State In Myanmar Research Articles

Search for Durable Solution to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh

Abstract The Rohingya, a Muslim minority living mainly in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar, are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact that they have settled in Myanmar for hundreds of years. Myanmar recognized 135 ethnic groups under the 1982 Citizenship Act which excludes the Rohingya as an ethnic group in Myanmar and they became stateless. Myanmar Security Forces have committed grave violation of human rights against Rohingya. The latest attack in 2017 was more heinous than in 1978, 1992, and 2012. As of June 2018, The Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh was portrayed as a protracted refugee situation. In many protracted refugee situations, a durable solution such as local integration, resettlement and voluntary repatriations needed to be implemented to end the prolonged displacement. The aim of this paper is to discuss the most feasible durable solutions to be implemented to repatriate Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Ontology of Necropolitical Governance

The world witnessed one of the most devastating ethnic group exoduses in Southeast Asia in August 2017, with the Rohingya at its core. Enduring generations of repression, rampant sexual assault, and organized devastation implemented by the government of Myanmar, many Rohingya people were forced to flee to adjacent Bangladesh to seek safety. Despite being an integral aspect of Myanmar’s past, the state denies the Rohingya people their rights to citizenship. This omission from citizenship perpetuates their exclusion from Myanmar’s body politic.Employing Giorgio Agamben’s concept of homo sacer, this paper uses Habiburahman’s memoir, First, They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks, to examine how the state of Myanmar has been instrumental in orchestrating a systematic marginalization of the Rohingya. This process has reduced them to what Agamben terms as “bare life,” thereby ascribing them to a position of what Judith Butler terms as precarity. Utilizing Achille Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics, this article theorizes how the state abuses the precarious position of the Rohingya by creating “death worlds,” relegating them to the position of “the living dead,” ultimately culminating in the teleological inevitability of genocide.

Two new species of Austrelatus diving beetles from continental Southeast Asia, linking the distribution area of the genus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Copelatinae)

Two new species of predominantly Australasian genus Austrelatus Shaverdo et al., 2023 are described and illustrated: Austrelatus mirai sp. nov. from Selangor State in Peninsular Malaysia is similar in habitus to the South Indian species A. boukali (Hendrich & Balke, 1998) and A. davidi (Wewalka, 2017); however, the shape of the male genitalia suggests that it is closely related to Austrelatus species from Kalimantan. Austrelatus riberai sp. nov. from Shan State in Myanmar is most similar to Sino-Japanese A. parallelus (Zimmermann, 1920). Findings of Austrelatus species in continental Southeast Asia fill the gap in the distribution area of the genus between India, China and Japan on one side, and the Sunda Islands on the other side.

Tourism and Tradition: How Community-Based and Ethnic Tourism Are Reshaping Chin Traditional Tattoos in Myanmar

In response to the increasing interest in local cultures and the preservation of heritage, the tourism industry has evolved beyond traditional leisure and recreation activities. This evolution has led to a surge in initiatives aimed at safeguarding the cultural identity, heritage, and traditions of developing nations. In the context of chin state in Myanmar, the resurgence of tradtitional face tattoos, onece less prevelent, can be attributed to the rising tourism activity in the region. This study hightights how facial tattors have been commercialized within the tourism sector, influenced by religious and ethnic dynamics. The commodification of these facila tattoos has paradoxically contributed to the preservation of this cultural practice among the Chin tribes by imbuing it with symbolic significance in the realm of ethnic tourism. Moreover, the processes of ethnic tourism have played a crucial role in reviving indigenenous knnowledge and promoting cultural sustainability in Myanmar.By intertwining tourism initiatives with the preservation of cultural heritage, ethnic tourism has emerged as a vehicle for revitalizing traditional practices and forstering a deeper appreciation for the cultural identity of the chin tribes. This intertwining of tourism and cultural sustainability underscores the importance of ethnically engaging with local communties and traditions to ensure the authenticity and longevity of cultural heritage in the face of evolving tourism landscapes.

