Protesting against China over the treatment of its minority is, in the eyes of Muslim leaders, presumably not worth the loss of economic privilege and security alliance

In the age of information technology, the atrocious reality of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang has been fed to the palms and appears before the eyes of the global citizens with frequent leaked images and reports on the mainstream and social media.

However, the global responses from individuals and states seem far less significant compared to the outrage expressed over human rights violations in Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Myanmar, and elsewhere. Perhaps, information overload in the world filled with violence might be one of the reasons which puzzles and hinders the world conscience that ultimately influences and determines their action or lack thereof.

Despite the fact that the West, spearheaded by the United States, the European Union, and Australia have become vocal in their condemnation of China over the plight of Uyghur, not much voice of complaint or protest is heard from the leaders in the Muslim world. There is more to the information surplus which explains the inaction and insufficient responses to the crisis.

This article analyzes the factors which cause such inaction and silence on the plight of Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang.

China policy

Beijing’s iron fist control and surveillance make China a land of mystery, where truth acquisition is uneasy and challenging.

The absence of well-established truth is the key obstruction to raise global awareness and mobilize collective international solidarity to protect the rights of China’s Turkic speaking Muslim minority of Central Asian origin. Despite the evidence and oral testimonies of the Uyghur surviving witnesses fleeing their motherland into exile, their first-hand account of the mass ethno-religious violence seems insufficient to convince leaders of the Muslim world.

The well-established yet unresolved crisis is yielding adverse spillover effects on the internal affairs of Muslim states such as Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the Daesh wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and Myanmar’s Rohingya exodus.

Intertwined with China’s image as an emerging power to wrestle the warmongering American hegemony led many ordinary citizens to doubt the authenticity of both the content and intention of the Western affiliated pro-human rights groups and even the media.

The Chinese government’s divide-and-rule policy is effective that the Chinese Muslim populace is deeply polarized.

Unlike the Uyghur who strongly inherit Central Asian culture and Muslim heritage, the Hui Muslims residing across the country are considered by the government as moderate and assimilative to the Han dominant Chinese society. The latter enjoy more freedom and do not challenge the Chinese state’s unitary policy.

And the presence of a rigid, state-controlled media propaganda and severe censorship not only disallowed the cries of the Uyghur to be heard by their brethren but has also led to a kind of social endorsement of a heavy-handed approach to suppress them.

From unipolar to multipolar new world order

The decline of the American hegemony due to its failed domestic and international capitalist policies, particularly the Iraq war in 2003, marks the end of the unipolar world order.

The electoral victory of President Donald Trump and his nationalist/socialist-like economic policies such as America First, with less global hegemonic ambition, resonates with the sentiment of many angry and frustrated working middle-class Americans. It also reaffirms the failure of American capitalist system.

Subsequently, the world began to observe the new regional dynamics with the new era of multipolarity where nation-states are freely partnering with other emerging powers. China as a rising global power has formed economic and security alliance with several countries both in the pro and anti-American camps across the world.

The Chinese global project of the Belt and the Road Initiative (BRI), financed by its international financial institution, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), has conditioned countries from Asia to Africa to be part of the global value chain which primarily serves the interest of Chinese investors and, of course, the elites in the host countries. Some of the investments include the US$210-million Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt, the $53-billion trade deal with United Arab Emirate, and the $65-billion oil deal with Saudi Arabia, while boosting its investment in Israel and sustaining strong trade partnership with Iran.

Aside from its close tie with the US allies in the Middle East, China continues strengthening its geopolitical-economic interests through Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an economic and security alliance membered by mostly Eurasian nations, most of whom are considered illiberal in their governance.

China and Russia attempt to orient SCO to supersede NATO and EU. The aforementioned reality reflects both new balance of power and the rise of Chinese imperialism that has the influenced other countries regardless of their economic orientations. With economic strength, China managed to become the second largest funder to the United Nations, and together with Russia, it attempts to weaken the United Nation’s human rights protection apparatus by defunding human rights posts.

Global Muslim leadership in crisis

It’s an undeniable truth that most of the Muslim countries share authoritarian characteristics where subjugation of their own people is common.

The condemnation and protest against China on the plight of its Muslim minority would be then counterproductive. Not only would the act be seen as interference to China’s internal affairs, but the protesting states that have no credibility to speak for human rights may also face the backlash for their internal malfeasance.

This is also true with Turkey. Its President, Recap Tayyip Erdogan, is praised by many Muslims across the world for his strong support of the Muslim minorities in the non-Muslim majority countries including the Uyghur. Given their shared ethno-religious and linguistic identities, the Uyghur gained more sympathy and solidarity from the Turkish society where they were granted an asylum.

Nonetheless, there are multiple factors which undermine Turkey’s role in addressing the humanitarian crisis of Uyghur.

