Criticism has also been leveled at Aung San Suu Kyi, the world-famous opposition leader who has struggled indefatigably for the Burmese people against the military junta but who has not spoken on behalf of the Rohingya people.
Source/Credit: The Viewpoint
By Azhar Ahmedi | May 27, 2015
The spotlight of the international press and human rights observers has once again fallen on the plight of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who are fleeing persecution in their native Myanmar , but whom no country wishes to accept . They seem abandoned on the high seas. The neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and also Australia have refused to give refuge to these victims who have suffered extreme persecution at the hands of local Bhuddist mobs and odious discriminatory policies perpetrated by the Burmese authorities.
Human rights groups have for long tried to draw the world’s attention to the plight of the Rohingya, who are Muslim and of Bengali origin, but have for decades, and in some cases centuries, settled in neighbouring Myanmar. They face constant hate speech from Bhuddist monks and, worryingly, the wider Buddhist population, and overt discrimination in the fields of education, housing and employment. In 1982 General Ne Win’s military regime enacted the Citizenship Law which denied the Rohingyas citizenship of a country they have inhabited for generations. They are considered as Bengalis and not Burmese, so their basic citizenship rights are denied.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The Rohingya people live in Arakan in the North Rakhine state of Myanmar and speak the Rohingya language . Some scholars say they are indigenous to Arakan, whilst others claim they have migrated from Bengal, primarily during British rule in the 19th and 20th centuries, although evidence of Bengali Muslim settlements in Arakan date back to the 15th century. They live mainly in North Rakhine where they form 90% of the population. It is estimated there are roughly one million Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar.
Under British colonial rule, the people of Bengal were encouraged to settle in the fertile valleys of Arakan as farm labourers. Immigrants mainly from the Chittagong region settled in Arakan to work in the paddy fields. In the early part of the 20th century Indian migration to Burma as a whole rose phenomenally; in 1927 almost 480,000 Indians settled in Burma, mainly around Rangoon, when Burma’s population was only 13 million.
In 1939 the British authorities conducted a survey to study the issue of Muslim-Buddhist animosity in Arakan. World War II saw the Japanese Occupation of Burma and British withdrawal, which left the field open for inter-communal violence to break out between the Rohingya Muslims and the Buddhist majority.
During the 1940’s the Rohingya Muslims started an unsuccessful political campaign to merge their region with planned territory of East Pakistan. The independence of Burma in January 1948 was the start of state persecution of the Rohingya Muslims, many of whom fled to East Pakistan.
THE PRESENT CRISIS
Amnesty International states the Rohingya people have suffered increasing human rights violations since 1978. For decades they have endured stigmatization, violence and harassment. October 2012 was the highpoint of communal violence when Rakhine Buddhist communities formed vigilante mobs to terrorise the Rohingya communities. A campaign of hate speech was started by Buddhist nationalists and monks leading to violence and arson attacks. Two hundred Rohingya Muslims were killed, hundreds of homes burnt and 120,000 people were displaced into virtual detention camps.
Many international human rights campaigners (including Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights and United To End Genocide”) have alleged direct government involvement in the persecution of the Rohingya people, with widespread hate speech by Rakhine Buddhist nationalists leading to violence and arson attacks. According to UNHCR reports, thousands of Rohingya are internally displaced persons, languishing in inhumane camps and makeshift homes with no work, no schools or healthcare.
WHY ARE BUDDHISTS ATTACKING MUSLIMS
Unsurprisingly there is a link to politics. In both Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka Buddhist monks have for centuries played an important political role. In Burma the 500,000 strong monkhood have always had political power; the Saffron Revolution in 2007 was a peaceful challenge by the monks against the military junta and there has always been a relationship between the monkhood and the political parties. Certainly in Burma the anti-Muslim message has struck a chord with the political power brokers, including Bhuddists, and is gaining momentum alarmingly.
REACTION FROM NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES
Since 2014, according to UNHCR, over 130,000 Rohingya have fled Burma by boat, being prey to human traffickers, violence, lack of food and water. The ASEAN countries (specifically Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia) are refusing to allow the Rohingya refugees asylum. The military have been instructed to take them back to sea. Many Rohingya attempt to escape to Bangladesh by boat, but on reaching Bangladesh they are told to return to their homeland. An estimated 300,000 Rohingya also live in squalid conditions in Bangladesh where they are denied proper access to food supplies, medical aid or education. “Physicians for Human Rights” claimed the Bangladeshi authorities have waged a campaign of arbitrary arrest, illegal expulsion and forced internment against the Burmese refugees
INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION
On May 14 2014 the House of Representatives in the USA passed a Resolution urging the Burmese government to end the persecution of the ethnic Rohingya Muslims, to respect internationally recognized human rights for all ethnic groups and to stop blatant racism.
Human rights groups have accused the Burmese authorities of ongoing persecution, decades of stigmatization, violence and harassment. Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been banished to virtual detention camps. The authorities have allowed hate speech to flourish, encouraged Islamophobia amongst the Burmese Buddhist majority, and granted impunity to perpetrators of violence; the entire Rohingya population has been disenfranchised from the electoral process.
Criticism has also been leveled at Aung San Suu Kyi, the world-famous opposition leader who has struggled indefatigably for the Burmese people against the military junta but who has not spoken on behalf of the Rohingya people. Her silence has been described as tantamount to complicity.
NGOs and human rights campaigners are calling for an international response to solve this humanitarian crisis. In a recent piece on the Rohingya, Mehdi Hassan noted that Penney Green, a law professor at the University of London and director of the State Crime Initiative, said that “In a genocide, silence is complicity.” This is certainly as true in the case of the Rohingya as it is with any other persecuted community. Let us not be guilty of failing to speak up for the Rohingya for as things stand they live on the precipice of extinction with no home, no rights and no future.
Read original post here: Perspective: The Plight Of The Rohingya Muslims In Myanmar (Burma) | Azhar Ahmedi
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