ICC NOTE: The radical nationalist Buddhist group known as Ma Ba Tha was found protesting the government to officially denounce the U.S. government’s use of Rohingya to describe the ethnic Muslim minority in western Burma. Ma Ba Tha is known for their radical move to make Burma a strictly Buddhist nation. They have been known in the past to have targeted Christian minorities and caused difficulties during the November elections. The Muslim minority in Burma currently are not considered citizens under the government and does not have any rights to support or a voice in the government. In Rakhine state, a letter was sent to local officials of the capitol calling for the expulsion of Muslims in their city. The U.S. government will continue to recognize the minority as Rohingya and will continue to raise awareness over one of the most persecuted religious minorities in the world. 

5/16/2016 Burma (Radio Free Asia) – More than 500 people protested on Friday in Myanmar’s northern city of Mandalay, demanding that the government officially denounce the U.S. government’s use of the term “Rohingya” to describe western Myanmar’s Muslim minority group.

About 50 Buddhist monks from the nationalist organization Ma Ba Tha and members of the Mandalay nationalist Saturday Group led a march along one of the main roads in east Mandalay, shouted slogans, and carried placards condemning the U.S. embassy’s use of “Rohingya.”

About 1.1 million Rohingya live in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state where they are persecuted and stateless, and live in squalid displaced persons camps.

Myanmar does not officially recognize them as an ethnic group and denies them basic rights, while hard-line Buddhists and other nationalists assert that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

“We are demanding that the current government and Foreign Affairs Ministry officially announce that we don’t have a Rohingya ethnic group in our country and demand that the U.S. embassy officially renounce the term and pledge not to use it in the future,” said Pyae Phyo Aung, one of the protest organizers from the Saturday Group.

The dispute arose after the U.S. embassy had extended condolences to the families of 21 people who died when a boat transporting them capsized on April 19. It cited local reports that identified the victims as Rohingya who had lived in an internally displaced people’s camp in Sittwe.

The nationalists said they will keep protesting until the U.S. government officially acknowledges that the Rohingya are not included among Myanmar’s official ethnic groups.

In late April, about 300 nationalists, including Buddhist monks, publicly denounced the U.S. for using the word Rohingya during a protest march from Yangon University to the American embassy in Myanmar’s former capital.

Call for expulsion of Muslims

In a related development, about 700 residents of Rakhine’s capital Sittwe, sent a signed letter to state Chief Minister Nyi Pu on Friday, demanding that he expel all Muslims from the city’s Aung Mingalar ward, a local resident said.

Colonel Htein Lin, Rakhine’s security and border affairs minister, said the state government could not expel the Muslims from the ward right away, and that he would conduct a verification process to determine which ones were not registered to live there, Sittwe resident Than Tun told RFA.

Government officials, representatives from the Muslim community, and youth groups will conduct checks of residents in Aung Mingalar ward on May 21, Than Tun said.

The ward is the only Muslim area in the city and has about 4,000 Muslim residents, according to a 2012 list by immigration officials, he said.

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