1. INTRODUCTION
1.6. Literature review
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
1.5. Research method
I choose the literature – based study and explanatory type for research with qualitative approach to get into this topic and also, it can be useful to let me explain about the Rohingya situation in Myanmar. Secondary sources have been used for data collection which is based on content analysis. Books, journal articles, record of government and nongovernment organizations, media (newspaper and television) reports are the sources of data. Sources like United Nations, International Amnesty; important international organizations specially the UNHCR21 that played a specific and hard work in this issue are very crucial to get how they are dealing. The methodology will be focusing on the main analysis of both sides of the issue, starting from the explanation of the word Rohingya and how they were in Myanmar because to analyze this, we need to be able to understand the facts. Furthermore, the first stage will try to explain the historical background and the timeline to go into our topic. In the second stage I will explain some of the factors behind the Rohingya exclusion and how did the general public (Burmese) view the conflict and the figure of Aung San Suu Kyi who plays an important role in the government of Myanmar and as a symbol of democratization and peace. The third stage will talk about the main role of the ASEAN, and what the neighbor countries are doing about it.
The fourth stage will explain the role of the United Nations. And the final chapter will focus on the analysis of what could be a possible solutions and the conclusion.
1.6. Literature review
Based on some researchers like Saw, Tha. (2016)22, Burman majority do not consider the Rohingyas compatriots. Successive Burmese governments are accused of provoking the violence against the ethnic minority groups like the Rohingya and Chinese. Rohingya people are considered as one of the world’s most suppressed and deprived minorities. They have lost their citizenship in 1982 and they cannot travel without official permission. Their property, marriage and reproductive rights are strictly restricted.
According to Amnesty International Report 2004, the Muslim Rohingya people have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese junta since 1978 and many have fled to neighboring Bangladesh as a result, the Rohingyas' freedom of movement is severely restricted and the vast majority of them have effectively been denied Burma citizenship. They
21 United Nations High Commissions for Refugees
22 Saw, Tha. Wah - Explaining Myanmar's Foreign Policy Behavior: Domestic and International Factors Burma's Ethnic, 2006, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
are oppressed in various forms such as extortion, different taxation, land grabbing, eviction, and marriage restriction.
Wong, D., & Suan, T. (2012)23. mentioned Rohingyas used to work as forced labor on road construction and military camps, though it has been decreased in northern Rakhine state over the last decade. About 200,000 Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh in 1978 following Dragon King Operation (nagamin) by Myanmar army. Officially this campaign was operated aiming at scrutinizing the citizenry status and illegal foreigners were in targeted actions. This military campaign mainly targeted civilians and a wide spread killing, rape and other offensive activities occurred following the operation. During 1991-92 a new wave of over a quarter of million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. They reported widespread forced labor, as well as summary executions torture and rape.
As of 2005, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had been assisting with the repatriation of Rohingya from Bangladesh, but allegations of human rights abuse in the refugee camps have threatened this effort. Despite different sorts of efforts by the United Nations (UN) a huge number of Rohingya refugees have still remained in Bangladesh refugee camps and elsewhere. Actually they are presently not able to go back to their homeland because of the reluctances of the ruling authority and facing many humanitarian problems. In February 2009, many Rohingya refugees were rescued by Achenese sailors in the Strait of Malacca, after 21 days at sea.
Over the last several years, thousands of Rohingyas crossed to Thailand and some 111,000 refugees might have been stayed 9 camps along with the border areas. Many of them have been forcedly shipping out to open sea. In February 2009 there was evidence of the Thai army towing a boatload of 190 Rohingya refugees out to sea. In 2009 a group of refugees escaped by Indonesian authority and disclosed the horrific stories of persecution by Thai Army. A report shows that in this year 5 boats of Rohingyas were towed out to open sea and 4 out of them sank in a storm. In 2015 several numbers of massive grave-yards of Rohingya refugees are traced in Thailand and Malaysian borders. Moreover, in this year, thousands of Rohingyas are found floating on sea towards Malaysia for just survival. The horrible scenario of those trafficking efforts and thus cruel killings of their lives are reported in world media. In fact, violence, rape, torture and mass killings are encouraging the Rohingyas to be fled on water and other ways.
23 Wong, D., & Suan, T. (2012). “Looking for a Life”: Rohingya Refugee Migration in the Post-Imperial Age. In Kalir B. & Sur M. (Eds.), Transnational Flows and Permissive Polities: Ethnographies of Human Mobilities in Asia (pp. 75-90). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
‧
Though in 2009 about 9,000 Rohingyas were repatriated from Thai camps to Myanmar through diplomatic efforts, this was a very little repatriates.
