The Arakan National Conference was held in Kyaukphyu Township. (Photo: Facebook / Arakan National Conference)
By Ibrahim Shah
Burma Times
May 03, 2014
Kyaukphyu, Arakan state- All the participated Rakhine Buddhist politicians, monks and community leaders including Rakhine armed party ALP at a Rakhine Buddhist conference which was held in Kyaukphyu Township, Rakhine(ARakan) state from April 27 to May 1, demanded the Burmese government to establish a “Rakhine Buddhist National Defense Army” which would protect majority Buddhists from minority Muslims in Rakhine state(Arakan).
The majority of the participants agreed a proposal by Buthidaung Township representative Tun Aung Thein to demand the central government for permission to establish the “Rakhine Buddhist National Defense Army”, said Nyi Nyi Maung, a spokesperson from Rakhine Buddhist National Conference.
Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann and the President Office’s Minister Aung Min attended the conference and appreciated the Rakhine Buddhists for guarding the western gate bordering Bangladesh so that the Bangladeshis cannot enter Myanmar illegally.
The Rakhine Buddhist community would now like to have their own armed units in order to protect Buddhist communities, said Tun Aung Thein, the representative from Buthidaung.
Many Rakhine Buddhists oppose international aid for the Rohingya and view the UN and NGOs as biased towards the Muslim community because of aid operations for the Rohingya, who suffer from a lack of access to food, health care and education.
The key reason behind the opposition of Rakhine Buddhists toward international aid for Rohingya minority Muslim from western Myanmar is for deportation Rohingya from there because the Rakhine Buddhist community passed resolution to build a Rakhine Pray “Rakhine sovereign state”.
President Thein Sein in his monthly radio address on Thursday warned that the Sittwe riots (assault over international aid workers by Rakhine mobs and destruction of many NGO’s offices) were “universally unacceptable, and should never have happened. We will not accept this kind of behavior, and action against the offenders is being taken.”
“Daily Rohingya people are dying due to lack of proper treatment for the government designated doctors and nurses oppose to cure the Rohingya patients. However, there is not any particular team sent to them from government until today because the Burmese government wanted to deport the people into any third country or to kill en masse continuously keeping us in dire situation”, said a Rohingya woman from IDP camp who suffers TB.
“It is in fact a mockery made by President Thein Sein because his government did not take any actions against those perpetrators who insulted several workers of many NGOs since the perpetrators are his higher officials, referring to the Presidential warning to tackle the riots”, said one of the participants, wished to be anonymous, who opposes the discriminatory policies made by his other participated Rakhine compatriots in the conference.
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