SITTWE – The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) has released a statement on Tuesday objecting to the inclusion of “other” on the list of ethnic names in the upcoming nation-wide census.
The statement released on March 4 said that while they accepted international aid in for the census, collecting Bengali population figures must take priority over the improvement of international relations.
Khine Pyi Soe, secretary of RNDP central executive committee, said that keeping the option “other” was a political trick.
“Now Bengalis are being alerted to fill ‘Rohingya’ in the space of ‘Other’. An official racial name must be used. Moreover, some 1302 Bengalis have been assigned duties to collect population figures in Rakhine State without the knowledge of the Immigration Department and the population figures collected by none-citizens is not precise,” said Khine Pyi Soe.
The statement added that in the past the government neither focused on alien population numbers nor used state funds to collect population data. As a result, Rakhine people have suffered from illegal immigration and the creation of a forged race, according to the RNDP.
The party insisted that the word “other” be replaced by “Bengali” which is the official name for them that are not recognised in Myanmar.
The RNDP has asked the government to take action against non-citizens under the 1982 Citizenship Law.
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