Religion can be a driving factor in many world events.

Currently in Myanmar there is a

human rights crisis taking place. The Rohingya people of the Rakhine state who are

predominantly Muslim are being persecuted by the Myanmar Army and police. Although not

primarily a crisis fueled by religion faith and functionalist perspectives can be seen in the actions

that are and aren't taking place.

The persecution has been going on since 1982 when a coup d'etat of the nation's government

denied the Rohingya people their citizenship on the grounds that they were illegal immigrants

who entered the country from Bangladesh during the war. The Rohingya people claimed they

have been in the country since the 15th century migrating there as Arab traders who settled in the

region. The primary issue taking place is that because Myanmar considers these people as illegal

they are being deprived of the right of freedom of movement, education, family size restrictions,

and forced labor for the government. (1) A major religious aspect as well is that good land for

crop growing has more recently been forced over to the government and given to Buddhists

settlers from other areas of Myanmar. Past military leaders and nationalist Buddhists have caused

these persecutions to continue heavily on this group.

These restrictions have recently become worse after an attack by the Arakan Rohingya

Salvation Army, a Rohingya insurgent group, who on October 9, 2016 attacked a police

checkpoints killing nine police personnel and looted guns and ammunition. Conflicts have gone

back and forth with military and police groups retaliating by raping and killing civilians and

enforcing blockades on food and basic goods (2). On August 25, 2017 another major attack

happened killing 71 individuals. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army again took credit for the

attack claiming that it was in self defense and that the army had been raping and murdering the
Rohingya people and that recent blockades were going to cause death from starvation (2). Since

that attack the military and police of Myanmar have killed at least 1,000 people and lead to the

displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people. (3)

This crisis in Myanmar is horrible and on the edge of being considered genocide. It all

originates from a seemingly small variable about whether a large group of people are illegal

immigrants or not and the conflicts that have arose from this are very devastating. However, it is

interesting because both groups are from heavily religious areas. The national religion of

Myanmar is Buddhism, a religion that preaches love and care for the world and the individuals in

it, and the military and police forces are nothing short of tyrannical in action. On the opposite

end as well with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army a group made up of Muslims have taken

to almost the edge of becoming a group similar to the Taliban and other extremist Muslim groups

because of the actions taken towards their people.

Viewing the conflict from a religion perspective is hard because if using a faith based

perspective these people should be caring and reaching out to each other to help. Being guided

by their beliefs for good and that they are all individuals from the same human family striving to

survive in the same world. However, it seems like if you view the conflict from the functionalist

perspective you can see that these people may be acting this way because their religions are

different. They may consider themselves better than one another because of their differing beliefs

leading to additional conflict. There may not be a resistance from Myanmar to adopting the

Rohingya people if they weren't Muslim. The Myanmar Government may have originally

included the Rohingya as one of the recognized cultural groups when the country was formed if

they were Buddhists. There is also a current worry that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
could use the displaced people as a traction ground to build a larger group and retaliate in a much

larger way especially if backed by other extremist Muslim groups.

From a religious perspective the crisis seems even more terrible. Two people whose

religious teachings don't seem to have any impact on the way they are treating one another.

Especially the Buddhists whose religion is often times called the religion of peace. Hopefully

the world attention will cause those in charge of the government in Myanmar to get involved

and lead to a peaceful outcome. Unfortunately the issue could escalate into something much

bigger.

Resources.

Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya? 30, Al Jazeera, November 2017. Accessed from:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/rohingya-muslims-170831065142812.html

Head, John; What drives the Rohingya to sea?, BBC News, Bangkok, February 2009. Accessed
from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7872635.stm

Deadly clashes erupt in Myanmars restive Rakhine state, Al Jazeera, 25 August 2017. Accessed
from:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/deadly-clashes-erupt-myanmar-restive-rakhine-state-17
0825055848004.html

Lott, Winn; Et Al. Myanmars Rohingya Crisis COuld Create a Grave Security Threat:
International Crisis Group. Radio Free Asia. 7 December 2017. Accessed from:
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmars-rohingya-crisis-could-create-a-grave-secur
ity-threat-international-crisis-group-12072017163734.html