Recommendation for a new book on the Rohingyas of Burma

The Rohingya people of Arakan are the worst sufferers of human rights violations in the 21st century, and yet very little is known about their suffering in the outside world. The all powerful media rarely mentions them, as if the Rohingyas are the forgotten people of our time. Greedy about trade relations with the culprit SPDC regime, now ruling Burma (Myanmar), her neighbors have chosen to ignore the plight of these unfortunate human beings, who must now choose between living in hell in a place called the Arakan state of Burma and a life of an unwanted, illegal refugee outside Burma. They must brave the trigger happy NASAKA guards to cross the borders and enter illegal territories, sometimes in boats but most of the time on feet. In that process of exodus, they may die of hunger and thirst or end up in jails of their refuge. In the last few years alone, thousands have embraced that unfortunate fate of extinction. And yet, the world conscious has not gotten the better of this tragedy to either demand and force a change inside Burma that would ensure citizenship of the Rohingya people and allow them to live as free citizens, un-abused, un-harassed and protected by the government of Myanmar or ask international communities to allow the fleeing refugees to live honorably.

There are very few books available in a western language that are written about the Rohingyas of Burma. And fewer yet are books that are written by the Rohingyas themselves writing about their own inhuman experience either within the state of Arakan (now Rakhine state) of Burma or outside Burma as an unwanted refugee. Ahmedur Rahman Farooq is a Rohingya refugee who now lives in Norway. The book – Rohingyas: Tears Down the Cheeks – is a brave attempt by Farooq to fill the gap in our understanding of the plight of the Rohingya people. In this book, aside from providing information about the history, culture and politics around the Rohingya people, Farooq offers a first-hand account of Rohingya life inside Arakan. I recommend this book to anyone interested in broadening understanding of minority people inside Burma.