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A Case Study of the Plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar
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Preface
My original plan when I applied to do my PhD in politics at the University of New
South Wales in Canberra starting in August, 2011 was to conduct a highly historical
project looking at the roots of the Rohingya refugee crisis. However, political
liberalizations and changes in Myanmar since 2011 and the outbreak of sectarian
violence in Rakhine State and other parts of Myanmar over the next two years provided
new research opportunities and areas to tap into. My previously historical research
became more political by looking at new actors and new dynamics in the Rohingya
problem. Then, Dr Morten Pedersen, understandingly allowed me to work on these new
nuances and incorporate them into my research, which I believe has become richer in
content and analysis.
When I started out in August 2011 with the research question of what the causes of the
decades-long Rohingya plight were, who had violated various human rights of
Rohingyas was easy to trace and identify because this thesis takes the late 1970s as the
beginning of active official repression meted out to the Muslim minority in Myanmar.
However, identification of ‘agency’ in the post-2011 landscape and during and after the
2012 violence has become an insurmountable task because not only the state but also
the society in Myanmar have become largely involved in the Rohingya issue in both
direct and indirect ways. Therefore, I had to broaden my search or research and include
various other actors and dynamics which were not easily visible before the political
changes of 2011 and violence of 2012. All of these happened to become a double-edged
sword by providing a never-imagined opportunity to intensively study the issue and
concurrently presenting a significant challenge to sufficiently soak and poke. Apart
from all my academic qualifications and trainings, the other thing which tremendously
helped me throughout the journey of my doctoral research was my own sensitivity as a
national of Myanmar spending almost all of my life back home.
Studying a topic which has personally affected me due to my identity has never been
more helpful. At the same time, the sectarian nature of the series of violent and nonviolent
conflicts between Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims on one hand and
Buddhists on the other hand over the last three years has sharpened my own sensitivity.