Barry N. Stein24 point out a massive riot in 2012: The 2012 Rakhine State riots are a series of ongoing conflicts between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar.
K. M. Atikur Rahman25 for one side, marks the Rohingya situation as an ethnic conflict were the most essential problem is anarchism frequently take-off the statehood of some minorities-so international forums have to pay attention to the basic problems of the security. The Myanmar law enforcing agency and army has frequently been charged of mass arrests and violence of targeted Rohingya Muslims. A good number of monks’ organizations played a vital role to block any humanitarian aids for the Rohingyas. The Myanmar government in July 2012 excluded the Rohingya minority groups from the citizenship- classified as Bangladeshi Muslims since 1982 more than 130 ethnic groups are stripped from their citizenship. They are not voter and citizen of Myanmar even at present times
Nehginpao Kipgen26 says, the complexity of Rohingya problem fundamentally lies in the fact that they are not considered citizens of Myanmar. This makes the case unique from the rest of conflicts in the country. While other ethnic minorities demand autonomy under a federal set up, the Rohingya Muslims struggle to be recognized as one of the ethnic groups of the country The brutality of military dictatorship from 1962 to 2010 prevented any implosion or explosion of the simmering tension between Rakhines and Rohingyas.
As the country began to open up to the outside world and the people were gradually allowed to express their opinions more freely since 2011, the lingering tension between the two communities manifested in the form of a violent conflict.
Lex Rieffel27 mentioned in his article, the Rohingya situation involves relatively few people but may be the most difficult ethnic conflict to resolve. Muslim communities scattered across the country have existed for centuries, generally living peacefully among their Buddhist neighbors. One part of the Rohingya problem is that they reside in Rakhine State, one of
24 N. Stein, Barry (1997) “Refugee Repatriation, Return, and Refoulement During Conflict”, USAID Conference Promoting Democracy, Human Rights and Reintegration in Post-Conflict Societies (pp 13-15), Michigan State, Michigan State University
25Rahman, K. M. Atikur (2015) “Ethno-Political Conflict: The Rohingya Vulnerability in Myanmar”. Karimganj, Assam, India. International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies (IJHSSS), Volume-II, Issue-I.
(pp.288-295),
26Kipgen, Nehginpao (2013) “Conflict in Rakhine State in Myanmar: Rohingya Muslims' Conundrum”, Vol. 33, No. 2 Hyderabadj., India. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, University of Hyderabadj. (pp.298-310),
27 Rieffel, Lex (2019) “Peace in Myanmar depends on settling centuries’ old ethnic conflicts”, Interethnic Conflict and Genocide in Myanmar. Homicide Studies.
‧
Myanmar’s fourteen main administrative areas. The largest ethnic group in Rakhine State, The Rakhine Buddhists, deeply resent the country’s Bamar majority for suppressing them.
However, another part of the problem is conflicting narratives about the origins of the Rohingya people. It is clear that during the British rule from 1870s to 1948 Muslims immigrated to Myanmar from Colonial India, which included current day Bangladesh. Against all evidence, the Rohingya have been portrayed as an existential threat to the Rakhine Buddhists by outbreeding them with the aim of creating the country’s only Muslim-majority state.
Diana Wong and Tan Pok Suan28 referred that many people from other ethnic groups, including Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have been displaced and killed as well, reportedly in attacks by Rohingya insurgents, but the attacks on other groups have been nowhere of the scale of the attacks on the Rohingya.
Iftekharul Bashar29, explained the situation in Rakhine State as an ethnic conflict and Rohingya are not recognized as legitimate citizens of Myanmar both by Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law and the Buddhist majority especially in the Rakhine state. In 2014, Rakhine Muslims were mostly missed out of a controversial census — the first in three decades — because of fears that allowing someone to be registered as a Rohingya could amount to recognition of his citizenship which in turn would antagonize the Rakhine majority and further inflame tensions among the rival communities. Rohingya-Rakhine relations remain highly volatile and any small incident has the possibility to escalate into large scale of violence. In addition, there is a growing concern that tensions in the Rakhine state could be exploited by the transnational terrorist groups who are keen to wage an armed jihad against Naypyidaw30 for failing to recognize and protect its Muslim minority.
According to Jennifer Dhanaraj and Iftekharul Bashar,31 mentioned that International critics have condemned their perceived inaction (Aung San Suu Kyi council) against the Rohingya oppression, while Buddhist nationalists accuse the government of going soft on Muslim agitators in Rakhine. According to analysts, the emergence of armed groups and prominent Buddhist nationalist groups, introduces a disturbing new dynamic to Myanmar’s ethnic conflict that is likely to worsen, despite official efforts to curb the Ma Ba Tha and its hate campaign32.
