Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Sat, 11 Apr 1992 02:35:33 -0700
From:         tun@PHY.UCSF.EDU
Subject:      burma: Silence of the Lambs
X-To:         seasia-l@msu.edu, soc-culture-china@ucbvax.berkeley.edu
X-cc:         soc-culture-asean@ucbvax.berkeley.edu,
              soc-culture-bangladesh@ucbvax.berkeley.edu

   From AsiaWeek March  27, 1992 - Editorial titled

              ---  Silence of The Lambs ---

Could there be any doubt now that the
Burmese government is practising genocide against the Muslim minority in
Arakan? Strong words perhaps, but not unjustified by the waves of refugees
that show no signs of abating. United Nations authorities say the Rohingya
refugee population in neighbouring Bangladesh could reach 200,000 by the end
of March. That approximates the numbers that fled during the savage pogrom of
1978. Only about 40,000 have any kind of shelter, and the rainy season is fast
approaching. Without additional aid, many will surely die. The U.N. is currently
stretched five ways and must somehow come up with a quick $27 million for these
pitiful refugees just as it embarks on its most elaborate and expensive
peacekeeping venture in Cambodia.

Only recently, very late in fact, has the world taken note that a disaster of
major proportions is in the making. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad,
to his credit, recently spoke up in support of the Rohingyas, breaking ASEAN's
long silence. Singapore and Indonesia have also begun to complain publicly
that Rangoon's actions are dangerously destabilising. Other countries such
as Iran have made common cause with fellow Muslims.

The question remains whether ASEAN would have chosen to continue its silence
if the Burmese army's rape and pillage in Arakan state had not spilled over
international borders and thus ceased to be an "internal affair." But it is
hard not to get the sense that the grouping was looking for a way out of its
avowed policy of "constructive engagement" with Rangoon's State Law & Order
Rest ration Council. Even Thailand, which perhaps has greater reason to treat
its neighbour with caution, has begin to criticise the regime. Cynics may point
to certain logging deals that have gone sour. But Bangkok is also losing
patience as the Burmese army feels free to use Thai border territory to fight
the Karen insurgents.

The point is, neighbouring countries are beginning to speak out. The ring is
closing on Rangoon. U.N. action could even be on the cards, although veto-
wielding China SLORC's principal arms supplier remains the joker in the deck.
All the sadder then that Burma's own dissident groups have remained largely
silent as the regime cruelly suppresses a group of fellow Burmese. The reason
is not hard to find: most are Buddhist, and some have publicly supported the
position that the Muslim Rohingyas are illegal immigrants. That stance is
uninformed at best, since the Rohingyas have lived in Arakan for generations.
But given the slaughter taking place within their own country it is utterly
untenable. The dissidents risk spoiling the goodwill they have earned from
their staunch opposition to the blood-stained dictatorship in Rangoon. It
would be tragic if they now found themselves in the odd position of being
the only ones not speaking out.

[comment: I wonder if this atrocities would have taken place if ASEAN
          nations had spoken out against SLORC earlier.

Coban Tun
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