China's Other Genocide: the 'Mother of the Uyghurs' Speaks Out

By Richard Gale and Gary Null, AlterNet. Posted June 24, 2009.

WPFW: Let's speak about the distinct cultural features of the Uyghurs that are being extinguished since your land was seized by the Chinese in 1955. The Uyghur and other related tribal groups are predominantly followers of Islam. Sharing much with Mongolia, there is also a rich shamanic influence, as well. Although you are a Muslim, you mention in your book that reciting a shamanic song or prayer repeatedly while in solitary confinement for two years helped you. When we look at three of the five poisons that China repeatedly refers to, they have strong religious components: the Buddhism of Tibet, the Islam and indigenous religion of the Uyghur's and the Falun Gong. The other two are Taiwan and the pro-democracy movement. Why do you believe China views religion or spirituality as such a threat to its government and its future goals?

RK: As you know, the Chinese communist government is an atheistic government, and it denounces all religions and persecutes religious believers. For the Chinese authorities, any religion, whether that's Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or any other religion, is a threat to it. It is an unjustified rule, because the government is attempting to use communism to replace all these world religions and is using communism to brainwash the masses into absolute obedience to its rule. That's why the government is so afraid of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam and other religious beliefs, because the government knows that once other people follow a religion, other people will not follow the lies of the Chinese communist government.

And what are Uyghurs, Tibetans or Falun Gong or the Taiwanese or all other peoples? They all have their own unique belief systems. They want to follow their religious traditions and beliefs, and because of that they also demand religious freedom. That's what terrifies the Chinese authorities, because once people begin to demand religious freedom, then they will begin to demand other freedoms as well.

WPFW: Throughout the period of your life while you were a remarkably successful businesswoman, you continued to support and fund equal, social and political rights in Xinjiang. Moreover, your husband was once imprisoned for eight years as a political dissident before the two of you met. Why do you feel the Communist Party invited you to be a leading member in the government's Congress Party? And what is your view now about the way the Chinese Congress operates in suppressing non-Han Chinese groups such as the Uyghurs or the Tibetans?

RK: First of all, after China's notorious Cultural Revolution, the Chinese authorities decided to allow a few members of the Uyghurs and other minority groups to have the opportunity to become wealthy. I used that opportunity to do business and to make money. Other people were still very afraid of the Chinese government, believing that if they started doing business or carrying out other activities the government would persecute them.

As a result, I became rich in a very short period of time, and I had this tremendous respect from the Uyghur people as well. The reason why the Chinese picked me and gave me all these official titles is because the authorities have a history of using people with great influence within particular communities, such as me. So by selecting me as an official to portray to other countries' officials, the Chinese government was showing they were helping the Uyghur people by using me as an example.

But in fact that's not the case, and the Uyghur people suffer so much under Chinese rule. They just used me as a smokescreen to hide their brutality in our homeland. The Chinese government's intention was that once I had this official title I would praise the Chinese government's Sunshine Rule in our homeland.

Whenever foreign officials and delegations visited, I would tell them how happy we are under Chinese rule and how we are enjoying all the rights that we're supposed to enjoy. I just became an official mouthpiece and puppet for the Chinese regime. The Chinese authorities, of course, need Uyghurs like that to say wonderful things about the Communist Party's rule. And probably 1 percent of the Uyghurs actually serve the Chinese Communist Party.

That's what the Chinese authorities thought I would do for them, but at the end of the day I didn't tiptoe their official lines. In the past, the Chinese authorities always picked Uyghur puppets to represent the weaker people in the interest of the Chinese government, and the authorities now know it from their experience that the Uyghurs handpicked by the Beijing dictators are not loved by the Uyghurs.

WPFW: Please share the circumstances that led to your arrest while serving as a member of the Chinese Congress. You were the wealthiest woman in China. Did that help you in any way or did it hurt you? Were you able to get good lawyers or not? Then speak about some of the human rights violations you personally witnessed in prison, either to yourself or to others.

RK: First of all, once I became wealthy, I used my wealth to support and help the Uyghur people within the Chinese laws. At the time, I realized the repression of the Uyghur people: the constant crackdowns, the arrests, executions of the Uyghurs, and the Chinese government violating the autonomy laws given to us in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

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Gary Null is host of the nation’s longest-running radio show on alternative health and an award-winning director of progressive documentary films. Richard Gale is the executive producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a scholar in Chinese languages, religion and culture.

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