3.

0 To find out the impacts of the news reported by the new media on
Rohingya issues towards Myammars stability.
According to the article in www.economist.com Ethnic Cleasing in Myanmar: No Place like
home stated Myanmar in this past year had went through much of political transformation and it
is became the history. The army still remains brutalized at the country after half a century and
they are still remains influential and unpunished.
Being members of a minority group, Rohingyas have long been facing problems in
Myanmar regarding their rights including citizenship. It is commonly known that they are not
issued the same identity cards usually issued for other Myanmar citizens. Rohingyas have been
living in different areas of Myanmar for centuries. They were there even before its independence
in 1948. Yet, they have not been treated as Burmese citizens.
After the issues about Rohingya were reported and captured the interest of the new
media practitioner and it also opened the eyes of the audience. Besides, the impact from this
issues are not just for the readers but also for the several aspects such as for the Myanmar
citizenship laws, the political situation at Myanmar also bring the impact to the image of Aung
San Suu Kyi.
3.1 The impact for the political situation
According to the Farrely after the outbreak of violence in western Myanmar and focusing more
about Rohingya, many of the people had did the spike in a media and internet. Under military
rule, Myanmar was trundling right past the digital age. One of the reason is the outcomes of
political reform has been an astonishing proliferation and liberalization of the Internet.
The local Rakhine government and its dominant political party, the Rakhine Nationalities
Development Party, or RNDP, have been at the forefront of the anti-Rohingya campaign,
according to Rohingya advocate Nay San Lwin.

Writing in Turkeys Today Zaman, he asserted:
The tragic cruelty and the carnage of Rohingyas that occurred in Sittwe, the capital of
Arakan (now known as Rakhine) state, is assumed to have been caused by Dr Aye Maung,
member of parliament and chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP)
because in his interview with Venus News Journal on June 14, 2012, he said, The Rakhine
state should be established in the way Israel was initially established. Thats the dream of the
Rakhine people. They want to drive out Rohingya Muslims from the Rakhine (Arakan) state,
their current leader Dr Aye Maung asserted in that interview.
In the last week of last month, a RNDP statement indicated, Bengalis must be segregated and
settled in separate, temporary places so that the Rakhines and Bengalis are not able to mix
together in villages and towns in Rakhine state. Repatriating non-citizen Bengalis to a third
country in a short period of time must be discussed with the United Nations and the international
community, the statement added. The RNDP also issued a statement early this year against a
job announcement by CARE International in Myanmar, an NGO working in Arakan state, for
using the term Rohingya..

According to the Naypyidaw in www.economist.com, at the very first have the few non-
military MPs and it in mainly from the minority ethnic parties, struggles just to heard and got the
chances to hold ministers to account. Nowadays everything had been changes. Indeed, the
political transformation of Myanmar had continues both to baffle and amaze. The parliament is
even challenging the authority of the mighty presidency.

3.2 The Image of Aung San Suu Kyi as the Democratic Warrior

After the issues of Rohingya were exposed by the media the opposition and the heroins
Aung San Suu Kyi got the chance to entered mainstream politics successful.

