A History of Rohingya Displacement, Rohingya Ethnicity, and Contested Identity in Myanmar and Bangladesh

The Rohingya is one of the most oppressed and mistreated populations in the world. Despite living in Myanmar for centuries, today they have no state. The Myanmar government does not acknowledge them as citizens; they believe that the Rohingya people moved from Bengal to Arakan during the British colonial period. Accordingly, the country’s 1982 Citizenship Act stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship, failing to even include them as one of the 135 government-recognized ethnic groups. There are many disagreements regarding the Rohingya’s ancestry and ethnicity, as some factions believe they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, especially the then-East Pakistan, while other factions claim that they are the indigenous or native people of Arakan in Myanmar. However, historical evidence indicates that Rohingyas are the descendants of several mixed races and have long been living in the Arakan region. This chapter addresses the origin, identity, and citizenship status of the Rohingya population in Myanmar. It also details who the Rohingya are, what the term “Rohingya” means, where they come from, and why and how the Myanmar government refused them citizenship. The information contained here comes from secondary sources or historical records. A variety of scholarly journals, books, newspaper articles, and online materials are employed to illustrate the significance of the Rohingya and their origins, way of life, and questions of citizenship.