Refutation To Maung Maung Ohn

The European Rohingya Council (ERC)
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Saenredamstraat 53-3, 1072CC Amsterdam. Netherland
Ref: DE0020240
Registered Number: KVK- 56454791
Date: 05.07.2015
European Rohingya Council Refutes Rakhine State Ministers Lies and Propaganda
European Rohingya Council (ERC) is deeply troubled with the lies and propagandas made by
Rakhine states Chief Minister Maung Maung Ohn in his interview with The Outlook India. ERC
categorically denies and refutes his lies and distortion of truths with the factual information and
findings.
Chief Minister said, There is no persecution.
ERC refutes: This is an utter denial and lies of the real situation on the ground, and is
completely contrary to the findings by international independent researchers. The daily
harassment, restriction of movements, education and livelihood, and denial of primary health
care access come to its peak in Rakhine state. More than 140 000 Rohingya were forced to live
in concentration-like camps, where they are dying every day because of malnutrition, curable
and infectious diseases, and sudden attack by Rakhine Buddhist thugs, torture by police, etc.
Similarly, those living in their houses are also not having any better life because of persistent
persecution by both authorities and extremist Rakhine. To directly quote to the Professor
Penny Green, from International State Crime Initiatives (ISCI) based at Queen Mary University
of London, who conducted four months research in Rakhine state,
The Rohingya have been subject to stigmatization, harassment, isolation, and
systematic weakening. The Rohingya are faced with only two options: stay and
face annihilation, or flee. Those who remain suffer destitution; malnutrition
and starvation; severe physical and mental illness; restrictions on movement,
education, marriage, childbirth, livelihood, land ownership; and the ever
present threat of violence and corruption. 1
Chief Minister said, There are two major ethnic groups in the state of Rakhine, those who
have inhabited this land for a very long time and those who migrated from another country,
the Bengalis. The term Rohingya was not mentioned anywhere before the 50s or 60s.
ERC refutes: This is factually and historically wrong, and genocidal in nature. This proves how
ignorant, stupid, deaf and dumb the Minister is. A person with a sound mind can never lie to an
international media in such way. Historical records show that both ethnic groups (Rakhine
Buddhists and Rohingya) have been living side by side for centuries in Rakhine state except a
few thousands Buddhist Rakhine immigrants who migrated from neighboring Bangladesh
during last decades, and their influx to Arakan has reached to its maximum especially after
Chairman. Fossveien 7.3400 Lier. Norway. +47 92428989|chairman@theerc.net | GS |Bleichstrasse
39.63065 Offenbach Germany |+49 152 209444880|gs@theerc.net
Bank| The European Rohingya Council| IBAN: NL85ABNA0469012072|BIC (SWIFT) Code: ABNANL2A
info@theerc.net | www.theerc.net

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pogrom against Rohingya minority in June 2012. In fact, these Rakhine migrants should be
called Bengalis. Despite mountains of evidence that Rohingya have been indigenous to the
Arakan, and Rohingya have been recognized by four successive governments of Myanmar after
independent from British colonial rule, persistent denial of their ethnicity shows the genocidal
intent of Myanmar government. According to the scholar Dr. Habib Siddiqui,
the term was in vogue since at least the days of Bodaw Payas rule in the late 18th
century, and any curious researcher may find the mention of the term in history books
and travelogues of Europeans who had visited the region. Consider, for instance, the
account of Francis Buchanan, a surgeon with the British East India Company, who had
travelled to imperial Burma in 1799 and met members of a Muslim ethnic group who
have long settled in Arakan [Rakhine], and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of
Arakan. That would indicate there were self-identified Rohingya living in Rakhine at
least 25 years before the 1823 cut-off for citizenship of modern day Myanmar [Burma].2
Chief Minister said, Granting such special status has other significant implications. It would
entitle them to special social, political and even legal benefits. If they are given this privilege,
their next step will be to demand separate statehood.
ERC refutes: This is a textbook example of how the government of Myanmar has no willingness
whatsoever to give equal rights of citizenship to the Rohingya. The government does not want
Rohingya to have equal social, political and even legal status like other citizens of the country.
This again proves the genocidal intent to destroy a community. Persecuting a community in
every aspect of life due to perceived and delusional fear of demanding statehood is not only
silly but also it is an idea which no longer belongs to the 21st century.
Chief Minister said, There has been communal violence in the state. Not just 2012 but in
1942 they had carried out genocide in north Rakhine and an entire village was wiped out.
Over 2,000 Rakhine people, including old men and women as well as children, were killed.
The people of Rakhine continue to be afraid of them. They run away from them whenever
they see them.
ERC refutes: This is empirically and historically not only wrong but also quite dangerous. This is
rather a manufactured lie to further escalate inter-communal tensions between two
communities. These kinds of manufactured propagandas are indirectly promoting and justifying
ordinary Rakhine Buddhist community to further commit atrocities against Rohingya, and must

