{"id":100856,"date":"2017-10-30T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=100856"},"modified":"2017-10-28T10:46:59","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T09:46:59","slug":"myanmar-must-nurture-its-people-as-assets-not-treat-them-as-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/10\/myanmar-must-nurture-its-people-as-assets-not-treat-them-as-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar Must Nurture Its People as Assets, Not Treat Them as \u2018Threats\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

22 Oct 2017 – Dr. Maung Zarni is a dissident Burmese Buddha scholar, now exiled in London. He\u00a0has been fighting relentlessly to thwart what he coined \u201cSlow Genocide\u201d that was hatched against the Rohingyas in 1966. Dainik Shiksha finds him as a \u201cConscience of the Burmese nation.\u201d Dr Zarni is likely to visit Bangladesh next month on the eve of the historic visit of Pope Francis. \u00a0We have reproduced here one of his recent articles published in The Wire on 14 July 2017. \u00a0\u201cIn\u00a0society at large, Islamophobia, dating back to the colonial era and violent anti-Rohingya racism have poisoned the minds of a generally acquiescing and decent public.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Maung Zarni and Aung San Suu Kyi<\/p><\/div>\n

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmar\u2019s defence services, is currently on a goodwill visit to India at the invitation of navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, visiting places of military interest, meeting with Myanmar military officers enrolled in post-graduate programs at Purnea, and learning about the capacity and hardware used by the Indian Armed Forces at Ahmednagar.<\/p>\n

The Burmese general would do well to\u00a0soak in the teachings of\u00a0Gautam Buddha, Ashoka, Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhiji, who propagated ideals of reconciliation, peace and universal loving kindness, while touring the military facilities and meeting with India\u2019s modern warriors.<\/p>\n

After all, despite it being home to one of the world\u2019s longest civil wars and political strife, the Burmese general\u2019s society still has the potential for reconciliation and peace among the warring parties. Hlaing knows this\u00a0in his heart.<\/p>\n

On June 30 in Yangon, something extraordinary happened that lifted the spirit of Myanmar\u2019s people \u2013 the generals, National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters, political exiles, journalists and the multi-ethnic population at large.<\/p>\n

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Aung La Nsang made history by becoming the Myanmar\u2019s first-ever world champion in any sport. Three judges unanimously declared him the winner in the nationally televised match against the defending middleweight champion Vitaly Bigdash from Russia.<\/p>\n

Following Nsang\u2019s victory at Thuwunna stadium, another extraordinary thing happened. Hlaing issued an official statement of\u00a0\u00a0congratulations, saying the ethnic Kachin fighter embodied\u00a0the indomitable spirit of Myanmar and was the pride of the nation.<\/p>\n

Nsang was invited to the defence ministry and presented with a cash award as a token of appreciation and recognition by representatives of all three branches of Myanmar\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n

As an ethnic Burmese on the other end of the political spectrum from the Tatmadaw\u2019s leaders, I uncharacteristically welcomed the military\u2019s gesture towards Nsang as symbolically and psychologically significant. I celebrated what I saw as a son of Myanmar making the entire nation proud. A nation that has for so long been fractured along ethnic and religious lines.<\/p>\n

While the country\u2019s Aung San Suu Kyi-led, military-backed peace process is running aground, and the UN Human Rights Council bangs on the country\u2019s door to allow a fact-finding mission to visit its conflict zones, the emergence of a world champion is an very\u00a0rare moment of jubilation.\u00a0But as a son of Myanmar myself, I can\u2019t help but ask a painful question: in our long-running civil wars and waves of racial and religious violence, how many Nsangs have we killed, maimed or otherwise destroyed?<\/p>\n