28 Wong, D., & Suan, T. (2018) “Looking for a Life’ Rohingya Refugee Migration in the Post-Imperial Age”(pp.45-98), Amsterdam, Germany. Amsterdam University.
29 Iftekharul Bashar (2017) “Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses”, Singapore. International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. (pp.23-68)
30 Myanmar Capital.
31 Dhanaraj Jennifer and Iftekharul Bashar (2017) “Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses”, Vol. 11, No. 1, Annual Threat Assessment, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
32 Asia Times (2017) “Buddhist Extremism, Despite A Clampdown, Spreads In Myanmar,”
http://www.atimes.com/article/buddhist-extremism-despiteclampdown-spreads-myanmar/.
‧
The Rakhine state also faces a significant threat from the Arakan Army — a group claims to fight for the Rakhine Buddhist ethnic group. Last year, 2018, saw an escalation of violence in areas of the northern Rakhine state further from the Bangladesh border, which displaced more than 700 people. In December of the same year, the Myanmar’s military called a rare ceasefire against ethnic armed groups in the northeast of the country although Rakhine state was not included. Analysts have stated that the military left Rakhine out because it does not want the Arakan Army to gain a foothold in the state, and has lingering concerns over ARSA.33
Tin Maung Maung Than34 called this issue as a communal violence between Buddhists and the Muslim population self-identified as Rohingya that began in Myanmar’s western Rakhine (Arakan). Meanwhile, the population census became a contentious exercise colored by ethno-nationalism and identity politics. The problem centered on the ethnicity of Muslims in Rakhine State who identify themselves as ‘‘Rohingya’’ and speak a language of the same name but who are classified as ‘‘Bengali’’ by authorities. This episode highlighted the status of stateless Muslims in Rakhine and their demand to be classified as an indigenous ethnic group. Both Myanmar authorities and the majority Buddhist polity have always dismissed those claims, asserting that there has never been an indigenous ‘‘Rohingya’’ community, and those claimants are actually illegal ‘‘Bengali’’ migrants from neighboring Bangladesh.
Christopher Roberts35 first, suggests that Myanmar represents the single most significant obstacle to the formation of an ASEAN security community. However, this is ultimately more asserted than proven. Instability or ethnic conflict in Southeast Asia is evidently not limited to Myanmar; and it is quite clear that ASEAN's problems in developing a collective identity extend beyond the specific dynamics and issues that have shaped Myanmar's ties with other ASEAN countries. Second, Roberts attributes the festering of the crisis in Myanmar in part to
"the operative norms of ASEAN." While political and ethnic conflicts within member states have indeed normally not been collectively addressed by the grouping, it seems to me that the ASEAN states have with reference to Myanmar opted for so-called "enhanced interactions"
that have not previously been pursued vis-a-vis other members, and Roberts perhaps makes too little of this in relation to the argument in question. To be sure, ASEAN has wielded little if any influence with Myanmar's leadership, but as Roberts recognizes himself, the more
33 The Irrawaddy (2018) “Myanmar Says Policeman Found Dead Near Border With Banglades,”, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/myanmar-says-policemanfound-dead-near-border-bangladesh.html.
34 Than,Tin Maung Maung (2015) “Myanmar in 2014: Great Expectations Unfulfilled”, Vol. 55 No. 1, Asian Survey (pp.184-191), University of California.
35 Roberts, C. (2009). “The Evolution of Domestic Instability and its Extent in Myanmar” In ASEAN's Myanmar Crisis: Challenges to the Pursuit of a Security Community (pp. 52-78). ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
edged policies of Western powers towards Naypyidaw have failed to yield superior results.
Notwithstanding these points, Roberts offers a well-developed and important argument about how Myanmar matters in relation to ASEAN's efforts to build a security community.
David Weissbrodt and Clay Collins36 think that one of the most prominent ultra-nationalist movements is the Organization for the Protection of Race and Religion, or ‘Ma Ba Tha’, which is estimated to have hundreds of thousands of monks and lay-people from across the country as members. Although it insists that it seeks to promote Buddhist principles of peace and harmony, Ma Ba Tha has become a crucial source of support for hardline ethno-nationalists, who have successfully lobbied for, among other things, several controversial laws designed to protect Buddhist concerns, but viewed by religious minorities as discriminatory to their interests.
