Chapter 07 - Rohingya People Ignored by Myanmar Government

There are only 140,000 people left out of around one million Muslims that used to live in Arakan. Some of the hundreds of thousands of people were martyred and some others had to leave their country to get rid of tyranny and murders.

Basic civil rights were not accorded to Rohingya Muslims for years. They did not have freedom of travel and trade and were subject to numerous restrictions. Moreover, they are also exposed to the intense and extreme acts of violence by fanatic Buddhists. With the last series of violence acts in 2012, around 150,000 Muslims had to leave their houses. Most of them lost their lives during the journey and some of them sought refuge in Bangladesh and other neighboring countries. The Rohingya live under extremely harsh and inhuman conditions in the countries where they migrated.

In October 2014, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon indicated that it was concerning to see that Rohingya Muslims still suffered from violence and added that Myanmar government did not keep its words. In addition, the General Secretary pointed out that the violence reached concerning dimensions due to ethnical and religious discrimination in the country.

The Rohingya who cannot justify their existence await help

Myanmar President Thein Sein

Chris Lewa from the Arakan Project, established to defend the rights of Rohingya Muslims, said that violence acts and human rights violations were witnessed in at least 30 villages only between July and September. He also indicated that a large number of Muslims were taken into custody on the grounds that they had connections with terror organizations.

Aung Win, one of the Arakanese opinion leaders, said that his application for naturalization was not accepted since they were considered as Bengali. As a result, the Arakanese still remain stateless. Neither Myanmar where they have lived for years accepts them as its citizens nor does the neighboring country Bangladesh naturalize them as alleged.

As a result of the pressure of international community, Myanmar government announced that it accepted to naturalize the migrants who meet the necessary conditions. However, it is clear that this is a deception. The Rohingya cannot enjoy this right as they cannot certify that their families have been living in this country for three generations. Additionally the public authorities do not allow the Rohingya to be married; what is more the state does not issue birth certificate to newborn children.

In short, the government acts as if Rohingya Muslims had never lived in this country and there were no such people.

Tyranny and Violence are defeated by Love

Materialism imposed on people for years and disbelief which emerged as a result of the former are the underlying main reasons for violence in the society. Egoistic and small-minded people begin to have a feeling of intense ambition, demand for superiority and dissatisfaction. This brings jealousy, lovelessness and hatred to top in society. Compassion, mercy and understanding are replaced by fight, aggression and conflict. The erratic belief that 'the powerful can survive, not the right" turns the world simply into a hell of lovelessness.

An egoistic, unhealthy type of person who lives on the verge of exploding like a powder barrel does not abandon the culture of violence in his spoilt soul regardless of his education level. Egoism and lovelessness push individuals not to care about others.

It is obvious that oppression can never be solved with violence and weapons. The misconceptions and flawed ideologies should be solved with methods of persuasion such as intellection, enlightenment and education. Trillions of dollars spent on arms and security industry should be spent on health, art, education and to turn the world to heaven.

The world should deal with the problems by resorting to methods practicing love and compassion instead of exercising violence and bombs. Love would prevail the world if all the countries follow the spirit of love inherent in the Qur'an and the other Holy books. If the countries of the world shape their principles according to true religion, the humanity will become very compassionate in the face of these love policies.

The existing oppression against Muslims and other innocent people will cease when the rule of antichrist comes to an end; both of which will happen with the Mahdi (Moshiach)'s appearance.

Therefore, the persecution against Muslims today is one of the most and explicit signs of the coming of the Mahdi by the will of God.

15 Thousand Muslims Fled Myanmar in a Month

The captain of the small fishing vessel has spent most of his life helping fellow Rohingya Muslims escape persecution and hatred in Myanmar, but now even he is worried about the panicked pace the exodus has taken in recent weeks. "Everyone is going now," Puton Nya said. "I'm afraid that soon, no one will be left."

Puton Nya indicated that he helped Rakhine Muslims by taking them to the ships waiting in the Bay of Bengal. A neighbor of Puton Nya told him that the human traffickers raped women and brutally beat men on the cargo boats.

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project which was formed to defend the rights of Arakanese Muslims, also added that more than 15,000 people left Arakan to go to Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries since 15 October. This figure is twice as much as those who left the region in the same period last year.

Noting that almost 100,000 people fled Myanmar in the last two year, Lewa emphasized that soldiers and border protection units increased acts of violence in order to "cause fear in the region and incite the Arakanese Muslims to escape" in the last months.

Lewa stated that four people were tortured to death, young people taken into custody for no reason were battered by soldiers and more than 140 people from 24 villages were arrested for opposing to the migration law and having connections with extremists in the last two months. (Quoted in Turkish from www.risalehaber.com )