• Burmese
Friday, June 20, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
27 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Analysis: Using the Term ‘Rohingya’

The Irrawaddy by The Irrawaddy
September 21, 2017
in Burma
Reading Time: 7 mins read
0 0
A A
A Rohingya refugee boy looks on as he stands in a queue to receive relief supplies given by local people in Coxís Bazar, Bangladesh September 16, 2017. / Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

A Rohingya refugee boy looks on as he stands in a queue to receive relief supplies given by local people in Coxís Bazar, Bangladesh September 16, 2017. / Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

12.8k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The term ‘Rohingya’ has become one of the most controversial words in Myanmar politics today. More than one million Muslim people living in Rakhine State in western Myanmar identify as Rohingya—although in recent weeks an estimated 421,000 have fled to Bangladesh.

But the government of Myanmar labels them Bengalis, with the implication that they have immigrated from neighboring Bangladesh, despite the Muslim community’s long history in the region. The government doesn’t recognize them as one of the country’s 135 official ethnic minorities—a list determined by the military government in the 1990s—and restricts their access to basic rights including freedom of movement, healthcare, and education, as most do not have Myanmar citizenship.

The Muslims in Rakhine have insisted that they should be called Rohingya, and have refused to take part in the government’s national verification process for citizenship as long as they are categorized as Bengalis.

RelatedPosts

Civilians in Need as Arakan Army Advances on Kyaukphyu

Civilians in Need as Arakan Army Advances on Kyaukphyu

June 11, 2025
3.4k
AA Kills Myanmar Junta General near Kyaukphyu

AA Kills Myanmar Junta General near Kyaukphyu

May 30, 2025
4.4k
Bangladesh Recalls Ambassador to Myanmar

Bangladesh Recalls Ambassador to Myanmar

May 29, 2025
2.5k

As follows is a range of conflicting local and international comments on the self-identifying Rohingya people.

Wai Wai Nu (Photo: Reuters)

Wai Wai Nu, founder of the Women Peace Network—Arakan and a self-identifying Rohingya activist said at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway in July 2017:

“Rohingya are a one-million-strong ethnic and religious minority in Burma. […] The Rohingya are an indigenous population with our own language, traditions, and culture in Burma. But we are different from the rest of the population. We are Burmese but we are part of the Muslim population in the country, which is less than five percent. […] From the 1980s, [the military regime] started to degrade the status of the Rohingyas, by enacting a discriminatory citizenship law, and by introducing many discriminatory practices and policies. In 2014, they took away our permanent citizenship, which is ours by birth. The last election, we were finally disenfranchised and lost our political rights.”

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing (Photo: Reuters)

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing in his address to the nation at the 72nd anniversary of Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw in March 2017:

“It has already been announced that there is no race termed Rohingya in Myanmar. The Bengalis in Rakhine State are not Myanmar nationals but immigrants. It will be seen that the victims coming out of the terrorist attacks committed by some Bengalis which took place in October 2016 resulted in political interferences. Things that should be done under the existing laws must be carried out responsibly. The armed forces will be responsible for defending against all measures of insurgencies based on the religions and races. Only if we can establish domestic everlasting peace, will our nation develop.”

Gregory Stanton (Photo: George Mason University)

Genocide Watch president Gregory Stanton in pre-recorded talks for the Myanmar Muslims Genocide Awareness Convention 2016:

“The Rohingya are victims of a classification system in Myanmar that literally classifies them out of citizenship.”

In 1996, he created a model for the US State Department identifying eight—and later, ten—stages of genocide, the first of which is “classification” of “us versus them” along ethnic, national, racial or religious lines.

“If you stop using the name that the people have chosen, you are trying to classify them out of the system,” Stanton added, referring to the widespread use of the term “Bengali.”

Nai Hong Sar (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Nai Hong Sar, UNFC chairman and New Mon State Party (NMSP) vice chairman in a conversation with The Irrawaddy last week:

“We do not recognize the term ‘Rohingya.’ We do not acknowledge the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army as its operations appeared to be violent.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked about her avoidance of the term ‘Rohingya’ in an interview with Asian News International (ANI) on September 20:

“Yes, because there have been a lot of controversies with regard to the term used to describe the Muslims of the Rakhine. There are those who want to call them as Rohingyas or who want to refer the Muslims there as Rohingyas. And the Rakhines will not use any term except Bengalis, meaning to say that they are not ethnic Rakhines.