First, the Turkish government’s massive crackdown on the domestic political opponents has disqualified Turkey as the credible human rights defender.

Second, the Uyghur minority is not only the Turkic speaking minority group facing suppression. Turkey is often expected to extend hand to the Turkic speaking minorities in Eurasia and Caucasus. Its support of Azeri in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the Armenian has jeopardized its relationship with Russia. It has become more careful in its international role, particularly in avoiding the confrontation with its few remaining allies. This reflects in Turkey’s less vocal intervention over Nagorno-Karabakh upon the normalization of Russia and Turkey diplomatic tie. Lastly, China, like Russia is a few remaining friends of Turkey; having conflict with China over Uyghur would cause more harm to Turkey’s present international standing. The recent political stance of Turkey with China has been compromising as manifested in the crackdown on the pro-Uyghur media and movements in Turkey.

These developments perhaps explain the silence and inaction of the Muslim world on the Uyghur. Protesting against China on the treatment of its minority at this moment, in the eyes of Muslim leaders including Turkey, is presumably not worth the loss of losing economic privilege and security alliance.

While China is a big power which is uneasy to deal with, its escalating global strength is seen as the alternative to leverage against the US when it is in the weakest position than ever. – Rappler.com

It is partly because the Myanmar authorities’ attempt to conceal the evidence by imposing a blockade on Rakhine, making it inaccessible to journalists, international monitors and human rights investigators. Hence, the genocide that is unfolding in Rakhine largely remains obscure to outsiders.

None of us, even those living in neighbouring countries to Myanmar, have a clear idea how many people have been killed and how many women have been raped and sexually assaulted over the past two months. A latest survey carried out by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) found that at least 9,000 Rohingya died in Myanmar due to violence, including at least 730 children under the age of 5, between Aug 25 and Sept 24 last year.

The latest drone footage depicting thousands of desperate new Rohingya refugees fleeing Rakhine into Bangladesh is heartbreaking. It clearly shows the suffering of those targeted in crimes against humanity in Myanmar. However, this is not the first time that the Rohingya are fleeing their home across the border into Bangladesh.

In 1978, more than 200,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh when the Myanmar government launched an operation under the code name “Naga Min” (Dragon King) to expel the scapegoated illegal immigrants from its territory. The operation targeted the Rohingya Muslims through killing, widespread rape, looting, forced labour, arbitrary arrest and burning homes and religious sites.

Again in 1991 and 1992, nearly a quarter of a million Rohingya took shelter in Bangladesh, following a dramatic increase of forced labour, torture, rape and summary executions committed by both the Myanmar military and local Rakhine Buddhists. Between October 2016 and February last year, around 74,000 Rohingya refugees entered Bangladesh after the Myanmar army launched a crackdown, according to International Organisation for Migration’s estimates. The ultimate purpose of these heinous crimes against Rohingya was to make them invisible in their motherland.

Although the Rohingya have been living in Myanmar since the 8th century, they are discriminated as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by the Myanmar government, which subsequently used this as a pretext to deny them citizenship for decades. It is an unfortunate fact that the local Rakhine Buddhist population is deeply misled by their military and government into considering the Rohingya a threat and treating them with hostility.

There is, in fact, well-documented evidence that Rohingya were once legitimate citizens of the Union of Burma under Article 3 of the Aung San-Attle Treaty (1947) and the First Schedule to the Burma Independence Act in 1947. They even had their own political parties and representation in Parliament, cabinet and peoples’ councils of different levels during the democratic period from 1948 to 1962. But in 1982, 20 years after the coup d’état, General Ne Win’s military regime redefined the citizenship law that made the Rohingya effectively stateless.

The question is, what role does the international community play in stopping the systematic repression of the Rohingya and the ongoing final stage of genocide?

The simple answer is, none! In the past, the United States, the European Union and others have remained silent, letting the military regime do what they want. Now, they close their eyes to the mass annihilation of Rohingya with the excuse that any intervention may put Myanmar’s young democracy at risk.

With the exception of Malaysia, Asean continues to play no role in the Rohingya crisis. The 31st Asean Summit in the Philippines on Nov 10 to 14 last year avoided discussing the deadly exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar. Even the words “Rohingya” or “Rohingya suffering” were not mentioned in the summit draft statement.

Many human rights activists, lawyers, academics and scholars use the term “genocide” to describe the brutal ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

The Rome-based Permanent People’s Tribunal consisting of seven judges, with strong professional judicial and academic backgrounds, found Myanmar guilty of the crime of genocide against the Rohingya after hearings took place in Kuala Lumpur from Sept 18 to 22 last year.

It is surely the right time to apply international pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi’s regime to ensure recognition and restoration of the rights to the Rohingya.

