(A working paper on the Rohingya people)
Dr Abid Bahar Ph.D.
Historically speaking, Rohingya people have been driven out of Arakan in large numbers from A.D.1784, 1942, 1978, and 1992. But the worst one in the words of FIDH International Federation of Human Rights: The …exodus is a deep, sustained trickle of low visibility. The Rohingyas progressively leave Burma in small groups, families or individuals…. Little by little, the population is being forced to leave Arakan because of a deliberate policy of cleansing." Today over a million people, approximately 200,000 live in Bangladesh, 20,000 in Malaysia and about 700,000 in different Arab countries and smaller numbers in Western countries and in Japan. There are still another 1 and a half million Rohingyas live in Arakan under serious hardship and repression. Burma continues to have anti-Rohingya xenophobic military government. The scenario doesn't look good.
From the times of Sindhi Khan that conqured Arakan, until the time of U Nu, Rohingyas lived as a prosperous community in Arakan, But today, Rohingyas are at their lowest existence. They are now identified as a stateless people. Rohingyas lost almost everything. But until now what was not lost was the identity-Rohingya. Are they presently losing it? Yes, in Bangladesh, it has been a historic trend that Rohingya people to escape repression in Arakan, cross the Naff river and merged with the Chittagonian people of Southern Chittagong. This has been a historic trend. This actually didn't help them to return to their ancestral homes later to make claims of their properties.
It is understandable that this tendency came from a fear that in Bangladesh, as soon as they identify themselves as the Rohingyas, they wiould lose their earned privileges. The Arakani Moghs of Arakan also took advantage of this situation and some of the Rohingya returnees were almost always identified as Chittagonians and surely put in jail as foreigners. This is not a healthy thing for the Rohingyas. In their exiles they are needed to keep up their identity alive.
Something has to be done about the Rohingya identity in Southern Chittagong. To me, especially from 1784 and 1942 and in the later influxes, about two thirds of the people of Cox's Bazar district came from the original Rohingyas of Arakan. In 2007, I met M.A. Habibullah, the famous author of the book, Rohingya Jatir Etihas, who kindly travelled from Cox's Bazar to meet me in Chittagong city, and I had the opportunity to meet him said to me that his forefathers were Rohingyas that escaped the 1942 genocide. To strengthen the Rohingya future, Rohingyas like the Rakhines of Southern Chittagong, who are already citizens of Bangladesh, should do something about Bangladeshi Rohingya identity. This has to be done by the leadership as a thoughtout plan with Bangladeshi Rohingya symathesizers to secure Rohingya rights in Bangladesh. If the stranded Biharis can have their rights why not the Rohingyas?
In addition to the above, there is a large group of upto 700,000 Rohingyas in the Middle East, most live there as Bangladeshis. This has to be removed and Rohingyas has to identify themselves as the members of the Rohingya nation. With this change, they will enjoy more freedom and recognition. It is evident in the Rohingyas in outside Arakan that those who identify themselves as Rohingyas get more facilities. I am almost certain that the identity of a Rohingya nation and its recognition by Arab nations will give the Rohingyas in the Middle East more advantages. Advocate Nurul Islam (U.K.) and U Mohiuddin of New York both have contacts with Arab Organizations and the other capable leadership should work in this direction.
To me, Rohingyas lost their country but they still have their national identity, the Rohingya nation. If they lose the Rohingya nation identity due to leadership problems or for not taking appropriate measures, they will risk to lose everything. For the Rohingya people, the identity Rohingya nation is their only survival straw. The Rohingya nation as a survival mechanism will surely help them to return to their ancestral homeland of Arakan, Burma or atleast to see the unfolding of a much better future than what is presently now for the Rohingya people that are scattered around the globe. The spirit of Rohingya nation has to be kept alive through involving young leadership with the experienced ones and through initiating workshops, and yearly conferences. This should be by the leadership both inside Arakan and in abroad. This continued intellectual process will slowly undermine division for concensus among the people of the Rohingya nation.
(Dr. Abid Bahar is a historian of Arakan, (Burma) and is the author of Burma's Missing Dots.)
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