“And I think that instead of using emotive terms, this term has become emotive, and highly charged. It’s better to call them as Muslims which is a description that nobody can deny. We are talking about the Muslim community in the Rakhine State and other terms may be applied to that community but I do not see any point in using terms that simply inflame passions further.”

Barack Obama (Photo: Reuters)

Former US President Barack Obama in 2015 speaking to young Asians invited to the White House:

“I think one of the most important things is to put an end to discrimination against people because of what they look like or what their faith is. And the Rohingya have been discriminated against. And that’s part of the reason they’re fleeing.”

U Tin Oo (Photo: Reuters)

U Tin Oo, former Myanmar Army commander-in-chief (1974-76), who was a young army officer in northern Rakhine in the 1950s. He led a campaign to drive out people allegedly coming from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and fought Mujahideen separatists; however, it has also been alleged by identifying Rohingya that under his command, Myanmar Army troops destroyed dozens of their villages in the region. He is a founder and patron of the National League for Democracy (NLD):

“Long before the 1956 election, we’d never heard the word Rohingya. Four Muslim lawmakers from Maungdaw and Buthidaung contested the election under the belt of the then ruling Anti-Fascists and People Freedom League (AFPFL). The then Prime Minister U Nu granted the Muslims in the area citizenship as Rohingya as requested. He allowed the publishing of Arabic newspapers and 15 minutes of Urdu Service on the then Burma Broadcasting Service and there were strong reactions and [people] were angry and upset.”

Ban Ki Moon (Photo: Reuters)

Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at a joint press conference with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 2016:

“Like all people everywhere, they need and deserve a future, hope and dignity. This is not just a question of the Rohingya community’s right to self-identity.”

Ko Ko Gyi (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Ko Ko Gyi, a student leader from the 1988 democracy uprising, during a press conference in the wake of conflict in Rakhine in 2012:

“Rohingya is not one of the ethnic groups of Myanmar at all. We see that the riot happening currently in Buthidaung and Maungdaw of Arakan [Rakhine] State is because of the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh called ‘Rohingya’ and mischievous provocation of some members of the international community.

“Therefore, such interfering efforts by some powerful nations on this [Rohingya] issue, without fully understanding the ethnic groups and other situations of Burma, will be viewed as offending the sovereignty of our nation. Genetically, culturally and linguistically Rohingya is not absolutely related to any ethnicity in Myanmar. In terms of citizenship, I would state separately. As we share the borders with other countries, we have some Chinese and Indian descendants. They have been living in our country for generations and citizenship has been granted to them. We do not discriminate based on any race for granting the citizenship even if he is a Bengali. They should be protected in the same way as citizens of Myanmar. But, if we were forcefully pressured to accept Rohingya as one of the ethnic groups [of Myanmar], we wouldn’t tolerate that.

Mya Aye (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Mya Aye, a Muslim student leader from the 1988 democracy uprising, during a press conference in the wake of conflict in Rakhine in 2012:

“Even before I got out of prison, the Rohingya issue had become a hot issue. It has become not only a hot issue in the international political community, but also a crowd-pleasing issue that can generate funds. Most of the Rohingya belong to the Islamic faith. Well, almost all of them. In order to become one of the ethnic groups, I think they tried to bond with Myanmar Muslims and have been pushing this issue to become a religious issue. That’s what Ko Ko Gyi implied by ‘provocation from abroad.’”

Dalai Lama (Photo: Reuters)

The Dalai Lama in September 2017:

“They should remember, Buddha, in such circumstances, Buddha [would have] definitely helped those poor Muslims. So, still I feel that [it’s] so very sad. So sad.”

U Thein Sein (Photo: Reuters)

Former President U Thein Sein in an interview with Voice of America in 2014:

“There are no Rohingya among the races [in Myanmar]. We only have Bengalis who were brought for farming [during British rule]. We have to provide effective education and they will determine what is right and wrong. When we made field trips there, we saw that the birthrate is very high and the population is rapidly growing.”

Desmond Tutu (Photo: Reuters)

 The Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lack of condemnation concerning violence against the Rohingya, as was written on Sept. 7:

“Your emergence into public life allayed our concerns about violence being perpetrated against members of the Rohingya. But what some have called ‘ethnic cleansing’ and others ‘a slow genocide’ has persisted—and recently accelerated.

“It is incongruous for a symbol of righteousness to lead such a country. If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep.”

U Win Tin (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

U Win Tin, a founding member of the NLD and former editor who spent 20 years in jail, told the Bangkok Post in 2012 that conflict in Rakhine State was: “created by foreigners, by Bengalis.”

