October 5, 2017
The following is the truest and most comprehensive account of
the presence the self-identified race in northern-Rakhine in Myanmar. I claimed
thus, because it was written without any prejudice or bias toward any race or
religion.
Also, it was written based on the personal experiences of a person,
who had an in depth knowledge of the history of the emergence of the
self-identified term and not from hearsays from either sides of the conflicts or
from the lobbyists, NGOs and various envoys, rapporteurs, who are mostly
biased. That person is me.
In the international media, both in the print and on the
broadcast media, and also on the Internet social media, I had come across a lot
of untrue stories. Most of them recognized the illegal Muslims as belonging to
the self-indentified who are being persecuted and denied citizenship by a
country, in which they are one of the ethnic races. Those are absolute
absurdities, falsely fabricated and misrepresented, with bad intentions and
lack of journalistic ethics on the part of the international media. As for the
social media, I have nothing to say as it is a place for everyone to voice
their opinions freely and frankly and have heated debates, but lacked authenticity
and reliability. Those with little or no knowledge of a particular issue or
topic should not join the debates on the social media to discuss sensitive
matters such as this issue.
Most of those who advocate for the so-called self-identified
race claim that those people had been on our soil for many centuries, some even
claiming that they had settled in the Rakhine areas of Myanmar since the eighth century. That claim needs
clarification, though the date is not a big issue, what is important is whether
the people who migrated to those area in those days were really the people who
mainly involved in the current northern Rakhine issue. To my knowledge, and I
am quite confident that I am correct, they were people from the East Bengal
State of India, which evolved into the present day Bangladesh. So, naturally
they were Bengalis and being Bengalis, they could be Hindus and Buddhists only,
as these were the domestic religions of those eras, years before the spread of
Islam to those areas.
Another point to take into consideration is the fact that in
the olden days there were no mutually accepted, well defined boundaries between
the countries in our region like elsewhere in the world. The boundaries were
only arbitrary, depending on which country was superior in military power at
that time. Thus it can be assumed that the borders were always shifting from
time to time. Besides, the borders may not be properly demarcated and people of
different races and religions could freely roam from place to place, in search
of greener pastures and suitable dwelling places to settle. This assumption is
proved by the fact that there are many Rakhine and even some Bamar descendants
living today in Bangladesh as citizens of that country. Likewise there are many
Bengalis living in Myanmar as Myanmar citizens. Those who had been to the
Maungdaw, Buthitaung and Rathetaung areas will know that more than ninety
percents of the population are Bengalis some of who hold Myanmar citizen
identifications. Also other parts of the Rakhine State have many Bengalis
residing there officially as Myanmar citizens. Even many other parts of the
country have their share of Bengalis today. In Yangon, their community have
increased noticeable and most of them are well established in various
businesses. Many of them are more prosperous than the other average Myanmar
citizens of Indian origins. So, where are their claims of persecutions? They
are enjoying the full rights of the citizenship and in some cases they may be
even getting more privileges than other national races as they are receiving
aids from foreign Muslim countries.
Here, I would like to differentiate between our citizens of
Bengali origin and the illegal Bengalis who are claiming to be a race of
Myanmar, a non-existent race throughout our history. If you will go back in
time for about two centuries, you will find yourself back in 1824, when the
British annexed Arakan (now Rakhine). Even then, there must be quite a large
population of Bengalis who were from the India proper, already in Arakan area,
as Rakhine of today was used to be called. The British passed a statute, which
recognized the Bengalis who were already there at the time of their annexation,
as citizens of Burma ( Myanmar) and those who came later as foreigners. Those
people were mostly from Chittagong area, thus they were known in the old days
as Chittagonians, which in Myanmar language they became “Khawtaws”. Most of
them were laborers or “collies”, in the Indian jargon. As most of the regions
in their homeland were always inundated the whole year round, even today, they
came to Rakhine to work as farm hands during the paddy cultivation seasons and
returned to their native places after the harvests. The Arakan or Rakhine area
was known to them as “Rohin”, and those returning from “Rohin” were called
“Rohingya”, meaning “returnee from Arakan”, by the people back in their native
land. Thus it’s quite evident, the self-identified term does not represent a
race but just a description to identify them. Those returnees from Arakan were
nomadic peoples, without any permanent settlement. This statement can be
clarified if you will care to go to Chittagong and make some inquiries. Some
old timers there, who are not biased will tell you that my statement is true.
They are scorned by many local people there.
My experience with them was nearly four and a half decades
ago, while I was posted in Akyab ( Sittway ). In 1969, a campaign to screen and
sort out the illegal immigrants and expel them by the route they entered into
our country, was launched. The nature of my posting at that time put me in a
position to take charge of that campaign, that was code named “ Kyeegunn
Sitsinyae” in Myanmar, which can be translated as “The Operation Crow”. Over
two hundred immigration officers, drawn from all over the country were placed
at my disposal. The campaign was conducted in three townships, namely: Mrauk
Oo, Pauktaw and Minpya in the Sittway District. Our columns entered the villages
during the nights, assisted by local policemen for security, as those areas
were still not safe due to insurgency. They looked for suspicious Bengalis and
asked for their National Registration Cards (NRC).
