The Darkness Day
December 28, 1784The invasion and annexation of Arakan by the Burmese King Bodaw Hpaya.
Dr. Francis Buchanan
December 26, 1799“I shall now add three dialects, spoken in the Burma empire, but evidently derived from the language of the Hindu nation. The first is that spoken by the Mohammedans, who have been long settled in Arakan, and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan.” Dr. Francis Buchanan, 1799 A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of […]
Myanmar’s First General Election
April 4, 1947Rohingya participated in the first ever general election held shortly after the separation from British India Raj.
The Union Citizenship Act 1948
June 15, 1948Rohingya became the citizens of Burma under the then-Union Citizenship Act of 1948.
Brigadier Aung Gyi
November 15, 1951“After the Mujahideen surrendered, (the) Rohingya leaders asked us not to call the Rohingya “Khaw Taw”, nor “Bengali”, nor Chittagonian Kalar (niggers), nor “Rakhine Muslims”.Instead they said their preferred and self-referential ethnic name was the Arabic word Rohingya….” Brigadier Aung Gyi Vice Chief of Staff of Burma Armed Forces Maungdaw, Myanmar 15 November 1951
National Registration Card
August 1, 1953Rohingya from Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung and others 20 townships were issued with National Registration Cards under the 1951 “Residents of Burma Registration Act”
U Nu – The First Prime Minister of Burma
September 25, 1954“Rohingya are one ethnic people living within the Union of Burma.” U Nu The first Prime Minister of Burma National Radio Address 25 September 1954
U Ba Swe – The Second Prime Minister of Burma
November 4, 1959“The Rohingya has the equal status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan.” U Ba Swe the Second Prime Minister and minister of Defence of Burma Maungdaw, Rakhine State 4 November 1959
Rohingya Student Association “Rangoon University”
December 3, 1959“This is to certify that ‘Rangoon University Rohingya Students Association’ is one of the registered association of the University of Rangoon for the Academic year of 1959-60.” Dean of Students Rangoon University 3 December 1959
Rohingya Language Programme
May 15, 1961The country’s sole national broadcasting station, namely Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS), began its Rohingya Language Programme alongside other indigenous language services on 15 May 1961.
Myanmar Encyclopaedia
December 26, 1964“Of the 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants of Mayu Border District 75% are Rohingya ethnic people who are Muslims. The rest are made up of Rakhine, Dai Nat, Myo, and Kamee. Generally agriculture and fishing are their main economic activities.” Myanmar Encyclopedia Volume 9, p. 90 Government Printing House, Rangoon 1964
Rohingya Language Programme Cancelled
October 1, 1965General Ne Win’s Revolutionary Council regime ended Rohingya Language Programme on Burma Broadcasting Services (BBS) on 1 October 1965 after broadcasting more than 4 years.
The King Dragon Operation
February 6, 1978Burma’s dictator General Ne Win launched King Dragon Operation against the Rohingya people in Rakhine State under the pretext of immigration check. It was the first centrally directed campaign of terror against the Rohingya with local Rakhine participation, which resulted in the exodus of estimated 230,000 fleeing into Bangladesh. Far Eastern Economic Review and other […]
Far Eastern Economic Review
July 14, 1978“Burma’s brand of apartheid Far Eastern Economic Review” 14 July 1978 pp. 30-32
1982 Citizenship Act Drafting Day
October 8, 1982The inaugural Meeting of the Drafting Committee of the 1982 Citizenship Act took place at the residence of Dictator General Ne Win with Ne Win himself in the chair. The law primarily targets the Rohingya, without the specific mention of the word Rohingya,targeted and stripped them of their full citizenship Rights.
Dictator Ne Win
October 8, 1982“We are aware of their (the foreigners, namely Kala and Tayoke) penchant for making money by all means, and knowing this, how could we trust them in our organizations that decide the destiny of our country. We will therefore not give them full citizenships, or full rights.” Ex-General & Dictator Ne Win Ahlone Presidential […]
Gordon H. Luce
December 26, 1985“The Rohingya are a fine type of devout and scholarly-minded Muslims.” Gordon H. Luce Father of pre-colonial historical studies of Burma PHASES OF PRE-PAGAN BURMA: LANGUAGES AND HISTORY Volume. I, Oxford University Press, 1985, (Pages X and 95)
The Operation Clean Nation
December 27, 1991The Pyi Thaya (Clean Nation) Operation in 1991 expelled more than 250,000 Rohingya to the neighbouring country, Bangladesh, with mass arrests, summary killings, rapes, forced labours, destructions of houses, religious buildings and properties and land confiscations.
