October 29, 2015•Update: October 30, 2015
By Joshua Carroll
YANGON, Myanmar
Myanmar will release figures on race and ethnicity from a controversial census by the end of the year, an official has said, sparking fears the data could stoke sectarian tensions.
The figures will come after next month's highly anticipated general election.
Extremist Buddhists reacted angrily to the count in March last year because it initially included the Rohingya, a Muslim minority widely despised by nationalists in the country.
The government excluded the Rohingya from the count following protests that in one case erupted in rioting against aid agencies seen by hardliners as biased towards the minority.
Officials later withheld data on religion and ethnicity when they announced the census results, apparently because they feared a reported increase in the number of Muslims in Myanmar would further inflame tensions. Publicly, census officials have said the delay is due to logistical problems.
According to the last count, taken in 1983 under a military regime notorious for massaging data to suit its own ends, Muslims make up just 4 per cent of the population. But many believe the actual figure is much higher.
Since political and economic reforms began in 2011, Myanmar has been blighted by a rising wave of anti-Muslim sentiment. Prominent monks have led hate speech campaigns against the minority and a series of pogroms across the country have killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands.
“Currently, it is a sensitive time in Myanmar to release the figures from the census on religion,” said Werner Haug of the International Technical Advisory Board, which provided assistance for the census.
The count was the first in over 30 years in Myanmar and hailed by its supporters as a vital step towards helping fulfil the basic needs Myanmar’s population as the country emerges from decades of isolation.
