Living in the Racial Fault line: Rohingyas Look like Bengalis but are the People of Burma

Abid Bahar Ph.D.

Who are the Rohingyas? An Arakani xenophob named Aye Chan says they are "Bengalis" from Bangladesh, and many of his hoodlum followers even call Rohingyas the "Talibans"; some even call them as "terrorists" perhaps because most Rohingyas are Muslims and some racist people it is easy to find all Muslims as being terrorists. However, research shows that Rohingyas look like Bengalis but aren't Bengalis. If Rohingyas are not Bengalis, who are they?  Rohingyas are a mixture of people beginning from indigenous Chandra people of pre 10th century Arakan, and also Rohingyas in them had Arab and Persian traders from the 7th century settled in Arakan, and the Bengali Sultan's soldiers send to Arakan with General Sindi Khan to help restore Noromikhala in the mid-15th century, and finally they also had in their people Bengali slaves captured from lower Bengal during the 16th and early 17th century from raids by Mogh (Rakhine) pirates in the Bay. These flows of people from the north and west of Arakan are recorded in history.

BURMA LIVES IN THE PAST

Dr. Abid Bahar, PhD

( Part of the essay is adapted from Abid Bahar's book "Burma's Missing Dots," 2010) 

Burma is a medium-sized country; rich in mineral resources and agriculture, and the majority of its people are followers of the Buddhist faith. With such material and spiritual assets, it should be a peaceful and prosperous nation, but the reality is different. Burma has become a despotic country with a world-wide reputation for human rights violations and producing refugees. It is now clear that from the time of Burman King Anawrahta’s accession to power, through the advent of military rule in the 1960s until the present day, Burmese rulers have treated ethnic and racial minorities as subject peoples or even aliens. This is the most important idiosyncrasy in Burma’s history; even at the present time, it is causing massive refugee movements to neighboring countries. Seen in this light, Burma’s problem is not primarily a democratic predicament but an ethnic one. In this work, I hope to provide the missing dots to the derisory understanding of Burma presented in the popular media.