The Rakhine Investigation Commission will make their first official visit to Rakhine State later this week for nine days, an official said this week.
Following the trip, the commission will recruit and train people to collect data that will aid its investigation. “It is important to get the right data and also to ensure the data you collect is secure,” he said. “We are inviting and choosing young people to participate in this process. We can’t do anything without evidence.”
The commission report will be given to the President’s Office by the end of November.
On August 20, Mizzima reported members include Aung Tha Aung of the Arakan League for Democracy, Dr. Aye Maung of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, Ko Ko Gyi, an 88-generation student member, comedian Zarganar, journalist Maung Wun Tha, Khun Tun Oo of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Than Than Nu of the Democratic Party (Myanmar)], Khin Maung Swe of the National Democratic Force, Aung Naing Oo of the Vahu Development Institute and Tun Aung Chein of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission. The commission also comprises a law expert and a businessperson.
On August 21, a coalition of Rohingya groups said, “We feel this investigation will not be credible and truly independent because although the 27 member commission includes representatives from various religious groups, including Muslims (not Rohingya), Christians, Buddhists and Hindus, as well as political parties and democracy groups, Rohingyas who are the systematically targeted victims of that violence are excluded from the list.”
The Burmese government announced the formation of the commission in response to repeated calls for a credible investigation by international human rights groups and governments after violence claimed up to 89 lives and more than 5,000 homes destroyed in the unrest.
2012.09.04 Mizzima akhine-commission
Zarganar, the well-known Burmese comedian who is a member of a commission named to look into the causes of violence in Rakhine State, said on Tuesday the group would spend two days there this week, according to a report by DPA, the German news agency.
The former political prisoners said, “We will spend two days there, looking for real data and the real voice of the Rohingyas.”
Zarganar is one member of the 27-member body set up by President Thein Sein on Friday, partly in response to growing criticism from Muslim nations, the United Nations and human rights groups that government troops had allowed or supported Buddhist Rakhine attacks on Muslim Rohingyas