Excellencies and Distinguished guests,
Last year, when I addressed the United
Nations’ General Assembly as the representative of the newly established
government of Myanmar, I reaffirmed our faith and confidence in the purpose and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It is in this enduring belief
in the capacity of nations to unite to build a more peaceful and prosperous
world, a kinder and more compassionate home for all mankind, that we wish to
share with members of the international community, the challenges that our
country is now facing and the steps that we are taking to overcome them. This
year, as I shall not be able to travel to New York for the United Nations’
General Assembly, I have arranged this diplomatic briefing.
When our people voted for the
National League for Democracy in the elections of 2015, they in fact entrusted
to us, the task of carrying out three responsibilities: democratic transition,
peace and stability, and development. None of these challenges are either easy
or simple. Transition for us is a transition to democracy after half a century
or more of authoritarian rule, and now we are in the process of nurturing our
nascent and yet imperfect democracy.
Peace and stability was something that
we had to achieve after nearly seventy years of internal conflict that started
on the day of our independence back in 1948. And development has to be achieved
within the context of the first two – nurturing democratic values, establishing
peace and stability, and achieving the kind of sustainable development that
would be seen as equitable by all our peoples.
Burma is a complex nation as
all of you know, and its complexities are compounded by the fact that people
expect us to overcome all of these challenges in as short a time as possible. I
think it is only fitting that I should remind you today that our government has
not yet been in power for even eighteen months. It will be eighteen months at
the end of this month. Eighteen months is a very short time in which to expect
us to meet and overcome all of the challenges that we have been expected to do.
This does not mean that we are
not ready to go on with our task of overcoming these challenges. Because I
believe in the community of nations, I am prepared to share with all our
friends who wish us well and who understand our problems and sympathies with
us, what we have been doing to achieve democratic transition, peace and
stability, and development.
I am aware of the fact that the world’s
attention is focused on the situation in Rakhine State. As I said at the
General Assembly last year, as a responsible member of the community of
nations, Myanmar does not fear international scrutiny and we are committed to a
sustainable solution that would lead to peace, stability and development for
all communities within that State. I then went on last year to give a brief
outline of our plans to achieve this end.
Unhappily, on 9 October 2016,
eighteen days after the delivery of my address at the General Assembly, three
police outposts were attacked by armed Muslim groups. There were further
attacks on 11 October and 12 November and these clashes resulted in loss of
lives, injuries, burning of villages and the displacement of peoples in the
affected areas. Many Muslims fled to Bangladesh.
Since then, the government has
been making every effort to restore peace and stability and to promote harmony
between the Muslim and Rakhine communities. Even before these outbreaks took
place, we had established a Central Committee for rule of law and development
in the Rakhine and invited Dr. Kofi Annan to lead a Commission that would help
us to resolve the longstanding problems of that State. But, in spite of all
these efforts, we were not able to prevent the conflicts from taking place.
Still, throughout the last year, we have continued with our programme of
development and the establishment of peace and harmony.
After several months of
seemingly quiet and peace, on 25 August, thirty police outposts, as well as the
Regimental Headquarters in Taungbazar village, were attacked by armed groups.
Consequent to these attacks, the government declared the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army and its supporters responsible for acts of terrorism, as a
terrorist group in accordance with the Counter-Terrorism Law, section 6,
subsection 5.
There has been much concern
around the world with regard to the situation in Rakhine. It is not the
intention of the Myanmar government to apportion blame or to abnegate
responsibility. We condemn all human rights violations and unlawful violence.
We are committed to the restoration of peace, stability and rule of law,
throughout the State. The security forces have been instructed to adhere
strictly to the Code of Conduct in carrying out security operations, to
exercise all due restraint, and to take full measures to avoid collateral
damage and the harming of innocent civilians. Human rights violations and all
other acts that impair stability and harmony and undermine the rule of law will
be addressed in accordance with strict norms of justice.
