TERRORISM DILEMMAS AND DEMOCRACY the economic benefits that are the sole entitlement of citizens. Such thinking is especially problematic considering the Rohingya are not merely foreign nationals seeking refuge in Bangladesh, they are stateless people moving from statelessness to refuge—as such they are entitled neither to Myanmar’s economic wealth nor Bangladesh’s. A more logical frame in this instance would be to view wealth distribution as a regional issue—within the context of Krishna’s view of Southeast Asia as a ‘space marked by highly decentralised nation-states’ with a ‘pluralist sense of national identity’ (1999). The Rohingya as victims The analysis of victim frames was most notably identified by Van Gorp (2005), who presented them in connection with a victim-intruder frame couplet in his research on the coverage of asylum seekers in eight Belgian newspapers. As observed in Van Gorp’s study there was significant crossover between the two frame sets, more so in The Daily Star than in Van Gorp’s study. While this article draws upon Van Gorp’s seminal work on the victimintruder frame, it does not attempt to quantify the frame sets in The Daily Star coverage. Instead it focuses on presenting an inductive analysis of a sub-set of frames under the victim frame, to further understand how this family of frames define problems and diagnose causes, make moral judgments and offer remedies. // Rohingya as victims /// alleging victimisation /// generalisation of victimisation to all Muslims /// shifting victimisation solely to Myanmar /// capacity for humanitarianism as finite The sub-frames that define problems and diagnose causes, either alleged victimisation or shifted blame for victimisation squarely to Myanmar. They also generalised the persecution to all Muslims shifting the focus away from the Rohingya—which was a thornier issue for Bangladesh. Alleging victimisation: In alleging victimisation, the framing allows for contestation of the Rohingya’s refugee status, which in turn allows Bangladesh to dismiss persecution as an internal matter for Myanmar. ‘To be eligible as a refugee, there must be “well-founded fear of persecution” by the state. The present unrest emanated from an allegedly criminal act on a Buddhist female by some Rohingyas and did not arise from persecution by the authorities. It is considered as a law and order issue for Myanmar,’ barrister Harun Ur Rashid wrote on 20 June 2012 (The Daily Star, June 20, 2012). This frame has mellowed over time, especially in the aftermath of the 2016-17 violence. This is not to say the newspaper was impervious to the humanitarian drama 268 PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 25 (1 & 2) 2019