How have ASEAN countries reacted to the Rohingya crisis?

Photo Credits: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Although the topic synopsis highlights this important characteristic of ASEAN, I thought it was crucial I reiterate how the regional bloc generally practices a policy of noninterference in its members' internal affairs.

Despite this generally leading to mostly silence from ASEAN member-states regarding the Rohingya, there has been a slight break in responses along religious lines. Prime Minister of Muslim-majority Malaysia, Najib Razak, has called upon the United Nations, as well as the U.S., China, and ICC to intervene and help resolve the crisis. Additionally, in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, there have been massive protests against Myanmar's inaction to resolve this issue and the government has set up a hospital in the Rakhine state to treat victims.

How has your country reacted to the Rohingya crisis, and if it hasn't, should it? Discuss in the comments below. 

Understanding the limitations of ASEAN

One of the most important aspects of working within ASEAN is understanding its own limitations. Idealistically countries would work together to enact changes that might seem obvious and relatively easy (for example reducing class economic and religious tensions, stopping illegal fishing with simple legislature, etc), but that idealism itself is impractical unless one were to ignore the decades/centuries of cross-cultural ethnicities, conflicts, economic and social progression, nationality, and agency. Because of this, in your solutions and country positions, you should include why certain conditions within your own countries may inhibit breaking the status quo of prioritizing the interests of elites (military, business, landowning, bureaucratic, and technocratic superiors). Ways to ameliorate issues in the region must then be proposed in conjunction with rather than in ignorance of these factors. Countries outside the immediate 10 ASEAN member states should also be especially aware of such conditions and avoid paternalizing these issues or reducing their complexity.

 Jessica has already written about this in her blog posts and topic synopsis, but here is an additional resource that goes much further into the intentions and limitations of ASEAN:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02681309309414528

Approaching Topic Two

Topic Two, Identity-Based Conflicts, is broad for a reason. This is to give you, the delegates, the agency to take the committee discussion where you want to take it. Will you attempt to create a large framework from which to refer to whenever a domestic conflict in the region escalates? Or will you target solutions for specific conflicts occurring today? This is ultimately up to you. If the chairs feel like delegates are conflicted on how to approach this topic, then we will provide guidance to move debate along.

TIP: I believe one important thing to keep in mind, always, is what obstacles lie in your way between violence and regional peace. Addressing these obstacles will allow you to carve out stronger working papers.

Here are some topics you can address in your paper (and hopefully in caucus):

1. Addressing conflicts in the area and how those conflicts have affected YOUR country (politically, economically, etc.). 
2. Addressing the nature of past/current conflicts and what makes them hard to address, especially for your specific country.
3. Addressing similarities between conflicts (both past and current). Addressing how past conflicts were dealt with and how those steps could be implemented into a resolution (these steps may be solutions to already mentioned obstacles).
4. Discussing the obstacles why ASEAN has not acted in the past on uniting the region in addressing domestic conflicts and providing solutions (you do not have to make a solution unless you have one -- you can just bring up an obstacle, the devil’s advocate).
5. Going into more detail on a single obstacle and/or a single solution. Then in unmoderated caucus, delegates can break into groups to tackle problems they are more passionate about or ones that affect/involve their country more -- i.e. a poorer country will probably work on a working paper that puts more pressure on wealthier states to act or one that doesn’t require them to provide a lot of resources.
   
   
   

Research Tips

Research can be an arduous process if you begin by laboring through reports. I suggest, first, taking a look at articles about each topic from hard news sources to gain traction with the complex web of relations and politics.

For instance, topic one on labor exploitation and abuse at sea is wonderfully covered by Ian Urbina in a series of articles for the New York Times. It's called Outlaw Ocean, and Ian follows many stories from different POVs to flesh out an intricate world of fishing. Who knew fish could be so interesting???

From articles onward, I would take a look at important resolutions, documents, and reports. For some resource suggestions, take a look at the Works Cited section of each topic synopsis.

What about Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a good place to start if you are new to both topics. I wouldn't 100% trust the information you find on it, but if you need to develop a broad picture of the situations before you can delve into the details, Wikipedia is a good place to find condensed information. DO NOT CITE WIKIPEDIA, however.

Also, keep in mind the date of when your research was published. If you're going to scan through a 100-page report on the Moro conflict, you might as well make sure it is up-to-date.

Introduction: Sita McGuire

Sita is a senior majoring in Political Science, with a specialization in International Relations, and minoring in Public Policy. Her mother is from India, so she has been fortunate enough to travel around the globe starting at a young age, and recently she visited 7 different countries during a 17-day winter break with Head Chair, Jessica.


During her first several years at Berkeley, Sita has joined a team of researchers at the public policy graduate school to create and conduct a study on interest groups' influence on local elections all throughout the country. Along with working at a political consulting firm and Berkeley Mayor's Office, she is passionate about the Syrian refugee crisis, and this year took the Fall semester off and worked at the United Nations Headquarters in NYC.


She is excited for BMUN 66, and welcomes any and all questions about the topics we'll be discussing in committee and her experience at Berkeley in general!

Sita and Jessica jumping for joy about BMUN LXVI

Introductions!!

Hello delegates!

Hope you enjoy ASEAN! I am one of your vice chairs, Edward Kang, and am very excited to meet everyone!

  

• I am an undergraduate freshman at UC Berkeley, intending to study Rhetoric and Political Economy.
• I have no clear idea of what I want to do in the future, but I am interested in language, politics, economics, law, and anything to do with how the world operates.
• I originally attended Gahr High School in Cerritos, California.
• Favorite foods: Del Taco with coupons
• Favorite color: Black
• Favorite animal: My cat
• Social Security #: Ask me in conference.

If you have any questions about anything, do not hesitate to email me at ekang@bmun.org. 

Welcome to ASEAN!!!!!!!

Hello delegates!

Welcome to ASEAN!!! I am your head chair, Jessica Zhao. Let me introduce myself:

   

• I am a undergraduate senior at UC Berkeley, studying Media Studies with a minor in History
• I am pursuing a career in Entertainment/Film & Tech Media. Film is my passion, but of course, it comes in all forms these days with the advent of juggernaut conglomerates/aggregators (Disney, Amazon), new platforms (Netflix), and technological innovations (VR/AR). So I am trying to broaden my interests in entertainment to reflect these changes. If you’re interested in tech or media or business strategy, here is an awesome blog I’ve been reading called “Stratechery”.
• Favorite foods: curry, sushi, enchiladas, poke bowls, ramen, horchata, Denny’s
• Favorite color: green
• Zodiac: Cow
• Horoscope: Capricorn
• Social Security #: Not today.

If you have any questions, about anything, do not hesitate to email me at jzhao@bmun.org. Your awesome vice chairs are Edward Kang and Sita McGuire. You can reach them at ekang@bmun.org and smcguire@bmun.org, respectively. 

Extremely excited to read your research papers and meet ya'll in a few weeks!