What’s behind Rohingya exodus from Myanmar

In the last two weeks, in numbers estimated to be nearing 300,000, Rohingya have been fleeing for their lives into already-crowded refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims have been called the world’s most persecuted minority, a people without a country.

In the last two weeks, in numbers estimated to be nearing 300,000, Rohingya have been fleeing for their lives into already-crowded refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

It is the third such mass exodus in four decades. A look at what’s behind it.

STATELESS IN OWN STATE

An estimated 1 million to 1.2 million people in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine self-identify as Rohingya. The government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, refuses to recognize them as one of the country’s 135 lawful ethnic minorities, instead calling them Bengalis, with the implication that their native land is in Bangladesh and they are illegally settled in Myanmar. They are similarly unwelcome in Bangladesh. What has made the situation particularly dire for the Rohingya was the passage in 1982 of a citizenship law that had the practical effect of making most of them stateless and depriving them of most of their civil rights along with economic opportunities. They are legally restricted in their right to travel, to marry and in the number of children they can have. In practical terms, access to decent education and health care, as well as employment, is also limited.

HISTORY OF MIGRATION

The legitimacy of the Rohingya claim to indigenous status is a matter of sharp debate inside Myanmar. But most historians agree that by the 9th century, therewas an independent kingdom of Arakan in what is now Rakhine state, and thanks to contact with Arab traders who arrived by sea, Islam made increasing inroads among the local population. Over several centuries, an admixture of outsiders — Arabs, Turks, Persians, Mughals and Pathans — congealed with the local population to form what many scholars recognize as the Rohingya. Arakan was conquered by a Burmese king in 1784, but natural barriers with the rest of Burma prevented Buddhist colonization in northern Arakan. Britain’s annexation of Ara- kan in 1824-26, attaching it to its colony of India, was a fateful turning point. South Asians, including Bengali Muslims, moved into Arakan as cheap labor, many integrating into the established Muslim community. Even the handful of Myanmar Buddhist nationalists willing to accept the idea of an indigenous Rohingya identity draw the line here: Descendants of settlers during the British colonial period, they believe, have no legitimate claim to be natives of the region.

RISE OF BUDDHIST NATIONALISM

The British followed the traditional but cynical colonial practice of placing minority people — in this case Indians — in midlevel administrative positions. In those jobs they were privileged but also resented by Burmese Buddhists. When Burmese nationalism, strongly supported by the Buddhist clergy, blossomed in the 1920s and ‘30s, the Rohingya, identified by many with the Indian influx, were put in an awkward position. Burma’s political separation fromIndia in 1937 saw riots against them. World War II’s Japanese invaders, who fostered a tactical alliance with Burmese nationalists, had little patience for any friends of the British. In 1942, with the physical withdrawal of the British from Arakan, grisly massacres by Buddhists against the Rohingya Muslims, and vice versa, established a blood feud.

GEMUNU AMARASINGHE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO In this June 26, 2014, file photo, a Rohingya boy covers his face at Dar Paing camp for refugees on the outskirts of Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims have been called the world’s most persecuted minority, a people without a...