Burma's Missing Dots Dr. Abid Bahar
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Burma’s Missing Dots THE EMERGING FACE OF GENOCIDE ESSAYS ON CHAUVINISTIC NATIONALISM AND GENOCIDE IN BURMA WITH THE POPULAR NOVEL ROHINGYAMA Dr. Abid Bahar BURMA’S MISSING DOTS BURMA’S MISSING DOTS . THE EMERGING FACE OF GENOCIDE ESSAYS ON CHAUVINISTIC NATIONALISM AND GENOCIDE IN BURMA WITH THE POPULAR NOVEL ROHINGYAMA Dr. Abid Bahar Copyright © 2010 by Dr. Abid Bahar. The Cover of the Book is the Satellite Digital Image of Mouths of the Irrawaddy by Stuart Black of ABOV (Art Beyond Our Vision) 444 North Wells St./Suite 205 Chicago, IL 60610 312/925-4191 www.abovinc.com ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4415-9378-8 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. ESSAYS IN THIS BOOK COVERS: Burma’s History Chauvinistic Nationalism Ethnic Conflict Genocide in Western Burma Rohingya and Rakhine History Burmese Muslim History Burmese Refugee Movement The Novel: Rohingyama This book was printed in the United States of America. To order additional copies of this book, contact: Xlibris Corporation 1-888-795-4274 www.Xlibris.com [email protected] 60882 CONTENTS Preface .....................................................................................................7 Chapter 1: The Enemy #1 in Burma ...............................................15 Chapter 2: Xenophobic Burmese Literary Works—A Problem of Democratic Development in Burma ..........................23 Chapter 3: Racism in Burma: Aye Chan’s “Enclave” with “Influx Viruses” Revisited ..............................................51 Chapter 4: Mystery Behind the Chakma and the Rohingya’s Linguistic Similarities ....................................................82 Chapter 5: “Kulas”: The Aboriginals of Arakan ...............................94 Chapter 6: Burman Invasion of Arakan and the Rise of Nonbengali Settlements in Bangladesh ........................101 Chapter 7: History of the Rohingyas is the History of Suffering....116 Chapter 8: Living in A Glass House ..............................................118 Chapter 9: A Short Review of Aye Kyaw’s “The Burma We Love” and “The Rohingya and the Rakhaing ...............123 Chapter 10: The Story of Rohingyama ...........................................126 Chapter 11: Problems and Prospects of Growing Up in Canada: The Case of Rohingya People ........................164 Chapter 12: “I Have Never Heard the Name Rohingya”—Xenophobia or Racism! ...........................172 Chapter 13: Burma’s Anti-Rohingya Xenophobes ...........................177 Section 1: Varieties of Burmese Military’s Civilian Collaborators and the Genocide in Burma ...........177 Section 2: Who Is Who of the Anti-Rohingya in Arakan .................................................................179 Section 3: Arakanese Monk’s Burmese Way to Democracy ...........................................................182 Chapter 14: Islam in Buddhist Environment: Muslim Leadership and the Contemporary Challenges in Burma ...................................................185 Section 1: Burmese Muslims .......................................186 Section 2: Rohingya Nation: Contemporary Problems and Making Certain of the Uncertain Future ..................................................193 Chapter 15: Burma’s Missing Dots ..................................................198 Appendices Appendix 1: Western Burma and Bangladesh ..................................209 Appendix 2: What is Genocide? ......................................................223 Appendix 3: Important Rohingya Websites .....................................227 Appendix 4: Rohingya Genocide in Western Burma ........................229 Appendix 5: Farewell .......................................................................233 Appendix 6: Account of Genocidal Operations Against Rohingyas .......................................................236 Appendix 7: Xenophobic Advertisement on Arakan Information Website Dehumanizing Rohingyas Being Influx Viruses ....................................................239 Appendix 8: United Nations Human Rights Report ........................241 Appendix 9: Universal Declaration of Human Rights ......................244 Appendix 10: United Nations Press Release on Rohingyas .................253 Appendix 11: Report of Continued Genocide in Arakan: Who Will Stop and When? .........................................257 Appendix 12: A Poem .......................................................................261 PREFACE Not long ago, I was surfing the net and came across several interesting websites, one of which was the Arakan Information Website. On the front page was a flashing red book