Few murder cases have had the impact on a country that the horrific case of Ma Thida Htwe had. On May 28, 2012, Ma Thida Htwe was gang raped, robbed and murdered by three Bengali Muslims in the district south of Kyauk Phyu at the edge of Ramree Island. The murder of Ma Thida Htwe was the breaking point in any possibility of peaceful coexistence between Bengali Muslims and ethnic Rakhines, ultimately triggering the 2012 statewide insurgency, which lasted several months. An example of the 2012 insurgency is captured in video footage from Maungdaw, northern Rakhine, as documented by journalist Rick Heizman shortly after this murder was publicized. This video is some of the only surviving footage from the statewide 2012 Islamic insurgency in Rakhine.
When studying the Ma Thida Htwe murder, it is important to consider this was a time of transition in the history of Myanmar, when the country had only opened to the world a year earlier, in 2011, amid great political, economic and administrative reforms after decades of a harsh military dictatorship. Also, the rise of social media, with accessible smart phones, has to be considered, being something new in Rakhine. In a short period of time, large numbers of people could safely share their personal experiences on a multimedia platform over large, hitherto inaccessible areas, in a freedom that was impossible just two years earlier. In the aftermath of Ma Thida Htwe’s murder, inter-communal tensions were driven beyond a point of no return through social media, after years of undocumented abuses from the growing Bengali population against the native Rakhine people. Since this murder case in 2012, there have been many positive changes in the government of Myanmar, moving the country forward in a better direction.
An early indicator of these increasing inter-communal tensions came from within the township of Kyauk Ni Maw, where Ma Thida Htwe was born. In a rare opportunity to speak with the family of Ma Thida Htwe, Rick Heizman conducted some interviews in Kyauk Phyu. He had originally planned to investigate the village tract and the scene of the crime, but due to the level of persistent danger from the nearby Bengali village, Heizman conducted the interviews in the town of Kyauk Phyu. The victim’s family travelled many hours by bus for these interviews on short notice.
The Bengali village in Kyauk Ni Maw township, which we had to pass through to reach Ma Thida Htwe’s village, was having problems with violent Bengali protests over a false claim for the National Registration Card (NRC), where they had tried to pretend they were Kaman Muslims. The local Kaman Muslims, a nationally recognized ethnicity with a longstanding, well documented history in Rakhine, rejected these false claims of the Bengalis, which was an effort to hijack their own cultural heritage, thereby inflaming tensions inside the Bengali village that could turn into deadly conflict with very little provocation. Also, there were reports in Kyauk Phyu of the growing problem of identity theft by illegal Bengali Muslims, who were actually assuming the identity of dead Kaman Muslims in order to obtain the NRC identity card.
In preparation for the groundbreaking interviews with the family of Ma Thida Htwe, Heizman spent the day before gathering information and preparing pertinent questions, including some interesting discussions with his team. An appropriate location for the interviews was scouted, and some high-tech equipment was set up, including a powerful directional microphone on the tripod mounted camera. Considerable planning was involved, with the almost 12-hour trek on public transportation for the family to meet us on such short notice, so special gratitude to the people involved must be given, including the family for allowing the interviews to take place.
Heizman explained that a primary reason for these interviews was that the ARSA Rohingya terror group had referenced this murder case in their recent manifesto from February 2019. Here, the Rohingya terrorists take the position of the dangerous Islam apologist Dr. Habib Siddiqui from Bangladesh, as well as Burmese dissident Maung Zarni, that her death was “simply murder,” refuting the claims that rape and robbery were involved. As we shall see from this interview with real witnesses connected to the case, Ma Thida Htwe was both viciously raped and robbed by these Bengali men. The sadistic wounds found on her body, with female organs stabbed and mutilated by knives, with the likely intent to destroy the evidence of their other sexual crimes, were a hideous form of sexual violence in themselves being violent rape with a deadly weapon.
