Naypyidaw claims that the term Rohingya is an artificially created term meant to obscure the illegal status of Bengali migrants in Myanmar and their descendants, while this group of people say that they’re distinct from the state that they’re accused of being a part of and are actually indigenous to the northwestern shores of Myanmar. Whatever their origins, this isn’t the first time that this community has been in the news, having previously made global headlines in 2012 during ethno-religious riots in Rakhine State and once again in 2015 when thousands of Rohingyas fled for the safety of other Southeast Asian countries.
The core of the problem comes down to whether the majority-Buddhist Myanmarese state and its Tatmadaw military are carrying out “genocide” against the Muslim Rohingya minority, or if they’re reacting in response to rebel – or as the government calls it, terrorist – attacks against the government. Many Muslims across the world, and increasingly even Westerners too, believe the first explanation of events and condemn Nobel Peace Prize winner and current State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi for what they say is her hypocritical stance in allowing this genocide to go on. From the other side, however, are those who distinctly recognize a recreation of the “Kosovo” scenario playing out in South Asia, whereby a terrorist uprising against the authorities is deliberately misportrayed by the target state’s enemies in order to create a plausible pretext for arming the rebels and subsequently “Balkanizing” the country. Andrew Korybko is joined by Khalid Ibn Muneer, Independent foreign affairs analyst and Syed Shadman Rahim, geopolitical and global macro-analyst.
It’s relevant to mention that Rakhine State has a decades-long history of identity-centric violence dating back to the immediate post-World War II era when the Rohingya launched their first rebellion, but that it was only in recent years when reprisal violence from hyper-nationalist Buddhist monks occurred and further complicated the situation. That being said, what’s happening right now isn’t just limited to a thin strip of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, because the southern part of Rakhine State is home to the port of Kyaukphyu, which is the terminal location of strategic oil and gas pipelines to southwestern China and could potentially become a Silk Road hub in the future. This means that China’s interests could also soon be affected too, possibly leading to Beijing to eventually take on a future role in resolving this crisis.
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