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Memorable of 214 anniversary of los



Subject: Memorable of 214 anniversary of lost Independence, Arakan, and 51

anniversary of
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Memorable of 214 anniversary of lost Independence, Arakan, and 51 
anniversary of Burma Independence Day.

Introduction

The background history of Arakan includes not only honorable events, but 
also a study of bitter lessons. When talking about honorable historic 
events, we include Arakanese history, culture, literature, architecture, 
handicrafts, and currency system. Respectfully, some of these legacies 
had come close to disappearing, while others had totally disappeared. 
By the time independence was gained from the British colonial rulers, 
Arakanese culture and literature had almost disappeared. Under the 
Burmese colonialists, the situation of the Arakanese nationalities had 
worsened under the military dictator?s ruling era. Ruling military 
dictators have been oppressing inhumanely the national spirit of the 
Arakan nation. 
Throughout the years, historians have viewed different opinions about 
Arakanese nationalities. Nevertheless, the Arakan community can find 
reminders of their history in actual records such as sculptures, stone 
slabs, old bells, old coins, and old records written by foreigners. 
According to research historians, Arakanese communities had settle in 
their nation since 6000 B.C. The history of Arakan is recorded by 
historians since the ruling era of Arakanese monarchies. 

Age of monarchies

Monarchies had ruled Arakan for 5000 years. Historians have divided this 
period into seven gaes. Of these seven ages, the age of Vesali Stone 
stairs and Maruk-U were very famous because at the time, Arakanese 
communities had strong communication internationally, especially with 
the Mogal Empire, the Japanese, and Portugal. These relationships 
covered different aspects of life, such as politics, diplomacy, economy, 
and religion.
In those days, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia were occupied by European 
colonialists, however the Arakanese kingdom managed to maintain its 
independence through persistent defiance. After the 18th century A.D, 
following a national unity collapse, Burmese invaders intruded and 
occupied the Arakanese kingdom in 1784 A.D. 
Although the Arakanese drove out the Burmese intruders, it was done 
along with British army, who later took charge of the entire Arakan 
State, to become British colonial rulers for 118 years. Since then, the 
Arakanese had been resisting and struggling against British colonialists 
and Japanese fascists in order to regain their independence.

After Burma gained independence in 1948, the Arakan sovereignty, even as 
a federal State, was ignored by the Burmese rulers. Therefore still, 
Arakan in struggling to regain its independence. 

Geographical factors of Arakan

Geographical descriptions of Arakan are divided into three periods of 
time:
1. The Monarchy days,
2. 1948 and early days of independence and
3. After the 1974 constitution was drafted.

During the monarchy days, the Arakan State stretched up to Dakha river, 
Bangladesh, in the west, up to Arsam State, India, in the north, and 
down to Irrawaddy river in the east. The southern border was the cape of 
Negrat and Cocoa island. 
During the early days of independence, 1948, Arakan State consisted of 
16,000 square miles. 
After the 1974 constitution, came the reign of a one-party dictatorship, 
led by notorious Gen. Ne Win, leader of the Burma Socialist Programme 
Party. Due to the 1974 constitution, Palawa township, part of Arakan, 
was added to Chin State. This was done as opposed to the will of the 
Arakanese people, however their objection was lost in their air. 
According to the Greek historian Ptolmy, Arakan was called ?Argyre?, and 
a Tibetian historian (Touranala) had also wrote about Arakan in his 
hstorical book in 1608 A.D. 
** Remark: It is described in the city states of (KAWKY) included in 
Oritha State, India.

Arakanese and ethnic nationalities of Arakan

The first people to settle in Arakan were the NEGRITOS, they were black 
shinned and of short height, according to historians. There were called 
CANNIBAL, as in giant, and NEOLITHIC- stone age man. This information 
may be imaginary only. Some settles, that may be ARYAN ethnicity, had 
migrated into Arakan by foot, crossing the hill of Cocasia, located on 
west Myitzima in Pali, India, as well as the Parmian hill, invariably 
crossing mountain ranges, valleys, and rivers. At about the same time, 
the Mongolian people from north-east Margatha region, Arsan, India, came 
down through the Rakhaing ranges and settled in Arakan. The second batch 
of settlers were the INDOARYAN, and they drove out the first settlers, 
the NEORITOS. As a result, they were called ?People who protected 
nationality?. This concept was kept and passed on from generation to 
generation, according to historians.

The Arakanese nationalities are:

Arakanese, Mros, Thet (a) Charkhamar, Kha Hme, Chin, Dynet, Bomin, and 
Phalan. Some historians believe that the first settlers in Arakan 
integrated with the ARYAN race. In old history of Thailand it is said 
that some MONGOLIAN races settled not only in Arakan but also in 
Chittagong, Cox-baza, and Bangladesh. Burmese researchers also agree 
with this account.
Nowadays, Arakan population is four million, excluding ex-patriots 
living in various places such as Rangoon, Mandalay, Pegu division, 
Irrawaddy division, Chin State, Bangladesh, India, and other overseas 
countries.
During the first ruling era of Dynnawaddy, Mrauk-U dynasty, 57 kings 
ruled Arakan for 1818 years, from 3325 to 1507, B.C. relatives of 
Mrauk-U dynasty crowned Kan Ra Za Gri as king, and established the first 
Dyannawaddy era. The Kan Raza Gri dynasty ruled Arakan for 927 years 

until 580 B.C. After that, the founders of the second Dynnawaddy era 
ruled till the third Dynnawaddy era. Of these kings, king Sanda Suriya 
was very famous for introducing Buddhism to Arakan, and building the 
Mahamuni Buddha image, so he was admired by Arakanese Buddhists. 
According to historical records, he was born on the same day as Buddha 
Gottama who toured Arakan. The dynasty of Sanda Suriya reigned in Arakan 
for 906 years, until 327 A.D. 

Analysis of Arakanese nationalities before 4th century, A.D

Before 4th century A.D, the Arakanese community was under the control of 
the feudalistic. In those days, the people worshipped jungle, water, 
earth, trees, rock-hills, huge stones, spirits, elders, etc. however, 
Buddhism was worshipped after 580 B.C, according to historical 
researchers. The materials available and those days were soil, wood, and 
bamboo, so building and houses could be easily damaged. Nevertheless, we 
can still see remainders of these early days. Traces can be found of 
royal palaces, stone pillar inscriptions, moats, shines, pagodas, Buddha 
images, and the wall of the royal city. At present, the great Buddha 
image of Mahamuni, serves as a historical landmark for Arakanese 
culture. Other architectural symbols, such as many Buddha images, were 
made of stone and bronze. It is also found, that architectural traces, 
especially handicraft, from before 4th century A.D, are similar to 
designs found in north-eastern territories mainly in India, historians 
claim. During this era, spiritualism had greater influence on Arakanese, 
than materialism. 
Although the Arakanese lived close to the India sub-continent, where the 
people were of Hindu religion, this didn?t influence communities in 
Arakan. This historical record proves how the Arakanese managed to 
defend their national dignity, their nation, and their nationality. 
The nation?s situation continued to deteriorate, and the last king to 
rule before loss of independence was king Maha Thamadaraza (1728-84 
A.D). He didn?t have enough time to save the Arakan nation given 2 or 3 
more years of ruling, it is believed by historians, he would have saved 
the kingdom from ?Bodaw Maung Wyne?, who invaded and occupied the 
nation. In reality, the Burmese king who occupied Arakan had not done it 
with strong military power. There are numerous reasons for his success 
in occupation, among them- disunity among the Arakanese nationalities, 
carelessness in awareness of the coming crisis, some Arakanese assisting 
the Burmese, fighting the Burmese armed forces with only the Arakan 
royal army. For these reasons, the result was loss of independence, on 
December 31, 1784. The loss of independence had serve effects on the 
nation: the Mahamuni Buddha Image, the most respected Buddha image for 
Arakanese Buddhists- intellectuals, monks, and men-was destroyed, as 
well as precious gold and jewels. Also lost were military equipment 
shipped over from Europe, and the royal palace, built with great 
architectural shill, was also burnt down. Arakan, to this day, feels the 
bitter lesson of the loss of independence. 


Situation of Arakan and its nationalities after loss of Independence

The Arakanese, who lived as a sovereign nation for over 5000 years, had 
ceased their sovereignty on December 31, 1874, and therefore have been 
resisting the Burmese colonialists ever since, to this day- in order to 
regain their independence, their freedom. Burmese colonialists have been 
oppressing and killing nationalities of Arakan in humanely. Although 
Burmese intruders had invaded the whole of the Arakan, they have been 
facing resistance by Arakanese patriots. Among the famous revolutions of 
the old days, are Rwe Ban, senior prince, Aung Kyaw Zan, governor, and 
Chin Byan, commander of Arakanese revolutionary groups. These Arakanese 
revolutionary leaders attempted to drive out the Burmese invaders with 
the help of European nations especially the British. When Arakan did 
drive out the Burmese expansionists, it was done together with the 
British, who later betrayed Arakan by colonializing it under the British 
Empire. Until 1907, during the reign of the British colonialists, Arakan 
didn?t revolt against them as a major insurrection- however, patriotic 
feeling reawake in late 1907.
The first person to provoke patriotic feeling, was U Oattama. He visited 
Japan in 1907 to work as a professor at Tokyo university?s Burmese 
department, and studies about the Japanese nation. In 1910 he returned 
to Burma, and provoked all the Burmese nationalities, including the 
Arakanese, to oppose the British colonial rulers. His method was a 
non-violent one. People of Arakan revolted against the British 
colonialists in 1942, the result being the retreat of the British army 
and civil servants into India, in March of year.
The Japanese army invaded Arakan in the first week of April, 1942, and 
occupied the whole nation on June 8, 1942, records say. After ruling 
Arakan for three years, the Japanese army retreated out of Arakan in the 
last week of February, 1945, after Arakanese freedom-fighter drive them 
out in opposition to their cruel fascism. After the Japanese retreated 
from Arakan, the British army reentered, however this time treaded 
Arakanese people ruthlessly- especially those who supported the Japanese 
by methods of torture, killing, and burning down of villages known to 
have supported the Japanese. Therefor, Arakanese people began to revolt 
against the British army. In April 1947, a conference was held in Mray 
Bon town, and this was a significant landmark for the Arakanese 
political movement. Under the British rulers, the Burmese ethnic 
majority tried to implement their superiority over the other ethnic 
minorities by creating a division among the various groups, specially 
Arakanese, Chin, Kachin, and Shan. The Burmese majority signed the Pin 
Long agreement, ensuring their independence, along with three ethnic 
nationality groups: Chin, Kachin, and Shan. In those days, Arakanese 
freedom fighters were isolated from other ethnic freedom fighters, 
focusing their efforts only on the Arakan State. The Arakanese freedom 
fighters managed to occupy some of the Arakan State'? territory, 
therefor antagonizing the British rules who in response supported to 

Burmese in their efforts to suppress the revolting Arakanese. The 
Burmese wisely used the British support in order to suppress the 
Arakanese revolutionists, which succeeded in the Arakanese not managing 
to gain their sovereignty. In mid 1947, the Burmese army led an 
operation called ?Kyaw Zaw Operation?, and it?s aim was to defeat the 
Arakanese revolutionists. After this operation, Arakan state neared 
extinction. The Burmese politicians would not accept any resistant 
movements fighting for independence, and wanted to control all of the 
ethnic groups within the nation. At the time, the Burmese politicians 
made international relationships, however the ethnic minorities did not 
have that opportunity. On January 27, 1947, the Burmese signed a treaty 
with the British called ?Aung San-Attalee?, and another treaty with the 
British called ?Nu-Attalee?. After these agreements, the nation gained 
independence, on January 4, 1948. After the Arakanese revolution failed, 
people of Arakan lost not only their sovereignty and political rights, 
but some territory as well that went to the Burmese. In addition, when 
the British left the country after the independence agreement, they 
annexed a bit of Arakan land to both India and Pakistan, where they were 
still ruling. Despite this failure to revolt, Arakanese freedom fighters 
still continue to struggle for their independence. 
The generation that revolted against the British colonialists and the 
Japanese Fascists, have been continuing their task of rebellion against 
the Burmese rulers who took the place of the British and the Japanese. 
Of the Arakanese resistance groups, the following are still struggling 
to gain their independence. They are:

-     Arakan Communist Party (ACP)
- Rakhine National Liberation Party (RNLP)
- Arakan Independence Army (AIA)
- Arakan Liberation Party (ALP)
- National United Front of Arakan (NUFA)
- National Unity Party of Arakan (NUPA)

Their goal is to create independence or a federal state, based on ethnic 
of equality, liberty, and self-determination.

Conclusion.

Arakan was a sovereign nation in world history for 5000 years, however 
the new generations of Arakanese, after the loss of independence, are 
not quite familiar with their nation?s history, hence the developing 
days of the Arakan State. A sorrowful example can found in an incident 
that occurred 15 years ago, when an Arakanese university student at the 
Rangoon Institute of Technology, refused to accept an Arakanese 
archeological symbol in the shaped of a silver coin. This is sorrowful 
for the Arakanese, since it shows that even educated intellectuals do 
not recognize and feel for their nation?s glorious post days, and even 
more so regarding the uneducated nationalities of Arakan. 

Arakan independence has been lost for over 200 years, and so national 
dignity has deteriorated due to the oppression of the Burmese rulers. In 
world history, some nations who had been dominated by another nation had 
come close to disappearing, but on the other hand, some had managed to 
later on establish their own sovereign nation. This is human nature.

Oh, dear Arakan! Would you like your beloved nation to disappear from 
the face of the earth?
This question should guide and lead the Arakanese nation in their 
attempt to gain their independence. 
---END----
- The Arakan Life -
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