,
The following article appeared in Economist Magazine's comment section "" provides a very
good explanation of the Rakhine situation. This should help the Westerners
understand what's happening in Rakhine. This was a
discussion published in a recent issue of The Economist. Here's the
link: https://www.economist.com/
Best regards,
==============================
Here is a memo I submitted to Economist a few days ago--FYI:
My
first experience in the area of West Burma began in 2003 when I went
there for WHO to administer TB tests. Coming from Thailand, it was
graphic how decidedly poorer the people in W Burma were compared to
Thailand.
One of the first things that I noticed among the
Roihinga--children everywhere. This in itself is a root cause of the
conflict because it is quite impossible to provide jobs fast enough for
such a population increase and young men get angry when they are poor
and idle. It also puts an impossible strain on natural resources such as
fish populations. Population pressure is in fact the real underlying
source of the problem.
The Rohingya immigrated from SW India, later called
East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, for at least 150 years and this was made
easy by lack of border enforcement by the British and later the Burmese.
Originally called "East Indians," or "Bengalis", the name "Rohingya"
was adopted about 1960 as a way of identifying themselves as an ethnic
group rather than immigrants. At this point is is quite impossible to
say who is a "resident" presumably meaning someone born in the area or
an illegal alien. One might say the Rohingya were "invited" by lack of
enforcement, but things never went well from the start.
The Rohingya looked like East Indians, dressed like
East Indians, were Muslims, did not speak the same language and did not
assimilate with the locals who were Buddhists. This failure to
assimilate persists today and is a root cause of the problem, as it is
in many places with Muslim people. They act like a state within a state.
In 1942 there was a Muslim uprising, followed by a
lot of killing back and forth. In 1947 “Bengali-Muslims’ Mujahid
Insurgency” as it is called by the Burmese, started after the central
government refused to grant a separate Muslim state in Rhankine
Provence. Being better armed with WWII surplus, the Rohingya killed many
Burmese and destroyed villages in the north of the Provence, near
Bengal.
Martial Law was declared in 1948. During the
uprising some of the Rohingya flew the Pakistani flag and attempted to
separate the northern provinces from Burma. The matter finally came to a
head when some British government officials were murdered and the Burma
Rifles were sent in. They decimated the Rohingya in combat.
To add sauce, the current Rohingya (Mujahid)
political party was founded by elders who supported Burma jihad and
separation effort in 1947 which is hardly reassuring to the Burmese. So,
the Burmese look upon the Rohingya as aggressive invaders, illegal
aliens who refuse to accept Burmese culture. A 1984 law formally
excluded the Rohingya as one of the country's 135 ethnicities, meaning
most are denied basic civil rights and are not recognized as citizens.
The Royhingya seem to be the victim in this matter
and clearly they are the ones currently persecuted. But a strong
sympathetic case can be also be made for the residents of Rhankine
Provence, who are poor and had to endure virtually unrestricted illegal
immigration of hundreds of thousands, approaching a million even poorer
people from East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and endure several uprisings and
jihad. It might have gone better if the Rohingya had done more to act
more like they were part of Burma.
==============================
Here is another comment he made:
Up
thru the late 20th century, there was really no "border" between Burma
and Bengal and even less back in antiquity. So, the question is not
whether these are illegal aliens or not is a moot point. The question
is, what to do with them--and no-one knows that.
The problem we have is that the world is awash in
refugees and if they had any money to start with, it's gone now. The
world is in an economic down-turn and funding is drying up. There are
just too many refugees. The system is failing.
Furthermore, there is a growing resistance to taking
in Muslim refuges because of all this jihad trouble. We are in a global
Muslim uprising and people know that. Everyone knows all Muslins are
not murders and bombers but a few taint the rest.
FYI, I am currently in Thailand where there is a
first-class Muslim uprising in the south with the usual beheadings,
machine-gunning of busses, school-burnings and murders of teachers, old
monks and government people. If you think Thailand is going to take ONE
Roihynga, guess again.
==============================
I
send this because when I left Burma in 1960 I had never heard of
Rohinga. And I've been trying to educate myself on this situation. I
found these comments in The Economist most helpful.
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