Burma’s Stateless people
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Stateless "Burmese"
Burma (or Myanmar) is an ethnically diverse nation with 135 distinct
ethnic groups officially recognized by the Burmese government. These
are grouped into eight "major national ethnic races":
1. Kachin
2. Kayah
3. Kayin
4. Chin
5. Mon
6. Bamar
7. Rakhine
8. Shan
The "major national ethnic races" are grouped primarily according to
region rather than linguistic or ethnic affiliation, as for example
the Shan Major National Ethnic Race includes 33 ethnic groups speaking
languages in at least four widely differing language families.
There are at least 6 groups of stateless persons originating in Burma,
the Rohingya ; native born but non-indigenous people, such as Burmese
Indians, Burmese Chinese, Panthay, Anglo Burmese; as well as children
born in Thailand or oversea of Burmese parents. Many unrecognised
ethnic groups exist, the largest being;
1. Burmese Chinese(except Kokang Chinese who are recognized by Burma)
2. Panthay – Chinese Muslims (who together with Burmese Chinese form 3% of
the population)
3. Burmese Indians (who form 2% of the population),
4. Anglo-Burmese,
5. Rohingya or Chittagonian Bengali Muslims.
There are no official statistics regarding the population of the
latter two groups, although unofficial estimates place around 52,000
Anglo-Burmese in Burma with around 1.6 million outside of the country.
1.Burmese Indians
Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian subcontinental
ethnicity who live in Myanmar (Burma). While Indians have lived in
Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese
Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in
the mid 19th century to the separation of British Burma from British
India in 1937. During British times, ethnic Indians formed the
backbone of the government and economy serving as soldiers, civil
servants, merchants and moneylenders. A series of anti-Indian riots
beginning in 1930 and mass emigration during the Japanese occupation
of Burma followed by the forced expulsion of 1962 left ethnic Indians
with a much reduced role in Burma.
Ethnic Indians today account for approximately 2% (about 950,000) of
the population of Burma and are concentrated largely in the two major
cities (Yangon and Mandalay) and old colonial towns (Pyin U Lwin and
Kalaw). They are largely barred from the civil service and military
and are disenfranchised by being labeled as ‘foreigners’ and
‘non-citizens’ of Burma. Amongst the well-known Burmese Indians is
S. N. Goenka, a leading practitioner and teacher of the vipassanÄ=81
meditation technique and Helen, a well-known Bollywood film actress.
The term "Burmese Indian" refers to a broad range of ethnic groups
from South Asia, most notably from present-day Bangladesh and
India. Indians have a long history in Burma with over 2000 years of
active engagement in politics, religion, culture, arts and
cuisine. Within Burma, they are often referred to as ka-la (a term
generally used for dark skinned foreigners though it has historically
been also used to describe foreigners from the west), a term that is
considered derogatory or Kala Lumyo. Its root is believed to be ku la
meaning either "to cross over (the Bay of Bengal)" or "person"
depending on the way it is pronounced.[1] An alternative explanation
is that the word is derived from `Ku lar’, meaning the people who
adhere to a caste system
The majority of Indians arrived in Burma whilst it was part of British
India. Starting with the annexation of Tenasserim and Western Burma
after the First Anglo-Burmese War, a steady stream of Indians moved to
Burma as civil servants, engineers, river pilots, soldiers, indentured
labourers and traders.[1] Following the annexation of Upper Burma in
1885, numerous infrastructure projects started by the British colonial
government and increases in rice cultivation in the delta region
caused an unprecedented economical boom in Burma that drew many
Indians, particularly from southern India, to the Irrawaddy Delta
region.
After Independence, Burmese law treated a large percentage of the
Indian community as "resident aliens". Though many had long ties to
Burma or were born there, they were not considered citizens under the
1982 Burma citizenship law which restricted citizenship for groups
immigrating before 1823
An unknown number of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) are stateless,
though at least half a million could be affected. Thousands have been
living in Burma for over four generations, not belonging to India or
Burma. The last official census in Burma held in 1983 reported
approximately 428,000 persons of Indian origin in Burma. The current
population is estimated to be about 600,000, but according to the
Indian government, as many as 2.5 million PIOs could be living in
Burma. Only about 2,000 hold Indian passports. Although they have
lived in Burma for more than four generations, they lack documentation
required by the 1982 Burmese citizenship law and are therefore
stateless. They cannot travel outside the country and face low
economic status.
2. Anglo-Burmese or Eurasians
The Anglo-Burmese, also known as the Anglo-Burmans, are a community of
Eurasians of Burmese and European descent, and emerged as a distinct
community through mixed relations (sometimes permanent, sometimes
temporary) between the British (whether English, Scots or Welsh) and
other European settlers and Bamar from 1826 until 1948 when Burma
gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Today, this small but
influential Eurasian community is dispersed throughout the world, with
very few accurate estimates as to how many remain behind in
military-ruled Burma (or Myanmar.)
The term Anglo-Burmese is also used to refer to Eurasians of European
and other Burmese ethnic minority groups (e.g. Shan, Karen, Mon,
Chinese) descent. It also, after 1937, included Anglo-Indian residents
in Burma. Collectively, in the Burmese language, Eurasians are
specifically known as bo kabya; the term kabya refers to persons of
mixed ancestry or dual ethnicity.
Earliest settlement
The first Anglo-Burmese community emerged in the early 1600s, as the
Portuguese and Bamar intermixed, and this multicultural community was
collectively known as the Ba-yin-gyi. The community was established in
Syriam (now known as Thanlyin) on the outskirts of modern-day
Yangon. The settlement was founded by Felipe de Brito. De Brito is
said to have gone mad, having declared himself king of Lower Burma,
causing his outpost to be destroyed and himself executed by the
Burmese king. Most of the small community of Eurasian and European
settlers was banished inland to Shwebo then known as Moksobo.
Additionally, a small band of French soldiers captured in the late
1700s by the Burmese King was provided with Burmese wives and
established a similar, small Eurasian community. In one of the last
census counts conducted by the British in the 1930s, a number of
people in Upper Burma still classified themselves as descendants of
these bands of Portuguese and French soldiers.[1] After the Portuguese
and the French, the Dutch also established trade missions in Burma and
along with them came Armenian settlers, both communities intermarrying
with the already established Eurasians or marrying local Burmese
people. The VOC (Dutch East India Company) was active in Burma in the
1700s and many Anglo-Burmans of Dutch heritage are descended from the
Dutch merchants who settled in the country. Today’s Anglo-Burmese can
count a very diverse lineage in their blood.
British Rule
British settlers now began to settle in large numbers in Burma,
intermixing with the local Burmans (Bamar) and other local ethnic
groups, and the Eurasian community grew larger, some say larger than
the Anglo-Indian community in India (see ‘Finding George Orwell’ by
Emma Larkin). Frequently, European men took Burmese women as
"temporary" wives, often deserting them and their offspring after
their tours of duty ended in Burma but legal, long lasting marriages
did also take place. Frequently, when a "temporary" relationship
ended, the European father left behind a sum of money for the upkeep
of their children, and sometimes the children were removed from their
Burmese mothers and placed into convent schools run by Europeans,
where their Burmese heritage was often undermined. The issue of mixed
marriages, particularly between Bamar women and British males, was to
become a major issue in the independence movement as it further
developed.
Anglo-Burmans represent a very diverse heritage, their Asian side
primarily representing Burman blood, but also Karen, Shan and Mon as
well as other smaller Burmese ethnic groups (Chin, Kachin, Arakanese
for example). The European element included, aside from the British,
other European influence, chiefly Greek, Dutch, Scandinavian, Irish
(who left their country when the Great Irish Famine happened since
their country was under British rule), German, Austrian, French,
Portuguese, Italian and Russian. In addition, Iraqi (Assyrian/Chaldean
Christian), Armenian (the Armenians were classed as White/Europeans in
colonial Burma), and Anglo-Indian blood was also represented among
Anglo-Burmans. By the 1920s, the Anglo-Burman community was a distinct
ethnic group in Burma.
Following the British withdrawal in 1948, some Anglo-Burmans left
Burma, primarily for the United Kingdom. It is an interesting irony of
note that whereas both Anglo-Burmans and Anglo-Indians had tended to
look down on the native Bamar, after they emigrated to Britain, many
ended up calling themselves Burmese in white society, primarily due to
British attitudes which refused to acknowledge those of mixed origins
as their own. Many Anglo-Burmans began to lose their jobs, to be
replaced with pure Burmans as the bureaucracy of the country became
increasingly Burmanized.
