Islam in the China Sea: Muslims in Myanmar (Islam di Sekitar Laut China: Orang Islam di Myanmar)

Author(s):  
Maulana Akbar Shah

From an economic and strategic perspective, the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. It has always been a strategic maritime route that benefitted kingdoms of Tiriwizara, Majapahit, Malakka, Pagan, Hantawaddy and Konbong Kingdoms of Myanmar. Thanks to the long borderland, China and Burma have always engaged in trade and diplomatic relation. Burma, presently called Myanmar, is an important country from the perspective of geo-politics in the region, but never has the situation of 8 million Muslims in this country been worse. Muslims have been living in Myanmar for a long time. The previous Buddhist rulers of the country and the British administration that followed provided rights of citizenship to them without discrimination. In the light of these welcoming circumstances, Muslims were happy to contribute to the nation by joining the army, the police force, government institutions in areas such as health care, education, trade, business, agriculture as well as in politics and as legislators in the parliament of Myanmar. Nevertheless, their unfortunate history began when the military came into power in 1962. All the rights and responsibilities they had enjoyed over the years became restricted. Discrimination policies were applied in every segment of national institutions, thereby threatening their citizenship rights. The discrimination continued to the extent that their racial status as one of the 145 ethnic groups of Myanmar was removed. Consequently, frequent riots, afflictions, and violence against Muslim minorities became the norm, rendering peaceful coexistence between Muslim and Buddhists difficult. The objective of this paper is to research the historical existence and identification of Muslims in Myanmar. Findings of this work will touch upon a theory of peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar. Keywords Islam, Muslim, identity, rights, discrimination, peace, coexistence. Abstrak Dari perspektif ekonomi dan strategik, Selat Melaka adalah salah satu laluan perkapalan yang paling penting di dunia. Ia sentiasa menjadi laluan maritim strategik yang memberi manfaat kepada kerajaan-kerajaan kerajaan Tiriwizara, Majapahit, Malakka, Pagan, Hantawaddy dan Kerajaan Konbong Myanmar. Disebabkan sempadan yang panjang, China dan Burma sentiasa terlibat dalam perdagangan dan hubungan diplomatik. Burma, yang kini dipanggil Myanmar, adalah negara penting dari perspektif geo-politik di rantau ini, tetapi 8 juta umat Islam di negara ini tidak pernah mengalami keadaan yang buruk. Umat Islam telah tinggal di Myanmar sejak beberapa ribu tahun yang lalu. Para pemimpin Buddha terdahulu dan juga pentadbiran British memberi hak kewarganegaraan kepada umat Islam tanpa diskriminasi. Keadaan ini menyebabkan umat Islam dengan rela hati  tampil memberi sokongan kepada negara dengan menyertai tentera, pasukan polis, terlibat dalam institusi kerajaan dalam bidang kesihatan, pendidikan, perdagangan, perniagaan, pertanian, politik dan penggubal undang-undang dalam parlimen Myanmar. Walau bagaimanapun, sejarah buruk bermula apabila golongan tentera berkuasa pada tahun 1962. Semua hak keistimewaan yang mereka nikmati selama bertahun-tahun menjadi terhad. Dasar diskriminasi telah digunakan pada setiap segmen institusi nasional dan telah mengancam hak kewarganegaraan mereka. Diskriminasi ini berterusan sehingga status mereka sebagai salah satu daripada 145 kaum Myanmar dihapuskan. Akibatnya, kerusuhan, kesengsaraan, dan kekerasan yang sering berlaku terhadap kaum minoriti Muslim menjadi norma dimana tidak mungkin akan wujud kesefahaman antara Islam dan Buddha. Objektif makalah ini adalah untuk menyelidik kewujudan sejarah dan identifikasi umat Islam di Myanmar. Hasil kajian akan menyentuh teori kedamaian antara umat Islam dan Buddha di Myanmar. Kata Kunci: Islam, Muslim, identiti, Hak, diskriminasi, kemanan, coexisten    

Author(s):  
Khary Oronde Polk

This introduction provides a framework for considering America’s military conscription of gender, racial, and sexual difference in the early to mid-twentieth century, and the unique role Black military workers played in the extension of U.S. empire. Beginning with the definition of militarism as conceived by Alfred Vagts, the author makes an appeal for both conservative and progressive scholars to focus on the study of the military. Immunity and contagion are introduced as key terms used to analyze the movement of African American soldiers around the world, and to show how their quests for citizenship rights was burdened by antiblack racism. A chapter breakdown demonstrates how race, nation, masculinity, and sexuality are important subjects in the archive of American militarism, and argues that a new chapter of African American life was brought into being through the imperial conscription of racial, gender, and sexual difference.


