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By Khin Maung
I. Introduction:
After reading the press release of the ‘Rohingyas’ (see the other attachment), as a Rakhaing I am obliged to write the real Arakanese History during the Mrauk U Dynasty. Apart from that, I like to give some responses to that press release:
First of all, in any case, the racial remarks of the Burmese Consul General in
In the mean time a new article appeared in Irrawaddy on 16th Feb. 09, mentioning that those ‘Boat People’ sailed from
Here I would like to suggest all media, Burmese Oppositions, including Irrawaddy, Burma Digest and other newspapers or journals should study the Arakanese History as well as the reports of the British Colonial Officers of the then British India (i.e. including Burma as a part of British Indian Empire) because they were neither Burmese, Arakanese nor the people of the Subcontinent but British, that means they were neutral persons and most of their contributions were for administrative purposes and/or for scholarly researches, needless to say they were objective.
In this paper, the present author will scrutinize all available authentic historical and etymological facts and answer the statements in their press release scholarly without any prejudice by using compare and contrast method.
II. Responses to the press release:
In their Press release, the 'Rohingyas' claimed that Muslims were in Arakan since the10th Century:
1. Maurice Collis, however, wrote in his paper Arakan's Place in the Civilization of the Bay: "
2. In the 10th century A.D., even the biggest country in Southeast Asia with the world's largest Muslim population,
3. In the tenth century A.D. Arakan was ruled by the Buddhist kings of the Dhanyawaddy Dynasty and that old city site can still be seen near the small town Kyauk Taw. There is not a single evidence of Arabic culture or Islam faith there. The only non-Buddhist evidence found there are the Hindu deities.
4. If their claims that their forefathers lived in Arakan since the10th Century AD are true, there is no doubt that their descendants who stayed in Arakan at least ten centuries might have spoken Burmese/Arakanese fluently and known native traditions and cultures like the "Burmese Muslims" in Shwebo District, "Myay Du Muslims" in Thandwe District and "Kaman Muslims" in Arakan. Even the Arakanese (Rakhaings) living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts nowadays, where Bengali plays the role of the official language, can still speak, read and write Burmese. Unfortunately, however, the people who are now calling themselves "Rohingyas" do not know any Arakanese/Burmese language and culture. The only language they speak is Bengali Chittagong dialect and the only culture they know is Bengali Culture of Chittagong Area.
III. Was
Arakan was and is not a Muslim state. All Arakanese (Rakhaings) were and are devout Buddhists. The history of the Holy Maha Muni Image was and is a proof. Maha Muni Image, a colossal image cast in bronze and inlaid with gold, became the envy of almost all Burmese kings. Whenever they expanded their empire, they tried to rob this holy image. Starting from Anawratha (11th Century AD) to Bodaw U Waing (18th Century AD), most Burmese kings tried to snatch this statue. The Burmese Royal Armies looted this colossal image from the
Arakan was well known to be "the
Maurice Collis described the situation of Buddhism in the year 1630 during the reign of Min Hayi (Man Hari) alias Thiri Thudhamma (Sri Suddhamma) who bore the Muslim Title Salem Shah the Second. In his book The Land of the Great Image in page 168 where it was written: "The Buddha had died in 543 B.C. Altogether 2173 years had elapsed since then, and for that immense period the image of the Founder of the Religion had remained on Sirigutta, the oldest, most mysterious, the most holy object in the world. The relics detailed to the disciples on Selagiri had all been found and enshrined. Arakan was a sacred country; it was the heart of Buddhism; and he (King Thiri Thudhamma) as its king, was the most notable Buddhist ruler in existence. Grave indeed was his responsibility. He had not only to maintain the state as the homeland of the Arakanese race, but as the one place on earth where an authentic shape of the Tathagata was preserved, a possession of greater potency then the most precious relics".
