Myanmar’s historic elections next month are likely to worsen the plight of the country’s oppressed Rohingya Muslim community, with a new, hardline Buddhist party on the brink of becoming a formidable force.
The empowerment of ethnic nationalists in Rakhine State at the western edge of the Southeast Asian nation could intensify discrimination of the stateless Rohingya, thousands of whom have fled in recent years to neighbouring countries—mostly in Bangladesh.
The Arakan National Party (ANP), an organisation of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, was formed last year.
The government has barred most Rohingyas from both voting and registering as candidates, drawing sharp criticism from the UN and undermining Myanmar’s efforts to portray the November 8 poll as its first free and fair election in 25 years.
The party lobbied hard to disenfranchise Myanmar’s ‘temporary citizens,’ including most of the one million Rohingya living in apartheid-like conditions in the Rakhine and maintains that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite many living in Myanmar for generations.
“This is ANP, we see, we come, we conquer,” says a sign on a whiteboard at ANP’s headquarters in the state capital, Sittwe. The party is handing out leaflets saying: “Love your nationality, keep pure blood, be Rakhine and vote ANP”.
Rohingyas make up about one-third of Rakhine’s population and many are virtual prisoners in camps or in segregated villages, subject to restrictions on travel and, in some areas, access to healthcare and education.
“We don’t accept the term ‘stateless’ being used by the international community. They came from Bangladesh, they have the same religion, race, perceptions and traditions as people in Bangladesh,” said Aye Nu Sein, the ANP’s vice-chairwoman.
Clean sweep
The party is contesting all but one of the 64 seats in the national and regional Rakhine races. It is also running candidates in 14 seats outside the state. One of its aims is to win the powerful post of chief minister of Rakhine.
The Rakhines have a fraught relationship with Myanmar’s Bamar majority as well. Although the Bamar are also predominantly Buddhist, Rakhines claim their region has been neglected for decades.
Both of Myanmar’s national parties, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, are predominantly Bamar.
Suu Kyi is planning a trip to Rakhine in mid-October, but she will not talk about the Rohingya or citizenship issues, Win Htein, a senior member of the NLD, confirmed.
“If we do so, they would attack us. We’ll just say: ‘vote NLD’,” he said.
He added that the Rakhine people had become “super patriots” and conceded that the NLD faced an uphill battle against the ANP in most of the state’s constituencies, where the NLD is seen as pro-Muslim and sympathetic to the Rohingya.
The ANP’s popularity has been fed by a tide of anti-Muslim sentiment that surfaced after reforms started in 2011, erupting into communal violence in 2012. At least 200 were killed and more than 140,000, mainly Rohingya, were displaced in fighting between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine.
Rakhine Buddhists say they have little doubt who will come to power.