How populism directed against minorities is used to prop up Myanmar’s ‘Democratic’ revival

Tortured Rohingyas escaping from Myanmar in Palongkhali, Ukhiya,Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, February 2018. Flickr/ maruf1122345. Some rights reserved.This is one of the closing articles in the series on ‘confronting
authoritarian populism and the rural world’, linked to the Emancipatory
Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI). The article opening the series can be read here.

At the same time as a democratic system is being
revived in Myanmar after half-a-century of military dictatorship, strong
challenges have re-emerged. A racist, authoritarian populism is being directed
against Muslim minorities, notably the Rohingya, in order to prop up a regime
that has no vision.

This is threatening not only the administration and
the economy, but also more importantly, social and ethnic cohesion. While
admitting that these challenges would tax any government and state, the
weaknesses and inadequacies at the core have been revealed.

From
military ‘socialism’ to populist ‘democracy’

Ideologically, a half-hearted attempt at socialism
going by the name of “The Burmese Way to Socialism” under a military-controlled
one-party state, came unstuck when this was unseated by a bloody public
uprising in 1988. Re-instated military junta rule lasted till 2010.

The leading pro-democracy party, the National League
for Democracy (NLD), contested the by-elections of April 2012, won most of the
seats, and entered parliament. This victory was repeated and enlarged in
November 2015, with the result that a democratically-elected civilian
government has been installed.

After five decades of junta or one-party rule, there
is now a multi-party system. However, two-thirds of the 93 parties registered
are ethnic-based parties, and almost exclusively single-ethnic. Twenty three
political parties won seats in the bicameral parliament, but the picture is
dominated by just two parties – the military-linked Union Solidarity and
Development Party and the NLD.

With ideological decline, rudimentary election
campaign platforms and minimal policy contestation, the stage was set for a recourse
to populism. Besides the Myanmar public’s widespread rejection of the military
government, populism played a large part in the NLD’s electoral successes. To
fan this populism, or to deploy parallel ‘brands’ of it, use was made of what
has been called ‘nationalism’. To fan this
populism, or to deploy parallel ‘brands’ of it, use was made of what has been
called ‘nationalism’.

Nationalism may be too polite a term, though, since
this nationalist-populist impetus came from inciting latent racist phobias and
demonizing the ‘Other’. The brunt of this wave of discrimination and violence
fell upon a vulnerable ‘foreign’ community – the Muslims, and particularly the
Muslim Rohingya. 2017 saw the most extreme and brutal manifestation of this: a
horrific campaign that the UN has described as amounting to genocide.

At independence, Myanmar started off a little unsure
of itself ideologically, while threatened by a far-left armed rebellion. With
the collapse of the left in 1989, the swerve in the opposite direction began. Since
then, the political left has virtually disappeared. Now the poor, the old,
minorities and the marginalized have been abandoned politically.

In the 2015 elections the electorate came out with an
emphatic statement to bring down the curtain on the military dictatorship, propelling
the NLD to power. Despite reservations (shared by myself for instance), there
was some hope that things could be worked out. The two years that followed was
an ebullient time for Myanmar internationally. The rosiness of the ambience
managed to hide many of the missteps that were being made. Yet, what were once
seen as Aung San Su Kyi’s strengths soon became weaknesses, and at the same
time once-hidden weaknesses emerged with a vengeance.

Both the Myanmar military and the NLD government are
scrambling to garner as much public support as they can. But, at the same time,
there is a move to the right, facilitated by an entrenched military, big
business with tentacles everywhere, ethnic assertiveness, and the resurgence of
militant religion. In the absence of any political ideology, Myanmar’s rulers
are falling back upon primitivism, populism and authoritarianism.

Democracy in Myanmar did not begin in 2010. Limited
democracy had been enjoyed since the late 1930s; quite early for Asia. The
majority of the people are therefore no strangers to a democratic system – at
least of the electoral variety. Despite the Myanmar public’s longing for the
resumption of a democratic system, a majoritarian democracy will not be a
cure-all for what afflicts them. Instead, a genuinely plural system that
presages a plural nation has to be the goal. Contrary to most popular
assumptions, a nation shall not ensue
with the re-advent of democracy. A genuinely plural
system that presages a plural nation has to be the goal. Contrary to most
popular assumptions, a nation shall not ensue
with the re-advent of democracy.

Confronting
discrimination and violence against minorities

Domestically, both the ruling NLD government and the
military have tasted the flavour of increased public support. What really
counts for them is not the racist overtones but the votes that it can bring in
the next elections. Myanmar’s ethnic diversity sits uneasily with a Bamar
Buddhist majority that is increasingly chauvinistic and intolerant. With an
antiquated first-past-the-post electoral system, the politicians and generals
know very well that if you have the ethnic and religious majority sewn up, you
don’t have to bother much about the minorities.

But with Myanmar’s history of a 70-year civil armed
conflict, electoral victories do not ensure the return of peace. Relying upon
majoritarian politics and mono-ethnic nationalism can actively deter a peace
settlement with the ethnic nationalities, and by extension, the hoped-for
federal system.

The current hard-edged racism is now directed against
the helpless Rohingya and against Muslims in general. At a recent workshop I
participated in, non-Buddhists (mostly young) articulated the discrimination,
exclusion, differentiation and denial that they are experiencing.

This is in education, employment, residence, travel,
and even in the size of bribes demanded. But it is delusional to expect that
this unfettered racism will stop there. It must be confronted. Shockingly,
though, most ‘indigenous’ ethnic organizations are silent on the ongoing
crisis.

Neither road
nor chart

This is an era of electoral politics, with an
electorate emerging from decades of dictatorship. Authoritarian populism holds
sway. Beyond garnering votes, parties and politicians have little regard for
public opinion. There seems to be little thought as to the direction in which
the country is going, or needs to go. Civil society is not strong or big
enough; it is divided and mostly involved in niche issues. The crony private
sector is flourishing and going from strength to strength, keeping to its
rentier, extractivist and exclusivist ways.

On top of it all, all these stakeholders are isolated
and inward-looking. One donor has asked how a democracy can be built if people
do not talk to each other. Myanmar seems to be losing its way. After expending
much time and suffering, a semi-democracy has been gained. But beyond this,
there is neither road nor chart. One donor has
asked how a democracy can be built if people do not talk to each other.

Myanmar is being subjected to forces and influences
quite unlike the past, and change, whether willing or unwilling, is going to be
the order of the day. With an incompetent state and leaders without vision, pursuing
their paltry little ends, Myanmar has little chance of standing up to the winds
of change. The out-dated nationalism, which is found so useful now, is
generating tension, division and violence. For the future, only a diverse and
resilient national identity can hold its ground.