A. The Mrauk-U Dynasty
In the year A.D 1404 the king of Arakan was Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan) and the capital city was Longkyet (Longkrat). He liked the very beautiful wife of a minister and requested that minister, his wife to be presented to the king and in exchange the minister would receive two pretty maids of honour. When the minister refused, the king offered to give four maids of honour as an exchange, but all in vain. Hence, the king took the minister’s wife by force. Committing adultery with a married lady is always a big scandal for a Buddhist, especially for a king. The husband of that lady and her brother went to Ava, the Burmese capital, and requested Min Gaung (Man Gaung), the Burmese king, that he should overthrow the disgraced Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan) of Arakan. The Burmese kings of the Ava Empire, especially for King Min Gaung (Man Gaung), automatically considered Arakan as their vassal state because Arakan was feudatory to the Pagan Empire of the Burmese, and apart from that Min Gaung was a war-like king. During the reign of his father King Swa Saw Ke, the young prince Min Gaung personally did lead the Burmese invasion armies to Pegu, the Mon kingdom ruled by King Razadiriz.
So, in the year 1406, Min Gaung (Man Gaung), the king of the Burmese, sent his warrior son Min Ye Kyaw Zwa (Man Ree Kyaw Zwa) with a big army. Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan), the king of Arakan fled the kingdom and took refuge in Gaur, the capital of the Sultanate of Bengal. In this way Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan) became the last king of the Longkyet (Longkrat) Dynasty and was given a nick name by later historians as "the King who took refuge in the
The Burmese let their viceroy, a son in law of the Burmese king Min Gaung, rule Arakan. The Arakanese king's younger brother Min Kayi (Man Kari), "Duke of Thandwe", the crown prince then, went to Pegu, the Mon capital, and requested the
Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan) stayed in Gaur for more than 22 years. With the help of the Sultan of Bengal he regained his throne in A.D 1430, and built the new capital of Mrauk U, while the Burmese were very busy having wars against the
To show his gratitude to the Sultan he asked what he could do. The Sultan persuaded him to be converted into Islam but he refused; however, he promised the Sultan that the Arakanese kings would bear Pseudonym Muslim Titles.
The warrior Burmese prince Min Ye Kyaw Zwa (Man Ree Kyaw Zwa) was seriously wounded in a battle against the
B. Buddhists kings with Pseudonym Muslim Titles:
The 'Rohingyas' claimed that Arakan was ruled by the Muslim kings from 1430 for about 100 years.
In fact, the
For example: Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan), the founder of the Mrauk U City with the assumed Muslim Title 'Suleiman Shah' built seven Buddhists temples in Mrauk U. One of them was Laymyetna Phaya (Leemyatna Phara) in Mrauk U (now Mrohaung). His successor and younger brother Min Khayi (Man Khari), who had an assumed Muslim Title 'Ali Khan', erected the Nyidaw Zedi, which can be roughly translated as 'The Pagoda built by the Younger Brother'. His son and successor King Ba Saw Phru alias Kaliman Shah constructed four Buddhists temples including the Maha Bodi Shwegu Pagoda. His son Dan Ugga alias Daluya, who bore the Muslim Title Moguh Shah, was the donor of
Muslim Sharia Law dictated the Muslim community to convert all 'infidels', i.e., all who supported any other religions except Islam. A Muslim who converts to another religion can be punishable with a death penalty. If those kings of the Mrauk U Dynasty were Muslims, they would have been condemned to death by the Mullahs for breach of the Islamic faith.
There was and is no Muslim ruler who undertook or undertakes to promote Buddhism or Christianity or any other religion. The Crusade Wars had proven this in history. In 2000, the Talibans of Afghanistan destroyed two 2000 years old gigantic Buddha Statues despite of the protests from the whole world. They could not keep those statues even as historical monuments. For them, those statues were the “Idols of the Infidels”!
See also: Jacques Leider, “Those Buddhist Kings with Muslim Titles”, Scholars Column, www.rakhapura.com.