New records of flowering plants for the flora of Myanmar collected from Southern Shan State II

A three-year collaborative plant survey among researchers from Korean and Myanmar in the vicinity of the Panlaung-Pyadalin Cave Wildlife Sanctuary (PPCWS) in the southern Shan State of Myanmar led to the addition of four newly recorded flowering plant taxa for the country’s flora. Some of the notable species are Aeschynanthus minutifolius (Gesneriaceae), which was previously known to be distributed only in Thailand, and Trailliaedoxa gracilis (Rubiaceae), the only species in its genus, known only to occur in China narrowly. These additional findings are expected to augment our understanding of the plant diversity in Myanmar and can be instrumental in advancing botanical knowledge in general in the region.

“Come thou the spirits of village and locality, come thou the spirits of sons and daughters!”

Abstract This paper discusses the ritual language of Thadou-Kuki, a Tibeto-Burman language of the Kuki-Chin subgroup spoken in Northeastern India and the Chin State of Myanmar. The paper examines 13 ritual texts to determine the nature of language use and the types of structure that ritual language provides. The paper discusses the general belief surrounding the traditional religion as background information to the types of ritual language discussed in the paper. This is followed by a discussion on the structure of ritual language in terms of composition, grammatical constructions, and the choices of words used in the ritual language of Thadou-Kuki, including archaic expressions that are characteristic of ritual language. From the analysis of the ritual texts, the paper discusses the types of repetition at the level of syllables and paragraphs/stanzas. Each stanza is further divided into couplets of repetitive phrases (differing mostly in the initial words of a phrase or sentence). The paper divides the ritual language of Thadou-Kuki into two, namely invocation and direct address to the spirits. The former makes use of imperatives, namely the request –ô, the invitational –în, and the hortative –hèen. Direct address to the spirits, on the other hand, makes use of the declarative mood, namely, a clause or sentence-final marker –e.

Prevalence and social determinants of depression: A cross-sectional survey of Myanmar migrant workers in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

ABSTRACT Background: Depression is a common mental disorder and the sixth leading cause of disability in Thailand. Chiang Mai has historically been a city of attraction for labour migration for Shan migrants from the adjacent Southern Shan State of Myanmar. Currently, only infectious diseases are screened during the pre-employment period. Prevention and early detection of noncommunicable diseases can improve a healthy workforce and reduce the healthcare burden on the host country. Therefore, we aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was done among Myanmar migrant adults legally working in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Results: The final analysis included 360 participants and the prevalence of depression was 14.4%. Being female, duration of stay in Thailand of more than 10 years, co-residence with co-workers, and marginalisation pattern of acculturation were significant associated factors affecting depression in a multivariate regression analysis model. Conclusion: Although the culture and dialect were not different between the host and country of origin, Myanmar migrant workers of Shan ethnicity suffered from depression. Our findings highlighted the importance of social determinants beyond common predictors of depression among migrants and the need for public health measures to promote migrants' integration into the host culture.

1087. Zingiber procumbens Nob.Tanaka & M.M.Aung: Zingiberaceae

SummaryZingiber procumbens Nob.Tanaka & M.M.Aung, a ginger endemic to Myanmar, is described and illustrated. The habitat of this species in the Karen Hills, Kayah State in Myanmar is shown. A brief taxonomic history of this species and its discovery is also provided; a description of its fruits and seeds is given here for the first time.

Cross-Border Religiosity and the Revival of Theravada Buddhism in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China

ABSTRACT Since the early 1980s, China’s southwestern borderland area of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province has witnessed an astounding rejuvenation of Theravada Buddhism among the Dai-Lue and Bulang ethnic groups. This has occurred in the larger context of a general revitalisation of religion throughout China and specifically Theravada Buddhist revivalism in the upper-Mekong region. The emigration of the Dai-Lue and Bulang peoples in Xishuangbanna from the 1950s through the 1970s and their reconnection from the 1980s through the 2010s reforged a sense of trans-regional belonging across this area of China, Shan State in Myanmar, and northern Thailand. This sense of belonging re-established religious connections in the borderlands. This article argues that trans-regionalisation in the upper-Mekong region and the revival of Buddhist traditions in Xishuangbanna were the result of a synergistic interaction. Theravada Buddhism was rebuilt through the cooperation between cross-border monks and laypeople. Monks of the Yuan Buddhist tradition facilitated the rebuilding of Buddhism in Xishuangbanna amid the social milieu of religious revivalism in China. Moreover, this article explicitly analyses the indispensable role lay devotees played in rebuilding their Buddhist tradition by working within the local temple-village structures.

