By Larry Jagan*
The Myanmar Times
Myanmar’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has outlined the government’s new strategic plans for the troubled state of Rakhine. A civilian-led agency – with foreign assistance – has been created, the National Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine State, which will deliver aid to the refugees, oversee their return and help resettle them. She made the announcement in a televised address to the nation on October 12.
This is essentially the government’s long-promised roadmap constructed around the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Advisory Commission on Rakhine, submitted to the government on August 24, but without any timetable. Instead a new overarching committee, which the State Counsellor herself will head, has been established to oversee the implementation of these recommendations.
More than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled across the border into Bangladesh in the last eight weeks, as a result of renewed violence, which erupted after alleged insurgents attacked border security posts leaving more than a score dead. The UN describes the situation as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The government has been working on a blueprint to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the refugees, who have fled across the border, provide for their return as well as tackle the underlying causes of the communal violence and mistrust in the strife-torn Rakhine State.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has wrestled with how to deal with the situation in Rakhine ever since the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA) attacks on August 25, according to government insiders. But law and order needed to be restored first, before the return and resettlement of the refugees could be dealt with. The provision of humanitarian assistance to the refugees – in Bangladesh and Rakhine – was also the government’s immediate priority.
In fact the humanitarian response is already in full swing, according to senior government officials. A new government-led mechanism, established in cooperation with the Red Cross Movement, has started distributing humanitarian assistance, according to these officials, though some international organizations have complained that their access to parts of Rakhine is still being restricted.
Now, the State Counsellor and her government have come up with concrete plans, with the civilian administration firmly in control. She made it clear in her speech that this was a Myanmar-led initiative – though there will be some international participation, including from ASEAN, Japan, the UK and parts of the UN national project. The World Bank has also been asked to participate, as has the private sector, and both local and international non-government organizations.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is taking personal responsibility by chairing the newly created committee. This underlines the government’s total commitment to delivering on its promises to resolve the situation in Rakhine, a government insider said. The plans center around three phases: humanitarian relief, rebuilding the destroyed villages and reconstruction. This includes creating schools for all ethnic and religious groups in Rakhine and providing high-standard hospitals and clinics, as recommended by Kofi Annan’s commission.
The penultimate stage will be resettlement. The repatriation of the refugees from Bangladesh will follow the terms agreed with the UN and Bangladesh in 1990, when Muslim refugees who fled the military crackdown at the time were allowed to return. Of course, it also involves a process of verification, which has already begun. The longer-term objective is to bring development to the region and establish a durable peace, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said.
The military will also have a role, a government insider said: They will be invited to participate, but mainly to provide security. The State Counsellor is adamant that this is to be a civilian-led process of reconciliation.
The fleeing refugees accuse the military of forcing them to leave, razing their homes to the ground and being responsible for the hundreds of deaths during the recent security operations. Many Muslim women also allege that Myanmar soldiers raped them. But the State Counsellor studiously avoided criticizing, or even mentioning the allegation against the military in her speech.
Contrary to popular opinion, especially abroad, this does not mean she has sided with the military or, as some activists and diplomats suggest, that she is in their pocket. It is part of a detailed strategy, on her part, according to one of the State Counsellor’s close confidantes. “Rather than rebutting criticisms and allegations with words, we will show the world by our actions and our deeds. In Rakhine State, there are so many things to be done,” she said in her speech.
“She wants to move away from inflammatory and divisive remarks. She wants to take the steam out of the argument and language, which dominates the narrative,” a government insider said. Her message – to the whole nation – emphasized Buddhist values. “I have no doubt that all of them [the people of Myanmar here and abroad] will come forth to help us with metta [loving kindness] and thitsa [truth].”
The aim is to mobilize the nation behind the Buddhist tenets of love and kindness, and to wrestle Buddhism out of the hands of extremists, said an adviser involved in the speech. “Our people are well-known for their generosity and philanthropy,” she said in her speech. “We will put to good use this generous nature of our people, systematically.”
So, what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi envisages is a coherent civilian-led national solution. She also appealed to the nation to recognize that this enterprise was not for Rakhine alone, but the whole nation. She understands that the future of the country and its democratic transition may depend on it, according to government sources close to the State Counsellor.
*Larry Jagan is a Myanmar specialist and former BBC World Service news editor for the region.
(https://www.mmtimes.com/news/rakhine-plan-civilians-back-control.html)
