Myanmar govt fails to prevent bloodshed
The recent clashes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State that have forced more than 18,000 Rohingya people to flee to Bangladesh reflects the repeated failure of the Myanmar government to prevent bloodshed.
Instead, the government has further inflamed ethnic conflicts that have spiralled into deadly violence.
Authorities in Myanmar reported that about 100 people have been killed since militants from the Muslim insurgency group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), launched unprecedented attacks on Aug 25 on army and police outposts near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.
The attacks prompted Myanmar’s security forces to launch brutal counteroffensive operations. Soldiers have been accused of shooting indiscriminately at unarmed Rohingya, including children and women, destroying their homes and forced the Rohingya minority to flee their villages to Bangladesh.
The Myanmar government has blamed the violence on the ASRA.
The ASRA, which has declared it will defend the disenfranchised Rohingya, emerged in October last year when its members claimed responsibility for attacks on three police posts which killed nine border officers and set off months of counterinsurgency operations against the Rohingya.
Since the attack last year, the Myanmar army has declared war against “extremist Bengali terrorists”, refusing to call them Rohingya or insurgents. Rakhine State’s townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung have since been raided by the army in its efforts to tackle the insurgency. The media has reported a surge in torture, rape and killing of Rohingya people in those areas.
With the escalation of the recent crisis, the office of national leader Aung San Suu Kyi has accused international aid workers of helping “terrorists”. This remark has raised fears for aid workers’ safety in Myanmar.
The Myanmar government has repeatedly blamed other parties, either the insurgency group or aid workers, whenever violence has erupted. It has refrained from pointing the finger at its own operations. It had also released confusing information which often contradicts that provided by the Rohingya.
A key problem that has caused the violence in Rakhine State continue is the choice by both the government and Buddhist nationalists to look at the issue from their own perspective.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has treated Rohingya Muslims as illegal migrants, giving them limited access to basic state services including education and job opportunities. The Rohingya are often subjected to land confiscation and denied Myanmar citizenship even though historical evidence shows that their predecessors settled in Myanmar from the 15th century.
During British rule in Myanmar, from 1824 to 1948, migrants from India and Bangladesh flooded into the ancient Arakan kingdom, part of present Myanmar, to work due to Britain’s quest for cheap labour.
The rapid increase in the presence of outsiders, who were granted benefits by the British rulers, sparked fears among Burmese and led to deeply rooted racism against Rohingya people for generations.
Through the lens of extreme Buddhist nationalists, the stateless Rohingya don’t deserve decent treatment.
The government’s use of the term terrorist has increased hatred against the Rohingya. With deepened hostility, some Myanmar people have even endorsed the torture and murder of Rohingya for the sake of the country’s security.
Thai officials also look at the Rohingya crisis from their own viewpoint when the problem crosses the border. Approaches by the Thai government have enabled human traffickers to exploit the Rohingya’s desperation to settle peacefully in other countries.
In 2015, Thai authorities discovered numerous abandoned jungle camps along the Thai-Malaysian border. Many weary smuggled Rohingya were found who had run away from the camps.
The camps were used by human traffickers to detain Rohingya refugees who had fled from the conflict in Rakhine State. Ransoms were demanded from the migrants or their families in exchange for smuggling them to third countries, either Malaysia or Indonesia.
Those who couldn’t afford the ransoms became victims of torture, rape and murder. The discovery of the camps led to the arrest of more than 103 high-ranking military and government officials and smugglers involved in trafficking.
The discovery of the Rohingya refugees has sparked debate in Thai society on whether the Thai government should allow more refugees into the country. Fierce objections erupted when Thai authorities suggested a need to build living facilities for the Rohingya.
However, some members of the international community have urged the governments of Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to accept the Rohingya who fled to their countries as refugees. They pointed out that these people couldn’t go back to their unsafe homes.
But those governments have mainly shown reluctance. Each country has its own issues ranging from security concerns to financial burdens and potential objections by its people. For them, embracing the Rohingya has been an uncomfortable idea.
Pressure has mounted on the Myanmar government to take the lead in solving its internal conflict. But the bloodshed has continued with the army and insurgents launching attacks and counter-offensives.
I would like to say that the Myanmar government and Buddhist nationalists can help solve the problem by trying to look at it by recognising universal principles.
They should try to leave their hatred and bias against the Rohingya behind and apply the following three principles.
First, respect for human rights. Whether a majority or a minority in a country, everyone should be treated based on the principles of human rights. They deserve equal treatment. For the crisis in Rakhine State, no one deserves to be killed just because they are seen as an enemy or outsider.
Second, all parties should try to adopt peaceful approaches, such as negotiation. This can pave the way for long-term solutions.
Third, the Myanmar government and its authorities should treat their people with dignity. Whenever any government suppresses people by limiting access to basic rights and opportunities and treating them differently to how it treats the majority of people, it takes away their pride. When a government dehumanises its minorities, that takes away their dignity.
When people lose their dignity, they are forced to live like they are in a dark hole. Some of them will resist by perhaps opting to use violence to regain their dignity. Then a war breaks out, similar to the situation in Rakhine State.
Some people may ask why we should we respect the dignity of insurgents, branded by the Myanmar government as “terrorists”, who have killed so many.
But the Myanmar government should ask itself too whether it had a role in giving birth to such an insurgency and escalating the violence.