Dr. Habib Siddiqui has many false claims in his dangerous attempts at whitewashing Islamic terror and jihad activity, as even just a quick perusal of his work will demonstrate, but his deliberate whitewashing of the gruesome robbery, gang rape and murder of an innocent woman is perhaps the lowest form of deceit an individual can descend to in trying to maintain an outrageous falsehood and advance the jihadist political cause. In 2017-18, Rohingya activist Maung Zarni did a promotional North American lecture tour at some elite universities as well as the Canadian Parliament, spreading more noxious propaganda, in which the ARSA Rohingya terror in Rakhine was eerily not even mentioned. More lies to whitewash the crimes of Bengalis in Rakhine, just as they have done regarding the murder case of Ma Thida Htwe, which has been used to further their political advantage, more specifically financial aid, in a truly bizarre conspiracy theory.
The family of Ma Thida Htwe arrived to meet us in Kyauk Phyu early in the afternoon: her mother, sister and close friend (or uncle). Words can hardly express the atmosphere of fathomless grief around the mother and sister, who were fighting back tears with a courageous fortitude of spirit to tell the true story of Ma Thida Htwe. Their suffering is almost unimaginable, having to deal with such a tragic loss, let alone the pandemonium and lies surrounding the court case in the aftermath of events, which would be enough to permanently damage any sentient human being.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
Thank god for these reports that set so many records straight.
rubiconcrest says
Yes +1
Raja says
There is generally twin purpose in murder or rape or some attack of an infidel in a non-Islamic country.
These news serve as cheer leaders for the Sharia fans and it also helps the doubting Thomases to fall in line of the devout.
Lawlessness of Muslims is a delight for the devout and the victims are PRIZED catch. There is so much propaganda by Islamic think tank; sadly the foolish Left cannot comprehend this fact.
I suspect that the rapists might have even captured the crime on the video to share and enjoy with the faithful.
They did similar thing to Daniel Pearl whose gruesome murder is the most sickening video I have in my laptop.
gravenimage says
So true, Raja.
J D.S says
Yes very TRUE…and THE WORLD STANDS STILL…while the worst so called religion in the world continues their rampage and continues to be recognised by the ELITE as a staple religion that is God based…What a shame and those millions of dead murdered by a so called religious group are crying from the grave for justice.
gravenimage says
Seven Days in Rakhine: Day Three — Some Truth About the Murder of Ma Thida Htwe (Part 1)
……………….
Horrifying murder. I follow the news closely, but I had never heard of this case.
Buraq says
I remember very well the campaign mounted by ‘The Independent’ to make the Bengali interlopers in Myanmar look like victims. Readers’ posts defending the indigenous Burmese citizens were systematically purged. I have been permanently banned from posting any comments there.
Sadly, the so-called ‘Independent’ is anything but independent. From an award winning newspaper in its early days, it has become a pulpit for Islam and the fascist-left.
mortimer says
The mission of Islam is to rob, enslave and humiliate the kafir. Because Allah has made Muslims his bounty hunters, they have a duty and indeed a pleasure to punish the dirty kufaar.
We should all know the motivating ideology of Islam … the hatred of kafirs ‘for the sake of Allah’.
Muslims are required to stir up their hatred of kafirs so they may repress, rob, rape and humiliate them and even kill them without pity.
Islam covers up its crimes with denial and TAQIYYA.
Shaun says
I’m so glad that this incident is being brought into the light. I hope that this brings a more balanced perspective to what was really happening in Myanmar at the time.
A similar false narrative is currently being propagated in Xinjiang, in the autonomous region of northwest China, where the violence of the Uyghur is being airbrushed out of the frame, to paint the Uyghur Muslims as victims.
kuriakose says
Aung San Su Xi was once the darling of the western media, the champion for a democratic Burma (and rightly so). I admire that lady’s courage and wholehearted devotion to her people, standing up to a despotic regime, and sacrificing her family life to be with her people even under house arrest. Now they are trying to paint a different portrait of her just because she took the necessary and rightful action against those muhameddan interlopers.
Makes you wonder, what are these globalists up to? Did they not get the deals they wanted from her? The lady’s prime motive is to bring development to her country so that all Burmese especially the poor can benefit. But globalists want everything cheap, and perhaps this is why they are championing the so called Rohingyas for an independent state which they can control.