Dr. Dipu Moni's upcoming trip to Burma
Ref: http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=263475
It is so good to see an article in the NFB by Dr. Shwe Lu Maung - whose forefathers ruled Arakan 354 years (1430-1784 CE). As a curious historian of his people, he has been able to go to the roots of the fascist ideology that now rules Burma - Myanmarism. Through his must-read books he has tremendously contributed to our understanding of the history of Arakan - the Rakhaing state of Burma. Anyone desirous of learning about the problematic history of tension between the two groups - Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhaine - would find his two books as gold mines of information.
I wish this article or a shorter version of Dr. Maung had appeared in some English Daily to prepare Dr. Dipu Moni before she embarks her trip to Burma.
The military regime that has ruled Burma for the last several decades can best be described as ruthless murderers who exploit race and religion to prolong their rule inside the country. They are racists and bigots. Through their genocidal campaigns against the minority races - from Karens to Rohingyas - they have shown that modern Myanmar has no room for non-Burman people. No wonder that we still have tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees inside Bangladesh. More than a million others are now settled in the Middle East, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and some western countries. The Burmese government won't take them under the pretext that they are children of Chittagonians brought during the British Era (post-1824). However, as correctly put by Dr. Maung, which also confirms my own research into the troubled history of Arakan, the Rohingyas have settled in Arakan from at least ca. 1430 CE when the exiled king was put into the throne by the Muslim Sultan of Bengal with some 50,000 soldiers sent under the leadership of Generals Wali Khan and (later) Sandhi Khan. Most of those soldiers later married into the local community and settled, and became the protectors of the Arakan kingdom, a tradition that was held until the collapse of the kingdom in 1784 when Burman king Bodaw Paya annexed the territory in a genocidal campaign. That annexation led to the exodus of more than a hundred thousand people - Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists alike - to the nearby British-held territories.
As to the ancestral root of the Rohingya people, it should be pointed out that beside the settlement of Muslim soldiers in Arakan during king Narameikhla's time in the early 15th century CE, there were also Muslim settlements of Arab and Persian merchants and sailors in the coast of Arakan, similar to those in the nearby Chittagong territory, from the 9th century (CE) onward. Many Muslim saints also settled in the territory whose influence could be felt through the shrines and mosques that dotted the sea-coast of Arakan. But more importantly, the territory of Arakan much like vast Bengal delta, was lived by the non-Aryan kala people (dark-skinned) thousands of years before the (fair-skinned) Tibeto-Mongolian people (the ancestors of today's Rakhaine people) moved into the territory in the 10th century (CE). It was these indigenous, first-settlers to the Arakan that over the next thousand years mixed with the other races, including the Muslim settlers and converts, which gradually led to the formation of the Rohingya people. Suffice it to say that the history of today's Bangladeshi people is not much different either, especially for those living in the coastal territories from Chittagong to the Sundarbans.
Unfortunately, when xenophobia rules - all such essential history of the indigenous people is forgotten leading to their pogroms and sufferings.
It is good to see that Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni herself is representing the Bangladesh Government in its talk with the Myanmar Government. Aside from talking about land border and maritime boundary issues plus trade and commerce, she should not omit discussing the Rohingya issue. It is vital for the regional security. As a fascist regime, the Myanmar regime can only survive through policies that are drawn from the pages of Hitler and Mussolini's history. Pushing the border is one excuse to show her muscle. The Arakan state, with a mixed population of mostly Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhaine, has been a buffer territory stopping Burma's westward move of territorial expansion. If the demography is altered so that the Rohingyas are almost extinct in Arakan, such a protection may not be tenable on a long run. Bangladesh loses more from not bringing the Rohingya issue to the table of discussion with the Myanmar regime. Dr. Dipu Moni should advise the regime to allow equal citizenship for all the Rohingya people, both living inside as people without any human rights and outside as exiles. The regime ought to be told that a just and equitable solution to the Rohingay people's basic rights, including honorable return to their ancestral homes, is in their best interest. Good behaviors would beget good returns in terms of favorable trade and commerce relationship with Bangladesh, which the regime craves for.
