3 - The Path to Refuge: Ethnicity, Politics, Religion, and Global Order

Summary

The preceding chapter examined the theoretical foundations of research on refugee populations. Several theories are utilized to frame refugee groups in the available literature. It is beyond the scope of that chapter to discuss all of the theories that have been identified; instead, a few theoretical frameworks and social factors that have been used repeatedly in relation to refugee issues and may be useful in providing additional clarity to these existing complexities were discussed.

This chapter analyzes the trajectory of the Rohingya refugees. For decades, the Muslim Rohingyas have experienced daily persecution and violence in Myanmar, which is mostly Buddhist. The Burmese government refuses to grant them citizenship under the 1948 law, rendering them stateless. Because they are not registered citizens, most Rohingya people face difficulties in obtaining jobs and accessing education and healthcare as well as travelling within the country.

The supposed allegiance between Arakanese Muslims and British colonial overlords was enhanced by their landing alongside the British in 1824 and their continued support of the British during WWII. To their detriment, Muslims in Arakanese communities were encouraged to create a distinct identity known as ‘Rohingya’, which alienated them from the majority Buddhist Arakanese population (Ahmed, 2010: 58). The Myanmar government outlaws the category of ‘Rohingya’, since it was coined by Bengalis whose claims to prior historical connections to Myanmar are unsupportable (Chan, 2005). In the postwar years, the Rohingyas were nonetheless repressed and ostracized by Burmese military power, forcing them to flee time and again.

During the 1978 Nagamin (Dragon King) census, which was designed to cleanse the country of Rohingyas but ended up being a cruel operation that resulted in the destruction of mosques and brutality, rape, and murder, and over 200,000 Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh (Matthieson, 1995; Grundy-Warr and Wong, 1997; Ullah, 2011). The following year, Myanmar and Bangladesh reached an agreement that allowed the bulk of Rohingya refugees to return home (Ahmed, 2010: 16). As a result of an amendment to the 1982 citizenship law, the Rohingyas (along with people of Indian and Chinese descent) became stateless. Between 1991 and 1992, around 250,000 Rohingyas were forcibly displaced to Bangladesh.