Aung Zaw, the editor of the independent
Chiang Mai-based Irrawaddy Magazine, visited Rangoon earlier this week to
assess the situation after violence broke out in Burma’s western Arakan State.
This is his report, reprinted from The Irrawaddy.
Wednesday
in Rangoon I witnessed firsthand the tensions that are gripping not only Arakan
State, where days of sectarian violence have raged, but also, increasingly,
other parts of Burma.
Walking
around the city, I saw Buddhists and Muslims smiling as they came and went from
temples and mosques that were full of people praying for peace. At the same
time, however, I noticed that police had been deployed near Shwedagon and Sule
pagodas, the city’s most famous religious shrines.
“I
think the most important lesson we need to learn from it is the need for rule
of law,” Suu Kyi told journalists after a speech in Switzerland on her first
trip out of the country since she was confined to her home in Rangoon 25 years
ago, referring to the ethnic and religious violence in different parts of
Myanmar. “We have said again and again … that rule of law is essential if we
are to put an end to all conflict in our country. Without the rule of law such
communal strife will only continue. We need the cooperation of all peoples to
bring this to an end.”
Beneath
its calm exterior, Rangoon seems to be bracing for an outbreak of sectarian
conflict. The question on everyone’s lips is whether the violence in Arakan
State will spread to Burma’s largest city, which is home to people of many
faiths, including Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus.
One man
I spoke to, a businessman, said that he has enough food and water in his house
to last a month—just in case. He even confided that his stockpile included
weapons.
But
even as fear of religious conflict grips the city, there are many who insist
that the situation in Arakan State is not really about religion at all. One
prominent public figure taking this position is Ko Ko Gyi, the 88 Generation
leader who last week declared that the “Rohingya issue”—that is, the status of
Arakan State’s Muslim minority—is essentially a matter of sovereignty.
When I
asked him what he meant by this, he said that it wasn’t for other countries to
decide who qualifies to be recognized as a citizen of Burma. He said he
sympathized with the Rohingya, many of whom have suffered as refugees in other
countries, but added that they still could not be considered one of Burma’s 135
ethnic groups.
Some
non-Burmese have reacted to Ko Ko Gyi’s remarks with a certain amount of
consternation, believing that he, as a former political prisoner, should have
stood up for the rights of an undeniably oppressed group. But inside Burma, his
words were welcomed and spread quickly on Facebook, while local journals that
reported his views soon sold out. The consensus among Burmese, it seems, is
that the Rohingya are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh—a view that
also treats this as an issue of sovereignty rather than religious animosity.
Indeed,
many—especially ethnic Arakanese—have been resentful of the portrayal of this
as a religious conflict, even though many have resorted to racial and religious
slurs in their verbal attacks on the “Bengalis,” as they prefer to call the
Rohingya.
The
Arakanese are fiercely proud of their ethnic identity, even drawing a strong
line between themselves and their fellow Buddhists, the ethnic Burman majority.
In the minds of many Arakanese, then, this is a struggle to preserve that
identity. They believe that if they don’t push back against the Rohingya, their
own culture will be threatened by an influx of “aliens” from a country many
times more populous than their own homeland.
For
other observers, however, the concerns are very different, but no less pressing.
Tin Oo, a veteran leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, which
just months ago finally joined the government-led reform process by entering
Parliament, told me he worried that the violence in Arakan State could delay
this delicate transition to a more democratic form of governance.
As a
former commander-in-chief of Burma’s armed forces who was once posted in Arakan
State, Tin Oo said that the region has always had the potential to become a
breeding ground for sectarian violence. If it finally realizes that potential
now, it could be a serious setback for those arguing for the need to open the
country further, he said.
So far,
President Thein Sein has handled the situation in Arakan State carefully,
imposing a state of military emergency under Section 413 of the country’s 2008
Constitution—the first since his government came into power last year—but also
urging all sides to set aside their differences in a television address to the
country.
“If we
stick to endless hatred and revenge by killing each other, it’s possible that
the danger will be more widespread, not only in Arakan State,” warned Thein
Sein, adding that the country’s “fledgling democracy” could easily become a
casualty of the violence.
I
happened to be with a group of former generals during the broadcast of Thein
Sein’s speech, but it was difficult to know what they thought about the issue.
One who was sitting next to me signaled his agreement with the president’s
words, but then fell silent, as if resigned to the cycle of violence that seems
to fuel conflict after conflict in the country.
Many
people I spoke with agreed that this was a major challenge for Thein Sein.
“It’s not going to be an easy ride,” said one diplomat.
While
it was still far from clear how this situation would turn out for the
president, some observers seemed relieved when he allowed senior UN officials
to visit Arakan State—in marked contrast to the former regime’s instinctive
impulse to hide the country’s dirty laundry from the eyes of outsiders. Some
long-time political observers whispered, however, that hardline elements within
the military may have had a hand in the violence, though they could offer no
hard evidence. Others said that the army wanted to launch a military operation
to drive out the Rohingya, but the president did not give the green light.
In an
effort to increase transparency, last week the government formed a committee to
investigate the rape and murder of an ethnic Arakanese woman that sparked the
violence, as well as the lynching of a group of Muslims that led to a series of
attacks and counterattacks by Rohingya and Arakanese mobs.
While
many educated Burmese saw this as a step in the right direction, on the
streets, popular opinion was more in favor of taking a hard line against the
Rohingya.
Many
decried the corruption of immigration officials, who they blamed for letting
the “Bengalis” into the country in the first place. One wealthy businessman,
who had hastily raised a large amount of money to donate to Arakanese displaced
by the violence, even suggested building a strong fence to defend the country
from further incursions.
Even a
veteran political activist bristled when he heard that the US had expressed
concern over the Rohingya issue. “I want to know how the US handles its border
with Mexico and how they treated Muslims after 9/11,” he said angrily.
In the
absence of any hard information about what is actually happening in Arakan
State right now—due, in part, to government efforts to rein in “irresponsible”
media—and the lack of a healthy, rational debate on the status of the Rohingya,
it seems unlikely that the situation there will improve anytime soon. And
that’s bad news for everybody.
Aung
Zaw
Asia
Sentinel
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment