Include Japan, ASEAN for momentum in Rohingya repatriation

Global discourse on Repatriation Initiative for Rohingya Refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday, May 29, 2023.

GreenWatch Dhaka Report

The Initiative by the Chinese government to repatriate the Rohyngia Refugees will certainly gain momentum if Japan and the ASEAN countries are included in the process. These countries can play a very vital role in convincing the Myanmar authorities to address the citizenship issue of the Rohingyas.

These are the concluding remarks made by Brigadier General Shafaat Ahmad (retd) PhD, ndc, psc, in a paper presented at a global discourse on Repatriation Initiative for Rohingya Refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday, May 29.

The programme was jointly arranged by the Muslim World Research Centre and Cable News International, Bangladesh in association with the OIC study group (OICSG), Malaysia, Department of Islamic History and Civilization, University of Malaya, Malaysia and Dhaka Forum; at the G Tower Hotel, according to a message received in Dhaka.

The paper reads: Rohingyas, a minority Muslim community in Myanmar has been the target of systematic persecution by the military of the country. This community, which had been living in the western state of Rakhine since fifteenth century remained alienated from the national mainstream due to certain historical, social, political and cultural problems, which had led to occasional communal riots. The Myanmar government does not recognize them as an official ethnic group and have denied them citizenship. Myanmar’s government claims that the Rohingya are not eligible for citizenship under the country’s military-drafted 1982 Citizenship Law. These people have become strangers in their own country; disenfranchised and discriminated against and subjected to unpredictable cycles of violence. After Burma became independent, Rohingyas were granted citizenship. They participated in national elections and there were four members of parliament elected from among the Rohingyas in 1960 elections. A separate centrally administered area, named “Mayo Frontier Area” was curved out of the Rakhine state for them in 1960, which was abolished by the military in 1962. Ne Win’s government systematically stripped citizenship from the Rohingya, starting with the 1974 Emergency Immigration Act and culminating with the 1982 Citizenship Law.

They have been blocked from travel, education, government assistance, land ownership, and even marriage and the right to have more than two children. They have been scrubbed from the national consciousness, and several generations in Myanmar have grown up being told by their government that the Rohingya are interlopers, stealing land and economic opportunities. Terrified by the ruthlessness of the operation and total uncertainty of the security of their life, property, honor and dignity large number of Muslims started leaving their homes and trudged across hilly areas, rivers and creeks towards the border with Bangladesh. As a result of Myanmar Army operation in 1978 over 2, 00,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. Most were repatriated under UN auspices. A Tatmawdaw orchestrated forced re-location programme in 1991 sent over 2, 50,000 Rohingyas across the border to Bangladesh in 1991-1992. Again the UN arranged repatriation, but some 28,500 remained in Bangladesh. According to UN data, about 125,000 fled Myanmar between 2012 -2015, most of them making the perilous sea journey to Malaysia. Hundreds perished en route, mainly due to smuggler abuse and deprivation. In October 2016, attacks by miscreants hit three police posts which triggered another round of security operations against the Rohingya by the military. It resulted in another round of exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh.

This time the Myanmar military resorted to ‘scorch-earth’ policy in the Rohingya areas in Rakhine State. The government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Khy has responded to the Rohingyas’ deteriorating situation by simply digging in its heels and seems no more able or willing to take responsibility for the problem.

As of October 2022, over 943,000 stateless Rohingya refugees reside in Ukhiya and Teknaf Upazilas of Bangladesh. The vast majority live in 34 extremely congested camps, including the largest single site, the Kutupalong-Balukhali Expansion Site, which is host to more than 635,000 Rohingya refugees. More than five years into this exodus the Rohingyas remain in an extremely precarious situation. The root causes of their plight in Myanmar have not been addressed and their future is yet uncertain.

Legal status of the Rohingyas in Myanmar is the crux of the Rohingya issue. The Rohingyas were made citizen of Burma as per 1948 Citizenship Act. Before army takeover in 1962 three general elections were held for both the houses of Parliament of Myanmar in 1951, 1956 and 1960 respectively. The Rohingyas participated in these elections. There were member of parliament from them, even there was a minister in the 1957 Cabinet of Mr. Nu.

After the military takeover in 1962, ‘the Emergency Immigration Act of 1974’, an ethnicity based identity card system (NRCs) was introduced. As per this Act Rohingyas were not eligible to get NRCs, instead they became eligible for ‘Foreign Registration cards’. The 1974 Constitution made citizenship exclusive for those whose both parents were Burmese nationals. In 1982, Myanmar introduced the infamous Citizenship Law of 1982 (with 3 categories of citizenship) to deny Rohingyas citizenship and marginalize them using this lack of legitimacy. Then the NRCs were cancelled and instead the Rohingyas were issued with ‘white card’ identity documents and were allowed to vote in 2010 elections. The government took away the ‘white card’ from the Rohigyas and they were not allowed to participate in 2015 elections.

There seems to be a concerted effort on the part of the Myanmar government to term all Muslims living in the Rakhine state as “Bengalis”. The Inquiry Commission which was constituted by the Myanmar government after the 2012 communal violence in the Rakhine state (Report on the “sectarian violence in Rakhine State”) termed the incidence as “sectarian conflict between Rakhine and Bengali communities.” The Report has presupposed that all Muslims living in northern Rakhine are of Bengali origin. Similarly it uses the term Bengali for Rohingyas. The Report becomes contradictory because in page 54, paragraph 10.2 it cites historical example that the term ‘Rohingya’ was in use before the British occupied the Arakan (present day Rakhine) area in 1824.

