The talk presented by Daw Saw Khin Tint, the chairperson of Arakanese Womens Association, at Aloetawpyi Monastery of Rathetaung

Township, Rakhine State, on 27th June, 2012

Today, Id like to talk about some facts that Arakanese should know. In King Ananda Candas stone inscription in the precinct of the Shitthoung Pagoda in MraukOo, our Arakan or Rakhine Land was recorded as Arakkhadesh (Arakan Land). Arakkhadesh, then Arakkha, next Rakkha and from Rakkha to Rakhine, thus had changed, it was recorded. Our land had been called Rakhine or Arakkhadesh; likewise, all the nations like England, American, French, Portuguese, Denmark, Norway, etc. have called our land Arakan. So Arakan is our land and some Rakhine historical documents and eyewitnesses had been lost and our Arakan had been occupied, we have been able to find the term Arakan instead of Rakhine in all the research papers and historical books about which many prominent researchers from the Western Countries had studied in various scientific ways. So if one wants to find some information about Rakhine in world history, one has to do so by using the term Arakan. But during U Nus premiership in 1951, Bengali people were given the posts of parliament representatives, whereby a Muslim called Abdu Gava used a brand new term Rohinger in 1951 and created a brand new nationality Rohingya in Arakan. (So-called) Rohingyas who had been created thus have presented to the world saying, We, Rohingyas, have lived in Arakan for about 1000 years prior to the present Arakanese people. So Arakan is our land. Arakanese are our nationality. As Saya U Bo Min Phyu has said, never before 1949, i.e, until the end of World War (II) in world history, had this name heard of in Buthitaung and Maungdaw. But they submitted research papers to the world, presenting themselves as a nationality who has been living in Arakan for over 1000 years. They have been so aggressive as to submit the research papers for over 20 years. We, Arakanese, didnt know or find out such a thing. They are just invaders who have never been hinted. For over 40 years, they have received financial support from the Muslim Circle to be able to make the world known about their made-up story concerning their so-called history by saying constantly in every possible way, Arakan is our land. Rohinger is our name that has been in

existence since our first dwelling in Arakan. As wed been suppressed and oppressed by the Myanmar military junta, we Arakanese have been oppressed. Weve been deprived of human rights. Weve been greatly oppressed. We Muslims have been persecuted. As said before, for over 20 years, they have been lying about the history depicting that Mrauk-Oo has been their capital and Kings of Mrauk-Oo were their kings because the kings had adopted their Muslim titles. Concerning this matter, only about one year ago did we find out that they have been using this term Arakan. When we found it, we cooperatively made a decision by keeping in mind this idea, Oh, theyve announced themselves Arakanese regardless of our authentic status of being Arakanese. We cant stand it lying down this time. Weve got to object to it. Its now well over 20 years. How should we try to catch up with it? We must oppose to this matter where we can catch up with under every possible condition. Keeping in mind it, experts about Arakanese history, all Arakanese historians from Rakhine State and all the prominent historians from abroad could collaboratively submit a letter of objection to all over Myanmar as well as to the whole world with the theme words, This term Arakan is our Arakaneses patent word. So we strongly object to the made-up story of that to-a-pinch unconcerned Bengali group about this term. It was one of the strongest objections we have ever made towards them. We Arakanese still have historical documents. Arakanese history cannot be rubbed out. Ive left at home the documents and books written concerning these matters. So Ill send them to you at a later date. Id like to ask you to spare some time to study those books and documents. We all need to know about our own history. So they instill in their racial people by saying this, We Rohingyas are Arakanese. So we should be given the right to live here. This is our land. They have carried it out by a gigantic well-planned strategy. Those Muslim children attending mosques daily have been instilled in to stick in their heart with such words: Arakanese is actually what our nationality is called. Arakan is our nation. This is our Muslim country. So weve got to take it back. This is our land. Arakaneseis the term we are referred to, not those Rakhine people! This is our place! By English term, their instilling is brainwash _ they have made such false ideas adhere to their heads.

