
Rakhine province is full of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, they actually have similiar ethnic identities, the Rakhine province, where the people are mainly Buddhist, is more naturally closer to Bangladesh that it is to Yangon!
The true ethnic Rakhine of Burma, they look different from the Bangladeshi or "Rohingyas"...These are displaced wthinic Rakhine people due to sectarian strife recently!
These are Bangladeshis from Bangladesh who are now squatting in the Rakhine province of Burma, a syndicate are bringing them down toneighbouring countries....spot the difference!?
These are the "Rohingyas" who may or may not have live in Rakhine province of Burma for a long timd...spot the difference!?
When I was in school Geography (Ilmu Alam) is one of my other favourite subjects, the other is History (Tawarikh).
I remember learning about a treacherous mountain range called Arakan Yoma. It is an anglicised name for the Rakhine mountain (Rakhineyoma) range that separates the isolated Rakhine province from the rest of Burma, or Myanmar as they call it now.
I have read about religious and sectarian violence in that province leaving many dead.
Okay now, looking at the map of Burma is just like looking at the map of Pakistan.
It is all fine and dandy and the map of Pakistan is always green in colour, with well defined boundaries.
Unfortunately, it is nothing like that at all in real life since the notorious North West Frontier or provinces are out of legitimate Pakistani government control. The North West frontier of provinces like Baluchistan and others haved trecherous terrain and are ungovernable. That's why Osama Ben Ladin loved it there since no one can actually have any reason to go there.
Back to Burma, in a map it is aso well a defined country with international boundaries.
But the fact of the matter is Rakhine province is a lot, lot closer to Bangladesh than it is to Yangoon or Nypitdaw, the new capital city of Myanmar
The Rakhine Burmese have tolerated the influx of Bangladeshis and those now labelled as "Rohingyas" for eons.
There are too many of them now. Together with the Indian like inhabitants of Rakhine who profess Islam as their "ethnic identity", there are also many thousands of Bangladeshis who disguised themselves as Rohingyas trying to sneak into neighbouring countries like Malaysia.
Especially Malaysia, and they do pose economic and cosial problems. The Rakhine and the illegals Bangladeshi or Rohingyas have to compete to live. To competer for space and sharing other resources in theis hurricane and typhon prone province of Myanmar is is tough, where life for everyone is hard done by.
The Rakhine-Burmese, who are mainly a Buddhist majority, is a peace loving people but not when their backyards are constantly being invaded by people who have no respect for laws. So the Rakhine snapped en masse.
Most of the time the Rakhine-Burmese are left to their own devices by the ruling Burmese junta, in the past sectarian and religious strife were contained, but in such conditions all it takes is a small thing for hell to break loose, usually during rainy season.
We must not condemned the Burmese government for "not helping", but even if they did no one knows and plus the fact the country is in a sort of a political mess.
One thing is for sure though, the Bangladeshis disguising as stateless Rohingyas are very much to blame for not respecting the norms and constraints of the Burmese-Rakhine, the host of the country.
We must get our facts right before we jump onto the bandwagon of list of armchairs political commentators. By now I am sure NGOs pretending to help the "stateless Rohingyas" are mushrooming, now that Saudi's millions are coming in to help the "downtrodden stateless people" of Burma.
I have this fear of how the persecuted Biafrans of Africa in the 60s and early 70s, and the Rwandans being economically exploited by bodies claiming to be helping with the rights of these downtrodden people such as the "Rohingyas".
BTW, I tried to get to the Rakhine province twice by road and it was nigh to impossible to do, too treacherous!
P.S.
For your information Yangon, or Rangoon, the former capital of Myanmar, or Burma, is inhabited and controlled by Muslim-Burmese and they have been living peacefully with the majority Burmese without problem. The Muslim Burmese controlled trading, commercial and other business sectors.
My advise to Malaysians is to lay off Burma, unless if you know the real story here!
I hope people who comment and make conjectures about May 13, 1969 were in KL, Petaling Jaya and the surrounding areas to witness the campaign by Lim Kit Siang and gang. There was Goh Hock Guan who spoke imitating the mannerisms of Lee Kuan Yew to a predominantly Chinese audience; there are other examples and there will be witnesses to testify to this.
The provocation was intense although there were no similar responses from the Alliance. I can tell you that the way the 'victors' behaved was uncivilised and it burned many a Malay heart as mine was. It made me want to do something to counter them!
Follow closely the events prior to May 13 and you will begin to understand. For those who were not born yet, you will not feel the sadness and then the anger and you will not understand, and of course you will erroneously blame Tun Razak and Dato Harun Idris. Blame if you must but do so with an understanding of the full facts that support your position; don't just pretend to think you know from accounts by the people who are inclined to twist the facts to suit their own agenda.
If Kit Siang says he was not around but instead was in East Malaysia, then let's ask him to prove that he is right. He stirred up the hornets' and then ran away (so he said) so that no one could hold anything against him.
I hope there are still records in the government's possession to show that Lim Kit Siang was never anywhere near Kuala Lumpur! I saw him parading one night in Jalan Sentul with Tan Chee Khoon as a continuation of the parades held by the opposition in Kuala Lumpur. So he cannot be in two places at one can he?
Lim Kit Siang knows what he did then and many many people know he was the leading instigator that led to the troubles.
August 20, 2012 7:19 PM