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source from Aljazeera, 30 jan 2012
Millions of residents of western Myanmar have been stripped of
citizenship and basic human rights. Will Suu Kyi help?Last Modified: 30
Jan 2012 11:26 inShare13 Email Print Share Feedback The Rohingya ethnic
group of Myanmar is not recognised by the government [GALLO/GETTY] This
article is the first in a series by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former
Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, exploring how a litany of
volatile centre/periphery conflicts with deep historical roots were
interpreted after 9/11 in the new global paradigm of anti-terrorism –
with profound and often violent consequences. Incorporating in-depth
case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Ambassador Ahmed
will ultimately argue that the inability for Muslim and non-Muslim
states alike to either incorporate minority groups into a liberal and
tolerant society or resolve the “centre vs periphery” conflict is
emblematic of a systemic failure of the modern state – a breakdown
which, more often than not, leads to widespread violence and
destruction. The violence generated from these conflicts will become the
focus, in the remainder of the 21st century, of all those dealing with
issues of national integration, law and order, human rights and justice.
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| The Rohingya ethnic group of Myanmar is not recognised by the government [GALLO/GETTY] |
Millions of residents of western Myanmar have been stripped of
citizenship and basic human rights. Will Suu Kyi help?Last Modified: 30
Jan 2012 11:26 inShare13 Email Print Share Feedback The Rohingya ethnic
group of Myanmar is not recognised by the government [GALLO/GETTY] This
article is the first in a series by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former
Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, exploring how a litany of
volatile centre/periphery conflicts with deep historical roots were
interpreted after 9/11 in the new global paradigm of anti-terrorism –
with profound and often violent consequences. Incorporating in-depth
case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Ambassador Ahmed
will ultimately argue that the inability for Muslim and non-Muslim
states alike to either incorporate minority groups into a liberal and
tolerant society or resolve the “centre vs periphery” conflict is
emblematic of a systemic failure of the modern state – a breakdown
which, more often than not, leads to widespread violence and
destruction. The violence generated from these conflicts will become the
focus, in the remainder of the 21st century, of all those dealing with
issues of national integration, law and order, human rights and justice.
Millions of residents of western Myanmar have been stripped of citizenship and basic human rights. Will Suu Kyi help?
Washington, DC
– The image of a smiling Daw Aung San Suu Kyi receiving flowers from her supporters is a powerful message of freedom and optimism in Myanmar, the symbol of democracy in a country which has known nothing but authoritarian oppression for decades.
– The image of a smiling Daw Aung San Suu Kyi receiving flowers from her supporters is a powerful message of freedom and optimism in Myanmar, the symbol of democracy in a country which has known nothing but authoritarian oppression for decades.
Yet few ask one of the most pressing questions facing Daw Suu Kyi. How will she deal with the Rohingya?
“The Rohingya,” you will ask. “Who are they?”
The Rohingya, whom the BBC calls “one of the world’s most persecuted
minority groups”, are the little-publicised and largely forgotten Muslim
people of the coastal Rakhine state of western Myanmar. Their historic
lineage in Rakhine dates back centuries, as fishermen and farmers. Over
the past three decades, the Rohingya have been systematically driven out
of their homeland by Myanmar’s military junta and subjected to
widespread violence and the total negation of their rights and
citizenship within Myanmar. They are a stateless Muslim minority.
The continued tragedy of the unrecognised Rohingya, both in Myanmar
and as refugees abroad, casts a dark shadow over the bright hopes and
prospects for democracy in a country plagued by violence and civil war.
Suu Kyi is ideally placed to extend democratic reforms to all ethnic
peoples, including the Rohingya, in a free Myanmar.
Though the Rohingya may be small in number at less than two million,
the real lesson of the Arab Spring is that no notion of democracy can
succeed without the inclusion of all people within a country’s borders.
Every member of society, regardless of race and religion, must be given
their due rights as citizens.
| “While many ethnic minorities in Myanmar have been the victims of the central government’s oppressive measures, the Rohingya stand apart in that their very existence is threatened.” |
While many ethnic minorities in Myanmar have been the victims of the
central government’s oppressive measures, the Rohingya stand apart in
that their very existence is threatened. The Rohingya’s plight abroad as
refugees in places such as Bangladesh and Thailand has seen glimmers of
the media spotlight, but less attention has been brought to the
underlying cause of their flight: the violence and cultural oppression
at home.
These policies were enacted by Myanmar’s government to force the
Rohingya outside of Myanmar as a result of their being Muslim and
ethnically non-Myanma. The government erroneously labelled them as
“illegal Bengali immigrants” in their efforts to eradicate the Rohingya
culture.
Kings to refugees
Yet, the long history of the Rohingya and the Rakhine state
contradicts the government’s claims. The medieval Kingdom of Arakan,
encompassing the Muslim Rohingya, was once an enlightened centre of
culture, knowledge and trade, displaying a harmonic blend of Buddhism
and Islam in its administration and court life. The kingdom’s
cosmopolitan and international capital city, Mrauk U, was described in
the 17th century as “a second Venice” by a Portuguese Jesuit priest and
was often compared to Amsterdam and London by travellers and writers of
the time.