Taking assumed Muslim Titles or a Muslim name did not and does not mean that that person must be a Muslim. Even President Obama of
There are many reasons for bearing a foreign name. It may be because of friendship, in some cases just for courtesy and sometimes just to show respect for that society. All members of ‘the Thirty Comrades’ had Japanese Pseudonyms. For example: Omoda (Aung san), Tani (Let Ya), Tagazuki (Ne Win). Most of the Burma Scholars of Foreign Origin have Burmese names. For Example: U Hla Thein (Prof. John Okell,
IV. British contributions about Muslims in
I searched for the ethnic group ‘Rohingyas’ in all history books, literature, encyclopaedias and other publications published before 1953 and written by foreign scholars. Unfortunately, I did not find any. None of the British Colonial Officers recorded the name 'Rohingya, neither in the Indian Subcontinent nor in
To be honest, I had never heard of the word "Rohingya" until the late 1950's.
1. "The fact that there has never been a "Rohingya" ethnic group in
2. Even in Hobson-Jobson. "A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive" published by British Colonial Officers of British East India Company, Col. Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell (First Published 1886) the word "Rohingya" was not mentioned. Since this book was published by the Bengal Chamber Edition,
3. The well known author and scholar, Maurice Collis, who wrote many articles and books about Arakan, also never mentioned the word "Rohingya".
4. None of the British Colonial Officers' contributions about
A. Kaman Muslims
Some Muslim settlement began only after Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan) regained the throne of Arakan in 1430 with the help of the Sultan of Gaur. There were some Muslim troops in Mrauk U to protect Min Saw Mun (Man Saw Muan) from the Burmese invasion. About two hundred years later, some followers of Mogul Prince Shah Shuja, who took refuge by the Arakanese king Sanda Thuddhama, joined the descendants of these soldiers. These groups of mercenaries were Afghans, Persians and Moguls. They were called "Kamans", meaning archers in Persian language. Their descendants still live in the
B. Myay Du Muslims
There are some Muslims living in Thandwe District. These Muslims are called "Myay Du". They are the descendants of the former "Pagoda Slaves". When King Min Bin (Man Ban) alias Min Bargyi (Man Bargri) reoccupied the Chittagong District in A.D. 1533, he brought back some Bengalis as prisoners of war and let them work as menial workers at Andaw, Nandaw and Sandaw Pagodas in Thandwe. Since they had to do menial works and were not free people anymore, they were called "Pagoda Slaves". In the year 1624, these Bengali "Pagoda Slaves" supported the 'Palace revolution' lead by the 'Duke of Thandwe' and the crown prince then, Min Khamaung, against his own father King Raza Gri. After the aborted revolution against the Arakanese king these 'Bengali Pagoda Slaves' and their families, all together about four thousand people, escaped to the Burmese
C. Bengali settlers after the British annexation of Arakan in 1826:
Since Arakan has a direct land border with
Some settlers learnt Arakanese and Burmese; hence, some of them were assimilated in the native society. However, these Chittagonian Bengalis differ from the Arakanese in their features, complexion and religion as well as in some customs which their religion directs; in writing they use Burmese but among themselves employ colloquially the language of their ancestors, either Urdu or Bengali. They never named themselves ‘Rohingyas’ but ‘Arakan Muslims’. Since they were assimilated in the native society, Burmese as well as Arakanese (Rakhaings) did not call them Khawtaw Kala any more, but used the term Muslims, just to differentiate them from the natives who are Buddhists, Kamans and Myaydus. Though Kamans and Myaydus are Muslims they were already assimilated in the native society. When one hears the name Kaman or Myaydu, one knows automatically that they are Muslims.
