A remarkable feature of contemporary Myanmar politics is how often Rakhine exceptionalism surfaces in news feeds. On Monday, for instance, the Irrawaddy carried two articles signaling differences between that part of the country and everywhere else.

One was an interview with Tomás Ojea Quintana near the end of his six-year mandate as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. Asked to identify his biggest achievement, he said this: “I’m really happy that the human rights mandate from the United Nations is very well-known in the country. I travelled all over the country and in all places, aside from Rakhine State, people value the mandate. They are happy I’m voicing their concerns.”

The other was a brief story, little more than 100 words long, on an abortive humanitarian aid mission to Rakhine State: “The mission, sent by the Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (MAPIM), was called off after three of its members were surrounded by around 100 ‘Buddhist extremists’ at their hotel and had to be rescued by local authorities, MAPIM President Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said.” By and large, humanitarian aid can be delivered in other areas of Myanmar.

Such issues are now so routine in Rakhine State that they have become minor blips in the daily news cycle. As key figures inside and outside the country understand, though, they point to major challenges ahead.

A significant domestic concern is fragmentation. It turns out that Ekiert’s palimpsest problematic runs deeper in Rakhine State than anywhere else in Myanmar. Just as nineteenth-century maps of Central Europe explain voting patterns and even voluntary fire service membership in contemporary Poland, so eighteenth-century maps of Southeast Asia reveal political faultlines in contemporary Myanmar. The decisive historical fact is that Arakan was not finally annexed by Burma until 1784. Calls for secession will surely soon be at the top of the political agenda.

A growing international concern is safeguarding basic human rights. The 1993 Paris Principles highlight the role of national institutions in promoting and protecting human rights. The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness mandates national ownership of development strategies. Nevertheless, there are minimum global standards to which all 193 UN member states, including Myanmar, must conform. At present, the humanitarian situation in Rakhine State falls far below those standards. Working out how to secure closer compliance is an urgent political task.

At a time when Myanmar’s mainstream reform agenda is facing many testing issues, it is understandable that problems in Rakhine State tend to be bracketed off and pushed to one side. But those problems will not solve themselves. Indeed, every indication is that they will become increasingly pressing. Before long, we will need to talk more about this exceptional part of the country.