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be condemned. In fact, there had been mass killing and genocide against Rohingya in 1942
pogrom. According to Abid Bahar, who studied subject of Rohingya since mid-1970,
In 1942 Japan occupied Burma and the ultra-nationalist Buddhists jointly massacred the
Karens, the Mons and in Arakan the Rohingyas. Feeling the threat of extinction, and
certain Rakhines determined to drive out the Muslims of Arakan, Muslim leaders
officially took the already existing name for their suffering community as the Rohingya.
However, Rohingya were conveniently identified by the Rakhine extremists as being
Chittagonians. During the time of Japanese occupation, the number of Rohingya death in
Arakan was staggering to be over 100,000. Rohingya call the event as the Karbalai
Arakan. the bloodshed in Arakan. In 1942 when the British withdrew from Arakan, the
Japanese immediately took over control of Arakan. The Arakanese xenophobic hoodlums
began to incite people with the slogan, our brothers came, and your brothers left you.
The hoodlums began to attack the Muslim villages in southern Arakan and the Rohingya
Muslims fled to the North where they took vengeance on Rakhines in Buthidaung and
Maungdaw townships. Ashraf Alam provides a list of 294 villages destroyed in the
pogroms of 1942: (a) Myebon in Kyaukpru District 25 villages; (b) Minbya in Akyab
District 27 villages; (c)Pauktaw in Akyab District 25 villages (d)Myohaung in Akyab
District 58 villages; (e) Kyauktaw in AKyab District 78 villages; (f)Ponnagyun in Akyab
district 5 villages; (g)Rathedaung in Akyab Dsitrict 16 villages; and (h) Buthidaung in
Akyab Distrcit 55 villages. 3
Chief Minister said, We are in the process of verifying their identities. Infiltration of illegal
immigrants is a reality in most countries in the world. It is the same here and there is
movement both in and out of the country. We need to check that and it takes careful scrutiny
to distinguish between genuine citizens and illegal migrants.
ERC refutes: The Minister is totally ignorant about what his governments President discloses
during an interview with VOA Burmese Chief, Than Lwin Htun on August 14, 2012. According to
the President Thein Sein, there are almost no illegal immigrants to Rakhine state; those
people were born from the people who already existed. 4 In addition, Rohingya do not need to
be scrutinized for citizenship because Rohingya are recognized ethnic and citizenship of
Myanmar by four successive governments after the independence.5
Chief Minister said, The Myanmar government has been urging them to respect and follow
the law of the land.

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ERC refutes: The minister discriminately wants to portray Rohingya as those who dont abide
the law of the land. This is completely contrary to the reality. Rohingya are peace loving and law
abiding people of the country, which has been on record throughout the history. When
government is trying to impose a law, which legalizes the systematic and widespread
persecutions to the Rohingya, it is not obliged for the Rohingya to abide by that discriminatory
law.
Chief Minister said, The people on the boat are believed to be victims of human trafficking.
ERC refutes: Yes, they become the victims of human trafficking ring, where Myanmar officials
actively involved in the pushing of Rohingya into the sea with rickety boat. Not only are the
authorities making life so intolerable for Rohingya that theyre forced to flee, but theyre also
profiting from the exodus, said Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. 6 The root
causes of Rohingya fleeing the country according Prof. Green,
The Myanmar governments ongoing persecution of the Rohingya minority
has, in the last two years, reached a level so untenable that tens of thousands
have been forced to flee on boats. The current exodus of those seeking
asylum is just one manifestation of persecution consistent with genocide. 7
Chief Minister said, Incorrect information has been disseminated by the international media
and the world community. Myanmar never turned away the boats. We are all human beings
and stay on the same planet. Our first and only consideration is humanitarian. We believe
that every person should have a country, no one should be stateless.
ERC refutes: This is really funny that the Minister is completely lying in broad day light that
international media is spreading false information; while international media is disclosing
Myanmars persecution of Rohingya with facts and findings in accordance with reality. Without
having a sense of shame, the Minister is saying that every person has right to be citizen of a
country while they are denying the already existed ethnic and citizenship status of Rohingya.
Chief Minister said, People should come here and see the real situation instead of sending
out false reports.
ERC refutes: How can it be possible to go and see the real situation on the ground while the
government is blocking even the humanitarian aids for the most oppressed people on earth?

