A Simple Way to Safe Rohingya

A Simple Way to Safe Rohingya

Since 2012, The Rohingya, an ethnic and religious minority group of approximately 800,000 in Myanmar, have been in the global spotlight. They are Muslims, whilst the majority of Burmese are Buddhist. They live mainly in Rakhine State, in Western Myanmar.

The Rohingya are also a unique minority group in Myanmar, as they are not classified as Burmese citizens, like other ethnic minorities are, due to controversy surrounding their ethnicity. According to Human Rights Watch, the Burmese Government has denied citizenship to any Rohingya person who cannot prove their ancestors settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of British occupation of what is now, Arakan State.

The Rohingya Muslims are amongst the most persecuted minority group in the world. According to Amnesty International, the Rohingya Muslim people have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese junta since 1978, and many have fled to neighboring not just Bangladesh, but Malaysia and Indonesia as well. However, the reality is that the Rohingya people have been oppressed for many years prior to 1978, though arguably not as significant. They have lived in Myanmar for centuries but tensions with Myanmar’s Buddhist majority have caused discrimination and harassment. Cases of rape, torture, arbitrary detention, and violence against Rohingya are commonplace, with many incidents going unreported as enforcement officers turn a blind eye. We have to put an end to this matter.

The Abandoned, Rohingya deserves not just a shelter, but also validation and justice. In order to make them come true, we first have to realize that the Rohingya people are our brothers and sisters. We must unite, no matter where you come from, what your race, and what you believe. We must unite. There’s no exception in it. When we realize that we are indeed one unity, then that is where the feel of needing to help others will grow. When we realize that we are indeed one family, then we will automatically help others, willingly, with pleasure, because that’s what family do. Love and care.

The Rohingya people are our siblings. As a functional human being, we can’t just sit around doing nothing when our siblings (or anybody for that matter) are in pain. As a functional human being, we will do anything we can do to reduce their pain, or at least try to cheer them up, or even pray for them. That’s the least we can do, and now, our siblings need us.

I’ve seen so many videos about how Rohingya people, especially the children, are treated in Myanmar. They cry for help, they are harassed, violated, and beaten until they can’t defense themselves any longer. With blood running down their faces, they can only pray to God that help will soon come along. Guess what the people who beat Rohingya Muslims do afterwards? They laugh, they mock them, and then they runaway leaving the helpless victims. The Rohingya people have no one to defend them but themselves, not the government, not anyone in Myanmar. With no one to count on to, they decide to leave the country.

They leave with such minimum preparation like food, beverages, and the only cloth they have is what is left on their bodies. Only by wooden boat, they sail with no direction, until they are stranded in the neighborhood countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Even though an analyst, Siegfried O. Wolf, believes that this issue is way more concerned politically and economically instead of religiously, that is not the case I am trying to deliver. No matter what the issue is, it is never going to be okay to slaughter people. I am not here to focus on the religion which most of the Rohingya people affiliated, nor am I here to focus on Myanmar politics and economy. I am here to focus on the Rohingya people’s rights as humans.

According to Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), there are thirty human rights that are universally applicable, and I believe the Rohingya people don’t get most of the rights they very well deserve as human beings, which are listed below:

The Rohingya are victims; a persecuted group who need justice, freedom, humanitarian assistance, and a sounder path to citizenship than what the Government of Myanmar is currently proposing. The Western media, humanitarian organizations, and to a lesser extent independent Burmese media agree on these assertions. Now, let’s all together stand up for this matter, defend our siblings. Let’s help them with anything we have. It is never too late to change to be better. There’s always a hope.