Unfortunately, however, many latter settlers never tried to assimilate into the native society and therefore they were and are never welcomed by the natives, neither by the Burmese nor by the Arakanese society. Nor could they join even in the society of "Indigenous Muslims of Arakan", the "Kamans" and the "Myay Dus". That was the main reason why racial riots happened often during the whole colonial era and also in post-colonial era, especially in
D. Mujahid Rebels
After
Both surrendered Mujahid and Bengali Muslim Settlers did not want to be called Khawtaw Kala or Kala which according to their own interpretation supposed to be derogatory because ‘Kala’ means ‘dark’ or ‘Coloured’ or ‘Blackie’ in the languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Bengali . In fact, the literal pronunciation of the Burmese as well as Arakanese word ‘Kala’ is ‘Kula’ and also written as ‘Kula’. This term was derived from the Pali or Sanskrit word ‘Kula Puttra’ meaning ‘the son of a noble race’ because Lord Buddha himself was an Indian. Both
Anyway, Bengali Muslim Settlers did not want to be called ‘Kala’. As a result, they settled for the name "Rohingya". In the late 1950"s, the demand for the statehood of the Rakhaings (Arakanese) and the
V. Evolution of the word ‘Rohingya’
There are many stories fabricated by educated Bengali Muslims to prove that their ancestors were the indigenous ethnic minorities of Arakan but all of them are baseless.
The real etymology of the term ‘Rohingya can be traced as follows:
After the Second World War when British Administration restarted in
A. Political way out of the AFPFL
U Nu’s government had a lot of political problems in the 50’s. The political wing of the Rakhaings supported the oppositions. Just to punish the Rakhaings, U Nu and his deputy then U Ba Swe promised to grant the Ra-Haung-Tha, all together more than one hundred thousand people, Burmese citizenship. After that, with these newly granted Burmese citizens’ votes some educated Bengali Muslims such as Mr. Sultan Mahmud, Mr. Abu Bawshaw, Mr. Abu Kai and Mr. Abdul Gahfar became MPs of U Nu’s party from all constituencies of the frontier districts in 1956 elections. These four Muslim Members of Parliament neither named themselves nor their followers ‘Rohingyas’ at that time, instead they called themselves ‘Arakan Muslims’.
U Nu and U Ba Swe started using the term ‘Rohingya’. Since the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister started using the term ‘Rohingya’ others too started using this term. Even the famous history professor, Prof. G. C. Luce started using the term "Rohingyas" in his lectures for the Bengali settlers living in
There were two Muslim ministers in the AFPFL government. U Rashid was very close to U Nu and U Latiff alias U Khin Maung Latt was a protégé of U Ba Swe and U Kyaw Nyein, the First and the Second Deputy Prime Ministers. Hence, the AFPFL government wanted to grant Burmese citizenship to more Bengali settlers, if they fell under the category of ‘Yaw-haun-Tha’ (Ra-Haun-Tha).
Since that time, all Chittagonian Bengalis, whether their ancestors had lived in Arakan before the Second World War or not, if they wanted to get Burmese citizenship they used the term "Rohanja"or ‘Rohingya’, which according to their pronunciation meaning Villagers of Rwa-Haun or ‘Ra-Haun-Tha’.
The surrendered "Mujahids" too adopted that name to prove that they were the villagers of "Rahaung" (Rohan in their pronunciation), that means they had lived there since before or after the second world war so that they could claim Burmese citizenship.
B. Premier Nu’s ‘Pendulum Tactics’ to remain in Power:
U Nu and U Ba Swe might have planned to accept the name "Rohingyas" for the Chittagonian Bengalis who became Burmese citizens eventually with the hope that these people will vote for their party, however, they were afraid to accept them as an indigenous race of
Before all these could happen, however, the ruling party, the Anti-Fascist Peoples' Freedom League (AFPFL) split into two factions, the Clean AFPFL headed by U Nu and the Stable AFPFL lead by U Ba Swe. U Ba Swe's fraction (the Stable) was supported by the majority of the AFPFL members of parliament (i.e. the ruling party). Seeing his danger by vote of no-confidence by his former comrades, U Nu promised to grant States for the Arakanese and the Mons, and he also promised to the "Arakan Muslims" leaders that he won't forget their gratitude if they could help him during that political crisis. In June 1958, U Nu's fraction narrowly escaped the vote of no-confidence submitted by U Ba Swe's fraction in the Burmese Lower House because the "Arakanese National Union Party", the party of the Mons and "Arakan Muslims" MPs together with the MPs of the main opposition party then, the leftist National United Front (NUF) party, voted for U Nu's fraction.