We feel deeply for the suffering
of all the people who have been caught up in the conflict. Those who have had
to flee their homes are many – not just Muslims and Rakhines, but also small
minority groups, such as the Daing-net, Mro, Thet, Mramagyi and Hindus of whose
presence most of the world is totally unaware. Humanitarian assistance was
provided to displaced communities by a team led by the Minister of Social
Welfare, Relief and Resettlement from 27 August 2017 onwards. Details of
humanitarian assistance programmes will be made available to all of our guests
in due course.
The final report of the Advisory
Commission on Rakhine State chaired by Dr. Kofi Annan, was made public on 24
August, in fact, the very day on which the last round of attacks took place. We
are determined to implement the recommendations of the Commission. Those
recommendations that will bring speedy improvement to the situation within a
short time frame will be given priority. Other recommendations we will have to
take time over, but every single recommendation that will benefit peace,
harmony and development in the Rakhine State will be implemented within the
shortest time possible.
The government is working to restore the
situation to normalcy. Since 5 September, there have been no armed clashes and
there have been no clearance operations. Nevertheless, we are concerned to hear
that numbers of Muslims are fleeing across the border to Bangladesh. We want to
find out why this exodus is happening. We would like to talk to those who have
fled as well as those who have stayed. I think it is very little known that the
great majority of Muslims in the Rakhine State have not joined the exodus. More
than 50 per cent of the villages of Muslims are intact. They are as they were
before the attacks took place. We would like to know why.
This is what I think we have
to work towards. Not just looking at the problems, but also looking at the
areas where there are no problems. Why have we been able to avoid these
problems in certain areas? For this reason, we would like to invite the members
of our diplomatic community to join us in our endeavour to learn more from the
Muslims who have integrated successfully into the Rakhine State. If you are
interested in joining us in our endeavours, please let us know. We can arrange
for you to visit these areas, and to ask them for yourself, why they have not
fled, why they have chosen to remain in their villages, even at a time when
everything around them seems to be in a state of turmoil. Apart from what we
are doing in the matter of allaying the fears of our people, I would like to
say that we have been continuing with our socio-economic development programmes
in Rakhine.
Let me outline a few of them. The
Rakhine State Socio-Economic Development Plan 2017 – 2021 has been drafted to
boost regional development in various sectors. Hundreds of new jobs and
opportunities have been created for local people through Public Private
Partnerships. The viability of a new Special Economic Zone to bring new jobs
and businesses is being assessed. In terms of infrastructure development,
electrification has been expanded with new roads and bridges built, including a
new highway connecting remote areas previously only accessible by boat.All
people living in the Rakhine State have access to education and healthcare services
without discrimination. Healthcare services are being provided throughout the
State including hard to reach areas, with new mobile clinics. The government
has upgraded 300 schools in Rakhine. The vocational and technical training
programmes have begun. Muslim students also have access to higher education
without any discrimination.
Humanitarian aid reached all
communities in 95% of the affected areas before the recent attacks on August
25. We are now starting another round of humanitarian aid endeavour which we
hope will take care of all the peoples in the region. With regard to IDP’s,
three camps have been closed and the necessary assistance provided, including
the building of new houses. There is more to do in this area. We are aware of
the challenges and we are facing them.
With regard to citizenship, a
strategy with specific timelines has been developed to move forward the
National Verification Process. But this is a process which needs cooperation
from all communities. In some Muslim communities, their leaders have decided
that they are not to join in the verification process. We would appreciate it
if all friends could persuade them to join in the process because they have
nothing to lose by it. We are also trying to promote inter-communal religious
harmony by engaging inter-faith groups. A new curriculum is to be introduced in
schools with a focus on moral civic ideas and peace and stability. A new FM
radio channel has been set up to provide information on, amongst others,
healthcare, national verification process, and education to all communities. It
broadcasts in Rakhine, Bengali and Myanmar languages. Training and capacity
building for police and security forces is being provided in cooperation with
the EU and United Nations agencies.
