Time for debate or Reconciliation?

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

Time and again, in the past we asked Aye Chan, Aye Kyaw and Ashin Nayaka, the xenophob trio to have an open debate about why they had to call Rohingyas as "foreigners" or as "Influx Viruses." They remained silent for years. They knew their arguments were fundamentally flawed. Their arguments were based on racism. Their such works and activities were documented and they were found to be the promoters of ethnic violence in Arakan.

Based on the merit of their works, instead of bringing them for debate they should be brought to justice through the International Criminal Court. Their place shouldn't be a conference room in a civilized country but they should be placed in the the confinement of a jail. They helped promote ethnic unrest in Arakan. Aye Kyaw was instrumental in the adaptation of the 1982 Citizenship Law. If we have to have debate, it should be with Arakanese humanist leaders.

Racism to Rohingya in Burma

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.
“The Burmese military has clearly embarked on a policy of ridding the country of ethnic Rohingyas by any possible means. Official claims that the refugees are "illegal immigrants" – Asia Watch
An enclave is part of a country geographically separated from the main part by the surrounding foreign territory. A great deal of works has been done by the military’s civilian collaborators on the province of Arakan (Rakhine province) claiming that there is the existence of an enclave in Burma. Most prominent of the authors is Aye Chan. Aye Chan, a native of Burma’s Arakan (Rakhine) province, says there is an enclave in Arakan.

The military’s Burmese democracy and the process of Bengalicing the Myanmarese indigenous Rohingya

Dr. Abid Bahar

People are dying in the Rohingya concentration camps in Arakan. Medical supplies are not allowed to reach these people, NASAKA harasses them regularly in camps and ask them to sign and acknowledge as Bengalis.

Rohingyas wants to be called as the Rohingya but the government forces them to accept the name Bengali. Rohingyas know it very well that it is to get rid of them because they are racially and religiously different from the Buddhist Rakhines.

Rohingyas are a people who once had their houses, business, family, land and a pair of cows to cultivate their land. They even had their citizenship until 1982. These people were born of parents whose ancestors had lived in Arakan before Burma occupied Arkan in 1784.

BURMA'S ROHINGYA ORIGIN IN THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF ARAKAN: UNDERSTANDING THE ARAB - CHANDRA SYNTHESIS

(A WORKING PAPER ON ARAKAN HISTORY) 

Dr. Abid Bahar

Abstract (Several issues has come to the surface from the present research on DHANNAWADI and VASALI period of ancient Arakan; 

(1) That DHANNAWADI and VASALI were Indian dynasties with Hindu and Mohayana Buddhist religious followers 

(2) During the Chandra rule there had been some Arab settlements in Arakan. The language of the Chandras was proto-Chittagonian: Sanskrit, Pali, and Arabic mixed similar to what Buchanon Hamilton found in 1799 with Rohingyas in Burma, also that a similar language was spoken by the Chakmas and Thanchangras of Arakan and Bangladesh, its written form similar to Bengali found in the Ananda Chandra script 

Machete Massacre in Arakan: The Hidden Face of Burma Exposed.

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

From the military leadership down to NASAKA, the Rakhine police, in the civilian front RNDP and even some leaders closely working with Aung San Suu Kui, the problem with the Rohingya people have been seen as a case of dealing with”illegal immigration” of Bengali people to Arakan. Fortunately, contemporary research on Rakhine-Rohingya relations shows it is not about illegals in Arakan, Burma, it is about intolerance to a people, who are racially, culturally and religiously different from the mainstream racially mongoloid Rakhine-Burmese people.

LETTER OF PROTEST

CANADIAN FRIENDS OF BURMA (CFB)

145 Spruce Street Ottawa,

ON, Canada K1R 6P1

tel: (613) 237-8056

fax: (613) 563-0017

Dear Madam/ Sir:

This is a letter of protest against the director of the CANADIAN FRIENDS OF BURMA,Mr. Tin Maung Htoo for his open support for the xenophobic regime in Burma committing Rohingya genocide. I have personally known Mr. Tin Maung Htoo for a long time. He seemed to be a friendly person but lately it came to me as a shock when I found out Mr. Hitoo openly taking side with the military backed government and with the Arakani Xenophobes ethnic cleansing pogrom against the Rohingya people of Burma. Mr Htoo’s latest statements (Jul 18, 2012) seems he didn’t change from his previous controversial stand on this issue. On the other hand in the (Jul 18, 2012) statement Mr. Htoo repeats: “Applying the liberties of a free and democratic society, I over the past few weeks presented my personal points of view and shared information in an attempt to balance what I perceive to be some unfair and imbalanced reports disseminated on some media and social media websites regarding the conflicts occurring in Burma’s Arakan State.”

TELL ME, WHAT IS WRONG IN CONTEMPORARY BURMA?

