Lee, Ronan. (2021). Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech. London: I.B. Tauris.

The history of Rohingya minorities of Myanmar is dotted with the egregious crime against the minority by the majority Buddhist-ruled state that reflects an Islamophobia nature. The Myanmar’s government’s apartheid restrictions and the Tatmadaw’s (official name of the armed forces of Myanmar) semi-regular and brutal forcible deportation of Rohingya civilians, lies at the nucleus of Rohingya’s Genocide and Identity crisis. The book emphasized descriptive the Rohingya identity, history and the hate speech based on extensive research that put forth the evidence of Rohingyas belonging to Myanmar. It examines broadly the historical demographics of Arakan to present the exact percentage, for instance, of Muslims living in Arakan at the time of colonial rule. i.e. about 1826. Lee observes, 2014 Census was pretty much the same of 1826 that depicts no huge influx into Arakan of people during colonial period saying that they’re Rohingya and indigenous. The book claims that the existence of ethnic-centred citizenship, Myanmar’s law and constitution is problem for Rohingya which allows them to be “othered” or excluded, and brought no great outcome to the vast majority. Lee depicts existence of some 135 ethnic minorities in Myanmar, and highlights prevalence of ethnic hierarchy, where ethnicity in Myanmar is a key factor determining citizenship rights that follows.

Ronan Lee, a Rohingya sympathizer, is a visiting scholar at the International State Crime Initiative, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London and was formerly a Queensland State Member of Parliament serving the frontbench as a Parliamentary Secretary, undertook a detailed study addressing the human rights violations of Rohingya minorities in Myanmar. No doubt the extensive, detailed, rigorous and systematic research of Lee resulted in an impressive 384 pages book titled Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity History and Hate Speech. The key motivation of compiling the book, the author claims, is the hopeful but worrisome and grim situation of Rohingya, whose have ancestral roots can be traced to ancient Arakan which the archival evidences are the testimonies of. Hence, Lee strikingly tabled the opinion of recognizing Rohingya as a taingyinthar (indigeneity/native-ness) and granting them collective citizenship rights. For this purpose, he highlights the importance of “meaningful action” by international instruments, however, believing in “domestic problems need domestic solutions”.

To classify the theoretical background of the work, it is imperative to mention Lee’s constant reference of legal, historical, human rights, and a passing reference of gendered approach – that highlights the military and monkhood that are exclusively Male. Based on the historical evidence of British officers, Lee claims Rohingya communities to be a legitimate population of the Myanmar state, and hence, is legally entitled to citizenship and human rights. He traced the existence of Rohingya in Ancient Arakan and evidently claimed their existence prior to the British Colonial rule. i.e. around 1823. In order to prove his claim, Lee had extensively dig deeper into the reports of the British colonial officers like Francis Buchanan (who visited Burma in 1795 and identified Rooinga as a Bengali language name for Arakan), James Baxter, and British Sub-Commissioner of Arakan Charles Paton’s A Short Report, that has reference and evidence of Rooinga communities existing pre-British/ colonial era.

Penny Green, Thomas MacManus, and Alicia de la Cour Venning critically identified Rohingya’s circumstances as so dire as to be considered genocide. To picturize what a genocide looks like, Ronan Lee, sights various operational definitions of genocide. In his opinion a genocide includes in retardation of rights and a practice of ‘othering’ that separates the targeted group from society and limits their access, forcing them into concentration camps, or confining them to isolated villages with tightly policed urban ghettos. Being sympathetic as well as empathetic towards the legitimate citizenship demand of Rohingyas, Ronan Lee, an American Political Scholar composed a book which is the product of his rigorous research.

Ronan Lee’s Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide is an informative and knowledgeable piece tracing the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya minorities since 1962 in Myanmar, which soon became one of the hot human rights issue following a brutal army-led ‘clearance operation’ within Rohingya communities in 2017, leading to largest forced migration in the region since Second World War. He claims identity as a central issue to the political, social and economical recognition struggle of Rohingya communities. Lee characterizes the military rulers as xenophobic Buddhist nationalists, whose resentment toward the mostly Muslim ethnic minority stemmed in the due course of British colonial rule. The community was full part of society and the difference was they were Muslims. Lee claims, “Myanmar’s Buddhist majority were often resentful of their British rulers and of those perceived to have benefitted from British rule,” Lee wrote in his book. “In recent times the Rohingya and other Muslim groups in Myanmar have borne the brunt of this bitterness. Animosity was fueled by often valid perceptions that the British administration gave privileges to those of Indian origin, frequently Muslims with darker skin than the country’s Buddhists, for plum jobs within the colonial apparatus.”

Through his research, Lee traced the accidental migration of the Rohingya’s ancestors to Arakan as the consequence of shipwreck. He also analyzed the revision of the constitution in 2008, and the citizenship law amendments that altered Rohingya’s legal rights. Lee classifies two such citizenship amendment regimes – Independent Burma’s citizenship regime, 1948 (post-independence), and the Burma Citizenship Law (1982), created by the post-1962 military administration. However, in his opinion the General Ne Win’s post-1962 coup government altered Rohingya’s legal rights, stripping off effectively their citizenship rights that they enjoyed ever since independence. He asserts “With the enactment of the Burma Citizenship Law (1982) the stripping away of the Rohingya’s civil, political and economic rights was given a legal rationale.  Moreover, the author digs deeper into the history of Rohingya’s identity that stands in conflict with those of the officials who reject accepting Rohingya as Tangathiya which has erupted a conflict between Rohingya groups and the Myanmar authorities leading to grave human rights violations of the Rohingya. This, in the author’s perspective, is necessary because it explains their circumstances and addresses as to why policy liberation by Western governments have failed to grant citizenship rights to the Rohingya. The author also tries to find answers to why certain historical narratives remain so deeply entrenched.

On the basis of historical evidence, Ronan Lee revealed the fallacies of Myanmar’s military rulers’ official portrayal of the Rohingya as illegal aliens who deserved to be deported. He traced the roots of the persecution of the Rohingya to political maneuvering by the military rulers, which raised its head ever since 1962. The political maneuvering by the state and military rulers operated largely on the basis of “othering”/ misnaming the Rohingyas as Bengalis, and through the social media hate speech, where Facebook played a pivotal role in spreading ‘fake news’ against the Rohingya community. He opines this hate campaigns as a dangerous form of nationalism. Lee claims. As per Lee, two terms of quasi-civilian government, that arose hope of building back democracy, failed to restore Rohingya’ s right. During two terms of quasi-civilian government new communication technology and political freedoms have given nationalists the opportunities to spread hate speech portraying Rohingya as a threat to Myanmar’s Buddhist character to brutal violence against the group. He writes, “Misnaming the Rohingya as foreign has been used as a tactic to generate domestic political support for anti-Rohingya practices. Myanmar’s former military dictatorship and the leaders of the quasi-civilian administration that followed it from 2011 stubbornly used the name ‘Bengali’ in place of Rohingya and encouraged others to do likewise,” his book reads. “Official portrayal of the Rohingya as foreign has had serious consequences for the group, contributing to domestic support for the military’s anti-Rohingya actions …” He further asserts “The role of social media companies, like Facebook, in countries like Myanmar ought to be understood as a digital colonialism that is just as economically and socially exploitative and damaging to the national fabric as many practices of the country’s colonial-era rulers or the East India Company.”

