Cry of the Rohingya

The story of the Rohingya in the South East Asian country goes beyond trials and tribulations and encompases an ongoing conflict, statelessness, ethnocentricism and discrimination which has left the Rohingya population arguably the world’s most persecuted minority group.

It is just not pleasant to be in the minority in any circumstance, not even for staying the course that will eventually lead you to success or make you the profound victor.

But this is the fate of this minority tribe, predominantly sharing the Muslim faith, that are at the receiving end of persecution among a majority in Burma, mostly Buddhists by faith.

Ethnic cleansing

In recent weeks, more than 500,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh, as a result of a military response to an alleged attack by a Rohingya armed group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

About 400 of them are reported to have been killed in what the United Nations and Human Rights Watch have described as “ethnic cleansing”.

More than one million Rohingyas are estimated to be living in Burma otherwise known as Myanmar. They are mostly in the northern part of the country’s Rakhine state along the border with Bangladesh and India. It is one of the poorest states in the country, with ghetto-like camps and shanty towns that lack basic services and economic opportunities.

They have for many years faced persecution in Myanmar but their current predicament began on August 25, 2017 when Rohingya militants were accused of killing suspected government informants and security forces.

This led to renewed violence, including reported rape, murder and arson on the Rohingyas. The situation has triggered a massive exodus of the minority group and Myanmar’s security forces stand accused of ethnic cleansing, but those forces claim to be carrying out a campaign to reinstate stability in the western region of Myanmar.

Reports indicate that before the attack, hundreds of Rohingyas were prevented for weeks from going to work or fetching food.

Who are the Rohingya

The word Rohingya, according to records, was used to describe people who lived in an independent kingdom in Arakan, now known as Rakhine State, as far back as the eighth century but the use of the word Rohingya only became widespread in the 1990s.

Some Rohingya people say they descended from an eighth-century shipwreck that links them to Arabs or Persians farther west of Burma.

They speak Rohingya or Ruaingga, a dialect that is distinct from others spoken throughout Myanmar, but commonly spoken in the Rakhine State.

They are not considered one of the country's 135 official ethnic groups and have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since
1982.

Though they have lived in Myanmar for generations, the Burmese government says the Rohingyas do not exist. Indeed, they object to the very use of the word “Rohingya”. Instead, they argue that they are Bengali from Bangladesh who entered Burma illegally during the time of the British colonisation and also after the Bangladeshi war for independence in 1971.

According to a Rakhine historian, Jacques Leider, Rohingya is a political movement that started in the 1950s to create "an autonomous Muslim zone" in Rakhine.

British rule

During the over 100 years of British rule (1824-1948), Burma became a province of British-India which included Madras, Bombay and Bengal. During that period, there was a significant migration of labourers to Myanmar from other parts of British-India for infrastructure projects.

According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW), Britain regarded Myanmar as a province of India and so such migration was considered internal. In 1942, Japan invaded Burma and pushed out Britain. As they retreated, Burmese nationalists attacked Muslim communities (the Rohigya) who they said had benefited from British colonial rule.
Three years later, with the help of Burmese nationalists, led by Aung San, father of Nobel laurete and de facto leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, Britain liberated Burma from Japanese occupation.

However, the Rohingya who obviously felt betrayed because the British did not fulfill a promise of autonomy for Arakan (Rakhine) demanded from a new Burmese government that the Rakhine State joined Muslim-majority Pakistan.

This demand infuriated the government and it retaliated by ostracising the Rohingya, including the removal of Rohingya civil servants from office.

Citizenship and statelessness

The period between 1948 to 2017 would be described as hell for the Rohingya. Regime after regime took hardline stance
against them.

In 1977, for instance, the Burma Socialist Programme Party, led by General Ne Win who had earlier siezed power in 1962, began an operation code-named ‘Dragon King’ which was aimed at screening the population for foreigners. The Rohingya, however, were only given foreign identity cards, which limited them to jobs and educational opportunities.

Amid allegations of military abuses, more than 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh but later returned after a UN brokered-deal between Bangladesh and Burma.

In 1982, the Burmese government enacted a new citizenship law and declared that the "Bengalis" were foreigners and this effectively rendered Rohingya stateless.

In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalised citizenship), there must be proof that the person's family lived in Myanmar prior to 1948, as well as fluency in one of the national languages. Many Rohingyas lack such paperwork because it was either unavailable or they were denied.

Burmese govt’s position

After a world-wide condemnation about the silence of the Burmese government, Aung San Suu Kyi, finally broke her silence on the crisis. “I’m aware of the fact that the world’s attention is focused on the situation in Rakhine State.

As a responsible member of the community of nations, Myanmar does not fear international scrutiny,” she said.

“There have been allegations and counter-allegations. We have to make sure those allegations are based on solid evidence before we take action,” she added.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who won worldwide admiration for her long fight against military rule, claimed the majority of Rohingya villages had not been affected by the violence. She refrained from criticizing the military — which has been accused of arson and indiscriminate killing.

Although she won the election by a landslide in 2015, which ended decades of military rule, the military keeps controls of three key ministries — defence, home affairs and border affairs and this has rendered the efforts of the civilian government ineffective in the face of the crisis.

International condemnation

Both the UN and the United States have unequivocally condemned the crisis. UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres described the situation as the “world’s fastest developing refugee emergency and a humanitarian and human rights nightmare”.

The US has taken a strong position, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blaming Myanmar’s military leadership for being responsible for the harsh crackdown. “The world can’t just stand idly by and witness the atrocities that are being reported in the area,” Tillerson told Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

Washington has worked hard to establish close ties with the Myanmar’s civilian-led government in the face of competition from strategic rival China, but what measures President Donald Trump’s administration has under its sleeves to help bring the crisis to an end and also not jeaopardise the renewed relationship between the two countries remain a matter of concern for both nations.

How long will it last?

The Rohingya have had a chequered history for many decades, but the past three-months could be described as harrowing times for this poor minoritygroup. Women, children and the sick are those who in times like this bear the brunt of the crisis.

Nobody knows how long the horrific accounts we read and watch in the media, which include sad stories about babies being “beheaded and burned alive” and the countless women and girls having endured sexual violence, will be brought to an end.

The world must act with one voice and through the UN and other stakeholders begin to take immediate steps to bring this issue to an end.

The recent influx could also worsen the plight of the Rohingya refugees by the growing tensions between them and Bangladeshi locals over scarce resources and job opportunities. New programmes and policies are needed immediately to help the Bangladeshi government mitigate the sufferings of the Rohingya.
Attention must also be focussed on providing life-saving support to a population that has become vulnerable and
traumatised.

Writers email:
matthew.odartey@graphic.com.gh