Myanmar is an Indochina country formerly known as Burma. It has experienced a very long civil war turmoil. Since its independence in 1948, Burma has often faced ethnic conflict that has been criticized by other nations. Aung San Suu Kyi, a statesman who won the Nobel peace prize in 1991, was not considered serious in dealing with the prolonged conflict in his country.
In response to the Rohingya conflict that is currently the world’s attention, and Indonesia, SEA Talks # 17 this time invited Dr. Budiawan, a lecturer in Study Program of Culture and Media of UGM Graduate School as a speaker. The topic presented was “The Rohingya Crisis and the Nationalist-Religious Problems” beginning with the historical tracking of Rohingyas to the assumptions that drive genocide crimes against Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar. This discussion was opened with the exposure of opinion from several Indonesian figures and institutions who asserted that the Rohingya crisis is not only a religious conflict but multidimensional. To quote Dr. Budiawan, “Rohingya crisis is not a religious conflict in the sense of being a conflict let alone solely because of religious differences, but the Rohingya crisis can not be separated from the issue of religious and ethnic differences between ethnic Burmese (Buddhist) and ethnic Rohingya (Muslim).
Myanmar is a British colony that has a long history of power shifts. Starting from the pre-colonial era, Myanmar was strongly influenced by Theravada Buddhism led by King Anawrahtar. Theravada Buddhism was considered a unifying and binding loyalty of the little kings and the people to the king at that time.
Budiawan explained that Myanmar conflict can be seen from the effort to form a state that refers to ethnic / religious rather than modern / secular, like Indonesia. The formation of this ethnic / religious state refers to the state of the country which makes one ethnic or religious as the binding of the nation. As a result, this ethnic / religious form of state certainly excludes minority ethnic and religious groups. In Myanmar, not only ethnic Rohingya are excluded, but also the Karen, Shan, and Chin tribes. Thus, efforts to create a sovereign, modern, and inclusive country like the ideals of General Aung Sang, Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, still faced challenges, especially from military and extremist groups supporting ethnic / religious states.
The origins of the Rohingyas conflict were originated from the Rakhine (Arakan) region, which was a zone contested by Theravada Buddhism and Muslim kings domiciled in eastern Bangladesh, bordering on Myanmar. By tracing the historical approach, the Rohingyas were initially imported by British imperialists as laborers. According to Budiawan, English colonialism helped to create ethnic friction of the Rohingyas as British “pets” to the Burmese.
The exclusion process continued until Myanmar became independent in 1948. As a country that tended to close itself off from the international world and was controlled by the military, Myanmar established a new constitution in 1974. The constitution stipulated that military political power was handed over to popular assemblies but the popular assembly was still led by military generals. Subsequently in 1982, the Burmese government adopted the latest Citizenship Act governing the citizenship status of all communities and ethnic groups living in Myanmar. In the law, Rohingyas were considered not Myanmar citizens but Bangladeshis. This exclusion led to a large exodus of Rohingyas to various places. This situation was further exacerbated by extremists who used religion to create an ethnic / religious state (MaBaTha) to repress ethnic minorities including Rohingya in Myanmar. The discussion ended with questions from the participants who were very enthusiastic about Budiawan’s presentation. (Gharin)