Myanmar’s Democratic Transition 269 from these camps is also well-documented.36 In Malaysia, Rohingya refugees are perceived as illegal migrants and are vulnerable to detention. In Thailand, Rohingya have ended up in the hands of traffickers or are being held indefinitely in crowded detention centres.37 Despite United Nations appeals, Thailand and Bangladesh pushed asylum-seekers back out to sea in 2009, 2011, and 2012.38 4 Analysis and Conclusions Cultural and religious differences, legacies of colonial policies, postcolonial nationalism oriented around ethnic Burmese and Buddhist identity, and lack of consensus on historical records partly explain why the Rohingya have not become part of Myanmar’s national identity. Statelessness is thus a consequence and a cause of their continuing marginalisation. Without citizenship, they do not ‘belong.’ This perception has translated into discrimination, deprivation of rights, and violence.39 Advocacy groups and international leaders have increasingly warned that tensions in Arakan and the lack of long-term solutions for the Rohingya could undermine Myanmar’s reform process and impose regional consequences.40 36 37 38 39 40 Lynn Yoshikawa and Melanie Teff, ‘Bangladesh: The Silent Crisis’ Refugees International Field Report (19 April 2011). John Sparks (n 33). See also IRIN, ‘Analysis: In Search of a Regional Rohingya Solution’ IRINNews (26 July 2013) (stating that ‘nearly 2,000 Rohingya men, women, and children are now in immigration detention centres and government shelters in Thailand’) <http:// reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/analysis-search-regional-rohingya-solution> accessed 24 September 2013. IRIN, ‘Analysis: In Search of a Regional Rohingya Solution’ (n 37) (stating that ‘nearly 2,000 Rohingya men, women, and children are now in immigration detention centres and government shelters in Thailand’). See Benjamin Zawacki (n 12) 18 (claiming that systematic discrimination against the Rohingya ‘makes such direct violence against the Rohingya far more possible and likely than it would be otherwise’); Lawi Weng, ‘Anti-Rohingya Demonstrators in Arakan Are Assembly Law’s Latest Victims’ The Iriwaddy (5 September 2013) (‘Protesters argued that the Rohingyas—who are not granted Burmese citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law—had no right to a land claim in Kyauktaw.’). See UN HRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar’ (6 March 2013) UN Doc A/HRC/22/58, para 46. (‘The Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana believes that Rakhine State is going through a profound crisis that threatens to spread to other parts of the country and has the potential to undermine the entire reform process in Myanmar.’). tilburg law review 19 (2014) 261-275