Antonio Guterres, chief of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, recently wrapped up his assessment of the plight of one of the world’s most suppressed and controversial refugee groups, the Rohingyas.
The six-day mission to Burma, which began on March 7, included visits to Naypyidaw and Sittwe.

“On the basis of his observations and the discussions held, the High Commissioner came to the conclusion that the UNHCR’s current level of activities in northern Rakhine state does not correspond to the actual needs, and a decision was taken to upgrade the program with immediate effect,” said the agency statement issued on the last day of Guterres’
visit.

Sadly or fortunately, the international community has come to better understand the reality of the socio-political problems inside Burma since the 2007 uprising, which many called a “saffron revolution.”

Since then, developments in Burma have periodically appeared in the headlines of many leading cable news stations and newspapers around the world.

The latest story concerns the ill-treatment meted out to the Rohingya boat people by Thailand. This happened at a time when the new Thai government, which emerged after weeks of protests and a court ruling, was in the process of building trust and stability.

The Union of Burma is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia and has the longest-lived armed revolutionary groups in the entire region. Comparatively, the total land size of Burma is a little smaller than the US state of Texas.

The military junta identifies “135 national races.” The major ones are:
Arakan/ Rakhine (seven subgroups), Burman/ Bamar (nine subgroups), Chin
(53 subgroups), Kachin (12 subgroups), Karen/Kayin (11 subgroups), Karenni/ Kayah (nine subgroups), Mon (one group), and Shan (33 subgroups).
This classification is primarily based on dialectical variations.

The much-discussed “Rohingya people” are not refused only by countries like Thailand and Indonesia but by Burma itself. The suffering of the Rohingyas is exacerbated by the fact that they are not given full citizen rights in Burma.

Guterres traveled to Sittwe, capital of Arakan/Rakhine state near the Bangladesh border, where most Rohingyas live.

According to Burma’s State Peace and Development Council, there are seven sub-ethnic groups in Arakan state: Rakhine, Kamein, Kwe Myi, Daingnet, Maramagyi, Mro, Thet. The Rohingyas are not listed as an ethnic group.
The controversy surrounding whether or not the Rohingyas are indigenous people of Burma has been a longstanding problem. The existence of this controversy was evidenced by the statement of Burmese consul general Ye Myint Aung in Hong Kong on February 9 when he said: “In reality, Rohingya are neither Myanmar [Burma] people nor Myanmar’s [Burma's] ethnic group.
They are ugly as ogres.”

Even within the state of Arakan, there have been unending claims and counter claims on the question of the origin of Rohingya people. In early February, one senior Arakan leader and member of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament said: “How could they claim that they came from Burma when in fact they come from Bangladesh?”

While the Rohingyas are called Bengalis or illegal immigrants by the Burmese military junta and some Arakan leaders, Bangladesh people have treated them as Burmese migrants.

The fact is that the Rohingyas have lived in Burma before the establishment of the present-day Union of Burma in 1947. However, until today they are considered or treated as stateless people.

One positive outcome of the Rohingya boat people episode is that the very question of their existence on Earth as a people is now being widely discussed. Leaders of Thailand and Burma have talked on the issue bilaterally, and it was discussed, though inconclusively, at the 14th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The UN refugee agency coming forward to increase its focus on the areas of Rohingya settlement in Burma and a plan by ASEAN foreign ministers to discuss the Rohingya refugee issue as part of the “Bali Process” in Indonesia next month (April 14-15) are positive signs in addressing the suffering of these people.

The problems arising out of the boat people should not end in discussing only the fate of these refugees but must be part of a process to find a long-term solution for the Rohingya people as a whole.

Ignoring this pressing issue may prove a greater burden for Burma and the international community.

As of July 2003, Burma’s population according to the military was 52.4 million. The last official census, in 1983, reported a population of just over 35 million (35,442,972).

Religious affiliation is estimated to be: Buddhism (89.2 percent), Christianity (5 percent), Islam (3.8 percent), Hinduism (0.5 percent), Spiritualism (1.2 percent) and others (0.2 percent).

Under the military junta, the mistreatment and suffering of ethnic minorities is not uncommon. This is one basic reason why ethnic minorities demand a federal system of government.

Nehginpao Kipgen is general secretary of US-based Kuki International Forum
(www.kukiforum.com) and a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004)