Who
are the Rohingya People?
The Rohingya are a minority group that
primarily lives in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, bordering Bangladesh. Often
described as stateless, this ethnic minority has historical ties to the land
since the eighth century, however Myanmar does not recognize them as citizens.
Due to this, rising tensions erupted (CNN).
The
Spark[1]:
In October 2016, an insurgent group; the
Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army(ARSA), whose main claim is to protect the
Rohingya Muslims from state repression, killed nine police officers. Recently,
on August 25, 2017, Rohingya insurgents attacked several police
posts, killing 12 members of the security forces. This lead to a severe
crackdown on the people. The government sent in the military. Encouraged by ultra-nationalist
Buddhist mobs, the military has burned villages, attacked and killed civilians.
More than 700,000 Rohingya have been displaced due to this ethnic cleansing and
are currently in refugee camps in Bangladesh (CNN; Gibbens).
Analyzing
the situation: Social
psychology can be useful in describing the situation.
Prejudice,
discrimination, stereotyping:
Prejudice is defined as a hostile or
negative attitude toward people based on their membership to a certain group. Prejudice
often leads to discrimination, a negative behavior toward or a group, and then
to formation of a stereotype, a generalization about a group of people, in
which certain traits are assigned to all members despite actual differences
between members. This can be especially harmful in events like the Rohingya
Crisis. In applying Attitude theory to this situation, the ABCs of prejudice
come into play. The affective, which is the prejudice; the behavioral, which is
the discrimination; and the cognitive, which is the stereotype, can be seen on
both sides of the argument:
(Calamur; CNN; Gibbens)
|
Rohingya
|
Myanmar
|
Affective
|
Feel
negative towards the government for non-recognition as citizens (not allowed
to take part in elections, land and owner rights are nonexistent).
|
Feel
negative towards the Rohingya due to intercommunal conflict between Muslim
Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine.
Possibly
since Rohingya were in the favor of the British, they held many positions and
after the British left, Burmese wanted power. There is also a fear of Burma
losing its unique Burmese culture.
|
Behavioral
|
The
ARSA attacks border posts, killing military forces.
|
The
government does not grant them citizenship, and sends in the military in
response to the attacks. There is the burning of villages and genocide.
|
Cognitive
|
The
Rohingya believe that Myanmar is unjust and does not see them as humans.
|
The
government, and Buddhist nationals think that all Rohingya are insurgents and
that the only way to solve the problem is to rid the country of Rohingya.
|
Where
does this Prejudice come from?
In explaining where this extreme
prejudice comes from, the three factors that could explain prejudice against
the Rohingya people are socialization, cognitive explanations, and motivational
explanations.
Institutions:
Under the explanation of Socialization,
institutes like the media, others, and even norms play a role in creating a
negative belief. For example, the Rohingya are not recognized by the current government
of Myanmar and are not able to vote, and have different ownership and land
laws. The Rohingya are a minority that are underrepresented in every aspect of
the government. This would be like the separation of African Americans and
Whites through segregation laws.
Schema
Theory:
Cognitive explanations foster
prejudice by its creation of a dichotomy between the ingroup and the out group.
Schema Theory, which is the tendency to categorize, can also describe part of
this crisis. Each side has created an in-group and out-group effect. In each
side, the out-group is markedly different from the in-group. The ingroup is the
“us” or a group who shares a sense of belonging and a common identity while the
out group is the “them” or perceived as distinctively different from or apart
from the in-group. For example, if the in-group was the government, the out
group – the Rohingya, are different in their religion, as most of Myanmar is
Buddhist and Rohingya are mostly Muslims and vice versa. Additionally, although
there were only a few insurgents acting on the attacks, the Buddhist-backed
government used the military to crack down on all Rohingya. The Outgroup Homogeneity
effect explains this phenomenon due to the perception of out-group members, the
Rohingya, as being similar to one another.
Realistic
Group Conflict Theory:
Realistic Group Conflict Theory might
help explain the spark. To give more history, the first Rohingya were in the
Rakhine area since the eighth century AD. These people have ties to the land
and therefore are competing against the Rakhine people, who arrived a bit late.
Realistic Group conflict is competition for resources or goals. The Rakhine
area is known for its fertile soil, therefore there is a definitive competition
for these resources. Additionally, because the Rakhine might have wanted more
political power, the uprooting of the Rohingya political seats in 1962 and
jailing of all the Rohingya politicians involved in the National Demographic
Party for Human Rights (Gibbens). The
jailing is presumably to decrease the Rohingya ownership of property.
Conclusion:
Social Psychology can exuberate the
real reasons behind persecution and prejudice in relation to global crisis.
Works
Cited
Calamur,
Krishnadev. “The Misunderstood Roots of Burma's Rohingya Crisis.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media
Company, 25 Sept. 2017,
www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/rohingyas-burma/540513/.
Gibbens,
Sarah. “Myanmar's Rohingya Are in Crisis-What You Need to Know.” National Geographic, National
Geographic Society, 29 Sept. 2017,
news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/09/rohingya- refugee-crisis-myanmar-burma-spd/
“The
Rohingya Crisis.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Sept. 2017, www.cnn.com/specials/asia/rohingya.
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