We Are All Myanmar in Our Heart — Please Let Our Children Keep Dreaming
The Myanmar military regime continues to label us—Myanmar Muslims—as “guest citizens,” “Kala,” or “mixed bloods,” denying our rightful place in the country. Yet no matter how hard they try to marginalize us, we remain full Burmese citizens in law, identity, and spirit.
Whether our ancestors were Indian, Chinese, Bengali, Pakistani, or any other origin, we and many like us were born and raised in Myanmar. We are not outsiders—we are culturally Burmese, speak Burmese, and are loyal citizens who have contributed to this country for generations.
Our great-grandparents held Burmese National Registration Cards (Ah Myo Thar Mhat Pone Tin Cards), just as our parents and older siblings do today. Yet, under the SPDC’s discriminatory policies, our younger family members are now being issued different cards—stripped of equal status for no reason other than their ethnicity or religion. This form of apartheid, not based on actions or merit, but on racial and religious profiling, is not just unjust—it is inhumane.
This discrimination targets not only Muslims, but also Hindus, Chinese, and other non-Buddhist minorities. Registration officials have declared that anyone not born a “pure Burmese Buddhist” must be classified as “mixed blood”—Indian, Pakistani, or Bengali—regardless of fact. This is a blatant denial of identity and a form of state-sponsored racism.
Our nephews and nieces are now forced to begin life under a system that devalues them from the start. They are excluded from equal rights, even while their siblings enjoy full citizenship. With this, the regime is not only denying their present—it is stealing their future.
These children, like all children, deserve the right to dream, to hope, to build futures free from discrimination. But the SPDC regime has rejected them before they even have a chance. It has told them: you are different, you are less, you do not belong.
We must ask: What will our children grow to believe when the country of their birth tells them they are not welcome? What does it say about the soul of a nation that refuses to embrace its own sons and daughters?
By denying these children their rightful place, the SPDC has already failed them. It denies the very diversity that once made Myanmar strong. Through systematic exclusion and hatred, the regime has turned our shared homeland into a place of fear and rejection.
Let us remember: diversity is not a weakness. It is our strength. Though we may differ in ancestry and religion, we share the same language, culture, and love for our country. We are fully Burmanized except in faith. And when we dream—we dream in Burmese.
History bears witness. Successive Burmese kings recognized us as loyal citizens. Prime Minister U Nu upheld that legacy. And General Aung San once said:
“We have no bitterness, no ill will… If [foreign residents] choose to join us, we will welcome them as our own brethren. The welfare of all people of this country—irrespective of race or religion—has always been the one purpose I have set out to fulfill. It is my life’s mission.”
Yet today’s SPDC regime defies that legacy. It institutionalizes apartheid and discrimination. It commits acts tantamount to genocide against us.
To our fellow Burmese: We remain your brothers and sisters. We are not aligned with foreign powers. We are not enemies of the state. We are Myanmar, in heart and soul.
To the authorities: Please—let our children dream. Do not extinguish their hope. Do not deny them the future that is rightfully theirs.
Published by MMNN | Edited & Updated for clarity and justice from As we are all Myanmar in our heart, please let them continue to dream as Myanmars
