophobic Burmese literary works: A problem of Democratic Development in Burma Abstract: For the past half a century, Burma’s people’s history has been overshadowed by its military history, symbolized by xenophobia and oppression. Minorities different from the dominating Burmans are being uprooted from their localities under the pretext of being "foreigners."

Nowhere is it as serious as in the province of Arakan. In this paper, the report of the survey on the xenophobic works is presented and concludes that the growing chauvinistic literary works breed intolerance and aggression in society – factors that contribute to producing refugees. These beliefs and attitudes could also be the antecedents to the problems facing democratic development in Burma.

4. Dr. Than Aung, (aka) Mohammed Ali (UAE), President-NDPHR (exile) UAE

Topic: Rohingyas for Respect, Negotiated Settlement and Peace

Abstract: Human beings by birth earn the right to citizenship of the mother earth. United Nations'
Charter of Rights and Freedom recognizes this right for every human being. However, Fascist regimes like the SPDC and its predecessors Ne Win government from 1962 denied human rights to the Rohingya people of Arakan. In 1982 it passed a constitutional Act denying the Citizenship of the Rohingya people. Ever since Rohingyas have became a stateless people.

5. Mr. Yusuf Mohiuddin (aka) Maung Sein, President of NDPHR (exile) USA (HQ)

Topic: Problems of Democratic Development in Burma and the National Status of Rohingya People

Abstract: Democracy is not just a popular slogan about a political system - ‘by the people, of the people and for the people’. Democracy is also about a life style that prepares its citizens to make sacrifice, show tolerance, respect the rights of their fellow citizens; and in turn, it also expects reciprocity from others. Such a system allows common participation and allows citizens to go beyond the parochial limits of race, ethnicity and xenophobic thinking. This paper explains that while Burmese democracy leaders have been working hard to fight against the military dictatorship, a large part of the leadership is only trying to gain their share of political participation by depriving the minorities. A case in point is the Rakhine state where some democracy movement leaders/members tend to ignore the Rohingya people’s legitimate rights in Arakan. They either try to discourage a common stand with the Rohingya leaders to fight against the military’s xenophobic 1982 constitutional act or outright deny Rohingya's citizenship rights. This paper concludes that to bring democracy in Burma, democracy awareness campaign is needed.

There was a Q and A period.

Press Release Prepared by:
Dr. Professor Abid Bahar
Arakan-Burma Research Institute
USA Head Office