Sent via electronic mail
Date: 15th February 2009
- H.E. Abhisit Vejjajva, Prime Minister of Thialand
- H.E. Abdullah bin Haji Ahmamd Badwi, Prime Minister of Malaysia
- H.E. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia
- H.M Sultan Hassan al Bolkiah, King of the Kingdom of Brunei
- H.E. Lee Hsieng Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore
- H.E. Gloria Mcapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines
- H.E. Hun Sen, Prime Minsiter of Cambodia
- H.E. Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam
- H.E. Bouphavanh Bouasone, Prime Minister of Laos
- H.E. Senior General Than Shwe, Head of the SPDC, Burma (Myanmar)
Your Excellencies and Majesty,
We welcome the ensuing ASEAN Summit to be held on 20th February 2009 in Huahin with a hope that it will address the long standing ‘Rohingya problem’, including the boatpeople crisis. We consider, Burma (Myanmar) being an ASEAN country, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is primarily responsible for the terrible plight of Rohingya and their recent boatpeople crisis. The persecution of Rohingya and other human rights violations by SPDC in Burma are clear violations of ASEAN Charter to respect human rights and international law.
The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim community, with a long history, inhabiting Arakan province of Burma. They are not tolerated in the country because of their religion and ethnicity. SPDC has rejected and rendered them stateless in their own homeland. They are victims of systematic, persistent and widespread human rights violations, including denial of citizenship rights, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, education, marriage and religion, forced labour, rape, land confiscation, arbitrary arrests, torture, extra-judicial killings and extortion on daily basis. Today the Rohingya have become increasingly landless, jobless, homeless, shelter less, handicapped and the most illiterate section of Burma’s population.
These extreme conditions or impossible situation have forced the Rohingyas to leave their hearths and homes for various destinations of the world even risking their lives through turbulent seas and oceans by boats basically in search of safe shelter and protection. The recent boatpeople tragedy involving the lives of hundreds of distressed Rohingya boatpeople– after Thai military had towed them out to the open sea in engineless boats with little food and water– is one of such evidences.
Since 1948, due to continued persecution, about 1.5 million Rohingya population is in Diaspora, and mostly of them are living in Bangladesh, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Malaysia. Those who are still at home are living in sub-human condition, facing ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘crimes against humanity’. The SPDC is now making all-out effort to exterminate the remaining Rohingyas to rid Arakan of the Muslim population.
The Rohingya problem is a problem of religious and political persecution that affects the countries in the region and beyond. It is essentially a regional and international issue the root cause of which needs to be properly addressed. In this connection, we call your attention to the fact that the Rohingya are now in a state of jeopardy, and the future of their children is disaster-prone without education and other necessities for their natural human growth. Meanwhile, we believe Burma’s political and democratic process must be genuinely all-inclusive, and the ethnic rights of the Rohingya people have to be ensured, on par with other national groups of the country, in future democratic Burma.
We, therefore, request the ASEAN leaders:
1. Address the root cause of the Rohingya refugee problem and boatpeople crisis; and to find out a ‘permanent solution’ of the long standing Rohingya problem.
2. Pressurize the SPDC to find an acceptable solution to the ongoing human rights violations occurring within the country, including 1982 citizenship law that renders Rohingya stateless; to restore citizenship and ethnic rights of the Rohingya; to lift all restrictions on their freedom of religion, movement, education and marriage.
3. Urge upon the Government of Thailand to pay compensation to the bereaved families of those Rohingya boatpeople who lost their lives.
Please accept the assurance of our highest esteem.
Yours faithfully,
Nurul Islam
President
Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO)
Arakan, Burma.