Hate Speech Against Rohingya in Myanmar Election Has Worrisome Precedents

RADIO FREE ASIA
2020-10-13

Rohingya candidate Abdul Rasheed, a member of the Democracy and Human Rights Party who was barred from running in Myanmar's upcoming elections, sits in the party's office in Yangon, Aug. 12, 2020. Rights groups decried his disqualification as discriminatory and a symptom of the 'ongoing genocide' against the persecuted ethnic minority group.

AFP

Online and offline hate speech targeting Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims has reared its head in the run-up to national elections in November, as some candidates and others target the largely disenfranchised and despised ethnic minority group to gain support from voters.

Rohingya politicians excluded from Myanmar election

REUTERS
Shoon Naing
AUGUST 25, 2020

YANGON (Reuters) - Aspiring politician Abdul Rasheed was born in Myanmar and is one of the very few members of the Rohingya Muslim minority to have Myanmar citizenship.



His father was a civil servant. But when the country goes to the polls in November, the businessman will not be able to stand as a candidate because officials accuse him of having foreign roots.