Like most invading armies, the military has long kept a significant number of Rohingyas in their payroll. Known in the Rohingya language as Tabbe, these people have long acted, more or less efficiently as the eyes and ears of the government, to a point where it has became very difficult for Rohingyas to mount any kind of meaningful political or armed resistance. Even in the heyday of the Rohingya guerilla movements that lasted till 2004, the informers had effectively led the security forces to counter and neutralise strong opposition.
The 2017 operation was surprising not only because of its intensity, but because the government forces targeted even the collaborators, as entire communities were rained with heavy weapons and rocket launchers. Many of the former collaborators are currently residing in the Bangladeshi refugee camps as they fled the attacks of their former masters, who did not distinguish between any of them.
It is important to note that even before October 2016, when ARSA first made its presence felt, the collaborators had kept the government informed of a Rohingya movement that was organising, especially in the villages of Northern Maungdaw. It is not yet clear why the security forces who arrest and torture Rohingya Muslims on flimsy excuses chose not to crack down on ARSA, then known as Al Yaqeen. But it certainly negates the excuse that the collaborators did not inform them of ARSA activities. Yet that is exactly the point that the military wants to make – – ARSA was born out of the failure or betrayal of the collaborators from the Rohingya community. It was on the charges of financing ARSA that Aung Zaw Win, one of the most notorious political figure from the Rohingya community based in Yangon was arrested.
The arrest of Aung Zaw Win, former MP from the military backed USDP and noted government collaborator might come as a surprise to many, but it fits the pattern of military operations that has pinpointed the blame on collaborators from the Rohingya community. It has played very well for the home audience – – the Rohingyas, or Bengali Muslims, are a vile race and not a single one of them can be trusted. Military propaganda has also naturally portrayed ARSA as a bigger threat than it actually is, which while fitting their agenda has also raised the question on why the security forces had failed to act on them beforehand.
The military has long relied on a xenophobic version of extreme right wing Buddhist nationalism to cement their grip on power. This ideology portrays the Muslims, especially the Bengali Muslims as a threat to the Buddhism and an enemy that needs to be defeated and annihilated. The arrest of Zaw Win, and other collaborators will achieve the twin aims of deflecting the supposed failure of military intelligence on acting on ARSA, and will drive home the point that all Muslims, no matter where their allegiance lie in public, are secretly involved in the blueprint of destroying the Buddhist state. It is the very basis of thought that is leading to the genocide of Rohingya Muslims, and is increasing placing the other Muslims of the country at threat.
It is also worth noting that Zaw Win was a member of the military backed political party USDP. By arresting Zaw Win, the military also makes a point of purifying the USDP.
Meanwhile, our sources say that the military has raided the homes and arrested some collaborators from Nol Ban Na in Maungdaw on Saturday.
