Myanmar’s moves toward greater political liberalisation since 2011 have done little to address minority grievances or build a more inclusive national identity. Crisis Group telephone interviews, Mohnyin resident and Shanni politician, June 2020. See also Mary Callahan, “Distorted, Dangerous Data? [fn]Crisis Group telephone interview, Shanni politician, July 2020.Hide Footnote, While the conflict has stoked some tensions and exacerbated the Shanni’s sense of insecurity, Myanmar’s political freedoms have enabled a resurgence of aspects of the group’s identity and history that had long been suppressed. Crisis Group analysis. [fn]“Ethnicity without Meaning, Data without Context”, op. [fn]Although figures for displacement by ethnicity are not available, officially 8,323 people had been displaced in Paletwa township alone as of 5 August 2020, the majority of them ethnic Khumi. What’s new? Enriquez, Races of Burma (Delhi, 1924). The words most commonly used are: This report examines the historical understanding of ethnicity in Myanmar, how it became central to national identity, citizenship, politics and armed conflict, and the negative consequences of that centrality. Ferguson, op. If the entrance of a colored family into a white neighborhood causes a general exodus of white people it is reflected in property values. Electoral Performance and Party-Building Processes among Ethnic Parties in Myanmar”. “Ethnicity without Meaning, Data without Context”, op. Many ethnic communities do not have an armed group, and hence feel sidelined in the discussion. According to the latest figures available with CNN-News 18, BJP and its allies are leading in 81 of the state’s 126 seats, Congress and allies in 43 and the other forces in three seats. It has inflicted heavy casualties on the military, with potentially several thousand government soldiers killed. ; “Ethnicity without Meaning”, op. The effect, though, has often been to reinforce longstanding ethnic divisions, both between recognised groups – for example, the Shan and the Kachin – and between the taingyintha and those perceived as “others”. Smaller groups like the Mro have often felt powerless to challenge the Rakhine, despite frequently seeing them as domineering, paternalistic and even manipulative. [fn]See, for example, “Naga zone expansion plan sparks protests, petitions”, Myanmar Times, 2 February 2015; “Mon push for regional minister in Tanintharyi government”, Myanmar Times, 9 February 2015; and “Shan in Karen State ‘have someone to help them’”, The Irrawaddy, 8 July 2019.Hide Footnote. [2] Others have found evidence of a behavioral component of ethnic identity development, separate from cognition and affect, and pertaining to one's ethnic identity. Ethnicity has been a central feature of electoral politics since the military regime convened the first general elections in a generation in 2010. Even in cases where ethnic groups have long lived in the same area, they may be separated from their neighbours by elevation rather than linear distance, with one group traditionally engaged in upland farming and another in lowland rice cultivation. [fn]The SNA officially dates its formation to 1989, but its emergence as a significant armed force came in January 2016.Hide Footnote Although the SNA is a product of longstanding ethnic tensions and grievances, its emergence reflects dynamics of Myanmar’s post-military rule period. New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive infrastructure push in Assam and the state’s changed attitude away from ethnic identity seem to have helped the ruling party gain a decisive lead in the state. Of the 47 parties that applied for registration, almost two thirds were directly tied to particular ethnic minority communities. cit. In addition to the Burman majority, the seven major groups identified in the law (each now having their own states) are: Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan. [fn]Crisis Group telephone interviews, Mohnyin resident and Shanni politician, June 2020.Hide Footnote Further from the conflict’s front lines, Kachin and Shanni communities have also become more segregated since 2011. See also, “Red Shan form armed organisation after demand for new state”, Shan Herald Agency for News, 25 January 2016.Hide Footnote The group’s aims include the creation of a Shanni state, fighting illicit drugs and participating in the peace process political negotiations. In January 2020, the group sparked controversy by saying that Paletwa township was historically controlled by the Rakhine and that its Khumi residents, who are recognised in the official list of 135 groups as being part of the Chin “national race”, are actually a Rakhine sub-group. The SNA now claims to have four armed brigades, based at Homalin, Khamti and Kale in Sagaing Region and Bhamo in Kachin State, each with 300 soldiers. [fn]Ibid.Hide Footnote. [fn]Of these, 27 included an officially recognised ethnic group in their name; another, based in Chin State, referred to itself as the Ethnic National Development Party; and two parties seeking to represent the Rohingya used general names referring to “national development”. This point has also been made by David I. Steinberg, Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford, 2010), p. 20. Twenty-three Border Guard Forces, made up of ex-insurgents or militias from particular ethnic communities, who have been brought more formally under Tatmadaw control and operate in areas close to Myanmar’s international borders. 