Conflict in Myanmar: War, Politics, Religion.

• Author: Smith, Anthony
• Position: Book review

CONFLICT IN MYANMAR: War, Politics, Religion

Editors: Nick Cheesman and Nicholas Farrelly

Published by: ISEAS, Singapore, 2016, 390pp, US$39.90 (hb), 29.90 (pb).

POWER SHARING IN A DIVIDED NATION: Mediated Communalism and New Politics in Six Decades of Malaysia's Elections

Author: Johan Saravanamuttu

Published by: ISEAS, Singapore, 2016, 323pp, US$29.90.

Two current offerings from Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies provide insight into substantive political developments in two ASEAN countries.

The first is an edited volume based on the 2015 Myanmar/ Burma Update Conference (at the Australian National University), described as the most significant gathering since the series began in 1999. It is not hard to see why--Myanmar has been engaged in a political and economic transformation, while attempting to deal with a complex patchwork of ethnic conflict. Elections in 2015 were, in the words, of this book, a historic achievement'. They saw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) take a majority in parliament, and Suu Kyi formed a government in partnership with elements (mainly military) from the previous regime. Suu Kyi (formally now as state counsellor and NLD leader) is a figure of some international fame and great expectations sit upon the new government.

Clearly the people of Myanmar have signalled a desire for wholesale change. Suu Kyi's/NLD's sweep of the country's constituencies was a landslide everywhere except Rakhine and Shan states. Rakhine, which features considerable majority Buddhist Rakhine and minority Muslim tension, opted for an ethnic based political vehicle reflecting majoritarian concerns. A number of contributions in this volume focus on problem of Rakhine's communal violence, and the problem of the Muslim population (Rohingya) flowing over the border into Bangladesh. Suu Kyi is caught between the ethnic Rakhine perception that the NLD has sided with the Muslim community and the accusations of some in the international press that she has not done enough. Meanwhile hardline Buddhist ginger groups (particularly MaBaTha) have emerged to express their criticism of any signs of inclusion and tolerance. Conflict in Myanmar notes a long-term issue around perceptions of Islam, foreign and domestic.

Conflict in Myanmar contains some excellent contributions on elections/politics and on the Rohingya question. There are a small number of uneven chapters, including a hard-to-follow account that compares (but...