U Nu showed his gratitude by appointing his supporters as ministers in his new coalition government. Two NUF MPs called U Thein Pe Myint and Dr. E Maung, one Arakanese MP U Hla Tun Phru, one Mon MP U Mon Pho Cho and one "Arakan Muslim" MP Mr. Sultan Mahmud became ministers in this cabinet. Here, U Mon Pho Cho and U Hla Tun Phru were named Minister for Mon and Arakanese Affairs respectively apart from their other posts as the minister of their other ministries. Mr. Sultan Mahmud, on the other hand, was only the replacement for the other Muslim minister U Latiff alias U Khin Maung Latt who sided with the Stable Fraction of the AFPFL and voted against U Nu. Mr. Sultan Mahmud wanted to make hay while the sun shines, expected to get the lion’s share and requested U Nu to name him “the Minister for Arakan Muslim Affairs”. His request was turned down by U Nu on the grounds that the “Arakan Muslims” were in fact Chittagonian Bengalis; hence, their ancestors were settlers only and were never of the indigenous race of Arakan.
On 31st July 1958 U Nu offered an amnesty to all insurgents who would surrender themselves. Some Mujahids surrendered. They and other Bengali settlers ask for citizenship. However, this government did not last long to grant them citizenship. The government was in power for three months and seventeen days only.
In September 1958, the three leading officers from the Burma Army, namely Brigadier Tin Pe, Colonel Aung Gyi and Colonel Maung Maung went to Premier Nu's resident and demanded to transfer power officially to the military or otherwise they could not prevent the military coup planned by other officers. In the mean time Brigadier Aung Shwe (now chairman of the opposition NLD Party, the party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), the then commander of the Southern Command ordered some of his troops to occupy the
C. The first attempt of Bengali Muslims for the acceptance as an indigenous ethnic group
Those Bengali leaders tried again to have their group accepted as "Indigenous Muslims" or as an "indigenous ethnic group" of
The name "Rohingya" disappeared during the Caretaker Government. It reappeared in April 1960 when U Nu was re-elected as Prime Minister. U Nu, just to please the Arakan Muslim MPs and their followers who supported him in the election, allowed broadcasting in the "Rohingya" language in the Burma Broadcasting Station (BBS) under the Foreign Languages Programme in addition to English and Hindustani, but never allowed it in the National Languages Programme. In fact, the "Rohingya" language is a Bengali Chittagong dialect.
To regain back his power, U Nu had promised many things before the election which later became contradictory to each other. For example he promised to declare Buddhism as the State Religion without considering the fact that there are two Christian majority states in Burma, namely the Kachin and the Chin States, where at least 60% of the population are Christians. The Karen (Kayin) state, however, was and is not a Christian majority state. Only 30% of the Karens in
He promised to grant statehood to the Rakhaings and
In the mean time the Shans and the Kayahs, due to their rights signed in the Panlong Conference in 1947, demanded to make some amendments in the constitution so that the States in the Union of Burma have more autonomy, have equal rights and become federal states.
There was political turmoil in
At the beginning all foreign media were trapped by Ne Win. Many British and American sources wrote Ne Win’s coup dé tat was necessary because the country was in a political dilemma.
When U Nu's government was overthrown by General Ne Win through a military coup in March 1962, the constitution was suspended. Buddhism was no more state religion, the name "Rohingya" disappeared from the Burmese political scene again. Hindustani and "Rohingya" broadcasts ended.