1 (1960). Identity formation has been most extensively described by Erik Erikson in his theory of developmental stages, which extends from birth through adulthood. Peace conference delagate Ah Moe Si (L) with other Lisu ethnic group members from upper Kachin State, wearing a round black studded hat - symbol of solidarity- of the Lisu people pose for a photo on August 31, 2016. [24] Researchers posit commitment to an ethnic identity group(s) is related to additional resources accumulated through the exploration process, including social support. [fn]Crisis Group Asia Report N°57, Myanmar Backgrounder: Ethnic Minority Politics, 7 May 2003.Hide Footnote. The major political and constitutional questions about the future shape of the state – along with a vision for national identity delinked from ethnicity – should be discussed as part of a broader national reconciliation and constitutional reform process rather than within the narrow confines of a peace process that is inevitably dominated by armed actors. “They did this because they don’t trust us, and because they don't want us to stay around there, in case the Tatmadaw forces us to provide intelligence, or we side with the Tatmadaw”. These groups often refer to themselves as “ethnic armed organisations” to signal that they are political rather than purely military entities. It appears to have links with the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), a major ceasefire armed group. “Sagaing locals demand Tatmadaw, Shanni Army cease fighting”, Network Media Group, 25 April 2020. cit. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of armed militias that range from small village defence forces to entities with thousands of fighters, more powerful than many of the ethnic armed groups. An example of the map accompanies the article, “Without territory, the Shanni army’s difficult path to recognition”, The Irrawaddy, 8 April 2019. [fn]Crisis Group telephone interviews, Shanni politician and Mohnyin resident, June 2020. Diverse communities have merged, intermarried, conquered and been subjugated. The stage of psychosocial development in which identity crisis may occur is called the identity cohesion vs. role confusion. Ethnicity has become central to citizenship, basic rights, politics and armed conflict in Myanmar. Ethnicity in Myanmar is inextricably linked to armed conflict. [fn]In February 2019, the Shanni Nationalities Army changed its name to the Shanni Nationalities Front. Myanmar’s ethnic groups – including the majority Burmans – have taken advantage of recently acquired greater freedoms to express their identity beyond the ballot box and campaign trail. In addition to the Burman majority, the seven major groups identified in the law (each now having their own states) are: Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan.Hide Footnote But did the Rohingya, some of whom had undoubtedly been present in the country prior to 1823, count as an “indigenous race”? religious groups or occupational groups) serves an important basis for one's identity. [fn]A visual sense of the complexity of ethno-linguistic classification in Myanmar is provided by the contemporary language map in Appendix D, which should be seen as a demonstration of the impracticality of any such exercise, rather than as an accurate geographic mapping of ethno-linguistic identities. Since independence in 1948, Myanmar has struggled to forge a national identity that is reflective of its ethnic diversity and to deliver on the aspirations of the many peoples within its borders. [fn]See Crisis Group Report, An Avoidable War, op. In light of this, affirmation of ethnicity has been proposed to be more salient among groups who have faced greater discrimination, in order to maintain self-esteem. After the 1982 law reinforced the primacy of indigeneity, government leaders started speaking of “135 national races”. [23] Findings suggest this is due to an individual's sensitivity to awareness of discrimination and conflicts of positive and negative images of ethnicity during exploration. These Shanni militias are distinct from other more established Tatmadaw-backed militias in Kachin State, such as the ethnic Rawang Rebellion Resistance Force and the Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group, which broke away from the KIO.Hide Footnote “Because we have a local militia, we have some protection. The government has an important role to play in shaping this debate. Although a minority nationally, the Rakhine are the majority group in Rakhine State, with the Rohingya a sizeable minority; smaller