Making Rohingya stateless.

[Homo Sapiens]

http://www.newmandala.org/making-rohingya-statelessness/
Making Rohingya stateless
Nay San Lwin, Guest Contributor




Burmese government records of Rohingya

In his article, “A friend’s appeal to Burma”, published on 19 June 2012, Benedict Rogers noted that the first President of Burma, Sao Shwe Thaike, a Shan, said that “Muslims of Arakan certainly belong to the indigenous races of Burma. If they do not belong to the indigenous races, we also cannot be taken as indigenous races”.

“The people living in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships are Rohingya, ethnic of Burma” said Burma’s first prime minister U Nu in a pubic speech on 25 September 1954 at 8 pm. “The Rohingya has the equal status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan” said the prime minister and minister for defense U Ba Swe at public gatherings in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships on 3 and 4 November 1959.

“The people living in Mayu Frontier is ethnic Rohingya” included in the announcement of Frontiers Administration office under Prime Minister Office on 20 November 1961. Mayu Frontier is composed of Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships.

Broadcasting from radio program in the Rohingya language was relayed three times a week from the indigenous language programme of the official Burma Broadcasting Service in Rangoon, from 15 May 1961 to 30 October 1965. Myanma Encyclopedia Vol.9, page 89-90, published in 1964, concludes that population of 500,000 living in Mayu Frontier of Northern Arakan State 75% is Rohingya. “The majority people live in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships are ethnic Rohingya and the minorities are Rakhine, Daingnet, Mro and Khami” wrote in Tatmataw Khit Yay journal Vol.12, No.6 printed on 18 July 1961 and Vol. 12, No.9 printed on 8 August 1961.

In his speech on 8 July 1961, the Army Deputy Commander-in-Chief Brigadier General Aung Gyi said, “The people living in Mayu Frontier are Rohingya. Pakistan (now Bangladesh) is located in west of Mayu Frontier and Muslims are living there. The people living in west are called Pakistani and the people living here are called Rohingya. This is not the only border that has same people on both sides, border with China, India and Thailand also have the same phenomenon. For example: Lisu, Ei-Kaw, La-Wa live in Kachin State and same people live in China. Also Shan people can be found in China as Tai. The ethnics Mon, Karen and Malay are also living in Thailand. In India-Burma border Chin, Li-Shaw and Naga are living. These people are living in Burma as ethnics and living in India as well”.


The Rangoon University Rohingya Students Association was one of the many ethnic student associations that functioned from 1959 to 1961 under the registration numbers 113/99 December 1959 and 7/60 September 1960 respectively. In High School Geography textbook, printed in 1978, where scattered living regions of national races of Burma is shown on page 86, Northern Arakan is marked as ‘Rohingya region’.

Rohingya elites/MPs before and after independence of Burma

After the separation of Burma from India in 1935, the “Di-Archy” system was replaced by a ruling system called “91 Taa-na” (Departments administration). In that system there were 132 seats in the governing body and a total of 132 members were elected from various communal backgrounds. In this election, Mr. Ghani Markan, a Rohingya MP from Buthidaung and Maungdaw constituency, was elected. Point to be noted here that Mr. Ghani Markan was from the Community of “Burmese national” category and they (Rohingya) represented the Burmese national and not the Indian or any other group.

The General Election for Constituent Assembly in 1947 was organized just before the independence, mainly by the participation of General Aung San. This time, Buthidaung and Maungdaw had two separate constituencies. U Abdul Ghaffar for Buthidaung and U Sultan Ahmed for Maungdaw were elected.

