The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim minority in Arakan Myanmar, are among the most victimized people in the world today. The Rohingya culture has faced state-sponsored persecution, including the denial of citizenship, and has endured genocidal restrictions along with egregious human rights violations, particularly at the hands of the Myanmar government and military. The Rohingya Canadian Community advocates for justice and the protection of human rights for the Rohingya people, ensuring that their rich Rohingya history is not forgotten.
The Rohingyas are one of the indigenous peoples of Arakan Myanmar, having inhabited the region since the 7th century with their own unique language, culture, traditions, and heritage. In 1784, Arakan was brutally conquered by the forces of Burmese King Bodawpaya. However, historians like Francis Buchanan, a British explorer, visited Arakan in 1795 and published an article in 1799 documenting the Muslim presence in Arakan, recording the term 'Rooinga' (Rohingya) as a distinct majority group of the region. Before the occupation of Arakan under British rule, the Rohingya were recognized as an indigenous ethnic group, deeply rooted in the rich Rohingya history of Arakan Myanmar.
In 1960, the government of Arakan Myanmar banned the use of the Rohingya language in schools, media, radios, televisions, and public life to delegitimize the Rohingya claims to indigeneity. This suppression has contributed to a significant number of Rohingya people being illiterate in their own language today, impacting the preservation of Rohingya culture and history.
In 1982, Myanmar enacted a citizenship law that specifically targeted the Rohingya, effectively rendering them permanent outsiders by excluding them from the list of recognized ethnic groups, a decision that has deeply affected the Rohingya culture and their rich Rohingya history in Arakan Myanmar.
In Arakan, Myanmar, the military has bulldozed mosques, destroyed significant historical sites related to Rohingya culture, burned villages, and renamed them, replacing Rohingya communities with Buddhist settlers. These actions are part of a deliberate effort to erase the identity of the Rohingya people. For decades, Myanmar's policies of forced discrimination, persecution, marginalization, and displacement, along with severe restrictions on movement, education, and healthcare, have severely impacted Rohingya history and their way of life.
If slow genocide continues without efforts to preserve Rohingya culture, younger generations may grow up without a connection to their history, language, and the rich heritage of Arakan Myanmar. Folktales, folk songs, stories, and lullabies that were once cherished and passed down through generations are fading as elders die in exile.
Rohingya children in camps of hosted countries often adopt foreign languages, customs, and clothing, resulting in a generational shift away from their roots in Arakan, Myanmar. In exile, the lack of formal education and documentation poses a significant threat to the preservation of Rohingya culture and the rich history of the Rohingya people.
Historical flawed repatriation plans under international pressure on Arakan Myanmar in 1978 and 1992 failed in implementation. Rohingya refugees were returned under rushed conditions, without addressing core issues such as citizenship, which is deeply tied to Rohingya history and the preservation of Rohingya culture.
As the Rohingya people continue to face genocide in their home country of Arakan, Myanmar, the international community's attention and support for the Rohingya crisis has declined. This decline has left the Rohingya people in a state of limbo, with no clear solution or resolution in sight, threatening their rich Rohingya culture and the deep-rooted Rohingya history that defines their identity.
An Afflictive Rohingya Life
by Shafiul Ansary (Co-founder of Rohingya Canadian Community RCC)
A cloudy day was a long life ago,
A group of bees hived in a beautiful rose.
Doomed the rose regrettably by occupiers,
Dwellers of all near, fainted with fear of state's unstable.
An out-bursting is to desert a native land,
My heart so became a blithesome nature.
All confiscated by propaganda,
Me so had nothing to say my own.
I started a hysterical cry,
That I was gonna miss all.
It was a hapless day of my life,
The night was my brightness side of my life.
To relinquish my pastoral life in Arakan, Myanmar on a windy May midnight,
I set off journey through a deep reed.
Though there were precipitous crosses,
I heard cruel voices of feral animals.
Being I was a scapegoat child,
Stray bruised all parts of my body.
Bleeding was uncared, nor for food,
Street Monks thugs were my fear.
Two dozen hrs of my life in jeopardy,
I came out to a bank of Naf River.
Though I was in unspeakable mood,
I had torn bag was snatched away by Mobs.
Stomach growling for being nothing around,
Sodden water I drank invisibly.
Seeing my wayworn uncontrolled morose,
An old paddler helped me cross the Naf River.
While I had seen many drowning boats,
Tears of terror plight was shedding down.
When, not sure, I started sleeping,
I was in Bangladesh when I woke up.
No one was besides me to wipe away my tear,
I was in an alien cage for being Rohingya.
Near two decades of my life in dilapidated limbo,
I luckily resettled in Canada.
On a lovely day of bitterness winter,
I landed down in Vancouver Int'l Airport.
It is though a most beautiful city in the world,
I was under the weather.
Strange everything and everyone,
Streets spread as the roots of tree.
Seeing people looked like machines,
It was reluctant to soothe my mind.
Seeing people on diverse talking,
I started to aspire at day time.
Being English was my third tongue,
I felt my heart imploded forlornly.
I today overcome through hysteria,
Where equal dignity everyone can share.
It’s neither for my nation nor for my entire family,
Those who have to face a slow silent genocide,
Especially in the context of Rohingya history.
Leaving half under the threat of death,
A stranger here seemed like my happiness.
Life of somber made me feel in an emotional life,
An afflictive life is the credence of my life, reflecting the struggles of Rohingya culture.