Burma's Muslim Problem

Burma (Myanmar) is going through a lot of change, much of it for the better. The country after decades of military dictatorship is finally opening up and there is a lot to be hopeful of in this nation. There is however a very ugly side to developments in Burma for the Muslim minority community there.

Buddhist extremism has been spreading across the country. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and many killed. Villages have been burned to the ground, mosques raided and schools attacked. As an example of the widespread violence a middle school in Meiktila was stormed and students and teachers massacred while police officers and a mob watched chanting “kill them”. This violence is largely brought on by the Buddhist extremists behind the 969 movement. These monks support religious purity and have been doing much to incite violence against Muslims. Time magazine did an excellent cover story on radical Buddhism, but I still feel the gravity or even presence of these atrocities is not resonating with people here.

There are in my mind three major reasons for this. The first is an inexplicable and dangerous romanticization of Buddhism. Buddhists are treated as imminently peaceful, we think of innocuous New Age yuppies who have “Free Tibet” bumper stickers, do Yoga and are also Buddhist. Buddhists, the thinking goes, can never do anything bad because they have a peaceful religion. When bringing up the topic of Burmese Muslims massacres to peers, almost without fail the typical reaction is one of disbelief because Buddhists do not hurt people. There however seems to be a forgetfulness that other religions which have had horrible things done in their name, such as Christianity or Islam, also preach peacefulness. I cannot think of a single major religion that is intrinsically violent yet for some reason Buddhism is treated as the only one with some sort of special privilege. Now to be clear, I think skepticism is healthy, and many horrible things have and are continuing to be done in the name of religion, this is indisputable. I also believe in tolerance for religions, including Buddhism. The point is that because of a belief in a bizarre special status where Buddhism is the sole religion that cannot be twisted into extremism, it has made the story of the massacres against Muslims in Burma that much harder to reach general consciousness in the West.

The second element if this is very closely related to the first. Many have the unfortunate tendency, whether conscious or not, to think of Muslims as the extremists and therefore find it very difficult to see them as victims. This makes it even more difficult for ordinary people to relate to as a result of such constant inundation from the media of Muslims being terrorists. This along with a preconceived notion that Buddhists must be peaceful cannot help but make this story incredibly difficult to penetrate the mainstream news cycles.

Finally, a huge portion of blame lies on the Burmese authorities and pro-democracy supporters. Thein Sein, the man who currently leads the military junta in Burma has done little to quell the violence and the military, as well as the police have done little but watch as people are butchered in front of them. This does much to taint his positive record as a reformer within the country. The most egregious silence has however been from Aung San Suu Kyi. The pro-democracy campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been deafeningly silent on the issue. Despite widespread criticism of her lack of engagement in the issue Ms. Suu Kyi has refused to take a stand on the atrocities happening in her country. Her unwillingness to speak against what is happening is disgusting for someone given the honour of the Nobel Peace Prize. The silence of these important people within Burma and the international reputation they have is another critical reason why this story has not been covered in more depth.

Burma is at a critical juncture in its history, there is a lot of promise for this newly opening nation. With this promise comes a current devastating situation for a minority population. The West has done much to encourage democratic reforms, this is important but cannot be done while casting a blind eye to the horrors confronting so many Burmese. None of us should let the optimism for the future of this country hide the very real terror that too many Burmese are living in right now.