Network Myanmar
A Critical Assessment of the Burma Exhibition              TOAEP Policy Brief No. 130 (2022) - 1 July 2022                                                            Derek Tonkin                                                               PDF Version  In this analysis critical of the special exhibition on Burma in the US Holocaust Museum, Derek Tonkin concludes that the organisers might well wish to review the narrative of the exhibition in order to eliminate historical revisionism, distortions and anachronisms. The need for a common narrative of Rohingya history is vital if there is to be reconciliation between the Muslim and Buddhist communities in Rakhine State. A true narrative will enhance, not hinder, the safe return home of Rohingya refugees abroad and the prosecution of those responsible for their victimisation and persecution in recent years.                                                                                                                                    



The Labyrinth of the Rohinga Conundrum


Derek Tonkin                                                                                               PDF Version



There is indeed more than enough good reason for the Museum to organise a special exhibition on the matter. Yet as I have already shown, I am concerned that the special exhibition is being used as a propaganda platform to disseminate a particular historical narrative of the kaleidoscope of Muslim communities, Indian and Indo-Burman, who have in recent years coalesced into the “Rohingya” community, an ethnicity in the making. Most Myanmar citizens, I believe, would find the exhibition controversial. It will not help to promote reconciliation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Rakhine State. Its implicit portrayal of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as somehow complicit in genocide is unfortunate and widely disputed, however naïve and ill-informed she may well have been.



                                                  

Burma’s Path to Genocide


Derek Tonkin - 29 March 2022                                                                  PDF Version


In his determination of genocide by the Myanmar Armed Forces delivered in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum on 21 March 2022, US Secretary of State Anthony J Blinken drew significantly on materials in the special exhibition “Burma’s Path to Genocide” set up in 2021. In a series of tweets between 20 and 26 March 2022 I drew attention to what seemed to me to be inaccuracies and distortions in the Exhibition’s presentation. Indeed, of the five Chapters in the online presentation, many of the captions do not in my view reflect historical fact, and this is particularly true of Chapters 1 and 2.


The main problem is that the Exhibition reflects not an independent analysis of who the Rohingya are, their origins and identity, but an idealised, ideology-based narrative which ignores the reality that they are mainly descendants of British-era (1824-1948) agricultural migrants from the Chittagong Region of Bengal. Jacques Leider has presented a seminal paper on “Chittagonians in Colonial Arakan”.



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Genocide Determination by US Secretary of State Blinken



Derek Tonkin - 24 March 2022                                                                                                           PDF Version



On 21  March 2022 US Secretary of State Anthony J Blinken issued a formal determination that the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, were responsible for genocide against the Rohingya minority population in Rakhine State. The determination is a political statement and has no international legal authority. The evidence adduced in the determination (unless a fuller formal statement is intended) is open to discussion. Its timing may well have been influenced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and allegations of genocide made in this context.


David Steinberg: Myanmar: Words like "genocide" have consequences  PacNet #19  12 April 2022



Military Coup in Myanmar - 1 February 2021

 



Notifications and Announcements

 

GNLM: Notification No. 1 of the Commander in Chief - 1 February 2021

GNLM: Office of the President Order No 1 - 1 February 2021

GNLM: Meeting of the National Defence and Security Council - 1 Feb 2021

GNLM: Miscellaneous Appointments - 1 February 2021

Information for the People': Office of the C-in-C - 2 February 2021

MFA Statement and diplomatic briefing: GNLM - 6 February 2021

Announcement of the Union Election Commission - 7 July 2001

Announcement of the Union Election Commission - 8 July 2021

Announcement of the Union Election Commission - 26 July 2021

Order No. 152/2021 of the SAC - 1 August 2021


Commentary

 

Statement to the UK House of Commons

Minister of State Nigel Adams - 2 February 2021

 

Security Council unity 'crucial' to support democracy in Myanmar

UN News: "Consultations" among UNSC Members - 2 February 2021


Text of Remarks by the UNSG's Special Envoy Christine Burgener 

UNSC VTC Consultations on Myanmar - 2 February 2021


Myanmar coup on the pretext of a constitutional fig leaf

Melissa Crouch: East Asia Forum - 3 February 2021


Message to the People of Myanmar

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo: Religions for Peace - 3 February 2021


The Coup in Myanmar: What do we know?

