{"id":128687,"date":"2019-03-04T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=128687"},"modified":"2019-03-02T04:39:39","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T04:39:39","slug":"why-myanmar-must-develop-an-identity-of-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/03\/why-myanmar-must-develop-an-identity-of-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Myanmar Must Develop an Identity of Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report from the International Conference on Protection and Accountability in Burma, which called attention to the ongoing\u00a0human rights violations<\/a>\u00a0against\u00a0Rohingya Muslims and other religious minorities in the\u00a0Buddhist-majority country of Myanmar.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Khin Mai Aung (center) at the International Conference on Protection and Accountability in Burma with Maung Zarni at her left.<\/p><\/div>\n

28 Feb 2019 – <\/em>On February 8 and 9, the Free Rohingya Coalition<\/a> \u2013 a global advocacy group led by prominent Rohingya activists and allies \u2013 hosted the International Conference on Protection and Accountability in Burma (now called Myanmar) at Barnard College in New York City. The conference \u2014 at which I was an organizer and a speaker \u2014 sought to <\/a>raise awareness about \u201cthe twofold need [for] protection and accountability\u201d for the human rights of Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar. Scholars, lawyers, activists, and United Nations officials gathered at the convening to identify strategies to curb serious human rights violations in Myanmar, which include discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, jailing and intimidation of journalists, and other abuses.<\/p>\n

Within the Burmese diaspora, the event was controversial. On Facebook, a Burmese language post alleged that \u201call Myanmar and Rakhine people should be wary of this Muslim funded event which advocates for the takeover of the land and religion of Myanmar,\u201d and called for \u201cprotection and vigilance\u2026 from both inside and outside the country.\u201d The Rakhine are a predominantly Buddhist ethnic minority who have historically lived alongside the Muslim Rohingyas in western Myanmar. Relations between the Rakhine and Rohingya have taken center stage in Myanmar as religious tensions between Buddhists and Muslims surged across the country, as well as a wave of religious nationalism from Buddhist extremists \u2013 culminating in Myanmar\u2019s massive genocidal expulsion of the Rohingya in fall 2017.<\/p>\n

Buddhism has always played a central role in Myanmar\u2019s identity, but growing up Burmese American I saw Myanmar\u2019s significant ethnic and religious diversity through rose-colored lenses. Interethnic and interreligious friendships were common among in my family\u2019s social circle when we lived there as well as after our departure, and I wanted to believe my country of birth was tolerant and inclusive. But as communal tensions flared in recent years, I wondered whether these tensions are really new or if they were always festering beneath the surface. I asked a handful of conference participants and others for their thoughts on these issues.<\/p>\n

“Buddhism and Myanmar are inextricably linked \u2014 a connection I believe to be dangerous to the health of democracy in Myanmar and to Buddhism itself.”
\n<\/em><\/strong>— Hein Win Aung<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some of the participants pointed out that even if religious discord is now more commonplace, Myanmar has experienced significant religious turmoil in the past. \u201cMyanmar has a history of cycling between overt intolerance and relative acceptance,\u201d said one Burmese Buddhist who declined to be identified. \u201cMoments of aggressive, physically violent persecution are often sandwiched between lulls of moderate acceptance, though institutional discrimination and social prejudices continue to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hein Win Aung (no relation to this writer) is a Burmese Buddhist who grew up in the United States. \u201cA look back at Burmese history reveals so-called Buddhist Bamar kings forcing religion and rule over other peoples,\u201d he says. (The Bamar are the country\u2019s predominantly-Buddhist majority ethnic group, which today constitutes about 60% of the country\u2019s population.) Indeed, the 20th century in Myanmar saw bloody riots targeting individuals of Chinese and South Asian heritage \u2013 some of whom had lived there for centuries \u2013 as well as aggressive Burmanization of ethnic and religious minorities by the Bamar both prior to and after the British era.<\/p>\n

The root of Myanmar\u2019s ongoing struggle with pluralism lies in its rigid national identity, with Buddhism at its heart. \u201cBuddhism and Myanmar, the nation, are inextricably linked,\u201d said Hein Win Aung, \u201ca connection I believe to be dangerous to the health of democracy in Myanmar and to Buddhism itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maung Aye is a Burmese Muslim who immigrated to the United States. \u201cWhen I was young, there was much more religious tolerance,\u201d he says. \u201cThe more you go back in the past, the more religious harmony you will find\u2026 Religious tensions are increasing, especially between Muslims and Buddhists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stella Naw, a Christian of the Kachin ethnic minority, says that the increase in Buddhist nationalism has been stoked by the military and the government. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say Burma has been a religiously tolerant state in my lifetime,\u201d says Naw. \u201cIt\u2019s the communities that lived peacefully.\u201d\u00a0 Like Maung Aye, she blames \u201ccarefully constructed propaganda\u201d and \u201cnationally designed policies to turn religious communities against each other\u201d and foment religious discord. Naw also pointed out that Buddhists and Bamars dominate Myanmar\u2019s government and military. An officer in the military, she notes, would be \u201cprevented from any further promotion\u201d for marriage to a non-Buddhist.<\/p>\n

The link between Buddhism and Myanmar is so pervasive and insidious that many are unable to distinguish between the Burmese national identity and Buddhism as a religion practiced by most \u2013 but not all \u2013 Burmese. One Burmese Buddhist participant told me anonymously, \u201cUntil I was into my late teens, I didn\u2019t even know that there were non-Buddhist Burmese\u2026 I hear people call Myanmar a \u2018Buddhist country\u2019 \u2013 as opposed to a Buddhist-majority<\/em> country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will say \u2018I don\u2019t have anything against the Muslims, but they need to act like guests,\u2019\u201d she continued.\u00a0 Today, there is no room within Myanmar\u2019s identity for meaningful religious inclusion. Minorities are automatically accorded outsider status. This othering persists, even during the country\u2019s \u201clulls of moderate acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myanmar needs protection and accountability. In Myanmar today, calls to protect the rights of vulnerable minorities are misperceived as affronts against the majority \u2014 a hostile \u201ctakeover\u201d by Muslim outsiders of Myanmar\u2019s land and religion. This inversion of reality demonstrates why we must hold Myanmar accountable for its misdeeds, protect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, support civil society activists in the country, and promote religious inclusion in Myanmar\u2019s national identity.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________________-<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Khin Mai Aung has written about civil rights issues in publications such as the <\/em>New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post and<\/em> Salon, and was formerly a lawyer at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

28 Feb 2019 – Report from the International Conference on Protection and Accountability in Burma, which called attention to the ongoing human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims and other religious minorities in the Buddhist-majority country of Myanmar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":128688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-updates-on-myanmar-rohingya-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128687","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=128687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}