Rakhine Reawakening
Aung Phyo founded a community school in Manaung Island in Rakhine State. He is passionate about youth empowerment through education and advocacy, and media work. The story was collected on June 27, 2023.
“Preparing my mind to face any possible situation is the first thing I do to cope with the stress. I also meditate at night. I reflect on the uncertainties in our daily lives and prepare my mind for any situation. I also tell my family that they need to prepare their mind for any possibility. ”
"On that day, I woke up at 4 a.m. and first saw the news of the coup on the VOA Facebook page. I was living in Manaung Island, Rakhine State, with around 40 students at my school. I only had approximately 30,000 Kyat in my hand, and I asked one of the student leaders to go and buy a radio right away as I thought the internet shutdown would happen very soon. They also bought one with their own money, so we got two small radios to have access to international news like the BBC. That was our preparation for the possibility of the internet shutdown post-coup. I also did a live stream on social media to inform the public of the possibility of an internet shutdown, arrests, and protests.
One concern I had at that time was about political instability if protests against the coup happened, since there were both strong National League for Democracy (NLD) and Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) supporters in this southern part of Rakhine. In that early morning, some youths, including Burmese and Rakhine ethnicities and NLD supporters, came to see me, encouraging me to join the protests against the coup. Although I am not an NLD supporter, I have good relations with them. The first protests were so emotional—I will remember them all my life.
When the coup happened, I had two feelings. Since we had been experiencing war in Rakhine, I thought there would be more wars, and things would become more chaotic. When the NLD government ruled the country, it was careful about the conflicts to a certain extent since it had some association with international communities. However, after the military coup, I felt hopeless and discussed the possibility of arrest with the youth from my school. I also talked with my family, and they suggested I hide somewhere. I have my dad, mom, wife, and a child in my family. I felt more unsafe than ever before.
Since the coup, I told my family that an unexpected arrest could happen anytime and decided not to go outside often. After two months, my wife decided to go out on my behalf as I could be easily recognized in our community. I have a bag packed if I need to leave urgently to a safe place.
Another thing related to my school is that I have had to restrict the admission process due to security concerns. I have always been careful about security starting from 2018 after the armed conflicts in Rakhine, since I used to speak openly about human rights violations on my social media. After the coup, I carefully checked the students' backgrounds for months before accepting them.
As I said, I needed to be seriously careful about my security and reduce my use of Facebook. In fact, I kept using it mainly to encourage protesters. But after some time, I went quiet, and people wondered why I disappeared from social media. I needed to think about my family, including my wife and child. I decided to do my activities quietly on the ground, focusing on youth empowerment. After Cyclone Mocha hit us, I decided to start some activities online and did some live streams, with caution.
I have been living in Manaung Island since joining the Exam Preparation Outreach Program as a volunteer when I came back to Myanmar from the Thai border. For now I’m still teaching at my school. This year, I started calling a wider diversity of ethnic minorities from Rakhine. The ethnic minorities in the southern part of Rakhine are Kaman Muslims, Asho Chin, and Maramargyi. Other minority communities mostly live in the northern part of Rakhine. After the communal violence in 2017, I visited those areas and I found out that the people who suffered from the violence were mainly from the ethnic minority communities living in the border areas of Rakhine. Even though Rakhine people think we belong to the same nation, they do not feel the same way. For this reason, I would like to include them in my school program. Moreover, after they proposed I write for them, I am writing English news for some newspapers. I am also joining a diplomacy training initiated by the current president of East Timor. Another group I am communicating with is Korea-based for the country's unification.
I am lucky that my wife understands my commitment to my community. Even when I’m home with my family, my mind is always occupied, thinking about the Rakhine people, especially whenever an armed clash happens in Myanmar. Rakhine comrades are almost everywhere amid the armed conflicts. Although we could not fully trust the Arakan Army (AA), I am sure there are AA comrades fighting somewhere in the armed clashes.
I have always had a dilemma in my mind when fighting for hope. I do consider the whole of Myanmar in the peace process, but I am more interested in Rakhine because we have lots of things to do, not only about Muslim issues but also about the affairs of ethnic minorities. We are on our own. So, this is an opportunity to manage ourselves and even dream of building our nation, imagining this island as a state of that nation.
At the moment, I am not psychologically safe at all, and it reminds me of the same sentiment I had ten or fifteen years ago when I arrived back from Thailand. I never felt safe after returning, and now I feel even more at risk.
Preparing my mind to face any possible situation is the first thing I do to cope with the stress. I also meditate at night. I reflect on the uncertainties in our daily lives and prepare my mind for any situation. I also tell my family that they need to prepare their mind for any possibility. Another thing I do to cope with my anxiety is to think about the things I still need to do for Rakhine. I try to be strong, considering there are still so many things to be done for the youth. I think positively and study spiritual teachings, mainly focusing on Buddha's teachings.
Politically, I expect recognition of the Rakhine people. At times, I think there should be a separate Rakhine Nation, but at other times, I think it might be good to stay part of Myanmar. I think I want to try a separatist approach even if the international community will not recognize it as there is still so much discrimination in Rakhine. I have myself felt doubts and hatred in the past, but those feelings are long gone. I realized racism is a significant issue in our state, so I participate in some activities for the rights of the minorities, including the Rohingya people— although even the terminology is still sensitive for us.
I have discussed the sovereignty of Rakhine with the National Unity Government (NUG) representative. Sometimes, we share information and opinions about the affairs of ethnic minorities. So, I am indirectly involved in the future nation-building process.
When discussing the future envisioned by the Arakan Army, I always point out the need for human resources and policies. I like the way the AA stands and how they approach the future of Rakhine. I am saying this not because they are Rakhine, but because of their policies. I’m always thinking about how I should support them. The leaders of the AA do not have any set mindset about Burmese or Muslim hatred from the conversations I’ve had with them. I’ve gradually realized that the AA organization is for the future of Arakan, although I still need more detailed information about them. Only after the AA had risen did I find out about methods we could use for a peaceful solution and co-existence. The relationship with Burmese people is also improving because people use more evidence-based language while communicating. Seeing these changes, I am more hopeful for the future of Rakhine, with the idea that there will be a better situation if we start filling in the gaps. For example, how can I support the education sector? I do not have any plans to work with the NUG, although I was involved in the previous peace process, the Panglong Conference. Currently, I am mainly focusing on my school's programs.
Suppose the future of Myanmar is a federal system. There will still be many problems as there are many groups with different political interests, and the fighting might resume. Even if the Rakhine people would like to live separately as a nation, we will have good relationships with our neighbours like Yangon and Magway Regions, Bangladesh and India. If we have equal rights and opportunities, the Rakhine people can stay part of Myanmar. But no matter what, we want self-determination and are only interested in who will come and help us for now. I am still watching the attitudes and plans of future leaders and how they would like to go forward. Rakhine's future remains to be seen."
These stories are collected by the Real Stories Not Tales team. Real Stories Not Tales is a dedicated team in and out of Myanmar that aims to bring awareness to the reality of people's lives since the Myanmar military staged a coup on February 1st, 2021. Stories are collected through interviews with each protagonist by the team, either in Burmese or in English. Each character is drawn by a professional illustrator. RSNT is an anonymous name that is used by the group to guarantee security to all parties involved in the collection of the stories.