Islam in the China sea : Muslims in Myanmar

Abstract EN

From an economic and strategic perspective, the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.

It has always been a strategic maritime route that benefitted kingdoms of Tiriwizara, Majapahit, Malakka, Pagan, Hantawaddy and Konbong Kingdoms of Myanmar.

Thanks to the long borderland, China and Burma have always engaged in trade and diplomatic relation.

Burma, presently called Myanmar, is an important country from the perspective of geo-politics in the region, but never has the situation of 8 million Muslims in this country been worse.

Muslims have been living in Myanmar for a long time.

The previous Buddhist rulers of the country and the British administration that followed provided rights of citizenship to them without discrimination.

In the light of these welcoming circumstances, Muslims were happy to contribute to the nation by joining the army, the police force, government institutions in areas such as health care, education, trade, business, agriculture as well as in politics and as legislators in the parliament of Myanmar.

Nevertheless, their unfortunate history began when the military came into power in 1962.

All the rights and responsibilities they had enjoyed over the years became restricted.

Discrimination policies were applied in every segment of national institutions, thereby threatening their citizenship rights.

The discrimination continued to the extent that their racial status as one of the 145 ethnic groups of Myanmar was removed.

Consequently, frequent riots, afflictions, and violence against Muslim minorities became the norm, rendering peaceful coexistence between Muslim and Buddhists difficult.

The objective of this paper is to research the historical existence and identification of Muslims in Myanmar.

Findings of this work will touch upon a theory of peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar.