Abid Bahar's Rohingyamaa: LETTER OF PROTEST

CANADIAN FRIENDS OF BURMA (CFB)

145 Spruce Street Ottawa,

ON, Canada K1R 6P1

tel: (613) 237-8056

fax: (613) 563-0017

Dear Madam/ Sir:

This is a letter of protest against the director of the CANADIAN FRIENDS OF BURMA,Mr. Tin Maung Htoo for his open support for the xenophobic regime in Burma committing Rohingya genocide. I have personally known Mr. Tin Maung Htoo for a long time. He seemed to be a friendly person but lately it came to me as a shock when I found out Mr. Hitoo openly taking side with the military backed government and with the Arakani Xenophobes ethnic cleansing pogrom against the Rohingya people of Burma. Mr Htoo’s latest statements (Jul 18, 2012) seems he didn’t change from his previous controversial stand on this issue. On the other hand in the (Jul 18, 2012) statement Mr. Htoo repeats: “Applying the liberties of a free and democratic society, I over the past few weeks presented my personal points of view and shared information in an attempt to balance what I perceive to be some unfair and imbalanced reports disseminated on some media and social media websites regarding the conflicts occurring in Burma’s Arakan State.”

Mr. Htoo adds: “For example, I wrote a brief note, citing as historical background, “In 1950s, a Jihad movement started in Burma and Mujahedeen took up arms. When failed, Rohingyas started seeking for an ethnic nationality status that is widely rejected by the majority of people in Burma” [sic.].

Mr. Htoo adds further “Due to my role in a campaign and advocacy group, I have tried to stay personally neutral to the best of my abilities. However, I had a hard time keeping my personal views silent due to what I perceived to be unbalanced reports and fabricated information disseminated by some exiled Rohingya Organizations and news groups, portraying one side of the conflict as ‘racists’ and ‘oppressors’. They are even calling for ‘international intervention’ for what they call ‘genocide’, ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘apartheid’ in Burma. I am sure those descriptions are used for their convenience rather than to describe objective events. Such accusations are one-sided, orchestrated and quite ridiculous to me. I chose to speak out.

Mr. Htoo again: “Using the social media, I presented some facts and evidence in order for my colleagues and friends to see an alternative to what I perceive to be unbalanced and fabricated information on the situation on the ground.

Mr. Htoo defends: “However, my personal opinion does not mean to reflect or represent the organization I am working for. I am simply taking up my liberty and freedom of expression afforded to me in a democratic country so as to speak up my mind and consciousness. I apologize for any confusion caused when some of my personal opinions were inaccurately understood to represent or reflect the organization for which I work.

As a Canadian citizen living in Montreal, I want to express my deep disappointment at Mr. Tin Maung Htoo;s position. To me, he can only express his personal views when he resigns from his position as the director of the CFB. In his responsible position representing an advocacy group ( CFB), he seems to be advocating/ justifying genocide in Arakan. In Canada Mr. Htoo’s country of resettlement, his position shows he is pretending like a human rights activist here but in his country of origin he is supporting genocide on the Rohingya people. This is surely perusing a double standard by him which is hypocritical at best.

It is clear that he hasn’t changed his views yet and he still supports the notorious nasaka immigration policy of the regime particularly directed against the Rohingya people. Please see what Mr. Htoo says in his latest statement:

“However, as a note of caution, what we need to keep in mind in the pursuit of this solution is that there is no country on earth with a perfect immigration law that fully embraces the international norms and standards set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the case of Burma, the stipulation of Article 15 of the Declaration, “Everyone has the right to a nationality”, is a challenging one.”

My question is why Mr. Htoo has to support Burma’s decade’s old ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya minority. It is important to note that even the British time Rakhine settlers in Bangladesh are now Bangladeshi citizens, so are also the Indians in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong kong are those country’s citizens, why Rohingya settlements in Burma dating back from the 8th Century AD has to be a “challenging question”?

Despite all the above, I want to recommend Mr. Htoo, to get access to more first hand information on Rohingya history and inform himself about what is happening in Arakan. I am still optimistic that after reading sufficiently, Mr. Htoo will be able to convince himself that Burmese military backed government is committing genocide on the Rohingya people with its security forces, with the direct collaboration of the Rakhine xenophob leaders like Aye Chan and his hoodlums. If he is convinced, I want Mr. Htoo to make a clear declaration that he is opposed to any form of discrimination whether against the Rohingya people or any other group of minorities in Burma.

Respectfully,

Abid Bahar PhD

Faculty

Dawson College

Montreal, Quebec

514-374- 0035

email: abid.bahar@gmail.com

*I am attaching herewith several articles for Mr. Htoo to read and see for himself that he is wrong and he is perhaps innocently supporting the people who are involved in a genocide in Arakan

REFERENCES:

Tell me, What is Rohingya Genocide?

https://danyawadi.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/tell-me-what-is-rohingya-genocide-in-burma-by-abid-bahar-phd/

Genocide by inhuman!

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=165385

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Southeast Asia

Rohingya Concerns Extend Beyond Myanmar

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/06/19/rohingya-concerns-extend-beyond-myanmar/

Impending humanitarian crisis in western Myanmar

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/07/2012716145945989365.html

Recent Muslims Massacre Chronology in Myanmar

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=329368