by Than Htike Oo
Monday, 09 February 2009 20:52
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta at the end of last month refused to accept the existence of 'Rohingya' among Burma's over 100 ethnic races.
The junta's refusal appeared after the foreign media reported that batches of Rohingya illegally entered Thai territory along the sea route from Burma.
Mizzima reporter Than Htike Oo interviewed the 'National Coalition Government of Union of Burma' (NCGUB) Foreign Affairs in-charge U Bo Hla Tint on the Rohingya issue and the junta's refusal to accept them as Burmese.
The interview:
Q: What is your view of the junta's refusal to accept the existence of Rohingya in Burma?
A: In fact, the ruling junta is not the government. It grabbed power by a coup d'etat and the government lacks legitimacy. Since it is not a duly elected government of the people, it has no right to deny the existence of any ethnic race and has no right to recognize any ethnic race in Burma.
Q: What is the intention and meaning behind this refusal to accept the 'Rohingya' among the ethnic races of Burma?
A: The junta might have its own opinion. The junta might deny the existence of Rohingya in Burma's ethnic races according to the extent of its knowledge and thinking. As for us, we cannot say concretely anything on this controversial issue of the existence of 'Rohingya' among Burma's ethnic races at the moment.
Q: NCGUB hasn't yet issued any statement on the Rohingya issue. Do you have any plan to issue such a statement?
A: Apart from issuing a statement, we have maintained constant relations and cooperation with Rohingya on termination of military dictatorship, ushering in democracy and human rights struggles. But this is a sensitive issue and even mentioning the word 'Rohingya' is unacceptable to some groups and some ethnic races. So we have to handle this complicated and sensitive issue with utmost care.
Q: In which areas can the NCGUB cooperate in practice (with these people)?
A: In fact, we can cooperate with 'Rohingya' forces and organizations for, struggling together for the termination of military dictatorship and restoration of democracy and human rights in Burma. We have told them so very clearly from the very beginning. We have no authority either to recognize or deny the ethnicity and nomenclature 'Rohingya'. This issue can be resolved in the future only when we can restore the rule of law in our country and when we have established a People's Parliament and an independent judiciary. It should be handled and resolved by the special commission constituted by Parliament with learned historians and research academics. We have told them of this position very clearly before.
Q: It is said that the Rohingya race lives in northern Rakhine State. But SPDC denied this fact too. How do you see the future of this race? What will happen to them?
A: In Rakhine State, political mistakes were made in history. Due to these political mistakes, there surfaced migration problems with neighbouring countries and in the areas with contiguous countries. To tackle this problem, we should have a systematic and perfect immigration law in our country. Only when we have such a law coming into force, we can resolve this problem correctly without infringement of the rights of indigenous people in these disputed areas and the right of the ethnic races who have lived and settled down in these areas since the time of their forefathers.
Source: Mizzima News