So a Muslim of about 40 years of age in Myanmar really has such an idea as this, Oh, Myanmar is our Muslim country indeed. So we ought to possess it. Such an idea has seeped through the flesh and bones of those Muslims. Therefore, theyve planned a scheme that theyll try to take back our country someday. Now, I want to paint out that Bengali leaders who had dwelled, grew and became educated have carried out this scheme. Educated Bengalis have been dairy this but using the uneducated ones to make civil disorder in our country. We have known that this danger is very enormous as all the Muslim countries in the world stand behind them with all the necessaries things supported for all their matters. This enormous danger poses thread not only for our Arakan but also for the whole Myanmar. Their scheme wont stop in Rakhine State alone. By finding and seeing the books and documents they have written, we have actually known and recorded their ideas and scheme with their resolution, Well try to Islamize the whole Myanmar. So since about two months ago, we have said to the government repeatedly, This is not just Rakhine State matter, its also one of the crucial matters of the Union of Myanmar. Please be serious about this matter. Make a haste in carrying out this matter. Weve known and seen in advance that it would break out sooner or later. So weve foreseen that this issue would break out soon. Now its happening. In Myanmar, too, its happening. Its a deal. Although the problems are not so strong as those in Rakhine State, there have been innumerable happenings. So, while weve been constantly trying to make the government really aware of all these matters, this issue arose. So, we shouldnt be negligent in this matter, thinking that its just an ordinary matter. Id like to point it out to these Arakanese people. Theyve been doing their utmost best with a well-planned scheme to be able to occupy the whole Arakan without fail for over 20 years. Therefore, almost the whole world has come to accept that a national race named Rohingya has been suppressed by the Myanmar government, deprived of human rights and has been very pitiful. They have also come to pose such a question as this: Why hasnt the Myanmar government given them human rights? The United Nations Organization has accepted that so-called Rohingya as such a destitute people. The United States, the United Kingdom and European countries have also accepted their destitution. By this means, the so-called

Rohingyas have uploaded a lot of falsely written groundless history and articles of theirs on the world media day in, day out, so that all the countries over the world will come to accept them as a righteous national race of the Union of Myanmar. No one could oppose to their enormous tell-tale fully and well. Such historical researchers as Dr. Aye Kyaw, Dr. Aye Chan, etc., from America strongly oppose to it. Young Patriotic Students Association from Japan strongly protested their deeds. The heated debate between the two groups has persisted in the world for no less than 10 years. But they have never retreated. As the whole world has come to accept their tell-tale, this alleged issue has spread the world of media and the whole world has come to stand behind them. As a result, they have been greatly strengthened. So we made a strong determination to submit our research paper to the whole world without fail. In the research paper, we evidently pointed out that those Bengali people have lied to the whole world, that they have been great liars, and that what they have so far produced alphabetically as well as verbally concerning this problem are merely nonsense. So we evidently showed what Mrauk-Oo kings had been like and why those kings had taken Muslim titles. At that time, the region which is now named Bangladesh was called 12 Benga towns. According to the evident historical documents, as those 12 Benga towns had always been under Arakanese kings sovereignty, the kings had taken the Muslim titles so as to win the Bengali Muslims awe and respect. So, being devout Buddhists, those Arakanese kings had built a lot of pagodas and stupas with their names inscribed in their original Arakanese titles as well as in their given Bengali titles. Such Buddhist religious structures can still be found in Arakan (Rakhine State) as a firm proof of their belief in those periods of time. Therefore, it is dead sure that they were devout Buddhists. The Bengalis have said and presented to the whole world that Mrauk-Oo kings all bore Bengali titles and so were their kings, and that as a result, Mrauk-Oo was their capital and its palace was also theirs! So, about last year, we submitted and presented to the whole world a research paper evidently pointing out that this group of Bengali people newly so-called Rohingyas have lied to the world for over 3 decades.

In the ongoing manner, well talk about the real history of Arakan to the whole world so that all the world people will come to realize it. When US Foreign Minister Ms. Clinton came to Myanmar, we gave her an open letter. The reason for giving the letter was concerned with the once-a-year issue of declaration of the United States for Myanmar. Under the topic named People of that issue of declaration described as such: The national races dwelling in Myanmar are Shan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Rohingya, Rakhine and Arakan. What I want to mean is that, in their gazette issued to the world, the people with the so-called name Rohingya have been accepted and included as one of the national races in Myanmar. Myanmar has already legally stated thus: There is no such a national race called Rohingya out of all the 135 national races in Myanmar. The Myanmar government has also held a formal talk in the previous Supreme Legislative Body meeting. Leutenant Commander Khin Yee had also expressed it. Myanmar authority has already stated that there is no such a national race called Rohingya in Myanmar. So, Dr. Aye Kyaw issued a letter of protest making a question: When should the paper of declaration issued to the world by the US have included as a national race have included as a national race those people who have not been included in Myanmar national races. Other national races and Arakanese people sent letters of protest (to the US). Thats why we gave Ms. Clinton an open letter concerning the issue when she came to Myanmar. In our open letter, we expressed that the intention of the people so-called Rohingya asking for citizenship as Arakanese national race from Myanmar is dishonest; that their real intention has been only to be able to set up an Islamic country in Arakan and that all those facts had been written in those given books and magazines. We also described that if Rakhine State (former Arakan) were to become an Islamic country as a result of accepting them as a national race in such a way and if a new nation like Palestine were to arise in South-east Asia, we wondered whether the United States of yours, the UK and other countries would be able to withstand the forthcoming situations. We went on describing that they American are also responsible for it, and that the prevalent bad deeds of those Bengali villains with a hunger for Rakhine State is not just the Rakhine state issue; that it is also that of the Union of Myanmar as well as that of all the global people. As you all can see now, this issue has come up! It didnt take even 2 months. Therefore, weve already seen in advance that this issue would arise very soon.

