Myanmar’s military coup: The Rohingya caught “Between the devil and the deep sea”

Abstract

This article explores the consequences of the recent military coup in Myanmar for the Rohingya crisis. Data from seven semi‐structured interviews were collected from academic and Rohingya leaders in the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The findings suggest that the regime change that has taken place will not resolve the Rohingya crisis unless the Myanmar government moves away from its current anti‐Rohingya, religious nationalism policy agenda. A military coup on 1 February 2021 overthrew the relatively new democratic government in Myanmar. The anti‐military movement now faces the military’s brutal force for restoring democracy in the country. The elected parliament members established an interim National Unity Government (NUG) to lead anti‐military protests. Regarding the military junta and NUG’s strategy concerning the Rohingya crisis, both aim to get international support for their endeavours. The Rohingya became a sacrificial lamb for both of these competitors. The Rohingya now face a dilemma in making the decision to support one or the other political parties, as the leaders of both parties were involved actively in instigating the Rohingya genocide in 2017. The situation for the Rohingya becomes complicated as they now find themselves caught between the ‘devil and the deep sea’.