16 Hate Speech Ignited: Understanding Hate Speech in Myanmar T wo historical and cultural contexts are important for understanding the recent rise of hate speech in Myanmar: (1) the colonial and military governments’ entrenchment of divisions among dif- ferent ethnic and religious groups; and (2) ultranationalist groups’ and the military’s exploitation of race, religion, and identity politics as Myanmar has sought to transition to civilian rule. In addition, in order to analyze ongoing hate speech, it is critical to understand the current political context leading up to the 2020 elections. A. Historical Entrenchment of Division Racial and religious identifications are largely synonymous with social identity and organization in contemporary Myanmar. For example, they are commonplace in moments of personal introduction,3 and national identity cards specify the race and religion of the cardholder in addition to name, identification number, and date of birth.4 The fixation on categorizing and enumerating race and religion partly stems from the diversity of self-identified races and religions in contemporary Myanmar society.5 Myanmar is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia.6 At present, the gov- ernment officially recognizes 135 different ethnic groups under eight major “national ethnic races;”7 the official list excludes the so-called “alien races,” including Hokkien and Hakka Chinese, Tamil, Punjabi, and Rohingya.8 In terms of religion, 89 percent of Myanmar’s 51.4 million people are Theravada Buddhists ac- cording to official government statistics.9 Christians and Muslims make up approximately four per- cent each while the remaining three percent practice indigenous Animist Nats or other religions, including Hinduism and Bahai.10 Given critiques of the recent census in Myanmar, these estimates from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population likely underestimate the actual figures of religious minorities.11 Recent scholarship suggests that the dominance of race and religion as fundamental social cat- egories is a relatively recent phenomenon in Myanmar’s history.12 According to one scholar, race as a social category was not as prominent in pre-colonial times.13 Other social markers such as land ownership, connections to the royal authority, and class were more important.14 However, when the British arrived in 1824, they introduced dramatic changes to the country’s social dynamics.15 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Charles Carstens, “Religion,” in Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Myanmar, eds. Adam Simpson et al. (Routledge, 2018), 126-7. Ibid., 128. Ibid. Nehginpao Kipgen, Myanmar: A Political History (Oxford University Press, 2016), 11. Tom Kramer, “Ethnic Conflict and Land Rights,” Social Research 82, no. 2 (2015): 355-57. Violet Cho, “Ethnicity and Identity,” in Routledge Handbook, 45. Myanmar Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, Population and Housing Census of Myanmar: Union Report (February 2019), http://www.dop.gov.mm/en/publication-category/census. Ibid. International Crisis Group, “Counting the Costs: Myanmar’s Problematic Census,” Crisis Group Asia Briefing, no. 144 (15 May 2014), 18, https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/counting-costs-myanmar-s-problematic-census. Cho, 43. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.