Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in Burma

Abstract

Experts (scholars, historians, and journalists) closely following Burmese politics have generally agreed that the history of Burma has been defined by sectarian ferocity, ethnic divergence, religio-racial nationalism, and protracted armed insurgency following the departure of the British and the formation of the union of modern Burma in 1948.1 The Burmese have rarely seen economic prosperity, political stability, religious freedom, and genuine peace for over a half century. What went wrong in Burmese history? The thesis of this essay stresses that Burma has historically been plagued by sectarian violence, political repression, and brutal insurgency because of the conflicting policy of national unity adopted and adapted by those who projected and determined the fate and future of the country. Prior to exploring and analyzing how religion, ethnicity, and nationalism have played vital roles in the making of Burmese history, a short background of the country is offered here. Burma is the largest of the mainland southeastern Asian states, one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world with 135 subgroups, and home to 53 million people. It shares a border with Bangladesh and India in the west, Tibet and China in the north, and Laos and Thailand in the east. The coastline of the Indian Ocean forms a natural boundary to the south. There are eight major ethnic groups in the country: Burman (69.0 percent), Shan (8.5 percent), Kachin (1.4 percent), Karen (6.2 percent), Chin (2.2 percent), Mon (2.4 percent), Rakhine (4.5 percent), and Karenni (0.4 percent).2 These statistics come from official 1983 figures and are subject to dispute, not only because the government, dominated by the Burman majority, has been accused of exaggerating the numbers of the Burman population for political ends, but also because there has been no complete census in Burma since 1931.3 Disputing such contested figures, Bruce Matthews, for instance, states that ethnic minority groups combined represent roughly 40 percent of the entire population in the country.4