The enormity of the Rohingya refugee crisis--more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled their homes for Bangladesh--has led to some international awareness of the terrible persecution directed against the majority-Muslim ethnic minority in Burma (also known as Myanmar). First, They Erased Our Name provides a rare and valuable first-hand account from a Rohingya refugee, "an outlaw in my own country, an outlaw in the world." Habiburahman's story makes it clear that persecution of the Rohingya started long before their plight became internationally known.
The title refers to a law passed in 1982 by the dictator U Ne Win, which tied Burmese citizenship to membership in one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups. The Rohingya were not included in the recognized groups, effectively rendering them stateless when the author was only three years old. Habiburahman chronicles the challenges of growing up in the face of relentless prejudice. The taunts and insults directed at him from his peers hint at the growing threat posed by mob violence as well as the risk of arrest and brutal treatment from soldiers or the police. His family survives through a mix of resilience and canniness--Habiburahman's father is careful always to have money on hand to pay bribes and arbitrary "taxes" on Rohingya.
Despite Habiburahman's efforts to get an education, circumstances eventually force him to flee Burma and set out on a harrowing refugee odyssey that ends in Australia. Habiburahman's story takes place before the heights of the campaign against the Rohingya, and shows how racial animus escalated and merged with government policy to create the present crisis. --Hank Stephenson, manuscript reader, the Sun magazine