Buddhist nationalists protest NLD’s policy on naming Rohingya

Buddhist hardliners on Sunday staged protests across Rakhine state against the NLD’s call for Rohingya Muslims to be referred to as the ‘Muslim community in Rakhine’.

The new National League for Democracy government has been under pressure from human rights groups and others to accept the term ‘Rohingya, which is how the persecuted minority identify themselves.

Meanwhile Buddhist extremists who see the group as interlopers from Bangladesh have called for the term to be rejected in favor of the word ‘Bengali’. Suu Kyi’s government has been accused of assuaging hardliners by encouraging the UN and others not to use the term Rohingya.


But the NLD argues that saying either Bengali or Rohingya is unnecessary inflammatory, and appears to believe it’s own term will help to reduce tensions. It is clear, however, that both rights groups and anti-Muslim leaders, including monks, are unhappy with the government’s position.

“We do not accept the terms ‘Muslim community in Rakhine’ and ‘Islamists in Rakhine’,” said Aung Htay, a resident of Sittwe, the Rakhine state capital where one of Sunday’s rallies took place.

“It can lead to the disappearance of [our] race. We have already sent official letters to President Htin Kyaw and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.

“Bengali means Bengali. These terms can obliterate the native place of Bengalis. We want the government to intervene in the usage of the terms,” he added.

The protesters carried placards reading “Rakhine must never head to extinction”; “Bengalis must only be called Bengalis” and “Rakhine State belongs to Rakhine ethnics.”

“Bengalis are those who come from the other side of the Nat River,” said Sein Hla Phyu, a protestor in Rakhine’s Maungdaw township. “It is already known to all residents of Maungdaw. If they are referred as those in Rakhine, it means that Rakhine ethnics [could] head towards extinction.” (Source elevenmyanmar.com)

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