International Community – Listen to the Voices of Burma’s Ethnic People!

Ariana Zarleen, January 24, 2014

Many people around the world have heard about the conflict in Burma. They have heard about the military dictatorship and the struggle for democracy, about Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners. But have they heard about the ethnic plight for survival? Do they know that much of the conflict involves a long ethnic struggle for equal rights and basic human rights? While the international community has often focused on the predominantly urban movement struggling to achieve greater accountability and democracy, they have forgotten about Burma’s ethnic people. The story of ethnic nationalities and their long struggle for equal rights and autonomy, and the grave human rights abuses that have occurred predominantly in outlying ethnic areas, have been almost completely ignored by the international media.

How is the situation now portrayed in the international media? Well, most people “know” that there is now some kind of quasi-civilian government in Burma that has introduced numerous reforms and changes to bring the country closer to a democracy. Many political prisoners have been released and repressive laws relaxed. There are now visible signs in cities like Rangoon about the changes that are taking place. But does the media show the government forces shelling villages, abducting, raping and killing villagers and internally displaced people in Burma’s ethnic borderlands? Does the media tell the story of those 130,000 refugees on the Thailand-Burma border who are now facing a darker reality than for decades as they feel as though they are being pushed to repatriate?

The recent changes in Burma’s political landscape, loudly praised by the international community and mainstream media, have yet to reach many of the country’s vulnerable ethnic populations who remain hiding in the jungle living in fear, or the externally displaced outside the country’s borders living in a limbo. The vast majority of Burma’s hundreds of thousands of displaced people belong to ethnic nationalities whose only protection has been their own armies, who have fought against an overwhelming enemy, the Burmese government and the state army, in a war described as the longest running civil war in the world. These soldiers have risked their lives and sacrificed everything to protect their people against rapes, killings, abductions, and destruction of villages by government soldiers. And yet these courageous freedom fighters are described as rebels and sometimes even terrorists by international media outlets.

Ethnic people try to speak but no one seems to listen. While state-run abuses remain well documented, the international community’s praise for the reforms and ignorance of ethnic concerns has resulted in funds being redirected from the border to central Burma, where they are unable to reach ethnic borderlands and where they directly benefit the government and the state army. The state military has recently begun moving more troops inside ethnic areas as well as fortifying their military camps, indicating that against the promises made by the government, genuine peace and autonomy for the ethnic people may not be on their agenda. As funds for ethnic people of Burma have dried up, the vibrant network of ethnic organisations in exile have also been left with diminishing means to continue their capacity building efforts and pro-democracy work. But shouldn’t their voices be heard in the so called democratisation process?

The world seems to have abandoned Burma’s ethnic nationalities in their rush for investment and development in Burma, and as a consequence, the voices of Burma’s vulnerable ethnic people have been silenced like never before. While the ethnic struggle continues, their plight is increasingly ignored as the world has turned its attention exclusively towards central Burma. It is about time the world starts listening to the voices of Burma’s long-silenced ethnic nationalities. It is time the international community steps up and aids the ethnic nationalities in a quest for achieving their long overdue political goals. The first step? A genuine will to stop and listen to the concerns, on-the-ground realities, goals, and dreams of Burma’s ethnic people.