You probably already know the news, or you should know the news. China’s communist government is oppressing the Uighurs, the minority Muslims in the Xinjiang region, for a while now. the Chinese government has surveilled these minorities for a long time, then they were forced to register biometrically. Then the Chinese government forced them to go into a re-education camp which is basically an internment camp. Then we heard that the Muslim were forced to eat in the month of Ramadan. Now mosques in that region are disappearing.

Most of the news media have been reporting on this issue for a while. Bit by bit we are getting a grim picture of oppression. As the news of the oppression is spreading, western countries raised their voice and demand China to stop.

But for some reason, most Muslim countries in the world are very slow to raise their voice. So much so, the he US envoy on religious liberty has said he is “disappointed” at the response of governments in the Islamic world to these horrible incidents 5.

First, we can strike off most Middle Eastern Muslim countries except for Iran, as they almost never said anything against any oppression. These countries themselves are oppressive regimes and they torture their own citizens and their treatment towards other minorities is horrible. Turkey, Malaysia and some other Muslim countries are starting to raise their voice, albeit mutely.

But I believe the most shocking absent name on the list would be the Muslims fundamentalist. Remember the Danish Cartoon of Prophet Mohammad? Or the Charilee Hebdo cartoon? Or the numerous times when Muslims [fundamentalist] come out to protest against the US, Israel and the UK for their various actions? it is much easier to make a case against the Western Christian whit whom Muslim has a history of crusades. Making an enemy out of the western Christians is really easy. Or think about India. Though with Indian Hindus the history is relatively new, and I believe most Middle Eastern Muslims might not feel the same compared to the Muslims of Indian subcontinent, it is also a lot easier to make a case against Indian Hindus.

But the Chinese Buddhists have a different history. With them Muslims do not have any historical war. Buddhists are usually perceived as men of peace. Also, China is carrying out all of these atrocities in the dark and we only know this because of some excellent journalism.

All of this poses some risk for the fundamentalists. They may try to instigate Muslims against China, knowing that it will be a hard sell and that people might not react at all or react mutedly. Going against China has its risks, a risk fundamentalist is not willing to take.