By Abhishek Kaushal
Aung San Suu-Kyi?s National League for Democracy (NLD) won nine out of the nineteen seats in the National and Regional Parliaments. The party?s major defeats occurred in ethnic violence affected regions such as Mon, the power seat of NLD hitherto.
Language barriers didn?t help the party?s cause in districts of Shan State, where the government is still trying hard to appease the armed rebel groups ?The North Alliance?.
The Civil War
On May 2012 in Western Myanmar, three Muslim men were charged with rape and murder of a Buddhist woman. This was?followed by?a brutal revenge killing of 10 Muslim men in the Toungop region of Rakhine.
Rohingya Muslims have mostly been deprived of the basic rights of a citizen throughout history and have been termed as ?illegal immigrants from Bangladesh?. Amid the 2012 crisis, even their voting rights were revoked temporarily, which further?suppressed their very existence in the eyes of the Burmese government.
Since the outbreak of the violence, nearly 130,000 Rohingya Muslims have been forced to live in camps having inhumane living conditions. Others who have fled the country are mostly settled in the Cox Bazar district in Bangladesh, pledging never to go back.
Prominent leaders in Burma, mostly Buddhists have been silent over these clashes with even Noble laureate Aung San Suu Kyi terming them as just a new problem for Burma resulting from the old ones, and the result of insecurities in both factions.
In a BBC interview, when she was quizzed about the same, she termed?it?as a normal dispute between two religious groups, resulting in casualties on both sides. This is?despite the?facts?that beg to differ on the same as they show that mostly Rohingya Muslims have been on the receiving end of all this action.
Aung San Suu Kyi?s role has been questioned by more than a dozen Nobel laureates for her inaction and ability to act against the Rohingya crisis.
This unrest in the Western part of Myanmar hasn?t been hidden from the outer world, including the foreign investors, especially from the Western countries. The World Bank predicted a drop in the economic growth of Burma by 200 basis points. Companies such as Coca Cola and Caterpillar are in an ethical dilemma over whether to continue with the $612 Million investments that they promised in 2012, owing to their CSR (Customer Social Responsibility) commitments.
What Next?
After recent UN investigation reports which confirmed the mass murder and gang rapes of the Rohingyas, Aung San Suu Kyi has been forced to act. She has promised to form an unbiased international investigating committee. Burmese credibility and reputation have taken a beating after the widespread ongoing tumultuous crisis, and it would a real challenge to improve that. This is?even for someone as persistent as Aung San Suu Kyi.
References –
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/why-is-aung-san-suu-kyi-silent-on-the-plight-of-the-rohingya-peoplehttp://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/northern-alliance-sets-sights-on-next-myanmar-peace-conference-01242017153631.htmlhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2017/01/19/why-ethnic-violence-has-gripped-myanmar-again-and-investors-dont-mind/#5974a1b200dbhttps://www.irrawaddy.com/business/world-bank-forecasts-drop-in-burmas-economic-growth.htmlhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124350621356462063https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/01/30/myanmar-growth-projected-to-recover-following-a-slowing-economy-in-2016
Live News Daily is a trusted name in the digital news space, delivering accurate, timely, and in-depth reporting on a wide range of topics.