Muslim students donate cash to victims in fire-ravaged Kyauktaw IDP camp

By DMG 23 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
23 May 2022, Kyauktaw 

Muslim students studying at Sittwe University donated K800,000 to repair houses in the Mahamuni camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) recently destroyed by fire. 

Ko Zaw Min Tun, a Muslim student, said the displaced people in Arakan State were facing hardships, and that the victims of the fire at the Mahamuni displacement camp needed more donations. 

“Even among the displaced people, we are helping the fire victims as much as we can because they are now in more difficulties. Right now, all of us Muslim students are people who want harmony between the two peoples. We all already have in our minds that people living in Arakan State need to help each other,” he told DMG. 

He added that he believed such mutual assistance would help bring about harmony between the Arakanese and Muslim communities. 

Students studying at Sittwe University donated to the fire victims at the Mahamuni displacement camp on May 21. 

Arakanese students also noted that the assistance provided by different ethnic groups in Arakan State, increasing the harmony and trust between IDPs, was due to the fire disaster. 

“Such assistance has helped to bring about harmony between the two nations, as well as to reduce ethnic tensions in the region and to build trust,” said Ko Kyaw Naing Htay, a member of the Arakan Students’ Union central committee. 

Ko Than Tun, an information official for the displacement camp, said he was pleased to see that Arakanese people in need of help were being provided with humanitarian assistance despite their ethnic differences. 

“Muslim students came to the displacement camp and donated to us without informing us. I feel like I have never felt so happy; to see them living together and working together on what is happening in Arakan State despite racial and religious differences,” he added. 

The May 9 fire at the Mahamuni IDP camp destroyed 262 homes and left at least 1,073 people in need of emergency assistance.