Since December 2016, local and
foreign media groups have been given access to areas previously off-limits in
Rakhine. Even after the outbreaks on 25 August, we arranged for several media
groups to visit the afflicted areas.
The government is working hard
to enhance existing relations with Bangladesh. The Minister of State for
Foreign Affairs and the National Security Advisor visited Bangladesh in January
and July of this year. We were also hoping for a visit from the Home Minister
of Bangladesh but it had to be postponed, for reasons, I think of other
commitments on the part of the Minister. We will welcome him at any time that
he is able to come and we hope to take forward the arrangements with regard to
the security of the border which we are trying to implement together.
There has been a call for the
repatriation of refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. We are
prepared to start the verification process at any time. A verification process
was set up as early as 1993 and based on the principles to which both countries
agreed at this time, we can continue with the verification of those refugees
who wish to return to Myanmar. We will abide by the criteria that was agreed on
at that time. As our National Security Advisor has assured Bangladesh, and which
I can confirm now, we are ready to start the verification process at any time.
Those who have been verified as refugees from this country will be accepted
without any problems and with full assurance of their security and their access
to humanitarian aid.
I understand that many of our
friends throughout the world are concerned by reports of villages being burnt
and of hordes of refugees fleeing. As I said earlier, there have been no
conflicts since 5 September and no clearance operations. We too are concerned.
We want to find out what the real problems are. There have been allegations and
counter-allegations and we have to listen to all of them. And we have to make
sure that these allegations are based on solid evidence before we take action.
Action will be taken against
all peoples, regardless of their religion, race, or political position who go
against the laws of the land and who violate human rights as accepted by our
international community. We have never been soft on human rights in this country.
Our government has emerged as a body committed to the defence of human rights.
Not of any particular community’s rights, but of the rights of all human
beings, within the borders of our country.
As we concentrate on problems
in the Rakhine Sate, I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you
that there are problems as serious for us as what is happening in the west of
our country. We have been trying to build peace out of internal strife. A peace
that must be lasting and that must be accompanied by sustainable and equitable
development. We would like to invite you to take part in this peace process. To
join us in finding lasting solutions to the problems that have plagued our
country for years.
The peace process that we
started last year in August is continuing and we are having many difficulties.
I am not surprised by this because it is the way of peace processes anywhere in
the world, that they come across difficulties and sometimes the processes stall
and sometimes they come to a dead halt and sometimes it seems as though
everything is falling apart, and yet, in the end, we all gather together and
move forward. Because all of us basically want peace rather than war. We want
harmony rather than conflict. This is the aspiration shared by all our peoples:
peace, stability, harmony and progress. It is not a large agenda, but it is a
difficult one.
And as we go forward in our efforts to
redress the ills of this nation, I would like to ask our friends who understand
and sympathise with, both our aspirations and our problems, to join us. We
would like you to join us in a positive and constructive way to find new paths
towards peace and stability and towards harmony.
We would like you to think of
our country as a whole. Not just as little afflicted areas. It is as a whole
only that we can make progress. I would like to use the analogy of a healthy
human being. A healthy human being has to be healthy all over. You cannot
neglect his general health just to concentrate on one particular ill. I use
this analogy because our [health] sector is one that has made the greatest
progress since we came into the administration last year. By concentrating on
public health, we have found that other health problems can also be better
addressed. For example, within one year, deaths from HIV were halved – not
because we are concentrating just on HIV/AIDS, but because we were
concentrating on public health as a whole, the health of all of our peoples and
all our communities. This is how I would like you to look at our country.
We are a young and fragile
democracy facing many problems, but we have to cope with them all at the same
time, in the way that we have to cope with all of our health problems at the
same time. We cannot just concentrate on a few. I would like to invite you to
join us in finding new ways, new answers, more constructive, more positive,
more innovative, and possibly more daring.
