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| Artwork by Stephane Peray aka Stephff |
The Rohingya 'boat people' is a hot topic now in Malaysia and across the globe no doubt. From all indications I've seen so far(base on the chatter in social media), Malaysians are divided on the issue. When I say Malaysians, it include Muslim and Non Muslims. Both divides have a 'healthy' composition of these demographic of Malaysians. The issue has evoked emotional reactions from both divides.
One side is unhappy that the government of Malaysia is not doing enough to help these hapless boat people. My initial reaction when the news broke out about the landing of these boat people on the shore of Langkawi Island and reading their plight was one of outrage too. Outrage that in this day and age such travesty could still happen. So close to home. Images of their sufferings evoked emotional reactions from all of us.
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| Pic - OnIslam.net |
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| A group of boat people that managed to land in Ache, Indonnesia - Source AFP |
On the other side of the divide, similarly emotional Malaysians are unhappy with the recent influx with valid reasons. They are unhappy with the prospect of hosting a potentially few more thousands of Rohingyas. According to some source, Malaysia has accepted 45,000 Rohingyas into the country in the past. And it seems in recent months, they have brought their conflicts with their 'fellow' Burmese to Penang. This is a valid cause for concern. The potential social problem that they may bring to our shore. We in Sabah are acutely aware of the type of social problem and the strain put on our government coffer to host refugees. I am not being inhumane but rather, I'm just stating the reality of things. I have spoken up for the illegal migrants in Sabah in the past, their rights as human beings but I have to concede at the end of the day, some of them do contribute to the social ills in Sabah. Unchecked influx of illegal migrants in Sabah also contributed to breaches of our state security. The recent kidnapping in Sandakan only help to fuel suspicion and uneasiness among the populace of Sandakan but can you blame them? So I could empathize with the sentiments of West Malaysians with the presence of 'refugees' in the midst.
Anyway, I'm not going to discuss about the dynamics of illegal migrants' presence in our society in this post. I must confess that I've only cursory knowledge of the Rohingyas. I've heard of them and of their persecution in Myanmar but I have never delved more into it but today, I decided to do some reading up. I'm curious on why they are persecuted in their own country. Why they are stateless. Let's take this post as exploratory because I am no expert on them but I would like to know more. Perhaps you could help shed some light or further insight.
So Who Are the Rohingyas?
The government of the day in Myanmar insisted that they are 'Bengals' of origin. I'm quoting from various sources here. The present state of Rakhine within the Union of Burma (Myanmar) was known as Arakan in ancient time. There were a few dynasties that ruled Arakan. The last one being Mrauk U and it fell to Burmese Konbaung Dynasty in 1784.
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| Rakhine state (formerly Arakan) Source - Wikipedia |
The founder of Mrauk U was King Narameikhla Min Saw Mon aka Suleiman Shah. He was the last king of Laungyet Dynasty in Arakan. In 1406, he was driven out from Arakan by a neighboring dynasty. He took refuge in Bengal and entered the service Sultan Jalaluddin Muhamad Shah of Bengal. Saw Mon proved to be an able commander in the battlefield and soon become favored by the Sultan. The Sultan agreed to aid Saw Mon to retake Arakan. In 1429, Saw Mon retook Arakan with troops provided by the Bengal Sultanate. Saw Mon went on to found the kingdom of Mrauk U and the Bengal troops that came with him settled down in Arakan. Forming their own settlement in Arakan.
It seems that these Bengal troops who were Muslims are the ancestors to some of the Rohingyas in the Rakhine(Arakan) state in present day Myanmar. If historical anecdote could be trusted, it means these group of Muslim Bengals have been in Rakhine for about 586 years. This would qualify them to be considered as indigenous to Rakhine don't you think so? But don't forget, there were native Arakanese in the region too. They were Buddhists. They were there before the Muslim Bengals settled there in 1400. During the reign of the Mrauk U Dynasty, the successive Kings styled themselves as Sultans and employed many Bengals in the court as scribes. Perhaps even intermarried with Bengals, we wouldn't know for sure. Job opportunities would surely drove migration of Bengals to Arakan within these period. Intermarriages with native Arakanese would be probable.
In 1785 (that's 356 years after their Bengal ancestors settled in Arakan), the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty overran Mrauk U. Thousands of Bengals ethnic (now who call themselves Rohingya or Rooinga) fled to British controlled Chittagong region in Bengal in 1799 seeking protection from British India.
The First Anglo-Burmese War would soon follow suit in 1824 and the Burmese lost the war few years later which resulted in Arakan being ceded to the British. During British rule, they encouraged migrations of Bengalis from their controlled territory to Arakan as farm laborers. This thus was the second wave of influx of 'Bengalis' into Arakan.
The last influx of 'Bengalis' from Bengal which would later be known as Bangladesh was in 1973 (I think) during the Bangladeshi Liberation War.
Note : This post is work in progress. I would love to hear from your feedback on the historical facts. Like I said, this is exploratory post. I'm eager to learn about the Rohingyas.
