A bill to amend the Political Parties Registration Law was recently introduced into the Amyotha Hluttaw. The bill committee gave its views on the current law and consequently MPs discussed it from all points of view. The focus of the discussion quickly shifted to the issue of temporary identity cards, which are also known as white cards.
White cards were first issued in 1993 under the State Law and Order Restoration Council. So it is not a new issue; these cards have been around for more than 20 years. Of the 850,000 people who hold these cards, about 750,000 are in Rakhine State, and are referred to as either Bengali or Rohingya. It’s important to consider whether it is a problem that was deliberately created by the former junta and has now been passed on to Myanmar’s citizens and the Rakhine people.
When discussing the white card issue, we need to first look back at the 2010 election. There were nearly 2.7 million eligible voters in Rakhine State at the time of election, according to government figures. Of those 2.7 million, 750,000 were Bengalis or Rohingya holding white cards. This figure would be higher if Muslims holding other forms of identity were included.
The military government drafted elections laws, such as the Political Parties Registration Law, in line with its needs. As a result, the law states that “all people holding identity cards” – meaning anyone with a national scrutiny card, national registration card, a guest citizenship card, a naturalised citizen card or a white card – shall have the right to form a political party and vote in the election. However, only those holding citizenship scrutiny cards were allowed to stand as candidates.
While the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), which was successful in the 1990 election, boycotted the 2010 vote, a new party, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) led by U Aye Maung, took part. It campaigned strongly, rallying support from ethnic Rakhine. Realising it could not win the support of most ethnic Rakhine, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) rallied white card holders to its side. The RNDP won a majority of seats - 34 to 27 - but the result would have been much more one-sided against the USDP if white card holders could not vote. As it was, the RNDP performed better than any other ethnic minority party in terms of the proportion of seats won.
As we approach the 2015 election, the issue of allowing those who are not yet confirmed as full citizens to vote is being discussed widely. U Aye Maung submitted a proposal to the Amyotha Hluttaw to amend the Political Parties Registration Law created by the former junta and despite objections from U Hla Swe, an outspoken USDP representative from Magwe, most MPs supported it. On March 12, the bill committee presented its recommendations on the proposal, arguing that only citizens should have the privilege of voting, forming a political party or standing for election to parliament.
The majority of MPs supported it. But what was more interesting than the result was the contribution to the discussion made by U Htay Win, also known as U Zar Yad, who represents the USDP in Rakhine State Constituency 7.
He told the hluttaw that the former government issued these temporary cards after withdrawing the national registration cards of the Bengali or Rohingya in 1993. He argued that new cards should be issued to those who had previously held them before the bill amending the parties registration law is approved. It is important to note that he didn’t object to amending the bill. Following his discussion, Amyotha Hluttaw speaker U Khin Maung Myint suspended the process of amending the bill and instructed the bill committee to reconsider based on the recommendations of MPs.
Although U Htay Win mostly praised the former government and its immigration laws, he argued that the white cards were not in accordance with the law. This raises questions for the former government and President U Thein Sein’s new government: Why were the white cards issued to replace national registration cards? And why didn’t the government issue other types of identity cards to these people for more than 20 years? Further, why is the government still ignoring this issue and seemingly giving no consideration to how it could be resolved?
Today the Rakhine people have raised their voices and they are targeting the Bengalis. But some Rakhine are blind to the fact that this issue is simply the creation of the former government. No one wants to allow those who are not yet identified as citizens to vote. Therefore, President U Thein Sein’s government should take steps to resolve the issue as soon as possible for the sake of the future of Rakhine State.
Translation by Zar Zar Soe
