Press Release

(15 May 2009)

RELEASE DAW SUU IMMEDIATELY

We strongly denounce the new charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. SPDC is very unjust to accuse her of violating the law following US national John Yettaw swam to her lakeside house. Daw Suu did not invite John but she told him to leave her home. The accident was merely breach of security where the authorities watched over her house.

The Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) welcomes Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni’s Statement at Bali Process strongly refuting Burmese Deputy Minister's stand on the origin of the Rohingyas. She stressed the need for a multilateral approach by the region to solve the Rohingya problem.

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION

ARAKAN, BURMA

Press Release

(1^st March 2009)

 We condemn the SPDC and its Foreign Minister Nyan Win for calling the Rohingya boatpeople ‘Bengalis’ at the ASEAN Summit in Thailand. This is a crafty tactic to hoodwink the ASEAN leaders and the international community to continue denying the ethic rights of the Rohingya.

(28th February 2009) We express our serious concern that Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed on February 27, 2009 in Hua Htin, Thailand to send hundreds of Rohingya boatpeople back to Burma. We have not expected such a verdict from the 10-member regional...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION

ARAKAN, BURMA

13^th February 2009

It is unfortunate that SPDC‘s onslaughts against the Rohingya people have always been reinforced by Rakhine communal leaders and academicians. Some of such fanatics had stated in their recent radio and media interviews, “Rohingyas are not among the ethnic groups in Burma…How they could claim that they came from Burma when in fact they come from Bangladesh…” Among them are Dr. Aye Kyaw, Dr. Aye Chan, U Aye Tha Aung, Secretary General of the Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP), who is also Secretary General of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) and U Khaing Lunn, Acting President of the ALD, who are popularly known as xenophobes for their extreme hatred towards Rohingya and for harping on the SPDC’s tune of Rohingya extermination.

8th February 2009

Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) welcomes the Indonesian Foreign Minister Mr. Hassan Wirajuda’s call on the ASEAN countries to work together to address the problem of the boatpeople.

We express our gratitude to the brotherly people and Government of Indonesia for rescuing hundreds of Rohingya and other boatpeople and providing them with temporary refuge, medical treatment and humanitarian assistance.

on the Situation of Burmese Refugees in Thailand

6th February 2009

Arakan Rohingya National Organisation welcomes the European Parliament resolution of 5th February 2009 on the situation of Burmese refugees in Thailand. We also fully support the Media Release from Mr. Glenys Kinnock MEP, who led the European Parliament call for Thailand not to send Rohingya refugees back to Burma to face repression and torture.

In a Parliamentary resolution voted on 5th February, EU MPs also urged Thailand to ensure the refugees were treated according to humanitarian standards. They call on the Thai government to investigate a thorough and impartial enquiry into allegations of mistreatment of the Rohingya by the Thai military and to give the UN High Commissioner for Refugees immediate access to determine their needs. In addition the MPs condemned the Burmese regime for their continuous persecution of the ethnic group. They demanded the junta to restore the Burmese citizenship of the Rohingya, lift the restrictions on their right to education, right to get married, freedom of movement and to cease human rights violations across the country.

5th February 2009  Arakan Rohingya National Organisation welcomes the Early Day Motion on Rohingya Refugees in British Parliament The Motion (EDM670) dated 3/2/09 states:  “That the House is appalled that  Thailand’s navy has left around...

1st  February 2009

The Rohingya people have the ‘right to exist’ in Arakan, illegitimate SPDC has no authority to decide their fate

It is terrible that State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) again starts making false and concocted propaganda against the Rohingya people’s ‘right to exist’ in Arakan, a clear sign of ‘ethnic cleansing’. The regime is pretending not to hear the Rohingya’s outcry and international reactions to stop systematic persecution of this ethnic Muslim community.

As appeared in the “New Light of Myanmar” dated 30 January, 2009 the SPDC  has admitted to have launched series of operations over the decades against the Rohingyas under the pretext “to scrutinize the Bengali immigrants illegally immigrated into Rakhine region of Myanmar ”.

Under the pretext of scrutinizing so-called illegal immigrants, the regime has already killed, drowned and driven hundreds and thousands of Rohingya over the decades, which are well documented rousing international condemnations calling for actions. An estimated 1.5 million of Rohingya population are in Diaspora particularly in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Thailand and Malaysia. Let there be an independent international investigation team to determine the status of Rohingyas inside and outside the country. Human rights are universal and the SPDC cannot continue to deny us the ‘right to exist’ in our historical homeland. This is crime against humanity, an international crime with international jurisdiction.

31 January 2009

We strongly protest and condemn SPDC for its lie in ‘New Light of Myanmar’ dated 29th January 2009 — “Rohinja is not included in over 100 national races of the Union of Myanmar”. This is an evil design to deny us of our rights, and we rebut as follows:

1.       The Rohingya are a people characterized by objective criteria, such as historical continuity, and subjective factors including self-identification, which need to define an indigenous people. They are a people having supporting history, separate culture, civilization, language and literature, historically settled territory and reasonable size of population and area in Arakan – they consider themselves distinct from other sector of the society.

2.      Arakan was virtually ruled by Muslims from 1430 to 1531. The heyday of Arakan began with the influence and spread of Muslim civilization in Arakan. Coins and medallion were issued inscribing Kalema (the profession of faith in Islam) in Arabic script. Besides, practice of Muslim etiquettes and manners in the court of Arakan, the adoption of Muslim titles by the kings of Arakan and system of governance, the Muslim Quazi courts and literary activities, use of Bengali and Persian as court and official languages,  etc. are the evidences  of Muslim rule in Arakan.
 

3.      The first President of Burma Sao Shwe Theik stated: “Muslims of Arakan certainly belong to one of the indigenous races of Burma….In fact, there is no pure indigenous race in Burma, if they do not belong to indigenous races of Burma, we also cannot be taken as indigenous races of Burma”.