With a new parliament sworn in and the date for selecting a new president fast approaching, ’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is now tasked with laying the foundation for��the country’s democratic development. At the heart of this challenge lies��curbing religious extremism and integrating the Muslim Rohingya minority��into Burmese society.

Budding Buddhist Extremism

In the last few years, has gained momentum in Myanmar. Ma Ba Tha, an anti-Muslim group of Buddhist monks, in many ways surpasses its predecessor, the 969 Movement. If the 969 Movement was a loose network of anti-Muslim monks, ��with regional chapters and a TV channel to broadcast its sermons.��Experts in politics, law and technology�� for the group’s activities, such as drafting bills that ban inter-religious marriage and require government approval for religious conversion, as well as fiercely lobbying until they are passed into law.��Ma Ba Tha also maintains close relationships with government and military officials who����the group’s events��and openly��.

A more worrisome indication of the group’s influence, however, is that and the NLD are willing to yield to its demands. Leading up to the 2015 election, the party����its event after dozens of monks protested against scheduled speeches of Muslim speakers.��Members of the NLD����that the party intentionally did not nominate Muslim candidates in order to avoid a possible backlash from hardline Buddhists.

The rhetoric of Ma Ba Tha does not differ too much from that of other extremists elsewhere in the world. The group’s sermons provoke fear of Muslims by characterizing Islam as an existential threat to Myanmar, claiming that Muslims are “”��and “.”��The group also attacks its critics through an “us vs them” dichotomy, using the term��“.”��Human rights group members have received death threats from Ma Ba Tha for criticizing discriminatory legislations, and the group accuses the NLD and Suu Kyi of being Islamist.

It is unlikely that Burmese people are aware of the mismatch between this anti-pluralist message and the nation’s progress toward democracy. A 2014��survey��shows that the has yet to associate democracy with equality, and 35% think that unpopular political parties should not be allowed to hold meetings. An even greater number—41%—said they would sever ties with friends who joined unpopular parties.

Fomenting Animosity

If we think about how fear and hatred can make people give up liberty and reject equality even in advanced democracies, the fomenting of animosity in the fledgling democracy of Myanmar comes as a considerable concern.

© Shutterstock

Further, violence on one side often sows seeds of radicalization on the other. Currently, the Rohingya—who are segregated, denied citizenship and subject to����violence—do not have any means to make their voices heard.��But it is unrealistic to expect them to remain forever victimized and stigmatized; the long, still-expanding list of worldwide riots, wars and terrorist activities motivated by ethnic and religious tensions suggests��otherwise.

Even though no organized resistance occurs, small incidents—whether inspired or��—can lead to largescale violence. This has already happened in 2012, when a rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, allegedly by three��Muslim��men, snowballed into sectarian violence that resulted in more than����and a mass displacement of��—��of whom were Muslim.

The presence of fearmongering agitators is an obstacle to development as well, since it distracts both the government and the people from other important issues. Myanmar has multiple social and economic maladies to deal with—from�������Ի������ٴ��������Ի���.��Political reform and ethnic reconciliation are two other long-term projects that the new government should embark on.

Worse still, in the process of tackling these issues, the NLD has to negotiate with the military, which still occupies a quarter of the seats in parliament and controls key industrial resources. In such a situation when the government needs to shore up maximum effort and public support, escalating ethnic tensions will only drain valuable resources.

Inter-Religious Peace

Of course, a great number of monks have opposed military rule and called for inter-religious peace. But many of them have����due to arrests, exile and criticism from within the clergy for not being “true Buddhists.”��Only too aware of this fact, extremists try to recruit these monks by��.��In fact, when even leaders like Suu Kyi, beloved and honored home and abroad, tell people not to “” the Rohingya problem, there are not many who can stand up and carry the burden of openly denouncing violence against the religious minority.

It may have been partially inevitable that Suu Kyi and the NLD refrained from speaking on the Rohingya issue, since winning a majority in parliament was the utmost priority until the election. But such a position should only be a temporary political strategy. Continued apathy toward systemic violence and yielding to the demands of groups like Ma Ba Tha give the wrong signal to the public that certain religious or ethnic groups deserve alienation and subjugation.

An NLD leader����that the party has many urgent tasks to prioritize over the Rohingya problem, such as “peace, the peaceful transition of power, economic development and constitutional reform.”��However, something that NLD leaders are overlooking is the potential danger that racial tension tangled with religious extremism poses to Myanmar’s development. Although the problem is not something that can be solved in a short period of time, the government should put all of its effort into making sure that the current humanitarian crisis of the Rohingya does not evolve into a substantial obstacle to the country’s future.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

Photo Credit: ��/ ��

We bring you perspectives from around the world. Help us to inform and educate. Your����is tax-deductible. Join over 400 people to become a donor or you could choose to be a��.

The post The Rohingya Issue is More Than a Humanitarian Crisis appeared first on 51�Թ�.

Leading up to the , one way Scotland sought to differentiate itself from the United Kingdom was through its environmental policy. The ��that separated out the government’s duty to protect the environment in a separate clause. The government also published a��report��that listed the potential environmental .

The Scottish government tends to be more ambitious in its renewable energy goals than the UK government. Scotland��vows��to fulfill 30% of its with renewable energy by 2020, which is twice the UK’s goal. In 2008, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond boldly��claimed��that Pentland Firth, a region in northern Scotland, could be the “.” One of the most recent Scottish plans against climate change is to fulfill 100% of its total electricity consumption with renewable energy by 2020.