Today, only a handful of people actually identifying themselves as
Anglo-Burmans are believed to remain in Burma. Most who remained after
1962 adopted Burmese names, and converted to Buddhism to protect their
families, jobs and assets. Because of the similar heritage and roles
played, and because Burma was historically part of the Empire as part
of India, Anglo-Burmans were once counted as Anglo-Indians; today,
Anglo-Indians still accept Anglo-Burmese as their "kith and kin" and
world reunions of Anglo-Indians usually also include many who would
also be classed more correctly as Anglo-Burmese, to reflect their
Burmese, rather than Indian, blood.
3.Panthays
Panthays form a group of Chinese Muslims in Burma. Some people refer
to Panthays as the oldest group of Chinese Muslims in Burma. However,
because of intermixing and cultural diffusion the Panthays are not as
distinct a group as they once were Chinese-speaking, and of
predominantly Han Chinese ethnic origin, this little-known group of
Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab forms a predominantly endogamous,
closely inter-related minority group in four countries – China, Burma,
Thailand and Laos – and today represents both Islamic and Chinese
cultures in northern Southeast Asia.
Panthay is a term used to refer to the predominantly Muslim Hui people
of China who migrated to Burma. They are among the largest groups of
Burmese Chinese, and predominantly reside in the northern regions of
Burma (formerly known as Upper Burma), particularly in the
Tangyan-Maymyo-Mandalay-Taunggyi area and Shan States.
The name Panthay is a Burmese word, which is said to be identical with
the Shan word Pang hse. It was the name by which the Burmese called
the Chinese Muslims who came with caravans to Burma from the Chinese
province of Yunnan. The name was not used or known in Yunnan itself.
The Burmese word Pathi is a corruption of Persian. The Burmese of Old
Burma called their own indigenous Muslims Pathi. It was applied to all
Muslims other than the Chinese Muslims. The name Panthay is still
applied exclusively to the Chinese Muslims. However Chinese Muslims in
Yunnan did not call themselves Panthay. They called themselves Huizu
(å=9B=9Eæ – =8F), meaning Muslim in Chinese. Non-Muslim Chinese and
Westerners refer to them as Huihui (å=9B=9Eå=9B=9E).
4.Burmese Chinese
The Burmese Chinese or Chinese Burmese are a group of overseas Chinese
born or raised in Burma (Myanmar). Although the Chinese officially
make up three percent of the population, the actual figure is believed
to be much higher. Among the under-counted Chinese populations are
those of mixed background, those that have declared themselves as
ethnic Bamar to escape discrimination, and tens of thousands of
illegal Chinese immigrants that have flooded Upper Burma since the
1990s but are not counted due to the lack of reliable census taking.
The Burmese Chinese dominate the Burmese economy although many
enterprises today are co-owned by the military. Moreover, the Burmese
Chinese have a disproportionately large presence in Burmese higher
education, and make up a high percentage of the educated class in
Burma.
Generally, the Burmese Chinese in Lower Burma, like other oversea
Chinese fall into three main groups:
* Hokkien (Burmese: eingyi shay, or let shay lit. long-sleeved shirts)
from Fujian Province
* Cantonese (Burmese: eingyi to, or let to lit. short-sleeved shirts)
from Guangdong Province
* Hakka (Burmese: zaka, lit. mid-length sleeve) from Fujian and
Guangdong provinces
In Upper Burma and Shan Hills, the Panthay and Kokang, mainly speakers
of a Mandarin dialect of the Southwestern Mandarin branch, most akin
to Yunnanese, predominate. The mountain-dwelling, farming Kokang are
classified as a part of the Shan national race, although they have no
linguistic or genetic affinity to the Tai-speaking Shan, and the
largely trading Muslim Panthay are long considered separate local
nationalities rather than a Chinese diaspora community. Combined, they
form 21% of Burmese Chinese.
Finally, there are the Tayoke kabya of mixed Chinese and indigenous
Burmese parentage. The kabya (Burmese: mixed heritage) have a tendency
to follow the customs of the Chinese more than of the Burmese. (Indeed
those that follow Burmese customs are absorbed into and largely
indistinguishable from the mainstream Burmese society.) A large
portion of Burmese Chinese is thought to have some kabya blood,
possibly because immigrants could acquire Burmese citizenship through
intermarriage with the indigenous Burmese peoples.