In the Rakhine state, human rights groups have criticized the state’s perceived inaction against Rohingya oppression while Buddhist nationalists accused the government of being soft on Muslim agitators. The recent upsurge in Bamar nationalism introduces a disturbing new dynamic to Myanmar’s ethnic-political conflict and there is a concern that, while the Myanmar authorities are ‘waiting for Ma Ba Tha’ to fade away, it continues to sink its roots further and has endangered an already fragile political transition
Elliott Prasse-Freeman37 explained, the heretofore marginal issue became central, and hence it became necessary to interpret the physical violence and its attendant discursive attacks.
Indeed, as half a century of military rule gave away to a new, more “open” society, the violence seemed to establish the definitions and limits of that society: at last something that the majority Burmese and Burma’s 135 “official” ethnic minorities could agree on.
However, instead of deflections, narratives of exclusion must be contested with positive articulations of what political belonging in Burma should look like. Instead of allowing Burma to tear itself apart, Burmese leaders and citizens need to create reasons why they should live together, given that despite the arbitrariness of nation-state borders, there are sociological realities that have real meaning for millions of people, Burmese included.
36 Weissbrodt S., David & Collins, Clay. (2006) “Buddhist Extremism in Sri Lanka and Myanmar” (pp.245-276), International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
37Prasse-Freeman, Elliott (2017) “Scapegoating in Burma”, Anthropology today, Vol. 33. Issue-6 (pp.
268-540), Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
CHAPTER 2 2. Theoretical Framework
This chapter provides the conceptual framework of the thesis, which is the components of political Buddhism. These concepts are ideologies, religious fundamentalism and nationalism and they are important to understand the construction of political Buddhism.
2.1. Important ideologies and term explanation 2.1.1. Ideologies – The study of the ideas
Within a historical perspective, the term idea in Greek has been used in philosophy for thousands of years. An idea can be seen as a mindset, which contrary to brief impressions or attitudes, is characterized by a stability or continuity. Furthermore, an idea or a mindset can be a construction, or an imagination of reality, which gives a conception of how to act.
Predetermined imaginations of reality can be presented as facts, which is why source criticism is important. Ideologies are perceived as collections of ideas concerning society and politics.
The term ideology grew common during the ninetieth century and derives from the Greek.
Ideologies are the study of ideas and Ball, Dagger, and O’Neill define ideologies as:
“a fairly coherent and comprehensive set of ideas that explains and evaluates social conditions, helps people understand their place in society, and provides a program for social and political action” (Ball, Dagger and O’Neill, 2017:6)38 Ideologies help to explain social, political and economic conditions and how people react to them (Ball et al., 2017:6). According to Ball, Dagger and O’Neill (2017:6) an ideology does four main functions who are: (1) explanatory, (2) evaluative, (3) orientate, and (4) programmatic. The explanatory functions provide meanings for why social, political and economic settings are as they are. The evaluative functions of an ideology work as a tool to assess social conditions. It tries to answer questions such as “are all wars evil to be avoided, or are some morally justifiable?” The orientate actions provide an ideology its sense of identity.
Who is the person within this ideology, what race, nation, sex does he or she belong to? Finally, the programmatic functions tell the followers of the ideology what they should do and how they should act doing so.
38 Ball, Terence; Dagger, Richard; and O’Neill, Daniel I. 2017. Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal. 10th edition. Routledge: New York and London. (pp.3-38)
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Different ideologies answer differently to each question, but they all try to describe the complex world we live in. Additionally, an ideology seeks to explain what its followers should do and how they should do it. All ideologies give a concept of how the social and the political life is, and how it should strive to be. This is to give inspiration to the followers of the ideology and give them incentives either to keep their way of life or to change it. Ideologies are not scientific although they often use scientific measures to explain things that happen in the world. For example, both Nazis and liberals have used Darwin’s theories of evolution to their own advantages. Likewise, there is a difference between a political philosophy and a political ideology. Even though they do similar things political ideologies simplifies the world and tries
Different ideologies answer differently to each question, but they all try to describe the complex world we live in. Additionally, an ideology seeks to explain what its followers should do and how they should do it. All ideologies give a concept of how the social and the political life is, and how it should strive to be. This is to give inspiration to the followers of the ideology and give them incentives either to keep their way of life or to change it. Ideologies are not scientific although they often use scientific measures to explain things that happen in the world. For example, both Nazis and liberals have used Darwin’s theories of evolution to their own advantages. Likewise, there is a difference between a political philosophy and a political ideology. Even though they do similar things political ideologies simplifies the world and tries