Jurnal Ilmiah Kajian Keimigrasian Politeknik Imigrasi Vol. 4 No. 1 Tahun 2021 ISSN: 2622 - 4828 117 ROHINGYA, A STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITION AS “INDIGENOUS” “Those, who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” -Philosopher George Santayana- Muhammad Busyairi 1 Bui Thi Kim Siem 2 ABSTRACT Rohingya first came to Arakan State, Burma (Myanmar) between the eighth and ninth centuries. They are a Muslim minority ethnic group who have been struggling for their indigenous identity. Their arrival in Arakan correlated with the British colonialism and Japanese colonialism (1942-1945) which played a crucial role in initiating the conflicts between Muslims and Buddhists. In consideration of various definitions, Rohingya are obviously defined indigenous because they have lived in a specific territorial for long with their own language, culture and religion. This paper aims to argue that the Rohingya issue should be seen as indigenous group. To address the issue, we use a qualitative approach relying on the available secondary sources by giving historical background, theoretical framework and discussing on inter-religious conflict issue, a form of struggle for indigenous recognition. It is found that despite qualifying the standards to be admitted as indigenous, the Rohingya have been still refused to be minority ethnic group, even not accepted to be legal citizen by the Myanmar government, they are seen as foreigners or illegal immigrants instead. Three lessons are learned from this study on the failure of Rohingya’s recognition. First, the two colonialists were the “dark records” of the Rohingya conflicts. Second, the Myanmar governments have not treated the Rohingya with fair and similar policy during the historical time. Third, all protests and demonstrations conducted throughout the world to condemn the Myanmar government and all financial supports should be done on behalf of humanity, not a religious-solidarity to avoid unexpected effects for inter-religion conflicts nationally and internationally. Keywords:Rohingya, Muslim,indigenous,recognition, identity, conflict, illegal immigrant. INTRODUCTION Rohingya is a Muslim minority group living in Arakan State, Burma (Myanmar) with an estimated population around 1.5 million including those who are in exile (Smith, Allsebrook, et al. 1994, p.30; Nemoto 1991; Mahmood, Wroe, et al. 2017). Some historians believe that Muslims first came to Arakan between the eighth and ninth 1 Muhammad Busyairi is an alumnus of Flinders University, Australia. He works in West Lombok Local Government, Indonesia, he could be contacted via busy0001@flinders.edu.au 2 Bui Thi Kim Siem is an alumnus of Flinders University, Australia. She works in Phu Yen Department of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam. She could be contacted via buithikimsiem@phuyen.gov.vn.