If we cannot resolve our
problems quickly, it does not mean that we are never going to be able to
resolve them. It just means that the suffering of our peoples is extended. We
would like to bring an end to the suffering of our peoples as quickly as
possible. We would like to make our country a nation, within whose borders,
everybody can live in security and prosperity. This is a large order. This is a
big ambition. But it is not one impossible to fulfil. We all have to join
together. I accept that the real responsibility lies with us, the people of
this country. All the people of Myanmar, from the government, to each and every
single individual within this country has the responsibility for the
development and progress of this country. But, we would like our friends to
join us in our great endeavour. This is certainly a big endeavour. An ambitious
endeavour. A determination to build out of a country, beset by many problems, a
State that is healthy, that is strong, that can look forward to a secure
future.
It is sad that in meeting our
diplomatic community, I am obliged to focus on just a very few of our problems,
when there are so many which I think we could resolve together. That is why I
am opening the door to all of you who wish to join us in our endeavours. We
invite you to join us, to talk to us, to discuss with us, to go with us to the
troubled areas, where we can guarantee security for you, because we don’t want
the added problems of anything happening to any of you, so we would like you to
join us, then to see for yourself what is happening and think for yourself,
what can we do to remove these problems? And also, I want you to take special
care to study the peaceful areas – how have they managed to keep the peace? How
have they managed to preserve harmony? Why are they not at each other’s throats
in these particular areas? These are the answers that we need. It is not just a
matter of removing ills, but also of promoting what is positive. We have to
remove the negative and increase the positive, and we would like to do that
together with all of you.
As you will probably be aware,
our Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement is leading our
humanitarian assistance programme. We are very happy that the International
Committee of the Red Cross is joining us in this and we would welcome others
who would like to aid us in our endeavours. Many have already committed to help
us by donating generously – in cash as well as in kind. We will make sure that
everything that is given towards the promotion of peace and harmony in the
Rakhine is used in the best possible way to benefit all communities. We don’t
want Myanmar to be a nation divided by religious beliefs, or ethnicity or
political ideology. We all have the right to our diverse identities and we all
have the right to strive to fulfil our lives in the ways in which we believe
are right. But we also have to work together because we belong to one nation.
And as we belong to one nation, we also belong to this world.
It is for this reason that we
place great importance on the role of the United Nations as an assembly of
nations which was created to promote peace and harmony, to ensure that our
world should not ever again, in future, fall into the suffering that we all
experienced during the Second World War. It was with the intention of putting
an end to wars - that is to say - putting an end to conflicts, that the United
Nations was established, and I would like to think that what we are doing here
today, may be the beginning of a truly strong and effective movement to bring
an end to all the conflicts within Myanmar. The conflicts between our
communities, between our peoples, and also the conflict of ideas with regards
to how we are to go forwards. Conflicts of ideas can be sorted out, can be
removed through discussion and dialogue and through open-minded and the
generosity and courage, that enables us to see other people’s point of view. I
would also like to say that the generosity and courage that would enable other
people to see our point of view as well. It is by cooperating only, that our
world can go forward. By attacking each other, either with words, or with
weapons, or even with emotions, will not help us. Hate and fear are the main
scourges of our world. All conflict arises either out of hate or fear. It is
only by removing the sources of hate and fear that we shall be able to remove
conflict from our country and from our world.
As you know, there are many
allegations and counter-allegations. I have not gone into any of them because
it is not my purpose to promote and encourage conflict, whether of ideas, or of
arms, but to try to promote harmony and understanding. I hope that you will
understand us and join us in our endeavours.
As I said earlier, this is a
diplomatic briefing. This was intended to keep the members of our diplomatic
community and the representatives of our friends from all over the world, in
touch with what we are trying to do. But in some ways, it is more than just a
diplomatic briefing. It is a friendly appeal to all those who wish Myanmar
well. A friendly appeal to help us to achieve the ends that I think, you would
agree are desirable, not just for this particular country, but for countries
all over the world.
Thank you.