“My position is that we must not violate the human rights of these people, the Rohingya, or whatever they are. Once they are inside our land maybe we have to contain them in one place, like a camp, but we must value their human rights.”

He added that the people of Myanmar “cannot regard them as citizens, because they are not our citizens at all, everyone knows here that.” He said the problem was that “they want to claim the land, they want to claim themselves as a race, they want to claim to be natives and this is not right.”

Min Ko Naing (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Min Ko Naing, a prominent Generation 88 leader who spent almost 20 years in prison, told a press briefing last week Rakhine State’s problems were not racial or religious but had to do with immigration laws and terrorism.

“They [self-identifying Rohingya] are not one of the 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar,” he said.

U Ba Shein, second from left. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Lower House Lawmaker U Ba Shein of Arakan National Party (ANP)

“Rohingya is a fabricated name. The Bangladeshi government knows those people are from their country. If they call those people Bengalis, it is somewhat admitting that they are from their country. That’s why the Bangladeshi government uses the term ‘Rohingya.’ Muslim countries and international media play the issue to make Rohingya become an ethnicity of Myanmar. It’s not only the issue of Rakhine people but also sovereignty.”

Your Thoughts …
Tags: CitizenshipEthnicityMuslimRakhine StateRohingya
The Irrawaddy

The Irrawaddy

...

Similar Picks:

Three Rebel Army Chiefs Predict Rapid Fall of Myanmar Junta
Burma

Three Rebel Army Chiefs Predict Rapid Fall of Myanmar Junta

by The Irrawaddy
August 18, 2023
26.9k

Powerful armed groups in Karen, Kachin and Kayah states say the regime is ready to topple.

Read moreDetails
Interview

Myanmar’s Junta And Its Military Face Annihilation, Arakan Army Says

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 25, 2023
22.5k

The current war in Myanmar differs from past conflicts in the country because ethnic armies are no longer on the...

Read moreDetails
In Western Myanmar, an Ethnic Landlord is Poised to Liberate ‘Crony Beach’
Burma

In Western Myanmar, an Ethnic Landlord is Poised to Liberate ‘Crony Beach’

by The Irrawaddy
June 25, 2024
15.8k

After capturing Thandwe Airport, the Arakan Army is just steps away from Myanmar’s most valuable beach and the crony-owned resorts...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta ‘Sweetens Deal’ For China in US$ 8 Billion SEZ And Port in Rakhine State
Myanmar-China Watch

Myanmar Junta ‘Sweetens Deal’ For China in US$ 8 Billion SEZ And Port in Rakhine State

by The Irrawaddy
December 27, 2023
14.8k

Business analysts say the concession contract was likely tweaked to offer better terms for China’s state-owned firm CITIC, which has...

Read moreDetails
Arakan Army Seizes Major Myanmar Junta Base on Bangladesh Border
Burma

Arakan Army Seizes Major Myanmar Junta Base on Bangladesh Border

by Hein Htoo Zan
May 4, 2024
13.4k

The fall of the Kyee Kan Pyin Border Guard Police headquarters exposes Maungdaw to AA attacks.

Read moreDetails
Arakan Army Steps Up War Against Junta in Myanmar’s Rakhine State With Attack on Naval Base
Burma

Arakan Army Steps Up War Against Junta in Myanmar’s Rakhine State With Attack on Naval Base

by Hein Htoo Zan
January 9, 2024
13k

Ethnic army attacks naval base in southern township, after seizing more outposts in the north. On Monday, it admitted coordinating...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Rohingya refugees walk on a muddy path at Thaingkhali makeshift refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, September 14, 2017. / Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Rakhine Crisis Dents Myanmar Hopes of Western Investment Boom

Ethnic delegates attend the 21st Century Panglong peace conference in Naypyitaw. / The Irrawaddy

Rakhine State Crisis Hinders Myanmar’s Peace Process

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

Myanmar Tourism Sector Mocks Junta’s Russia Tourist Drive

7 days ago
1.8k
Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

7 days ago
1.8k

Most Read

  • Thai PM Faces Growing Calls to Quit in Cambodia Phone Row

    Thai PM Faces Growing Calls to Quit in Cambodia Phone Row

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Global Campaign Reaches Goal to Honor Aung San Suu Kyi on Her 80th Birthday

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • On Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Birthday, Recalling the Cake That Rattled the Junta

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar’s Aging Leaders Continue to Suffer in Junta Jails

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Mon Groups Vow to Boost Attacks on Myanmar junta

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.