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The Muted Outrage: Persecution of Rohingyas in Burma

By Faysal Demir

All humans are born under the protection of a set of natural rights that guarantee them freedom and dignity, and to which they are entitled simply through the merit of being human. The first and foremost amongst these rights, the one which gives essence to all others and which provides the basis for all peaceable interaction, is the right to life. We cannot speak of having achieved a global standard of human welfare or of having realized the ideals envisioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so long as there are places in the world where this most fundamental principle is disregarded and violated. Despite commendable efforts by some humanitarians, there are still countless instances of violence and bloodshed menacing mankind in every corner of the globe while the greater part of the so-called civilized world looks on with indifference. The survivors of these conflicts are left to the mercy of the vanquishers who strip them of all sovereignty over their own persons and treat them without the least shred of respect and dignity due fellow human beings. Such atrocities rarely come into the attention of the rest of humanity until oppression and bondage have long become established as the status quo. 

There is a danger history will repeat itself once more, as the plight of another people is ignored and pleas for help fall on deaf ears. The Rohingya of Burma, a Muslim minority concentrated mainly in the westernmost state of Arakan, have been maltreated and disregarded in their own country for more than half a century (Timeline). They are amongst the world's most unwanted, most persecuted and most harassed ethnic groups, they have no legal standing as citizens, no freedom to marry or have children without government approval, and no place to go to once they are arbitrarily deposed from their homes, as has happened a multitude of times. The latest phase in their calamitous history began when, in the June of 2012, a group of Rohingya was accused of raping a Buddhist woman, triggering a series of retaliations that soon turned into a full-scale campaign to wipe them out and expel them from the country. In the two years that have passed since then, with the world quietly watching, hundreds have been slaughtered, more than 140,000 displaced and subjected to unspeakable abuses by traffickers who take advantage of their desperation to flee to neighboring countries (Grant), and those who remain live in terror, dreading what might be done to them and their families. If intervention does not follow immediately, these people will be abandoned to their own cruel fate, which promises to hold nothing but sorrow and suffering.

The 2012 Rakhine State Riots and the ensuing forced dislocation and human rights abuses are the latest link in a chain of ethno-religious struggle between the two main populations of Arakan, officially named Rakhine State. The roots of the current conflict can be traced back to the Second World War, when the Buddhist Arakanese sided with Japanese forces against the British colonizers, to whom the Rohingya remained loyal. Widespread and mostly government-backed persecution of the Muslim minority has continued ever since. Under the military dictatorship of General Ne Win, who came to power through a coup d'état in 1962, the Rohingya were targeted as part of an operation to root out Muhajid rebels in Arakan. Mass arrests, torture, rape and murder of alleged Muhajideen and sympathizers were followed by the expulsion of over 200,000 Rohingya civilians out of the country (HRW). When the Burmese Citizenship Law was passed in 1982, the Rohingya were excluded from the list of 135 national ethnic groups, effectively being denied citizenship. To this day, the government refuses to recognize them as Burmese, claiming them to be Bengali immigrants, despite the fact that most were born in the country. Nine years after the law was enacted, in 1991, another operation targeting the Muslims of Rakhine State forced 250,000 people to flee into neighboring Bangladesh (HRW 2). They were eventually brought back and forced to resettle in designated communities in Northern Arakan in an effort to concentrate and isolate them from the Buddhist majority. The policy failed, if it ever had such an aim, to impede ethnic strife, as numerous instances of Arakanese attacks on the Rohingya, most notably in 2001 in Sittwe, have taken place since that time (HRW 2). That the events follow a reoccurring pattern of government aided or condoned violence followed by mass-scale forced relocation points to the necessity of taking preventative action, as well as the failure (or rather, unwillingness) of the powers that be to do so. 

The most recent wave of aggression initiated by the June 2012 riots came during a period of intense social and political change in Burma. After nearly five decades under two oppressive military juntas, the country has been sending strong signals of initiating a democratic progress and establishing connections with Western nations and potential trade partners. The first multi-party general election in 50 years was held in November 2010 (although it received mixed responses and allegations of fraud), followed almost immediately by the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the reform movements of 1988 and a global symbol of peaceful democratic struggle, from house arrest. Hundreds more prisoners of conscience were granted amnesty, a national human rights commission set up and new labor laws instituted, press censorship made more lenient (IRIN). In the meanwhile, Burmese politicians have been lobbying to lift the sanctions imposed on the country by the US and EU (TIME) that have been in place since 1990s (Telegraph). Without much cynicism, many of the aforementioned acts of goodwill can be interpreted as serving a twofold purpose. The political transformation Burma is undergoing walks hand in hand with its economic aspirations, and to achieve one it must demonstrate its commitment to the other.   

As so often happens, the sociopolitical transition is accompanied by changes in how the people perceive themselves and their country. The sudden emergence of Burma onto the global scene after decades of obscurity and civil uncertainty has instilled patriotic pride in the hearts of many citizens. As a result, a new nationalist ideology is developing among the Burmese, standing upon three pillars that signify the country's new character (Huffington Post). The first pillar is an almost cult-like reverence for the warrior kings Anawratha, Bayinnaung and Alaungpaya (Linter), during whose reigns (separated by several centuries) Burma came to dominate much of Southeast Asia. Shedding the dead skin of their recent history, the Burmese have turned to the distant past in order to seek powerful figures with whom they feel proud to identify; the warrior kings are symbols from the days of a great and well-respected Burma, and stand as testimony to the people's inherent potential to once again achieve such greatness. The second pillar is the military, the Tatmadaw, which has gone, at least in popular perception, from being the tool of oppression to a source of national self-esteem. As its renovation and modernization has coincided with the general change of course in Burmese politics, many associate a powerful armed force with the ascending star of Myanmar, and take great pride in the brand new tanks, jet fighters and frigates that the government decided to allocate nearly a quarter of its budget to purchasing (Bloomberg). The policy fits in with the image of the mighty warrior kings so far as the connection between power and martial potency goes, and it's certainly not the first instance of nationalism being underlain with militaristic notions. 

The third and final pillar is Buddhism. There is a growing perception among the majority that being Buddhist is an integral part of being Burmese, that religion is a defining aspect of who you are and where you belong in society. In fact, the most fervent and bigoted nationalist movement in Myanmar, named the 969 so as to represent the virtues of Buddha and his followers (Atlantic), is led by Mandalayan monk-turned-demagogue Bhikkhu Wirathu and is suspected of being behind many of the killings. When questioned about the goal of his campaign, Wirathu replies that it is "all about protecting our race and religion" (Thu).

So where do the minorities, and specifically, the Rohingya, belong in this picture? The answer is that they do not belong at all. When the majority public becomes entrenched in a jingoistic worldview and defines social boundaries based on ethnicity and religion, in a multiconfessional state, there will inevitably be fragmentation and violence, the tradition for which has already been established decades ago by the hands of the very government that is expected to serve as a protective and consolidating entity for its citizens. Now it seems as though that government is changing skin, but its attitude toward those who need its protection the most remains exactly as it was under the brutal junta it is trying to supersede. It still does not consider such people citizens or acknowledge even their most basic rights. The new regime is shaping within the nationalist movement, growing from it, and it is not above the sectarian conflict that is tearing the country apart. This is the greatest danger clouding Burma's future and that of its minorities. It is no mere coincidence that the bloodiest attacks on Muslim towns were conducted by Buddhist monks while the security forces either looked the other way or partook in the massacre of hundreds of unarmed civilians, or that the officials insist on denying the atrocities when as recently as January of 2014 mass killings of more than 40 people are being confirmed by the United Nations (ABC News). It speaks volumes that even Aung San Suu Kyi, the most prominent figure of the resistance against military rule during the 1988 riots, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights activist and in many ways the embodiment of the country's quest for democracy, refuses to acknowledge the countless atrocities, instead using her global renown and iconic status to establish ties between the belligerent Myanmar administration and the Western world (Guardian). It does not occur to reform advocates like her that the Rohingya should benefit from the new rights and liberties being granted the remainder of the population, because even the most liberal revolutionaries submit to the nationalistic notion that equates being Burmese to being Buddhist. Burma may be democratizing and reinventing itself, but so long as the majority of its citizens self-identify within such narrow boundaries, its minorities will be forced live on the fringes of society as pariahs without rights, suffering through the same violation and derision they were made to endure under a regime that their new tormentors are trying to leave in the past. 

Such a radical political transformation as Burma is undergoing right now might in fact be seized upon to uproot the deeply entrenched structure of disregard and ostracization that has inevitably bred mutual contempt on both sides of the quarrel. As things stand, this priceless opportunity is being squandered, which is perhaps the most regrettable aspect of the whole situation. If the country wants to establish itself as a democracy and global power, it must first face the realities that have impeded its development and marred its international standing for the greater part of 20th century. By refusing to take action against the ongoing cataclysm that has already left hundreds of civilians dead and hundreds of thousands without a roof over their heads, Burma will be blackening its name and laying foundations for a future filled with devastation and tumult. In the end, the persecutors of today will find themselves unable to escape shackles of their own dreadful creation.  

      

Citations: 

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Grant, Kevin D. "Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims Wait in Refugee Camps as Buddhist Leaders Dismiss 'Genocide'" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 June 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. (Grant)

Journal, Burma. The Government Could Have Stopped This. Rep. Human Rights Watch, n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. (HRW)

All You Can Do Is Pray. Rep. no. 978-1-62313-0053. Human Rights Watch, 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. (HRW 2)

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"Burma Has Far To Go." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.  (Telegraph)

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Bookbinder, Alex. "969: The Strange Numerological Basis for Burma's Religious Violence." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 09 Apr. 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. (Atlantic)

Thu, Eaint T. "We're Building Fences, Protecting Our Race, Religion." Outlook India. N.p., 22 July 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. (Thu)

Press, Robin Mcdowell Associated. "UN: Myanmar Buddhists Killed More Than 40 Muslims." ABC News. ABC News Network, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. (ABC News)

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