Distribution, survivability and susceptibility status of Anopheles mosquitoes in Kamamaung Township, Kayin State in Myanmar

Malaria endemicity is remaining in hard to reach and insurgent areas in Myanmar, where high density of primary and secondary vectors are available. Present study was determined the distribution, survivability and insecticides susceptibility status of vectors and non-vectors of malaria in Katinehtit village Kamamaung Township, Kayin State from July 2020 to June 2021. Mosquitoes were collected by Kanda net for animal bait and CDC light traps for indoor and outdoor collection from 18:00 to 00:06 hour. Survivability rate of An. dirus, An. minimu, An. aconitus, An. philippinensis, An. vagus and An. culicifacies were measured under the group of banana plants and susceptibility of collected mosquitoes were tested with WHO recommended insecteds. A total of 2207 mosquitoes consist of 13 Anopheles mosquito adult were collected by different collection methods by Cattle bate 1581(71.64%), Light trap indoor 174(7.88%), Light trap outdoor 297(13.46%), Morning Resting 43(1.95%) and Near the resting plant 112(5.07). Main vector An. dirus and An. minimus were mostly collected in Rainey season in high density and An. dirus was disappeared in hot season. Main vector An. minimus and secondary vector as An. philippinensis, An. culicifacies, An. maculatus, An. aconitus and nan vector An. barbirostris and An. hyrcanus were collected in all seasons. An. philippinensis, An. barbirostris and An. hyrcanus were abundantly collected. The highest survivability rate was found An. dirus and An. vagus for 8 days (10%) followed by An. culicifacies (20%), An. philippinensis (10%), An. minimus (20%) for 7 days and lowest was found An. aconitus for 6 days (20%). High density of An. dirus larvae were collected from rock pools and An. minimus was collected in sand pools, rice fields water, bed of Yonsalin creeks and water pools. All the collected mosquitoes were susceptible to Deltamethrin 0.05%, Permethrin 0.75% and Cyfuthris 0.15%. In conclusion, high density of main malaria vectors and secondary vectors were collected from Katinehtit village is a high risk area of malaria. Although all the collected main and secondary vectors were susceptible to WHO recommended insecticides. Therefore, Long Lasting Insecticide impregnated nets can be preventing the transmission of malaria in this area.

Homeland of Karenic languages

Abstract Comparisons of plant names in Karenic languages reveal that names that can be traced back to Proto-Karen belong to plants that grow in temperate zones, such as bamboo, banyan, and mango. The names for coconut and palmyra palm, which are typical tropical plants, cannot be traced back to Proto-Karen and are borrowings. This suggests that Proto-Karen was spoken in a temperate zone. Meanwhile, the highest diversity of Karenic languages is observed in the area from southern Shan State to Kayah State and northern Karen State in Myanmar. Thus, as per linguistic migration theory, this area may have been the homeland of Karenic languages. Furthermore, the area largely has temperate zones. Hence, we can assume that the homeland of Karenic languages was in this area.

An attempt to plot the source languages of village names on a map of Kachin State, Myanmar

Abstract The Kachin State of Myanmar is home to a variety of ethnic groups, including Kachin, Tai, and Burmese. This is a result of the ethnic migrations and expansions that have occurred in the area. Determining the source language of a village name and plotting it on a map could provide clues to the present and past distribution of the ethnic groups, and also supporting evidence for presumed ethnic migrations and expansions. In this paper, I will outline methods for determining the source languages of village names in Kachin State based on the resources such as descriptions on maps, information gathered through interviews, names of families and clans and so on. I will also present the results of an attempt to plot the source languages on a map at the current stage.