Parliament became somewhat more democratic after by-elections in April to fill the
seats of MPs appointed to government. They brought in 43 NLD MPs, after the party
abandoned its boycott, including Miss Suu Kyi, now free. What has happened since seems to
vindicate those who have always claimed that the process of democracy would develop a
momentum of its own, despite the limitations of Myanmars constitution, which guarantees the
army its 25% of parliamentary seats and a veto over constitutional change.
(http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-
challenging-president-power-grab)
Yet a democratic flowering only partly explains the parliaments vigour. Intriguingly, it
also has to do with the ambitions of the 65-year-old speaker, Shwe Mann. He appears keen to
challenge Thein Sein, the president, not just to lead the USDP but also to run for president.
Parliamentary elections are due in 2015, when the next president will also be chosen.
(http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-
challenging-president-power-grab)
The arrival of Miss Suu Kyi and her colleagues certainly gave parliament a jolt. One of
the NLDs parliamentarians, Win Htein, whom the regime previously jailed, says USDP MPs
admit they are delighted that a boring chamber has become livelier. The NLD has started to
propose bills, something previously viewed as impertinence for a non-government party to do.
One bill would even force cabinet ministers to reveal their financial assets.
(http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-
challenging-president-power-grab)
However, Ms. Suu Kyi cannot assume that her overwhelming popularity in Myanmar
today will remain intact over the next few years and see her through to the elections in 2015.
Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), needs to have a clear understanding of
the country's priorities and come to grips with these issues at the earliest. Ms. Suu Kyi, on the
other hand, will have to evolve from being a resistance icon to a national leader; a challenging
prospect. (Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)
She has also to revitalise the grass root-level infrastructure of her party, the NLD. She
has to find common grounds with the Military that would support the necessary amendments to
the present Constitution without which she cannot assume leadership in the Myanmar.
(Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)
Suu Kyi's stance on the Rohingya issue has been influenced by three key factors: the
public opinion in her own constituency, the collective view of her party, and the mainstream
opinion in Myanmar. Incidentally her constituency, the rural township of Kawhmu, is known to
have an extremely anti-Rohingya stance. Yet there is a requirement of articulating a coherent
policy for the future, policy that diffuses the situation in Rakhine State and allows for
humanitarian aid to flow in to refugees. (Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)
Staying on the Rohingya issue, Suu Kyi in one of her interviews to the media in New
Delhi made three important points. One, the immediate step is for the violence to stop, effect de-
escalation of the situation and allow access to humanitarian aid. Second, both communities
have resorted to violence hence restrain has to be exercised by all stakeholders. Rhetoric and
provocation has not helped either side. Third, was regarding the responsibility of Bangladesh on
the issue. ((Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)
3.3 Myanmar, Rohingya and Citizenship Laws
The 1948 Union Citizenship Act offered a window for dealing with issues of citizenship in the
newly independent Burma. Based on the 1947 Constitution12, the Act specified that indigenous
races of Burma meant the Arakanese, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon or Shan
race and racial groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the Union as their
permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 AD (1185 BE). Anyone in doubt of their rights
to citizenship could apply through the different administrative layers, by 30 April 1950 to
the Minister of Home Affairs for decision. (Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe Thuzar,2012)
Had the Union Citizenship Act been effectively implemented in the years following
Burmas independence, it might have resulted in a clearer legal status for everyone in the
country. This did not happen as independence brought with it other concerns perceived as more
pressing for the nascent government. (Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe Thuzar,2012)
A new legislation on citizenship was introduced under the context of the 1974
Constitution during the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) years. The 1982 Citizenship
Law had its origins in views expounded by the BSPP Chairman and then President of Burma, U
Ne Win, in December 1979. His view apparently a long-standing one in governing circles in
Burma was that the security of the state required clarification of the different kinds of persons
residing in the country: genuine Burmese; persons of mixed blood, i.e. Burmese-
Indians/Chinese; and those allowed to enter and reside in the country, i.e. Indians and
Chinese. Of these, those of mixed parentage could not be fully trusted due to their alleged
foreign contacts and possible external leanings and interests. The 1982 Citizenship Law
categorizes citizens into 1) full citizens, who are either descendants of those residing in the
country since before 1823, including the indigenous races listed in the 1948 Citizenship Act,
citizens at the time of the legislations entry into force or those born of parents at least one of
whom were citizens at the time of birth; 2) associate citizens who had applied for citizenship
under the 1948 Citizenship Act; and 3) naturalized citizens, who comprise persons who have
entered and resided in the State anterior to 4th January 1948, and their offsprings born within
the State may, if they have not yet applied under the union Citizenship Act, 1948, apply for
naturalized citizenship to the Central Body, furnishing conclusive evidence13. After three
generations, descendants of associate or naturalized citizens would be considered full citizens.
(Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe Thuzar,2012)
However, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) cannot pressure
Myanmar regarding the citizenship of Rohingya people at Myanmar. Besides, the United states
Barrack Obama were also speak up about the citizenship of Rohingyas and pressure the
Myanmar to give the citizenship to the Rohingyas.

REFERENCES
https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-speak-up-the-plight-of-rohingya-and-
burmese-muslim
http://www.globalresearch.ca/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-silent-over-rohingya-violence-but-
decries-crackdown-on-anti-china-protest/5313690
http://www.ndphr.net/2012/11/suu-kyi-heavy-lies-head-analysis.html
http://www.ipcs.org/seminar/southeast-asia/the-rohingya-crisis-in-myanmar-implications-for-
national-reconstruction-regional-987.html
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/opinion/12219-myanmar-s-rohingya-problem.html
http://www.mizzima.com/edop/commentary/8150-myanmars-rohingya-problem.html
http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2012/11/19/burma-washes-its-hands-of-the-rohingyas/
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21565624-rohingyas-need-help-burmese-government-
aung-san-suu-kyi-and-outside-world-no
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/08/201288114724103607.html
http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/amal-de-chickera/stateless-in-burma-rohingya-word-wars
http://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/asean-%E2%80%98cannot%E2%80%99-press-burma-
rohingya-citizenship
http://www.refintl.org/policy/field-report/rohingya-burma-spotlight-current-crisis-offers-
opportunity-progress
http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2012/July/debate.htm
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-
challenging-president-power-grab
Report paper Myanmars Rohinya Dilemma written by Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe
Thuzar. 9 July 2012 Singapore.