With its natural resources, large labour force and strategic location, Myanmar has significant potential for development, especially now that it has emerged from 50 years of military dictatorship. Yet its growth is being held back by the unleashing of long-dormant ethnic tensions. If the government cannot contain the violence and ensure an equitable distribution of wealth, all its mineral resources will not save Myanmar from conflict.
The military continues to wage brutal campaigns against ethnic minorities who are cursed to live under harsh conditions. As The National reported yesterday, Myanmar's Muslims struggle to rebuild their homes that have been destroyed in the violence. In Meikhtila city alone, 1,594 homes were destroyed, 43 people killed and more than 10,000 people displaced, according to official figures.
The government’s promised reforms have proven to be very limited, especially in Muslim areas. Among those who fled their homes, Mr Yusud, a 60-year-old Muslim, told The National that the country’s children aren’t getting education. “What the government is doing here, it makes me very sad. This is only a policy to the Myanmar Muslims.” Separately, the government is still denying citizenship and human rights to its Rohingya population, a Muslim ethnic minority living mainly in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.
In the absence of strong opposition to criticise such practices, the situation is unlikely to change. Even the popular pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy weren’t able to make any difference after wining 43 of the 45 available seats in the parliament.
After her political victory, with the support of the international community, the opposition leader chose to turn her back on important moral arguments. And now as she plans to run for president in the upcoming 2015 elections, Muslims suspect that the current government is responsible for fuelling religious hatred towards them in a bid to rally the Buddhist majority to the side of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
This cycle of violence must end in order to achieve sustainable development. It’s time that someone speaks up about injustice.