The late Dr Than Tun
August 28, 1994“In the stone inscription from AD 1442, the kings were found to bear Muslim names. There is a very high probability that the people who lived in the Mayu region (to the east of Naaf River and to the west of Kaladan) were the Rohinjas.” The late Dr Than Tun Kalya Magazine, Rangoon Professor […]
A Genocidal Act of Organized Killings of the Rohingya
June 8, 2012The anti-Rohingya racists launched a premeditated campaign of direct killings of the Rohingya after 10 Muslim pilgrims from central Myanmar were hacked to death in Taung Goke town by an organized mob on 3 June 2012.
Barack Obama
November 19, 2012“For too long, the people of this state (Rakhine or Arakan), including ethnic Rakhine, have faced crushing poverty and persecution. But there is no excuse for violence against innocent people. And the Rohingya hold themselves — hold within themselves the same dignity as you do, and I do.” Barack Obama US President University of […]
NaSaKa Disbandment
July 12, 2013On 12 July 2013, President Thein Sein abolished NaSaKa (The Border Security Force). Known for its notorious and abusive nature towards Rohingya in Rakhine State, NaSaKa was created in 1992 with more than 1200 immigration, intelligent and custom officers who constantly targeted Rohingyas’ freedom of movement, with harassments, arrests, tortures, arbitrary taxation and properties confiscations.
Myanmar President & Ex-General Thein Sein
July 15, 2013“We do not have a people called Rohingya.” Myanmar President & Ex-General Thein Sein Union Solidarity & Development Party Chatham House, London, UK 15 July 2013
Rt Hon. John Bercow
August 1, 2013“I call upon the Government, and Parliament, urgently to review and revise the 1982 Citizenship Law, to bring it in line with international human rights norms. I call for a genuinely independent analysis of the Rohingya people’s history in Burma, so that misunderstandings can be corrected, misinformation countered and prejudices addressed….” Rt Hon. John […]
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
October 24, 2013“No, no, it’s not ethnic cleansing. It’s a new problem.” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi BBC Radio Four NLD Leader & Nobel Peace Laureate (1991) 24 October 2013
Mass Killings of the Rohingya in Duchiradan
January 28, 2014Mass killings of Rohingya in Duchiradan (Kilaidaung), Southern Maungdaw, Rakhine State, Myanmar
Amartya Sen
November 4, 2014“(Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya) is a slow genocide. It’s not like Rwanda. It’s not like Khmer Rouge’s Cambodia. It’s not even like what exactly happened in Nazi Germany…. It is institutionalized killing.” Amartya Sen Harvard University Nobel Laureate in Economics 4 November 2014
Ban Ki-moon
November 12, 2014“The affected population – referred to as Bengalis by the government of Myanmar but known as Rohingya in the United Nations and in much of the international community – the United Nations uses that word based on the rights of minorities. I also urge the authorities to avoid measures that could entrench the current segregation […]
Desmond Tutu
May 26, 2015“The government of Myanmar has sought to absolve itself of responsibility for the conflict between the Rakhine and the Rohingya, projecting it as sectarian or communal violence. I would be more inclined to heed the warnings of eminent scholars and researchers including Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate in economics, who say this is a deliberately […]
George Soros
May 26, 2015“In Aung Mingalar, I heard the echoes of my childhood. You see, in 1944, as a Jew in Budapest, I too was a Rohingya. Much like the Jewish ghettos set up by Nazis around Eastern Europe during World War II, Aung Mingalar has become the involuntary home to thousands of families who once had access […]
7 Nobel Laureates
May 28, 2015“What Rohingyas are facing is a textbook case of genocide in which an entire indigenous community is being systematically wiped out by the Burmese government.” 7 Nobel Peace Laureates Adolfo Pérez Esquivel Desmond Tutu Mairead Maguire Jody Williams Tawakkol Karman Shirin Ibadi Leymah Ghowee Oslo, Norway Oslo Conference on the Rohingya 28 May […]
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
November 5, 2015“It is very important that we should not exaggerate the problems (of the Rohingya as genocide)…. Some of them are from Bangladesh.” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi 54 University Avenue, Rangoon Pre-election Press Conference 5 November 2015
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
November 23, 2015“We do not allow the word Rohingya. They are Bengalis. These people are not our ethnics. They are not our nationalities. They are from Bangladesh.” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing Washington Post Interview Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Tatmadaw 23 November 2015
Geography of Myanmar – First Year Textbook
January 3, 2016“In northern Rakhine State close to the border with Bangladesh at Butheetaung and Maungdaw townships are where the Rohingyas and Chittagarians lives. These minority ethnic groups had settled in the border regions since early days.” Ministry of Education Department of Higher Education Yangon University of Distance Education Georgraphy of Myanmar Module No. Geog. 1004 Code […]