Most Burmese Chinese practice Theravada Buddhism, incorporating some
Mahayana Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, such as the worship of Kuan
Yin. Chinese New Year celebrations, as well as other Chinese
festivals, are subdued and held privately. Clan associations are often
the only places where the Chinese culture is retained. The Panthay or
Chinese Muslims (å=9B=9Eæ=95=99è=8F¯ä A;º; , lit. "little flowers")
practice Islam.
The Kokang people are an ethnic group of Burma (also known as
Myanmar). They are Mandarin-speaking Han Chinese living in Kokang
Special Region. In 1997, it was estimated that the Kokang people,
together with more recently-immigrated Yunnanese, constituted 30-40
percent of Burma’s ethnic Chinese population. They are not grouped as
Burmese Chinese, as they are considered as recognized as ethnic races
by Burma.
4. Rohingya or Chittagonian Bengali Muslims.
The Rohingya is a Muslim ethnic group of the Northern Arakan State of
Western Burma (also known as Myanmar). The Rohingya population is
mostly concentrated in two bordering townships of Arakan to
Bangladesh, namely Maungdaw and Buthidaung, and is spread in three
townships of Akyab, Rathedung and Kyauktaw. Rohingya people are
predominantly Muslims. They are recently the latest group of boat
people in Indian Ocean.
The Rohingya are Muslims who reside in the northern parts of the
Rakhine (historically known as Arakan) State, a geographically
isolated area in western Burma, bordering Bangladesh. The British
annexed the region after an 1824-26 conflict and encouraged migration
from India. Since independence in 1948, successive Burmese governments
have considered these migration flows as illegal. Claiming that the
Rohingya are in fact Bengalis, they have refused to recognize them as
citizens. Shortly after General Ne Win and his Burma Socialist
Programme Party (BSPP) seized power in 1962, the military government
began to dissolve Rohingya social and political organizations. The
1974 Emergency Immigration Act stripped Burmese nationality from the
Rohingya. In 1977, Operation Nagamin (Dragon King) constituted a
national effort to register citizens and screen out foreigners prior
to a national census.
The resulting military campaign led to widespread killings, rape, and
destruction of mosques and religious persecution. By 1978, more than
200,000 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh. The Burmese authorities
claimed that their flight served as proof of the Rohingya’s illegal
status in Burma.
Under the 1982 Citizenship Law, Rohingya were declared `non-national’
or `foreign residents.’ This law designated three categories of
citizens: (1) full citizens, (2) associate citizens, and (3)
naturalized citizens.
None of the categories applies to the Rohingya as they are not
recognized as one of the 135 `national races’ by the Myanmar
government. More than 700,000 Rohingya in northern Rakhine today are
effectively stateless and denied basic human rights.
Children born outside the country
The Burmese government refuses to give citizenship to children born
outside the country to Burmese parents who left illegally or fled
persecution. Children born in Thailand of Burmese descent do not have
birth certificates and the parents do no have citizenship
papers. Neither recognized by the Burmese government nor wanted by the
Thai government, many of the roughly two million Burmese migrant
workers and 150,000 Burmese refugees are effectively stateless as a
result of not having citizenship documentation, and face lives of
desperation.
Related articles
1. Burma/Myanmar. The International Observability on Statelessness,
rma-myanmar
2. Statelessness,
3. Searching for Citizenship,
5.html
4. Stateless People in Bangladesh,
(a re the Biharis Muslim and other
stateless non-Bengalli, came with Chittagonian Bengali
Muslims(Rohingya)as boat people, which resulted in planned mass exodus
of boat people from Bangladesh??? by human trafficking operators)
5. Over 100,000 ‘Stateless’ People Offered Citizenship,
/content/article/173/30421.html
6. The Stateless People of Bangladesh,
2004/the_stateless_people_of_bangla.html
Posted by Boon Raymond at 10:17 AM
Labels: Burma
teless-burmese.html
http://www.nationalityforall.org/bu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statelessness
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c15
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component
http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/
http://teochiewkia.blogspot.com/2010/02/sta
www.statelesspeopleinbangladesh.net/