ARAKANLAND
Dr. Aye Chan
Dear All,
In the research of Social Science the scholars use two kinds of source materials, namely primary and secondary. If a scholar is relying too much on the secondary sources, his research is low in academic value. In the Census Reports of Colonial period that is true, all of them give the number of Muhammadens in Arakan State but none of them mentions Rohingya. The problem that brought heated debate now is how and when they came to Arakan. The colonial records explicitly mention how they migrated from Chittagong District in the second half of nineteenth century in detail with figures. I have written a paper about it. These records all reliable primary sources.
Please study the Bengali poems of two Bengali Poets, Aloul and Dulat Qazi. Siddiqe and abid Barhar are Bengalis. They can read them. The poets were in Arakan, serving the King at the court of Mrauk-U. Aloul gives the names of the races who lived in Arakan in his poem, "Saiful Maluk." Why he didn't mention about Rohingya. (See Huq, Muhhamad E. 1935. Arakan Rajsabhay Bangala Shahitya (1600-1700 AD). Phinix Printing. Calcutta.)
Both Siddiqe and Abid Bahar are conpletely ignorant about the Burmese sources. After the conquest of Arakan, the Burmese Governor of Dannyawaddy had to send reports (Sit-tan) of the Dannyawaddy Taing (as thence called by the Burmese) to the King at Ava. They are all combined in the 1802 Land Roll. William Koenig obtained PhD, with dissertation of Editing these reports. Burmese Sit-tan are completely silent of the existence of those Muslims in northwestern Arakan. The Rammawaddy (Ramree) and Dwarawaddy (Sandoway) Sit-tans mention about the villages of Kamans.
Do you want to say about the fictitious story of Arab sailors again? Is there any Arabic sources about them? The Arab navigators came to know Arakan only in the late 15th century. I have once written about the records that two Arab navigators left about Arakan. What they all records is the shallow rive by that the Royal Capital of Arakan could be reached and the capital not being a good port (Tibbets, G.R. 1981. London Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain: p 381). D G E Hall, the doyen of Southeast Asian History says that Arab records are full of secondary information and not reliable as primary sources.
A diplomatic corrtespondence at the British National Archives says that the Bangladeshi Embassador to Burma admitted in 1975 that there were more than five hundred thousand illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Burma. If you want to see it, I will give you accession number. Please go to the National Archives in Kew Garden, London. I am tired of arguing with those who tell the spicy stories.
Sincerely, Aye Chan
Posted at: 07:29 AM | Add Comment
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