Scottish citizens seem to be fully aware of their government’s strong commitment to environment protection. In a����that asked whether independence will have a positive or negative impact on the Scottish environment, with options to say “no effect” or “don’t know,” 50% answered “positive.”

Scotland’s pursuit of green future is chiefly propelled by effective utilization of the resources and a high level of social cohesion. The implications of the Scottish example apply to many countries, where the effort to protect the environment is stalled in a political deadlock or shadowed by public negligence.

Growing Potential for Renewables

Environmental policy is one of the areas in which the legislative authority is largely devolved to the Scottish government from the UK government. Since 2000, Scotland set out to develop renewable energy strategies by collecting Scotland-specific data and designing its own energy strategies. Recognizing the massive wind energy potential, the government began to methodically��develop��the by funding research at universities, promoting industry-academia partnerships, and promoting wind farm constructions. Coupled with the UK government’s subsidy to wind farms—now��—these policies made Scotland the����in the world for renewables investment.

The initial Scottish targets for renewable energy were humble. In the early 2000s, the goal was to generate merely 18% of total electricity consumption by 2010, and the government was still��testing��the idea of . But with rapidly increasing renewable capacity, Scotland exceeded the 18% target in 2007 and gradually raised the bar for 2020, first to 80% in 2010 and then to 100% shortly after.

The renewables evolution is still ongoing. From 2012 to 2014, the share of renewable energy in total electricity consumption jumped from�����ٴ���.

The Forces Behind the Push

To be fair, Scotland hugely benefited from its natural endowment and the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) dominance in the parliament. Home to��25%��of the , Scotland meets 66% of the entire renewable energy through wind. According to the Scottish government, the country also has 25% of Europe’s tidal potential.

Glasgow © Shutterstock

The continued election victories of left-leaning parties were another factor that allowed the implementation of these renewables policies. After the Labour-Liberal coalition government set the earliest targets in the early 2000s for decreasing carbon emission, the SNP has magnified the scale of investment into renewables. The Conservative Party takes a quite different view, arguing against wind farms subsidies, rejecting the viability of the 100% renewable electricity plan, and supporting a greater use of nuclear power. But with the parliamentary majority firmly in grip of the left-wing since 1999, the Scottish environmental policies could continue without a threat of backtracking.

But the sense of immediacy in combating climate change crosses party lines. Despite its disagreement with the SNP on many environmental policies, the Conservative Party is also onboard for a low-carbon future.��Recognizing��, security and economic threat, the Conservative Party publicly����the SNP government’s green achievements and manifests commitment to environmental sustainability. The unanimous passage of the��, which promised a 42% reduction of carbon emissions from the 1990 level, epitomized such cross-party support.

Last but not least, there is a long-time public call for the greater role of the government in combating climate change. In 2002—when the government was still aiming for the 18% renewable electricity target—the public��thought��that should come from renewable sources. Despite the government’s persistent push for greater use of renewables and various initiatives to reduce waste in 2014, 54% of the public still��thought��the government was .

The Scottish public’s somewhat distinctive idea of “progress” is also worth noting. Aside from 60% of the population who thought that social, economic and environmental factors should have equal weight in measuring progress, 26%����that progress should be measured mostly based on social and environmental criteria. The perceived close link between healthy environment and progress hints at how Scotland could steadily reinforce its renewable energy commitment.

Is 100% Renewable Electricity Possible?

Of course, there is criticism regarding the viability of the 100% renewable electricity goal. Following the SNP government’s vigorous expansion of wind power was a reduction of fossil fuel power plant capacity. The party also staunchly opposes keeping nuclear power in Scotland’s energy mix. Some experts��argue��that the current strategy of relying almost will turn Scotland into a net energy importer and deepen its reliance on England.

Indeed, the possibility of a nuclear-free future seems debatable. The renewable electricity target itself is not a fantasy: Uruguay����95% of its electricity from renewables, and Denmark’s����last year in temporarily generating 140% of its national electricity demand from wind power.

But for a long-term supply, there needs to be a stable source of energy not easily affected by external factors such as weather. Although the Scottish government claims that the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology will replace the need for nuclear power, CCS is a costly option—the full cost of capturing carbon, storing it underground and monitoring is����yet.

It is yet to be seen whether Scotland will actually succeed in any of its renewables targets. Still, takeaways from the Scotland’s example are clear. First, long-term policy planning and cross-party cooperation have spearheaded a stable and steady progress in increasing renewables capacity. Meanwhile, the high priority that environment enjoys in the public discourse and the strong public demand for proactive environmental policies have also kept the issue of environment protection from petty bickering and politicization for a sustained period of time.

It is the favorable natural conditions that make the ambitious goal of powering the nation only through renewable energy a possible scenario. But without the sense of mission to protect the environment and the high level of public awareness, the scenario would never have turned into a national policy scheme.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

Photo Credit: ��/ /����

We bring you perspectives from around the world. Help us to inform and educate. Your����is tax-deductible. Join over 400 people to become a donor or you could choose to be a��.

The post Can Scotland Become the Saudi Arabia of Renewables? appeared first on 51�Թ�.