It is so good to see an article in the NFB by Dr. Shwe Lu Maung - whose forefathers ruled Arakan 354 years (1430-1784 CE). As a curious historian of his people, he has been able to go to the roots of the fascist ideology that now rules Burma - Myanmarism. Through his must-read books he has tremendously contributed to our understanding of the history of Arakan - the Rakhaing state of Burma. Anyone desirous of learning about the problematic history of tension between the two groups - Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhaine - would find his two books as gold mines of information.
I wish this article or a shorter version of Dr. Maung had appeared in some English Daily to prepare Dr. Dipu Moni before she embarks her trip to Burma.
The military regime that has ruled Burma for the last several decades can best be described as ruthless murderers who exploit race and religion to prolong their rule inside the country. They are racists and bigots. Through their genocidal campaigns against the minority races - from Karens to Rohingyas - they have shown that modern Myanmar has no room for non-Burman people. No wonder that we still have tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees inside Bangladesh. More than a million others are now settled in the Middle East, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and some western countries. The Burmese government won't take them under the pretext that they are children of Chittagonians brought during the British Era (post-1824). However, as correctly put by Dr. Maung, which also confirms my own research into the troubled history of Arakan, the Rohingyas have settled in Arakan from at least ca. 1430 CE when the exiled king was put into the throne by the Muslim Sultan of Bengal with some 50,000 soldiers sent under the leadership of Generals Wali Khan and (later) Sandhi Khan. Most of those soldiers later married into the local community and settled, and became the protectors of the Arakan kingdom, a tradition that was held until the collapse of the kingdom in 1784 when Burman king Bodaw Paya annexed the territory in a genocidal campaign. That annexation led to the exodus of more than a hundred thousand people - Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists alike - to the nearby British-held territories.
As to the ancestral root of the Rohingya people, it should be pointed out that beside the settlement of Muslim soldiers in Arakan during king Narameikhla's time in the early 15th century CE, there were also Muslim settlements of Arab and Persian merchants and sailors in the coast of Arakan, similar to those in the nearby Chittagong territory, from the 9th century (CE) onward. Many Muslim saints also settled in the territory whose influence could be felt through the shrines and mosques that dotted the sea-coast of Arakan. But more importantly, the territory of Arakan much like vast Bengal delta, was lived by the non-Aryan kala people (dark-skinned) thousands of years before the (fair-skinned) Tibeto-Mongolian people (the ancestors of today's Rakhaine people) moved into the territory in the 10th century (CE). It was these indigenous, first-settlers to the Arakan that over the next thousand years mixed with the other races, including the Muslim settlers and converts, which gradually led to the formation of the Rohingya people. Suffice it to say that the history of today's Bangladeshi people is not much different either, especially for those living in the coastal territories from Chittagong to the Sundarbans.
Unfortunately, when xenophobia rules - all such essential history of the indigenous people is forgotten leading to their pogroms and sufferings.
It is good to see that Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni herself is representing the Bangladesh Government in its talk with the Myanmar Government. Aside from talking about land border and maritime boundary issues plus trade and commerce, she should not omit discussing the Rohingya issue. It is vital for the regional security. As a fascist regime, the Myanmar regime can only survive through policies that are drawn from the pages of Hitler and Mussolini's history. Pushing the border is one excuse to show her muscle. The Arakan state, with a mixed population of mostly Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhaine, has been a buffer territory stopping Burma's westward move of territorial expansion. If the demography is altered so that the Rohingyas are almost extinct in Arakan, such a protection may not be tenable on a long run. Bangladesh loses more from not bringing the Rohingya issue to the table of discussion with the Myanmar regime. Dr. Dipu Moni should advise the regime to allow equal citizenship for all the Rohingya people, both living inside as people without any human rights and outside as exiles. The regime ought to be told that a just and equitable solution to the Rohingay people's basic rights, including honorable return to their ancestral homes, is in their best interest. Good behaviors would beget good returns in terms of favorable trade and commerce relationship with Bangladesh, which the regime craves for.
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