It was the 1784 military conquest by Bodawpaya, the king of Burma
(now Myanmar), that transformed this once vibrant kingdom into an
oppressed peripheral region. After this, many haunting tales began to
circulate of Burmese soldiers rounding up the Rohingya in bamboo
enclosures to burn them alive, and marching thousands to the city of
Amarapura to work, effectivley as slave labour, on infrastructure
projects.
| Rohingya boat people stuck in limbo |
With the rise to power of the military junta in 1962 under General Ne
Win, a policy of “Myanmarisation” was implemented as an
ultra-nationalist ideology based on the racial purity of the Myanma
ethnicity and its Buddhist faith. The Rohingya, as both Muslims and
non-Myanma, were stripped of their legitimacy and officially declared
foreigners in their own native land. With the passage of the junta’s
1982 Citizenship Law, they effectively ceased to exist legally.
Stripped officially of their citizenship, the Rohingya found their
lives in limbo: prohibited from the right to own land or property,
barred from travelling outside their villages, repairing their decaying
places of worship, receiving an education in any language or even
marrying and having children without rarely granted government
permission. The Rohingya have also been subjected to modern-day slavery,
forced to work on infrastructure projects, such as constructing “model
villages” to house the Myanmar settlers intended to displace them,
reminiscent of their treatment at the hands of the Burmese kings of
history.
The denial of citizenship and rights was accompanied by a military
strategy of physical and cultural war designed to drive the Rohingya out
of Myanmar.
The initial push of the military’s ethnic cleansing campaign came in
1978 under Operation Naga Min, or Operation King Dragon. The purpose of
this operation was to scrutinise each individual within the state as
either a citizen or alleged “illegal immigrant”. This resulted in
widespread rape, arbitrary arrests, desecration of mosques, destruction
of villages and confiscation of lands among the Rohingya people. In the
wake of this violence, nearly a quarter of a million Rohingya fled to
neighbouring Bangladesh, many of whom were later repatriated to Myanmar
where they faced further torture, rape, jail and death.
In 1991, a second push, known as Operation Pyi Thaya or Operation
Clean and Beautiful Nation, was launched with the same purpose,
resulting in further violence and another massive flow of 200,000
Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh.
Non-governmental organisations from Europe and North America estimate that 300,000 Rohingya refugees remain in Bangladesh, with only 35,000 residing in registered refugee camps and receiving some sort of assistance from NGOs.
Non-governmental organisations from Europe and North America estimate that 300,000 Rohingya refugees remain in Bangladesh, with only 35,000 residing in registered refugee camps and receiving some sort of assistance from NGOs.
Acknowledging the Rohingya
Those remaining, more than 250,000, are in a desperate situation
without food and medical assistance, largely left to slowly starve to
death. The December 2011 refugee repatriation agreement reached between
Myanmar President Thein Sein and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina will exclude the Rohingya, due to their lack of Myanmar
citizenship, one of the conditions for repatriation for the expected
2,500 returning refugees.
The Rohingya predicament underlines a paradox for the world’s great
faiths, straddling the divide between Islamic Asia and Buddhist Asia.
Each emphasises compassion and kindness and yet, we see little evidence
of this in their dealings with the Rohingya people.
As part of this current study on the relationship between centre and
periphery in the Muslim world, we recently interviewed Dr Wakar Uddin,
Chairman of The Burmese Rohingya Association of North America (BRANA). A
gentle and learned man, he is an energetic ambassador for his Rohingya
people with a firm grasp of regional history. All the Rohingya want is
the reinstatement of their citizenship in their own land, as revoked by
the former dictator General Ne Win, and the dignity, human rights and
opportunities that come with it.
Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy have a unique
opportunity to reach out to the Rohingya people and include them in the
new democratic process. The NLD should work with the central government
to expand the role of all ethnic minorities as full Myanma citizens.
By acknowledging their rights, the government will bestow upon the
Rohingya the dignity and the responsibilities of citizenship and present
opportunities for mutual cultural understanding and the repatriation of
the thousands of refugees existing in purgatory, separated from their
homes and families. Great strides have recently been made by the Myanmar
government towards the creation of an open and democratic political
system and an end to ethnic violence, yet this is only the beginning.
With the recognition of the Rohingya as Myanma citizens, Suu Kyi will
honour the memory of her father, Aung San, as he, before his untimely
and tragic death, also reached out to ethnic minorities to participate
in an independent Myanmar. Only then can a democratic and modern Myanmar
be legitimate and successful in the eyes of its own people.
But the first step is to acknowledge the Rohingya exist.
This article is based on research being conducted by
Professor Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American
University, Washington, DC, and Harrison Akins, a Research Fellow
attached to the Chair, for the forthcoming study, Journey into Tribal Islam: America and the Conflict between Center and Periphery in the Muslim World,
to be published by Brookings Press, exploring the conflict between
Muslim tribal groups and central governments across the Muslim world in
the context of the US-led ‘war on terror’.
Ambassador Ahmed is a former Pakistani High Commissioner
to the UK and former administrator in Waziristan and Balochistan. He is
the award-winning author of numerous books, including Discovering Islam, and Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam (Brookings Press, 2010).
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
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