As we fight for the rights of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, we must not forget about our fellow Muslims across the world who have also gone through years of oppression. Such is the story of the Rohingya.
There are about 3.5 million Rohingya worldwide, and before August 2017, many of the one million Rohingya in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) lived in Rakhine State. For decades, the Rohingya have suffered discrimination and ethnic cleansing by the Burmese government.
History
The Rohingya history in Myanmar can be traced back to 1785 when Bamar, the majority ethnic group of Myanmar, occupied the Arakan Kingdom, which is now known as Rakhine State. During their occupation, they executed thousands of Rakhine men, driving the rest to escape to either central Burma or British Bengal to avoid persecution. During this time, a British physician and geographer, Dr. Francis Buchann-Hamilton, noted the appearance of the Rohingya people in Arakan by stating in his literature that he met people who called themselves ‘Rooinga’. They were different from the Rakhine population that practiced Buddhism.
In 1823, there was a large influx of Bengali and Indian immigrants in Myanmar after being brought by the British to work in the fields. However, they were different from the Rohingya as the Rohingya had their own language. The Burmese Buddhist population felt oppressed by the British rule as they were used to the Buddhist religious hierarchy established by the former Burmese kings. Furthermore, because of Buddhists’ dislike of the British, the British were inclined towards choosing Muslims for administrative positions. This fueled the Rohingya’s pro-British stance. Burmese Buddhists’ desire for a country that supported them later fueled the Burmese Independence movement. The difference in perspectives also led to discourse between the two populations.
When the Burmese gained independence from the British in 1948, they denied recognizing Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar. They were considered illegal immigrants of Bangladesh because of the influx of Bengalis during the Bangladeshi Liberation War despite tracing their roots in Myanmar to the 1700s.
In 1982, the Burmese government passed the Citizenship Law, which identified the 135 ethnic groups of Myanmar, but it did not include the Rohingya. This furthered their agenda of preventing the Rohingya from gaining citizenship in Myanmar, making them stateless. In the 1990s, the Rohingya were able to register as temporary residents of Myanmar by the issuance of white cards; however, as of 2015, this temporary identification has been revoked along with their voting rights. Instead, they are forced to carry national verification cards that identify them as foreigners of the country.
Since then, the Rohingya have been discriminated against by the Burmese government through restrictions on marriage, childbirth, education, employment, religious choice, freedom of movement, and other areas of everyday life. For example, the government has established a two-child policy for the Rohingya in the Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships of Rakhine State, which violates their reproductive rights under international law. The law also prevents the Rohingya from giving birth to children out of wedlock. As part of this policy, law enforcement officers have the right to take family pictures to determine if the number of people listed in the family registry is the same as those that reside in the household. Furthermore, Rohingya women are also forced to breastfeed in front of officials to determine that they are their children’s true birth mothers and to ensure that the two-child policy is not violated.
2017 and Beyond
In August 2017, the militant group known as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked police posts and their army base located in Rakhine State. This led the government to proclaim the group as a terrorist organization and the military to launch their own series of attacks that burned down about 200 villages. A survey conducted by Medecins Sans Frontieres found that at least 11,000 Rohingya died, including nearly 2,000 children as a result of mass shootings, land mines, burns, and other forms of violence. The United Nations declared this crackdown as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” since the Myanmar government had been targeting the Rohingya, committing acts of sexual violence, encouraging discriminatory attitudes towards the minority group, and providing immunity for the police force if they are abusive towards the Rohingya.
To escape their imminent death, about 626,000 Rohingya minorities fled the country. Most reside in Bangladesh, while others have sought refuge in Malaysia, India, Thailand, and Indonesia.
To this day, many Rohingyas are unable to return to Myanmar because of the prevalent prejudice against the minority group, the persecution they would face, and the lack of rights they would have in the country. To help those displaced, please consider supporting them by donating to organizations such as the Rohingya Humanitarian Foundation.
https://www.gofundme.com/charity/rohingya-humanitarian-foundation