Rohingya of Myanmar: A drifting Ethnicity

Packed like sardines, starving, sick and desperate, thousands of people are currently adrift in the
waters of the Indian Ocean. No one wants them; neither the country that they call home, nor the
country others insist is their home, nor the countries near whose shores their precarious boats
drift. The desperation of the latest boat people, the Rohingya of Myanmar, reminds us yet again
of the urgent need for countries to formulate humanitarian policies that address such crises. The
root of this crisis, and the long-term solution, has to be laid at the door of Myanmar, where
successive governments have refused to recognize the Rohingya as citizens. Despite Myanmar
having 135 distinct ethnic groups, the Rohingya, who are Muslims originally brought into Burma
as labour by the British colonial power from what is now Bangladesh, are denied that recognition.
Their persecution is not a new story; in 1978, under Operation Dragon King and again in 1991,
under Operation Clean and Beautiful Nation, thousands of Rohingyas fled to Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia and even Bangladesh. In 2012, ethnic clashes between Buddhists and Rohingyas
displaced over one lakh people. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimates that between June 2012 and June 2014, an estimated 87,000 people from the
MyanmarBangladesh border area left in search of refuge. Despite the political change in
Myanmar and its move towards democracy, the present-day government of Myanmar refuses to
address the issue of the rights of the Rohingyas. Most disappointing in this context has been the
silence of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who appears to have chosen the path of
political expediency in the face of strong anti-Muslim sentiment in her Buddhist majority country.
To understand the ethnic twist given to this problem, one has to listen to the statements made
by the leaders of the anti-Rohingya campaign in Myanmar. Many of them are disturbingly similar
to those made by members of the Sangh Parivar here. Ashin Wirathu, the Mandalay-based
Buddhist monk who spearheads the campaign, speaks of Muslim hordes coming into Myanmar
and warns: Muslims reproduce like rabbits; they want to kill us with swords; they want to
conquer uswe have to defend ourselves and our religion. This, in a country where 90% of the
population is Buddhist. But paranoia knows no logic, as we know well in this country. As a result
of the heightened ethnic tension created by such talk, no political party, including the one to
which Aung San Suu Kyi belongs, is willing to take a stand to defend this minority against an
overwhelming Buddhist majority.
For decades, the estimated 8,00,000 Rohingyas in Myanmars Rakhine province bordering
Bangladesh have led a precarious existence without citizenship rights. Today, in the wake of
increasing ethnic violence, thousands of them are being compelled to take the highly risky route
by sea by paying human smugglers so that they can find refuge somewhere, anywhere. But that
promised land that will give them even temporary solace appears virtually unreachable as
country after country adopts the policy of pushing back these leaky boats and at most giving the
people in them temporary assistance. Thailand and Malaysia have forced the boats back at
gunpoint. Although Indonesias Aceh province has offered shelter to a little over a thousand
refugees, its doors remain closed. The Philippines has been sympathetic and offered help.
Australia remains unapologetically unsympathetic. Neither India, China nor Bangladesh has
expressed any sympathy. There are, of course, two separate issues here; one that relates to
Source: E&P weekly, May 2015

Myanmars internal policies and another to how countries should respond in the face of a
humanitarian crisis, even if it is man-made. For the former, the international community, which
rushed into Myanmar when it sensed its economic potential, can use its clout to urge the
Myanmar government to deal with this long-festering problem. India is reportedly investing $120
million to build a port in Rakhine province while China has a 35-year plan to build railways, ports
and special economic zones there. Surely both these nations, who project themselves as the big
powers in the region, are well placed to use their economic and political influence with the
Myanmar government. Their indifference makes a telling statement. The immediate need is to
address the urgent humanitarian crisis of an estimated 4,000 Rohingya women, men and children
drifting without food or medicines in the Bay of Bengal. Irrespective of how their citizenship issue
is resolved, surely nations in the vicinity cannot turn a blind eye to their suffering. As the UNHCR
points out in a statement, vulnerable people around the world are moving in search of safety
and dignity, fleeing persecution, abject poverty, deprivation, discrimination and abuse. Even if
this is a global phenomenon, right now it is incumbent on the nations in the Asian region to step
in and help.

Source: E&P weekly, May 2015