Dr Aye Chan is a very well-known figure in the Myanmar democracy movement, and also an Arakanese. Previously imprisoned by the junta as a dissident, he is now welcome because his scholarship and advocacy provide a veneer of legitimacy to anti-Rohingya sentiment. In September, he attended a conference on "National Identity and Citizenship in 21st Century Myanmar" in Yangon and was pointedly greeted at the airport by an Arakanese delegation. According to the Arakanese news agency:
Arakanese were said to have held placards and banners that included one which read "Dr Aye Chan, Save the Land of Arakan" while welcoming him at the airport. [14]News coverage approvingly noted his book on the Rohingya, Virus Influx.
An absolutley immense article on the ongoing Rohingya pogrom in the context of Burmese democratisation and emerging regional Buddhist militancy. 'The Lady' does not emerge too well.
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