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To provide a basic summary of the conflict in Myanmar, the Buddhist majority is violently pushing out the Rohingya Muslims. The Myanmar authorities having been killing off Rohingya for over a year, and conditions have only been getting worse. There have been few Rohingya retaliations against this ethnic cleansing by Rohingya militia, that have ultimately added fuel to the fire. Almost 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have left the country, and those that remain are blocked off from aid by the Myanmar government. A majority of the civilians don’t believe that the Rohingya belong in the country, and many deny that the systematic killing of the Rohingya by the Myanmar military is taking place.
Just recently, Buddhist Nationalists hosted a march in one of Myanmar’s largest cities to advocate for a larger, stronger military. Many of these nationalists consider the Rohingya to be illegal intruders, even though they’ve been there for generations.
I believe this issue to be more than worthy of U.S. support. The US has already planned to provide financial aid to Rohingya who have fled Myanmar, amounting to $32 million, but I don’t believe this to be enough. There are still many killings happening at the moment, and financial aid isn’t something that can help. Additionally, the UN so far has only issued warnings to Myanmar about the crisis, and they’ve yet to get seriously involved.
Optional Questions:
Should the UN get more involved? So far they’ve only given warnings and attempted to provide aid, which has been blocked by the Myanmar government.
Should the US get involved beyond aid?
Buddhism is, to my knowledge, a peaceful religion. Do you think religion has anything to do with the conflict in Myanmar? What do you think has caused this sudden violence towards Rohingya Muslims?
10 comments:
The UN should definitely get involved because, in my eyes, this is very similar to the mass killing of Jews during Hitler's reign over Germany. Without UN involvement, the Rohingya Muslims will feel hopeless and betrayed by the UN, and the Myanmar military will feel unstoppable, both of which have to avoided to bring back peace. Mere attempts and declarations do not work, as we saw, once again, during the Holocaust when the League of Nations couldn't do anything to stop Hitler and a second World War. The US should also get involved since this is a terrible thing happening in Myanmar, but many times before when we were involved in foreign issues and conflicts, we quickly became viewed as the enemy, so I don't believe the rest of the US population will agree with my feeling. Lastly, I don't know whether Buddhism is a peaceful religion or not, but if it is, then the Myanmar military and people are doing a terrible job of portraying that. Religion most likely has some influence in this conflict, and conflicts can lead people to do incredibly horrible things at times, but if Buddhism stresses peacefulness, then the people of Myanmar need to rethink their values and purpose and think about what they are doing to their country and their image.
I agree that both the UN and the United States should get more involved in the Myanmar conflict. Though both are actively raising money to provide shelter and other resources for the Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh (the UN pledging approximately $340 million and the US pledging $32 million), they have not been as proactive about punishing the Myanmar government’s actions, which include actively blocking any resources from reaching the Rakhine State in north Myanmar. I understand that they are more focused about collating enough relief funding and goods for so many people and want to avoid further conflict with the Myanmar government in order to promote international peace, but remaining dormant in punishing the Buddhist majority for its actions is inexcusable and failure to do so will only allow the genocide and exodus of Rohingyas to continue without any repercussions.
I have to disagree with Connor and Angelique on the issue of U.S. involvement. A single country should not be the police force of the world, and to me the idea of the U.S. being involved seems to suggest unilateral action or action that puts the U.S. in a leading position for providing aid or whatever else is needed. Of course it's impossible to deny the outrageous human rights violations occurring, but it is also definitely not a single country's responsibility for being the police force of the world. Furthermore, if middle eastern intervention has taught us anything, intervention may lead to new threats (U.S. funding what became the Taliban) and may lead to hatred against Western influence or suspected ulterior motives for intervention. Even if the U.S. does get involved, there is no "victory" to be reached. Any money that doesn't go to the already escaped refugees won't be able to do much, and any military measures would escalate things negatively.
Should the UN get more involved? So far they’ve only given warnings and attempted to provide aid, which has been blocked by the Myanmar government. Should the US get involved beyond aid?
The UN can get involved if it wants but it will probably do little to effectively help the Rohingya who are being killed in Myanmar due to the strict restrictions on access for foreign aid organizations and journalists. If anything, Bangladesh is the country that needs the most assistance because they are the ones who are accepting the refugees from Myanmar. I firmly stand by Michael's comment in that the US should not be the policemen of the world but rather use diplomacy and carry a big stick.
Important context is missing from this blog post. From an article in the Economic Times of India titled "Aung San Suu Kyi's address to state on lines of talks with India," it is stated that "When the National League for Democracy came to power Suu Kyi had three priorities -- ethnic reconciliation, constitutional amendment, and economic empowerment. Within the permissible space for her under the 2008 constitution, Suu Kyi facilitated some progress in ethnic reconciliation. Unfortunately, the release of the final report of the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State on August 23 [2017] was followed by an attack on Aug 25 [2017] on the security forces by the Arakan Salvation Army and this brought huge international pressure on Myanmar. It was not a mere coincidence that the attacks took place a day after the Kofi Annan Commission submitted its report to both the State Counsellor and the Army Chief. The extremists among Rohingyas wanted to elicit a strong military response that would result in displacement and international condemnation and their goal was achieved."
