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B
urma
 
I
ssues
February 2005
INFORMATION FOR ACTION CAMPAIGNS FOR PEACE GRASSROOTS EDUCATION AND ORGANIZING
 VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2
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 Burma Issues
is a publication of the Peace WayFoundation and is distributed on a free-subscrip-tion basis to individuals and groups concerned withthe state of affairs in Burma.
Editor Z. Brake
1/11 Soi Piphat 2Convent Rd, SilomBangkok 10500, Thailanddurham@mozart.inet.co.thwww.burmaissues.org
The Peace Way foundation
 
appreciates your on-going support. If you wish to make a donation,please use the following bank account references:Bank: BANGKOK BANKBranch: SILOMAccount name: Peace Way FoundationSwift: BKKBTHBKAAccount No: 101-7-478072
K
ala Lumyo is the word the Burmese callthe Indian who live in Burma. The wordKala is, in general, for those who havedark skin. They originated from India and theycome from South Asia and the Western part ofAsia in general, most notably form present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The wordkala literally means degrading, disgusting andto look down upon. The word “alien” is alsoused by Burmese people to describe the Indi-ans. However, the Burmese Indians see them-selves as a part of the Burmese people. Theyhave fought for Burma together with the Bur-mese and other ethnic people to be free fromcolony rule and independent.In the midst of the struggle for humanrights and democracy in Burma, the interna-tional community mostly focuses on the de-mocracy movement lead by Aung San Suu Kyiand the National League of Democracy or onthe fighting for the independence by the ethnicgroups. When looking to situation as a whole,the Burmese Indians are also in need of thesame freedoms as all the other Burmese people.In their struggle for freedom most people seethem as outsiders.Approximately 2 per cent of the Burmesepopulation is Burmese Indians. However thisnumber is not dependable as there is no reli-able information. In Burma, the majority of Bur-mese Indians are Muslim (Suni Set), others areHindu, Sikhs and Buddhist. Most of the Bur-mese Indian Muslim population lives in urban ar-eas and big cities such as Rangoon and post Brit-ish Hill towns such as Pyin U Lwin ( formerlyMaymyo)
1
.The first Burmese Indians migrated toBurma in the glorious Bagan period (A.D. 1044-1287) when Indian, Persian and Arabian merchantscame to Burma. In the 16
th
and 17
th
centuries,the Golden Age of the spices trade attracted moreIndian merchants to Burma. This migration con-tinued until the British invasion.When Burma became a part of India underthe British colonial rule in 1824, a large numberof Indian people moved to Burma. These includedentrepreneurs, politicians and government employ-ees. In the following decades infrastructure initia-tives of the British caused an unprecedented eco-nomical boom in Burma. From 1855 to 1930 thearea of the Irrawaddy delta used for rice cultiva-tion increases ten times to roughly 4 million hect-ares.
2
Coolies (Indian labourers) from southernIndia migrated continuously to Burma in search ofwork. In 1930 the number of Indians in Burmahad grown considerably and in Rangoon 53 percent of the whole population was Indian
3
. Thingswere going smoothly for the Burmese Indian popu-lation even after British left and independencedawned Burma in 1948. There were even Indiansin the Cabinet.Things changed after the coup d’etat in1962 led by General Ne Win and the introductionof Nationalism. Some Burmese Indians were forcedout of the country as a result of the economy’snationalization. Their wholesale and retail busi-nesses were taken away without any compensa-tion and they were all given 175 Kyat to return toIndia
4
. The Cabinet was pushed out of the gov-ernment. Although, many Indian had been livingin Burma for generations and had integrated intoBurmese society, they became a target for dis-crimination and oppression by the junta.Today many Indians, particularly Hindus livein central Rangoon on the both side of the Su LeiPaya Road. Most are involved in either legal orillegal businesses, including restaurants, jewelleryshops and money exchanges. It is not surprisingthat the Burmese people believe that these Indi-ans have a better economic rank, than they do. Itseems that there are no problems for the Bur-mese Indians because they are rich, but in factthis is not true. They have many personal issues.Although Burmese Indians have not been vio-lently oppressed by the military government like
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3