minorities include the Mro, Khami, Thet and Daingnet. In a 1933 report the agency acknowledged some fluidity to the concept of "white identity":[18]. The winner-takes-all electoral system leaves minority parties with very little representation and hence limited electoral or political leverage. cit.Hide Footnote Some groups have conducted informal censuses of their populations in attempts to boost their purported numbers, and made demands for reserved ethnic seats and new or expanded self-administered zones, often pitting themselves against other minority groups. See 2008 Constitution, Sections 21, 34, 38, 347-360, 364-376 and 380-381. But the level of conflict and insecurity in Rakhine State and southern Chin State is such that if an external actor were willing and able to support and fund the creation of an armed group, it would find willing participants, dealing another blow to long-term efforts to achieve peace in Myanmar. For them, gaining independence meant not just removing the British, but also the Indians. See, for example, “Karen Ethnic Affairs Minister in Mon State Pushes for Karen Identity in Names”, Karen Information Center, 8 June 2020. The Arakan Army has proven far more effective on the battlefield than any previous group in western Myanmar. One ethnic Khami community leader complained that community training was needed on the history of the different ethnic groups and their characteristics; the lack of a clear understanding, particularly among the young generation, of what distinguishes different ethnicities was “a big problem” in maintaining the cultural and biological purity of the different groups. [fn]“Sagaing locals demand Tatmadaw, Shanni Army cease fighting”, Network Media Group, 25 April 2020.Hide Footnote, For now, the SNA seems to have strong support among the Shanni, particularly in Sagaing Region. The incentives for groups to do so are considerable and involve interlinked ethno-nationalist and economic imperatives: without an armed group to protect it, a community can be vulnerable to predation from its non-co-ethnic neighbours; conversely, armed groups are well positioned to profit from the illicit economy that has developed over decades in these areas, which produces the revenues necessary for arming and operating a powerful militia. Politicians and policymakers are constrained due to both cultural and political factors. Crisis Group telephone interview, Kaungkha Militia leader, June 2020. Given the family is a key source of ethnic socialization, closeness with the family may highly overlap with closeness with one's ethnic group. For a Kachin version, see “Where the Change Has Yet to Reach: Exposing Ongoing Earth Rights Abuses in Burma (Myanmar)”, EarthRights International, 2012, p. 30.Hide Footnote, Since the Tatmadaw-KIO conflict resumed in 2011, these tensions have returned to the fore. [fn]Crisis Group visit to Kaungkha, November 2018. cit. Claiming such a legacy may be an attempt to get around government policy that no new armed group should be admitted to the peace process (see below). “Myanmar operation results in the largest synthetic drug seizures in the history of East and Southeast Asia”, press release, UN Office on Drugs and Crime/Myanmar Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, 18 May 2020.Hide Footnote Further investigations and “tip-offs from confidential informants” led to a series of large drug seizures and arrests, culminating in a joint Tatmadaw and police operation targeting the Kaungkha area. 1 (Rangoon, 1900), p. 201.Hide Footnote, The SNA is not the first armed group comprising Shanni soldiers. [fn]“Red Shan form armed organisation after demand for new state”, Shan Herald Agency for News, 25 January 2016.Hide Footnote, Also known as the Red Shan or Tai-Leng, the Shanni are thought to number up to 300,000 people – although some claim far more, as discussed below – and mostly live in the fertile plains of southern Kachin State and northern Sagaing Region (see the map in Appendix E). cit., p. 468.Hide Footnote But while the list repeats many of the entries from the 1931 census, numerous others are different. The militia is actually a collection of village-based units, usually in the range of 30-50 soldiers each, and sometimes includes other ethnicities, such as Lisu and Burmans. cit. See also Sai Wansai, “Burma army’s new strategy: anti-narcotics move and disarmament of a militia”, Shan Herald Agency for News, 11 April 2020; “Shan State militia, AA deny links through lucrative drug trade”, The Irrawaddy, 29 April 2020. See also Kei Nemoto, “The Concepts of Dobama (‘Our Burma’) and Thudo-Bama (‘Their Burma’) in Burmese Nationalism, 1930-1948”, Journal of Burma Studies, vol. This type of design pales in comparison to longitudinal design whose topic of investigation is developmental in nature. One Mro village administrator described how he had tried to collect taxes for the Arakan Army in a bid to protect his community. This uncharacteristically decisive and risky action by the Tatmadaw against an allied armed force