So, everyone needs to realize these incidents, too. We also need to contemplate the reasons why this issue arose so rapidly. Were strongly convinced that we Arakanese need to realize the necessary things to be contemplated and known over the prevalent issues. From the fore to the present time, Bengali people in Rakhine State will not have their actions stopped only in Rakhine State. They are entering Myanmar day in, day out. After entering Myanmar, what do those Bengali people do? They try to marry all kinds of Myanmar national race girls. A lot of Karen maidens in Ayeyarwady Division, quite a few Burmese maidens, the people in about half of Mawlamein, almost all the people in Mudon and the people nearly half of Taninsarin Division have already been Islamized. There have been numerous incidents in which quite a few maidens of Shan, Kachin, Karen origin to Chinese hybrid in Shweli were spoken in with the words: Were Arakanese and were married to by those Bengali people. They have spread all over Myanmar. This problem is not just ours. We Arakanese are dutiful in this respect. We (Arakanese women) rarely marry Bengali men. No one has ever done so? you may ask. Then Ill say, Yes, but only one out of a thousand, of ten thousand or of a hundred thousand girls would do so! if there were such a case, too, shes no more concerned with our Buddhist Arakanese. So, if we solve the racial problem in this way, we can definitely say up to now, Were Arakanese! Theyre Bengali! How will the Union of Myanmar solve this problem? Isnt this the important issue of Myanmar? If they marry and Islamize Myanmar women of the present time and of the future generation by generation, how will we solve the problem of increasing number of Muslims? How will we control them? So Ive always said, This is not just the Arakanese issue but also that of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar? So we Arakanese have had to sacrifice a lot in the present issue; weve also lost much. But, in the present time of Arakanese peoples sacrifice, all the national races such as Kachi n, Kayah, etc. in the whole Myanmar have joined hand in hand with us in these incidents

saying, Oh, right! These are the real truths. Those Bengali people are carrying out this malicious scheme. Look! Theyre doing such malicious things to our Arakanese people! There were Burmese, Kachin, Shan, etc. who come and donate cash and kind at the camps of victims weve opened. They usually ask us, Will our donations reach Rakhine or Bengali people? Only when we assure them that the donations will reach Rakhine people, do they donate them! Seeing their great anger and compassion, and hearing them say, We just want to go and kill all of those Bengali people ourselves! weve now got the advantage of gaining the support of all the national races all over Myanmar on the incidents that weve sacrificed so far. Another point is that they have promulgated to the whole world all the time in this way, Our Bengali people have been cruelly oppressed and suppressed in Myanmar! Once something bad happens here, they photograph it as a record and present the photograph to the world. They make a complaint stating, These soldiers are killing us. The local Rakhine people are killing us. Our villages are burnt down! But, in reality, the Bengali people set fire to their own houses and then photograph the blazing houses, and after that, they complained to the world, The Rakhine people set fire to our houses so that well not be able to live here! After they have done so for over 20 years, the world citizens really come to believe the stories. Thats why the world citizens have been on their side. What I want to say is that the whole world has been bewildered by the Bengali or more exactly the Bengli people who have been here in Rakhine. Therefore, in the present time, the whole world has already known well about the seriously sacrifices the Arakanese people have made in the recent incidents. Who were the real victims in the recent incidents? Of course, Arakanese people! Buddhist Arakanese people! Now, see how cruel and inhumane they have been! Now, weve got a complete collection of documents. The whole world, we need to show the 11 people who had been killed in Gudaung, the case of that raped girl from Kyauknimaw, etc., and proclaim, Well, you see for yourselves. Can you see now how despicable and unruly those Bengali people are? Do you see how cruel they are? Our duty is to be able to present and spread their true colours to the whole world

