Rohingya News Agency‏ ‏‎–(elevenmyanmar):‎ The government's stance on banning the use of ‘Rohingya’ to describe the Muslim minority groups in the ongoing national census will not change, said Khin Yi, minister for immigration and population.

As the chairperson of the Central Commission of National Census, he spoke at a press conference about the national census and New York trip on May 7.

The census taking process was already due for completion on April 10 but it had been extended another 8 weeks because of technical problems and delays reaching remote ethnic areas.
Officials from the ministry are attempting to finish taking the census in some Muslim villages in Rakhine State, together with religious chiefs and group leaders. Still their efforts have not yielded any results, Khin Yi added.

The minister added that he will personally go to Rakhine State on May 9. He plans to discuss with respective officials to retake the census across the region while maintaining the government's stance on the ban of using the term "Rohingya" instead of the government’s preferred term “Bengali”.

"Since 'Rohingya' is not accepted in our country, we won't change the stance regarding it. On one hand, if it is difficult to mention one's nationality as a Bengali, then don't say it. But don't say 'Rohingya' either. Making no answer for the question of one's nationality is acceptable, and we will continue so. We will announce it in advance and carry it out," said minister Khin Yi.

The Minister went on to outline four possible options regarding completing the census in the conflict prone region including estimating populations numbers or pushing ahead and ignoring possible conflict.
The national census has created tensions in many ethnic regions where minorities have disputed the government’s prescription of ethnic identity. This has been most tense in Rakhine State where since 2012 there have been clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim minorities.

Vijay Nambiar, the special advisor to U.N. Secretary-General earlier requested citizenship to be granted to stateless Muslims living in Myanmar. The government responded that Bengalis could only be granted citizenship in line with the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law.

“According to the statistics of the Immigration Department, there are about 1.3 million. Even in Rakhine State, Bengalis figure 1 million. Bengalis from the two districts out of five in Rakhine State accepted the census. The Bengalis from all the remaining states and regions agreed to the process of taking census even with the name of “Bengali”. We will try the census until the last week of this month,” said the minister.

Many Muslims from Rakhine State have not mentioned their race name which is one of the required questions on the census.

“Then they are recognised as ordinary people who are living in Myanmar,” said Myint Kyaing, the director-general of the department of immigration and population.