Nsang is no ordinary fighter. In earlier wins outside of Myanmar, Nsang wrapped himself in the flag of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and publicly expressed his desire for peace in his war-torn birthplace, Kachin State.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the\u00a0South China Morning Post<\/em>\u00a0quoted\u00a0the new champion<\/a>\u00a0as saying, \u201cI hope to be an inspiration to the people of Myanmar. This is for them\u2026. It feels like I am very blessed and hopefully I can bring blessings to other people as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am inspired by this to suspend the scepticism of my intellect, born out of nearly 30 years of political involvement in Burmese affairs as a grassroots activist, hoping that such a nationwide moment of pride may awaken our own better selves, along with a realisation that we are bound as those who \u201cdrink the same water and live on the same land\u201d. This bond may have been damaged by decades of war and political strife, but it certainly is not dead.<\/p>\n

War, danger and strife<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost 250 years after the founding \u2013 on ethnic Mon land, no less \u2013 of Myanmar\u2019s former capital of Yangon, whose name means \u201cend of war, danger and strife,\u201d the country\u2019s conflicts have multiplied, expanded and deepened. This is largely thanks to misguided political decisions that, in turn, compound the violence and suffering we have inherited.<\/p>\n

The result is the ongoing displacement of communities, so much so that Myanmar is now\u00a0ranked<\/a>\u00a0eighth in the world in its outflow of refugees. The number of forced migrants, according to the recently released UN Global Trends report, topped 490,000 at the end of 2016.<\/p>\n

This increase is mainly\u00a0due to the large numbers of Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing the western region of Rakhine or Arakan to Bangladesh. Here, a 50-year-old strategy aimed at controlling and managing cross-border migration among Rohingya Muslims of Northern Rakhine, has degenerated into one of widespread concern for sustained atrocities.<\/p>\n

In the Shan and Kachin highlands, the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire agreement between the KIO and Myanmar\u2019s former government led by Thein Sein has had a devastating impact on the country\u2019s commercial and political transformation, as well as on the many different ethnic communities that live in the strategic Sino-Burmese borderlands.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0society at large, Islamophobia, dating back to the colonial era, and violent anti-Rohingya racism have poisoned the minds of a generally acquiescing and decent public.<\/p>\n

In addition to this, the military\u2019s arrest of Burmese journalists from the Irrawaddy and the Democratic Voice of Burma, and the NLD government\u2019s dismissal of the outrage over media freedom as \u201clow priority\u201d, marks a re-emergence of hostilities between the country\u2019s ruling institutions and the press \u2013 a crucial pillar of civil society.<\/p>\n

While blame and responsibilities may be apportioned, Myanmar now needs to take a deep, collective breath as a multi-ethnic nation so that we may regain our common moral sense of what is in the nation\u2019s long-term best interests.<\/p>\n

A cathartic moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

While our shared sentiments of jubilation over Nsang\u2019s\u00a0supreme victory are still fresh, people from Myanmar\u00a0who care about the well-being and future of our birthplace must honestly and critically reflect on the futility of continuing conflicts over claims and counter-claims of our contributions, histories, territories, revenues, resources and entitlements.<\/p>\n

Myanmar is blessed with trillions of dollars worth of natural resources, both above and below ground, tapped and untapped. But more importantly, Myanmar\u2019s people are its\u00a0greatest asset, its\u00a0most potent creative energy. Our strength in unity as an incredibly diverse ethnic community has been damaged, and even destroyed, with each passing year of unresolved conflict.<\/p>\n

Having worked intimately and transparently with Burmese military leaders, I know that there are members of the Tatmadaw who are keen to push for a more representative government in Myanmar. Despite differences of opinion on how to go about instituting such a government, we share a common desire for a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Union of Myanmar.<\/p>\n

A young colonel, who is now a four-star general in the commander-in-chief\u2019s office, asked me ten years ago: \u201cDo you think Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the only person among us who can bring about democratisation in our country?\u201d He didn\u2019t mean it rhetorically and was keen to know my honest answer.<\/p>\n

