Background: History of Hate Speech in Myanmar es, sexual violence, torture, arbitrary detention, forced labor, land confiscation, internal displacement, and mass expulsion of ethnic and religious minorities.53 Citizens were instead warned to be vigilant against the threats that sought to destroy Myanmar.54 As the junta closed off Myanmar for decades and attempted to quell the “enemy within,” the military maintained is power through polices and rhetoric that built fear, paranoia, and hate in the society.55 B. Exploiting Race and Religion During Myanmar’s Transition Home to the world’s longest running civil war, Myanmar experienced little peace during its 50 years of isolated, military rule.56 In 2010, the Tatmadaw handed over power to a quasi-civilian government, led by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (“USDP”).57 USDP and President Thein Sein carried out a series of reforms during this transitional period, relaxing censorship and permitting greater political and civil society space. The USDP also freed political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Aung San’s daughter.58 Her party, the National League for Democracy (“NLD”), was permitted to run for the 2012 by-elections.59 While the NLD had won the 1990 elections, the military had never honored those results and instead imprisoned NLD members, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed under house arrest. The liberalization efforts resulted in the lifting of foreign sanctions and restoration of diplomatic ties.60 The transitional period’s reforms, however, did not bring peace nor end human rights abuses by the Tatmadaw in ethnic areas like Kachin, Karen, Rakhine, Chin, and Shan States. Systemic problems including impunity for gross human rights violations and unchecked military power continued.61 The military-drafted 2008 Constitution has also ensured that active and retired military officers main- tain control over all branches of government—from Parliament (where 25 percent of the seats in the upper and lower houses are reserved for unelected military members) to the civil service and the judiciary.62 Furthermore, under the Constitution, key ministerial posts (Defence, Border Affairs, and Home Affairs) as well as the entire security apparatus, including the National Defence and Security Council, have remained under military control.63 Section 20(b) of the Constitution states that the Tatmadaw has the “right to independently administer and adjudicate all affairs of the armed forces,” allowing the military to operate with complete independence without civilian oversight.64 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Lex Rieffel, “Peace and War in Myanmar,” The Brookings Institute, December 6, 2019, https://www.brookings.edu/ blog/order-from-chaos/2019/12/06/peace-and-war-in-myanmar/. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Shayna Bauchner, “In Myanmar, Democracy’s Dead End: Constitutional Vote Spotlights Transition’s Failed Reforms,” Human Rights Watch, March 10, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/10/myanmar-democracys-dead-end. Ibid. Marco Bünte and Björn Dressel, Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2016), 124-25. Ibid., 124. 21