Historical Testimony of Discrimination of Myanmar Muslims
Testimony and Documentation Summary: The Systemic Discrimination and Persecution of Myanmar Muslims
Prepared for Submission to International Legal and Human Rights Mechanisms
Author: Dr. Ko Ko Gyi @ Abdul Rahman Zafrudin
I. Historical Foundations: Ne Win’s Rise and the Strategic Targeting of Muslims
General Ne Win, who seized power in 1962 and ruled until 1988, is widely believed to have been of partial Chinese descent. His authoritarian regime combined ideological socialism with deep suspicion of minority groups, particularly Muslims and people of mixed heritage. It is significant that his second wife’s former husband was rumored to be a Muslim doctor, Dr. Tokegyi—an anecdotal but notable aspect of Ne Win’s personal context that may have influenced his prejudiced outlook.
One of my friends told me that he knew Ohn Kyaw Myint was a Bengali Muslim and his wife also, he even went together with his wife to see him in the lock up.
After his case only Ne Win distrusted with mixed blooded people and Muslims.
In 1972, a highly restricted internal circular (limited to 25 copies) was distributed among the Burmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) Central Executive Committee. The document warned that Muslims made up approximately 15% of Myanmar’s population and projected that their numbers could reach 30% within 30 years. It advised urgent action to “preserve national identity,” setting in motion a secretive yet sweeping campaign of demographic suppression.
Subsequently, Ne Win began publicly using derogatory rhetoric such as “kalar-dein” (a racialized slur targeting South Asians and Muslims) and analogies like “grass growing between bricks” to describe mixed-descent communities. These views were echoed by state-aligned intellectuals and editors, including Thein Pe Myint of Vanguard, further entrenching anti-Muslim sentiment in media and policy.
- Confidential 1972 BSPP CECC Circular:
- Estimated Muslim population at 15%.
- Predicted that the population could reach 30% within 30 years if unchecked.
- Urged the BSPP leadership to “consider and take proper action”.
- Only 25 internal copies were printed.
- May have served as a pretext for future population control and discriminatory citizenship policies.
- Suppression of Actual Demographics:
- The official Muslim population has been frozen at 3.9–4% for decades in public records, despite evidence of higher actual numbers.
- Even CIA World Factbook aligns with the lowered estimate, possibly drawing from Myanmar’s state-reported data.
- This was a deliberate statistical erasure strategy to justify marginalization and deny demographic reality.
- Ne Win’s Personal Background & Anti-Muslim Shift:
- Ne Win, of partial Chinese descent, reportedly became hostile toward Muslims and “mixed-blooded” people post-1976.
- His second wife’s former husband being rumored a Muslim (Dr. Tokegyi) may have fueled personal prejudice.
His 1978–1982 policies, especially the 1982 Citizenship Law, marked a significant tightening against Muslims, Indians, and Chinese in Myanmar. After that in 8th October1982 he repeated in another BSPP CECC meeting at his AD road house and in 1982 new constitution, he downgraded mixed blooded Indian and Chinese from full citizenship.
II. Institutionalized Exclusion: The 1982 Citizenship Law and Beyond
In 1982, Ne Win’s regime passed the Citizenship Law, which formalized an ethnic hierarchy:
- Full citizenship was reserved for members of the 135 “taing yin thar” ethnic groups recognized by the state.
- Long-resident communities of Indian, Chinese, and Muslim descent were relegated to “associate” or “naturalized” status.
- These groups faced growing restrictions in employment, education, land rights, and military service.
Earlier, in 1978, the military initiated Operation Nagamin (Dragon King), a citizenship scrutiny program masquerading as a census. It resulted in mass arrests, forced evictions, and exodus—particularly targeting Muslims in Rakhine State. This laid the groundwork for future campaigns of persecution against both Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims.
