By Mohammad Sadek
·On behalf of the all Burmese nationals, regardless of race and religions, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and deep appreciation to SUARAM, Youth for Change, Civil Rights Committee and Amnesty International (Malaysia), the organizers of this important event and extend our compliments and sincere thanks to the people of Malaysia and all peace-loving people of the world as for their understanding of the situation of Burma and support to the pro-democracy, human
rights and freedom movement of Burma, and for expressing strong solidarity with Burmese nationals.
I feel that it is our duty to convey to you the positions, observations and concerns of the Burmese people on the current situation inside Burma to all of you.
Indeed, the situation of Burma is deteriorating day by day. The recent protest was triggered by the skyrocketing of fuel prices to 500% in last August.
The military regime has a long history of violent reactions to peaceful demonstrations and gross violations of human rights against its own nationals, particularly against the ethnic and religious minorities like the Rohingya, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon, Pa-Oo, Palong, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, etc. By any definition, it is the most brutal and repressive regime of the world that will never give up its power unless external pressure forces it or the Inernational Community takes a serious action.
Presently, the military regime is shooting, killing, wounding and arbitrarily arresting the innocent monks, nuns, students and civilians who are voicing out about the brutalities of the regime and for their legitimate rights.
The United Nations has appointed its special envoy Mr. Ibrahim Gambari who recently visited Burma on the 29th September, 2007 for a peaceful settlement in the country. However, his visit has not shown any significant change there.
Besides, the regime has been imposing continuous curfew in various cities and towns of the country and harassing the innocent civilians. It is also neglecting the calls of International Community for economic and political reforms while ignoring the release of political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In this regard, I would like to share with you some important information about the ongoing atrocities inside Burma.
The regime violently dispersed the peaceful demonstrators, killing at least 200 unarmed protestors, including a number of monks and a Japanese journalist, and arrested about 2,400 monks and more than 3000 people in the last week of September.
About 2,000 monks and nuns are reportedly detained in Inn Sein GIT (General Institute of Technology).
Another 1,300 political prisoners are in jail, who are subjected to the worst forms of torture. The military regime is committing crimes against humanity against the people of Burma, including the widespread and systematic use of rapes as a weapon of war. It has forcibly recruited up to 70,000 child soldiers, far more than any other country in the world. There has been high rate of forced labor, extortion, use of human minesweepers, and the forcible displacement.
The regime has destroyed more than 3,000[
[1]] villages in last few months in the Eastern part of Burma. Numerous Rohingya villagers in Arakan State (Western Burma) have been facing land confiscation, forced eviction, and demolition of their houses due to implantation of new settlers (mostly Buddhist) under the official program which systematically and violently repress ethnic minorities. So far, approximately 2 million people have been displaced without compensation
Currently, there are more than 3 million refugees and asylum seekers around the world from Burma who have fled from their homes in Burma. Some sought refuge across borders and others trapped inside the jungle where the military hunts them down and kills like animals. The continuous outflow of Burmese refugees affects neighboring countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India as well as the resettlement countries like USA, Australia and etc.
The regime's practice of human rights is gross. It routinely restricts it citizen's freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion and movement. The junta is responsible for trafficking in persons, discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, and commits other gross violations of human rights, including extra-judicial killings, custodial deaths, disappearance, rapes, torture, abuse of prisoners and detainees, and the imprisonment of citizens arbitrarily for political motives.
Moreover, religious freedom is widely repressed. Burma has sizeable Christian and Muslim population. Muslims in Southern and Western Burma are continuing targets of military abuse. Dozens of Mosques were ransacked and destroyed as anti-Muslim riots reportedly instigated by the Burmese military fired in several cities and towns in 1997. That practice of instigating anti-Muslim riots and destruction of Muslim religious places has not stopped. Muslims are not allowed to rebuild their mosques. Christian churches are closely monitored by the military. Church activities country-wide are reportedly restricted. In border areas, especially in the Chin State and the Karen State, churches have been wrecked by soldiers, and religious differences have been exploited by the junta to promote conflict among the various ethnic groups.
At the same time, the vast wealth of the nation is exploited solely for the benefit of the military regime. As a result, Burma turned to one of the poorest nations in the world and the majority of the people live below the poverty line. The Junta is also selling the country's natural resources to others, including Arakan Natural Gas, in order to buy arms and ammunition that are used against its own people. Mention may be made here that the regime does not allow the international humanitarian agencies to distribute humanitarian aid to the poorly living people.
Regarding the condition of health, nearly 97,000 new cases of tuberculosis in Burma are detected annually, which is the highest rate in the world. Malaria is the leading cause of mortality in Burma where 70 percent of the populations in areas are at risk. The other critical issue is that at least 37,000 people died of HIV/AIDS in Burma in 2005, and over 600,000 are currently infected. The World Health Organization has ranked Burma's health sector 190th out of 191 nations. The regime only spends less than one dollar per person on healthcare. According to WTO web, per capita total expenditure on health indicate U$ 37 for Burma, U$ 64 for Bangladesh, U$ 293 for Thailand and U$ 402 for Malaysia.
Burma, now, becomes a serious threat to the international peace and security as it has a major program underway to exploit Burma's reserves of uranium ore, including its processing into the refined form -- known as the yellowcake. This is being bartered to North Korea for their respective enrichment programs (in contravention of the Security Council sanctions on North Korea). It is also likely being bartered to both China and Russia, in return for weapons from China and weapons and nuclear assistance, including a reactor, from Russia.
Following the visit of the UN envoy Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, people of Burma expect a peaceful solution that Mr. Gambari submits effective report to the United Nations Security Council towards adopting a binding resolution to take serious actions against the Burmese regime.
Democratic reform inside Burma is a matter of crucial urgency without which there will be no stability within the country. The chaos inside, in effect, will destabilize the entire region.
On behalf of all Burmese nationals:-
(1) I urge upon the UN Security Council (UNSC) to convene an emergency meeting to examine the deteriorating political situation in Burma, while China and Russia must warn the Burmese regime that they would support full consideration of the situation thereby the Security Council, as well as adoption of a Council's Resolution;
(2) I call upon the People's Republic of China to remove objection against the UNSC to condemn repressive measures taken by the regime against the peaceful demonstrators;
(3) I also call upon the People's Republic of China and all other nations that have provided military assistance to Burma to suspend all such assistance until restoration of civilian democracy in Burma;
(4) I request the United Nations and the international community to strongly encourage China, India, Russia, ASEAN countries and neighbors of Burma to review their policies and use their influence to convince the Burmese regime to engage in meaningful dialogue with opposition leaders and ethnic minorities for urgent national reconciliation;
(5) I also appeal to the international community to freeze the bank accounts’ transaction of members of the regime as well as to boycott diplomatic relations with the regime if the regime commits further violence.
· Mohammad Sadek is the General Secretary of the Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma, which is a grassroots organization of the ethnic Rohingyas of Arakan State, Burma, working for the restoration of democracy, human rights, peace, justice and tranquility in solidarity with other ethnic and religious groups. He is also the Vice-Chairman of All Burma Democratic Force (ABDF), Malaysia which is an umbrella organization of different political groups of various races and religions.
[[1]] US Senate Resolution, 110th Congress, 1st Session
a kind of conference by discarding all the differences and discrimination. Criticizing and intolerance to other’s contribution or efforts must not bring peace in the community; rather the reciprocal disdain will be deep-rooted rapidly. So, to avoid the provocation, we should be more generous and cooperative. It is the norm of real Politics. So, HRC would like other Rohingya political Organizations and Alliances to come forward and hold Conferences or Seminars jointly with broader participation on common issues of the oppressed Rohingya people including on feasibility of reconciliation between the Rakhines and the Rohingyas.
a kind of conference by discarding all the differences and discrimination. Criticizing and intolerance to other’s contribution or efforts must not bring peace in the community; rather the reciprocal disdain will be deep-rooted rapidly. So, to avoid the provocation, we should be more generous and cooperative. It is the norm of real Politics. So, HRC would like other Rohingya political Organizations and Alliances to come forward and hold Conferences or Seminars jointly with broader participation on common issues of the oppressed Rohingya people including on feasibility of reconciliation between the Rakhines and the Rohingyas.
