Media Statement
It would be a mistake for the Chinese government to rely mainly upon massive arrests, bans upon demonstrations and curbs on the media to contain Uighur discontent in the Xinjiang province of Western China.
The Chinese government should address the root causes of the discontent. Poverty, widespread unemployment, low paying jobs and alleged discrimination in the work-place, have created a deep sense of alienation within the Uighur population. There is also considerable unhappiness about the Han influx into Xinjiang which has altered the province’s demography. Today, about 50 percent of the province’s population is Han; five decades ago it was less than 5 percent. The Uighurs who are 10 million strong and make up the other 50 percent, feel overwhelmed in their own homeland especially since most of the powerful and influential positions are held by the Han. It is the Hans, the Uighurs allege, who enjoy the lion’s share of rapid economic growth in a province that is well endowed with oil and gas reserves. Add to all this, allegations of severe curbs upon Uighur culture and language, and one can understand why Uighurs have from time to time revolted against Beijing.
This is why improving the economic well-being of the Uighurs is a major challenge facing the Chinese government. Special efforts should be made to channel development assistance to the Uighurs. The civil and social rights of the Uighurs and their distinctive cultural identity should also be accorded the respect they deserve. Most of all, empowering the Uighur minority should be part of a larger transformation that leads to the devolution of authority from the Centre to the provinces and the strengthening of individual human rights and collective ethnic autonomies within the larger framework of the Chinese nation. This is a process that will take time but one hopes that the Chinese authorities will begin to move in that direction.
The Uighurs for their part should continue their quest for justice in a peaceful manner, without resorting to acts of violence. The violent reaction of a small segment of the community to the killing of a couple of Uighur workers by Han Chinese in a toy factory in Guangdong province on 26 June 2009 has been exploited by the Chinese media to tarnish the image of the Uighur people both domestically and internationally. The Uighurs should also guard against the infiltration of extremist interpretations of Islam which have begun to take root among a small fraction of their youths.
If Uighurs remain on the middle path, it is quite conceivable that more of the Han Chinese intelligentsia will begin to understand and support their struggle for justice.
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,
President,
International Movement for a just World (JUST).
Malaysia.
17 July 2009.