Once insular, Myanmar now shows its fangs

Myanmar known as Burma when Sarat Chandra Chattopadhya wrote his famous novels once conjured up a picture of a place full of mystery and seduction. The steamer journey to Rangoon was described in such a self-deprecating and yet humorous manner that the coward would think twice before harbouring any idea of embarking on a journey to Burma. The satire was unmistakable between the lines. But then the daring youths felt the urge to experience the romance of an invitation by the king of the nether sea world. Yes, that is how Sarat Babu cut jokes concerning the ominous prospect of the steamer sinking in the sea.

What then was the irresistible attraction of Burma for the Bangalees in that era? Certainly, it was primarily employment opportunities there for little educated youths and secondly, the place could be a hiding place for revolutionaries wanted by the police in British India. As a by-product, the Bangalees and the Burmese had an occasion of knowing each other better. Their socialisation even went up to marriage between Burmese women and Bangalee males. The social rapport developed at that time, however, did not last long with both Indian subcontinent and Burma becoming independent. Particularly, Burma became an insular country with the military taking power.

With the holding of a general election, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy came to power. The election was the first sign that the country was readying itself for opening up. Indeed, it has started the process but the country's deplorable human rights record on account of the long-time repression on its a particular Rakhine community known as Rohingya, has not improved at all. Of late, a genocide has unfolded with torching of houses, killing of those people and mass raping of their women.    

This is not for the first time that the Rohingyas have been subjected to persecution. Living on the fringe, they are mostly poor and illiterate. When the military rulers' hostility drove them away from homeland, it could be understood. But now under a democratic dispensation of Suu Kyi's NLD, what is happening defies reason and ethics. Already the Muslims of the ethnic Rakhines have been disfranchised and left to the mercy of Nature. When Bangladesh was expecting repatriation of refugees from Myanmar, fresh batches of refugees from the latter are entering this country on account of brutality against them by both armed civilians and security agencies there.         

Shocking pictures of murder, torture and sexual abuse have been published by the international media. This reminds one of the Pakistani military's atrocities in Bangladesh. The difference is that the Rohingyas have not demanded a separate state or declared independence from Myanmar. Still they are being persecuted as if their existence on Myanmar soil is illegal and intolerable. Horror stories are related by refugees coming to Bangladesh. But then some are being forced to return.

This country has an oversize population, no doubt. But still then, at this time of trial and tribulation of the Rakhines, it would be inhuman to send them back. If their homes have been reduced to ashes, where will they return ahead of the approaching winter? What will they eat? Bangladesh cannot turn its back to the ill-fated Rohingyas. This is an emergency and human crisis. The issue has to be looked at from this point of view. By doing so, Bangladesh would have returned the complement for the role that country once played during the time of Sarat Chatterjee known as Dada Thakur.

However, Myanmar must not be allowed to go merrily about the job of genocide with impunity. The international community, the United Nations in particular, should send a strong-worded message to Myanmar warning of dire consequences if it continued with its pogrom. The issue of indigenousness or not of the Rohingyas is immaterial. Even if they are settlers, they have been living on that soil for generations. So they cannot be forced out of their homes. If this principle was applied, hardly anyone of today's US citizens would have the opportunity to live in America.

That Suu Kyi received the Nobel Prize for peace now sounds like a mockery. She has remained intolerably silent on the issue of the turmoil in Rakhine state. A question now hangs on her qualification for the prestigious prize. It is the time when she could rise up to the occasion to exercise her influence in order to bring an end to ethnic cleansing and turn the tide in favour of national integrity.