How did the historical refugee tide of Rohingya people in Myanmar happen?

Burmese believe that there has never been a "Rohingya" in history. It was invented by illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, in order to be close to the English "Rakhine" in Rakhine State in word and pronunciation, giving people the illusion that they lived in Rakhine State for a long time. During the British colonial period, they were first called "Chittagong Muslims" and later called "Bengali Muslims". After Myanmar's independence, Muslims living in Rakhine State for a long time were called "Arakan Muslims".

After Myanmar became independent, Arakan became Rakhine State. The Mujahideen Party demanded the establishment of an autonomous Muslim state, but it was rejected by the Union Government of Myanmar. The Jihad Party immediately launched a jihad against the federal government, destroyed the surviving Buddhist villages in northern Rakhine State, and controlled the entire northern Rakhine State and the Myanmar-Pakistan border (Bangladesh was not independent at that time and belonged to East Pakistan), enabling more Bangladeshi poor to flood into Rakhine State. Burmese government forces exchanged fire with Muslim armed forces several times, and the holy warriors surrendered or were destroyed several times, but they always revived and made a comeback soon.

With the split between India and Pakistan, Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan and Bangladesh's long-term economic decline, more and more Bangladeshi refugees fled to Rakhine State and then spread to the inland of Myanmar. According to Burmese statistics, the known population of Bangladesh in Rakhine State alone now exceeds 1 million, while the total population of Rakhine State is only 3 million.

Among the numerous ethnic minorities in Myanmar, Rakhine is one of the few ethnic groups that once founded their own country and was later annexed by the Burmese (kachins and Karen have never really established their own country in history), but Rakhine is the strongest supporter of Myanmar's military government. This intriguing scene comes from the 196s, when Wu Nu, then prime minister, took part in the election, in order to gain the support of illegal immigrants in Rakhine State, he promised them citizenship, which was strongly dissatisfied by the military and became one of the reasons why Wu Naiwen staged a coup to oust Wu Nu. After that, although the military government made a mess of the domestic economy and the political atmosphere was extremely depressed, it stood firmly with the Rakhine people on the issue of treating Muslims, which is why they received strong support in Rakhine State.

After the military government came to power, Ne Win launched several clean-up operations to quell Muslim jihad, of which the two wars in 1978 and 1991 were the most violent. Myanmar's army, with its ruthless nature, basically wiped out the Muslim armed forces in Rakhine State, recovered a large area of land, and many Muslim farmers became poor because of the loss of land. The so-called "Rohingya refugees" have been seen more and more in Muslim media since then, and then gradually used by the international community.

Territory or democracy

Even after the jihadist forces were eliminated, the conflict between the folk Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine State never stopped. The last major conflict, which occurred in 212, was triggered by the rape and death of a Buddhist girl by three Muslims. The unrest lasted for several months, killing nearly 1 people and burning many mosques and Buddhist temples.

After the conflict, the western media and NGOs were all biased towards the Rohingya people, and in their reports, they all criticized the Burmese people and government for not giving them basic human rights. The United Nations has also put pressure on the Myanmar government to grant Rohingya citizenship time and again. Otherwise, Myanmar's reform and opening up cannot be regarded as a complete move towards democracy.

Burmese people smeared slogans to vent their dissatisfaction with NGOs supporting Rohingya people.

Such a big hat was rudely rejected by the Myanmar government. President Thein Sein rejected the request of the United Nations and said with great determination, "Please don't interfere in our internal affairs." At the same time, the Myanmar government is planning to legislate to limit the birth rate of Rohingya people, and the newly passed marriage law also emphasizes the clause that it is not allowed to force one party to change his religious belief in cross-religious marriage (Myanmar women who marry Muslims have to give up their Buddhist beliefs before). In addition, in 214, the Myanmar government ordered the media and publications to ban the word "Rohingya" throughout the country.

Wirathu, a Burmese monk named "bin Laden in Buddhism" by American Time Magazine, not only led the Buddhist community in Myanmar to launch a campaign to boycott Muslims, but also made rude remarks in early 215, calling Li Liangxi, the United Nations special envoy who condemned the human rights situation in Myanmar, a "whore" and a "bitch". Although the words and deeds of Veradu have been criticized by some Buddhist circles in Myanmar, it can't stop this radical anti-Muslim religious figure from becoming a leader supported by the Burmese people.

In 213, when Aung San Suu Kyi was visiting Europe, she was interviewed by the British BBC. When asked if the Rohingya were Burmese nationals, she gave an unexpected answer: "I don't know." To this end, Aung San Suu Kyi not only attracted criticism from the western media, but also thought that she did not have the courage to speak for the disadvantaged groups in Myanmar; It has also led to the dissatisfaction of many Burmese people, who think that she is not firm enough in her position on illegal immigration, which is really flattering at both ends.

On May 19th, 215, when the latest Rohingya refugee wave broke out, Aung San Suu Kyi was asked this question again by the media. Her answer became: "This problem should be solved by the (Myanmar) government. You'd better ask the government, not me." No matter whether she was vague in the past or has no comment now, Aung San Suu Kyi must know that if she comes forward to support the Rohingya people on this issue, it will violate the will of the people in Myanmar and be tantamount to automatically handing over the opportunity to compete for the next Myanmar national leader.

On this issue, Nyan Win, Aung San Suu Kyi's spokesperson, said more bluntly: "I understand that the western countries are putting pressure on us on the issue of Rohingya. According to our history and our laws, we cannot accept Rohingya." This expression represents the position of the Myanmar Democratic League (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

In Rakhine State, Myanmar, a young man showed me a T-shirt with anti-NGO slogans printed on it. They were preparing for an anti-NGO demonstration.