“I believe he could be president in 2015, because when I look at him in Parliament, I see him accepted by all the parties,” he said.

USDP Lower House MP for Buthidaung Township Shwe Maung (Photo: Patrick Boehler / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — A member of Parliament for Burma’s ruling Union and Solidarity Party (USDP) has warned that simmering tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in Arakan State could lead to another outbreak of communal violence.

“If the government doesn’t take any action, I fear for further violence in the very near future,” Shwe Maung, the USDP Lower House lawmaker for Buthidaung Township, said. “I’m not saying this emotionally. After proper analysis I am telling you that we need to control it, not let it happen.”

At the same time, however, the Muslim lawmaker warned that “ ethnic hatred will become more and more” if the media focuses too much attention on crimes committed in the strife-torn state.

“We can see a lack of the rule of law. Action taken by the local government is very unfair.”

Shwe Maung joined the USDP a month ahead of the November 2010 parliamentary elections, and has since been a vocal supporter of an amendment to Burma’s 1982 citizenship law, which bars the Muslim Rohingya population mostly living in his state from being recognized as Burmese citizens.

“In my personal view, it must be amended,” he said of the controversial law, which was introduced under former dictator Ne Win.

Several clashes between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Arakanese Buddhists left 115,000 displaced and more than 100 dead last year, according to United Nations estimates. Some 13,000 Rohingya fled the country on boats in 2012, and around 500 people are believed to have died at sea as a result.

The lawmaker, also known as Abdul Razak, said he was concerned that the government’s failure to bring security to his state could lessen his party’s chances of being re-elected to power.

“It will reflect especially in my constituency,” he said. “We need to explain to the people that [the failure] is not party policy, this is the responsibility of the government.”

“Of course, the government is from the USDP, but they are working separately,” he said in his Rangoon office.

“It will be difficult to stay in power” if the ethnic tensions in his state and in Kachin State aren’t solved before the 2015 elections, the lawmaker said.

“But even other parties are not bringing any solutions. Especially the NLD has no solution,” he added, referring to Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Shwe Maung positioned himself as a supporter of Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann, calling the former armed forces joint chief of staff “intelligent, calm and professional,” amid reports that he would be taking over the ruling party’s chairmanship, a position currently occupied by President Thein Sein.

“Although Thein Sein is the chairman, according to the Constitution he cannot fulfill the duties of the party,” said Shwe Maung, explaining why the president is stepping down as USDP chairman.

Shwe Mann, who is currently the deputy chairman of the USDP, is ideally suited to assume the chairmanship, and stands a good chance of becoming Burma’s next president, believes Shwe Maung.

“I believe he could be president in 2015, because when I look at him in Parliament, I see him accepted by all the parties,” he said.

The lawmaker added that Shwe Mann had a better chance of becoming president that NLD leader Suu Kyi.

“It doesn’t mean that she could not be president—she is highly qualified,” he said. “But becoming a president not only depends on qualifications, it also depends on the support of MPs.”

UN rejects link between IDP survey and census

A Rakhine State Government spokesperson has insisted that recent data collection in camps for displaced Muslims is related to next year’s census, despite a United Nations agency saying there is no link between the two events.

Immigration officers visited some camps for internally displaced people in Sittwe township on April 26 to collect data on residents. A dispute broke out at a camp near Thatkepyin village, about 10 kilometres from the state capital Sittwe, when officials tried to record the ethnicity of camp residents as Bengali. Some of the camp’s residents refused, saying they would only sign as Rohingya, and allegedly threw rocks at the officials.

Following reports of the incident, the UN Population Fund issued a statement on May 3 in which it said that “[h]ousehold data collection activities being undertaken in the camps and other sites in Sittwe, Rakhine State, involving the update of family lists by teams composed of several government departments, are unrelated to the National Population and Housing Census scheduled for April 2014”.

“These activities are also not connected to the pilot census exercise that took place successfully from March 30 to April 10 in 20 townships around the country, including Sittwe, without any kind of incidents.

“Currently, the government of Myanmar with technical support from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is conducting preparatory activities like mapping of enumeration areas, publicity campaigns to inform people on the nature of the census, and consultations with stakeholders on the census process.

“Actual data collection for the 2014 National Population Census will take place from March 29 to April 10, 2014 in all parts of Myanmar. Every person present within the borders of Myanmar on the night of March 29, 2014 will be included in the census.”

Uncertain Future of Mosques and Islamic Schools in Meiktila

M-Media
April 11, 2013

The Voice Weekly journal reported, quoting Mandalay Division Attorney General Ye Aung Myint, that houses in Meiktila that were destroyed during the anti-Muslim violence between March 20-23 will be reconstructed. The report mentioned Ye Aung Myint saying that are is no plan for the reconstruction of mosques and religious buildings.

