Burma and Rankine state
background
The tears of Rohingya Muslims shook the world once more. UN and other human
rights organizations are really concerned with the situation building up in
Rakhine state,Myanmar. This is not the first time the world witnessed the ill
treatment of rohingyan's by the Burmese government. Many call it as the ''Ethnic
cleansing ''. But the case of Rohingyan's is yet not clear to many. The
South-East Asia is one of the most understudied region in the worlds especially
from Geopolitical, religious and strategic point of view,Before,coming towards
the current crisis the things must be put in the factual context. Rohingya
during 8th century had Independent kingdom in Arakan, now know as Rankine state
in a modern Myanmar. In 1784 Burma king Bodawpaya conquered Arakan and thousands
flew to Bengal. In 12th century Muslim Arab traders came and Islam spread across
the South-East Asian region . Even thought the region remained the centre of
Buddhism. Many prominent Islamic personalities belong to this South east Asian
region including the lights of Ibn Batuta who lived in Malaysia. . In 1942 Japan
captured Burma from Britain. Three years later Britain re captured Burma from
Japan with help of Burmese nationalist led by Aung San. Rohingyan wanted a
separate state for Arakan . In 1948 during the partition as Majority of
Bengali's and Rohingyans were Muslims so they voted for Pakistan. But just like
Kashmir's, Rohingyan's are still struggling for right to self-determination.
Start of crisis
Later in 1962 General NE Win and Burma socialist seized power and rift between
the Arakan and Burma got worse lead to 1977 operation ''Dragon King'' . The
operation lead to forced immigration of 2, 00 ,000 Rohingyan's toward
Bangladesh. But in 1982 Bangladesh passed new law declaring all the immigrants
during British rule as'' illegal'' . From 1990 to 2012 these people struck in
between Burma and Bangladesh. They don't have Nationality of either country they
don't have the right to buy house. Majority is living in camps with no basic
fundamental rights. No Food no water no Shelter. But the situation is not simple
as it looks, the current ethnic cleansing in Burma, deadly riots of 2012 by
Extremist buddisht on Rohingyan Muslims turned this Nationalistic issue into
''Ethno-National'' Issue. The anti-colonial forces in both Srilanka and Burma
were mostly lead by buddisht,which gave less space to the Muslim nationalist.
The rift between the Muslims and Buddhist is not only limited to Buram but is
part of greater ''Regional ethnic conflict'' spread across South-East Asia. The
case of Srilanka, Thailand and Malaysia is similar to Burma where the Separatist
nationalist conflicts are now turned into ''Ethno-Nationalist'' conflicts. The
Majority of Muslims living in Srilanka belong to Morr and Maly ethnic
communities. During the 26 years long Srilankan civil war Tamil tigers on number
of occasions attacked Muslim villages killing hundred of Muslims ,thousands were
expelled from their homes. This operation by the ''Tamil Tigers'' was aimed to
establish mono ethnic Tamil state in Srilanka . Thailand is facing the same
difficulty with different nationalist and religious separatist groups aimed at
independent state in Malay,Patani region of Thailand, which is also know as
Southern border Provinces(SBP) .
Rise of Buddisht terror
The South-East Asian region after 2001 is on the verge of ''Buddhist
extremism''. The extremist buddisht monk Ashin Wirathu of group 969 was jailed
by Burmese government in 2002 for the hate speech. On the other hand in Thailand
during the same period Malay insurgent attacked Buddhist monk, teachers and
Thailand government officials. During that period none of the country of
South-East Asia was facing Islamist militant threat but were seprationsit
nationalist movements spread across the region. The crisis gave birth to
extremist Buddhist movements in Thailand, Burma and Srilanka. In 2007 some
Buddhist scholars in Thailand made call to declare Buddhism as sate religion in
the new constitution but was later turned down by the constitution committee.
Most of South-East Asian countries like Srilanka.Myanmar, Thailand
constitutional give special privilege to Buddhism even the state are officially
Secular.In 2003 Ashin Wirathu who call himself ''Burmese Bin laden'' famous for
spreading extremist ideology was sentenced to 25 years in prison for hate
speech. But was released by the authorities in 2012 along with other political
prisoner's. The results of his release were worse than expected, deadly anti
Muslims riots in Meikitla,Tellingly and Oakkan killing hundreds of Muslims and
thousands were displaced. The whole Muslim villages turned into ashes in few
minutes. The heat of anti Muslim violence ignited by Burmese bin laden Ashin
Wirathu intensified and reached Srilanka. Following June 2014 deadly anit-Muslim
riots in Srilanka lead by Buddhist monk Galagoda Atte Gnanasara who is described
by some as Srilanka Ashin wirathu. The fascist extremist Buddhist group Bodu
bale Sena (BBP) meaning 'Army of Buddhist power'' was held responsible for the
deadly riots. Similarly, Buddhist movement in other parts of South-East Asia are
expanding their influence. Now with the crisis in the region turned
into''Ethno-Nationalist'' conflict. Many Jihadist group are emerging in the
region, the heat of war will only intensify if the actual issues are not
addressed properly. Governments in the region must protect the rights minorities
before the situation gets worse. Thailand's government had done many efforts to
stop this Nationalist issues turning into Ethnic but every time Thai government
give privileges to minorities the government faces backlash from extremist
Buddhist organizations. . The extremist ideology prevailing in the region must
be addressed by the intellectual scholars . The governments must mainstream the
minorities and the nationalist. For long term solutions political dialogue is
inevitable otherwise the region will not taste peace for long.