U Abul Bashar for Buthidaung, U Sultan Ahmed and Daw Aye Nyunt for Maungdaw and U Abdul Ghaffar for Upper house were elected in 1951 election. U Ezhar Miah and U Abul Bashar for Buthidaung, U Sultan Ahmed and U Abul Khair for Maungdaw, U Sultan Mahmood for Buthidaung North and U Abdul Ghaffar for Upper house were elected in 1956. U Sultan Mahmood and U Abul Bashar for Buthidaung, U Rashid and U Abul Khair for Maungdaw and U Abdu Suban for Upper house were elected in 1961. By then the Rohingya community were involved more actively in politics. For the first time, one of the Rohingya elected member became a cabinet minister of Prime Minister U Nu’s government. He was U Sultan Mahmood, and in charge for the ministry of Education and Health. U Abdul Ghaffar and U Abul Bashar, elected members of Buthidaung became the Parliamentary Secretaries.

Even in the era of U Ne Win, the Rohingya exercised voting and representing rights in the Pyithu Hluttaw (National Assembly) Election and in the election of different levels of Pyithu (National) Council. Likewise, many Rohingya dignitaries were endorsed in the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and some of them held higher positions as well. U Abul Hussein and Dr. Abdur Rahim were elected in 1974 from Buthidaung and Maungdaw.

Rohingya have been subjected to the discriminatory measure initiated in 1978 by the then BSPP and local authority of Rakhine community. They started to take the initiative to deprive the fundamental rights of Rohingya community and since then the Rohingya were marginalized from the Pyithu Hluttaw Election. U Tun Aung Kyaw aka Abdul Hai, was the only Rohingya representative elected in 1978 election from Maungdaw, but none from Buthidaung. The Rohingya were excluded from participating in the Pyithu Hluttaw elections in 1982 and 1986. However, some Rohingya were seen at lower levels of Pyithu Council of the BSPP.

In 1990 multi party general election, Rohingya exercised the voting and representing rights again. U Kyaw Min, U Tin Maung, U Chit Lwin and U Fazal Ahmed from National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPH) were elected from Buthidaung and Maungdaw constituencies. Later U Kyaw Min became a member of Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP).

Making Rohingya stateless

Rohingya people used to have National Registration Cards (NRC) like everyone else in the country. Upon introduction of discriminatory policies on Rohingya by Ne Win in 1970s, the NRCs were taken away by various measures. Numerous check-points were set up to block Rohingya’s travel and to confiscate their IDs. Nagamin (the Dragon) operation in 1977-78 was skillfully crafted to drive out all Rohingya from Burma. It produced about 250,000 refugees that fled to neighboring Bangladesh. However, most of the fleeing refugees were returned to their original dwelling places, so the plan was not quite successful for the Burmese regime. Although systematic discriminatory policies were in place and IDs and other government issued documents were seized by the government, Rohingya remained as citizens of Burma until 1982. The Citizenship Act promulgated in 1982 is the official document that striped off the citizenship of Rohingya.

Numerous forms of discriminations followed by the enactment of 1982 Citizenship Law and lives of Rohingya had become incomprehensible. Again, another operation was carried out in 1991 by the successive military regime and it produced about 300,000 refugees, but this time about 200,000 remained in Bangladesh, of which, 28,000 are recognized refugees by the UNHCR and the rest are scattered around the country and are not recognized as refugees.


In the meantime, the regime uses different methods to eliminate (force out) the Rohingya population for the region: confiscation of farmland, establishing Buddhist settlement on Rohingya’s land, force labor, restriction on movement, restriction on marriage, harassment, desecration of religious places, arbitrary taxation, extrajudicial killings, rapes, and the list goes on.

The new National Scrutiny Card was introduced in 1989 and Rohingya were not entitled to receive them as they have become non-citizen under the 1982 Citizenship Act. However, the authorities issued Temporary Scrutiny Card to all and promised twice in 2008 constitution referendum and 2010 election that National Scrutiny Card will soon be issued to all the Rohingyas. But the promises made to Rohingya were never honored.

In a recent parliament session, when some MPs raised the issue of Rohingya, the immigration minister U Khin Yee said that “there is no Rohingya in Burma”. The same was echoed by the director general of the population department at a later date. Although many Rohingya were members of National League for Democracy (NLD) in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships during 1990 election, now the vice chairman U Tin Oo and other high ranking officials of NLD are openly saying that there is no race called ‘Rohingya’ in Burma, which is an utter disregard for historical facts, human rights and democratic principle. NLD’s discriminatory policy on Rohingya is no less than that of the military regime.

