Govt opts for term 'Rakhine ethnics' to calm protesting Buddhists

To calm Buddhist protestors, the government of the restive Rakhine State of Myanmar has issued a statement saying it would call the state's Buddhist majority as "Rakhine ethnics" rather than using the phrase "the Buddhist community in Rakhine State" as suggested by State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government.

Controversy over terminology continues to simmers as thousands of Buddhists, including monks, demonstrated yesterday against the Union Government's edict to refer to Muslims as the 'Muslim communities of Rakhine' rather than describing them as 'Rohingya' or 'Bengalis' and use the phrase "the Buddhist community in Rakhine State" to refer to the Buddhist majority.

U Tin Maung Swe, executive secretary for the General Administration Department of Rakhine State, said the state government would soon issue an additional statement about how Muslims in Rakhine State would be referred to.

"I can't say exactly what that is, and I can say keep waiting for that name at the moment," the Myanmar Time quoted Swe as saying.

Rakhine State is home to about a million stateless Muslims who self-identify as Rohingyas and are reviled by Rakhine Buddhists.

The government has sought to defuse the row over the term "Rohingya", by ordering officials to refer the Muslim community in the restive province as "Muslim communities in Rakhine".

But the protesters deem that unacceptable as it hands Muslims recognition in a Buddhist state.

U Soe Naing, a nationalist activist, reiterated that the Rakhine people would not accept the government's hesitancy about using "Bengali" to refer to the state's Muslim population that self-identifies as Rohingya.

"Bengalis are Bengalis. It means they came from Bangladesh. Therefore, the government must call them this name," he said.

The controversy over wording comes amid heightened anti-Muslim sentiment recently, with two mosques torched by Buddhist mobs in as many weeks.

Leader of the Muslim community in Rakhine State U Kyaw Min said that problems over the terminology could be resolved by negotiation between the opposing sides.

"I think it should not be - for one community to be denied [the ability to self-identify] by another community - because this is our own right to self-identify," he said.