Rakhine Party objects giving the right to vote to the temporary citizenship card holders

 

 

The statement was issued on February 3, a day after the Union Parliament approved to give the temporary citizenship card holders the right to vote in the nationwide referendum of the bill which amends the 2008 Constitution. MPs from RNP strongly denounced the decision. The parliament voted in accordance with a directive from President Thein Sein. 

The statement includes that politicians in successive era tended to win the election without considering the interest of the country and its ethnics in long term. Because of them, the illegal Bengalis issue has emerged seriously. 

The RNP will continue fighting the issue of giving the right to vote to the temporary citizenship card holders – most are the illegal Bengalis. 

What is more, the RNP urges all ethnics to participate together decrying the approval of the Union Parliament. 

"We have many things to do. We won't give up what we have to do. We feel bad that the parliament ignore what the Rakhine people requested after facing conflicts," said Vice-Chairperson of the RNP Khine Pye Soe. 

MP Zaw Myint Pe, a central executive committee (CEC) member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) on February 4, noted that people have had to suffer the evil legacy of white cards as successive governments have failed to deal with it.

“There should not be white card holders any longer. The government should make a decision about [their citizenship] as quickly as possible,” the MP said.

“In fact, their citizenship is not included in the 1982 Citizenship Law. For many years, there have been illegal migrants entering into the country. Temporary cards were issued to them. These cards have a life span and must be renewed. Yet, there has been no renewal. This amounts to a lack of responsibility by the department concerned. It remains an evil legacy. This can be solved by issuing citizenship cards to citizens and foreign citizen cards to foreigners. Now, problem arises in Kokant Region and Rakhine State. This problem becomes bigger as the authority has turned a blind eye to it for many years.”

MP Aye Muang noted that it remains to be seen whether or not the white card holders will get the voting rights in the upcoming elections. He pointed out that giving the voting rights to them is not in accord with the constitution.