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1949 - Islam Wants Own Province

Some 300,000 Muslims in western Burma are seeking to establish an autonomous Islamic province administered by Muslims, which would divide the fertile Akyab district that currently has a Muslim population of 300,000 compared to 100,000 Buddhists. The Burmese government is unwilling to carve up Akyab district, and negotiations between the government and Muslim representatives have been fruitless. There are concerns that establishing an autonomous Islamic state in Burma could lead to future secession from Burma and alignment with Pakistan instead.

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70 views1 page

1949 - Islam Wants Own Province

Some 300,000 Muslims in western Burma are seeking to establish an autonomous Islamic province administered by Muslims, which would divide the fertile Akyab district that currently has a Muslim population of 300,000 compared to 100,000 Buddhists. The Burmese government is unwilling to carve up Akyab district, and negotiations between the government and Muslim representatives have been fruitless. There are concerns that establishing an autonomous Islamic state in Burma could lead to future secession from Burma and alignment with Pakistan instead.

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Rick Heizman
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In The Singapore Free Press:

NEW PROBLEM FACES STRIFE-TORN BURMA


— ISLAM WANTS OWN PROVINCE
RANGOON, Saturday, November 19, 1949
Another faction has added yet a further discordant
demand on a new Burma torn by inner strife. Some
300,000 Muslims are seeking establishment of a new
Islamic province, administered by Muslims for Muslims,
on the western seaboard of Burma.

U Aung Zan Wei, Minorities Minister in the Thakin Nu


Government, disclosed the demands of the Muslims
who form the majority population of Akyab district,
northern province of Arakan, where there has been
violent upheaval even before Burma’s Independence.
Aung Zan Wei told the Associated Press that agitators,
racially Arakanese and therefore nationals of Burma,
wish to divide Akyab District in two, taking control of the
larger area. They are basing their demand on the population
ration of 300,000 Muslims to 100,000 Buddhists.
Akyab is the most fertile of the three districts comprising
the turbulent Arakan. Most of the riceland’s here are in
Akyab district where the town of Akyab is the largest
and busiest among west coastal ports.
Between Arakan and India there are close blood ties.
The Arakanese are the descendants of the Bengalese
of India who settled on this strip of West Burma
centuries ago. Frequent intermarriage continues
between the Arakanese and Indians living immediately
across the border.
Negotiations
Aung Zan Wei stated that the Rangoon Government is
unwilling to any carving up of Akyab district. He said negotiations between the government
and Arakanese representatives continue barren of result.
Political observers in Rangoon say that establishment of a virtual Islamic State within
Burmese territory is not in this country’s best interests. They say that while secession from
Burma presently is not being sought, there is no guarantee that the would-be creators of the
Islamic district will not at some future date switch allegiance from the Burmese to the
Pakistani flag.
They recall that immediately after the British reoccupation of Burma, Muslims along the
border district of Buthidaung and Maungdaw pressed for a link-up with what was then was a
part of India.
by Rick Heizman, January 9, 2019, San Francisco
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