2018 ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Grigoryev ◽  
V. A. Pavlyushina

The phenomenon of economic growth is studied by economists and statisticians in various aspects for a long time. Economic theory is devoted to assessing factors of growth in the tradition of R. Solow, R. Barrow, W. Easterly and others. During the last quarter of the century, however, the institutionalists, namely D. North, D. Wallis, B. Weingast as well as D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, have shown the complexity of the problem of development on the part of socioeconomic and political institutions. As a result, solving the problem of how economic growth affects inequality between countries has proved extremely difficult. The modern world is very diverse in terms of development level, and the article offers a new approach to the formation of the idea of stylized facts using cluster analysis. The existing statistics allows to estimate on a unified basis the level of GDP production by 174 countries of the world for 1992—2016. The article presents a structured picture of the world: the distribution of countries in seven clusters, different in levels of development. During the period under review, there was a strong per capita GDP growth in PPP in the middle of the distribution, poverty in various countries declined markedly. At the same time, in 1992—2016, the difference increased not only between rich and poor groups of countries, but also between clusters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
ASTEMIR ZHURTOV ◽  

Cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as humiliate the dignity, are prohibited in most countries of the world, and Russia is no exception in this issue. The article presents an analysis of the institution of responsibility for torture in the Russian Federation. The author comes to the conclusion that the current criminal law of Russia superficially and fragmentally regulates liability for torture, in connection with which the author formulated the proposals to define such act as an independent crime. In the frame of modern globalization, the world community pays special attention to the protection of human rights, in connection with which large-scale international standards have been created a long time ago. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international acts enshrine prohibitions of cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as degrade the dignity.Considering the historical experience of the past, these standards focus on the prohibition of any kind of torture, regardless of the purpose of their implementation.


2020 ◽  
pp. 204-227
Author(s):  
Milana Živanović ◽  

The paper deals with the actions undertaken by the Russian emigration aimed to commemorate the Russian soldiers who have been killed or died during the World War I in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The focus is on the erection of the memorials dedicated to the Russian soldiers. During the World War I the Russian soldiers and war prisoners were buried on the military plots in the local cemeteries or on the locations of their death. However, over the years the conditions of their graves have declined. That fact along with the will to honorably mark the locations of their burial places have become a catalyst for the actions undertaken by the Russian émigré, which have begun to arrive in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of SCS) starting from the 1919. Almost at once after their arrival to the Kingdom of SCS, the Russian refugees conducted the actions aimed at improving the conditions of the graves were in and at erecting memorials. Russian architects designed the monuments. As a result, several monuments were erected in the country, including one in the capital.


Author(s):  
Noor Mohammad Osmani ◽  
Tawfique Al-Mubarak

Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) claimed that there would be seven eight civilizations ruling over the world in the coming centuries, thus resulting a possible clash among them. The West faces the greatest challenge from the Islamic civilization, as he claimed. Beginning from the Cold-War, the Western civilization became dominant in reality over other cultures creating an invisible division between the West and the rest. The main purpose of this research is to examine the perceived clash between the Western and Islamic Civilization and the criteria that lead a civilization to precede others. The research would conduct a comprehensive review of available literatures from both Islamic and Western perspectives, analyze historical facts and data and provide a critical evaluation. This paper argues that there is no such a strong reason that should lead to any clash between the West and Islam; rather, there are many good reasons that may lead to a peaceful coexistence and cultural tolerance among civilizations


1991 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-316
Author(s):  
R. Hrair Dekmejian

Most of the world’s Muslims reside in countries where they are numericallypredominant. As such, these Muslims possess a majoritarian outlook in sharpcontrast to the perspective of minority Muslims living in India, China, theUSSR, and some Western countries. In recent years, Muslim minorities havefound themselves at the confluence of diverse social forces and politicaldevelopments which have heightened their sense of communal identity andapprehension vish-vis non-Muslim majorities. This has been particularlytrue of the crisis besetting the Indian Muslims in 1990-91 as well as the newlyformed Muslim communities in Western Europe.The foregoing circumstances have highlighted the need for serious researchon Muslim minorities within a comparative framework. What follows is apreliminary outline of a research framework for a comparative study of Muslimminorities using the Indian Muslims as an illustrative case.The Salience of TraditionOne of the most significant transnational phenomena in the four decadessince mid-century has been the revival of communal consciousness amongminorities in a large number of countries throughout the world. This tendencytoward cultural regeneration has been noted among such diverse ethnic groupsas Afro-Americans, French Canadians, Palestinian Arabs, the Scots of GreatBritain, Soviet minorities, and native Americans. A common tendency amongthese groups is to reach back to their cultural traditions and to explore thoseroots which have served as the historical anchors of their present communalexistence. Significantly, this quest for tradition has had a salutary impactupon the lives of these communities, for it has reinforced their collectiveand individual identities and has enabled them to confront the multipledifficulties of modem life more effectively. By according its members a sense ...


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 80-95
Author(s):  
D. V. GORDIENKO ◽  

The military component of the Russian Federation's policy in the "strategic triangle" Russia-China-USA occupies an important place in the implementation of Russian aspirations in various regions of the world. The purpose of this article is to assess the impact of the military component of the Russian Federation's policy in the Russia-China- US strategic triangle on the implementation of current Russian policy in the post-Soviet space, in the Asia-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions, in the Arctic, the Middle East and other regions of the world. The paper examines the influence of the military component of the Russian Federation's policy in the Russia- China-USA “strategic triangle”, proposes an approach to a comparative assessment of this influence, which allows identifying the priorities of Russian policy in the post-Soviet space, in the Asia-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions, in the Arctic, on The Middle East and other regions of the world. A comparative assessment of the influence of the military component of the Russian Federation's policy in the Russia-China-USA “strategic triangle” can be used to substantiate recommendations to the military-political leadership of our country. The article concludes that the military component of Russian policy occupies a dominant position in the implementation of the current policy of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet space, in the Asia- Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions, in the Arctic, the Middle East and in other regions of the world.


GEOgraphia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Luiz Renato Vallejo

RESUMO A criação de unidades de conservação é considerada como principal ação de governo cujo objetivo é a preservação e conservação da biodiversidade. A delimitação de “áreas especiais” é uma prática observada desde as sociedades mais tradicionais, sendo que em muitas delas prevalecia um sentido mítico-religioso e, ao mesmo tempo, de conservação de recursos naturais. Em outras sociedades, essa ação esteve associada com a prática de esportes de caça por parte da realeza e da aristocracia rural. Os parques públicos começaram a surgir no século XIX nos Estados Unidos, numa perspectiva de preservação das belezas cênicas e proteção dos bens naturais contra a ação deletéria da sociedade. O tema em questão é discutido à luz da categoria geográfica de território e dos processos de territorialização, utilizando-se para esse fim suas múltiplas abordagens conceituais— biológica, ecológica e social. Discute-se no trabalho os problemas da desterritorialização, em ambos os sentidos (biológico e social), além da formação das redes empenhadas no processo de criação e gestão das unidades de conservação. Houve um esforço de trazer para essa discussão uma contribuição sobre o valor agregado à conservação da biodiversidade com base em princípios de uma nova disciplina - a Biologia da Conservação. O trabalho aborda ainda aspectos conceituais sobre as políticas públicas, em geral, e sobre a influência que elas têm, especificamente, sobre a problemática das unidades de conservação no Brasil.ABSTRACT The principal goal to create natural parks and biological reserves in the world is to promote the conservation of biodiversity. During long time, traditional people established “especial areas” to guarantee natural resources for the future. Others, as kings and rural aristocracy used this areas for practice sports like hunting. The first public parks were created in United States during the XIX century, to preserve the environmental features of the Yellowstone against the human explotation. In this work, I wil discuss conservation of natural areas using the territory and the territorialization concepts and their several meanings: biological/ecological and social. The biodiversity value under principles of a new discipline — Biological Conservation — is showed as contribution. Public policy is discussed at the end of work exploring some reasons of the controversy between government speech and the conservation practice in natural parks and biological reserves.


2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Huang

AbstractFor a long time, since China’s opening to the outside world in the late 1970s, admiration for foreign socioeconomic prosperity and quality of life characterized much of the Chinese society, which contributed to dissatisfaction with the country’s development and government and a large-scale exodus of students and emigrants to foreign countries. More recently, however, overestimating China’s standing and popularity in the world has become a more conspicuous feature of Chinese public opinion and the social backdrop of the country’s overreach in global affairs in the last few years. This essay discusses the effects of these misperceptions about the world, their potential sources, and the outcomes of correcting misperceptions. It concludes that while the world should get China right and not misinterpret China’s intentions and actions, China should also get the world right and have a more balanced understanding of its relationship with the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohit Kundu ◽  
Hritam Basak ◽  
Pawan Kumar Singh ◽  
Ali Ahmadian ◽  
Massimiliano Ferrara ◽  
...  

AbstractCOVID-19 has crippled the world’s healthcare systems, setting back the economy and taking the lives of several people. Although potential vaccines are being tested and supplied around the world, it will take a long time to reach every human being, more so with new variants of the virus emerging, enforcing a lockdown-like situation on parts of the world. Thus, there is a dire need for early and accurate detection of COVID-19 to prevent the spread of the disease, even more. The current gold-standard RT-PCR test is only 71% sensitive and is a laborious test to perform, leading to the incapability of conducting the population-wide screening. To this end, in this paper, we propose an automated COVID-19 detection system that uses CT-scan images of the lungs for classifying the same into COVID and Non-COVID cases. The proposed method applies an ensemble strategy that generates fuzzy ranks of the base classification models using the Gompertz function and fuses the decision scores of the base models adaptively to make the final predictions on the test cases. Three transfer learning-based convolutional neural network models are used, namely VGG-11, Wide ResNet-50-2, and Inception v3, to generate the decision scores to be fused by the proposed ensemble model. The framework has been evaluated on two publicly available chest CT scan datasets achieving state-of-the-art performance, justifying the reliability of the model. The relevant source codes related to the present work is available in: GitHub.


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