other ethnic groups in Burma, their rights havebeen continuously restricted and they have faceddifferent forms of oppression. If Burmese people’srights are limited, the Burmese Indians’ rights willbe doubly limited.Religion is being used as a tool of oppressionagainst the Burmese Indians by the military dicta-torship. Burmese MuslimIndians and BurmeseHindu Indians are not allowed to grandly celebrateany of their religious ceremonies. These religiousrights are prohibited. They can not run religiousparades anywhere in Burma, like they do in othercountries. In South East Asian countries like Thai-land and Malaysia the governments allow peopleto grandly celebrate their religions, but in Burma,the military just allows them to quietly celebratebehind closed doors or in the few temples. Themilitary dictatorship rejects or ignores their requestwhen they want to build Mosque in the countryor to go abroad for religious ceremonies
5
. Themilitary dictatorship never encourages or supportsthe Burmese Indians.However, the attitude of the Burmese peopletowards the Burmese Indian is worse. The Bur-mese Indians are looked down or mistreated be-cause of their religion, the way they dress or theway they act. Burmese people believe that the“Kala Lumyo” will take over the country and ruleBurma. They believe that if there are too manyIndians this will happen. According to the reli-gious beliefs, if you were marry someone who isa Muslim or a Hindu you have to change youroriginal religion to their religion and your childrenwill also automatically become Muslim or Hindu
6
.Consequnetly, Burmese people do not want theirchildren to marry Indians.Furthermore, the military dictatorship pro-hibits Burmese Indian from becoming involved orbeing employed as the government employees orworking in any companies run by the State gov-ernment.While the military dictatorship is persuad-ing ethnic minority groups to enter what they calledthe “legal fold” and participate in the drafting of anew constitution which includes sections on reli-gion and political rights, Burmese Indians have notbeen invited by the military dictatorship to partici-pate. They will never be invited as they are notseen as important in the eyes of the military dic-tatorship.The international community does not seethat the main issues facing the Burmese Indiansare the State’s policies. The military governmentalways says to the international community thatthey have opened the opportunity for all religiousand ethnic minority groups to live together peace-fully. It seems like the Burmese Indians should nothave any problems. In reality, they do not receiveany of these opportunities. The military govern-ment tries to block them getting in touch withthe wider community and working together for abetter society, human rights and other meaning-ful activities.Like all people in Burma, the quality ofhealth care depends on how much you can pay.Burmese Indians who can afford to pay for healthcare, receive reasonable care. However, BurmeseIndians who cannot afford to pay, receive nohealth care. The government is suppose to pro-vide free health care for all Burmese people, butthis does not happen for most people in Burma,including the Burmese Indians.Another issue is that the Burmese Indianswho have good businesses will send their chil-dren to study abroad such as to the USA. Manyof them are poor and can not manage to sendtheir children to school. The government is notsupporting the education system. There are someprivate schools or schools owned by foreign com-panies from the Middle East who provide freeeducation and basic knowledge on Islam to IndianMuslims. Furthermore, Burmese Indians are notallowed to use their native languages and the juntahas banned literature in these languages. The gov-ernment has even banned some Bollywood mov-ies
7
. The New Light of Myanmar is the trumpet ofthe government, but in this newspaper it nevertalks about the Burmese Indians.Living as the stranger in their own countryBurmese Indians are not trying to make any prob-lems for the society. There is an obvious imageof the Burmese Indians “looking after their own”.At the moment we can clearly see that the Bur-mese Indians are out of sight of the junta and arelooked down upon by the Burmese people. Thestatus of the Burmese Indians in terms of reli-gion, culture and civil rights are the same as theother ethnic groups. The government has usedreligion to oppress the Burmese Indians. Whatwill happen to these people when transitioncomes? There are plenty of questions. Will theytreated equally like other Burmese people or willthey continue to be outsiders?
Endnotes:
1 Burmese Indians, http://www.answer.com/ mainntquery?method2 Myanmar History Colonial Times, http:// www.asiatour.com/Myanmar/e – 01land / em – lan43.htm3 Ibid4 Indian and Burma: working on their relationship, TheIrrawaddy (online) , March 19995 The outsider, The Irrawaddy vol. 14 No.1, January 20066 ibid.7 How the Indians Government Stabbed Burmese Tamilsin the Back, http:// www. Geocities.com/ tamiltribune/ 020702. html?20065
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