without. Well also do our utmost best to be able to present our documents to the whole world! Well also submit our well-documented research paper to the United Nations. Well try our best to be able to present it all over the world! Weve got all the evidences and eye-witnesses concerning these facts. So, we have to try our best to be able to gain all the possible rights that are really worthy of the sacrifices that our Arakanese people have made up to now. The important thing we Arakanese should know is that as there is a tremendous financial backing behind those Bengali people, they have made up all the things theyve wanted with the money they easily receive regularly. In other words, they have put all our national people to death with their immense strength of wealth! Therefore, in this issue, weve got to keep trying to be able to do legislative measures towards those people who had immigrated illegally, those who are not within the legal boundary, and those who have become wealthy with the money they got illegally. All of these proposals also need to reach the Hluttaw (the Central Legislative Body). We need to make them known to all the world citizens, too. So, Id like to add that this is not just an ordinary honest matter. We Arakanese people alone cant stop them from their forceful implementation of this well backed scheme of Islamizing the whole Myanmar let alone Arakan! Therefore, we must be able to work hard so that all the Myanmar nationalities will join hand in hand with us. We must also be able to send the proper messages to them in time as well as to receive their positive messages. We must be able to tell them that were the rightful members of the Union of Myanmar like them, as well. Another point is that we must also organize all the opposition parties in Myanmar so as for them to share the same opinion as us and to join us in this matter. We told the 88th Generation Students about it. They also accepted our ideas as to the issue! Therefore, were also responsible for explaining or telling all these matters to all the heads of all the organizations and the parties. So, its our due right that we Arakanese people have to go on within the legal boundary and to ask for as many of our due rights as we can nowadays. We dont need to shut up our mouths! Just go on within the legal boundary. Everything we need will be gained! For this privilege alone, we Arakanese have paid too much.

So all of us must be able to tell all kinds of people no matter what their nationality is about these real facts the facts or privileges that we Arakanese have had to keep in heart for 2 whole decades and that we have wanted to pour out. So, dont live recklessly. Please keep your eyes and ears wide open. Everything about this case matters for every one of us. If we dont win these Bengalis in this issue, therell be no future for us. So we should bear in mind that we must try our best to be able to beat those Bengalis in many different possible ways nowadays. We should have contact with one another. All the Arakanese people must be able to link with and report to one another immediately concerning every event happening in any ward, or village wherever. Those capable people from our side must always be able to present these true incidents to the whole country as well as to the entire world as much as they can. We must be able to present all their deeds to the whole world, too. So when the whole world have come to realize the fact: There is no such a nationality called Rohingya in Arakan State; they are not our nationality, (as they have invested millions of money in creating the brand new national race called Rohingya and trying to make the world accept the presence of a national race named Rohingya.) they will use hostile ways as an alternative of the peaceful means because their activities have been discovered. Its very sure! So we Arakanese need to be extremely conscious of everything happening. Besides the fact that we need to present and ask for the possibly necessary measures for our security to some extent, as I have just said, the set-up of peoples force, Arakaneses keeping their eyes and ears wide open and having the national awareness that Ive mentioned above are the essential things that every Arakanese has to abide by and put into practice. We should never keep living recklessly anymore! For our part, too, well try as hard as we can to submit to those with the national authourity many evidences that those Bengali people and we Arakanese cannot another at any rate. Therefore, during the present time of not having everything made possible yet, we should tolerate and always think what exactly we should do. Not only women but also men should possess the national awareness. So, we all should bear in mind that this issue wont come to an end easily. This issue can persist for years. Do you think that, within this month alone, we or any of us will be able to solve conclusively the scheme or matter that they have invested in for over 30 co-live with one

years? No way! So, over their burning desire that theyll try their utmost best for this over30-year-old scheme, we Arakanese should be much more careful and extremely united, as well. All the national races in Myanmar need to be of the same mind with us! All the national leaders need to be on the same side with us, too. The government also needs to be on our side. All the national military regiments need to be on our side, as well. All the Arakanese people must try, accept and be able to do for our own strength of unity shrewdly and cleverly. We must also organize them with patient, clear and correct explanation so that they will be our supporters. If one of us kicks them out, note very well that the whole group of ours is lost. Therefore, a time will come when all the members of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar will come to realize and believe thus: This Rakhine issue is not just their (Arakaneses) issue; its also the very issue of the Union of Myanmar! If we can stand steadfast and upright till that time really comes, there will be a lot of such questionable points and outlets from the present bitterly awful situations as this: How will those Bengalis (so-called Rohingyas) be driven away without fail from this country? How will they be temporarily placed? This is what we want to gain! Therell be a lot of consecutive tasks to be suggested, submitted and carried out to the government of the Union of Myanmar. In conclusion, Id like to say that, until the above positive things are really fulfilled and implemented, we have to live with special awareness, try to realize the above-mentioned responsibilities without fail, put the responsibilities into practice by your own conscience, and, lastly, always take special care of yourselves!!!

Im greatly indebted to all those who had helped me with completing this work with their might and main! My humble apology: Should there be any mistakes in translating or writing the talk, please dont hesitate commenting on it openly. Open comments are warmly welcome! Transcribed from audio to text and translated from Arakanese to English by Zwe Thit (Rammarmray)