TLRH | A Ticking Bomb: Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis

Friday, 27 November 2020, 12 – 1pm A public lecture by Dr Rahul
Mishra (University of Malaya) organised by the Trinity Centre for
Asian Studies and hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub. After decades of
oppressive rule by the military junta, Myanmar (Burma) made a
transition to democracy in 2015. The international community and
the people of Myanmar had pinned their hopes on Aung San Suu Kyi, a
noble laureate and the icon of decades-old democratic struggle in
Myanmar, as the leader of a ‘New Myanmar’. With the landslide
election victory of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD),
it was expected that she would bring nationwide peace, harmony, and
economic development. However, the systemic and decades-old
persecution of ethnic minorities in a Bamar-dominated Myanmar
continued unabated. Termed the “world’s most persecuted minority”,
Rohingya are considered illegal inhabitants in their own country by
the Myanmar government, as they have been denied citizenship under
the 1982 Citizenship Law. Lack of access to basic human facilities,
civil and political rights, and endless persecution at the hands of
the Tatmadaw (Myanmar armed forces) and the government have led to
waves of exodus of the Rohingya to Bangladesh and neighbouring
Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia. It is the largest human
exodus in Asia since the Vietnam War. The United Nations and the
International Court of Justice have termed their persecution
possible “crimes against humanity”. This talk highlights various
aspects of the state-supported persecution of the Rohingya and
other ethnic minorities in Myanmar and suggests ways in which the
international community could intervene to stop the ongoing
violation of human rights. Rahul Mishra is a Senior Lecturer at the
Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. Prior to
this, he was a Consultant with the Foreign Service Institute (FSI),
Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Dr Mishra
specialises on politico-security affairs of the Southeast Asian
region, and major power politics in Asia. His latest publications
include India’s Eastward Engagement from Antiquity to Act East
Policy (Co-authored with Prof. S.D. Muni, SAGE Publications, 2019)
and Asia and Europe in the 21st Century: New Anxieties, New
Concerns (Co-edited with Azirah Hashim and Tony Milner, Routledge,
2020). Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/