Andrew Selth: The Interpreter, Lowy Institute - 3 February 2021


Aung San Suu Kyi is flawed but needs our Support

Baron Darzi of Denham: The Times - 4 February 2021


Press Statement on the Situation in Myanmar by Security Council President

UN Press Centre - 4 February 2021


Myanmar needs a new kind of democracy

Thant Myint-U: New York Times - 5 February 2021


China does not like the coup in Myanmar

Enze Han: East Asia Forum - 6 February 2021


Myanmar's coup: Reversion to Type

The Economist: Briefing - 6 Feburary 2021


Ghosts of coups past in Myanmar

Mary Callahan: East Asia Forum - 7 February 2021


Post legalism and Myanmar’s contradictory coup

Nick Cheesman: ABC Religion and Ethics – 9 February 2021



Myanmar, still escaping the shackles of the past

Alan Doss: Passblue - 9 February 2021


Measure of the man who stole Myanmar's democracy

David Scott Mathieson: Asia Times - 10 February 2021


Behind the coup: what prompted Tatmadaw's grab for power?

Hunter Marston: New Mandala - 12 February 2021


Myanmar's youth holds the country's future in their hands

Thant Myinyt-U: Financial Times - 12 February 2021


Responding to the Coup

International Crisis Group: Briefing No 166 - 16 February 2021


China addresses rumours, urges Myanmar to settle political differences

Ambassador Chen Hai: Myanmar Times - 16 February 2021


Statement by Concerned Businesses in Myanmar

Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business - 19 February 201


Statement by the President of the Security Council (US) on Myanmar

US Mission to the UN: 10 March 2021


Debate in the UK House of Lords on Protests in Myanmar

Hansard House of Lords: 10 March 2021


What Next for Burma?

Thant Myint-U: London Review of Books Blog - 18 March 2021


Who Failed Myanmar?

Kavi Chongkittavorn: The Irrawaddy - 31 March 2021


Statement by the President of the Security Council (Vietnam) on Myanmar

Vietnamese Mission to the UN: 31 March 2021


Can Myanmar's Democracy be rescued?

Interview with Derek Mitchell: Bloomberg - 18 April 2021


Is Burma's Army in Trouble?

Vijay Nambiar: PassBlue - 19 April 2021


Myanmar and the Lessons of History

Andrew Selth: Asia Link - 23 April 2021


ASEAN Chairman's Statement and Five Point Censensus

ASEAN Website: 24 April 2021


Aung San Suu Kyi's uncertain fate

Andrew Selth: Asia Link - 13 May 2021


Myanmar's Military struggles to control Virtual Battlefield

International Crisis Goup - 18 May 2021 


Taking Aim at the Tatmadaw: The New Armed Resistance 

International Crisis Group Briefing - 28 June 2021


The Domestic and International Implications of the Military Coup

Andrea Passeri: IKMAS (Malaysia) Working Paper - September 2021


Myanmar's Military Mindset: An Exploratory Survey  

Andrew Selth Griffith Asia Institute - September 2021


The Deadly Stalemate in Post-Coup Myanmar

International Crisis Group - 20 October 2021



Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw [CRPH] - NUG


Website of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw


Website of the National Unity Government


Online Burma Library - CRPH Documents


Online Burma Library - NUG Documents


Federal Democracy Charter- Parts I and II - 2021


Policy Position on the Rohingya in Rakhine State - 3 June 2021


Formation of the National Unity Government of Myanmar - 16 April 2021


Myanmar's NUG: Counteracting the coup: ISEAS - 28 January 2022


The International Community needs to prepare for a Post-Tatmadaw Myanmar: ISEAS - June 2022


