The ‘hate factor’ against Rohingyas has almost taken a xenophobic tone in the country. The democracy icon is fast losing her charisma as Suu Kyi has largely ignored the plight of Rohingya civilians since 2012 when she was freed. Suu Kyi must make it clear to the ultra nationalist Buddhist groups that only peace can ensure development in Myanmar, one of the most underdeveloped nations in South-East Asia. However, it is very unlikely that the majority Burmans who seem to back these radical Buddhist organisations against Rohingya Muslims would agree to such proposals unless a national narrative of inclusion takes root
The Rohingya Muslim crisis in the western province of Myanmar, called Arakan or Rakhine, is fast becoming one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Meanwhile, the issue has already been tabled in the International Criminal Court (ICC) on behalf of Rohingyas this April. The prosecutor for the Rohingyas requested the judges at the ICC to find if it is possible to prosecute the Myanmar authorities for mass deportation of these people to neighbouring Bangladesh.
last month, while visiting Rakhine province, the chief of International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, cast doubt on whether Rohingyas would ever be able to return home, although the Myanmar Government has officially allowed them to return.
In the light of these developments, it’s worth finding out how long the Rohingya crisis would continueIJ Will there be an end to their plight and how can it be achievedIJ
Rohingyas are believed to be Muslims. The first Muslims who settled in this region were believed to be Arab marines and traders that arrived in the Rakhine coast in the 8th and 9th centuries. Other Muslims who came to the area in later centuries include Persians, Moguls, Turks, Pathans and Bengalis. During the British colonial period from 1824-25 until 1948, there was massive migration from Chittagong (currently in Bangladesh) to what is now the Rakhine State (Rianne ten Veen, 2005). This is how the origin of Rohingyas is documented worldwide. However, it’s neither acceptable to the majority Burman population nor to the Government of Myanmar. To them, Rohingyas are purely encroachers from neighbouring Bangladesh and hence, they are barred from being citizens of the country. They, in fact, enjoyed over a decade of relative calm and religious tolerance until the arrival of the first military rule in 1962 under the leadership of Ne Win.
He, along with his Burma Socialist Party, subsequently dismantled the social, political and constitutional provisions that offered protection to Rohingyas. His unique “Burmese way to socialism” was one of the few mechanisms through which he wanted to have coercive control over the hinterlands. And, Rohingyas’ homeland Rakhine province came under his surveillance. Under the Emergency Act of 1974, the military regime stripped Rohingyas of their national registration certificates and replaced them with foreign registration cards. By 1977, the Government conducted the historic Nagamin National Census under which all citizens were required to register their identity. However, Rohingyas were barred from doing so and henceforth, they remained illegal residents in the country. In 1978, as a result of the Nagamin Census, nearly 2,00,000 Rohingyas were violently forced into neighbouring Bangladesh. This was in a way the beginning of the exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh, then a newly independent poor nation of South Asia. But finally, the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship law, called as the most defining legislation in the history of modern Burma, completed the full cycle of making Rohingyas both homeless and stateless.
The “full citizenship” as mentioned in this law is given to “135 national races” of Myanmar, but Rohingyas do not fall in the list. Then in 2008, the Government started issuing temporary registration cards just to racialise citizenship on the basis of ethnicity. While these certificates or cards were normally issued to the citizens only, those issued to Rohingyas were clearly marked as “not evidence of citizenship”. Thus, just before the onset of democratic reforms in Myanmar in 2011, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) completed all legal procedures to declare Rohingya Muslims stateless. This racially-based form of citizenship had dire consequences on the very survival of Rohingyas as a group in Myanmar.
Though the National league for Democracy (NlD), the party headed by Suu Kyi, initially talked about rights of ethnic minorities, she failed to address the status of Rohingyas. Since her release from jail and after she got elected to Parliament in 2012, she has maintained complete silence on this issue, fearing a backlash from the majority Burmans, particularly from the radical Buddhist clergy.
When the Rohingya-Rakhine unrest took place in 2012, surprisingly President Thein Sein appealed to the UN to resettle all Rohingyas outside Myanmar. This indeed invited sharp criticism from the international community, but Suu Kyi remained silent. Once the Suu Kyi-led NlD won majority and formed the country’s first broad-based democratic Government in May 2016, Rohingyas hoped for a peaceful living. But then they should not have expected anything from her side as she denied even a single ticket to any Muslim candidate from her party in the national election conducted in 2015.
