The Role Of The Nation-state In Southeast Asia's Muslim Separatist Movement

As one of the main forms of conflicts in the contemporary world,the Muslim separatist movement has posed a continuous and complex challenge to the stability and development of Southeast Asian countries.For a long time,research results including political science,anthropology,ethnology and other disciplines have generally focused the roots of the Muslim separation movement on religious and cultural factors,ethnic identity,specific historical,political background,and islamic terrorism or other factors.This article questions the broader perspectives of racial or cultural divides and argues that the widespread fears of Muslim separatism tend to be exaggerated.In the real political practice,cooperation is a normal phenomenon,and the cause of Muslim separatist movement is not the widespread theories,such as racial hatred.Therefore,in order to find the effective solutions and management,we need to better understand the Muslim separatist movement and its trajectory.With respect to the Muslim separation movement in southeast Asia,whether the analysis of its causes or the explanation of the termination need to focus on its fundamental nature.This paper holds that the first and foremost nature of Muslim separatist movement is an internal political issue within a country.Therefore,this paper emphasizes and pays attention to the role of "nation-state",which is not only animportant the power subjects in the Muslim separation movement,but also the primary field on which the Muslim separatist movement generated and developed.The Muslim separation movement can only be solved by political means.This paper selects Thailand,Burma,Indonesia and Singapore as four cases,and have adopted the method of historical comparison in order to find out the root cause of the differentiated outcome of the Muslim separatist movement in the four countries.Research shows that in these four countries,the key factors that cause the Muslim separatist movement differential outcome is not the historical hatred and their strong sense of independence,or the extreme islamist marginal isation of ideological and political and economic status,also is not the size of the separation of movement and the strong internal and external support,but because the country's attitude towards the Muslim separatist movement and the strategies and the ability to integrate national political resources.In Thailand,Burma,Indonesia and Singapore,the different roles played by the "state" in the Muslim separatist movement determine the development trend of the Muslim separatist movement and the stability of ethnic relations in the country.As failed cases of dealing with the Muslim separatist movement,the central states of Thailand and Burma not only failed to show enough attention and concern to the separatist movement,but also adopted the wrong political means,including extreme policy of ethnic assimilation,minimum deprivation of political rights and strict military repression.On the contrary,Indonesia and Singapore have peacefully resolved their long-standing Muslim separatism through their correct political attitudes,impartial public policies and maximum political integration and negotiation skill.