ARAKAN'S HISTORY OF 350 YEARS Syed Serajul Islam (prof.

of Political Science,Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada) summarized by Ismail Yurdakok ismailyurdakok@yahoo.com Arakan remained an independent Muslim kingdom for more than three and a half centuries. In 1824, the British East India Company invaded Burma and through the Anglo-Burmese wars, Arakan came under the sway of the British. After independence the government of Myanmar has taken a number of absolutely UNJUST MEASURES TO DISMISS A GREAT MANY MUSLIM OFFICERS and replace them with Buddhists. Much worse an all out effort has been made to intimidate and uproot the Rohingyas from their native Arakan and transmigrate Buddhists from Burma proper to Arakan in order to reduce the Muslim majority. The Myanmar's military regime has exercised RUTHLESS TYRANNY over the Rohingyas. Burmese Muslims are not considered to be citizens of Myanmar and consequently they are denied their basic civil and human rights including denial of to international passports. The long half acentury struggle of the Rohingyasin Myanmar for achieving their legitimate rights has resulted in uprooting them from their homeland, in loosing their citizenship and in becoming stateless. Since 1947 the Rohingyas have established various organizations. The prominent among them are the Rohingya Patriotic Front, the Muslim Liberation Organization, the Rohingya Independence Front, the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front, and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). The nationalist movement of the Rohingyas of Arakan in Myanmar has so far been a failure. However, this does not mean the end of the struggle. While on the one hand, the nationalist movement of the Muslims is continuing, the government, on the other hand, has increased its repression on the Rohingyas. The Muslims in Myanmar, popularly known as Rohingyas, have been struggling for autonomy or eventual independence of Arakan from Burma since 1947. Although there are Muslims scattered throughout Burma they are primarily concentrated in one province, Arakan, constituting 4 per cent of the total population of the country. The military regime has been oppressive and, consequently, Muslims have become political refugeees in neighboring Bangladesh and, stateless. This raises an important question: What are the reasons behind this failure? What is wrong in their movement? In order to examine this question, it is essential first to look at the roots of the separatist movement historically and then to the nature of comtemporary resistance movements in Myanmar. It is against the backdrop of historical and

contemporary developments that one can best examine the failure of the Rohingyas in Myanmar in achieving their desired goals. ARAKAN: 12 CENTURIES AGO The Muslims in Myanmar are largely concentrated in Arakan, a North-western province, which is bordered by a neighboring Muslim state -Bangladesh. Arakan had been an independent kingdom until 1784. The Arab traders had been in contact with Arakan since the third century and they had introduced Islam to Arakan around 788. During that time a dynasty, Chandra, was ruling the kingdom of Arakan. The Arab merchants carried out missionary activities by spreading Islam side by side their trade. In the process, a large number of people were converted to Islam. Many of the early Arabs married local women and settled there permanently. Due to conversion, intermarriage and immigration, the Muslim population grew to large numbers during the subsequent centuries. Those Muslims came to be known as Rohingyas, a term derived term Rahm (God's blessing). Perhaps the Arabs called those Muslims "God's blessed people," Rohingyas. Until the 15th century, the conutry was ruled by a non-Muslim king, Narameikhla, who himself embraced Islam in 1404 and adopted the Muslim name of Solaiman Shah. After the conversion of the Arakanese king to Islam, Arakan became a Muslim-majority kingdom. During the thirteenth century, accordind to Arakanese chronicles, Muslim faqirs (saints) used to visit Arakan coast. One widely known fact is the existence of Muslim shrines (tombs) called "Badr Moqm" which are essentially the commemorative shrines originally erected by the followers f devotees of Pir Badruddin Badri-alam, popularly known as Pir Badr scattered along the coastline of Arakan. Islam had thus rooted to the soil of the region for centuries. The first ever-recorded Arab Muslims were two brothers who were the sons of an Arab merchant rescued from his shipwrecked vessel near Martaban (Mot Ta Ma in Burmese) in 1055, during the reign of Burman king Anawyatha (1044-1077). However, Islam did not spread extensively in other parts of Burma. A number of reasons are responsible for non-expansion of Islam in other regions of Burma. First, the geographical location of Burma played a significant role in molding the political and religious life of Burmese where Burmese mountains posed a formidable blockage to overland intruders. The Mongols and Turks were stopped when they reached Burmese borders. Secondly, Burma unlike Malaysia (Malaya) or Indonesia, presented no religious vacuum. Hinduism and Buddhism in Malaya and Indonesia were in low and degenerate state compared to that in Burma. Finally, those islands in Southeast Asia could easily be accessed by the sea and drew lucrative business and commercial attention. The mountainous mainland Burma did not have any such lucrative commercial attraction. So, Islam remained confined primarily in Arakan and Lower Burma.

Arakan remained an independent Muslim kingdom for more than three and a half centuries. The Arakanese kingdom lasted until the invasion by the Burman king in 1784. With the death of Salim Shah II, the last Muslim king, in a palace intrigue, the kingdom became politically and militarily weak. By the middle of the tenth century, "the Mongolian race Burmans, mostly Buddhists, had established their seat of power in Burma proper." Buddhists were still immigrating to Arakan at that time. During the decaying years of Muslim rule in Arakan, a Burman king of Ava, Bodaw Phaya, invaded Arakan and gained complete control of it in 1784. Thus came the end of independent Arakan. In 1824, the British East India Company invaded Burma and through the AngloBurmese war, Arakan came under the sway of the British. The whole of Burma, including Arakan, was brought under the Indian system of administration. During the colonial rule the British was not interested in the national integration of diverse communities in Burma. On the contrary, those divisions were used for prolonging colonial rule, with its policy of "divide and rule." Alla attachments or loyalties to subnational groups in different regions of Burma were carefully subdued. Due to the increasing demand of Burmese rice in world market the British brought the chettyars (moneylanders) from India and gradually the Burmese peasants became landless because the chetttyars took control much of the Burmese lands. Burmans' hatred against chettyars was transformed into the racial riots between Muslim migrants of Indian descents and Burmans in 1930s where hundreds of them from both sides were killed. In 1938, the racial riots became religious riots between Buddhists (Burmans) and Muslims. In 1942, Rohingyas in the Southern Arakan were reportedly attacked by their Buddhist counterparts. Those Rohingyas ran to Northern Arakan and narrated the story to their fellow Muslims who eventually outraged and attacked their Buddhist fellows. Consequently, those Buddhists went to the south where majority Buddhists were living. Since then, Arakan hasbeen divided int two; while North is populated by Muslim Rohingyas the South is inhabited by Buddhist Raknihes. Once the decolonization process began, Burma started facing the problem of possible alienation of one or more groups in the country's political system. THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED ETHNIC GROUPS in Burma. The Burmans are numerically, the largest group and the ruling elite. Fearful of Burman majority, all ethnic groups, particularly from Shan, Kachin, Karen and Arakan demanded from the nationalist party, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, an assurance of regional autonomy for the provinces in an independent Myanmar. The nationalist leader, General Aung San, convened a conference of all ethnic groups at Panglong in 1947. IT WAS AGREED THAT ALL STATES WOULD BE GIVEN REGIONAL AUTONOMY WITH THE PROVISION OF SECEDING AFTER TEN YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE. Soon after

independence, however, the constitution which was adopted after Aung San's death declared that the new state, called Burma, would be unitary in character, with NO AUTONOMY FOR THE PROVINCES. The constitution caused immediate ethnic insurrection which became worse after 1958, even though Prime Minister U Nu had declared Buddhism the state religion of the country to appease the ethnic groups, as a great majority of them were Buddhists. However, this further alienated the Muslims in Arakan who felt more insecure in independent Burma. RESISTANCE AND RESPONCE Although the Burmese government declared Buddhism the state religion the Arakanese Muslims did not protest. However, ,immediate after declaring Buddhism the state religion of Burma, the government took a number of specific measures to dismiss a great many Muslim officers and replace them with Buddhists. An all out effort was made to transmigrate Buddhists from Burma proper to Arakan in order to diminish the Muslim majority. In these circumstances a Japanese-trained Rohingya, Jafar Kamal, started organizing people, calling them Mujahids. However, against the trained Burmese soldiers, the Mujahids could not last long. Jafar was assassinated. Many of his supporters were captured and killed by the soldiers. By 1962 the civilian government had also collapsed and the army took over. The military regime abolished the constitution, dissolved the parliament and banned the activities of all organizations. The Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) inflicted heavy casualties on the Rohingya masses. The immigration authorities imposed limitations on the movement of Rohingyas from one place to another. Thus, they were virtually imprisoned. The brutality of the regime reached such an extreme level that a group of Rohingyas, mainly university graduates, secretly organized a resistance organization, Rohingya Independence Front (RIF), with the objective of achieving independence for Arakan. Many former Mujahids joined the organization but could not do much under the tight control of the regime. The Burmese military REGIME EXERCISED TYRANNY OVER THE ROHINGYAS. General Ne Win launched a major offensive under the code name of "King Dragon Offensive" against the Rohingya liberation force. In order to control the movement of the villagers, the regime ordered the small villages to be abolished and their populations concentrated in large VILLAGES, WHICH WERE FENCED AND PROVIDED WITH ONLY ONE GATE. Subsequently, hundreds of villagers were uprooted by force and driven into the stockade villages. At the end of 1975, some veteran RIF activities and young university graduates formed the Rohingya Patriotic Front (RPF). But confronted with the might of the "King Dragon" operation, the guerillas could not survive. Hundreds of Rohingya men and women were thrown into jail; MANY OF THEM WERE TORTURED AND KILLED. ROHINGYA WOMEN WERE RAPED FREELY IN

THE DETENTION CAMPS. In fact, one Buddhist scholar wrote, "they have even the names of the army officers who committed the crimes with dates and places. Terrified by the ruthlessness of the operation and the total uncertainty surrounding their lives and property, nearly 200,000 Muslims fled to Bangladesh in 1978. The UN High Commission for Refugees began relief operations. The government of Bangladesh negotiated with the government of Burma for taking the refugees back.Eventually, succumbing to international pressure, the Burmese government agreed to take them back. Once the refugees were back in Arakan the Ne Win regime developed A NEW TACTIC FOR LIMITING THE NUMBER OF MUSLIMS IN ARAKAN. A new citizenship law was passed in 1982 in which it was said that all ethnic groups who had settled in Burma before 1823, THE YEAR OF THE BRITISH OCCUPATION, are "nationals" of Burma. Rohingyas were excluded from the list of nationals on the ground that they were post-1823 settlers, in utter DISREGARD OF THEIR MILLENNIUM-OLD HISTORY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ARAKAN. They were called Kalas, a word used derogatively for foreigners. Ne Win took this step deliberatelywith the ill motive of turning the Rohingyas into "stateless people" to enable him TO DRIVE THEM OUT EASILY. Thus the Rohingyas were turned into a stateless people. In the meantime, a countrywide democratic resistance movement led by Aung San Suiyi against the military regime mounted tremendous pressure for the transfer of power. A Rohingya organization, Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), also gave support to the democratic movement. In the face of popular pressure the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) announced elections to be held in May 1990; all parrties were asked to register. Although the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suikyi, won the absolute majority, power was not transferred; rather the regime arrested Aung San Suikyi and other leaders of the NLD. The refusal of the government to transfer power to the NLD and the arrest of Aung San Suikyi initiated a tremendous mass uprising against the regime. Without any alternative, the regime decided TO USE THE OLD TACTIC OF DIVERTING MASS ATTENTION FROM THE REAL BURNING ISSUE TO THE COMMUNAL ISSUE. It was propagated that "Arakan would be swallowed up by the Muslims with the backing of neighboring Muslim country, Bangladesh, and the International Islamic Organization. In addition to this, the regime started patronizing Buddhists by giving favors to elder monks and by building a wizaya pagoda in conformity with the traditions of Buddhist rulers of the past. This aroused religious fervor all over the country. Muslim-Buddhist riots broke out in many areas of lower Burma. The SLORC committed barbarous atrocities against the Rohingyas. In some of the major towns in Arakan, a massive resettlement drive replaced Rohingyas with Buddhists. Tens of thousands of the refugees once again began to pour into Bangladesh in 1992.

Eventually, a bilateral agreement has been signed by Bangladesh and Burma for the safe return of the refugees. However, given the fear of repression, most of the refugees have not gone back. MANY OF THEM ARE STILL IN BANGLADESHI REFUGEE CAMPS FROM 1992. In brief, the following forms of discriminations are encountered by Muslims in Burma. Burmese Muslims are not considered to be citizens of Burma and consequently, THEY ARE DENIED TO RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL PASSPORTS. Burmese have no identity cards, instead, they have Citizenship SCrutiny Cards, distributed by the SLORC. However, till to date, the determination process of scrutiny for citizenship is yet to be completed. Since Muslims have no authentic Identity Cards they are ineligible to apply for any sort of travel document. Forced relocation of Muslim villages in Arakan and many other placesremain constant. Although forced labor is not only limited to Rohingyas or Muslims only but also to all citizens of Burma, the pressure placed on the Burmese minorities is enormous. Muslims have also been forced TO TRANSFER MUSLIM CEMETERIES TO ISOLATED AND INACCESSIBLE AREAS. Since 1990s, major graveyards from the city had been moved to outside Rangoon. several restrictions are also imposed on all new graveyards, SUCH AS NO TALL MINARET, NO FIVE TIMES PRAYER IN ANY BUILDING IN THE CEMETERY USED FOR FUNERAL RITES. The regime does not encourage setting up of the offices of internationally linked Islamic organization branches such as Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) etc., however, few overseas based groups have informal ties with some Burmese Muslim organizations. There is an EXTREME TRAVEL RESTRICTION ON MUSLIMS FOR PERFORMING PILGRIMAGE IN MAKKAH OF SAUDI ARABIA. The restriction was stricter in the year 2000 and 2001. An old Muslim lady, 62 years old, applied for her passport AS A MAID IN SINGAPORE THROUGH AN AGENT IN ORDER TO PERFORM HER RELIGIOUS DUTY: HAJJ (PILGRIMAGE). SINCE 1962, MUSLIMS ARE NOT RECRUITED IN MILITARY, POLICE AND OTHER GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS. The repression of the regime and its violation of human rights are well known to the whole world. In 2001, Muslim-Buddhists riots led to the death of few hundreds. Thailand based Irrawady magazine reported in 2001, HOW MUSLIMS IN BURMA HAVE BEEN VICTIMIZED SOON AFTER THE TALIBAN REGIME HAD DESTROYED THE STATUTE OF BUDDHA IN BAMIYAN of Afghanistan in March 2001. Burmese cities and towns located in Central Burma suffered more than the other cities such as Phu, Pyinmana, and Taung Gyi. A statement, released on July 18, 2002 from Human Right Watch, reported that there were credible reports that military officers remained silent in anti-Muslim violence. The racial riots erupted in May and September 2001 in Taungoo, north of Rangoon, where more than 1,000 Buddhists led by

robed-Buddhist monks destroyed Muslim shops, homes and mosques. It also added that nine people were beaten to death while the authority did very little to stop the riots.(27) A famous HISTORIAN, IRWIN, has commented, "they (the Rohingyas) are living in a hostile country, and THEY HAVE BEEN THERE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS and yet survive. " (28) In recent years, Arakanese Muslims have appealed to the Amnesty International, the United Nations, governments of the ASEAN countries, and to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) with fruitless results. A freelance journalist, Andrew Dedo, wrote that "whether sparked by outrage or designed for agitation, Buddhist-Muslim unrest in Burma refuses to go away. " (29) Until 2003, the United Nations ensured the return of more than 200,000 Rohingya refugees. (30) However, most of them found their houses and land had already been taken by Buddhist settlers. In an interview, Christine Fink, a professor at Chiang Mai (a border town) University in Thailand informed that Burmese government has been trying to convince the Buddhists in Arakan region that the Rohingyas are alien and are demanding an Islamic state, a dream cherished by radical groups in-exile. In fact, this is propaganda of the government in order "to divide the Arakanese and make sure that people are less interested in the pro-democracy movement and more interested in driving the Muslims out. " (31) She continued to point out that returnee refugees are going back to Bangladesh because not only they have lost their houses and land but also they are denied basic rights by the authorities. In order to prove their citizenship the Rohingyas must submit document showing that "their grandparents on both sides were born in Burma, but there are very few who can" (32) Consequently, many of them give up hope and go back to Bangladesh and nearly 100,000 are living in slums, effectively they are "stateless people." (33) Some of them joined radical camps and even went to Afghanistan, which according to Chris Lewa has made the situation worst because "ethnic cleansing policies against the Rohingyas are now presented by the government as an antiterrorism campaign." (34) THE RESULTS: AN ANALYSIS The long half a-century struggle of the Rohingyas in Burma for achieving their legitimate rights has resulted in uprooting them from their homeland, in loosing their citizenship and becoming stateless. What factors are responsible for the tragic failure of the Rohingyas? In the light of Huntington's theory, this can be examined by looking at the political climate of Myanmar, the organizational strength of the revolutionary organizations, and the mobilization of political support both at home and abroad. THE POLITICAL CLIMATE In Burma the regime has all along been repressive. From the very beginning

though there was a parliamentary democracy and a promise was made for provincial autonomy to Arakan calculated efforts were made by the regime to exterminate the Rohingyas. During those years the Burma Territorial Forces (BTT) which comprised 90 % of Buddhists, were stationed in Arakan in order to streamline the Rohingyas. (35) The democratic regime even declared Buddhism the state religion of Burma. After the military take-over, General Ne Win regime made systematic attempts to quash all democratic forces in general and the Rohingyas in particular. First, the whole administration was centralized by adopting "Burmese Road to Socialism" and introducing one party, BSSP. Second, a long term plan of "BUDDHANIZATION" WAS PUT INTO EFFECT in which BUDDHISTS FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY WERE SETTLED IN ARAKAN. Third, through the "Dragon King operation" in 1978, the government managed to force many Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh. Fourth, even though many of the came back, the government passed the new Citizenship Act in which Rohingyas were denied nationality and were labeled as kalas (foreigners). Finally, when in 1990, there was nation-wide agitation against the military regime, the government diverted the attention of the masses to a communal issue which led to another exodus of refugees to Bangladesh in 1992. Thousands of Rohingyas were put into prison, hundreds of them were killed, and many women raped. The genoside resulted in the Rohingyas' fleeing from their ancestral land to seek shelter and security in neighboring Bangladesh. Many of them were landowners whose land had been confiscated by the military, leaving them with no means of livelihood. A Bangladesh daily reported: "The Muslim dominated areas of North Arakan have virtually been turned into a military garrison where there remains no security of life and property, dignity and honor. The SLORC in indulging such crimes makes life for the Muslims so miserable and unbearable that they have no other way except to leave their motherland. Crimes like the seizure of Muslim women and committing gangrape on them, engaing Muslim men as well as women in forced labor, seizure of food grains causing starvation, arrest and physical torture on concocted allegations, looting, uprooting of Muslim settlements and the establishment of military camps and new Buddhist settlements on the same; the construction of which are to be made by the Muslims themselves and have to bear the burden of financial support to the new settlers." (36) While the Burmese society consists of six major ethno-linguistic groups, in terms of religion, Buddhists are the majority. The British had intentionally sought to avoid any conflict during the colonial rule by constitutional means and by favoring the religious minorities in recruitment to the state machinery. However, after indepence, a great majority of the Muslim officers were dismissed and replaced by Buddhists. The mobility of Muslims was restricted

as they could not move from one place to another without prior permission from the government authorities. Lt. General Mya Thinn (the minister of home affairs) said. "THEIR STATUS SITUATION DID NOT PERMIT THEM TO TRAVEL IN THE COUNTRY. THEY ARE ALSO NOT ALLOWED TO SERVE IN THE STATE POSITIONS AND BARRED FROM ATTENDING HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS." (37) Hugh Tinker notes that "GOVERNMENT POLICY AIMS AT EMPHASIZING THE UNITY OF BURMA THROUGH AN EXTENSION OF BUDDHISM." (38) It has become increasingly the 'most important element of Burmese identity' and the cultural basis for an emergent BURMAN ETHNONATIONALISM. Morever, Buddhism has offered a safe channel through which Burman discontent and emergent nationalism could be developed. All these indicate that Burma's extremely oppressive political system DID NOT LEAVE ANY ROOM FOR THE ROHINGYAS TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE REGIME. The Burma's state's attempt at assimilating minorities through coercion and through adaptation of a "CENTRALIZATION MODEL" has made it IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE ROHINGYA MUSLIMS TO ENTER INTO ANY KIND OF DIALOGUE WITH THE REGIME. The result, Steinberg notes, is that "in so far as members of the minorities have a role in power structure, they have performed that function in a Burman context...the symbols of the state and the deployment of power are Burman. The "BURMESE WAY TO SOCIALISM" might more accurately be termed the 'Burman way to socialism' because it reflects Burman cultural, political and nationalistic norms. IN 20TH CENTURY Prior to 1948, Burmese Muslim society and General Council of Burma Muslim Association (GCBMA) were established in 1936. Muslim Students' Society was formed and it established Muslim Free Hospital and Medical Relief Society in 1937. Muslims began active again after the World War II. Soon after the independence, the unnegotiable cracks appeared between Burmese local Muslims and Muslims with Indian descents. Burma Muslim Congress (BMC) had differed radically in it objectives compared to GCBMA. Its first President was Abdul Razak was an active member of Burmese independence movements. Since 1947 the Rohingyas have established various organizations to fight for their cause. The prominent among them are the Rohingya Patriotic Front, the Muslim Liberation Organization, the Rohingya Independence Front, the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front, and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). However, all of them are weak. The first one, led by Jafar Kamal, was very short lived; THE LEADER HIMSELF WAS ASSASSINATED; and there was no successor. It collapsed within a very short span of time. CONCLUSION

...Despite favorable institutional and social circumstances, the Rohingyas have been unsuccessful. They have lived for centuries in Arakan which, after the Burman occupation in the 18th century, was ruled within an integrated Burma. In independent Burma they claimed their right of self determination, but in return received only torture and repression. They have become stateless and political refugees, because organizationally, they could not stand on their own feet. The RSO which was born in the 1950s has remained weak and again in 1995 it was divided into two groups; one headed by Dr. Yunus while another one was led by Prof. Mohammed Zakaria. However, all divided RSO groups, ARIF and PRF fall outs were merged into one Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) in DEcember 1998. According to the agreement Nurul Islam became the president, Dr. Yunus and M. Saiful Islam were vice-presidents while Prof. M. Zakaria was secretary general of newly established ARNO. However, the main problem is that many different Muslim groups from all over Burma do not sympathize with the Rohingyas because Muslims from mainland Burma see the armed struggle to liberate Arakan State propagated by RSO/ARNO as a struggle for Arakan and not for Muslims of Burma as a whole. The government has taken the advantage of this division within Muslims by commonly addressing them "kala." Since September 11, 2001 the regime has further managed to capitalize the slogan of terrorism to oppress the Muslims of Burma on the ground that they have secret link with the Al Qaida, despite no evidence to support the alleged link. In fact, this struggle of the Rohingyas is essentially a struggle for survival. No cause for hope seems imminent for the Rohingyas/Muslims in Burma. The Rohingyas are still THE VICTIMS OF ARBITRARY ARREST, KILLING, TORTURE AND RAPE. THEIR LANDS HAVE BEEN CONFISCATED BY THE GOVERNMENT. The new form of persecution is increasing everyday. (Please remember that these sentences were written in 2004 and in 2012 another cruel waves against Muslims of Burma were seen and very tragical events were observed; 18,000 houses of Muslims were burnt in seven months of 2012 and more than three thousands Muslims were killed, raped, tortured... I.Y.) It is only the return of democracy that is likely to break the age-old repressive rule of the Burmans over the Rohingyas of Myanmar. However, Aungsan Su KYi's leadership would not guarantee a peaceful and stable future for Burmese Muslims unless Muslims are treated with a bit more respect and equal right as of their counterpart citizens. Burmese Muslims have yet to see light at the end of the tunnel. Expecting for the worst and preparing for the best is the only ticket to witness unpredictable every tomorrow. Many Burmese Muslims tend to hide their identity as Muslims but rather prefer to name themselves as Buddhists. Many educated Burmese Muslims have left the country with no possible return to Burma in near future. They search for religious freedom and freer environments. The return of democracy could be one of the alternatives, which could reduce the suffering of Burmese Muslims but by no

means could it assumed as an amicable solution to answer predicaments of Burmese Muslims and their diaspora. (This paper was submitted to the Conference of Conflict and ConflictResolution in the Muslim World (of IIUM) in Kuala Lumpur, 18-19 February, 2004) Notes 26 Thurien, "The Burmese," 27 Ibid. 28 Cited in A.S. Bahar, "Burma's Indigenous Peoples: The Thin Edge of Wedge in Burmese Society," A paper presented in the International Seminar on Indigenous people, Kuala Lumpur, 1993. Also see the Wall Street Journal, April 8, 1992. It was reported that "the regime has been resettling Burmese Buddhists, confiscating property and rounding up people for such projects as forced labour and road works." 29 "Eye Witness Recalls Recent Unrest in Burma," The Nation, April 5, 1997. 30 Andrew Perrin, "Weakness in Numbers, Muslim minorities Across Asia under Siege and Their Persecution Fuels Fundamentalists Rage," Time, Vol.161, No. 6 (March 10, 2003), p. 34. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Lukman Thaib, Political Dimensions of Islam in Southeast Asia (Kuala Lumpur: National University of Malaysia, 1996), p. 54 36 "Help Stop Repression of Arakan Muslims by Military Junta in Burma," The Daily Life (Dhaka), July 7, 1999 37 Special Reporter to Burma, "Reports on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar," prepared by Yozo Yokota, special reporter of the Commission of Human Rights in accordance with Commission Resolution 1995/72. UN Document No E/CN4/1996/65, February 5, 1996. 38 Tinker, The Union of Burma, p. 77