“I chose my humanity above my tribal identity” - FORSEA Co-founder Maung Zarni

 On the 9th Anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide Memorial Day which falls on 25 August, Myanmar scholar and activist Maung Zarni spoke to Channel Islam International, a South Africa-based media outlet.

The interview lasted for 34 minutes, and it touched on a number of fundamental issues, both Myanmar-specific and the globally impactful developments such as the US-led dismantling of all global governing institutions and legal architecture including the United Nations’ judicial organs.  I also place the ongoing Rohingya genocide and the unceasing civil war in Myanmar in the proper geopolitical context.28-08-26 Global Outlook - Remembering Rohingya 9 years after the genocide in Myanmar

28-08-26 Global Outlook - Remembering Rohingya 9 years after the genocid... Remembering Rohingya 9 years after the genocide in Myanmar with Dr. Maung Zarni

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Genocides are an affront to universal humanity, irrespective of who is perpetrating and who is the victim.

As such, I take genocide personally, especially the ongoing ones, such as Israel’s Jewish Supremacist Holocaust and pogroms throughout the occupied Palestine, and genocidal destruction of South Lebanese communities, my own birthplace’s Buddhist Supremacist genocide against largely Muslim Rohingya, the genocide in Sudan.

To Anadolu News Agency, I explained an important motive for Myanmar military junta – in civilian garb – signalling its lukewarm willingness to take back a token number of 5,000 Rohingya refugees from Malaysia and 300,000 – out of 1 million Rohingya genocide survivors from Bangladesh.

Here is an excerpt from In the world’s largest refugee camp, Rohingya still wait for a way home, Anadolu News, 25 Aug. 2026.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DceP82EGiPF/?igsi=M2I2Mm96Ym1ianhk

“Burmese human rights activist Maung Zarni was even more skeptical of Myanmar’s announcement, arguing that authorities cannot credibly promise repatriation when they lack effective control over much of the border and the Rohingya homeland.

He also criticized Myanmar’s continued use of “Bengali” to describe the Rohingya, a designation the community rejects because it portrays them as outsiders from Bangladesh rather than an ethnic group native to Myanmar.

Zarni argued that the timing may also be connected to the genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, which he expects could produce a ruling before the end of 2026.