Who are they Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority from the Rakhine state in western Myanmar. According to the 1982 Citizenship Act, the Rohingya are not recognized as a legal ethnic group. Therefore, in Myanmar’s eyes, the Rohingya are nothing but illegal Bengali immigrants brought to the country during British colonial rule. Weirdly, these so-called “immigrants” have been living in the region for generations and have their history in the region traced back way before the British.

Ethnic persecution is the best characterization of what has happened in Myanmar over the past decades. You wouldn’t expect it, but in 2012, the majority Rakhine Buddhist population have been largely responsible for systemic attacks against the Muslim Rohingya. You heard that right… in Buddhist nationalists killing people for believing in a different religion. The situation is truly f-cked up.

Since then, the government has done little to nothing to intervene in the violence against Rohingya’s. If anything, the government local and national governments have sponsored violence against the Rohingyas. Now do you see why these people have to flee the country?

Does the Thai government have a duty to accept Rohingya refugees on Thai soil? Is it justified that we just provide them with food and push them back into the sea for them to go back to a “home” that they don’t have?