In 1972 the name "Rohingya" reappeared inside
D. ‘Rohingya’ population growth
The population growth of the ‘Rohingyas’ is really a miracle.
Since the word "Rohan" is neither Arakanese nor Bengali word, but only the Bengali pronunciation of Ywa-Haun (Ra-Haun), today nobody can guess what this word means unless one knows the back ground of this word.
Most of the "Rohingyas" nowadays are no more the descendants of the ‘Ra-haun-Tha’ and the surrendered Mujahid Rebels, instead real illegal immigrants coming from Bangladesh for various reasons, settled down inside Burma in 1970 during the Bangladesh Liberation War and later.
Their population growth is a miracle and always happens after a cyclone hits
VI. Are the following Racial Statements or Comparing and Contrasting two groups of peoples?
Time has changed and the ideas and thinking of people has changed. The terms once considered as ‘normal’ has become ‘politically incorrect’ and terms once considered derogatory can be normal nowadays. Now I would like to cite the following statements written by some British writers comparing the peoples of
1. The Report of the Joint Select Committee on the Government of
Please note that, here the British used the term 'the Burmese', which according to their definition, represents all peoples of
2. The Report of the Indian Statutory Commission vol. II London, 1930, vol. II § 224: In 1927, The Indian Statutory Commission, popularly known as the "Simon Commission", was appointed under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. This Commission gave its opinion that "we hold that the first step towards the attainment of full responsible government in Burma is the separation of Burma from the rest of British India....We would add that Burma's political connection with India is wholly arbitrary and unnatural. It was established by the British rulers of
3. Captain Symes who was sent by the Viceroy of India on Embassy to the court of Bodawphaya in 1795 wrote: "The general disposition or temperament of the Burmese is strikingly in contrast with that of the natives of
VII. Analysis of the ‘Rohingya Problem’
A. Why some writers were trapped by "Rohingyas":
If one carefully scrutinizes all available authentic historical and etymological facts it comes out clearly that there was no ethnic group called "Rohingya" in Arakan as well as in
Even though, some of the international journalists favoured the dishonest claims of the ‘Rohingyas’. Why?
The answer is very clear. Most of them are only writers and neither etymological scholars nor historical researchers. They don't know the real history of Arakan as well as the history of Burma, however, they made their conclusions based only on many correct points; that the present government in Burma (SLORC earlier and SPDC later) is a military dictatorship, did not surrender the power to the party who won in the election in 1990, put the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for no reason, discriminating other ethnic minorities of Burma and violating a lot of human rights. The news about the military abuses against the ‘Rohingyas’ was also more or less true. Hence, they concluded that all claims of the ‘Rohingyas’ to be the truth.
B. Bad Image of the various Burmese Military Governments since 1962
The various Burmese Military Governments of Burma since 1962 have and never had a good reputation and image, neither in the internal nor in the international media. They are well known for never respecting human rights. To maintain their power, the various military authorities in
On this basis the international media neither trusted the SLORC/SPDC nor the various Burmese Military Juntas, even if sometimes, though very rarely, the statement of the junta could be true.
Therefore, it is no wonder; some of the writers unwittingly supported the "Rohingyas" and their claims. Some Muslims backing them were also trapped, when they issued their "fantastic historical claims".
C. Who immigrate to where:
If we compare
During East Pakistan's struggle for independence from West Pakistan to establish a new nation which is now
Since the border of
Both "Rohingyas" problems, 1978 and 1991, came about a few months after a cyclone hit
In the case of the ‘Boat People’, it is human nature for the people of a poor country to seek their fortune in a more prosperous country. Nowadays, there are about two million Burmese and other ethnic minorities working in
Many Mexicans entered into USA illegally, African Boat People wanted to enter one of the soils of EU, many Afghans, Chinese and Subcontinent people were taken by human traffickers as illegal immigrants to Western Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.