There is no justice for Rohingya in Burma as racism is deeply rooted in Burmese society. Rohingyas are made scapegoats to justify their evil doings by both ultra-nationalist racists and the regime to divert public attention. As history cannot be deleted or altered, the truth needs to be revealed and justice needs to be established. It is the human rights defenders that need to work hard to establish justice and defend the rights of the unjustly persecuted.

Nay San Lwin is an activist and Vice President of the Burmese Rohingya Association in Deutschland. He can be reached via Twitter @nslwin

 

[Homo Sapiens]

burmese liar and their sanghi cheerleader should answer this question, if Rohingya people were illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, then how come these very Rohingyas were acknowledged as an indigenous ethnicity by the earlier presidents of Burma? How could Rohingya became member of Parliament even cabinet minister within burmese govt.? How could they had student wing in Rangoon university and Rohingya program aired in Burmese radio? How Rohingya gone from that position to this condition now?

This is perhaps, the only one case in the world where an indigenous ethnicity and previously accepted citizen of a state were progressively made stateless and driven out from their home through genocide and scorch earth policy.

 

[Jaanbaz]

This is perhaps, the only one case in the world where an indigenous ethnicity and previously accepted citizen of a state were progressively made stateless and driven out from their home through genocide and scorch earth policy.

 

[mandrom]

rohingya killed buddhist monks and have awakened the wrath of mynamar.

 

[Flynn Swagmire]

rohingya killed buddhist monks and have awakened the wrath of mynamar.

So? Homicides happens everywhere...

 

[UKBengali]

So? Homicides happens everywhere...

Another Hindu turd best ignored.

 

[Mirzah]

rohingya killed buddhist monks and have awakened the wrath of mynamar.

Baseless accusations without any evidence, rohingyas are struggling to survive and they would kill Buddhist monk and bring more misery upon themselves yeah right

 

[Aung Zaya]

how come these very Rohingyas were acknowledged as an indigenous ethnicity by the earlier presidents of Burma?

nope. President said about Kamen ethnic people in their speech. not these so called rohingya.
U Nu said he want votes from these people during election. but later he did not proceed about it.

ow could Rohingya became member of Parliament even cabinet minister within burmese govt.?

all of them are just a ordinary muslim from arakan before they're elected. later they declared themselves as so called Rohingya themselves due to foreign influence. according to our constitution , we cant force a parliament members to resign without their will. so they remained as parliament till their period end.

How could they had student wing in Rangoon university

there are many burmese students associations in US universities and across the world.

Rohingya program aired in Burmese radio

we also aired japanese program and Chinese program in radio.

How Rohingya gone from that position to this condition now?

coz they never ever our ethnic people. that is.

Baseless accusations without any evidence, rohingyas are struggling to survive and they would kill Buddhist monk and bring more misery upon themselves yeah right

lol impossible to kill monks and struggling to survive ? but can still attack dozen of police camps with thousand of people over night. nice.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Geopolitics was never about morality or principles, it was only about hard power (economic/military) and the willingness to use it.

Myanmar is getting away with this because they can. And Bangladesh is doing its best to alienate itself from China over this episode, which is another win for Myanmar.

The Rohingya are being used as political pawns by all sides, no one really has any intention of helping them. I.e. By giving them citizenship, permanent residence, or even official refugee status.

China did manage to make a deal with Myanmar regarding the Kokang, who were accepted back as Burmese citizens. But I don't think that will be possible with the Rohingya, certainly not anymore.

 

[HannibalBarca]

Geopolitics was never about morality or principles, it was only about hard power (economic/military) and the willingness to use it.

Myanmar is getting away with this because they can. And Bangladesh is doing its best to alienate itself from China over this episode, which is another win for Myanmar.

The Rohingya are being used as political pawns by all sides, no one really has any intention of helping them. I.e. By giving them citizenship, permanent residence, or even official refugee status.

China did manage to make a deal with Myanmar regarding the Kokang, who were accepted back as Burmese citizens. But I don't think that will be possible with the Rohingya, certainly not anymore.

+1
I will add... that Rohingyas "re-integration" could be an interesting assest for China... If the situation became global, with every major power involved at an international level, ( like we saw few weeks ago) China could play a central role with his position on Myanmar decision and therefore bargain it for other assets in the near region...

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Myanmar is getting away with this because they can. And Bangladesh is doing its best to alienate itself from China over this episode, which is another win for Myanmar.

Not really, relation between China and Bangladesh remain as strong as ever.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

https://www.csis.org/analysis/separating-fact-fiction-about-myanmar’s-rohingya
Separating Fact from Fiction about Myanmar’s Rohingya
February 13, 2014

Gregory B. Poling
Director, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, and Fellow, Southeast Asia Program


Rakhine State in western Myanmar has been the site of repeated outbreaks of violence between the Buddhists majority and its Muslim Rohingya minority, most recently on January 13. The details of what happened remain unclear, but it seems that dozens were killed. This follows widespread violence in 2012 that left more than 200 dead and 140,000 displaced.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says it has credible evidence that at least 48 Rohingya were killed on January 13 during an attack by their Buddhist Rakhine neighbors and security forces. The non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders said its personnel treated 22 Rohingya who were wounded during the attack. The government of Myanmar has denied any large-scale violence occurred, insists only one policeman died, and has refused calls for an international investigation.

All the details might never become known, but the incident in Du Chee Yar Tan, and the government’s angry and dismissive reaction, have refocused international attention on the larger plight of the Rohingya. Strangers in their own country, they are disenfranchised, discriminated against, and subject to unpredictable cycles of violence. Many in Myanmar, including prominent Buddhist monks and political leaders among the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, demand that they be driven from Myanmar by any means necessary.

Rohingya have few defenders within Myanmar, with hatred of them seeming to be one of the few issues that can bridge the country’s political divide. Any public figure who stands up for them can expect to be persona non grata. The narrative of the Rohingya has been overtaken by fiction, with their place in Myanmar’s history expunged by a succession of military governments looking for scapegoats and aided by the country’s already strong sense of Buddhist nationalism.

Q1: Who are the Rohingya?

A1: The Rohingya are a Muslim minority living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and adjacent areas of neighboring Bangladesh. They are not recognized by the Myanmar government as an official ethnic group and are denied citizenship. Their population within Myanmar has been estimated at roughly 800,000. Most of this population lives in the townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, where Rohingya are the majority, as well as in neighboring towns and the state capital, Sittwe.

Myanmar’s government claims that the Rohingya are not eligible for citizenship under the country’s military-drafted 1982 Citizenship Law. That document defines full citizens as members of ethnic groups that had permanently settled within the boundaries of modern-day Myanmar prior to 1823, the year before the first Anglo-Burman War. The government of General Ne Win drew up a list of the 135 ethnic groups that supposedly meet this requirement. That list is still in use by Myanmar’s current civilian government.

The British colonial government encouraged immigration to Myanmar from modern-day India and Bangladesh. This is a source of continued resentment within Myanmar, which is why 1823 was used as a cut-off for citizenship. The dominant narrative within the country is that the term “Rohingya” is a recent invention, and those who claim to belong to the group are actually the descendants of these colonial-era immigrants from Bangladesh.

But this narrative is demonstrably false. In 1799, Francis Buchanan, a surgeon with the British East India Company, traveled to Myanmar and met members of a Muslim ethnic group “who have long settled in Arakan [Rakhine], and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan.” That would indicate there were self-identified Rohingya living in Rakhine at least 25 years before the 1823 cut-off for citizenship.

