Room: 228 (second floor)
In 2017 the world was in shock due to the ethnic cleansing that took place against Muslim Rohingya by Myanmar soldiers and militias. Strangely enough, Myanmar is a country that completely obeys the Buddhist religion of the “liberating insight” that defied the military in order to elect Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi as their First State Counsellor. However following this, the nation partook in ethnic cleansing despite the large amount of criticism from all over the world which ultimately led to the military of Myanmar being more popular than ever.
These actions do not only lead to a moral dilemma; it also raises some serious questions about democracy and citizenship in Myanmar. In this lecture we will discuss how this could have happened, what all of this means for democracy in Myanmar today and if Europe can make a difference.
About the speaker
Gerry van Klinken is senior researcher at the KITLV, and professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Amsterdam. Since teaching for 13 years in various Southeast Asian countries he has been writing mainly on 20th century Indonesian social and political history. In a previous life he was a physicist trained in geology and geophysics.
This lecture is organised by Leiden University and KITLV. Both are partners of LeidenGlobal.
For more information visit the website.
