If the Rohingya are to be named, it means that the core of the issue would have better chances of being directly addressed. The moment they retain their collective identity is the moment that the Rohingya become a political entity, subject to the rights and freedoms of any minority, anywhere.
The Pope, as bold as he has been regarding other issues, has the moral authority to challenge the permeating -- yet disconcerting -- narrative in Burma that has dehumanized the Rohingya for generations. In 1982, the embattled minority group was denied the status of a minority group and was stripped form its citizenship, paving the way for eventual ethnic cleansing.
Alas, in the end, the Pope joined the regional and international powers that insist on understanding the Rohingya crisis outside the realm of political solutions, pertaining to political rights and identity.
Indeed, he is not alone. ASEAN leaders meeting in Manila, Philippines mid-November made no mention of the Rohingya by name. Worse, in their 26-page final document, they mentioned the crisis in the Northern Rakhine State -- the epicenter of the Rohingya genocide -- in passing:
"We ... extend appreciation for the prompt response in the delivery of relief items for Northern Vietnam flash floods and landslides ... as well as the affected communities in Northern Rakhine State."
That is how the Southeast Asian leaders respond to one of the worse political and humanitarian disasters in Southeast Asia in recent decades. Pitiful.
Standing proudly in the final photo with the rest of the leaders was Aung San Suu Kyi, who was promoted by western media for many years as a "democracy icon." The "Lady of Burma" who challenged the military junta and spent years under house arrest for her defiance has, in recent years, found a convenient political formula that allows her to share power with the military.
A political opportunist at best, Aung San Suu Kyi, too, does not call the Rohingya by their name. Worse, her government has played a major role in dehumanizing the Rohingya and, at times, blamed them for their own suffering.
Last September, in a last-ditch effort at salvaging her tattered reputation, she gave a 30-minute televised speech in which she explained her position using a most confused logic.
The best she came up with was, "We are a young and fragile country facing many problems ... We cannot just concentrate on the few." The "few," of course, being the Rohingya.
When the Pope arrived in Bangladesh, a man by the name of Mohammed Ayub was awaiting him as part of a small delegation of Rohingya refugees.
Mohammed's 3-year-old son was killed by the Burmese military. The father's message to the Pope was not seeking humanitarian relief for despairing refugees, or even justice for his own child, but something else entirely.
"He should say the word as we are, Rohingya," Mohammed told the Catholic Crux Now. "We have been Rohingya for generations, my father and my grandfather."
In Dhaka, the Pope attempted to reclaim that missed opportunity.
"The presence of God today is also called Rohingya," he said.
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