MYANMAR: Muslims and Their
History
By R. Upadhyay
Burma re-named as Myanmar in 1989 is a
multi-ethnic country in Southeast Asia bordering Thailand,
Laos, China, India, Bangladesh and Andaman Sea. Buddhism,
which is professed by about 89% of country's various ethnic
groups like Burmans, Karen, Shan, Rakhine and Mon - has more
or less become a part of their national identity. Various
reports suggest that due to certain historical, social,
political and cultural problems the Muslim minority had felt
alienated and occasional communal riots have occurred.
Historically, some reports suggest that there was a mass
killing of Muslims in Arakan in 17th century, when Shah
Shuja, the second son of Shajahan lost to his brother
Aurangzeb and fled to this province by sea route. As Shuja
failed to meet the demand of the then king of Burma asking
for his daughter and the wealth he had carried with him, his
companions were massacred.
The entry of Muslims in Burma was
mainly from countries like Turkey, Persia, Arab, China and
India. They were mostly travellers, traders, sailors,
pioneers, adventurers, and war prisoners. Although, their
arrival in this land began even prior to the first Burmese
Empire founded by king Anawrahata in 1055 AD, their main
influx was from the eighteenth century onwards through the
Arakan region. The current Muslim population in Burma is
therefore the descendents of Arab, Persian, Turks, Moors,
Pathans, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Malays and
Bangladeshis. While the Muslim immigrants from China, who
are meagre in number and mostly settled in Rangoon are
termed as Panthay, those who entered in Arakan particularly
from East Bengal are known as Rohingyas, who form a
prominent group of Muslims in Burma.
Arakan extends nearly 550 km along the coastal areas of Bay
of Bengal. In fact the region is a continuation of East
Bengal and is intersected by a chain of hills. (Hindu
Colonies in the Far East by R. C. Majumdar, 1944, page 202).
It is a land of many ethnic groups with majority of Rakhines
and therefore, this state is also known as Rakhine. Till
1784 an independent king, who ruled over this region - had
exercised “fluctuating sovereignty” over extensive part of
Muslim majority East-Bengal. This facilitated the
immigration of Muslims to this region. The British annexed
Burma in 1885 and made it a part of its Indian colony. This
further increased the influx of Muslims and Hindus from
India to Burma.
A widely believed theory suggests that Muslims from Bengal
migrated to the coastal areas of Burma principally to Arakan
are called Rohingyas, who form a prominent group of a Muslim
minority in Burma. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia also
suggests that the Rohingyas are migrants from southern
regions of Bangladesh.
During the British colonial rule the
unabated migration of Indians particularly Muslims from
Bengal to Burma as labour and for other miscellaneous
professions including petty business increased the
population of Indian immigrants, which constituted about 7%
of Burma population by 1931. Yangon (Rangoon) with two-third
of immigrant population including 53% Indians emerged as an
immigrant city. Muslims, the main immigrants from Bengal
province of British India became synonymous to Indians and
therefore they were identified as the main alien group that
could weaken the cultural tradition of the Buddhist- society
of Burma.
Initially, the Muslims co-existed with local population
peacefully. As discussed above inter-marriage of Muslims
with different ethnic groups like Rakhine, Shan, Karen and
Mon was never resisted by the free Buddhist society in that
country. In fact inter-ethnic marriage had been a tradition
of Burmese society but it was far less in case of marriage
between the Muslim girls and the Burmese boys. But due to
their strict social structure, the Muslims did not integrate
in the mainstream of the egalitarian character of the
indigenous ethnic groups of Burma. More and more
intermarriage between the Muslims and the Burmese women
after their conversion followed by substantial rise to their
progeny known as 'Zerabadis', who also professed the faith
of their parents led to a steady growth of Islamic
population.
"According to 1931 census Buddhism was
the professed religion of five-sixths of the total
population of Burma". Population of other religious groups
included Muslims 4%, Hindus 3.9% and Christians 2.3%.
(Modern Burma by John Leroy Christian - University of
California Press, 1942, page 194). According to Burma Human
Rights Year Book (2002-3) the religion wise population of
the country included Buddhists 89.3%, Christians 5.6%,
Muslims 3.5%, Hindus 0.5% and Animists 0.2%. Contrary to the
Government claim of Muslim population around 4%, the Muslim
organisations maintain that their number is around 10%.
The above figures of religion wise population suggests that
there was a decline in Buddhist population whereas the
Muslim population was on the rise. The new generation of
indigenous groups in Burma viewed this declining trend as
danger to their cultural tradition and national identity and
they also apprehended that it would weaken the Buddhist
society. The larger majority of the Hindu immigrants
returned to their native land India particularly after Burma
got independence from British colonial rule but the communal
divide between the Buddhists and the Muslims, who did not
return to the place of their origin continued and even
prevails today.
The Burmese people always viewed the role of their fellow
Muslims during independence movement suspicious as the
latter were found more under the influence of the political
movement in Bengal led by All India Muslim League than the
national movement in Burma. The growing influence of All
India Muslim League also ignited the separatist imagination
of the Burmese Muslims. One Imanullah Khan even made an
attempt to form a branch of the Muslim League in Burma.
