Burma now known as Myanmar in trouble

Mohammad Amjad Hossain :

Having been born in Rangoon in 1942, I have developed an interest to know much more information about present-day Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Since my father late Mohammad Akbor hossain had served as the Accountant General Office of Great Britain in Rangoon until 1947.

We used to live on Brooking Street.

As a matter of fact Great Britain ruled Burma from 1824 to 1948.Imperial Japan invaded Burma in 1942 and declared on 1 August 1943 state of Burma.

Japan and Burma have had a special relationship which in fact supported Burmese nationalist party known as Tatmadah.

Burma is considered one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world.

As many as 135 ethnic people including Rohingya had moved to Arakan in 1430 which is now known as Rakhine.

As a part of divide and rule policy, British colonialists turned various ethnic groups against each other.

Independent Burma inherited that legacy, but majority Buddists today have become nationalist and xenophobic.

In fact this writer has been watching the development of the Rohingya exodus since 1979 when a large number of Rohingya were expelled by military junta General Ne Win of Burma. As many as 200,000 were given shelter by the government of Bangladesh Nationalist Party( BNP) under President late Ziaur Rahman on humanitarian grounds and placed under temporary shelters put up near Cox’s Bazar.

A diplomatic maneuver was exercised by the BNP government to take back the Rohingya. Malaysia was one of the countries which maintained excellent relations with the military junta of Burma. A bilateral agreement was signed between the Bangladesh government and Burmese military government in 1982 to take back Rohingya. As a result Rohingya went back to Burma.

The military Government of Burma headed by General Ne Win took away the citizenship of Rohingya in 1982 having taken back Rohingya. In1989 the name Burma was replaced as Myanmar.

As of now Malaysia does not have good relations with Tatmadaw since ASEAN as a group has had no relation with Tatmadaw.

Practically Tatmadaw in Myanmar has been isolated from ASEAN group boycotted the government in Myanmar headed by General Min Aung Hlang which took over the administration of Myanmar following overthrow the legal government of National League for democracy headed by Suu kyi who got elected in general election held in Myanmar on November 13 in 2020.

Since then the country has been run by Tatmadaw without rhyme and reason.

Now Myanmer in the region of South-East Asia has no cordial relationship with the military regime of Myanmer. As a result, Myanmar is isolated in the region.

Ironically, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore joined the civil disobedience movement organized by National League for Democracy in Myanmar.

By now the military government in Myanmar has lost a big chunk of territory. In Hilly regions like Madaley,and Pakoko areas which in fact are dominated by ethnic minorities like Chin state and Kachin state.

It is interesting to note that on 24 February in 2024 the soldiers surrendered without a fight including six generals of Tatmadaw to rebel forces.

It is high time that the military junta headed by Senior General Min Aung Hlang should accept the ASEAN five-point plan without resistance to save Myanmar from further disintegration. One of the points is that Tatmadaw should not be involved in politics.
Enough is enough.

(The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh.)