By Rebiya Kadeer

 

 

In light of the law, the following acts were considered as part of religious extremism: if a Uyghur suddenly quits drinking alcohol (rule 33) or if he refuses to shake hands with village officials, or if he refuges to perform namaz under the guidance of a government-appointed Imam. Naturally, one may put into question the new version of this law as follows: has the National People’s Congress approved only 15 sections of this law or have it approved only these sections while secretly implementing other sections? If they are not all approved, then is it possible for the Chinese government to review the cases of thousands of Uyghurs who were given jail terms under the guise of the fight against extremism prior to the announcement of this law? Or, at least, can some cases be given an opportunity to be re-assessed?

 

Of course, it seems impractical to expect a decent answer from a government, which takes the downloading of an idea, or a document from internet, irrespective of its contents, to be an act of religious extremism. The original addressee of our question is, in fact, not the readers but those governments, organizations and experts that have been dealing with a government equipped with such a primitive and ruthless consciousness, hoping against hope that economic development will definitely improve the human rights situation in China.

  

When we reported those cases where the Chinese governments have been considering a peasant performing namaz on the plantation field as a defiant act of not performing it in a designated mosque and a person performing namaz at home with his family members as illegal religious activates to some government, non-government and news agencies, they would not believe them, considering them to be too absurd for human reason to comprehend. It is precisely this absurdity that is concealing the reality of the Uyghurs from the world. Now the issues that we reported to but the world community did not believe are openly published by Chinese regime in the media. Indeed, it is quite clear that no country which is a pioneer in the field of human rights is able to rein in China’s ambition. Despite this, we still endeavor, at least, to call on the world community to consider the following questions in hope of telling truth from falsehood—who are the real extremists—those who are refusing to watch Chinese state TV and radio news broadcasts full of propaganda agendas? Or those who punish the refusers? Is the person who downloads a text, a speech or a film on his mobile phone an extremist or those who put them on trial and put them in jail for being an “extremist?” Why cannot China which has a most sophisticated media and education infrastructure in the world be able to fight against “a bunch of so-called three evil-doers” and their propaganda in a non-violent, non-military and reasonable way? Why do not the Uyghur people accept the education about patriotism and ethnic unity; instead they tend to watch these materials which would put them in trouble? The answer for these questions are both simple and clear—since the whole propaganda of the Chinese government is a lie and its implementation betrays what is promised, the credibility of this government is lost for the Uyghurs.  

        

What makes us feel disappointed is a way in which some of the governments, government agencies, corporate institutions and celebrities deal with such a country as China as part of the normal diplomatic and business relationships—the country that has lost its legitimacy and credibility by deceiving its people, and that has become more aggressive as a result of the failed attempts to fool them with false propaganda. Instead of warning it, they are indifferent and neutral on the violations of human rights issues in China. This is what sends China a signal of consent. Instead of criticizing it, they are allowing representatives of this aggressive government to make a speech on international stage and inviting them to be a chairperson on such occasions.

 

We, the Uyghur activists who have gone through the experiences this kind of China’s aggression and who are aware of a countless number of Uyghurs lingering in Chinese prisons as victims of this very aggression, do not feel surprised by the announcement of this law. To us, this is nothing but the branding of a sword in the air which was up its sleeve. However, what has made us surprised is the courage that the Chinese government has to publicly announce such a controversial and aggressive law that is a blatant breach of international principles, and that is against human rights norms. It is the disrespect for common sense. What has made us feel disappointed is that this law is nothing but a provocative ultimatum to Islam. Alas, no Muslim writer, intellectual or news analyst has ever uttered a single word against the section in this law about the sinicization of Islam. 

 

It is clear to everybody that Chinese regime is implementing this anti-extremism law as a way to ensure its state security. The state security is an area being directly handled by the Chinese President, Xi Jinping. The periodic Xinjiang conferences, which have recently been convened in Beijing, have also been chaired by Xi Jinping. The blueprint of this law was already discussed and delineated at these conferences. As a result, the law is not being implemented without Xi being aware of it. This same president is holding talks in relaxed manner with the president of another country which is exemplary in respecting human rights and in practicing the most mature form of democracy. It seems highly likely that Xi Jinping who is overseeing the rule of one sixth of China is not going to face any tough questions about the China’s aggression against the Uyghurs in any summits in the future. However, as one of the representatives in exile of this oppressed people, 20 million Uyghurs, I would like to remind the world of the following fact. Currently, this regime, which has a great army but no political ethics, is inflicting enormous political pain on its own people. However, behold now, this same oppression will further be extended to other peoples on Earth if or when they fall under spell of this very this regime. The US, which is now biting its lips for recruiting China for the club of WTO, will soon hit the wall if and when China dominates the whole world as a sole superpower.