cover with the title, “Influx Viruses.” On the side bar, was the question: “Who is the enemy?” It didn’t take me long to understand that this was not a story reprinted from a medieval comic book about ogres and monsters, but about chauvinistic ethnic groups in Burma that promote hatred against other groups. I became interested in knowing the story behind the demonizing fictions that such works disseminate. I soon realized the very serious implications behind such material that resulted in the extermination of the Rohingya people of Burma. This was the very same hatred that resulted in genocide and the forced extermination of people from their ancestral homes in countries across the globe. At the international conferences I attended, particularly the recent one, the UN Conference on Minorities and Stateless People in Geneva in 2007, I was approached by scholars and NGO representatives interested in Burma who asked me pointed questions: What circumstances could lead them to demonize and commit genocide on their fellow citizens in Burma?” Similar questions were repeatedly asked over and over again in conferences I have attended. Providing answers to such questions necessitated me for a study whose terms of reference are ambitious and include information on a wide range of themes such as the history and Sociology of Burma and its deep-rooted problems in relation to democratic development. To answer such complex questions, I felt the necessity of writing this book. In addition to providing a survey of xenophobic literature, this book also covers groups in Western Burma that became historic victims of the Burmese invasion of Arakan. It will show how the continuing Burmese 7 8 Dr. Abid Bahar invasion of Arakan has resulted in a displacement of Chakmas, Moghs and Rohingyas from Arakan towards the North, to Chittagong in Bangladesh. Consequently, Chakma, Mogh and Rohingya settlements can be found both in Arakan and in Chittagong. This book covers the subject of Burmese invasion of Arakan and the rise of non-Bengali settlements in Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts. My research on Western Burma began in 1978 when refugees first poured into Bangladesh’s Southern region. Rohingyas were being denied of Burmese citizenship. I had visited camps in Taknaf and Ukiya in Chittagong in Bangladesh and interviewed and observed refugee situation there. There I met UNHCR, the Red Cross and members of Amnesty International. I also met senior Rohingya leaders of the time. In the same year, under international pressure, the Burmese government took the refugees back, only to push them out again in 1991-92. This book began with the work on my thesis” Dynamics of Ethnic Relations in Burmese Society” done in 1982 at the University of Windsor, Canada. Certain chapters of the present book began as occasional papers published online and still others originated in papers I presented in international conferences in Kualalampur, Tokyo, Geneva, Lethbridge University in Alberta, Chittagong and in Montreal. Therefore, to avoid repetition, it is recommended that each chapter be read separately as a paper. Certain terms such as Burma is used for the official name of the country Myanmar, Rakhine sometimes applied to the Mogh or Buddhist population of Abakan. For Rohingyas, I sometimes used the name Muslim of Arakan in a broader sense. During the period of my research over the past three decades, many people have helped me in this endeavor: Dr. C.L. Vincent, Dr. Max Hadley, Salimullah in Japan, Nurul Islam (ARNO) in UK and Mohiuddin (NDPHR) in New York. Farkan and Hasan, in Japan and Nurul Islam in Chittagong, Professor Zakaria, and.Advocate Hafizullah, my brother also deserve very special thanks. Thanks to Stuart Black of ABOV (Art Beyond Our Vision), Chicago for providing us digital satellite image of Mouths of the Irrawaddy used as the cover page of the book and Josh Schwartz for facilitating the whole process of transaction. My thanks to my colleagues; Roy Cartlidge of BURMA’S MISSING DOTS 9 English department at Dawson College and Brian McFarline of the Plant and Facilities department; if both didn’t inspire me, perhaps this work would have taken more time to complete. Special appreciation is due to Dr. Moinuddin Ahamed Khan of Chittagong University, who first inspired me to take up the project on the Rohingya people of Burma. I also would like to thank all the people, the sources, websites, and links I have used in this book for information. As the first edition of the book, there are likely to be some unintended imperfections, which I sincerely hope to change in the second edition. Abid Bahar Ph.D. Montreal, 2009 Dedication I would like to dedicate this book to the victims of lawlessness