MYANMAR’S human rights record will hit a new low if a proposed marriage bill becomes law. Couched in an idiom that merely seeks to give “protection and rights” to Buddhists, the proposed law targets the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority and forbids Muslims from marrying into the majority community. Spearheaded by a monk, Wirathu, the move, it seems, has officialdom’s blessings. President Thein Sein, succumbing to pressure from the extremist lobby, asked parliament to consider enacting such a law, which proposes a 10-year jail sentence for a Rohingya marrying a girl from the Buddhist community without obtaining her parents’ permission. Vaguely worded, the proposed law, which bans polygamy, would “balance the increasing population” — of whom, the legislation doesn’t specify. The proposal has also been criticised by Aung San Suu Kyi, who called it “a violation of women’s rights and human rights”. Already subjected to a discriminatory two-child policy, the Rohingya community is considered by the UN as the world’s most persecuted group. The state doesn’t recognise the Rohingyas as Mynamar’s citizens and considers them outsiders, even though most of them have been living in the country for generations. They are not allowed to own land, and they cannot travel without permission.

The continued slide in the Rohingya people’s lives reached a nadir in the 2012 riots in Rakhine state, when 80 Muslims were killed, homes were destroyed and 90,000 were displaced. Since then, the military has been allowed to have a say in Rakhine state’s administration. President Sein’s giving in to hard-line monks is most unfortunate because on the whole he has contributed to the country’s liberalisation after decades of harsh military rule, released political prisoners and promised during a visit to Britain a better deal to the Rohingya people. The president, however, seems to have failed to stand up to the hard-line Buddhist lobby. Unless the Myanmar government takes measures to genuinely address a growing human rights concern, its democratic gains of recent years will be overshadowed by accusations of racism.