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In-Depth Information
Animosity against the Rohingya runs so deep that even basic details of their ori-
gins and demographics are hotly disputed. Broadly speaking, the Rohingya have
darker complexions than their Buddhist neighbours and generally speak a dialect
of the Bengali language readily understood in Chittagong, Bangladesh's major sea-
port.
Those lucky enough to possess government identification are classified as
'Bengali', the dominant ethnicity in Bangladesh. But this tends to rile Rohingya act-
ivists, who resent the implication that they are wholly indistinct from their cousins
across the border. Rohingya scholars cite historical evidence — including the logs
of European explorers — that suggests a Rohingya presence in modern-day Myan-
mar that dates back centuries.
Along with various other groups of South Asian Muslims, many Rohingya des-
cend from families led to Myanmar in the 19th century by the British Empire. Dur-
ing colonisation, historical borders were blurred, mass migration ensued and many
Muslims (Bengali and otherwise) were brought over to toil on farms or serve as
second-tier administrators.
For hardline Myanmar nationalists, the Rohingya are an undesirable outcome of
colonial occupation that needs correcting. Myanmar's current citizenship law,
widely derided by global human rights groups, seeks to rewind time and deny cit-
izenship to any group who arrived after (or because of) British invasion.
This thinking is crucial to understanding widely held beliefs in Myanmar that the
Rohingya are a fictitious ethnicity. An extremist screed titled Rohingya Hoax, writ-
ten by a former Myanmar foreign diplomat, describes the word 'Rohingya' as a
Bengali Muslim linguistic invention designed to convince the world that they are
native to Myanmar. They have 'gussied up their claim in fancy and finesse,' he
writes, 'distorting nebulous events of history convenient for the Rohingya chi-
canery.'
As the violence that has exploded across Rakhine State in 2012 and 2013
between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims sadly shows, this disdain for Rohingya
is hardly limited to rhetoric.
Patrick Winn, senior Southeast Asia correspondent for GlobalPost
( www.globalpost.com )
Monks & Nuns
Myanmar's monkhood, numbering around 500,000, is collectively known as the Sangha.
Every Buddhist Myanmar male is expected to take up temporary monastic residence
twice in his life: once as a samanera (novice monk) between the ages of 10 and 20, and
again as a hpongyi (fully ordained monk) sometime after the age of 20. Almost all men
or boys aged under 20 'take robe and bowl' in the shinpyu (novitiation ceremony).
 
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