Analysts say the international community will not intervene now because they are afraid of losing their possible investment in Myanmar’s oil and gas sectors.

There is only one recourse: to raise global awareness of the citizenship rights and basic human rights of the Rohingya. This may influence the international community, especially the US and EU, to put an end to the Rohingya crisis

One of the key inspirations for many peace activists and peace educators to sustain their commitment for peace is the belief that the seed of peace is inherent in every human being. Based on this conviction, each of us is capable of nurturing this seed and can overrule and transform the seed of violence within us into a powerful force for positive change through non-violence. This is how weapons are dismantled in the mind of men and replaced with constructive and non-violent alternatives.  In fact, the concept of the seed of peace can be found in every faith and spiritual tradition which provides guidance to discover, explore, nurture and translate the power of peace into action and reality. Hence, these religious and spiritual resources are the primary form of peace education in our societies.

Peace education in Thailand is comparatively new when compared with other countries in Asia; most of which have experienced massive destruction of lives, property and infrastructure as a result of warfare and violent conflicts. Thailand with its record of having the highest number of  military coup d’état in the world,  began to see peace education conducted in an informal  way by civil society groups  comprised of students, civilians and human rights activists during the major people uprising against dictatorial rule in 1973, 1976 and 1992. The religious and spiritual concepts such as Ahimsa and Satyagraha of Gandhi were the key principles of these movements. Despite its victory of overthrowing military regimes, peace education and its contributions have not enjoyed much recognition, popularity and/or mainstreaming. It has drawn government and public attention only in recent years following the eruption of violence in Thailand’s Southern Frontier Provinces in 2004.  A conventional heavy handed approach of the Thai government in response to a Malay Muslim nationalist movement for self determination has not improved the situation, but further intensified conflict and escalated the violence. The bitterness of violence is used by both state and non-state actors to justify violent retaliations. Young men and children are the primary targets of indoctrination and armed recruitment by both sides. It is, therefore, always a challenge to promote peace education in such a fragile situation where communities are polarized and overwhelmed with hatred.

To achieve these objectives, it was imperative to establish the right understanding of conflict and its nature; that conflict is not synonymous with violence and can lead to opportunities and positive change if it is dealt with the right attitude and proper means. Although the root cause of conflict in Southern Thailand is not religion, it has been used as a dividing factor between Buddhists and Muslims. As a result, belief takes precedence over the truth which led to prejudice and hatred and subsequently the polarization and collapse of communities. The concepts of overt, structural and cultural violence helped them to realize how they all are the victims and the perpetrators of violence. One of the key elements of peace education is an inter-faith dialogue, which equips beneficiaries with deep listening skills that are required for empathy and the courage to be understood. These skills enable them to discover their hidden prejudices by taking risks in order to deal with difficult and sensitive questions regarding religion, identity and violence. Sharing experiences of losing their loved ones is not only part of trauma healing but it allowed participants to go beyond an image of the enemy and develop empathy to help nurture healthy relationships which serves as a strong foundation for sustainable peace work. Community development programs are another way to foster and reconcile relationships. Participants from both faiths were facilitated to identify and analyze community problems and to collectively seek outlets based on the mobilization of resources available in their communities. The process helped them break the barriers and realize that despite the fact they have differences they share the common experience of being victims of an unjust structure and aspire to the common goals of justice and peace.

As a result, local Malay Muslim populations have lost their faith in both the justice system and the government. Prisons have become a hotbed of terrorism and violence is believed to be the only means to achieve justice and peace. Peace education in prisons and detainment centers was introduced to reach out to detainees. They were equipped with different alternatives to express their grievances and attain justice through non-violent and democratic means.

Community based human rights protection and peace building mechanisms are also components of peace education used to build awareness among people regarding their rights, and to furnish them with legal knowledge in which to protect, defend and promote their human rights. At the conclusion of the program, each community was encouraged to form a community-based organization. A network among targeted communities was established to create bottom-up socio-political space to consolidate, push-forward and achieve their demands through democratic means. It is hoped that the success of this process would contribute towards the attainment of power devolution and self-determination of people, as well as the withdrawal of military and a diminishing of militancy and armed insurgency.

In mainstreaming peace education, ARF/AMAN has assisted local government to develop peace education curriculum. Peace clubs were established in various schools in the Southern Frontier Provinces of Thailand with students serving as a bridge among civilians. They organize community outreach programs in order to spread the message of peace and non-violence.

The situation remains complex and violence is still on the rise. It is difficult to predict when peace will be achieved. A culture of peace takes time to cultivate but the seed of peace that exists in every human being is a social capital that can be nurtured through continuous efforts of peace education. Peace may not prevail in the present generation but if relationships can be positively transformed between people in conflict through peace education, then the next generation can use this as a foundation to continue weaving our efforts for peace. This is how the spirit of peace is sustained.