A tale of two Uyghur torchbearers hailed by Chinese media, Dilnigar Ilhamjan and Memetjan Omar.
by Kok Bayraq
The international community paid special attention to Uyghur skier Dilnigar Ilhamjan, a torchbearer at the Beijing Winter Olympics who was perceived as a distraction—but did not pay attention to another torchbearer: anti-separatist hero Memetjan Omar (Ch. Memetjan Wumer). While Dilnigar was the medium of Chinese propaganda sent out to the world, Memetjan was the medium of domestic propaganda.
According to the Xinjiang Daily, Memetjan (69) carried the torch on February 2 in Beijing, but this was not his first trip to the capital. Six months ago, he went there to receive a medal from Xi Jinping over his firm anti-separatist stance.
We must ask, who is Memetjan Omar, and what does he mean to the country?
Memetjan Omar was secretary of a village branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Ghulja County. In an interview with the Global Times, he proudly spoke of his life. He was rewarded for his role in a crackdown on Meshrep activities (a traditional gathering of Uyghur youths for entertainment and educational purposes), which led to attendees being severely punished. He also reported the youths to the police for posting separatist leaflets. As a result, the youths were jailed despite peacefully expressing their political views.
He also gave an unforgettable lesson to the residents in his village, which has heavy religious tendencies, by blaming co-villagers in the meeting he held and reporting them to the police. He bragged about the report to close friends and about his “corruption” while in the village chief position. All these facts, which he submitted to the Global Times, prove that his actions over the last thirty years were against his own community, and he did so to gain promotion from the CCP.
It would seem natural that such a person in a colonial land would be called a traitor by the local people, but China praised his betrayal of his own people. They called it a contribution to the stability of the country, and he was awarded the “July1” medal for his heroic struggle against “three evil forces.“
What is the nature of China’s campaign against the “three evil forces” (i.e., separatism, terrorism, and religious extremism) in East Turkestan?
In the words of former Xinjiang CCP Secretary Wang Lequan, the campaign is a “life-and-death struggle” between the “three evil forces” and China. According to an official guide book, there are 76 signs of extremism, including not drinking alcohol, not daring to smoke in front of religious figures, avoiding handshakes with CCP members, growing beards, and wearing long clothes. This means that 95% of the Uyghur population is extremist, in the CCP’s view.
How must these three evil forces be handled? According to Wang Lequan, “The three evil forces need to be annihilated in the bud, beaten in the street, and thrown into the hole.” Zhang Chunxian, who was also CCP Secretary in Xinjiang, ordered that as soon as they resist, they must be shot on the spot without a trial. Just as in the way of Chen Quanguo, Zhang’s successor, pesticides must be sprayed onto the entire crop to eliminate weeds.
Thus, the fight against the three evil forces is really a war against the Uyghurs, and Memetjan Omar has been at the forefront of this war. So far we have no idea how much his actual damage to the community where he is positioned. But it is clear that the idea, perception, and spirit he represents have played and are playing an executive role in the mass detention and ongoing genocide in the region.
Memetjan’s role as a torch bearer clearly and loudly signaled that the life-and-death struggle between the three evil forces and the country was actually the Uyghur genocide, and that the war against the Uyghurs would continue.
At the 1948 London Olympics, to recall the truce during the ancient Games, the first torchbearer, soldier Konstantinos Dimitrelis, symbolically removed his uniform, put down his weapons, began the relay in sportswear, and signaled peace to the world. China did the opposite by choosing an “anti-separatist hero” as a torch bearer. The CCP repeated its pledge of no mercy, intensifying the crackdown, and accelerating the genocide, even though the entire world was watching. As a cover, China also chose Dilnigar Ilhamjan as a torch bearer to signal that it has no problem with the Uyghurs, who they claim live as regular citizens, and that the Uyghur genocide is an allegation.
Such obvious hypocrisy is rampant in the Beijing Olympics. The International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, when asked about the Uyghurs, said that he would not speak about the Uyghur situation because the Olympics should not be politicized. If that is the case, he may want to have a word with China! Is it political to side with the oppressed while siding with the oppressor is not political?
Undoubtedly, the hypocrisy in China will not stop until the fall of the Chinese Communist Party; because the hypocrisy is the very basis of the existence of the CCP. I wonder how long the world will be blind or immune to this hypocrisy, or will stop acting as an accomplice to it.