Introduction to Burmese Refugee Situation in Malaysia

BWA General Council

Introduction to Workshop on Burmese Refugee Situation in Malaysia

We are witnessing today a large population of the tribal peoples of Burma fleeing from their ancestral homelands to escape the assault of the military regime which is in power in Burma. 

Burma is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest in Southeast Asia and the 24th most populous nation with over 55 million people.  It is home to some of the major civilizations in SE Asia. Christianity came to Burma through the efforts of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in the person of Adoniram Judson who arrived in Burma in 1813. 
In its history, Burma fought three wars with the British and was finally annexed in 1886 when it became part of the British Empire as a province of British India.  Burma gained its independence from Britain in 1948 following the Second World War.  Promises of independence and sovereignty had been made by the British to the ethnic tribes before independence but those promises were not kept.  After the British left, the Karen, notably, began a campaign for an independent state. Therefore, since its independence, Burma has been in one of the longest running civil wars between the myriad ethnic groups and the central government which has largely been rooted in the Burman population.  That conflict remains unresolved to this day and is the reason behind the continued exodus of refugees into Thailand, Malaysia, India and China. 

In 1984 over 10,000 Karen refugees fled across the Thai-Burma border to escape the advance of the Burmese army.  Tham Hin, the first refugee camp was established to contain them.  The Burmese regime began a massive relocation plan to break the resistance and has forcibly destroyed over 3600 villages since 1996.  Homes are burned, fields and the villages themselves are mined to prevent their repopulation and rape is used as a form of terrorism by the army against the ethnic women. 

There is a religious dimension to the conflict as well in that the military regime instituted a program of Burmanization which has the pre-eminence of Buddhism as a key element.  Since the tribal groups are the ones who have most embraced Christianity, the military regime’s efforts at Burmanization were targeted at them.  Churches have been burned, crosses have been torn down from the hillsides and Christian pastors have been threatened as the regime has sought to supplant Christianity with Buddhism and to repress the tribal peoples who are predominantly Christian.

There is also a political/economic element as well as the military regime is supported by the Chinese government which has considerable investments in the oil and mineral industries of Burma.

As a result, hundreds of thousands have fled – most to Thailand – but there are also significant populations of Burmese refugees in Malaysia, India (including NE India) and China.  The receiving countries do not acknowledge them as refugees which means they have little if any legal rights and protections within the receiving countries.  They are often subject to economic exploitation and have an uncertain future at best. 

Consequently, they are being resettled predominantly in the US, Canada, Australia and Scandinavia.  They are a people in exile.  They understand fully the sentiments of Psalm 137 which was written of Israel’s exile, “By the rivers of Babylon-- there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.  On the willows there we hung up our harps.  For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How could we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?” 

(Psa 137:1-4 NRSV).

Rev. A. Roy Medley
General Secretary, American Baptist Churches USA