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Ethno-Political Conflict : The Rohingya Vulnerability in Myanmar
By K. M. Atikur Rahman — Research Fellow, Dept. of Political Science, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
This study has been conducted to find out the root causes and consequences of ethnic conflict regarding especially the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. As Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is a contemporary and crucial issue not only in South and Southeast Asia but also in the world; that is why, it has been selected as a research topic. This study is conducted in qualitative approach. In this study, secondary sources have been used for data collection which is based on content analysis. Text books, journal articles, reports of government and non-government organizations, television and newspaper reports are the main sources of data. In this study it has been found that the Rohingya people are considered as the world’s least wanted groups.
They are the world’s most persecuted minorities. About 43 percent of the Rohingyas are still refugees and of them 87 percent are deprived from basic needs. The main objectives of the study are: (i) to examine the root causes of ethnic conflict; (ii) to analyze the current humanitarian vulnerability of the Rohingyas. Rohingya conflict begins with mainly the denial of separate identities and rejection of their citizenship. A large number of Rohingyas are now stateless refugees who are too much vulnerable. The study will reveal the current vulnerable conditions of the Rohingyas. The findings of the study may help the different global organizations of human rights in policy supports for the Rohingyas.
Nationalist and ethnic conflict is a serious threat to global peace and security that actually began since Cold War and it took dangerous condition between 8os and 90s last century. In the last decade of the 20th century, Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Congo, Sierra Leone, Somali, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, and Colombia were trodden by ethnic war and people of the world experienced a worst massacre of masses. National and international authorities were seriously concerned with global peace and such type of crisis does not reduce in present time yet. In a major study published in 2000, Ted Robert Gurr, a leading expert on ethnic conflict, argued persuasively that the ’tsunami of ethnic and nationalist conflict’ that had engulfed almost the entire world in the wake of the end of the Cold War, has shown clear signs of abatement. Ethno-political conflict spread in most of the regional levels from late 1990s and these wars declined a bit through some effective negotiations; but the conflict is still prevailed in major scale in Africa and South-east Asia. In the new century the ethnic wars which are being witnessed, are just a continuous process of the events occurred in last century-there is no new contenders. All the ethnic conflicts in South-east Asia have long history and that are even the consequences of colonization process. In present time national and regional disintegration and hegemonic trends has been new dimension of the ethno-political conflicts in these regions.
The Rohingya is an ethnic group of Myanmar that is one of the most oppressed minority and stateless refugee group in the world. Burmese government stripped their citizenship in 1982 and forced to flee by military actions since 1940s-over one million Rohingya left the country to others who are still living almost in refugee camps. They are only the minor group who are righteous limitedly to get marriage, travelling beyond their village and building or maintaining their religious structures. So it is observed that Rohingya crisis is a burning issue in the world. Through this research work global eye may be opened and a resolution path would be created. That is why; it has been thought to take the issue as a research topic.
There is a broad objective of the study which aims to explain the history and recent conditions of humanitarian crisis of the Rohingya. Besides, there are several specific objectives of the study. These are: (a) To state the root causes of ethnic conflict; (b)To describe the history of the Rohingya crisis; (c) To analyze the humanitarian vulnerability of Rohingyas.
The causes of ethno-political conflict in South–East Asia focus the significances of understanding the underlying causes. Ethnic conflicts bear the importance of regional and international relations and it is easy to realize the dynamics and interactions of ethnic groups by them. The causes of ethnic conflicts, the processes by which ethnic conflicts become violent, and what well-meaning leaders and governments can do about these problems. The dominant explanation for ethnic conflict is primordialism. Primordialists argue that people’s ethnic and religious identities have deep social, historical and genetic foundations and that creates a separate psychology, culture and values within their ethnic and kinship surroundings.
