Myanmar President Urges Change of Attitude Toward Muslim Minority

The president said the government should promote more education and job opportunities in the Rakhine State along the border with Bangladesh.

Myanmar President Thein Sein

(NAYPYITAW, Burma) - Myanmar President Thein Sein on Sunday urged his people to change their attitude towards Rohingya-Muslims, signalling a major change in government policy on the minority that has been suffering from discrimination for decades.

The president had previously said he wanted the United Nations’s refugees agency to resettle the Rohingyas abroad or set up permanent refugees camps for them, drawing international criticism.

Some 800,000 Rohingya-Muslims live in Rakhine State in the northwest near Bangladesh.

They were made stateless by the 1982 Citizens Law and remain vulnerable to persecution and rights abuses.

"We need to change of our mindset towards them," he said. "We cannot love only our own people."

The president said the government should promote more education and job opportunities in the Rakhine State along the border with Bangladesh.//DPA

Source: Rohingya Blogger