The claims were made by U Hla Thein, the chairman of the Arakan State Government Information and Recording Sub-Committee at a press conference held at the state attorney’s office on 19 May.

He said: “I want to ask people what kind of evidence they have for saying that people from Bengali [Rohingya] refugee camps [in Burma] are among the Rohingya boat people. According to our information there is no one missing from any Bengali [Rohingya] refugee camps [in Burma] who has been taken by human traffickers.”

He added that there were over 10 Rohingya refugee camps in Arakan State and because the police and border guards provide security the Rohingya refugees in the camps cannot easily come and go.

He also said: “When people hear the word Rohingya they immediately think of Arakan State in Burma. As we know human traffickers have taught these people to say they are Rohingya if they face any problems, which is why they all say they are Rohingya.”

He claimed that the boat people, who were helped by Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, came from Bangladesh on Thai fishing boats.

He denied international media reports that some of the boat people had run away from Arakan State refugee camps because of discrimination. He also denied that any of the people who had been saved from the human traffickers are from the Arakan refugee camps.

U Hla Thein also said at the press conference that people were using the word Rohingya instead of Bengali because they wanted to damage Burma’s image.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI