Monday, September 18, 2017

Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

OPEN LETTER from 5 NOBEL WOMEN LAUREATES TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI: STOP THE PERSECUTION OF ROHINGYAS

Posted: 17 Sep 2017 11:10 PM PDT

Dear State Counsellor and sister Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,

In the years leading to your final release in 2010, your struggle for democracy was ours. Your defiant activism and unimaginable sacrifices profoundly inspired us, and like the rest of the world, we held you as a beacon of hope for Burma and for our human family. Along with other fellow laureates, we worked tirelessly and diligently for your personal freedom.

It is thus with deep shock, sadness and alarm that we witness your indifference to the cruelty inflicted upon the Rohingya minority today. Nearly 270,000 people have sought refuge into neighbouring Bangladesh these past two weeks, and a recent UN report has highlighted an all too familiar story: extrajudicial executions; enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention; rape, including gang rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Arson attacks are being launched on civilians and entire villages burnt, leading to what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing". This is an assault on our humanity as a whole.

As Nobel Laureates working under the banner of the Nobel Women's Initiative, we have supported the groundbreaking work and courage of women activists inside and along the borders of Burma for a decade. Their tireless activism consistently highlights abuses committed by the Burmese military. Just last November the Women's League of Burma denounced the ferocious militarism that plagues Burma: "[…] we are gravely concerned for the security of women in conflict areas. It is urgently needed for the government to end impunity for state-sponsored sexual violence, and bring the military under civilian control".

As a fellow Nobel Laureate, a worldwide icon for the universal freedom and human rights, and now State Counsellor and de-facto Prime Minister of Burma, you have a personal and moral responsibility to uphold and defend the rights of your citizens.

How many Rohingya have to die; how many Rohingya women will be raped; how many communities will be razed before you raise your voice in defense of those who have no voice? Your silence is not in line with the vision of "democracy" for your country that you outlined to us, and for which we all supported you over the years.

As women committed to peace, as your sisters and fellow Laureates, we urge you to take a firm stand on this unfolding crisis: recognize Rohingyas as citizens with full rights and take all expedited measures possible to end the persecution of innocent civilians by the Myanmar authorities.

In the words of fellow Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep." The time is now for you to stand for the rights of Rohingya people, with the same vigour and conviction so many around the world stood for yours.

Sincerely,

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, (1976) – Northern Ireland

Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1997) – United States

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate (2003) – Iran

Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate (2011) – Liberia

Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate (2011) – Yemen

Commentary on “The Rakhine crisis and the government’s options”

Posted: 17 Sep 2017 08:54 AM PDT

The heart of the problem is to find a reasonable policy balance between the phobia, either it is actually believed or indoctrinated to believe, that the Rohingya or to use the government-military accepted label Bangali would overwhelm the rest of the 50 million population with Islamization, and logical, pragmatic undertaking. This phobia and hatred laced thinking is hardly a logical approach that should be entertained.


In a nutshell, reviewing the 1982 citizenship law to be in tune with the international norms would be the way to go, if Burma or Myanmar is to become a respectable, fully fledged member of the international community again. After all, this citizenship law is written by military dictatorship regime and not with the consent of the people and the organizations that represent them. This is the hard fact.

While debates and arguments on when and how the Rohingya or Bengali have entered the country could be carried out academically at a leisurely pace, the pressing problem is on how to handle the present problem of a million population, which Burma and Bangladesh don't recognize as their citizens. A humane solution based on universal human rights is the only way to resolve this problematic. And the UN and international community are ready to help overcome this humanitarian catastrophe.

Link to the story: The Rakhine crisis and the government's options

Commentary on “The rising tide of hate”

Posted: 17 Sep 2017 08:42 AM PDT

The book would also be in tune with the recent open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi from the concerned exiled group of individuals, who coined the phrase that Burma might be "sleep-walking into the abyss of racial hatred and religious bigotry".


If this description of the present situation is real the more it will be impossible to build a bridge between ethnic and civil nationalism, or should we say, a mixture of harmonious cohabitation through the fusion of commonly accepted national identity - which is still in the making, ongoing and debating among the stakeholders - and civic identity that is anchored in democratic principles and adherence of universal human rights, rather than ethnically based one only.

But it is all the more important to ponder on awareness-building if we are to turn hatred into peaceful cohabitation, if not out of pure love.

Peaceful co-existence, accommodation and cohabitation are only possible, when the majority of the society could clean itself from ethnocentrism and racism, in words and deeds. So long as we are tolerating double-standard or having exception to apply the said values either to one ethnicity or a group of people, racism and ethnocentrism sets in. And then peaceful cohabitation becomes an impossible dream.

In a nutshell, awareness-building that respect humanity and democratic principles are the key to resolve the problems.

Link to the story: The rising tide of hate
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