The report is unclear over the future of mosques and schools. It is not clear whether Ye Aung Myint meant that the government has no plan to 'help' reconstruct Islamic religious buildings, or that the government will not allow the reconstruction of mosques and schools.

Myanmar Muslims are suspicious of the government regarding this issue.

Last week, director of Yangon Division Ministry of Religion Aung Kyi told during a press conference that the Ministry has not allowed mosques officially. The Eleven Media quoted him as saying, "Mosques were constructed traditionally by Muslim communities unofficially, and the government did not ban them. There is no officially allowed mosque".

Eleven Media published this news on its Facebook page and official website site. It also published a list of mosques across the country but removed 1,500 mosques from the government's official list.

As U Aung Kyi's comments became controversial, he corrected by saying that the media misinterpreted his comment. He explained that he meant, "the ministry has no legal authority over the construction of mosques." Eleven Media did not publish U Aung Kyi's comment on its Facebook and official web pages, but only printed on the journal four days after U Aung Kyi's correction.

Eleven has not acknowledged the mistake over the list of the mosque.

Authorities Say No Signs of Foul Play in Islamic School Fire

Burmese officials have wasted no time in attempting to quash rumors that a fire that killed 13 students at a Muslim boarding school in Rangoon’s Botahtaung Township early Tuesday morning had been deliberately set.

“Some people are saying that the school was torched, but it isn’t true. What the investigators found when they got there was that it was caused by an electrical fault,” said Rangoon Division Chief Minister Myint Swe at a hastily organized press conference on Tuesday.

The victims—who were among 73 boys residing at the school—are all believed to have been in their early teens or younger. Police officials who spoke to The Irrawaddy confirmed the government’s version of what happened.

“According to our preliminary investigation, we believe that an electrical fault in a voltage step-up transformer inside the school caused the fire,” said Police Lt-Col Myint Aung. “We are now embarking on a thorough inquiry.” However, people close to the school say they continue to believe that there may have been some foul play.

The fire broke out under the staircase, where we found some pieces of diesel-soaked cloth near a ladder,” said Win Myint, a former student who went into the school immediately after the fire was put out. “Yes, we suspect it may have been arson,” said another former student who asked not to be named.

To allay such suspicions, the Rangoon Division government met with five Muslim groups on Tuesday morning to form an investigation commission, Chief Minister Myint Swe said at today’s press conference.

Haj. Kyaw Soe, the secretary of the All Burma Moulvi Federation, said his organization would cooperate with the government to find out the cause of the blaze. He said, however, that it was still too soon to accept the government’s preliminary findings.

“I feel it is too early to say if this was caused by an electrical fault. It would be better to investigate first to know the root cause of this fire,” he said.

Thirteen Children burnt to death at the burning of an Islamic Religious School in Yangon

April 2, 2013
M-Media

Swardikiyah Islamic religious school, on 48th Street, Botathaung Township, was on fire this morning at 2:45 am, and 13 schoolchildren were burnt alive.

The school is located at No.181, 48th Street (Upper Block), Botathaung, and it is next to a mosque. Over a hundred students from all over the country study and memorize the Holy Qur’an there. Now, as the school is temporarily close, there were about 70 students only, and when the fire broke out, 55 of them could escape from fire, but unfortunately, 13 of them, who were under thirteen-year-old children, were burnt alive in fire.

The fire started around 2:45 and could be put out by 3:30. It was reported that the fire was claimed to be arson. It started first from the shoe-cabinet. When the students ran out on knowing the fire had broken out, the slipped on the staircase as it was wet with the petroleum oil, and they could sense the smell of it. The school was a two-storey building, and it was known that only inside the building was on fire.

M-Media could interview two 15-year-old students who had escaped from the burning: “Our school is two-storeyed. We didn’t know that it was on fire at first. When we realized that the fire had spread. We ran down the staircase, and we slipped on the oil spilled on the floor. There are about 70 students in our school for the time being. Now (at the time of the interview) 51 students have escaped. The school didn’t store any flammables like gasoline or petroleum. The fire started from the shoe cabinet. Our shirts still smell the gasoline now.”

“I am now at the burnt place. Fire didn’t catch the mosque, it was only inside the school. Three fire engines got here and put out fire. Children who were burnt were found together at one place. To my surprise, one of them didn’t catch fire at all but died, and one more thing, as they all were supposed to be asleep in their bed, I cannot understand why they all were burnt to death at one place together. Now, the reason of the fire was told to be wire-shock. Indeed, it cannot be. I talked to people who live in that street, and they told me they heard a loud banging sound two hours before, but they didn’t pay attention to where it came from. Later, they said they saw fire from the school, for that at first they thought it was only candlelight, and only sooner they learnt the school was on fire. Now the dead bodies have been taken to the hospital, and those who had escaped were put in a camp. I am sure it was not wire-shock, it was definitely arson”, said a witness from the fire-spot to M-Media.

Photo- Myanmar Muslim Net