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This is absolutely hypocritical. No journalists and observers are freely allowed to go and report
the slowly-starving people of Rohingya.
Chief Minister said, In Myanmar, minorities coexist harmoniously. There are four major
religious groups, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. But we cannot have separate
laws for them; they must abide and follow the law of the land. The majority Buddhists are
known for their love for peace. Religion teaches us tolerance, not to kill and harm people.
ERC refutes: How comes a peace loving people can kill and burn Muslims people alive. On 3rd
June, 2012, 10 Muslims were brutally killed by mob Rakhine terrorists in Taunggoke.8 Hundreds
of Muslims were mercilessly beaten and burned into death in an organized mob attacks led by
monks in Meiktila in spring 2013.9,10
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
International State Crimes Initiative, Press Release, Humanitarian crisis affecting

Rohingya Muslims is the product of genocide, May 16, 2014,
http://statecrime.org/state-crime-research/press-release-humanitarian-crisis-affectingrohingya-muslims-product-genocide/
Dr. Habib Siddiqui, Maung Maung Ohns lies and distortion of truth about the Rohingya
people, July 3, 2015, http://drhabibsiddiqui.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/maung-maungohns-lies-and-distortions.html
Abid Bahar, Burmese invasion of Arakan and the rise of non Bengali settlements in
Bangladesh, Origin of the Tribes of Chittaging Hill Tract (CHT),
https://rohingyasinternational.wordpress.com/history/
Interview with VOA Burmese Chief, Than Lwin Htun, President Thein Sein Discusses the
Situation in Rakhine State, August 14, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L2QRCs5s0.
Myanmar officially considered Rohingya a constitutive ethnic group indigenous to the
north western borderlands of Burma & East Pakistan,
http://www.maungzarni.net/2014/08/myanmar-officially-consideredrohingya.html?m=1.
6. Fortify Rights, Myanmar: Authorities Complicit in Rohingya Trafficking, Smuggling,

November 7, 2014, http://www.fortifyrights.org/publication-20141107.html.
7. International State Crimes Initiative, Press Release, Humanitarian crisis affecting
Rohingya Muslims is the product of genocide, May 16, 2014,
http://statecrime.org/state-crime-research/press-release-humanitarian-crisis-affectingrohingya-muslims-product-genocide/

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8. Aljazeera, Rakhine Monk explained why Rakhine Terrorists killed 10 innocence Muslim
Men in Taunggoke, December 2012,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVnn36vyNwg.
9. Assed Baig, April, 2013, Eye Witness Accounts of Meiktila Massacre; Beaten, Burnt and
stabbed, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/assed-baig/meiktila-massacre-eye-witnessaccounts_b_3008012.html;
10. Physician for Human Rights, May 2013: Massacre in Central Burma,
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/reports/meiktila-report-may2013.html?referrer=https://www.google.nl/
For contact:
Khairul Amin, Chairman, European Rohingya Council
E: chairman@theerc.net
Dr. HlaKyaw Khubybe
E: hlakyaw.nl@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Khairul Amin (Chairman)


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The European Rohingya Council (ERC)

Registered Number: KVK- 56454791

The European Rohingya Council (ERC)

Registered Number: KVK- 56454791

The European Rohingya Council (ERC)

Registered Number: KVK- 56454791

The European Rohingya Council (ERC)

Registered Number: KVK- 56454791

The European Rohingya Council (ERC)

Registered Number: KVK- 56454791

International State Crimes Initiative, Press Release, Humanitarian crisis affecting

6. Fortify Rights, Myanmar: Authorities Complicit in Rohingya Trafficking, Smuggling,

The European Rohingya Council (ERC)

Registered Number: KVK- 56454791

Chairman. Fossveien 7.3400 Lier. Norway. +47 92428989|chairman@theerc.net | GS |Bleichstrasse

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