The Rohingya refugee crisis can potentially generate a number of security threats for Bangladesh, including radicalization, terrorism, infighting among refugees, and interethnic conflict. These refugees primarily concentrated in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and on the Bhashan Char Island, face severe food, health, personal, and community security risks which might exacerbate the threats that Bangladesh is facing. Therefore, the resolution of the crisis would remove a source of potential political tension and security risk for both Bangladesh and the countries of the region.

Both China and Myanmar term each other as, "paukphaw", meaning sibling or intimate. It is a reflection of the closeness of Sino-Myanmar relations that "paukphaw" is not used for any other country. These two countries have maintained substantive relations for centuries. These two countries have maintained substantive relations for centuries. The Rohingya crisis has provided China an opportunity to reestablish its primacy among Myanmar’s foreign relationships, attract popular support in Myanmar, and assert its leadership in regional affairs. As Naypyidaw’s handling of the Rohingya crisis has strained its relations with the United States and other Western countries, China has buffered Myanmar from international pressure and taken steps to protect Myanmar from criticism and punitive actions in the United Nations Security Council. China can play the pivotal role in arranging the repatriation.

While India had initially provided some aid for the Rohingya refugees, New Delhi has so far refrained from taking a proactive position in facilitating repatriation. In fact, despite its cordial relations with Bangladesh, India has consistently backed Myanmar at the United Nations (UN) and at the bilateral level on the Rohingya issue.

Myanmar and Japan had a special relationship even before the Second World War, through the training of the famous ‘30 comrades’, including Aung San and Ne Win. To some people in Yangon, the Japanese have retained a sentimental attachment to Myanmar. Japan’s policy towards Myanmar had been different from that of the western countries. Tokyo has sought to work for improvements in the political and economic field through engagement and quiet dialogue with the regime. Japan can use its good offices to facilitate the repatriation process.

Since becoming a member of the ASEAN Myanmar has been taking active part in its deliberations. ASEAN’s role in facilitating the humanitarian and rehabilitation work of various multilateral and regional agencies in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis helped Myanmar to understand the need for capacity building for change in the country. ASEAN countries can play a very important role in the repatriation process.

There have been number of attempts to repatriate the Rohingya refugees. But so far none of the attempts have yielded any result. There number of countries that have substantial leverages to make the repatriation a reality. Among those countries China, India, Japan and the ASEAN nations can play very vital role.

On 22 March 2023, the Myanmar government announced that it would start repatriating 1,140 Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh starting from mid-April. The pilot repatriation program took off owing to mediation efforts by China, Asia's rising power that maintains close ties with both Bangladesh and Myanmar.

In recent time there have move by the Chinese to arrange and facilitate the repatriation of the Rohingya Refugees. The Chinese Vice-Minister during his recent visit to Bangladesh reiterated to facilitate the early, safe, sustainable and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas to Rakhine State from Bangladesh. He further mentioned that an early repatriation would be beneficial for Bangladesh, Myanmar and the whole region. He appreciated the initiatives of Bangladesh to arrange the ‘Go and See’ visit in Myanmar and ‘Come and Talk’ visit in Bangladesh by the respective delegations of Bangladesh and Myanmar to facilitate the repatriation of the first batch of the Pilot Project.

In a recent meeting at the UN Security Council Bangladesh has urged the United Nations, ASEAN and the regional countries to support the pilot repatriation project and help Rohingya returnees to reintegrate in Myanmar. Bangladesh Permanent Representative at the UN informed the Security Council that both Bangladesh and Myanmar have decided to undertake a pilot repatriation project under which group of verified Myanmar nationals will return to their country of origin in the first batch.

 As a result a delegation of Rohingya refugees visited Maungdaw in Myanmar. Similarly a Myanmar delegation also visited Cox’s Bazar area in Bangladesh and met with the refugees. Recently the Chinese Ambassador in Bangladesh also visited the Rohingya Camps.

A 14-page booklet, printed in three languages, Bangla, English, and Burmese, given to the delegation offers humanitarian aid, rebuilding of homes, providing employment, access to education and healthcare, ensuring security for those who will be allowed to return to their homeland from shelters in Cox's Bazar camps. But the returnees will have to have a Myanmar National Verification Card as a proof of citizenship to avail of the facilities promised in the booklet.

Though officials and Rohingya members of the delegation, during their spot visit on Friday (5 May) found the initiatives and arrangements conducive to start repatriation, rights group leaders and diplomats are skeptic about the condition of citizenship verification process as most Rohingyas, while fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh's territory to save life, did not have any valid document to prove their citizenship, or had those lost or damaged during their difficult journey through monsoon rains.

Cox's Bazar Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, who led the delegation, said, "During the visit to Maungdaw city in Myanmar, we saw that the situation has improved greatly. Around 80% of the people are Rohingyas and they are moving freely and doing business there. Favourable conditions for repatriation have been observed there."

The Initiative by the Chinese government to repatriate the Rohyngia Refugees will certainly gain momentum if Japan and the ASEAN countries are included in the process. These countries can play a very vital role in convincing the Myanmar authorities to address the citizenship issue of the Rohingyas.

(From a paper - Repatriation Initiative for Rohingya Refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar presented by Brig. Gen. Shafaat Ahmad (retd) PhD, ndc, psc at a global discourse on the topic jointly arranged by the Muslim World Research Centre and Cable News International, Bangladesh in association with the OIC study group (OICSG), Malaysia, Department of Islamic History and Civilization, University of Malaya, Malaysia and Dhaka Forum; at the G Tower Hotel, KL, Malaysia on Monday 29 May, 2023.)