NEW violence has broken out between Muslims and Buddhists in Burma, demonstrating the failure of authorities to deal with troubles which flared up four months ago. At the heart of the dispute is the long-standing refusal of the Burmese government to recognize the presence of some 800,000 Rohingya Muslims within the country as full Burmese citizens. Instead, the community has continued to be subjected to the dominance of the local Rakhine Buddhists, who have for generations blocked the social and educational advancement of the Rohingya. Although it would be wrong to describe their condition, as one commentator did last week, as “slavery”, there can be no doubt that the Rohingya are treated as worse than second-class citizens, if for no better reason than that they do not actually have citizenship. The Burmese authorities have a choice here. The official claim is that the Rohingya were unknown in northwest Burma until the 1950s. However, the British recorded Muslim communities in the region at the start of the nineteenth century, though they did not record their name as being “Rohingya”. Even if the authorities are right, and this unfortunate minority really did not appear in the country until the middle of the last century, it is clear that after 60 years, they have the right to be awarded Burmese citizenship, which may go some way to countering the contempt with which they are held by the local Buddhists. It has to be said that this would be the better solution. Burma is a country with many minority communities who are all considered “Burmese”. Adding one more is not really going to be that difficult. The second, and arguably more complex solution is to insist that everyone living in Burma, regardless of citizenship status, is entitled to equal protection under the law. The problem here is that without citizenship status, the Rohingya are going to find little defense against the bigotry of the local Buddhist community. After all, all the local mayors and counsellors, the majority of the judges and officials and a good proportion of the policemen are Rakhine Buddhists. The very people who would be responsible for protecting the human rights and freedoms of the local Muslims are from the community that is actually oppressing them. On the other hand, with full citizenship comes full political rights and a vote and a voice that can be heard at the national level. Moreover the Rohingya could choose officially-recognized mayors and community leaders and, hopefully within a generation, have their people advancing, thanks to proper educational opportunities, into the police, judiciary and wider government departments. What is not going to work is the fumbled attempt by the Burmese authorities to physically separate the two communities. As demonstrated by the latest violence, in which at least three people have died and thousands of Rohingya homes have been burnt, this is not a lasting solution. In the end, the two communities have to be reconciled and start working together on equal terms with mutual respect. It surely has not helped that last week the Burmese government blocked the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from setting up an office in Yangon. The OIC was hoping to help the Rohingya broker peace. The ban which was imposed after protests from Buddhist monks is not at all helpful and should be reversed immediately.