Those who could not produce any identifications to prove
their citizenships were rounded up, which numbered over two thousand. Those
persons were thoroughly interrogated to identify their nationalities and almost
all of them said they were Bengalis and admitted to be from the neighboring
country. Some try to bluff in the beginning, but on further investigations they
too were found to be illegal immigrants.
They were transported, to the Taungpro, close to the border
with the other country. There they were individually asked again, from which
country they were from and all answered they were from East Pakistan, as
Bangladesh was known in those days and pointed their fingers towards that
direction. After confirming thus, they were allowed to return to their native
country and they crossed the shallow river dividing the two countries to return
to where they came from without any protest.
That confirmed they were illegal immigrants. There was no
outcry, whatsoever, from their community or the international communities,
objecting their expulsion. Destitute people from the cyclone frequented and
flood prone areas of the neighboring country entered our country to work as
farm hands or coolies during the paddy growing seasons.
Most usually returned to their homeland after the harvests.
Later many people did not return at all. They mingle with the local Bengalis,
who were naturalized citizens and some even managed to get NRC cards through
illegal means. Over the years, since the British times, these people had been
coming and going between the two countries at will. It was understandable,
while under the British, as our country and theirs’ were ruled as one---the
British India. Thus it can be assumed that there were not much restrictions at
the border crossings. However, after our Independence the incumbent government,
irresponsibly recognized some later day illegal immigrants as citizens to gain
the majority seats in the parliament. That was a grave mistake. The root cause
of the recent communal conflicts was the influx of these aliens, which, in my
opinion was left unchecked for nearly four decades since we were forced to
accept the expellee, back in the mid nineteen seventies. My understanding was,
more than double the amount of those actually expelled had to be taken back.
That was a blow below the belt or in other words, our sovereignty had been
undermined by the international communities who lobbied the United Nations
General Assembly to pass the unfair resolution to receive the expellee back. It
was not only their fault, but also our authorities, especially those who
carried out the expulsions at that time were also to be blamed. Because, as I
had stated somewhere in this article, when we expelled the aliens, there was no
outcry or problem whatsoever, at home or abroad.
Here, I think I should make some clarifications as to who
those so-called self-identified race is. I had already mentioned above that
there was never an ethnic race in Myanmar known as the self-identified term.
They were in fact Bengali or Chittagonian collies who migrated to the Rakhine
during paddy cultivating seasons and returned to their place of origin after
the harvests since the olden days. Then how come, today, they are claiming to
be one of the Myanmar national races, who are being denied citizenship and are
being persecuted? Their design is quite clear. They are using that false claim
as a ploy to get recognized as the citizens of Myanmar, legitimizing their
stays, even if it is only temporary, before they can proceed to another country
and claim refugee status and to eventually get settled in a third country. My
analysis and deduction is: it is just a ploy or a ruse to pave their way for
their exodus to more prosperous places. Most of the boat people found in the
region, claiming to be from Myanmar are in fact from the neighboring country and most had never ever set foot
on our soil. To further make my point more strong I will mention one incident,
which I think, not many people knew about it. In 1969/70, an ungrounded
movement organization was uncovered in Sittway and its leader and members
apprehended. The documents confiscated from them revealed they were members of
the Rohingya Muslim Independence Revolutionary Front (RMIRF). I do not think it
would be necessary to point out what sort of an organization that was, judging
from the usage of the words Independence, Revolutionary and Front. At the time
they were exposed, we deduced that it was the reemergence of the Mujahideen
Rebellion of the nineteen fifties that had been wiped out a long time ago.
Their objectives were to continue the lost cause of that rebellion: to liberate
the Northern Rakhine to establish a Muslim enclave. Their actions undermine the
sovereignty of our country. However, after they failed to achieve that goal,
they must have changed their strategy. Instead of taking up arms and fighting
for Independence as they first set out to do, they are trying to swallow our
ethnic races by the influx of illegal immigrants getting recognized as
belonging to a national race or acquire citizenship statuses and eventually
flush out the local Rakhines altogether. The world media, the international
communities and even the UN fell for their deceit and are sympathetic to them.
If one should surf the website # Rohingya on the Internet,
one would find that not only just a few persons from within our country, but
many others from abroad, are carrying out propagandas extensively. I doubt
those people really know where the Rakhine State is, though they are loudly
denouncing the persecutions of the non-existent race. Surprisingly there is one
person, with high credentials from an American university, who claims he is a
Bamar, Buddhist and is the most active advocate for the so-called term. There
is no reason for him to claim thus to speak up for the non-existent race, as
this is not an issue of race or religion, but the problem of desperate and
destitute peoples in search of greener pastures, using the excuse of being
persecuted in Myanmar to make their migration to third countries easier. I am
surprised to learn that they are gaining much attentions and sympathies
worldwide. I cannot imagine the gullibility of those who believed them. Before
concluding, I would like to make my stand concerning the northern Rakhine issue
clear. I am neither anti Muslim nor anti Bengali. I am not against the real
descendants of the naturalized citizens of Bengali origins, getting recognized
as citizens. This is their birth rights if they are born and bred in Myanmar,
of parents both of whom are naturalized citizens. However, I am of the opinion
that the later day illegal immigrants are entirely untitled to be granted the
citizenship.
Khin Maung Myint
Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar
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