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Chapter I

Belonging

It will take us a hundred years to get back the life we had been living since our forefathers.

— Ayub, a Rohingya man

Beyond the rooftops of the refugee camps, Rohingya can see the mountains in their home country of Burma. Today, nearly one million members of the Muslim minority live across the border in Bangladesh.

Many fled violent attacks in 2017 by the Burmese military, who murdered their family members and destroyed their homes and villages. Thousands died. The Rohingya remain in the camps because they fear for their lives if they return home.

They have faced persecution before. After a 1962 military takeover, extreme nationalism based on religion and ethnicity began to take hold in Burma. In the decades that followed, the military attacked minority groups including the Rohingya.

This exhibition explores how the Rohingya slowly went from citizens to outsiders—and how the 2017 violence forms part of a larger, sustained campaign of genocide.

A Rohingya man looks over a refugee camp in Bangladesh to the Mayu Mountains in Burma. Photo: Greg Constantine

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Where is Burma?

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is located in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered to the east by China, Laos, and Thailand and to the west by India and Bangladesh.

Burma is at the crossroads of many cultures, religions, and ethnicities. It is an ethnically and religiously diverse nation.

Map: David Lindroth Inc.

A colorful illustration of Arakan, located in present-day Burma.

The Rohingya trace their history back to a kingdom known as Arakan in present-day Burma. It is illustrated here.

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a religious and ethnic minority in Burma. They are Muslim. Most Rohingya live in Rakhine State on Burma’s western coast. For centuries, they lived side by side there with the Rakhine Buddhist community. But in the last 200 years, Rakhine State was invaded—first by the British, later by the Japanese. These outside influences created divisions between the local communities that would later intensify.

  1. Ten men stand together in 1946.

    Rohingya and leaders from other communities meet in 1946. Burma’s founding father, Aung San, is standing fourth from the left. U Nu, fourth from right, would become Burma’s first prime minister. Rohingya leader M.A. Gaffar stands second on the right.

    Photo: Nurul Islam

  2. Documents showing text that says Rohingya Sultan Ahmed was a member of the Constituent Assembly.

    Documents show Rohingya Sultan Ahmed was a member of the Constituent Assembly. He helped create citizenship laws for Burma’s first constitution.

    Photo: Greg Constantine/British Library

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Leading a New Nation

Burma gained independence from Great Britain in 1948. In the years leading up to independence, Rohingya played important roles in establishing Burma’s new government.

Two Rohingya served on the country’s governing body, the Constituent Assembly, in 1947. One was a member of the committee that laid out the fundamental rights and citizenship of the nation.

A stack of documents in varying sizes and types.

When Rohingya Were Citizens

Official documents, issued by the Burmese government, provide proof that the Rohingya had the same rights and legal standing as everyone else in the country.

My documents and all of these documents of my forefathers are the most important things I have.

— Nur, a Rohingya man

Nur’s family documents include proof of land ownership and political party membership. They date back to the early 1930s. Photo: Greg Constantine

U Nu sitting at a table.

Prime Minister U Nu.

Photo: AGE Fotostock

Burma’s first prime minister, U Nu, recognized the Rohingya as nationals of Burma in 1954.

Located to the southwest of the Union [Burma] is “Rakhine”...There are two townships [there] called Maungdaw and Buthidaung. The majority of the nationals residing in those townships are Rohingya who are Muslims.

— Prime Minister U Nu

  1. A group of young men stand and kneel for a photograph.

    Evidence of Belonging

    For more than a decade after independence, Rohingya engaged in Burmese public life. They held elected office, taught in schools, and served as judges, doctors, and police officers. Most Rohingya worked as farmers. These documents and photographs are proof of the lives they once had.

    Rohingya Students Association

    This photo, taken in the mid-1950s, highlights the active role Rohingya played in higher education. Students from the Rangoon University Rohingya Students Association stand with M.A. Raschid, a cabinet minister and a founding father of independent Burma.

    Photo: Bilal Raschid

  2. Two identification cards. One green, featuring a man's photograph. One pink, featuring a woman's photograph.

    National Registration Cards

    Everyone in Burma once carried the same government-issued national registration cards. These served as national ID cards and confirmed Burmese citizenship. Rohingya carried the two cards shown here. Women held pink cards, and men held green cards.

    Photos: Greg Constantine

  3. The front and back of a white identification card.

    Teacher Identification Card

    The government issued this ID for a Rohingya teacher in 1972.

    Photos: Greg Constantine

  4. A brown identification card. It contains a picture of a man wearing a police uniform.

    Police Officer’s National Registration Card

    This ID card belonged to Rohingya Abdul Hadi, who is wearing his police uniform in this photograph.

    Photo: Shwe Maung

  5. Four black and white photographs showing men's faces.

    Rohingya Members of Parliament

    For many years, the Rohingya had a voice in Burma’s government. These men served in Burma’s parliament in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Pictured from the left: Sultan Ahmed served from 1947 to 1961. M.A. Gaffar served from 1947 to 1961. Abdul Bashor served from 1951 to 1962. Sultan Mahmood served from 1956 to 1962.

    Photos: Greg Constantine

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An elderly man sits on the floor of a small hut.

Reading the Quran on the Radio

Irshad, now 105, served as a Rohingya radio broadcaster during the 1960s. The Burma Broadcasting Service provided all ethnic groups airtime each week. Irshad read from the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and reported news in the Rohingya dialect. After the military seized power of Burma in 1962, the government canceled the Rohingya language program. Other ethnic groups could continue broadcasting.

The military takeover marked the beginning of a long, slow stripping away of rights and freedom for the Rohingya.

Irshad sits in his hut in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Photo: Greg Constantine

An identification card containing a man's photograph and fingerprint.

A National Registration Card issued to Ayub as a younger man.

Photo: Greg Constantine

“I am Mohammed Ayub, and a Rohingya”

We were able to write ourselves with our own identity such as, ‘I am Mohammed Ayub, and a Rohingya’ when we were at primary school. And by the time we reached middle school, they prevented us from identifying ourselves as Rohingya and forced us to identify with ‘Bengali.’

—Ayub, a Rohingya man who started middle school in the 1970s