Language of the Rohingya to be digitised: 'It legitimises the struggle'

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Turning written script into digital characters will allow persecuted group to write emails and texts and post on social media in their own language

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Guardian
By AFP / Excerpt | December 18, 2018

For decades the Rohingya have been denied recognition in Myanmar, but the persecuted minority is close to securing a crucial symbol of their identity – their own unique digital alphabet.

The language of the stateless Muslim people has reportedly been included in the planned upgrade to the Unicode Standard, the global coding system that turns written script into digital characters and numbers.

It would allow the Rohingya to write emails, send texts and post on social media in their own language – a major step for a people who had no written script until the 1980s.

Victims of violent oppression in Myanmar that has been likened to ethnic cleansing, many Rohingya face far more pressing concerns than searching Google or sending a tweet, and most lack not just the technology but the literacy to do so.

But experts say giving the Rohingya a digital script of their own is hugely symbolic for the recognition and survival of the marginalised people, even if it is not adopted quickly.

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