brought to an end the ethnic Kachin group’s decades-long control of the territory. At times when the military government would ban Manau festivals in areas under government control, the armed group would invite Kachin people from across northern Shan State to celebrate in its area, despite the risk of upsetting the authorities. See “Red Shan rally for ethnic state”, Myanmar Times, 10 October 2016; and “Thousands of Red Shans demand self-rule”, Shan Herald Agency for News, 19 October 2016.Hide Footnote. “We need an armed group to protect our people here”, said one Khumi leader. Representatives elected to these seats also serve as “ethnic affairs ministers” in their respective state/region governments. and Crisis Group Report, Fire and Ice, op. “Now the Rakhine have their owned armed group, they feel even more powerful. They illustrate different stages of armed group development, from the once-powerful Kaungkha Militia in Kutkai to the newly formed Shanni Nationalities Army of northern Sagaing Region, and the desire of some Mro and Khumi in Rakhine and Chin states to form a militia to protect their people from other armed groups. [7] “The drug menace and the Tatmadaw’s mission”, op. Attempts at a physiognomic approach were found unsatisfactory and language came to be the preferred basis. Some Tatmadaw members have discussed the possibility with Mro and Khumi leaders, but there has been no concrete move to set up new militia units among these communities in Rakhine and southern Chin. The arbitrary distinction between languages and dialects is taken as truistic in academic linguistics (captured in the famous quip by linguist Max Weinreich that “a language is a dialect with an army and navy”), and the same problem arises with distinguishing dialects. E.R. [4], Ethnic identity is sometimes interchanged with, held distinct from, or considered as overlapping with racial, cultural and even national identities. Moreover, Shanni attitudes toward the Shanni militia have been mixed due to its links to the Tatmadaw, which many among them see as an oppressive force. Lack of state investment in developing minority areas only strengthened this perception of exploitation. Non-Rakhine minorities in Rakhine State have found themselves caught between two warring groups, neither of which they can rely on for protection. Social identity theory posits that belonging to social groups (e.g. The latter divide has manifested most tragically in communal violence targeting Muslims and the violent expulsion of the Muslim Rohingya from Rakhine State beginning in August 2017. International actors engaging with the country over the past decade have not always appreciated the complex realities of ethnic identity. [fn]Major C.M. Smaller minority groups typically find it difficult to compete with external investors – be they foreigners or Myanmar nationals from outside the area with more business knowledge and access to capital. “Chin political party warns against labelling of ‘Khumi’ as ethnic Rakhine”, Khonumthung News, 30 January 2020. [fn]Crisis Group interview, foreign aid worker based in Kachin State, February 2019.Hide Footnote From the Tatmadaw perspective, the militia has been mostly a useful bulwark against KIO efforts to expand into southern Kachin State, but occasionally its soldiers have also fought on the front lines alongside the Tatmadaw against the KIO. The 1948 citizenship law specified that, to count as indigenous, a group must have made its permanent home in Myanmar prior to 1823 (the year before the first Anglo-Burmese War started). Although the Arakan Army’s leadership publicly stresses the group’s respect for all ethnic groups in Rakhine and human rights more broadly, the lived experience on the ground is often quite different. Ethnic identity development has been linked to happiness and decreased anxiety. We can’t avoid the Rakhine; we have to deal with them to survive. Present-day Myanmar (also known as Burma) is a mix of peoples with various origins, languages and religious beliefs. See Stephen Cornell and Douglas Hartmann, Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World, 2nd edition (Thousand Oaks, 2007). They think that Naypyitaw will inevitably have to allow the SNA into the peace process. In 1976, Shanni militia members massacred dozens of Kachin residents in the majority Shanni town of Mohnyin, and many of the remaining Kachin residents fled to Myitkyina. Collective identity also includes evaluation of one's category. The UN and bilateral donors that funded and provided technical assistance to the count ignored repeated warnings that their insistence upon including a question on ethnicity, framed as a determinate choice from the problematic list of 135 categories, was dangerous. These contextual systems or networks of influence delineate from ecological systems theory. “Although the militia protects us, we didn’t like them very much. [fn]Ethnic communities in Myanmar, especially the larger groups, prefer not to be described in English as “ethnic minorities”, instead favouring the term “ethnic nationalities”. This combination of age, life experiences, and improved cognitive skills helps adolescents and young adults find their authentic selves. For more examples, see Hla Maw Maw, “Cultural Heritage of Shanni (Taileng) National in Northern Myanmar”, PhD dissertation, University of Yangon, May 2017, p. 65.Hide Footnote But the Shanni are not the only ones playing this game, even in their own neighbourhood: in early 2020, Naga politicians lobbied Aung San Suu Kyi to expand the Naga Self-Administered Zone to include Homalin and Khamti townships – both of which the Shanni claim for themselves. 