Arakan is a stolen paradise needed to be recaptured.
This is just what a large majority of the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group believe in regarding this former tropical kingdom. Located in Bengal Bay, Arakan Kingdom has been self-governing until the 18th century. Conquered by Burmese Empire, by British next, Arakan is one the the fourteen divisions of Burma.
Arakan has been situated at the crossroads of Muslim and Buddhism areas since centuries. As far as back colonial period, British disrupted its fragile ethno-religious balance. Burmese nationalists had blamed the Muslims from Arakan for having work closely with British colonists and to be definitively underhanded toward Burmese nation. Then by means of discriminatory politics to bring ethnic minorities into subjection, the junta system has been intensifying resentments inside the country until bursting point, making the situation worse than ever. Fearing that Burmese government domination might worsen furthermore, Rakhine people have been pushed into separatist and ethnic identity orientation. For years, Rakhine people has been trying to bring its stolen paradise back to life, whom is being self-governing and buddhist. The ones who are considered as strangers have to leave. Especially the Rohingyas, one of Arkan's Muslim minority. To demonstrate their exogenous nature, they are named Bengalis. Rejected by Arakan's people, destitute of any civil rights by the Burmese government who flatly keeps refusing to recognize them legally, Rohingyas have been suffering from an outcast's awful life.
When I first came to Arakan State in 2010, I had a feeling that Rohingya women and men were dirt; that they represented impurity like in the Indian caste system, as I saw them standing in front of the market in Sittwe and being prevented from getting inside.
In 2012 and 2013, a long series of pogroms against Muslims set fire to the whole area. More than 200 people were killed, and around 140 000 were forced to migrate
Nowadays, Muslim figures and faces have been banished from Sittwe, the Arakan capital city. They have no other option that staying on the fringes, spending the whole day hidden behind the fences of makeshift camps, waiting for their own disappearance.
On May 2016 the 4th, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whom Aung San Suu Kyi is in charge of, has requested the United States of America not to use Rohingya name any longer. The Nobel Peace prize intends to forget about this "problem".
These pictures were taken 2010 and 2015.
This is just what a large majority of the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group believe in regarding this former tropical kingdom. Located in Bengal Bay, Arakan Kingdom has been self-governing until the 18th century. Conquered by Burmese Empire, by British next, Arakan is one the the fourteen divisions of Burma.
Arakan has been situated at the crossroads of Muslim and Buddhism areas since centuries. As far as back colonial period, British disrupted its fragile ethno-religious balance. Burmese nationalists had blamed the Muslims from Arakan for having work closely with British colonists and to be definitively underhanded toward Burmese nation. Then by means of discriminatory politics to bring ethnic minorities into subjection, the junta system has been intensifying resentments inside the country until bursting point, making the situation worse than ever. Fearing that Burmese government domination might worsen furthermore, Rakhine people have been pushed into separatist and ethnic identity orientation. For years, Rakhine people has been trying to bring its stolen paradise back to life, whom is being self-governing and buddhist. The ones who are considered as strangers have to leave. Especially the Rohingyas, one of Arkan's Muslim minority. To demonstrate their exogenous nature, they are named Bengalis. Rejected by Arakan's people, destitute of any civil rights by the Burmese government who flatly keeps refusing to recognize them legally, Rohingyas have been suffering from an outcast's awful life.
When I first came to Arakan State in 2010, I had a feeling that Rohingya women and men were dirt; that they represented impurity like in the Indian caste system, as I saw them standing in front of the market in Sittwe and being prevented from getting inside.
In 2012 and 2013, a long series of pogroms against Muslims set fire to the whole area. More than 200 people were killed, and around 140 000 were forced to migrate
Nowadays, Muslim figures and faces have been banished from Sittwe, the Arakan capital city. They have no other option that staying on the fringes, spending the whole day hidden behind the fences of makeshift camps, waiting for their own disappearance.
On May 2016 the 4th, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whom Aung San Suu Kyi is in charge of, has requested the United States of America not to use Rohingya name any longer. The Nobel Peace prize intends to forget about this "problem".
These pictures were taken 2010 and 2015.
