The government of Myanmar’s eastern Kayin State has ordered its Muslim residents to report their travel plans to their local administrative offices.
The order came in a letter sent by the Kayin State government’s deputy director, U Myo Chit, to ward and village administrative offices throughout the state on September 18. The letter is dated September 14.
မုစ္လင္မ္မ်ားခရီးသြားလာခြင့္ကန့္သတ္
Discrimination
Myanmar start travel ban to Muslims
by Kayin StateGov.@YangheeLeeSKKU @Reaproy pic.twitter.com/QU9tII182Z— John Soe (@JohnSoe017) September 18, 2017
According to The Myanmar Times, U Myo Chit said in an announcement about the new regulation yesterday: “It is for their own protection and not religious discrimination. Normally, everyone needs to take any identity card or other personal document when they travel. This part of a security measures to avoid unnecessary conflicts that may arise, similar to Rakhine State.”
The government official also said the new rule is related to an incident on September 7, in which nine Muslims from Kaying State’s Hpa-an and Kya-in Seikkyi townships traveled to Hpayatonesu Township, near the Thai-Myanmar border, and sought to spend the night there without ID cards or permission from ward authorities.
Immigration and administrative officials escorted the nine Muslims back to their respective hometowns and received warnings.
U Myo Chit said that other Muslims who are caught traveling without their informing ward administrators will also be escorted back home, even if they are carrying ID cards.
“Kayin State is situated near border line between Thailand and Myanmar, so we have to take more stringent security measures compared with the other states and regions,” the deputy director said.
Myanmar government spokesman U Zaw Htay told The Myanmar Times that the new rule in Kayin State did not come down from the Union government.
“It is part of the security measures initiated by the Kayin State government to boost protection of the citizens,” he said.
According to Myanmar’s 2014 census, 4.6 percent of Kayin State’s 1.57 million people are Muslim. Earlier this month, The Burma Human Rights Network reported that several towns in Kayin State officially banned Muslims from living there and that the trend has been spreading across Myanmar.
In May 2016, Buddhist monk U Thuzana forcibly built pagodas on land belonging to churches and mosques in Myaing Gyi Ngu, Kayin State. Myanmar’s Religious Affairs and Culture Minister Thura Aung Ko was widely criticized by Christians and Muslims in the area after he defended the Buddhist interlopers.
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