Burmese Muslims, who were ignorant of the concept of
separate Muslim nationalism, also developed communal
consciousness under the inspiration of 1930 Muslim League
Conference at Allahabad under the presidentship of Mohammad
Iqbal. Accordingly, in their annual Muslim conference, which
was hitherto confined to purely religious discourse they
turned towards forming Muslim organisations. They also
started opening of separate schools for Muslims and imparted
Islamic education in Urdu language. One Ali Ahmad also
formed a Gaddar Party patterned after the one in India.
These developments further widened the gap of mistrust
between the Burmese Buddhists and the Muslims.
In 1937 the British administration
separated Burma from India and ruled over it separately as
an independent country. Just before Second World War General
Aung San (Father of Aung Sang Su Kyi, the leader of National
League for Democracy, who is presently under detention) and
U Nu formed Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) and
launched the movement for freedom of Burma from colonial
rule of the British. The Muslims of Burma in stead of
enrolling themselves as members of AFPFL formed a separate
organisation called Burma Muslim Congress (BMC). They
however joined the movement as a constituent of the AFPFL
but maintained their independent identity. Although AFPFL
leaders did not make it an issue for tactical reasons, they
remained suspicious about the Muslims. General Aung Sang
San, while addressing a conference in 1946 "bluntly asserted
that reliance on alien support could only make Burma a
prostitute nation". (Burma and Pakistan: A Comparative Study
of Development by Mya Maung, 1971, page 77).
In 1938 a Muslim clergy had passed some derogatory remarks
against the Buddhists which ignited communal riots. Police
had to open fire in which two Buddhist monks died. The local
media highlighted the news, which spread all over the
country causing burning of Muslim houses, shops, properties
and mosques. In fact the religio-political divide between
Hindus and the Muslims in India also had its impact in
Burma.
On April 4, 1948 Burma got independence from British
colonial rule and formed a democratic government with U Nu
as Prime Minister. The new government, while counting the
Muslims settled in Arakan as Indians (The Role of Indian
Minorities in Burma and Malaya by Mahajani, 1966) asked the
BMC leaders to resign from the AFPFL. BMC leaders however
assured the new government that they would discontinue the
religio-political activities of the organisation and
subsequently got two berths in U Nu’s cabinet. But in 1956 U
Nu removed the BMC from the League and in 1958 declared
Buddhism as state religion, which antagonized the Muslims
and the Christians. (Burma and Indonesia by Kalyan
Bandyopadhyay, South Asian Publishers, New Delhi, 1983, page
34).
The Ne Win regime with a view to divert the peoples
attention from the main issues of the country initiated
action against Rohingyas, who were fighting for a separate
statehood ever since the independence of Burma. They had
even made an unsuccessful attempt for making Arakan a
separate independent country. This created an adverse impact
in the minds of Burmese Buddhists against them. Although,
the U Nu Government remained indifferent towards them, the
military regime headed by General Ne win took them seriously
for their alleged Islamist activities. The new regime
declared Rohingyas as illegal immigrants on the plea that
they had settled in Burma during British rule. They however,
recognized the Kachins, who are mostly Christians as
indigenous ethnic group of the country. It also formed its
own party namely Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).
In 1974 the military regime framed a new constitution and
named the country as Socialist Republic of the Union of
Burma. Its main focus was on Burmese culture, language,
tradition and religion. Accordingly it completely removed
the nationality of Rohingyas, declared them as foreigners,
denied their citizenship rights, removed them from various
government jobs and also confiscated their properties. They
also put travel restrictions on them by introducing special
identity papers for their movement. In 1978 the army
launched repressive measures against them for their alleged
Islamist activities and links with terrorist organizations.
This forced a large number of Rohingyas to flee to
Bangladesh, where they were settled in various refugee camps
in Cox Bazar area. The Islamist organizations in Bangladesh
took advantage of the situation and sent a sizeable number
of them to Afghanistan to fight against the Russian army.
After the withdrawal of Russian Army from Afghanistan in
1989 most of the war trained Rohingyas retuned to Bangladesh
and also re-entered Burma to fight against the Burmese army.
After the end of Afghan war the Ne Win government intent on
removing all anti-Burmese elements again targeted the
Muslims settled in its western region bordering Bangladesh.
The repressive measures against them was for their alleged
link with international Islamist terrorist organisation like
Al Qaeda and Taliban. Therefore, in 1991-92 again a large
number of Rohingyas fled from Burma to Bangladesh.
Conclusion
Even though there is no written law or
regulation mandating customary discriminatory practices
against the Muslims, the latter have suffered from ethnic
and religious discrimination in Burma for long. The rigid
socio-religious character of the community which generated
anti-Muslim feelings among the Buddhist majority was the
main reason behind the developments. The pro-democracy
movement in Burma since August 19, 2007 had accepted the
Rohingyas as indigenous population. Even some of the
National League for Democracy leaders in their talk to the
author blamed the military regime for diverting the
attention of the people from the real issue by masterminding
communal tensions in the country. But they evaded the
question as to why the democratic government led by U Nu
declared Buddhism as state religion and dropped Muslim
members from his cabinet. Even Aung San, the main leader of
freedom movement and National Martyr had assertively
expressed his reservation against the Muslims.
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