Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ROHINGYA REPRESSION IN RAKHINE
One of the world's most persecuted minorities (according to the UN), the
Rohingya
Muslims
of Myanmar are currently facing a titanic battle not just for basic political rights,
but for their very survival. Around 800,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine State, with a further
million spread across Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. Most Burmese re-
gardthem,bizarrely,asillegalimmigrants(despitethefactthattheyhavebeeninthecoun-
try since at least colonial times, possibly much longer) and insist they should all be sent
back to Bangladesh (which doesn't want them, and in which the vast majority of Rohingya
have never set foot). They are also
stateless
, having been stripped of their citizenship in
1982 - while despite their large numbers the Rohingya ethnicity was not even recognized
in the national census of 2014.
Tensions between the Burmese and Rohingya have simmered for decades - particularly
since the withdrawal of the British - and the government has routinely discriminated
against the Rohingya. As well as stripping them of citizenship, Rohingya have also been
forbidden from travelling even locally without permission or from having more than two
children. Forced labour, extortion, arbitrary taxation, land seizures and chronic food short-
ages have also been common facts of life.
And then, in 2012, things got even worse with the outbreak of major riots throughout
Rakhine State following the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman and the retaliatory
killing of ten Rohingya. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Rohingya were killed, and thou-
sands displaced - more than 100,000 continue to languish in
camps
in Myanmar (along
with many thousands more similarly detained in Bangladesh, and in areas around the My-
anmar-Thaiborder).Effortsbyinternationalorganizationstoeasetheplightofthoseliving
inthecampshavebeenstronglyresisted-theBuddhistclergyhavebeenparticularlynoisy
in condemning organizations working with the Rohingya.
Myanmar's desire to ethnically cleanse itself of the Rohingya appears to permeate all
levels ofsociety.MembersoftheNational League forDemocracy,whilstloudlyprotesting
their own lack of political freedom, have been equally dismissive of the Rohingya's plight,
while even Aung San Suu Kyi - the one figure in Myanmar with the standing and moral
authority to possibly shift entrenched racist attitudes - has been shamefully silent on the
issue.
Brief history
Formerlyknownas
Akyab
,Sittwe(“Sit-way”accordingtoBurmesepronunciation,or“Sigh-
tway” in Rakhine) is a largely colonial creation. Originally a small fishing settlement, the
townwasoccupiedbytheBritishduringtheFirstAnglo-BurmeseWarandthenchosenasthe
administrative capital of the annexed kingdom of Arakan (modern Rakhine State) in prefer-
