Matters India Reporter
Manila, The Philippines: An Indian professor is to speak on the Rohingya issue in the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) on Dec 5.
UPD is country’s national and premier university that attracts international studies across the world.
Dr. Nehginpao Kipgen, Assistant Professor and Executive Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, India, will speak on “The Rohingya Conundrum: Its Significance for International Studies.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
He is a Political Scientist whose concentration is in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Since 2013, Dr. Kipgen has served as a “country expert” on Myanmar for Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), a collaborative academic research project of the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg (Sweden), and the Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame (USA).
He is the author of three books and 16 peer-reviewed academic articles. He has also published over 160 articles in various leading international newspapers and magazines in five continents – Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America – including but not limited to the Washington Post, Foreign Policy Journal, Nikkei Asian Review, The Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, New Zealand Herald, Jerusalem Post, The Hindu, China Post, Japan Times, Korea Times, South China Morning Post, The National, Bangkok Post, Jakarta Post, Manila Times, and Brunei Times.
The conflict between Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Rakhine state in western Myanmar (Burma), and the Rakhine Buddhists has been an international concern since 2012 when violence first erupted in recent years. The latest wave of violence started on August 25 when Muslim militants staged coordinated attacks on 30 Myanmar police posts and an army base.
The military responded with counterinsurgency operations of its own, which has resulted in the death of over a hundred and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. The August 25th attack occurred just hours after the advisory commission led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan released its official report advising the government on long-term solutions for the violence-riven state.
The protracted violence is a threat not only to Myanmar’s internal peace and stability but also for the country’s relations with the international community, particularly its immediate neighbor Bangladesh and the Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, that have expressed concerns over the Rohingyas’ treatment in the past.
The religious component of the conflict could potentially inflame tensions around the region and even contribute to new terrorist activities. This talk will focus on three fundamental issues: the Rohingya conundrum, possible solutions, and its implications in international studies.
Meanwhile, two Catholic bishops have criticized the Philippine government for voting against a UN draft resolution calling for full and free access to humanitarian aid for thousands of minority Rohingya in Myanmar who are suffering violence and persecution.
The Philippines was one of the 10 nations that last week opposed the resolution, which also called on Myanmar to grant full citizenship rights to members of the Muslim minority who had fled to nearby Bangladesh to escape abuse.
More than 620,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since August as refugees escape a military crackdown, which has been widely criticized as “ethnic cleansing.”
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said he was “disappointed and ashamed” at the Philippines’ vote.
“This opposition expressed by our officials is an echo of the lack of respect or even recognition of basic human rights of this present administration, a very dark mark of our nation which will be recorded in the history of our country, as bad as the memory of the Marcos dictatorship!” he said.
“The countries who oppose international communities to stand for the rights of the Rohingya Muslims are themselves human rights [violators] against their own people, including the Philippines,” Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said.
Last week, 135 UN members voted in support of the draft resolution, which also urged Myanmar to grant full citizenship to the Rohingya Muslims.
The 10-nation Asean itself was divided. Three predominantly Muslim members—Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia—voted yes, while five members—Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam—voted no. Singapore and Thailand abstained.