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The Rohingya people of Myanmar are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They are denied any rights of citizenship in the country in which they were born, and have been consistently subjected to harsh treatment by the Myanmar military who have, effectively, been in charge of the country since the 1960’s.
From 2011, Myanmar tried to present an image to the world of a changing country - one which was embracing democratic progress and which was no longer under strict military rule. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest and became, in 2016, the de facto head of the Myanmar Government. And yet, it was during this period that the most brutal crackdown of the Rohingya civilian population took place.
Beginning in October 2016, following a number of attacks on army bases by insurgents, the military began what can only be seen as the wholesale systematic destruction of Rohingya villages and the driving out of the Rohingya civilian population from the country. During this barbaric crackdown on innocent people, there are reports of children being thrown into burning buildings and boats carrying refugees being attacked as they fled for their lives. Reporters trying to verify what was going on were arrested and jailed. The resulting exodus of the Rohingya population has led to the creation of the world’s largest refugee camp in neighbouring Bangladesh, where more than half a million people live in flimsy shelters.
During the worst of these atrocities, the supposed civilian administration did little to rein in the army, and Aung San Suu Kyi herself was reluctant to criticise its actions. Perhaps this was because, in reality, the army had always remained in control of Myanmar – only allowing a few reforms in order to try to woo the international community and remove Myanmar’s status as a pariah nation. But whether she was effectively being used by the military or not, Aung San Suu Kyi’s failure to stand up to the generals in the face of such outrage largely dashed the hopes that any sort of lasting change had occurred in the country.
The return of the military to power through the 2021 coup, and the subsequent arrest and trials held in secret of Aung San Suu Kyi, show clearly that the army generals never had any intention of allowing democracy to flourish. In such a climate of repression and fear, the fate of those Rohingya who still remain in Myanmar is bleak.
lyrics
A celebrated winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Was used as an apologist for genocide -
Power still in the grip of the military
Who have no limits to their barbarity.
Burning villages.
Butchered children.
Rape and torture -
A ruthless and systematic campaign
Of ethnic cleansing in the Government’s name.
This is “unfinished business” - that’s what the army says
As they murder innocent families, and set their homes ablaze.
A mass exodus of half a million refugees,
Whilst the generals deny what the whole world sees.
Crimes against humanity - that’s what they are.
Military brutality still rules in Myanmar.
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