Abstract
The habitus of Burmanization is deep within Burmese society. Only when the consequences of over sixty years of cultural conditioning are addressed, will the basis for peace be established. This will require the de-Burmanization, de-Militarization, and de-Centralization of Burmese society so that the multi-ethnic nature of Myanmar can be accommodated in a fashion that reflects minority and majority rights. To do this peace narratives need to be constructed which are new and different than those of the past. The education system must be transformative, cultivate diverse values, and ultimately leverage the positive values of Buddhism in developing a peaceful and prosperous secular nation.
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Notes
- 1.
Later in the 1950s, he tried to make Buddhism the state religion, which damaged confidence between Burmese Buddhists and the substantial Christian and Muslim minorities, most of whom were from peripheral ethnic groups.
- 2.
Mote Oo Foundation and a number of other NGOs started doing this during the brief period when control of the school systems, and schools jointly administered by the Central Government and Ethnic Armed Organizations were entertained. The Mote Oo programs developed peace programs in ethnic languages which articulated both with habits of peace, created peace narratives, and promoted dialog. My (Tony) understanding of their curriculum is that it was articulated peace education across primary and secondary schooling, and used Burmese and different ethnic languages.
- 3.
The lack of substance in the Burmese peace process was visible long-before the 2021 coup (Siegner 2019: 48); after all the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke their 17-year ceasefire in 2011, and violence erupted across Kachin and Northern Shan states. During the period of the 2015–2021 ceasefires, there were continued violations of terms of agreement which the “peace process” only ever addressed imperfectly.
- 4.
Second-track diplomacy which emphasizes dialog between actors below the level of international diplomacy is according to Lederach (2005), the best way to establish a nonviolent dialogue culture. As part of the democratization and state-building process, a culture of nonviolence and dialogue must be promoted through the media, education, in-school textbooks, and cross-regional initiatives.
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Eh Htoo, S., Waters, T. (2024). The Search for Peace in Myanmar. In: General Ne Win’s Legacy of Burmanization in Myanmar. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-1270-0_8
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