• I would like to request that the Bengali villages be moved to other places. If they are near us, they will kill us again.Daw May Than - widow, Rathaydaung township___________________________________________________________________________

• I would like to request to the local authority is please take care of the local Arakanese and give us enough security. And I would also like to say to the Bengalis that they should go back to their original place where they come from because this is not their land.

Kyaw Naing - teacher, Sittwe

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• What I want to say to the government is that they remove the Bengali village of Thandawli and all the Bengali villages around us to other places. As long as these Bengalis and their villages are not removed, we dare not live in our village.

Htwan Oo Zun - manual laborer, Byraiphru village, Sittwe township

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• I would like to request to the government that they not allow Bengalis to live with us in the same village, and they should be moved to the refugee camps.

Q-Can you tell me why you you think they should be moved to the refugee camps? A-Yes. During the recent unrest and violence, the authorities would seize weapons from some Bengalis' homes. And, they stored weapons in the mosques. If Arakanese and Bengali live in the same area, the unrest and violence will happen again. So, confining Bengalis to living in the refugee camps is the best way to protect the other people from further unrest and violence. U Hla Wong - shopkeeper, Sittwe

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• I would like to request the government to provide enough security in all of the rural areas. It is because we are very much worried about Bengalis hostility.

Ma Than Ye - mother of 4 children, Nat Chaung village, Rathaydaung township

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• I am a Buddhist. I don't want someone to suffer badly. But I will not be silent, if someone encroaches and damages our lives and properties. I am ready to sacrifice my life to defend race, nation and religion. These Bengalis are always selfish and canny. Our Arakanese must be vigilant upon this.

If I have a chance (to talk to the government), I will say don't continue allowing these Bengalis to stay in our Arakan State. Maung Hla Tin - Rwar Thayar ward, Sittwe

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Interviews of Rakhine/Arakanese victims of the Bengali MuslimsWHAT PEOPLE WANT TO SAY to the GOVERNMENT of BURMA

• We want to report to the government that we don’t want to live near the Bengali villages any longer. We also want to tell the concerned authorities that we can deal with developing our lives and livelihood, only when some army troops are installed near the Bengali Muslim villages.

Daw Hla Sein - mother, Mawrawaddy Village

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• I feel so sorry and angry with the Bengalis, and the government also. Arakanese are the indigenous people in Arakan, and they are an ethnic group of Burma, but Bengalis are migrants who, in so many cases, illegally entered Arakan, and, as well, they are not citizens of Burma. They fight the locals and destroy our village homes, belongings and even our Buddhist temples, shrines, and monasteries. The main entity responsible for causing this out-of-control problem is the Immigration officials and officers of the Burmese government. They took bribes from Bengalis and illegally allowed them to enter into Arakan land. So, unnecessary conflicts occurred in Arakan. First, I especially would like to say to the government, “Pay attention to your people and give them adequate security”. If unrest appears in the country, we have defensive forces to deal with it. I would like the state defensive forces to have the ability to arrive at the troubled area within 30 minutes. It is the best way to defuse the conflict and to reduce injury or death - on both sides. So, I deeply would like to say to the government, “please give our local security forces what they need.”

U Panni-ta - head monk in Panni-thara Monastery, Akyab-taw-kone, Sittwe

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• Rakhine State is a land in which multiple ethnicities and religions can and do coexist peacefully. We have been living here - harmoniously - with other people and faiths as if they were our siblings. BUT, these Bengali Muslims are not human, they are demons which feed on human blood and take pleasure in others’ pain. Thus, we are resisting them. This episode of the crisis should be the last one, and authority must handle this.

U Kumara monk, near Sittwe

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• What the government should do is protect and safeguard the security of the teachers. Now we are eating and living in fear and worry - on our own Arakan soil.

Htwan Marm Latt - teacher, Kyauk-phyu, teaching in Awthaitkay

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• We always have to stay alert because of the Bengali’s enmity. It is very important to inform the new generation about the Bengalis. The Bengali Muslims don’t know what gratitude is and they have NO hesitation to bite the hands which feed them. They are very cruel, inferior and they use terrorism.

Maung Lone Phyu - 81 year-old elder, Pauk Phru Prung, Rathaydaung

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WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO SAY to the GOVERNMENT of BURMA