3.0 To find out the impacts of the news reported by the new media on Rohingya issues towards Myammar’s stability.

According to the article in www.economist.com “Ethnic Cleasing in Myanmar: No Place like

home” stated Myanmar in this past year had went through much of political transformation and it

is became the history. The army still remains brutalized at the country after half a century and

they are still remains influential and unpunished.

Being members of a minority group, Rohingyas have long been facing problems in

Myanmar regarding their rights including citizenship. It is commonly known that they are not

issued the same identity cards usually issued for other Myanmar citizens. Rohingyas have been

living in different areas of Myanmar for centuries. They were there even before its independence

in 1948. Yet, they have not been treated as Burmese citizens.

After the issues about Rohingya were reported and captured the interest of the new

media practitioner and it also opened the eyes of the audience. Besides, the impact from this

issues are not just for the readers but also for the several aspects such as for the Myanmar

citizenship laws, the political situation at Myanmar also bring the impact to the image of Aung

San Suu Kyi.

3.1 The impact for the political situation

According to the Farrely after the outbreak of violence in western Myanmar and focusing more

about Rohingya, many of the people had did the spike in a media and internet. Under military

rule, Myanmar was trundling right past the digital age. One of the reason is the outcomes of

political reform has been an astonishing proliferation and liberalization of the Internet.

The local Rakhine government and its dominant political party, the Rakhine Nationalities

Development Party, or RNDP, have been at the forefront of the anti-Rohingya campaign,

according to Rohingya advocate Nay San Lwin.

Writing in Turkey’s Today Zaman, he asserted:

The tragic cruelty and the carnage of Rohingyas that occurred in Sittwe, the capital of

Arakan (now known as Rakhine) state, is assumed to have been caused by Dr Aye Maung,

member of parliament and chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP)

because in his interview with Venus News Journal on June 14, 2012, he said, “The Rakhine

state should be established in the way Israel was initially established.” That’s the dream of the

Rakhine people. They want to drive out Rohingya Muslims from the Rakhine (Arakan) state,

their current leader Dr Aye Maung asserted in that interview.

In the last week of last month, a RNDP statement indicated, “Bengalis must be segregated and

settled in separate, temporary places so that the Rakhines and Bengalis are not able to mix

together in villages and towns in Rakhine state.” “Repatriating non-citizen Bengalis to a third

country in a short period of time must be discussed with the United Nations and the international

community,” the statement added. The RNDP also issued a statement early this year against a

job announcement by CARE International in Myanmar, an NGO working in Arakan state, for

using the term “Rohingya.”.

According to the Naypyidaw in www.economist.com, at the very first have the few non-

military MPs and it in mainly from the minority ethnic parties, struggles just to heard and got the

chances to hold ministers to account. Nowadays everything had been changes. Indeed, the

political transformation of Myanmar had continues both to baffle and amaze. The parliament is

even challenging the authority of the mighty presidency.

3.2 The Image of Aung San Suu Kyi as the Democratic Warrior

After the issues of Rohingya were exposed by the media the opposition and the heroins

Aung San Suu Kyi got the chance to entered mainstream politics successful.

“Parliament became somewhat more democratic after by-elections in April to fill the

seats of MPs appointed to government. They brought in 43 NLD MPs, after the party

abandoned its boycott, including Miss Suu Kyi, now free. What has happened since seems to

vindicate those who have always claimed that the process of democracy would develop a

momentum of its own, despite the limitations of Myanmar’s constitution, which guarantees the

army its 25% of parliamentary seats and a veto over constitutional change.”

(http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-

challenging-president-power-grab)

“Yet a democratic flowering only partly explains the parliament’s vigour. Intriguingly, it

also has to do with the ambitions of the 65-year-old speaker, Shwe Mann. He appears keen to

challenge Thein Sein, the president, not just to lead the USDP but also to run for president.

Parliamentary elections are due in 2015, when the next president will also be chosen.´

(http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-

challenging-president-power-grab)

“The arrival of Miss Suu Kyi and her colleagues certainly gave parliament a jolt. One of

the NLD’s parliamentarians, Win Htein, whom the regime previously jailed, says USDP MPs

admit they are delighted that a boring chamber has become livelier. The NLD has started to

propose bills, something previously viewed as impertinence for a non-government party to do.

One bill would even force cabinet ministers to reveal their financial assets.”

(http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-

challenging-president-power-grab)

“However, Ms. Suu Kyi cannot assume that her overwhelming popularity in Myanmar

today will remain intact over the next few years and see her through to the elections in 2015.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), needs to have a clear understanding of

the country's priorities and come to grips with these issues at the earliest. Ms. Suu Kyi, on the

other hand, will have to evolve from being a resistance icon to a national leader; a challenging

prospect.” (Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)

“She has also to revitalise the grass root-level infrastructure of her party, the NLD. She

has to find common grounds with the Military that would support the necessary amendments to

the present Constitution without which she cannot assume leadership in the Myanmar.”

(Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)

“Suu Kyi's stance on the Rohingya issue has been influenced by three key factors: the

public opinion in her own constituency, the collective view of her party, and the mainstream

opinion in Myanmar. Incidentally her constituency, the rural township of Kawhmu, is known to

have an extremely anti-Rohingya stance. Yet there is a requirement of articulating a coherent

policy for the future, policy that diffuses the situation in Rakhine State and allows for

humanitarian aid to flow in to refugees.” (Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)

“Staying on the Rohingya issue, Suu Kyi in one of her interviews to the media in New

Delhi made three important points. One, the immediate step is for the violence to stop, effect de-

escalation of the situation and allow access to humanitarian aid. Second, both communities

have resorted to violence hence restrain has to be exercised by all stakeholders. Rhetoric and

provocation has not helped either side. Third, was regarding the responsibility of Bangladesh on

the issue.” ((Euroasiaview, 28 November 2012)

3.3 Myanmar, Rohingya and Citizenship Laws

“The 1948 Union Citizenship Act offered a window for dealing with issues of citizenship in the

newly independent Burma. Based on the 1947 Constitution12, the Act specified that indigenous

races of Burma meant the “Arakanese, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon or Shan

race and racial groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the Union as their

permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 AD (1185 BE)”. Anyone in doubt of their rights

to citizenship could apply — through the different administrative layers, by 30 April 1950 — to

the Minister of Home Affairs for decision.” (Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe Thuzar,2012)

“Had the Union Citizenship Act been effectively implemented in the years following

Burma’s independence, it might have resulted in a clearer legal status for everyone in the

country. This did not happen as independence brought with it other concerns perceived as more

pressing for the nascent government.” (Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe Thuzar,2012)

“A new legislation on citizenship was introduced under the context of the 1974

Constitution during the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) years. The 1982 Citizenship

Law had its origins in views expounded by the BSPP Chairman and then President of Burma, U

Ne Win, in December 1979. His view — apparently a long-standing one in governing circles in

Burma — was that the security of the state required clarification of the different kinds of persons

residing in the country: genuine Burmese; persons of mixed blood, i.e.

Burmese-Indians/Chinese; and those “allowed” to enter and reside in the country, i.e. Indians

and Chinese. Of these, those of mixed parentage could not be “fully trusted” due to their alleged

foreign contacts and possible external leanings and interests. The 1982 Citizenship Law

categorizes citizens into 1) full citizens, who are either descendants of those residing in the

country since before 1823, including the indigenous races listed in the 1948 Citizenship Act,

citizens at the time of the legislation’s entry into force or those born of parents at least one of

whom were citizens at the time of birth; 2) associate citizens who had applied for citizenship

under the 1948 Citizenship Act; and 3) naturalized citizens, who comprise persons “who have

entered and resided in the State anterior to 4th January 1948, and their offsprings born within

the State may, if they have not yet applied under the union Citizenship Act, 1948, apply for

naturalized citizenship to the Central Body, furnishing conclusive evidence”13. After three

generations, descendants of associate or naturalized citizens would be considered full citizens.”

(Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe Thuzar,2012)

However, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) cannot pressure

Myanmar regarding the citizenship of Rohingya people at Myanmar. Besides, the United states

Barrack Obama were also speak up about the citizenship of Rohingyas and pressure the

Myanmar to give the citizenship to the Rohingyas.

REFERENCES

https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-speak-up-the-plight-of-rohingya-and-

burmese-muslim

http://www.globalresearch.ca/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-silent-over-rohingya-violence-but-

decries-crackdown-on-anti-china-protest/5313690

http://www.ndphr.net/2012/11/suu-kyi-heavy-lies-head-analysis.html

http://www.ipcs.org/seminar/southeast-asia/the-rohingya-crisis-in-myanmar-implications-for-

national-reconstruction-regional-987.html

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/opinion/12219-myanmar-s-rohingya-problem.html

http://www.mizzima.com/edop/commentary/8150-myanmars-rohingya-problem.html

http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2012/11/19/burma-washes-its-hands-of-the-rohingyas/

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21565624-rohingyas-need-help-burmese-government-

aung-san-suu-kyi-and-outside-world-no

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/08/201288114724103607.html

http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/amal-de-chickera/stateless-in-burma-rohingya-word-wars

http://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/asean-%E2%80%98cannot%E2%80%99-press-burma-

rohingya-citizenship

http://www.refintl.org/policy/field-report/rohingya-burma-spotlight-current-crisis-offers-

opportunity-progress

http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2012/July/debate.htm

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565636-derided-not-long-ago-gutsy-parliament-now-

challenging-president-power-grab

Report paper “Myanmar’s Rohinya Dilemma” written by Tin Maung Maung Than and Moe

Thuzar. 9 July 2012 Singapore.