Executive Summary: "• Race, or ethnicity, compounded by religion, was a powerful theme in the Burmese nationalist movement in the 1920s, 30s and ?40s. Burmese nationalists felt their country was twice colonised, first by the British, and secondly by South Asians. As Burma was governed as an Indian province until 1937, South Asian immigrants and capital freely flowed into the colony. As a consequence, Buddhism was said to be in danger particularly from rapid growth of the South Asian Hindu and Muslim populations. Political activists, including Buddhist monks, are repeating this old cry today. • The issue of race was compounded by the necessity of integrating the ethnically and linguistically diverse northern border regions of Myanmar which had been indirectly ruled together with the directly ruled central and southern parts of the country at the time of independence in 1948. This was further complicated by the special provisions made in British law for ethnic representation in the directly ruled areas. The upshot was continuing armed strife up to today. • During the first period of parliamentary government, under Prime Minister U Nu, race became an issue upon which deals could be done and offers of concessions made in exchange for political support. The military socialist regime of General Ne Win failed to depoliticise the race issue. The current 2008 constitution merely compounds earlier efforts to appease political demands made in the name of ethnicity. • With the re-establishment of constitutional government since 2011, these recurring themes have come back in both domestic and international guises, threatening to endanger the effort to re-establish a viable political system. The so-called Rohingya issue is now being used to fuel political discord. • Only by depoliticising ethnicity and race will it be possible to maintain political order and reasoned politics. As human rights are confused with group aspirations in modern discourse, this will be extremely difficult but if an effort to remove race from discussions of public policy is not attempted, the result could be disastrous for the development of the constitutional order."