In 2017, the Myanmar military or Tatmadaw launched a brutal campaign against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State. Thousands were killed, women were raped, hundreds of villages were burned to the ground, and more than 700,000 people were forced to flee to Bangladesh.
At that time, many across Myanmar remained silent – or worse, accepted the military’s propaganda, which painted the Rohingya as outsiders and terrorists.
But within only a few years, the same military turned its weapons against the wider population of Myanmar. After the February 2021 coup, peaceful protesters were gunned down in the streets, ethnic communities faced airstrikes and artillery shelling, and an entire nation was thrown into a new era of suffering.
Even Aung San Suu Kyi, a longtime critic of the military regime, went to The Hague at the International Court of Justice to defend the military criminals, despite the damage to her international reputation. Later, she herself was imprisoned by the same generals. Thousands who supported the military at that time have now become victims of it.
The tragic lesson is clear: when injustice is tolerated or supported against one group, it eventually spreads to all.
Yet today, we see history threatening to repeat itself. Some are now embracing the Arakan Army (AA) as a force of resistance against the junta. It is true that the AA has achieved notable military victories against the Tatmadaw. But we must also examine their actions beyond the battlefield.
Reports from Paletwa and other areas document killings, rapes, and abuses committed by AA forces against civilians, including people of their ethnicity. Instead of building trust, the AA has fostered fear. Refugees from Paletwa who fled to India told the media that they will not return as long as the AA remains present there.
Crucially, after the 2021 coup, when the people of Myanmar rose in mass resistance against the military dictatorship, the AA chose not to stand with them. Instead of joining hands with the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), National Unity Government (NUG), and the broader pro-democracy movement, the AA kept its distance, prioritizing its own political ambitions in Rakhine. By doing so, it weakened the united struggle for an inclusive democracy.
The AA’s strategy may appear pragmatic, but it reveals a dangerous reality: they are not committed to an inclusive future for Myanmar. Their hostility toward the NUCC and NUG shows that they see themselves not as partners in a national movement but as a separate power seeking dominance.
Yes, I acknowledge the AA’s success against the military. But admiration for their military strength cannot blind us to the crimes they commit and the divisions they sow. Supporting them uncritically risks creating yet another cycle of oppression – just as the military once deceived and betrayed those who supported it.
If we truly want change in Myanmar, inclusivity must be our guiding principle. We must learn from the past: when the Rohingya were abandoned in 2017, the price was paid by the entire country in 2021. If we ignore the AA’s abuses today, we will pay the price again tomorrow.
I understand why propaganda spreads easily. Many in Myanmar have been denied quality education and lack access to a free internet and independent sources of knowledge. But this is the 21st century. We cannot afford to be manipulated by narrow nationalism or short-term victories. It is time to think critically, question propaganda, and make independent choices.
Leave aside what Rohingya activists claim – go and check the United Nations Human Rights Council’s independent reports from this year. After the Arakan Army took control of northern Rakhine, it became the main perpetrator of human rights abuses against the Rohingya. Killings, forced recruitment, displacement, disappearances, arrests, burnings, extortion, looting, and the occupation of properties occurred regularly – causing hundreds of deaths and immense suffering.
Not only the Rohingya, but also the Chakma, Barua, and other indigenous communities have suffered, with many forced to become refugees in Bangladesh, both officially and unofficially.
Let us remember the words of James Baldwin: “People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.”
Myanmar’s future will not be secured by exchanging one oppressor for another. It will only be secured when all its people – Rakhine, Rohingya, Bamar, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Karen, and others – stand together for a truly inclusive democracy.
As responsible citizens of Myanmar, our goal should be to ensure that people feel empathy and recognize that the suffering of one community is inseparable from the suffering of the nation as a whole. True change will only come when every community has a rightful place in Myanmar’s future. This means addressing injustices honestly, ensuring accountability, and creating conditions for safe, free, and equal citizenship rights.
At its core, the Rohingya crisis is not just a Rohingya issue – it is a crisis of Myanmar itself. Too many in Myanmar have misunderstood or ignored this reality, as decades of propaganda from the junta, successive governments, and armed groups have obscured the truth.
If Myanmar is to move forward after the revolution, we must not only overthrow the dictatorship but also dismantle the systems of exclusion and hatred that have divided us for decades. A new Myanmar must be built on empathy, justice, and inclusivity – where no group is left behind, and where diversity is embraced as the foundation of a genuine democracy.
The choice is ours: repeat the cycle of betrayal and suffering, or finally break free by building unity based on justice and inclusivity.