Knowing this information gives regular people who would say this attack was spontaneous an idea that the conflict had been off-and-on for many decades prior to this diaspora.
Buddhism is, to my knowledge, a peaceful religion. Do you think religion has anything to do with the conflict in Myanmar? What do you think has caused this sudden violence towards Rohingya Muslims?
Buddhism is a peaceful religion. However, having been to Myanmar and spoken to people about the Rohingya, they claim that Muslims are and were never a part of Myanmar, to begin with (which is true since they are neither a recognized ethnic group nor do they have citizenship). The people I talked to also saw all Muslims as terrorists because that is what they are fed on a daily basis through their press. I 100% believe that religion is the source of the conflict because when 80% of people say that religious authorities should have a say in lawmaking and citizenship should be tied to religion that is a recipe for disaster when it comes to talking about the Muslim minority.
Also, *THIS IS NOT SUDDEN VIOLENCE!* Wars between Muslims and all other religions have been happening since the conception of British ruled India. That is the reason why Pakistan exists today. In fact, when Burma (later changed to Myanmar) was established, a small group in the far west of the nation wanted to create their own Islamic nation which they were initially going to name East Pakistan but then were dissolved in the following years. The next movement that started in the same very region was going to call the new nation Arakan and had more violent tactics which were emulated in late August by their 'Salvation Army.'
In the end, I don't think this problem will go away until the final 400,000 Rohingya are eradicated from Myanmar's territory.
This is a big sign that the UN needs to get involved. This is unfair for the Muslims who need help and international intervention needs to take place soon.
I believe that it is crucial that countries open their borders to preserve the lives of innocent citizens who are victims of tyranny, and ought to be guaranteed their basic human rights. In my opinion these civilians deserve justice and an opportunity to better their lives because the harm inflicted upon them is neither self-perpetuated nor justified. Countries are supposed to open their borders to asylum seekers and refugees, who by definition are fleeing war, persecution, or violence and must not be denied their basic human rights. However, not all nations respect this policy, and many treat refugees like illegal immigrants. Countries react sensitively to US involvement, as they seek to maintain the sovereignty that they fear the US may infringe upon, as seen in Iraq. therefore, they should seek to provide resource not government structure. THis is one of those radical Islam group issue where people take religion to extremities. That does not mean that Buddhism is at fault, as the blame should fall on interpreters.
The UN very rarely gets involved with these kinds of issues, including more well known issues like North Korean Prison camps or even Soviet Gulags because it has no jurisdiction over its member states. The UN would need a mandate through the Security Council, which means that it would have to pass with a majority without any veto power used. Even then, they would issue a peacekeeping mandate where force could only be used in self defense that would require the consent of the conflicted country, which is of course, extremely difficult to get. It’s important to remember that while the UN has certainly done a lot of good for the world, it is mostly through aid because in reality, it doesn’t actually have much power over its member nations.
I think that the U.S. taking in some Muslim refugees would help give a sense of some safety to the Rohingya Muslims, though as past instances similar to this have shown, this is very unpopular with much of the public and many policy makers as well.
I agree with Nick that this conflict is not exactly sudden, as they have been discriminated from citizenship since Myanmar became independent in 1948. Buddhism is a peaceful religion, and the reality is that most religions are about being a good person and doing good for your community. But religious conflicts tend to be anything but peaceful. I don’t think Buddhism as a whole is at fault, it is the people who claim to be Buddhists believing in this kind of nationalism causing the issue.
I don't know much about the issue, but it makes it a lot more difficult to pass judgment when Myanmar itself does not want help. Based on what I know about UN and US involvement, involvement doesn't always exactly improve anything, and can even worsen the situation or complicate it. If either were to get involved, I hope this is dealt with carefully in a way that doesn't promote any more negativity and violence.
The UN should get more involved and help the Rohingya Muslims because genocide is a human rights violation. Neighboring countries should also join the US and condemn Myanmar for their actions, but I am curious why the Buddhists consider the Muslims to be illegal intruders even though they've been there for generations. I also thought that Buddhism was a peaceful religion and I still believe that it is, but I know that Islam is also a peaceful religion but there are some violent extremist groups that do not share the same beliefs as the other Muslims. At its root, I do not think this conflict has anything to do with religion and I think those who claim it is over religion are merely using it as an excuse and it is more about extreme nationalism.
I agree with Michelle above. This is a national problem, and should be taken cared of immediately. All countries should be helping, and defending Rohingya Muslims because it is the right thing to do. Killing out a majority is just a repeated event in history, and is something that does not need to continue. I am confused with why this is happening because I'm sure the Buddhists know this is the wrong thing to do, but the only solution is to help.
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