She behaved like a true politician as she knew very well that to win the numbers she could no way annoy the majority Burmans. In the same year, the horrifying clashes between Rohingyas and Buddhists took the ugliest turn. And this called for military operation in Rakhine and finally drove out lakhs of Rohingyas to Bangladesh. Again, the conflict between the two groups escalated in mid-2017 and Rohingyas had to leave their homeland for safety and security.
Today, Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar area has become their second home. But how far this country could take the burden of these refugeesIJ Hence, the ICC has been moved to see whether Myanmar authorities could be held accountable for such heinous crimes committed against Rohingyas. The ICC’s jurisdiction extends to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide either committed within the territory or by a national of a state that is member of the court. Myanmar is not a member of the court, but it can be prosecuted if it can be demonstrated that its commission took place within the territory of Bangladesh, which became its member in 2010. Deportation is one such crime for which one country can be booked and now it is to prove that Rohingyas have forcefully been deported from Mynamar to Bangladesh. The crime of deportation can be committed only if the victim enters the territory of another nation. looking all these legal perspectives, it can be said Myanmar can be rightly prosecuted in this case. All eyes are on the ICC, the global Rohingya community and human rights activists, and organisations are eagerly waiting for a historic judgment against the Myanmar Government.
The sustained problem today in Rakhine is a deep sense of threat from Islam, illustrated and reinforced through political and religious narratives. Sad part is that it’s penetrating very fast among the Rakhines and across Myanmar. The “hate factor” against Rohingyas has almost taken a xenophobic tone in the country.
The chutzpah displayed by the Tatmadaw is sending wrong signals to the international community. Equally, the democracy icon is fast losing her charisma as she has largely ignored the plight of Rohingyas since 2012. It is felt that Suu Kyi is corroborating with the Army generals in the massive campaign against Rohingyas.
Suu Kyi’s larger-than-life persona is evanescent. The reasons are not far to seek her lacklustre performance in her two years in power, rising ethnic unrest in various parts of the country, and the galloping Rohingya tragedy, etc, may soon make her longstanding global image go away.
There is very little hope that Myanmar will revise the controversial 1982 citizenship law. But to resettle Rohingyas, this law has to be amended sooner or later.
Time now is to reconcile the differences between the minority Rohingyas and the Rakhine Buddhists. Though there is scant hope for such an atmosphere in the coming future, an effort backed by international bodies such as the UN, global human rights agencies and big powers may raise hope for peace in the Rakhine province. In fact, regional bodies like the ASEAN too can pursue the Government of Myanmar to chart a course of action to bring an end to the Rohingya crisis. Surely, the NlD Government would benefit by appeasing rights advocacy groups and lifting restrictions on humanitarian agencies so that they can offer their services to thousands of displaced Rohingyas in remote villages in the Rakhine province.
Suu Kyi must make it clear to the ultra nationalist Buddhist groups that only peace can ensure development in Myanmar, one of the most underdeveloped nations in South-East Asian region. It is very unlikely that the majority Burmans who seem to back these radical Buddhist organisations against Rohingya Muslims would agree to such proposals. Unless their image of the “Other” as they think about the Rohingyas gradually fades away and a national narrative of inclusion gets under way, Myanmar would soon turned out to be another “boiling pot” of Asia. What author George Orwell wrote in his 1934 novel Burmese Days correctly depicts the current racial prejudice: “To talk, simply to talk! It sounds so little, and how much it is! When you have existed to the brink of middle age in bitter loneliness, among people to whom your true opinion on every subject on earth is blasphemy, the need to talk is the greatest of all needs.”
Initially Rohingyas crisis was an internal issue, but now it involves Bangladesh directly, apart from some other neighbouring nations of Myanmar. Hence, a strong intervention of the UN is desirable before the last Rohingya civilian leaves Myanmar. And this could offer a fertile ground for breeding Islamic terror in a region which is already facing the horror for decades. Only the Government of Myanmar, particularly Suu Kyi with the support of its military, can offer hope for Rohingyas in Rakhine. Driving hapless Rohingyas to Bangladesh is not a solution at all.
(The writer is an expert on internation affairs)