Dr. Abid Bahar

Burma's ethnic problems is over half a century's old. Rohingyas are a tiny minority who in Burma live mostly in the Arakan state in Western Burma. There are records of genocidal campaign against Rohingyas going on from the 30's. It is obvious that under many decades of xenophobic military rule with majority of Burma's people not over 5th graders and Burmese military's 30% personnel from hardcore ultra nationalist Rakhine Mogh background one can't expect something better either from the government or from the Rakhine populace for the racially different Rohingya community. As a result the ever present perpetrators now blame the victims as the perpetrators. Every indication shows that the present massacres were systematically planned and executed by Rakhine leaders one that is frequently mentioned in the media is Dr. Aye Chan. He has characterized Rohingyas a "influx viruses" requiring extermination." He is known in the Rohingya community as the "Doctor of death." (1)

FROM A RUMOR TO A DEADLY MASSACRE IN ARAKAN

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

Muslims in Burma are only 5% of the total population and they have been almost always used as escape goats by the military government to distract the attention of the Buddhist majority on the the oppressive military regime. A google search (see the reference) on riots against Muslims in Burma would show, the riots would invariably start on a Muslim rape charges. Almost always it starts as a rumor and some Muslims are attacked or a mosque is destroyed, followed by a riot. (1) The trend of blaming the victim repeated in Akyub on May 28, when the dead body of a Rakhine woman was found near a Muslim village.

1942 Rohingya Massacre in Arakan Revisited Again in 2012

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

A lesson needed to be learned by the Rakhine Moghs after it lost its legendary Arakan kingdom that anarchy and hatred against others in society could also be self-inflicting that it creates division within the society causing outsiders to interfere in its internal affairs. However, in the ever decaying Arakan, the Rakhine Mogh refuse to learn and the culture of anarchy continues.  Now the Mogh Rakhines have turned their vigorous menace not against anybody from outside but against the local minorities, particularly against the Muslim population of Arakan known as the Rohingyas, thus the cycle of  Rohingya suffering continues. With the culture of anarchy growing to its climax, in 1942 there was a huge bloodbath of Rohingyas in all over Arakan. To the Rohingyas it is still remembered as the Karbalae Arakan (the doomsday in Arakan). Ever since, there has been more organized efforts in 1978, 1992-93 to commit massacre on the Rohingyas of Arakan resulting in the displacement of the Rohingya population all over the world.

Who Won in the Bay of Bengal? Hasina!

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Wednesday 14th March issued its "judgment in the Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar."  The dispute concerned the delimitation of the territorial seas, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves of these two states in the Bay of Bengal.

Dipu Moni, the Bangladeshi foreign minister, told reporters.“This is a great day for Bangladesh."Hasina claims, she won a battle in the sea. Some Burmese believe ",...the International Tribunal on the Laws of the Sea (ITOLS) in Hamburg, Germany was biased. Myanmar was pariah nation at the given moment and it was a way to punish Myanmar. If the dispute was addressed today the outcome would be different." Other Burmese observers report, "Bangla may have won their disputed deep sea block 11 but Myanmar will still retain Bangla's drawn up gas-field blocks 18, 22, 23, 27 and 28.(1)  

Tell me,what is Rohingya Genocide in Burma?

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

What is Genocide? What is Rohingya genocide? When did it began? In which part of Burma is this taking place? Are there refugees taking shelter in the neighboring countries? Who are the parties involved?, What should be done about it? Does it have anything to do with Rohingya’s race or religion? Are there democratic minded Rakhines to help stop the crisis?These are some of the questions people are curios to know. Human rights and international UN agencies are curiously waiting to know from the present “democratic” government what measures it is taking to stop genocide in Burma? . 

Understanding the Rohingya People: Similarities and differences between Bengalis and the Rohingya people of Arakan

Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.

Historically speaking, due to its location on a racial faultline, Arakan has remained an epicentre of refugee production in the region until our present time. In understanding these phenomena, for historians in particular, I think several dates are significant in the history of Arakan, beginning from 957 AD, through the 1430, 1660, 1666, 1784, 1824 and 1982. In consideration of the above premise, when I say most of the Rohingyas have historically similar background as was with people of Bengal until the 11th century, I mean several things:

1.    Like in Arakan, Bengal was first Hindu then became Mahayana Buddhist. In Arakan, the Mohanuni statue was by the Mahayana Buddhists of the Chandra time and racially people were 100% of Indo-Aryan stock. “The coins of Wasali had the image of Siva engraved on it.” Arakan was known to Indian missionaries as the “Kalamukha” (land of the dark-skinned people). “The second phase of Indianization of Arakan occurred between the 4th and the 6th century AD, by which time the colonists had established their kingdom, and named their capital Vaishali.” By this time Arakan became a Mahayana Buddhist kingdom. As a port city, Vaishali also developed some pockets of Muslim settlements from Arab and Persian

A Brief History of Arakan : From Kingdom to a Colony

Dr. Abid Bahar, PhD

On December 31st 2011, Arakanese Diaspora marked its 227th anniversary of the fall of the famous Arakanese medieval kingdom. Arakan's powerful kingdom was established by King Noromikhla. Arakanese nationals didn’t forget that in 1784 Burmese king Budapaya sent a large army led by his son who mercilessly razed the city to ground and took away the Arakanes symbol of pride - the Mohamini to the Burmese heartland. It was a genocide pure and simple, it was also the end of a kingdom which was known far across the land upto Europe. It was a kingdom that was built by artisans that Noromikhla brought from Gour of Bengal. It was a liberal, civilized kingdom and its citizens prided themselves to be called as the citizens of the great Mrohaung city. The ruling people were known as the Moghs now Rakhine Mogh and others were called as the Kula (Hindus and Muslims) now Rohingya.