Similarly, some asylum seekers in
D. ‘Rohingyas’ for Burmese Citizenship:
Some liberal foreign journalist, Burma Scholars, politicians and writers argued that the "Rohingyas", even if most of them were the descendants of illegal immigrants and many war refugees of the East Pakistan Independence War in 1970, deserve to have the right to be naturalized as citizens of
To that suggestion, the present author personally have no objection as long as the ‘Rohingyas’ want to live peacefully side by side with the Buddhists Rakhaings who are the natives of Arakan and ‘Bummi Puttras’ of that region and as long as ‘Rohingyas’ do not make dishonest claims and want to turn the traditional Buddhist land into a Muslim state. I don’t know what the majority of Rakhaings would say. I don’t represent any organisation and therefore I cannot speak for them, but can only suggest. I hope it may also be possible that many Rakhaings would share my view. However, it will not be easy under this present government. The present Military Junta is well known as hard liners, very xenophobic and too ethno-centric. It may be easier to do this under a democratically elected government through “give and take” policy.
In any case, one should not forget the fact that every sovereign nation has their own immigration and naturalization laws which others should respect, for example
Even "the most democratic country on the earth", the United States of
It is also a similar problem for the People of the Subcontinent,
So do many Turks in
Here, the present author likes to point out a very similar situation. There are two Muslim-dominated districts in
E. Liberal groups of "Rohingyas", their approaches and responses:
Some liberal groups of "Rohingyas" have changed their tactics. They admitted that the term "Rohingya" was not a historical name instead it is an invented name in the 1950's. However, they wished that the new or the invented name "Rohingya" should be accepted because the name of an ethnic group can be changed if that group wishes. They argued that the ethnic group who used to be called "Talaings" by the Burmese in the Burmese chronicles are now called ‘Mons’ due to their request, and also an ethnic group called "Shan-Tayok" (Tai-Chinese) are now renamed as "Ko-kant". Therefore, Chittagonian Bengali Muslims could be accepted as "Rohingyas", a new indigenous ethnic group in
They tried to make emergency courses for these ‘Rohingyas’ to learn written and spoken Burmese which is the official and language of communication in the Union of Burma, to enable their people to communicate with other Burmese citizens and assimilate with other peoples of Burma, because till now almost all ‘Rohingyas’ can speak only their mother tongue which is the Bengali Chittagong Dialect. Apart from that, many of them are illiterates.
For that issue, not only the Military Government, but also many people of
‘Rohingya’ people were new settlers and therefore their descendants can be considered to be citizens but not as an indigenous ethnic group. This is very similar to the "Bhummi Puttra" (literally, "Son of the Motherland", here it means indigenous ethnic group) Law in
Hence, according to them, the name "Rohingya" could be accepted as an ethnic group now living in Burma like Chinese, Indian, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, but neither as a historical ethnic group nor can be recognized as an indigenous ethnic group of Burma.
Hence, the solution to the ‘Rohingya’ problem may be easy to say, however, difficult to manage. Both sides have to compromise, otherwise it will be a political dead-end.
VII. Conclusion:
If one carefully scrutinizes all available authentic historical and etymological facts it comes out clearly that there was no ethnic group called "Rohingya" in Arakan as well as in
Boat People came direct from
In any case, I have to be very careful to present this article in a very neutral way so that the paper does not read either as an attack on "Rohingyas" or as a polemical piece aimed at "Rohingyas", nor be seen as a racial writing. The biggest worry for me is: This article might be misinterpreted as an indirect support for the position of the very brutal Burmese Military Junta.
Here, I sincerely suggest to the "Rohingyas" to change their tactics. Instead of attacking all people who do not support their dishonest claims they should attack the Burmese Military Junta only. In the mean time they should learn to speak, read and write Burmese, especially the Rakhaing Dialect, and make friends with other ethnic groups of
Khin Maung Saw
Former Lecturer in
Former ‘Scholar in Residence’,
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