Guest contributor

U Kyaw Min

The political reality in Myanmar is changing by the day as the Arakan Army gains territorial control over most of Rakhine State – “Arakan” – including its border with Bangladesh. It is clear that Arakan will eventually be rid of the genocidal Myanmar military. Yet, Rohingya are rightfully fearful of what is to come.

For over a year, the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Arakan have been targeted with mass killing, forced transfer, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual and gender-based violence, and many other atrocities by both the Myanmar military and the AA, while being increasingly trapped in the crossfire of their conflict.

Rohingya-majority towns Maungdaw and Buthidaung were burnt down, and the Rohingya there were forcibly expelled and starved to death. The worst is, today, with the border tightened, the Rohingya cannot run away into Bangladesh.

Formerly, the Myanmar military persecuted the Rohingya with the objective of expelling them from Myanmar. Since the military’s 2021 coup, the AA has become more powerful in Arakan, free to deal with the Rohingya in the way they like amidst telecommunication and internet cuts. 

Now, the latest condition of Rohingya makes us question if AA’s so-called vision for Arakan – the “Arakan Dream” – is, in fact, only reserved for Rakhine Buddhists. 

If the “Arakan Dream” is truly genuine and inclusive, the AA must immediately cease its attacks on the Rohingya and other ethnic and religious minorities in our homeland and extend a hand of collaboration to build a shared and peaceful future together. 

However, the AA is showing signs it will not – intensifying its atrocities against Rohingya civilians, stoking hate speech and disinformation against Rohingya, and refusing to recognize Rohingya for who they are: an indigenous people of Arakan. 

So, let us look back at history to understand how we arrived here. Indeed, the ongoing crisis did not begin last year. 

The plight of the Rohingya is the culmination of decades of systematic and violent persecution, discrimination, and exclusion of Rohingya from all aspects of life in Myanmar, and persistent inaction by national and international leadership. 

I have always believed that having knowledge of our past is essential for us to see the present, and look forward.

As history tells us, the 21st-century “Panglong” that Aung San Suu Kyi had convened did not include Rohingya representatives. Hundreds of minority delegates, including high-ranking figures from all armed organizations, attended it. 

There were about 1,000 delegates, who discussed many issues. However, the plight of Muslims in northern Arakan was not mentioned, as the military did not see the Rohingya issue as a serious topic or an “ethnic” question.

There were conflicts between the Muslim minority and the ethnic Rakhine in Arakan then. But Aung San Suu Kyi was silent. No Muslim candidate appeared on the National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentary election roster in 2015. 

At the end of August 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi appointed former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to head a new advisory commission. But Kofi Annan could not solve the crisis: he had only the mandate of giving advice.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar military and Rakhine Buddhist politicians opposed this commission. Rakhine Buddhist politicians said they would boycott the work of the commission only because they wanted the current oppressive, discriminatory administrative mechanism to continue. 

Their only objective is to make the Rohingya “stateless,” depriving them of all rights. The NLD received approval from parliament to establish the commission.

It shared its final report on Aug. 26, 2017. On that day, there were anti-commission demonstrations all over Arakan. It happened as the understanding of the Rohingyas by others grew. Here, Rohingya’s fate enjoyed the sympathy of the world community.

What the commission recommended, the government did not care. Aung San Suu Kyi did not carry out anything the Kofi Annan commission advised. As a result, the situation of the Rohingya did not change; persecution did not cease. 

During the tenure of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2017, the Myanmar military launched its genocidal clearance operation against Rohingya – killing, torturing, raping, arbitrarily arresting and detaining, and committing unspeakable levels of atrocities against hundreds of thousands of civilians. 

The intention was to destroy the Rohingya people and terrorize them, including by burning down their villages and looting their properties, so that they would leave Myanmar. 

Rohingya left one by one, then group by group, with over 800,000 Rohingya treading a long journey of miles to neighboring Bangladesh. Some crossed the Naf River with bamboo rafts. 

With international support, Bangladesh eventually accepted the refugees. However, the international community spoke nothing about repatriating these Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar.

Rohingya lost everything. Their children lost their education and future. One generation degenerated.

After decades of genocide, the suffocating situation of Rohingya remaining in Arakan today has now become an issue of serious and urgent inquiry. The world must take all measures to protect Rohingya. 

I fear that AA’s intention is to starve the remaining Rohingya under severe confinements so that they flee to Bangladesh; Arakan is cleansed of Rohingya and can be replaced with the ethnic Rakhine. 

Simultaneously, as a neighboring country, and protector of Rohingya refugees, Bangladesh should also raise tough questions with Myanmar. If Bangladesh showed concern, the ongoing, genocidal, aggressive policies and attacks against Rohingya may subside. 

Then, Rohingya could live with some extent of security in their homes in Myanmar or lead to the discussion for lasting resolution on Rohingya’s future in our homeland. 

Let us look seriously into this issue and find a way for the sufferers. It is the biggest human tragedy of this decade. After decades of failure to end impunity in Myanmar – to protect the most marginalized and vulnerable – let us move now, before it is too late. 

U Kyaw Min is a Rohingya politician who was elected to Burma’s parliament in 1990 and is a former member of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament. He’s also the chairperson at the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP) and the author of Rohingya History: Reality Devoid of Myth.

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