The book aims to amplify the voice of the Rohingya participants whom Ronan Lee interviewed in Rakhine, Yangon, Rohingya and Bangladesh camp. Lee also interviewed Dr Anita Schug who has an ancestral root in Rakhine state, is a Rohingya Neurosurgeon, and is a prominent Switzerland-based Rohingya activist and spokesperson for the European Rohingya Council, who opined on how Jama Mosque, Question of identity centre to civil and political rights of Rohingya. Lee focuses on the conditions of Rohingya community as whole who are dispersed and fiercely migrated to Bangladesh, and those who are in Myanmar are exposed to apartheid conditions, mass incarceration and genocide crimes. In contrast to the belief of the Myanmar state and military – the Tamatdaw, Lee strongly opines in an unequivocal tone that the Rohingya are Taingyintha or legitimate citizens of Myanmar, and hence, the brutal campaign launched to eliminate the illegal residents is not justified. He claimed the legitimacy of Rohingya, Lee quotes Burma’s first post-independence prime minister, U Nu who told a 1954 radio audience, ‘The people living in Maungdaw and Buthidaung regions are our nationals, our brethren. They are called Rohingyas. They are one of the same par in status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan. They are one of the ethnic races of Burma’.

The trauma of the 2017 genocide of which Gen. Hlaing is accused of masterminding, haunted the Rohingya following the Feb.1 military coup that witnessed the burning of villages and rapes of women by Myanmar’s military, which resulted in about 700,000 people fled the country, mostly on foot to Bangladesh resulting into a Refugees crisis. Foreseeing the refugee crisis as a pertinent election issue, Sheikh Hasina – Bangladesh Prime Minister, adopted a humanitarian approach embracing the Rohingya’s cause, which however changed fearing the refugees’ turnover to semi-permanent residents.

Ronan Lee is of the opinion that domestic as well as international community has failed to ensure Rohingya their legitimate rights. The absence of international “meaningful action” has failed to protect the civilians. However, he highlights that their woeful circumstances have domestic roots, and international support without domestic support will be termed as a foreign interference. In the context the author asserts, “Myanmar’s laws have been weaponized, denying Rohingya citizenship and other rights, to enable genocide. If the Myanmar state applied laws fairly the Rohingya would be recognized as a taingyinthar, and as citizens with their human rights safeguarded. But for decades, the authorities have treated the law and how laws are enforced as opportunities to further political ends, with devastating human rights consequences.” He opines for the improvement of Rohingya condition, Rohingya shall build a solidarity with Young political activists, civil society groups, other ethnic groups, including among the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Rakhine and S-han, who have suffered because of the authorities’ policies of Burmanization. Moreover, the author has highlighted Myanmar’s telecommunication liberalizations that has a potential to provide the Rohingya with opportunities to communicate with people outside of conflict zones. Moreover, He suggest the prioritizing of removal of link between the ethnicity and citizenship, and curtail the Tatmadaw’s unchecked power.

Myanmar’s persecution of the ethnic minority group has threatened global norm of Multiculturalism. “Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech” published by I. B, Tauris effectively narrates the vicious circle of the rise of illegitimate military leaders, their abuses of power and the tragic consequences for the nation, which, as the author traces, also has the footprints in India. Genocide of Rohingya was a litmus paper test for the Myanmar military and international community who got away with genocidal crimes due to lack of “meaningful international intervention” and loopholes in the Genocide Conventions.  Analysing the amendment of the India’s Citizenship Act (1955), Lee claimed it was done so that the government (ruling party- Bharatiya Janata Party) could provide a pathway to citizenship for members of certain religious groups who might have entered India illegally – although not Muslims…. This presents disturbing evidence that other regional actors have taken note of how Myanmar mistreated and forcibly deported its Rohingya minority without any meaningful international consequences or sanction. The failure of the international community to take steps to safeguard Rohingya’ s rights may well have consequences for other groups far beyond Myanmar’s borders.”

The book points out the importance of youth and ethnic minorities, an additional feminist spectrum that studied Myanmar’ s Rohingya Genocidal history, would have perhaps made it more complete. However, it is a scholarly work par excellence, and a rich source for understanding Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocidal history. Lee’s rigorously-researched book is thought-provoking, whose release three days before the February 01 coup in Myanmar has made his work prophetic.

Bhagyeshree Pujari

Intern, AGA