Rohingya Crisis from a Geopolitical Lens: Power Struggle over Regional Hegemony shadowing the Humanitarian needs

Abstract: Rakhine state in Myanmar is strategically located at the center of a power struggle between emerging Asian nations. Consequently, the strategic position has become the crucial factor that fans the fire behind the current Rohingya issue. As a minority group in Myanmar, the Rohingya have struggled for citizenship for decades. To escape the state-orchestrated persecution, a large number of Rohingya took shelter in neighboring Bangladesh. Under the cloak of geopolitical issues, the Rohingya Crisis has lingered for five years with no clear path to resolution. While India attempts to pursue its “Act East Policy,” China seeks to incorporate Myanmar into its “One Belt, One Road” initiative. A further aggravating factor is a threat posed by US military forces in Southeast Asia to China’s interests. However, as a neighboring nation of Myanmar, Bangladesh became entangled in the conflict between the Regional Competitors. The study argues that the geopolitical interest of bordering countries and the economic interest of the military regime have exacerbated the situation and are one of the primary reasons why the crisis has not been resolved. The purpose of this study is to analyze how and why the geopolitical consequences of the Rohingya crisis outrun the humanitarian demands of this crisis. Through content analysis of previous scholarly publications, the conclusions of the research have centered on how the fight for regional hegemony makes the Rohingya crisis more vulnerable.

The Relationship Between Inter-Legality and Organized Social Processes in Land Formalization Practices in The Sovereignty-Contested Area of Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar

The study considers the Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) project, which was a land formalization case in a sovereignty-contested area conducted by de jure Myanmar state, de facto Karen Nation Union (KNU), and an international developer. The DSEZ project planning comprised deep-sea Ports, 250 sq. kms of industrial estate zone, and the two-lane 148 km road linking Dawei in Myanmar and Kanchanaburi Province of Thailand as its main features. Recent studies of Myanmar land institutions in sovereignty-contested areas have mainly discussed the factor of "inter-legality," the integration of non-state land laws, as the solution for land disputes between the central state and armed ethnic political groups. However, the real-world case in this study indicated a second factor, "organized social processes," working in correspondence with the first factor. This research paper explores how the two factors were used together the integration of customary land practice into statutory property institutions, influencing changes in the structure and process of land formalization practices, and illustrates the unclear property institutions of sovereignty-contested frontiers. This research paper is a single case study that benefited from the researcher's five years of work experience in the DSEZ project's design, planning, and land acquisition. The obtained information comprises the project's land formalization documentation, published land laws which were checked with the project manager using the triangulation method, and local newspaper clippings. The study concludes that inter-legality and organized social processes should be used together in practice planning to form more context-oriented land formalization practices, employing collective community memory to reduce institutional inertia. Furthermore, the mutually-agreed standards can help avoid direct power contestation between the de jure and de facto.

Educational Challenges and Expectancy of Non-governmental Education Leaders in Armed Conflict Areas in Myanmar

Myanmar is a country with long-term internal conflict with many ethnic minority children suffering from the lack of access to quality education. To solve the issue, non-governmental schools have been built in armed conflict areas. However, the schools are dealing with many challenges such as lack of resources or threat to security. At present, there is a knowledge gap in the practices of non-governmental school leaders in tackling the challenges and their expectancy to provide quality education to their students. Therefore, this study explored the educational challenges and expectancy of non-governmental leaders from Kachin State and Shan State in Myanmar through interviews to assist policy makers and other stakeholders in crafting inclusive education in the country. There are three major parts in the findings: challenges, overcoming methods, and the opportunities the leaders are seeking. The findings suggest the urgent need of cooperation between the government and ethnic armed organisations on the education of the children, changes in national curriculum, and teacher education. Due to the sample size of this qualitative study, the findings may not be generalised for all the ethnic groups in Myanmar. However, they can help policy makers and other stakeholders with policies for inclusive education as they reflect the real life experience of those working in education sector in armed conflict areas.

Safely managed sanitation practice and childhood stunting among under five years old children in Myanmar.

