Anti-Muslim paranoia could still derail Myanmar’s journey to true democracy

[Jonathan Fairfield]

OPINION

Anti-Muslim paranoia could still derail Myanmar’s journey to true democracy

Martin Woollacott

Race and religion are casting a dark shadow over Myanmar as it moves toward critical elections next month.

The elections would have been difficult enough for the country if confined to the issues of what degree of democracy can now be introduced, and what role should be played by the iconic leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But it has been made more divisive and dangerous by an insidious emphasis on national identity that threatens to further open up the fault line between ethnic Burmans and the country’s minorities, in particular the Muslim community.

A campaign to portray Aung San Suu Kyi as pro-Muslim, and to label her National League for Democracy the “Muslim party” is under way. Its public face is the Patriotic Association of Myanmar, or Ma Ba Tha, a powerful organisation of the Buddhist clergy that earlier this month staged a huge rally in Yangon to celebrate the recent passage of laws ostensibly regulating marriage and contraception for all citizens but in fact intended to stop Muslims having large families, marrying more than one wife, or marrying Buddhist women. The laws are based on the fantasy that these things are happening on any scale – even if that were the case, they would be unenforceable. But they have helped conjure up a supposed Muslim menace to Burma’s Buddhist values.

A few weeks ago the election commission disqualified more than 100 parliamentary candidates, most of them members of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the north-western state of Rakhine. Nearly one million Rohingya were deprived of the vote earlier this year on the grounds they could not prove their families had been long resident in Myanmar, and riots there in recent years have led to a massive and brutal displacement of population.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/29/anti-muslim-military-myanmar-democracy

The Guardian 2015-10-31

[alant]

Paranoia not sure. There have been injustices but being Muslim does not give the right to have your own laws.

[NickJ]

Paranoia over muslims???? Maybe they dont want even more coming over in the future......Once they develop more. Having harsh laws aimed at illegal immigration from beautiful Bangladesh....

[oncearugge]

The very real threat that "Islam" and "Muslims" bring to the World should not be underestimated.

These people believe in and follow an evil doctrine which does not recognise democracy or "man made law"

[John1012]

Interesting article from Martin Wankalot in the Grauniad. As a long term sufferer of Islamaphobia, I do hope that there is not a relaxing of the rejection of Islamic values in Myanmar.

[NoshowJones]

Paranoia not sure. There have been injustices but being Muslim does not give the right to have your own laws.

"being Muslim does not give the right to have your own laws". Try telling them that.

[razer]

The democracy of Myanmar is extremely fragile and a perfect target for Muslim extremists.

I remember a Burmese monk saying that in Buddhism killing people is not acceptable where in Islam killing people is the norm and that is why Muslims are not welcome in his country.

[Doc46]

Paranoia not sure. There have been injustices but being Muslim does not give the right to have your own laws.

"being Muslim does not give the right to have your own laws". Try telling them that.

It's only a matter of time ,,,,then they can make their own law,,,,WHY ,,,Cause there will be more of THEM then us,,,

[gregk0543]

It seems it should be time for the Burmese to show the superiority of their tolerant buddhist beliefs by practising accordingly, but instead their are people out there fanning the flames of the fear, anger and delusion that is the human condition.

Anyway being here on the ground in Yangon the mood is pretty sure that NLD will win and everyone I know seems to want to vote for them.

So like in any system with the choices of voting on offer this is maybe a lesser issue than it is being made out to be. Exit polls on prepoll voting have shown 90% in favour of NLD and you only need 51% to win. So the Ma Ba Tha is only succeeding in say a small percentage of the peoples minds.

Journos have to fill pages and there are a lot of things going wrong in this election which are all pointing back to the Govt not really wanting it to be fair.

But I think whatever they do this will be an NLD landslide.

Then the real fun begins as the NLD tries to change the course of the country from one run by people who care little really about their people to one that is working for the peoples interests.

So the really important issue is going to be who will hold the power after the election and they should be focussing on that issue. That is the crux of the election in my view.

[FangFerang]

The title is a <deleted>'s paradise. What is a "true democracy"?

That term is not a part of English, just spin from the news doctor's desk.

And what is Islamaphobia?

[Hayduke]

The title is a <deleted>'s paradise. What is a "true democracy"?

That term is not a part of English, just spin from the news doctor's desk.

And what is Islamaphobia?

A valid point.....what is with this addition to the set of media jargon... "Islamaphobia"?

A phobia (as well as paranoia) is generally characterized as a fear or delusion that is irrational, illogical, etc. etc.

All things considered, a strong apprehension about this 'worldview' is hardly delusional, irrational or illogical. Quite the contrary.

Would we refer to a concern about cancer as being a phobia?

Edited November 1, 2015 by Hayduke

[spidermike007]

A campaign to portray Aung San Suu Kyi as pro-Muslim, and to label her National League for Democracy the “Muslim party” is under way. Its public face is the Patriotic Association of Myanmar, or Ma Ba Tha, a powerful organisation of the Buddhist clergy that earlier this month staged a huge rally in Yangon to celebrate the recent passage of laws ostensibly regulating marriage and contraception for all citizens but in fact intended to stop Muslims having large families, marrying more than one wife, or marrying Buddhist women.

​This is absolute poppycock. For all of her good qualities, she has never spent much energy defending Muslims, out of fear that the Buddhist supporters would reject her for doing so.

[The manic]

Fear of Islam is valid. It is not paranoia

Muslims are a very real threat to every non Muslim country. The Burmese are just doing what we in the UK and Europe should have done 50 years ago. By not taking action we have created a weeping wound that is destroying our culture and the future stability of our nations

[jacky54]

Common sense reactions for once