Myanmar's Civil War and the Myth of Military Victory: Andrew Selth - 28 June 2022




Myanmar’s Representation at the United Nations 2021


The Battle for Myanmar’s Seat at the UNGA

Catherine Renshaw: The Lowy Institute - 10 August 2021

 

Briefing Paper: Myanmar’s Representation in the United Nations

Special Advisory Council for Myanmar - 11 August 2021

 

Briefing Paper: Recognition of Government

Special Advisory Council for Myanmar - 23 August 2021


Briefing Paper: The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Myanmar

Special Advisory Council for Myanmar - 1 September 2021


Briefing Paper: The Response of UN Political Bodies to the Coup

Special Advisory Council for Myanmar - 9 September 2021


Legal Opinion: The Representation of Myanmar at the UN

Myanmar Accountability Project - 14 September 2021


Report of the UNGA Credentials Committee

to the UNGA - 1 December 2021


Resolution 76/15 of the UNGA

adopted by consensus - 6 December 2021


Interview with Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun

VOA News - 12 December 2022


Interview with Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun

RFA - 14 December 2022


Report of Credentials Committee

A/77/600 - 12 December 2022


UN General Assembly approves Report of Credentials Committee A/77/600

UN Press Office - 16 December 2022


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Myanmar Coup Two Years on: Neighbours' Pragmatism

Economist Intelligence - EIU 4 May 2023


  • EIU does not expect outside actors to meaningfully alter the course of conflicts in Myanmar, given limited political and economic leverage over junta leaders and armed resistance, and the lack of a unified approach.
  • Pragmatism underpins Myanmar's neighbours' approach to the country. China, Thailand and India will not rescind tacit support for the junta given practical concerns closer to home, such as border security and natural resources trade.
  • Indonesia, the 2023 rotational chair of the Association of South‑East Asian Nations (ASEAN), has steered the bloc towards promoting dialogue. However, ASEAN's capacity to mediate conflicts is ultimately constrained by its institutional structure.



Violence and Belonging: Conflict, War and Insecurity in Arakan 1942-1952

SEATIDE : CRISEA : Silkworm Books - March 2023


Jacques Leider writes: "The decade from 1942 to 1952 was a period of abrupt political and social change in Burma’s province of Arakan. Power and political agency shifted and were redistributed in a context of warfare, transition from colonization to independence, and struggles for autonomy. Devastation, bloodshed, and rampant poverty were features of this troubled period where regionally dominant Buddhist and Muslim populations went through a process of increased self-awareness and a reshaping of ethnohistorical identification. The present chapter, a contribution to this volume on identity formation in Southeast Asia, looks at the interaction of multiple forms of violence with the consolidation of belonging. Violence and belonging were underpinned by the politics of community formation which persisted and hardened during the following decades, engendering new intercommunal strife."



A Critique of the Allegations of Electoral Fraud made by the UEC


Derek Tonkin writes: The Union Election Commission in Myanmar has presented no evidence of alleged election fraud which they say was committed at the 8 November 2020 elections. There is a world of difference between anomalies in the voter lists and the alleged criminal exploitation of these anomalies by over 40% of those who actually voted. The allegations defy common sense and are an insult to the Myanmar people. 



Notes on progress towards Self-Government and Independence 1945-47


Derek Tonkin writes: The Notes examine appointments made to the Executive Councils formed on (a) 3 November 1945 by Governor Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, and on (b) 28 September 1946 and (c) 20 July 1947 by Governor Sir Hubert Rance, as well as the latter's appointments to the Council of Ministers on  (d) 1 August 1947. The Notes draw mainly on Professor Hugh Tinker's two-volume "Burma: The Struggle for Independence 1944-1948", reports in "The Times" of London and debates in the UK House of Commons.**

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