3 (2019).Hide Footnote, Ethnic minority people thus tend to be defined by their ethnicity, seen as biologically fixed and expressed as a set of superficial cultural traits. 38, no. An individual faces a specific developmental crisis at each stage of development. With some few exceptions, ethnic and racial identity development is associated positively with good psychological outcomes, psychosocial outcomes (e.g., better self-beliefs, less depressive symptoms), academic outcomes (e.g., better engagement in school), and health outcomes (e.g., less risk of risky sexual behavior or drug use). Tens of thousands joined demonstrations in Sagaing Region the following month and in Kachin State in October 2016. This work stands in contrast with earlier studies of white flight that assume a broad or homogeneous concept of "white people" who suburbanize in the post World War II era. cit. For more examples, see Hla Maw Maw, “Cultural Heritage of Shanni (Taileng) National in Northern Myanmar”, PhD dissertation, University of Yangon, May 2017, p. 65. Such a change would also likely have to be accompanied by the creation of a third tier of representative government across the country, delinked from ethnicity, which would allow greater decentralisation of spending and decision-making that would replace the current ad hoc arrangement of self-administered areas for certain ethnic populations. [fn]Ibid.Hide Footnote, The Kaungkha Militia is one part of a patchwork of insurgent groups and militias across Shan State and much of Myanmar’s upland areas. Ethnicity, Belonging and the National Census in Burma/Myanmar”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, vol. One argument is that while behaviors oftentimes express identity, and are typically correlated with identity, ethnic identity is an internal structure that can exist without behavior. [fn]Buchanan, “Militias of Myanmar”, op. Jane M. Ferguson, “Who’s Counting? cit. For more discussion, see ibid. [fn]Cheesman, op. From 1886 until 1937, the country was ruled as a province of British India in ways that took no account of huge cultural differences with the sub-continent and a separate political identity. ‘Lumyo’ in the 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census”, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, vol. [fn]For Crisis Group reporting on Myanmar since the 2015 elections, see Asia Reports N°s 308, Rebooting Myanmar’s Stalled Peace Process, 19 June 2020; 307, An Avoidable War: Politics and Armed Conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, 9 June 2020; 305, Commerce and Conflict: Navigating Myanmar’s China Relationship, 30 March 2020; 303, A Sustainable Policy for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh, 27 December 2019; 299, Fire and Ice: Conflict and Drugs in Myanmar’s Shan State, 8 January 2019; 296, The Long Haul Ahead for Myanmar’s Rohingya Refugee Crisis, 16 May 2018; 292, Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis Enters a Dangerous New Phase, 7 December 2017; 290, Buddhism and State Power in Myanmar, 5 September 2017; 287, Building Critical Mass for Peace in Myanmar, 29 June 2017; 283, Myanmar: A New Muslim Insurgency in Rakhine State, 15 December 2016; and 282, Myanmar’s New Government: Finding Its Feet?, 29 July 2016; Asia Briefings N°s 161, Conflict, Health Cooperation and COVID-19 in Myanmar, 19 May 2020; 158, Myanmar: A Violent Push to Shake Up Ceasefire Negotiations, 24 September 2019; 157, Peace and Electoral Democracy in Myanmar, 6 August 2019; 155, Building a Better Future for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh, 25 April 2019; 154, A New Dimension of Violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, 24 January 2019; 153, Bangladesh-Myanmar: The Danger of Forced Rohingya Repatriation, 12 November 2018; 151, Myanmar’s Stalled Transition, 28 August 2018; 149, Myanmar’s Peace Process: Getting to a Political Dialogue, 19 October 2016; and 147, The Myanmar Elections: Results and Implications, 9 December 2015; and Richard Horsey, “Myanmar at the International Court of Justice”, Crisis Group Commentary, 10 December 2019.Hide Footnote Following independence from the British in 1948, many of the conflicts were ideological in nature – with a number of political factions taking up arms on behalf of different socialist and communist visions for the country’s future. 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