In August 2017, thousands of Rohingya militants staged a coordinated attack that killed 12
security officers in Myanmar’s border state of Rakhine.
The attack sparked a bloody and brutal crackdown by the burmese military on the Rohingya people
in Myanmar.
Reports surfaced that members of the military were killing and raping the Rohingya, and
even burning their villages to the ground.
This wave of violence has sent more than 400,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border to Bangladesh,
sparking what some are calling the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.
One UN official has even called the violence against the minority group, “a textbook
example of ethnic cleansing.”
So who are the Rohingya and why are they being targeted in the first place?
First and foremost the Rohingya are a stateless people who have been rejected almost everywhere
they go.
They are an ethnic group that speaks their own language and are predominantly muslim,
living in a buddhist-majority nation.
They were once the largest minority group in the Myanmar, before it denied their existence
all together.
Myanmar officially recognizes 135 ethnics groups within its borders, but the Rohingya
aren’t one of them.
The government of Myanmar denies them citizenship and has even banned the word “Rohingya”
itself, preferring to call them bengalis, because of the similarities in their language
to people from Bangladesh.
The government of Myanmar claims that the Rohingya aren’t originally from the country
and illegally immigrated there generations ago during British rule.
Between 1824 and 1948, a large number of people migrated to the British colony from areas
that are now considered India and Bangladesh.
But according to historians, the minority group’s heritage can actually be traced
back centuries to the ancient Arakan dynasty, which was located where Rakhine is now.
The tension between the Rohingya and the Burmese goes all the way back to World War II, when
they took different sides in the war.
The Rohingya supported British colonialism, while the Burmese supported the Japanese,
who they thought would bring an end to western imperialism in the country.
In 1962, Burma’s military overthrew the government in a coup and got rid of its constitution,
establishing military rule, known as a junta.
Under the leadership of General Ne Win, Myanmar began embracing a new form of national identity
that was defined by the burmese ethnicity and buddhist religion.
This was a pivotal time when the government officially began to treat the Rohingya as
outsiders.
This wave of Burmese nationalism led to the first military campaign against the Rohingya
In 1978 with Operation Dragon King.
The military claimed it was meant to combat so-called foreigners who had invaded Rakhine
- now home to more than one million Rohingya, but it really targeted the entire minority
group.
During the campaign, nearly 250,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
In 1991, the military launched another offensive literally called “Operation Clean And Beautiful
Nation,” which forced another 200,000 Rohingya out of Myanmar.
Then, in 1982, Myanmar took legislative action against the Rohingya.
The 1982 Citizenship Law officially established a list of recognized indigenous ethnic groups
in Myanmar.
The Rohingya were excluded from the list, thus denying them citizenship and the right
to vote in the country.
Subsequent laws have even forced the Rohingya to gain government permission to travel and
marry.
There’s still a maximum “two-child policy” set in place specifically for Rohingya families.
Since then, there have been numerous assaults by the government of Myanmar against the Rohingya.
The only thing that’s different between those and the current assault, is that the
world is now paying attention.
Despite this, Myanmar’s nobel prize winning leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s response has
ranged from slow at best, to outright denial that it's even happening.
And while the international community has strongly condemned the violence, they’ve
also done little to actually pressure the government of Myanmar to halt its assault,
which has only contributed to what is now the fastest growing refugee crisis in the
world.
In 1989, the country changed its name from Burma to Myanmar.
However, many people still use both names today.
So which should you use?
Find out in this episode right here exploring the history behind both names.
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