With the election approaching, Dhaka is occupied greeting international delegates and observers. The overseas observers are all invariably urgent for a free and truthful election. It seems a balanced target of the Westerners holding to their deep convictions of democracy and freedom. Having said that, the policy is riddled with inconsistency and only seems subordinate to the geostrategic targets. The esteemed values of democracy and freedom are not sacrosanct per se — somewhat only seen from a narrow geostrategic prism.
Though the US is placing too a lot interest on the impending election, it is lacking out on the urgent crisis in the region—the Rohingya disaster. The US’s handling of Myanmar was shambolic, with flimsy leverage on Myanmar. Instead, US’s diplomacy was targeted entirely to stopgap steps, that forgotten the continuous worsening of the crisis.
Myanmar is a classical case in point of how Western emphasis on democracy can be so tenuous. The arbitrary seizure of electrical power in Myanmar—abandoning election effects did not pass up the eagle eye of the United States. Absolutely, Myanmar holds all the trappings of a rogue state prancing with its brutality at the heart of South and Southeast Asia, a major theatre of the US’s vaunted Indo-pacific approach. In 2017, Myanmar experienced flushed out eleven million Rohingyas—igniting a dismal humanitarian catastrophe. For the whims and caprice of the Myanmar ruling cliques, Bangladesh bears the brunt—with the country strained on holding the burdens of astronomical refugees inspite of depleting support directed to Rohingya. Nevertheless, the myriad of Myanmar’s misdemeanors only elicited vacuous criticism and did not propel any productive policies to hold Myanmar accountable for its blatant human rights infringements.
Granted, US offered $1.6 billion in assist considering that the genesis of the disaster. Having said that, this is only a stopgap evaluate and does not be certain an successful resolution of the disaster. The Biden administration failed to calibrate an formal response in addressing the disaster, and the American plan only continued sanctions on the critical armed service common imposed by Donald Trump.
The United States is a person of the crucial players in the area. When US President Barack Obama was at the helm, the US greeted Myanmar’s entry into the world-wide economic system next a protracted period of self-imposed exile due to the fact 1962. Obama mended fences with Myanmar in 2012 soon after an election that infused perception in the revival of democracy in Myanmar, whilst afterwards Myanmar’s tryst with democracy proved ludicrously small-lived. In 2016, sensing a semblance of a democratic regime in Myanmar, United States put an close to the remnant of sanctions. This shows that the US holds leverage on Myanmar—at least the US wielded a pivotal position in facilitating Myanmar’s entry to democracy. Offered the stubborn attitudes of Myanmar, the sanctions on trade and investment can be reimposed and the scope of civilian sanctions can be noticeably broadened to punish Junta and its accomplices. When The united states is not a provider of army hardware to Myanmar, on the other hand as a result of pressurizing US’s safety partners the US can smother the access of military hardware that is made use of for brutally clamping down on nascent democratic movements.
Even so, none of this motion materialized. Evidently, The united states is restrained in its foreign coverage adventures and is not inclined in locking horns with China, and exerting pressures might spiral into a regional conflagration that is distasteful for the US. Conveniently, hence, the US experienced shied absent from a person of the pressing crises of humanity and the arbitrary and sturdy-arm rule of the Myanmar Junta.
The worrisome point out of Rohingya languishing in the camps is a travesty of human legal rights and the dignity of humanity. Getting a grudging host of the refugees, Bangladesh shown benevolent generosity for the Rohingya, while the groundswell of community discontent turned from Rohingya. The govt headed by Sheikh Hasina remained staunchly fully commited to the security and security of Rohingya—whereby a sign-up of the public viewpoint demonstrates that the neighborhood folks in Cox’s Bazar uncover their useful resource strained due to Rohingya. The Rohingya disaster paints a grim situation of humanity, straying from their ancestral properties and inhabiting lives in outright precarity.
Any political turnaround in Dhaka will dangle the fate of the Rohingya in balance. Rohingyas have been greeted with unparalleled altruism by Sheikh Hasina. Although the very long-phrase presence of Rohingya had visibly aggrieved the normal mass, the govt remained caught to its determination. Get-togethers with nationalist affinities in Bangladesh railed versus the authorities and considered the Rohingya disaster in Bangladesh as a fiasco of the government’s procedures. These sights obtain traction as nationalist and populist get-togethers inflame well known sentiments with xenophobic agenda. For this reason, any engineered changeover in Dhaka might put the destiny of Rohingya in jeopardy—resulting in a deep disaster.
The crisis of Rohingya, the US’s dealing with of Myanmar, and the current shuffling of US diplomats in Dhaka—all indicate a US coverage of flaws and amiss. Regardless of holding leverage on Myanmar, US unsuccessful to avert a humanitarian disaster and an arbitrary rein of power—events that are anathema to the United States. In contrast, the US is exhibiting an exaggerated response in anticipating Bangladesh’s election, in spite of the repeated assure of the government of keeping a no cost and reasonable election. This incongruence in US policy does not bode very well for the future.
[Photo by Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
*Mehjabin Maliha Hossain is an international affairs researcher and pursuing her doctoral studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The views and viewpoints expressed in this report are those of the author.
