JOINT STATEMENT ON THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE RAKHINE (ARAKAN) INVESTIGATION COMMISSION

Date: 03/05/2013

We the undersigned organisations reject the 186-page official report dated 22 April 2013 of 

the Arakan Investigation Commission as follows:

1. The Rakhine Investigation Commission formed on 17 August 2012 by President 

Thein Sein included representatives from various religious and political parties and 

democracy groups except Rohingya representatives, who have been actual and 

potential victims of deadly violence and genocidal attacks. Haji U Nyunt Maung 

Shein and U Tin Maung Than, the two prominent Muslim leaders were purged from 

the Commission seeing that they were most insistent on the truth.

2. It is a biased report favouring Rakhines, their hostile views and arguments towards 

Rohingya people. It purposely suppresses the core fact of the problem that the 

Rohingya people have long been subjected to institutionalised persecution, ethnic 

cleansing and genocidal onslaughts at the hands of the government and state 

sponsored non-state actors, particularly the extremist Rakhines

3. The Enquiry Commission has lost its credibility since it has been manned with people 

who either directly or indirectly supported, involved or publicly put fuel on crisis. 

The commission member veterinary doctor Aye Maung (MP), leader of the Rakhine 

Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), is the main mastermind in the violence and 

‘Rohingya ethnic cleansing’, who graphically described his Rohingya annihilation 

plan in Rathedaung Rakhine Conference held on 25-26 September 2012. Nearly 

every understanding or recommendation of the Commission translates the view of the 

RNDP.

4. The Commission, despite comprising of scholarly people, has largely distorted 

Rohingya historicity dubbing them ‘Bengalis’ and depicting them migrant community 

with no historical roots in Arakan, although they are a people developed in Arakan 

from peoples of different ethical backgrounds over the centuries with their Muslim 

settlements dated back to early 8th century.

5. The previous parliamentary government recognized the ‘Rohingya’ as one of the 

many ethnic groups of the Union of Burma with their language program relayed 

thrice weekly from government Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS), Rangoon. In 

spite of that the Commission has deliberately ignored this documented fact and used 

the term ‘Bengali’ supporting the fierce contention of the Rakhine promoting 

‘Rohingya ethnocide’ aims at turning Arakan into a Muslim-free Rakhinized region.

6. The Commission report falsely elevates the position of Rakhine as ‘prime nation’ and 

relegates the Rohingya as ‘sub-nation’ thus promoting the government’s current plan 

to segregate Rohingya under its ‘neo-apartheid policy’. It describes the Rohingyas as 

low-class and uncultured hardworking people, who produce more children and want 

to seize the arable lands of the lazy Rakhines. It is insulting that the commissioners 

felt irritated by the repeated telephone calls from ‘dying-alive Rohingyas’ giving 

accounts of their sufferings emotionally for redress.

7. The Commission never called for the accountability of the government and its 

agencies, state sponsored non-state actors or Rakhine extremists for June-October 

2012 deadly violence or carnage, and for their decades of Rohingya persecution, 

tyranny, exclusion and xenophobia that reduce them to the present state of 

helplessness, without basic freedoms like freedom of movement, religion, education, 

marriage, right to business, right to work etc.

8. The Commission never pointed out the hostile environment and impossible situation 

created by the administration with the oppressive functionaries and government 

agencies like NaSaKa border security force, police, Lon Htin and army and Rakhine 

terrorists for a peaceful living of the Rohingya. As a result, half of their population of 

more than 1.5 million people have had left their homeland of Arakan to escape 

persecution. They are living in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Thailand, 

Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zea land, Europe, USA, Canada and other 

countries.

9. The Commission never hinted the tragedies of the Rohingya boat people arising out 

of the continued large-scale persecution and crimes against humanity against 

Rohingya community in Arakan although the problem becomes a concern of the UN, 

OIC, EU, ASEAN and international community.

10. The report made no mention of the statement of President Thein Sein as well as the 

demand of the RNDP leader Dr. Aye Maung to deport Rohingya people to a third 

country, which reflects and promotes official ‘Rohingya ethnic-cleansing policy’ of 

the government.

11. The Commission ignored to call for amendment of the world most repressive Burma 

Citizenship Law of 1982. Its recommendations lack the spirits of the Universal 

Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and international human rights and 

humanitarian laws.

12. The report extremely distorted the number of deaths and extent of destruction of the 

Rohingya and Kaman Muslims whereas there are reports of several mass graves of 

Rohingya dead bodies; and the credible human rights group Human Rights Watch 

(HRW) stated that it has uncovered 4 mass graves in North Arakan. Likewise an
Al Jazeera documentary film released after the violence confirmed that crimes of 

genocide have been committed in Arakan against the Rohingya.

13. The report stayed away from mentioning that the police, Lon Htin, NaSaKa and army 

took part in the killing of the Muslims and torching their houses. The report mentions 

about the imposition of section 144, but lamentably it fails to tell the tangible truth 

that the curfew has only been applied on the Rohingyas or Muslims while the 

Rakhine terrorists, including armed cadres of the Arakan Liberation Party/Army 

(ALP/ALA), were allowed to carry on the genocidal onslaughts and mass destruction 

against the Muslims.

14. Waves of deadly violence carried against the Rohingyas and Kamans were preplanned by the RNDP, of course, with the backing of the administration under the 

pretext of rape and murder of a 28-year old Rakhine woman Ma Thida Twe. Most of 

the issues raised by the Commission as the causes of violence were irrelevant as well 

as unfounded.

15. The Commission did partiality by endorsing the make-believe story of the 

government which stated that Ma Thida Twe was raped and murdered by what they 

called three Bengalis. But according to highly credible person of the Commission, 

there was no trace of rape found by the doctor who performed post- mortem of her 

corpse; but the doctor was forced to sign the official post- mortem report. Moreover, 

there was no mention of the ‘suicide in police custody’ of the principal accused Mr. 

Htet Htet who happened to be a Rakhine, not Rohingya or Bengalis.

16. It is a concocted allegation of the Commission that an excess number of 5,603 

refugee families with 30,338 members had to be repatriated from Bangladesh in 

1978. International community was well aware that the repatriation was done under 

strict scrutiny on both sides the borders, and that the refugees had resisted the forced 

repatriation for lack of congenial atmosphere for their safe return to Arakan. The 

question naturally arises is who would be going to the hellish Arakan where the 

human right situation of .the Rohingyas were dire.

17. The report said that “in 1988 Ma Ra Waddi monastery at Maungdaw was burned 

down by Bengalis and the abbot had escaped away; the monastery was torched by the 

Bengalis for three times”. It is baseless information aims at inciting public sentiment 

against the Rohingyas.

18. The Commissions reported some imaginary and nonsense information like Rohingyas 

attacking Rakhines, destroying Buddhist monasteries and committing rape of their 

women. It also said that “in 1998, more than 5,000 people led by Rohingya Liberation 

Organisation (RLO) suddenly entered Maungdaw and tried to occupy the town by 

destroying Buddhist monasteries, torching Rakhine quarters and killing every single 

Rakhine, but the police could control the situation through resistance.” In reality there 

was no party by the name of RLO; and also there was no information, record or report 

of such plot or attack among the general public and in the media. The allegation is a 

blatant lie and politically motivated. It is surprising that, although there have been 

numerous cases of killing of Rohingya, rape of Rohingya women and girls, 

destruction and torching of their houses, looting of their properties and extortion on 

daily basis, committed by the extremist Rakhines, police and security forces, the 

biased and bigoted Commission did not mention a single such incident. This lie 

proves that the Commission is contemptible and its report is a rubbish piece.

19. There was no incident on 8th of June 2012 that the Rohingyas chanted slogan “long 

live Muslilms, kill all Rakhines”. This is concocted report promoting hatred against 

the Rohingyas.

20. The Commission reported that 246 Rakhines and 1589 Rohingyas were arrested 

since violence, But it is regretted that Commission did not investigate how and why 

these Rohingyas had been arrested and also it did not say anything about the jail 

killing, the squalid condition and inhuman and degrading treatment and torture of the 

Rohingya inmates .

21. The Commission’s recommendations to double the security forces and take effective 

measures to prevent so-called illegal immigrants from Bangladesh is just a false 

alarm intended to distract attention from the main issue of Rohingya genocide. For 

the Rohingyas, increase in armed and security forces means increased crimes against 

humanity against them. It is important that repressive functionaries should not be 

augmented if they do not maintain law and order situation to ensure security, justice 

and equality without discrimination.

22. There are no Rohingya illegal immigrants in Arakan, which has long been a big hell 

and concentration camp for the Muslims. In fact, Rohingyas have been systematically 

expelled or have had to leave their homeland since 1942 Muslim massacre in Arakan. 

In contrast, tens of thousands of illegal Bengali Rakhine Buddhists are regularly 

invited and settled down on the confiscated lands of the Rohingyas. The whole 

northern Arakan is now dotted with Buddhist settler villages. But the Commission is 

silent about it.

23. However, we welcome some forward-thinking recommendations, including 

recommendations to address the dire humanitarian situation in Muslim displacement 

camps provided that they are truly, humanely, immediately and timely implemented. 

24. Last but not least, we call for an immediate UN Enquiry Commission to conduct a 

prompt, full and impartial investigation of all allegations and take appropriate action 

against those responsible.

Signatories to this joint statement:

1. Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO)

2. Burmese Rohingya Organisation United Kingdom (BROUK)

3. Burmese Rohingya Association Japan (BRAJ)

4. Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA)

5. Burmese Rohingya Association Deutschland (BRAD)

6. Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark (BRCD)

7. Burmese Rohingya Community in Netherlands (BRCNL)

8. Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT)

9. Rohingya Community in Norway (RCN)

10. Rohingya Society Malaysia (RSM)

For more information, please contact:

Tun Khin: + 44 788 871 4866 

Nay San Lwin + 49 179 653 5213