In 2020, 149 million children under the age of five were estimated to be stunted globally. Around half of deaths among children under 5 years of age are related to under-nutrition. Objective of this study is to determine the association between safely managed sanitation and childhood stunting among under-five years old children in Myanmar. This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 16 townships across three regions and five states in Myanmar. Multiple logistic regressions analysis was performed to determine the associations. This study found that 327 (27.09%) under-five children were stunted among a total of 1207 children in Myanmar. Children with unsafely managed sanitation were 2.88 times more likely to be stunting compared with children who access to safely managed sanitation services (AOR = 2.88, 95% CI: 2.16 to 3.85; p-value <0.01). Other associated factors for childhood stunting were needs 1-15 minutes for water collection (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.46 to 2.94; p-value <0.01), 15-60 minutes for water collection times (AOR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.08 to 2.23; p-value 0.02), improper waste water disposal (AOR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.47 to 2.70; p-value <0.01), boys children (AOR = 4.49, 95% CI: 3.30 to 6.12; p-value <0.01), did not take vitamin A supplements(AOR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.22 to 2.20; p-value <0.01), mothers height shorter than 153.4cm (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.45 to 2.58; p-value <0.01), and the lower minimal diet diversity (AOR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.08 to 2.01; p-value 0.02). More access to safely managed sanitation facilities, technical sharing for proper waste water disposal, promoting household water supply system, health promotion for children's diet eating pattern, and regular support for Vitamin A supplementation are critical to reduce childhood stunting among children under the age of five in Myanmar.

A new species of Paraboea (Gesneriaceae: Didymocarpoideae) from Myanmar

The new species Paraboea babae D.J.Middleton from Shan State in Myanmar is described and illustrated.

‘We have big ideas, but only small words’: The post-war geographies of civil society and community in Karen State

Scholars have argued for understanding the post-war as a liminal condition in which the war appears to be over, but where the legacies of war remain contested in everyday spaces and social relations. This article draws from and seeks to make two interrelated contributions to the literature on post-war development and civil society. First, whereas critical development scholars often portray civil society as a Western imposition on local contexts, this article advances a relational approach to post-war civil society as embedded within the local and extra-local power relations created by conflict and violence. Second, drawing from war ethnographies, this article discusses the production of positive socialities amidst war. In particular, this article proposes that warscape biographies – or how subjects narrate their lives as situated within specific times and places of war – can help scholars grasp subjects’ aspirations for redefining community through civil society. These also shed light on the tensions between donors and civil society; the former of which had a decontextualised and aspatial conception of war that did not reflect the heterogeneous and localised ways in which war had been experienced on the ground. This article draws from ethnographic research on mixed-authority in Karen State (2012–2021), shaped by a protracted conflict between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Myanmar government. There, civil society actors sought to envision community in a way that transcended the KNU’s ethnonationalism and the Myanmar state’s ethnocentrism.

Drugs and extractivism: opium cultivation and drug use in the Myanmar-China borderlands

ABSTRACT This paper explores the intersections between two phenomena that have shaped eastern Kachin State in Myanmar’s northern borderlands with China since the late 1980s: the transformation of once-remote spaces into resource frontiers shaped by overlapping and cumulative forms of export-oriented resource extraction, and the upsurge of opium cultivation and drug use. Through the analytic of extractivism, we examine how the modalities surrounding logging and plantations in the Myanmar-China borderlands offer critical insights into how drugs have become entrenched in the region’s political economy and the everyday lives of people ‘living with’ the destruction, violence and insecurity wrought by extractive development.

The Rohingya Influx into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar: Mapping Internal Security Threats

Following the recent 2017 Rohingya influx, Bangladesh now hosts nearly one million Rohingyas. Being persecuted by the Myanmar state machinery and some local vigilantes, they fled for safe refuge in Bangladesh’s Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh sheltered them in 34 overcrowded camps located in the Teknaf and Ukhiya sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar. At present, Rohingyas are counted more than double compared to the local host population in these two areas. This study makes efforts to explicate why and how these stranded Rohingyas can be a security threat to Bangladesh. Theoretically, the study relies on security discourse; ecological and resource scarcity model; and relative deprivation theory. Under the qualitative research approach, the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews mainly with key informants and subject experts to gather field data. The study brings out that this overpopulation has perplexed the security milieu of the country and forecasts multifaceted internal security threats. Thus, the study offers salient policy recommendations to ameliorate the crisis response by neutralizing the identified and forecasted conflictual issues. Social Science Review, Vol. 40(1), Jun 2023 Page 89-107