Even if the name “Rohingya” is too taboo to be accepted inside Myanmar, the historical record is clear that the ethnic group itself has existed in Arakan, or Rakhine State, for centuries. A significant Muslim population lived in the independent Kingdom of Mrauk-U that ruled modern-day Rakhine State from the mid-fifteenth to late eighteenth centuries. Many of the Buddhist kings of Mrauk-U even took Muslim honorifics. The evidence suggests that this community is the origin of today’s Rohingya. The group likely assimilated later waves of immigrants from Bangladesh during and after British rule, but it did not begin with them.

Q2: How have previous governments viewed the Rohingya?

A2: Following independence from the United Kingdom, Myanmar’s 1948-1962 parliamentary government recognized the Rohingya as citizens. Prime Minister U Nu referred to the group by the name “Rohingya,” undermining the current narrative that the term is a recent invention. They were issued government identification cards and official documents, enjoyed all the benefits of citizenship, and the national public radio even broadcast several segments a week in the Rohingya language.

Maung Zarni, most recently a fellow at the London School of Economics, has uploaded several Burmese-language documents showing government recognition of the Rohingya during the government of U Nu and the early years of military dictator Ne Win’s reign. These include public statements, official radio broadcasts, government-printed books, and government-issued licenses.

Several members of Myanmar’s post-independence parliament publicly identified themselves as Rohingya. They opposed the inclusion of Rohingya-majority areas in a proposed Arakan State, which would later become Rakhine. As a result, U Nu in 1961 decided to carve out Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and part of nearby Rathedaung townships as the Mayu Frontier Administration, named after the river that runs through the area. It was administered separately from Buddhist-majority Arakan.

Life changed dramatically for the Rohingya under the military government of Ne Win. Benedict Rogers, in his Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads, cites a former minister in Ne Win’s government saying that the dictator “had ‘an unwritten policy’ to get rid of Muslims, Christians, Karens and other ethnic peoples, in that order.” Ne Win’s government systematically stripped citizenship from the Rohingya, starting with the 1974 Emergency Immigration Act and culminating with the 1982 Citizenship Law. The Rohingya-majority Mayu Frontier Administration was folded into Arakan State, and hundreds of thousands of them fled to Bangladesh during brutal crackdowns in 1978 and 1991.

Since then, the Rohingya have been systematically stripped of the rights of citizens. They have been blocked from travel, education, government assistance, land ownership, and even marriage and the right to have more than two children. They have been scrubbed from the national consciousness, and several generations in Myanmar have grown up being told by their government that the Rohingya are interlopers, stealing land and economic opportunities, with the eventual goal of overthrowing Buddhism as the country’s majority religion.

Q3: What comes next?

A3: In late March, the government of Myanmar will launch its first nationwide census in three decades. The Rohingya and many of their international defenders are concerned that the census will mark the first step in a campaign to cement their status as non-citizens. They will not be listed as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups, and many Rohingya communities have so far resisted efforts by government officials to force them to register as “Bengalis.”

There appears to be some hope, as central government officials have recently affirmed that Rohingya may self-identify as such by marking “other” and writing in their ethnicity. Whether or not they will really be free to do so remains to be seen, as local and federal officials have a history of intimidation and violence against Rohingya during previous registration and census drives.

In the long-term, the census will not end the Rohingya’s quest to be accepted as a national ethnic group. Officials assert that it will only be a statistical exercise, and that any redefinition of the country’s ethnic groups will be decided by the parliament. All the momentum in the treatment of the Rohingya seems to be moving in the wrong direction, with legislative efforts underway to cement their status as illegal immigrants.

The outcry from the international community is likely the only reason that this has not yet happened. The U.S. and UK embassies in Myanmar issued a joint statement following the violence in Du Chee Yar Tan expressing concern and calling on the government to investigate. U.S. and European officials have repeatedly raised their concerns about the Rohingya during official visits to Myanmar. And even Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa raised the issue on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in January—the first meeting Myanmar hosted as ASEAN chair this year.

All of this international opprobrium has not led to an improvement in the lives of the Rohingya, but it has helped prevent further deterioration. Myanmar officials have asked foreign counterparts stop meddling in the country’s internal affairs and have angrily demanded that foreign officials and media only rely on Myanmar government spokespersons for information on the Rohingya. These reactions show just how explosive the issue has become within Myanmar. But it also shows that the government is discomfited by the international criticism.

Continued attention from abroad, and explicit promises that Myanmar’s good relations with foreign countries will be damaged by continued abuses against the Rohingya, are essential. It is also important that international actors not accept double-speak and falsifications regarding the Rohingya and their history.

Gregory Poling is a fellow with the Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

Critical Questions is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).

 

[UKBengali]

Geopolitics was never about morality or principles, it was only about hard power (economic/military) and the willingness to use it.

Myanmar is getting away with this because they can. And Bangladesh is doing its best to alienate itself from China over this episode, which is another win for Myanmar.

The Rohingya are being used as political pawns by all sides, no one really has any intention of helping them. I.e. By giving them citizenship, permanent residence, or even official refugee status.

China did manage to make a deal with Myanmar regarding the Kokang, who were accepted back as Burmese citizens. But I don't think that will be possible with the Rohingya, certainly not anymore.

Will all due respect this post seems like an attempt to excuse China's total support of a vicious state that has engaged in mass killing and raping of a defenceless minority.
How would China feel if people started making excuses for the brutal murder and rape of millions of Chinese by the savage Japanese army in WW2?

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Will all due respect this post seems like an attempt to excuse China's total support of a vicious state that has engaged in mass killing and raping of a defenceless minority.
How would China feel if people started making excuses for the brutal murder and rape of millions of Chinese by the savage Japanese army in WW2?

Hmm people always make fun of and make excuses for what happened to China in WW2 including the Rape of Nanjing. You should know, since they do the same to you guys regarding what happened to Bangladesh in 1971. And they do the same to Israel regarding the Holocaust.

The difference is that we have taken steps, so that we are now in a position where no one can do that to us again.

Will all due respect this post seems like an attempt to excuse China's total support of a vicious state that has engaged in mass killing and raping of a defenceless minority.
How would China feel if people started making excuses for the brutal murder and rape of millions of Chinese by the savage Japanese army in WW2?

I'm not making excuses for the Suu Kyi regime, who were put into power by the USA and who are essentially Western puppets.

But at least they did not do a Sonadia port to us on the orders of India and the USA. Which makes them more important in a strategic sense.

If Bangladesh truly cares about the Rohingya, why is the Bangladeshi government doing everything they can to throw the Rohingya back to Myanmar where they will be killed?

 

[UKBengali]

Hmm people always make fun of and make excuses for what happened to China in WW2 including the Rape of Nanjing. You should know, since they do the same to you guys regarding what happened to Bangladesh in 1971. And they do the same to Israel regarding the Holocaust.

The difference is that we have taken steps, so that we are now in a position where no one can do that to us again.



I'm not making excuses for the Suu Kyi regime, who were put into power by the USA and who are essentially Western puppets.

But at least they did not do a Sonadia port to us on the orders of India and the USA. Which makes them more important in a strategic sense.

If Bangladesh truly cares about the Rohingya, why is the Bangladeshi government doing everything they can to throw the Rohingya back to Myanmar where they will be killed?

You have not addressed the main point and that is the total Chinese support of a vicious regime that has done to defenceless Rohingya what Japan did to defenceless Chinese civilians in WW2.
Less people are likely to feel sympathy at what happened to Chinese in WW2 now as China is looking like a hypocrite as regards Rohingya. China likes to paint the Japanese as criminals as often as it can.

PS - Myanmar are now Chinese puppets. They are at China's mercy now and so can be made to do whatever China wishes since they are total pariahs in the world community. Even the Jews were so disgusted by Myanmar's behaviour that they no longer supply arms to them.