HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF THE BUDDHIST-MUSLIM CONFLICT IN MYANMAR
Journal Title: The Journal of International Social Research - Year 2016, Vol 9, Issue 44
Abstract
Myanmar is a Southeast Asian country where Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian cultures have intermingled with each other throughout the country’s history. The conflict between the Buddhists and Muslims of Indian origin in the Arakan/Rakhine region is fueled mainly by three historical dynamics of differentation. Firstly, Buddhists and Muslims opted for different alliances during the competitions for regional dominance. During the Second World War, for instance, Buddhist Bamars supported the Japanese occupiers against Britain while Arakanese Muslims took sides with Britain with the hope of establishing a state independent from Burma. This difference of alignment led to conflicts not only between the Buddhists and Muslims but also the pro-British groups and Burmese nationalists. The second dynamics is the regional immigration movements and the resultant socioeconomical differentation. As a colonialist power in the Indian subcontinent, Britain made it possible for Indians and Bengalis to come and settle in today’s Myanmar. These Muslim immigrants not only became active in the colonial bureaucracy and commerce but also became landed proprietors. The economical crisis in early 1930s increased the discontent among native people against those Indian immigrants who had better living conditions and this led to assaults against Indians. The third dynamics is the exclusionary and discriminatory policies of the post-independence governments against the ethnic and religious minorities in the country. The Myanmarese socialist stratocracy exercised a firm hand in its tough-minded nation-building process based on the principle of “one nation (Myanma), one language (Myanma bhasa) and one religion (Buddhism) only ”. The ethnic and religious minorities, Muslims in particular, have not been treated as equal citizens. Since Buddhism is identified with the national unity, the presence of Muslims has been perceived as a threat to that unity. Along with the global trends, these factors have fueled the Buddhist-Muslim conflict growing violent in 2012. In this context, Myanmar is a significant example to see the relationship between violence and Buddhism which is normally characterised as a pacifist religion.
Authors and Affiliations
Mürsel Bayram
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP251182
- DOI 10.17719/jisr.20164420117
- Views 206
- Downloads 0
TURKEY’S ATTEMPTS TO CONSERVE STATUS QUO IN CYPRUS AND THE OFFICIAL VISIT OF MAKARIOS TO ANKARA
Thepurpose of thisstudy is toanalyzeTurkey’spoliticalattitudetowardspoliticalsystem in CyprusRepublicfounded in 1960. Thefirst step of thestudy is todiscussifTurkeychangedtheirpoliticalopinion on Cyprusafter 1960 coupd’e...
AN EXAMINATION OF COOPERATION-HELPING-SHARING BEHAVIORS IN PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS WITH INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
Inclusive education practices, which aim to socialize children with special needs, have positive effects on normally developing children’s social-emotional behaviors. A sub-set of social behaviors, positive social behavi...
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOLKTALE AND MODERN NARRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF FICTION AND REALITY
Inthestudiesthatdealwiththerelationshipbetweenfolktale –a kind of traditionalnarrative- andnovelandshortstory –that can be identified as modern narratives-, it is oftenemphasizedthatthesupernaturalcharactersembodied in t...
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND EMPATHY TENDENCY LEVELS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT STUDENTS: EXAMPLE OF BILECIK ŞEYH EDEBALI UNIVERSITY
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between communication skills and empathy tendency levels of child developments students of Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University who are studying in 1st,2nd,3th grad...
EVALUATING TOURISM ACTIVITIES BY BUSINESSES ON PRESENTING OF TURKISH COUSINE CULTURE
Presentation activities, a country’s or destinations basic specialties like cultural values, history, art, nature… prepared as raising awareness to potential domestic and foreign tourists in tourism market to increase to...