The untold story about my country by the international media

A few years ago, people rarely know my country's name but recently, all they hear on the media across the world is about my country, Myanmar, the most misunderstood country in the world. The fact that people rarely know about my country, let alone its name, may be the main contributing factor why it gets misunderstood easily. And I don't blame them for it. However, one should be careful what to believe and what is actually happening before making a conclusion, if one is thoughtful enough.

Relying solely on what the media tell you can be dangerous because news are regulated by humans and humans can make mistakes and can be biased at times. Don't underestimate the power of media too. They can make you believe what they want you to believe.

Let me introduce you about my country first. Myanmar is the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Our border neighbours are Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. Our country is also the shore to the famous Andaman Sea. We are not the richest country in the region but we surely are proud of our rich cultures and history. There are 8 main ethnic groups ; Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Mon, Bamar, Rakhine and Shan. There are also Chinese and Indian migrants from our neighbour countries. Myanmar represents diversity of different ethnic cultures and religions, although the major population is Bamar Buddhists. Other common religions are Christian, Hindu and Muslim. We even have some Jehovah's witnesses. Christianity is common in some local ethnic groups such as Kachin, Karen and Chin. Religion is never a restriction in Myanmar and the sights of churches, Chinese temples, Mosques and Hindu temples are quite common in all cities along with many Buddhist pagodas. We accept the fact that people can have different gods and never see this as a threat. Indeed, being Buddhist, we believe in karma and other people's doing is never our business anyway. We are taught by Buddha only to mind our own thoughts, speech and actions which can influence our karma and to search "Dhama" in one own's soul.

You probably notice that I didn't mention any word "Rohingya" yet. Well, because it doesn't exist. Despite the excellent coverage by the international media about them, many historians believe that "Rohingya" is not the ethnic group belongs to Myanmar but just Bengali migrants who live in Northern Rakhine near Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Some of them were given citizenship by Myanmar government and some were not. Myanmar citizenship law is quite complex and not everyone born in Myanmar can get citizenship automatically. I believe that there are other countries in the world which do not give citizenship by birth automatically, e.g; Japan and also many countries which do not give citizenship to every refugee and there is usually a lengthy process of further assessment. It is very sad that these unfortunate people do not have a mother country but as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi once said in her interview, "this is the issue relating to the border of two countries and it should not be viewed as the sole responsibility of one country only."

Daw ASSK requested Kofi Annan foundation to form the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which was established in September 2016. The final report is published recently and is available to public here;
http://www.rakhinecommission.org/app/uploads/2017/08/FinalReport_Eng.pdf
There is a recommendation in regards to allowing all international and local media to crisis area to avoid misinformation and to promote transparency. That highlights the current situation as international media are only getting the news from one side only. Whether they are not allowed to enter the crisis area from Myanmar side or they only want to cover for one sided story is the question for the international media to answer.

In October 2016, Myanmar border security forces were attacked by a group of Bengali insurgents and 14 officials were brutally killed. Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which was recently declared by Myanmar Government as a extremist terrorist group, was formed following this attack. This group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on 30 border police posts on 25 August 2017 in Maungdaw, a border town in northern Rakhine and more than 40 people including officials and civilians including children less than one year old were brutally murdered by the terrorists (from 25 Aug to 5 Sept). Due to the continuous terrorist attacks, many civilians including both Rakhines and Bengali migrants were fleeing from their homes and over 26,000 people (figure up to 5 Sept) are now displaced and the death toll is sadly continuing. There are many Muslims who want to live peacefully with the local Buddhist Rakhine people and they are also being targeted by the terrorists and some were also killed by the terrorists during recent attacks. The terrorists' goal is for Myanmar government to recognise them as Myanmar ethic group "Rohingya" and give them equal citizenship rights and even a part of Myanmar land, if not, the whole Rakhine state. This is just impossible and insane. It is a very sad truth that they don't have a motherland and they are less fortunate people but that doesn't give them the right to get violent and attack government officials and other civilians, especially those Rakhine people who were generous enough to offer their land to these migrants and refugees. This is the attack on sovereignty of a country. No other government in the world would allow it, so why should Myanmar government? And you must remember that "humanitarian crisis" does not represents for one religion but for all those victims of terrorism and violence, regardless of their race or religion.

Ironically, despite Myanmar government announcement of this group being terrorists and their obvious acts of terrorism (which they officially claimed for being responsible), ARSA has a Twitter page and is tweeting latest updates and statements to give false information to public and media. Despite our numerous attempts of reporting their page, Twitter is refusing to remove their page while Facebook and YouTube have removed them already. It will blow your mind that terrorists are just a Tweet away from you!

Politics is always a complicated thing but Myanmar politics, I must say, take it to the next level. You are talking about a country ruled by Military government over half a century and a country with so many different races and states with internal conflicts. Myanmar military is probably one of the busiest militaries in the world as we have never-ending wars between the ethnic insurgent groups and Myanmar military army. One of the main goals and probably the most important goal since Daw ASSK's NLD government took over the cabinet in 2016 is to bring peace among those groups. The Union Peace conference, involving many ethic insurgent groups, started in August 2016. It is going to be a long journey but the first step was started successfully.

You must also understand that Myanmar Parliament has a very unique structure with 75% of civil representatives and 25% of military representatives. Yes, you haven't read wrong. It is "Military" in the parliament! And to get any big job done, you need more than 75% of votes which means you can't do much without the approval from military representatives. It is according to Myanmar constitutional referendum initiated by former military government. Smart move, huh?

Myanmar politics will not be complete without talking about the military. Sadly, Myanmar military is probably not one of the most reputable militaries in the world and indeed, has a very bad name from the history. However, a country cannot survive without its military force. Calling them bad names will not get us anywhere. Typically at a time like this, the government and the military need to work together, hand in hand, no matter what. The president, U Htin Kyaw, has recently called for meeting with government and military officials regarding the issue of Rakhine state and military is not acting by itself and is currently working together with the government.

There will be General Assembly of UN in New York on 12 September 2017 and Daw ASSK is believed to be attending. We will hear more from her then. Meanwhile, my suggestion to anyone who is interested in our country affairs is "please do your homework before the talk." Thank you for reading my long note.

References:
1. ASEAN | ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY ONE COMMUNITY. (2017). ASEAN Member States - ASEAN | ONE VISION ONE IDENTITY ONE COMMUNITY. [online] Available at: http://asean.org/asean/asean-member-states/ [Accessed 9 Sep. 2017]
2. The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census Report Volume 2-A, Department of Population, Ministry of Immigration and Population, May 2015
3. Leider, J. (2017) Chapter 5 Transmutations of the Rohingya Movement in the post-2012 Rakhine state crisis, Ethic and Religious identities and integration in Southeast Asia.
4. Annan, K. et al. (2017). Towards a peaceful, fair and prosperous future for the people of Rakhine, Final Report of the advisory commission on Rakhine state
5. Facebook.com. (2017). MOI Webportal Myanmar. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/MOIWebportalMyanmar/ [Accessed 9 Sep. 2017]
6. https://www.twitter.com/arsa_official1
7. Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. (2008)
8. Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: 8. http://www.un.org/en/ga/info/meetings/71schedule.shtml [Accessed 9 Sep. 2017]