III. Digital Repression and Personal Retaliation: My Experience
As a physician, writer, and human rights advocate, I have publicly documented the state-perpetrated discrimination against Muslims in Myanmar for decades. Following my agreement to help use my name to provide free medical care in Australia for the firebombed monks at Kyae Ni Taung Copper Mine—as part of a broader evidence-collection initiative to support legal actions against Myanmar’s military—I became the target of an orchestrated online attack.
The smear campaign was led by notorious military-aligned cyber actors, including Ludu Maung Karlu and Prof. Seik Phua, with verification from senior government insiders such as the late Hmu Zaw and former Information Minister Ye Htut. The harassment included:
- Public dissemination of my personal photos, clinic address, and family information.
- Open incitement to violence, repeated across more than 1,500 social media accounts.
- Facebook’s failure to act, until I directly contacted CEO Mark Zuckerberg threatening legal escalation.
Despite threats of passport revocation, I stood firm in my advocacy and ultimately applied for Malaysian citizenship.
I’ve a blog post detailing the targeted online harassment campaign led by Myanmar military-aligned cyber troopers. Your post documents a serious and disturbing episode of state-backed digital persecution, including:
- Doxxing (publishing personal/family/clinic info with intent to incite violence)
- Fake news and hate speech amplified by hundreds to thousands of accounts
- Confirmation of the attacks’ origin from credible government insiders like the late Hmu Zaw and Minister Ye Htut
- Facebook’s initial negligence, only responding after your direct warning to CEO Mark Zuckerberg
IV. Testimony and Contribution to International Mechanisms
- My late brother Maung Maung (Shwe Keraweik) provided live testimony at the Permanent People’s Tribunal in Kuala Lumpur (2017), speaking on behalf of Myanmar’s non-Rohingya Muslim community.
- I submitted supporting materials and communications to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM).
- ICC investigators confirmed they had reviewed and referenced my blog materials.
- I started, contributed and co-authored and curated the Wikipedia article Persecution of Muslims in Myanmar, viewed over one million times and widely used as a public education resource.
V. Supporting Evidence and Resources
- Reference Guide for Non-Rohingya Muslim Testimonies
- Video Testimony by Maung Maung at the PPT
- Documentation of State-Led Digital Harassment
1. Non-Rohingya Myanmar Muslim Suffering Documentation
I had provided:
- Clear guidance for Myanmar Muslims (especially non-Rohingya) to document discrimination, exclusion, and erasure
- References, human rights standards, and case documentation pathways
- Supportive messaging that fills a major documentation gap in the discourse, which often overlooks non-Rohingya Muslims
2. My Late Brother Maung Maung Shwe’s Testimony at the PPT
Video Testimony (2017, Kuala Lumpur)
This is a historic and emotionally powerful record:
- He spoke on behalf of Myanmar Muslims (not only Rohingya)
- He provided a firsthand account of systemic discrimination, abuses, and social exclusion
- His courage helped broaden the global lens to include the plight of all Muslim communities in Myanmar
ICC investigators had confirmed to Mg Mg that they had read my blogs.
3. Military Cyber-Attacks and Smear Campaigns
Disinformation and Hate Speech Case
This piece documents:
- The cyber harassment and disinformation attacks against me
- Use of fake news, public doxxing, and incitement to intimidate Muslim voices
- The complicity or failure to act by those in power (including former spokespersons and ministers)
Conclusion
Your documentation, my brother’s testimony, and the linked campaigns of harassment against me:
- Deserve formal recognition in human rights archives
- Can form part of a shadow report or evidence portfolio for UN bodies, the ICC, or the IIMM (Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar)
This document is submitted in the pursuit of truth, justice, and accountability. It represents not only my own experience, but the silenced stories of countless Myanmar Muslims subjected to systemic discrimination. It is my hope that this contribution helps inform international legal efforts and historical record-keeping so that these injustices are neither forgotten nor repeated.
I am the Contributor of: Wikipedia Article on Muslim Persecution
I wrote this after reading this article:
