A Cry from a Rohingya Youth

By Myo Chit Maung>>

“Where are these flocks of storks going to?” This was my usual question to my Grandpa whenever I beheld them flying over along the Mayu mountain Range. “Going to Rohang”, was my grandpa’s prompt reply. At that time, my historical knowledge was unable to comprehend the name ‘Rohang’ and I just remained wondering. 

When I came of age, I started feeling the deadly discrimination of the ruling junta. This stimulated my inquisitive mind to study about the history. Moreover, many elderly people of the land witnessed me that it is a place near Akyab or some place at the end of Mayu mountain range. Anyhow, history showed concrete evidence that it is the ancient name of Arakan. Different historians have different views about the root of Rohang. But it is undeniable that ‘Rohang’ is the old name of Arakan. It is small in area. It has glorious past. It was independent till 1874. 

It is my motherland. I was born there and brought up there. Not only me but also my forefathers were born and lived over there for more than hundreds years. So, it’s as simple and clear as crystal that I’m a Rohingya. We are indigenous race of Rohang. We have history of our own. We have our own distinct culture. We had our own civilization. We have our own language. We had our own administration. We were rulers. We were loyal to the Burmese kings. We were recognized and honored by the successive Burmese kings. We served in the Royal Guard of Burmese kings. We fought against the common enemy. We fought against invaders. We participated in the independent movement. We paid blood for the nation. We paid blood in the 8888 democracy movement. We participated in the nation building. We had peaceful coexistence with other communities. We served in the administration. We were faithful to the government. Still we have faithful servants in the government. 

We are discriminated. Our heroes were assassinated. We are uncared. Our feelings earn no mercy. Our rights are violated. Our land was invaded and occupied. We are cruelly treated. We were made leave our ancestral land. We were made foreign. Our properties were looted. Our lands were occupied. Our lives are in danger. Our freedom is restricted. Our movement is caged. Our freedom of speech is tape-plastered. Our culture is threatened. Our religion is endangered. Our buildings were destroyed. Our Mosques were demolished. Monasteries/ministries were built on it. We were declared illegal. Our ethnicity is in serious question. Our citizenship is a nightmare. Our youths are misguided and spoiled. Our education was banned. Our access to health care is denied. Our participation in the civil service is kicked out. Our right to participate in the military was slaughtered. Our rays of hope were vanished. Our future is in dark. Our learned were driven away.

Our innocents are misused and misguided. Our olds are dying. Our sisters are tortured. Our brothers are gravely punished. Our mothers are inhumanly treated. Our parents are suffering. We are plotted to scatter around the world. We were made refugees. We were made homeless. Our refugees are suffering. They have no proper shelter. They are deprived of proper food and clothing. They have no adequate medical care. They are in miserable situation. Their education is a far-reaching demand. They have no social security. Their morality is deteriorating. Their days are under open field and under trees. Their nights are under torn-roof shed. They have suffered from hundreds of sleepless nights due to tide water. Their hope to returning to the motherland has been a mere hope. Our religious leaders are demoralized. Our community leaders were jailed/ arrested without any evidence of crimes or charges. Our politicians were imprisoned. Our religious activities are under tight observance. Our religious personalities are under surveillance. Our students have no equal rights in education. Our students have no access to the modern multimedia class rooms. Our talent students are no equally evaluated. Our riches have to bribe the officials. Our poor are forced to give porter. Our freedom of marriages is banned. We had to pay arbitrary tax on no grounds of reasons. We are force to contribute in the pagodas constructions. Our economies are monopolized. Our right to possession was buried. Our properties are for their use. Our existence in the land is an eyesore for them. Our footsteps have no security. Our days are full of tortures and humiliation. Our nights are full of fear.

 Our dreams are in uncertainty. Our emergencies are as like as fun. Our importance are as like as games. Our feelings were nothing. We are treated as balls. We are dealt as animals. We are not allowed to put on shoe upon their ordinary sandy office floor. We are looked down when we dressed modestly. In the universities, we are certified as the strangers. Our money is looted when travel. We are discriminated in the payment of bus fair. We are not counted as customers in daily transaction. Even our existence as the human being is not considered. These are a mere picture of discrimination and tortures.

 Yet……

 We dare stay disunited and act accordingly. We dare stay unconcerned. We dare remain unheeded. We dare remain dam care. We dare enjoy all luxuries while our fellow people are suffering? We dare have our stomach full while others remain unfed. We dare stay criticizing others. We dare pass the bucks to others. We dare commit corruption. We dare remain selfish. We dare live carelessly without having concern for fellow people. We dare misuse the name for the sake of our self benefits. We dare try to erase our origin. We dare train coming generations not to give the identity of the origin. We are systematically displaced from the ancestral land. Our way is unidirectional. Once we are displaced there is no place for us to return. Do we live in such a way for the whole future? Do we need not struggle for our ancestral land to live with peace and harmony? What we need is just unity, corporation and coordination with each other. Apart from this we need a strong and unique political organization under dynamic and strategic leadership. We must identify and find out our problems. We must understand the detail geo-political situation of Burma. If we fail to gain this knowledge we will not be able to achieve our goals. Without understanding the political situation of Burma, it will difficult to find the solution to our problem. We have passed sixty years of struggle. What have we achieved? Were we able to bring significant and tangible result? Even the rulings generals does not recognized us as a rival armed group due to our weakness. 

We should abandon monopolized and dictatorial leadership. We need servant or guardian leaderships. Thoughts such as “I only am the true representative of the community and the only saver of the community” must be abandoned. It is time to abandon all types of criticism and groupism and come forward for the sake of those people who are being brutally tortured and killed inside Burma and for the sake of those people who have long been suffering in Bangladesh Refugee Camp. While our enemies are gaining acceleration in de-rooting Rohingya from Burma, we are getting deceleration by “divide and work” policy. The severe the discrimination becomes the greater disunity among us. This is our way of politics. 

We need freedom of speech. We need Freedom of religion. We need Freedom of movement. We need justice. We need peace. We need back our citizenship right. We need ethnic’s rights. We want to live peacefully with other community side by side. All these things cannot be gained with mere utterances. We must be based on the teachings of our religion. We must abandon traditional politics. We must act united. We must play tactically. We must think strategically. We must plan systematically.

 Our movement must be missionary. We must be based on the fact that “unity is strength”. We must be sincere. We must need aspired and eloquent leaders. We must not take into account personal matters into common policy making. We must be broadminded. We must not be too much self-centered. We must not criticize others. We must be practical in our faith and actions. We must be accountable for everything. We must know the responsibilities. We must pool together our resources. We must include individuals from every corner of life. We should appeal to the people. We should request talents from all walks of life. We must join together and find a solution to the problem. Everybody should be given a problem according his capacity and level of thinking. Let he comes forward with the solution to the problem. We must bury all misunderstandings among us and join hand by hand. We must try to assign the right person in the right place. We must dedicate our lives for the liberation of our people.