Myanmar Essay

According to the 2008 Constitution, ethnic minorities are granted the same political rights the national majority Bamar people. The political representation of the ethnic minorities is implemented through Myanmar’s administrative structure. Myanmar is divided into states and regions. Both divisions are considered equivalent, the only distinction being states have large ethnic minority populations and regions mostly populated by the national majority Bamar people. Rakhine is classified as one of the states of Myanmar due to its ethnic diversity. Out of a total state population of approximately 3.3 million, the Buddhist Rakhine people (an ethnicity different from the Bamar people but with the same religion) makes up the majority of the population

More specifically, the Rakhine State must progress to find an answer to the demands and expectations of both the Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim communities, focusing on ensuring fundamental rights and freedoms are protected while easing the Rakhine’s fears. On a local level, the Rakhine state must aim to combat extremism and hate speech, and bring proponents of violence to justice. On a state level, the Rakhine State must demand for more concessions from the Myanmar government to address the chronic impoverished and underdeveloped conditions of Rakhine. Evidently, one can notice that the Rakhine State’s economic distress, underdevelopment, and political marginalization by the central government plays a main role in the Rohingya crisis. For instance, these distressed conditions stymie the Rakhine majority who then externalizes their frustration by targeting the Rohingya through violence and persecution - and if let alone, provide the perfect grounds to breed a genocide. To effectively impact the humanitarian crisis, it must not only focus on ameliorating just the camp sites, but rather from a top down approach and combat the poverty and despair in Rakhine - providing facets for economic prosperity and sustainable growth, and educating the youth to avert voices of racism, discrimination, and religious persecution.