The Destruction of Rohingya Identity and History: Myanmar’s Continuing Genocide, Colonial Knowledge and Burma Studies

 

The turn of the events in Myanmar since the issuance of the interim order 178-20200123-ORD-01-00-BI.pdf (icj-cij.org) by the International Court of Justice, have vindicated, albeit not in the literal sense but more existentially and psychologically, the deep concerns of the judges of the International Court of Justice with respect to the “extreme vulnerability” of Rohingya Muslims inside Rakhine state., In the case of THE GAMBIA VS MYANMAR, the judges unanimously agreed with Gambia’s claim that Rohingya Muslims – about 600,000 – who remain inside Western Myanmar state of Rakhine are “extremely vulnerable” from further acts of destruction by Myanmar.

Although the ICJ’s concerns appear to be centred primarily on the further destruction of the group through various acts of genocide, Myanmar genocidal actors, both state and non-state, continue with their act of destroying Rohingya group identity. More blatantly, these actors – namely Myanmar military regime and Rakhine nationalists, continue to make attempts to deny and destroy both Rohingya group identity, history and memory.

In its official protest against the International Organization of Migration (IOM) which set up an on-line Memory Centre for Rohingyas Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs – which has failed to obtain the right to represent the State of Myanmar at the United Nations – attempts to stop the UN agency from acknowledging Rohingyas a group. Its statement – dated 7 January – reads:

“The term ‘Rohingya’ has always been rejected by the Burmese people and is not recognized by the Burmese people.” (See Myanmar Junta Protests to UN Migration Agency about Rohingya Cultural Memory Center)

Similarly, in his English language interview with Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s bilingual leading newspaper, Tun Mrat Naing, the leader of the Arakan Army, the armed revolutionary organization, seeking, ultimately, independence from the military-controlled Myanmar, openly dishonoured Rohingyas’ right to self-identity – as Rohingya, while in the same breath claiming to respect the group’s “human and citizenship rights”. (See ‘We recognise the human rights and citizen rights of the Rohingyas‘)

“It will take time to resolve this problem, especially with the arguments on both sides regarding the ‘Rohingya’ identity of the Rohingya people. How a population will identify themselves is certainly a fundamental question of human rights. We have commitment to the fundamental issues of human rights. At the same time, the views of different groups of the population in the same area are also important. The ‘Rohingya identity’ was not heard of much before 1950. When it emerged, history also was brought into the picture. The history of the Arabs was brought up. The Rakhines then wondered, what about the history of our forefathers? As it is the Arakans had lost everything to the Burmese opponents other than their history. So they too strongly clutched to their history. The Rakhines have a strong sense of nationalism. That is how a division emerged between the main two groups of the population within Arakan.”