Rohingya and the Citizenship Crisis
The issue of political recognition of the “stateless” people is not just a function of the virulent kind of religious nationalism that has taken over the state. It is also an extension of the refusal, by the government, and the constitution, to acknowledge the validity of Rohingya claim to Burmese history.
The Rohingya who had fled economic and physical persecution in Burma have been returning to Rakhine after a 2 month ordeal on the seas. The inability to reach land, the crackdown on smugglers, middlemen and traffickers and the intensity of international scrutiny have forced them to return to Burma. The coming monsoon will prevent any more departures for at least 3 months. The conditions on ground hasn’t shown any signs of improvement either. Despite international condemnation and appeals to ensure that the Rohingya don’t remain persecuted, the current government has not shown any inclination towards making their lives easier. In fact none of the leading parties in Burma have shown a desire to ensure that the Rohingya get formally and politically inducted into the Burmese society.
One of the cornerstones that plague the full assimilation of the Rohingya Muslims into Burmese society is the calculated refusal by governments to grant them full citizenship. The extent to which the community is abhorred and sidelined can be seen in the final report of the census that was conducted last year. In the first census since 1983, in parts of Rakhine state “members of some communities were not counted because they were not allowed to self-identify using a name that is not recognized by the Government.” The issue of political recognition of the “stateless” people is not just a function of the virulent kind of religious nationalism that has taken over the state. It is also an extension of the refusal, by the government, and the constitution, to acknowledge the validity of Rohingya claim to Burmese history.
Under the original constitution of 1948, written when Burma gained Independence from the British, Rohingya’s were considered as one of the indigenous communities and were given citizenship rights including voting and standing for elections. Citizens under the 1948 act were any person born within one of the indigenous races of Burma or had settled in Burma for two generations earlier. Naturalization was also allowed after 5 years of residency. The 1948 constitution was soon replaced after the ousting of the democratic government by a coup orchestrated by General Ne Win in 1962. The 1974 constitution declared Burma to be a socialist republic with a unicameral body.
Following the coup, and the ascendency of the military in the center, attempts were made to purge the country of immigrants, both legal and illegal. These migrants who had come post the British occupation, were not considered to belong to Burma, and military led operations were launched at many points in the country to systematically remove them from the country. Part of the ‘Burmanization’ of the country included violent operations in northern Rakhine state which led to mass displacement of Rohingya in 1978. Following international condemnation, most the 250,000 estimated refugees were taken back into the country. Three years later, the 1982 citizenship law was put into place as a way to ensure that the Rohingya would never be able to claim complete rights in a land that didn’t want them.
The iniquitous nature of the citizenship law was evident in the fact that it sought to highlight those who did not belong, rather than prove who were citizens of the country. The high cost of proving citizenship and the prohibitive climate that discouraged foreigners, meant that most of the Rohingya’s never went ahead with the program. The citizenship issue was also greatly complicated by the nature of citizenships that were permitted in the new military dictatorship. Persons claiming to be citizens of Burma were divided into three categories — The full citizens (pink card) who were descendants of residents living in Burma prior to 1823, the associate citizens (blue card) who had acquired citizenship through the 1948 citizenship law and the naturalized citizens (green card) who had lived in Burma prior to ’48, but had applied for citizenship only after 1982.
The Rohingya were considered both non-national and foreign residents. The law recognized about 135 distinct ethnic groups, grouped into eight major ethnic nationalities in Burma. The Rohingya as a people, and their language were excluded from national recognition, forcing on them the burden to provide proof of their belonging to Burma. The complexity of having to prove their validity as citizenship meant recognizing themselves as foreigners or ‘Bengalis’, and providing proof of their residence in Rakhine prior to the first Anglo-Burman war. The few thousands who did have a citizenship under the 1948 law held a National Registration Card which was replaced with a Temporary Registration Card or White card, that would enable them to vote but not enjoy the full privileges of citizenship until the state had fully scrutinized their claims.
Controversy erupted over the white cards after many of the Rohingya voted in the 2008 constitutional referendum and the 2010 elections. The pandering of the Rohingya votes for the 2008 constitutional referendum that assured the military a quarter of the votes in the assembly and rejected presidential bid by anyone married to a non burmese and the 2010 parliamentary elections, resulted in wide spread violence in the state. Buddhist majority parties, including the Rakhine National Party called for nationwide protests, challenging legally, the constitutionality of the decision to allow ‘foreigners’ to vote. Several members of the National League for Democracy too supported the legal challenge against the referendum. The 2012 riots that made more than 140,000 or so Rohingya homeless and confined them to squalid camps was a result of this suffrage.
President Thein Sein in early February 2015 sought to pass a law that would allow the almost 700,000 Rohingya white card holders to vote in a constitutional referendum before the 2015 elections. While the move was politically inspired, it also gave a degree of support for the Rohingya muslims. The law, when passed was met with severe protests and complains by Buddhist monks, and other national parties. The rattled president quickly withdrew the bill and declared that on 31st March, 2015 all white cards would become defunct. The move in a single day disenfranchised thousands of Muslims removing hope of immediate change.
The 2012 riots and the 2015 refugee crisis have brought the status of the Rohingya to international attention. Citizenship for all its political baggage, brings to the table one critical element that becomes vital, it provides an identity and a connection to a person, to a place and to a country. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the NLD is perhaps being pragmatic in refusing to talk about the issue now. There are a few more, who swear that her faith and need for stability over secularism will prevail. There is still a small hope that a victory for her party in November will push the issue of citizenship in Burma to the forefront.