My response then was \u201cno\u201d. And it remains unequivocally so.<\/p>\n

But neither the military nor NLD leaders can expect to succeed in their one-year-old joint effort at facilitating a democratic transition without the inspired participation of the public. Nor can these powerful military figures and popular political parties accomplish their stated objectives of defending and developing a multi-ethnic Myanmar until and unless there is a fundamental shift in their mindsets.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a national tragedy or a moment of collective jubilation can serve as a cathartic moment, from which springs a nation\u2019s revival, renewal and reconciliation. Again as a Burmese whose family has over three generations had organic ties with the military, I hope\u00a0that Nsang\u2019s world championship may turn out to be one such moment for our country.<\/p>\n

Nurture, rather than destroy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leaders from both the NLD and the military must see in every person who calls Myanmar their birthplace a potential Nsang, an embodiment of pride for our multi-ethnic nation, an asset to our national defence and a building block for our development.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u00a0are blessed with many Nsangs in various fields such as journalism, civil society development, human rights promotion, minority rights protection, as well as in the creative domains of art and literature, science and technology, medicine and engineering, agriculture and forestry, interfaith harmony and peace-building, environmental protection and scholarship.<\/p>\n

Internationally, many of Myanmar\u2019s distinguished sons and daughters have \u2013 as refugees, expatriates, and exiles \u2013 worked in \u201cworld class\u201d institutions or independently.<\/p>\n

Myanmar does not need to wait for a new generation of citizens to emerge. The country\u2019s leaders need to realise and appreciate the potentially invaluable contributions that the yet-to-be recognised Nsangs could make towards peace, security, development and harmony.<\/p>\n

Militaries, political parties, religious organisations and virtually all communities have made mistakes \u2013 some grave and consequential. No nation or national institution is complete, finished or beyond redemption. Therefore, it is not too late for the\u00a0Myanmar community to turn the land we love into one that nurtures rather than destroys future Nsangs, irrespective of differences in migratory histories, faiths or opinions.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful if all Burmese citizens\u00a0could be brought together into a national programme in which they were encouraged to share their opinions and expertise, publicly and privately, towards the shared goal of building a true democratic Union of Myanmar?<\/p>\n

\u200bAs evidenced in Britain\u2019s Brexit and Trump\u2019s America, racism and prejudice divides and weakens nations. Myanmar must\u00a0overcome the weight of its\u00a0past, and embrace a reality where every one\u00a0\u2013\u00a0soldier and civilian, majority and minority, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim\u00a0\u2013\u00a0sees our individual achievements celebrated as those of one nation.\u200b<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

A Buddhist humanist from Burma, Maung Zarni is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment<\/a>, <\/em>former Visiting Lecturer with Harvard Medical School, specializing in racism and violence in Burma and Sri Lanka, and Non-resident Scholar in Genocide Studies with Documentation Center \u2013 Cambodia.\u00a0 His analyses have appeared in leading newspapers including the <\/em>New York Times, The Guardian and<\/em> the Times. Among his academic publications on Rohingya genocide are <\/em>The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar\u2019s Rohingyas (Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal), <\/em>An Evolution of Rohingya Persecution in Myanmar: From Strategic Embrace to Genocide, (Middle East Institute, American University), and <\/em>Myanmar\u2019s State-directed Persecution of Rohingyas and Other Muslims (Brown World Affairs Journal, forthcoming). He holds a PhD (U Wisconsin at Madison) and a MA (U California), and has held various teaching, research and visiting fellowships at the universities in Asia, Europe and USA including Oxford, LSE, UCL Institute of Education) , National-Louis, Malaya, and Brunei. He is the recipient of the “Cultivation of Harmony” award from the Parliament of the World’s Religions (2015).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 All rights reserved 2010-2017<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 dainikshiksha.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22 Oct 2017 – \u201cIn society at large, Islamophobia, dating back to the colonial era and violent anti-Rohingya racism have poisoned the minds of a generally acquiescing and decent public.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}