(1948)
By Aman Ullah
In the general elections for the Constituent Assembly, Mr. Sultan Ahmed and Mr. Abdu Gaffar were elected from Maungdaw and Buthidaung with the tickets of Jamiat-e- Ulema, the political party of Muslim of Arakan. Since the holding of the Constituent Assembly elections till 1962 military takeover 3 general elections were held for both houses of Parliament in 1951, 1956 and 1960 respectively. In 1951 general elections Muslims won 5 seats, four in the Lower House and one in the Upper House. The AFPFL won 3 seats and the rest were captured by Ra-Ta-Nya (Rakhaing National United Organisation). The Muslims had no political party of their own. They stood either as independents or supportive group of AFPFL. In 1956 general elections Muslims retained all their five seats of north Arakan.
The Rakhaing (Buddhist) members of Parliament formed their own Independent Arakanese Parliamentary Group (IAPG). They pressed for granting ‘State’ to Arakan in the parliament but initially they were not serious. The Rees Williams Commission set up in 1947 to examine the necessity of granting ‘States’ to different areas, earlier, kept aside the question of granting statehood to Arakan. [1] Three more Regional Autonomy Commissions-Regional Autonomy Commission headed by minister U Nyo Tun) formed in March 1948, Sir Ba Oo Commission formed in October 1948 and Kelleys Commission formed in 1950 — examined the question of granting State to Arakan.
The Regional Autonomy Commission headed by Minister U Nyo Tun consisted of 3 other members, U Kyaw Min, Accountant General, U Tin and U Tin Phet. The Commission, instead of carrying out inquiries for Regional Autonomy, submitted an interim report to the government suggesting the following immediate steps for Arakan. [2]
The Ra-Ta-Nya won only about one third of the total seats; the rest were captured by AFPFL. Muslim MPs elected to the Parliament in 1956 were Mr. Sultan Ahmed, Mr. Abul Khair, Mr. Ezhar Mian, Mr. Abul Basher and Mr. Abdul Ghaffar. Prominent elected members of Ra-Ta-Nya were U Kyaw Min, U Maung Kyaw Zan, U Hla Tun Pru, U San Tun Khine, U Ba Sein, U Aung Kyaw Khine, U Paw Thein etc. A bye-election was held for Buthidaung north constituency in 1957 as the election of Mr. Ezhar Mian was challenged and the verdict was given against him. Mr. Sultan Mahmood, Ex-Parliamentary Secretary, in British India legislative Assembly, was elected and he was inducted into the cabinet of U Nu as Health Minister.
The Sir Ba Oo Commission was formed by Prime minister U Nu under the Chairmanship of the then Chief Justice, Sir Ba Oo, in October, 1948 under which three sub-committees for dealing with the question of Karen, Mon and Arakanese nationals respectively were formed. Each sub-committee is constituted by one representative from the State, three Burman representatives and four national representatives from the concerned area. [3]
The 4-member Arakanese national representatives are U Kyaw Yin, U San Tun Aung, U Tha Tun and Mr. Sultan Ahmed. They submitted their opinion on 29th October, 1948 as follows: [4]
1. to suppress the insurgency more intensively;
2. to appoint officials suitable for Arakan conditions:
3. to effectively take action against government officials indulging in corruptions; and
4. to re-examine those arrested under the Public Law and Order Act, clause 5, and to release those who are ought to be released.
5. to appoint an Arakanese affairs minister and include it as a Law in the Constitution;
6. to constitute an Arakanese affairs council to assist the Arakanese affairs minister and include it as a Law in the Constitution;
7. to make rules, regulations and laws according to clause 12 of the Constitution, to be able to perform all activities of Arakan region by the Arakanese affairs minister and Arakanese affairs council in accordance with the wish of Arakan people; and
8. After five years this scheme depending upon its results shall either be re-examined and amended in accordance with the wish of Arakan people or terminated.
U Shwe Baw, the Arakanese (Rakhaing) representative of the Committee submitted the following proposals: [5]
1. to exploit the natural resources of Arakan and improve industrialization;
2. to improve the water, land and railway communications of Arakan;
3. to upgrade education standard including higher and technological education;
4. to improve the health and treatment facilities;
5. to improve the agricultural and aquatic enterprises;
6. to deploy one or two Rakhaing battalions in permanent Army to carry out law and order in case any border problem arises in Burma’s northwest frontier;
7. to give necessary powers for rehabilitating the Rakhaing nationals living in ‘Bomang State’ (Chittagong Hill Tract) and Awa Kyun (Sundarbons);
8. to award the power of making laws and collection of revenue and
9. to grant Self-rule’ in every affair of Arakan division.
The Burman members of the Committee rejected the idea of Separate State but recommended that Arakan should be made a division under proper Burma with the right of Self-rule; the power of formation of Army should be vested in the national Parliament only and rather than appointing an Arakan affairs minister and council Arakan division council should be formed which would be more effective.[6] After four years of enquiry, in 1952, although Sir Ba Oo Commission could submit its report on Karen and Mon Affairs, the report of Arakanese Affairs could not be submitted for reasons best known to them.[7] The Kelly Commission was formed under the Chairmanship of Arakan Divisional Commissioner, Mr. Kelly, on 26th July, 1950 to enquire about the possibility of granting ‘State’ to Arakan.[8] Extensive inquiries and investigations were made. But the report of the Kelley Commission was not officially announced. So, the question of granting ‘State’ to Arakan lingered on without arriving to a decision. Throughout their Parliamentary tenure the Ra-Ta-Nya members acted in an unfriendly manner against the Rohingyas.
Reference
1. The Union of Burma by Hugh Tinker p. 24
2. Union of Burma Pyithu Hlutaw (Parliament) Session Proceedings No. 1, meeting No. (7), Rangoon Government Press, 1952, pp. 106-107
3. Myanmar Politics 1958-1962 Vol. 111, pp. 178-179
4. 1952 report of Regional Autonomy Commissions, pp. 70-71
5. Ibid. pp. 71-72
6. Ibid, p.74
7. Ibid, p. (a)
8. Union of Burma Pyithu Hluttaw (Parliament) Session 2/17. Pp.846-847
The 4-member Arakanese national representatives are U Kyaw Yin, U San Tun Aung, U Tha Tun and Mr. Sultan Ahmed. They submitted a memorandum to the Regional Autonomy Commission on 29th October, 1948 as follows: