Narinjara News, November 25, 2022

Local Muslims say traffic policein Sittwe city of Rakhine State are targeting Muslims traveling onbicycles and tricycles in the city and Bu May, The Chaung areas, for arrest orextortionate financial demands for allegedly not having driver licenses.

Such arrests and corrupt demandsfor money have been experienced in the previous years, butthe situation has worsened this year. Local Muslims claim traffic police are waiting andarresting not only at the traffic checkpoints in the city, but also on the routes whereMuslims travel.

Since before Thingyan, the arrestshave escalated significantly. Because of these arrests, it has become verydifficult to travel. They make arrests at traffic checkpoints, as well as on the roads withoutcheckpoints. They arrest anyone who looks like a Muslim and thy demand money.

A young Muslim man from Bu Mayvillage said, “They claim that they are arresting anyonewithout a driver license, but this is not true. When two of us both Muslims,sat behindthe motorcycle of a Rakhine friend, they didn’t arrest us. Muslims alwaysface targetedarrests and extortion payments.”

If traffic police man the checkpoint,there can be some negotiation they allow the bicycles and tricycles to be taken backfrom the arrested places, if they get 50,000 kyats. If arrested, the police usuallyextort for 30,000 to 50,000 kyat, and that amount of money istoo much for the poor people who make a living as motorcycle taxi drivers.

A Muslim resident who does notwish to be named, criticized the fact that only Muslims arearrested for not having a driver’s license, but others arenot arrested without any identification documents. That makesthe Muslims feel like they are being discriminated againstbecause of their race, and such acts can be considered as a form of abuse of power.

“The law shall be for every humanbeing. One-sided arrests and extortions are mean and unjustactions. We would like to question whether we no longer have the right to move freelyeven in Bu May village. We want the relevant senior officials in charge to take actionto prevent these situations”, he said.

In addition, he questioned whetherthe Muslim bikers cannot even travel between the Muslimvillages of Bu May and The Chaung, because they are being arrested near the SittweUniversity near Bu May.

Unable to bear such arrests and extortion anymore, they sent necessary papers and documentsthrough the relevant village administrator and applied for driver licenses, but they have not beenissued yet, the villagers said.

Rakhine State Road TransportAdministration Department announced that it would allowunlicensed motorcycles to apply for a license until the end of November, after conductingarrests of unlicensed vehicles in Sittwe last November.

In Sittwe, the traffic policesometimes check and arrest non-Muslims who do not have license ordon’t wear safety helmets, but Muslims are being extorted every day, locals said.

However, a young Rakhine bikerfrom Min Gan neighborhood disagreed saying, “As far as Iunderstand, it is not only Muslims who are arrested for not having driver licenses ornot wearing a safety helmet. They are arresting everyone. There are arrests in Sittwetoo, and Rakhine people are also arrested and with demands money. They extort moneyfrom everybody who does not have a driver’s license. Perhaps the amounts ofmoney could be different. There are many Muslims in Bu May, and they seem to thinkthat only them are being arrested and extorted. In fac, Rakhine people are alsofacing extortion”, he commented.

The young man also suggested thatMuslims should carefully apply for driver licenses and therelevant government officials should verify and issue the licenses regardlessof race.

Similar to Bu May, people who don’thave a license and don’t wear a safety helmet are arrested andextorted money by the traffic police almost every day in Sittwe, locals said.