Couple’s love bridges Myanmar religious divide

[Buddhistforlife]

Born a Buddhist, he fell in love with a girl on the other side of the religious divide — a member of the Rohingya minority group shunned by Myanmar society at large.

He has since been ostracised by his former neighbours, lost his home and lives in a camp for displaced people in western Rakhine state, which is reeling from an upsurge of Buddhist-Muslim violence since June.

“The Rakhine side hated me when I converted to Islam,” he said

Mullah, 37, who changed his name from Kyaw Tun Aung, has had no contact with his parents since he married 10 years ago.

“For three days, my mother asked me why I was going to Islam, and I said that I didn’t like Buddhism, that I thought it was not the right religion,” he recalled.

His wife Amina, a round-faced 30-year-old with her hair tucked under a headscarf, said that despite the lack of tolerance for their marriage, they had “a very happy life” together.

“But since the violence, our life is hard,” she added.

Mullah, a construction worker, lived with his wife and three children in Rayngwesu, a Muslim district of the Rakhine state capital Sittwe, until clashes engulfed their neighbourhood in June.

He said the family’s home was one of the first to be torched.

Mullah’s background as a Rakhine Buddhist — who spent four years as a monk before converting one-and-a-half decades ago — did not help protect his home.

“Monks remembered me from the monastery, and they attacked my family and destroyed everything in my house,” he said.

Amina has not met her in-laws.

“I have never even seen them,” she said, adding that her husband was “a good Muslim”.

Their situation is unusual in Rakhine, despite estimates of around 800,000 Rohingya living in the state.
There are “not more than 100” mixed marriage couples, said Abu Tahay, a leader of the National Democratic Party for Development, which campaigns for the rights of the Rohingya — considered by the United Nations to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

“Some people meet and fall in love in school or doing business,” he said, but few opportunities for inter-religious courtship exist between the communities.

Oo Hla Saw, general secretary of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said he did know of one Muslim woman who had converted to Buddhism to marry a Rakhine, but “generally, Rakhine people do not accept mixed couples”.

A long history of discrimination and prejudice has left the Rohingya stateless, with restrictions placed on their movements and scant access to public services.

They are considered by the government and many ordinary people to be illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

June’s violence left about 90 people dead, according to official figures, although some rights groups estimate many more may have died. Three people were killed in the latest outbreak of violence on Tuesday.

Thousands from both communities were left homeless after whole villages were burned to the ground.

Now Mullah shares the fate of more than 50,000 Muslims, mainly Rohingya, who are housed in several wretched camps in the state, unable to go home.

For more than four months the family has lived with around 1,000 others in the Dabang camp on the outskirts of Sittwe.

Their flimsy white tent, lashed to a palm tree and bearing the slogan “Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Humanity”, is only a few metres square and pitched in thick mud as the monsoon drags on — a particular hardship as they struggle to look after their children including a six-month-old baby.

There is little sign of an end in sight — the fighting appears to have deepened animosities between the two communities, with growing calls among Buddhists for the Rohingya to be removed.

But Mullah and his wife said they have no regrets about choosing each other.

They even hope that one day they will be able to return to the lives they knew before and help reconcile the two communities.

“I want to go back to the city, where I lived for so many years,” Mullah said. “I would be very happy to live with Rakhine people.”

 

[Buddhistforlife]

@Taimur Khurram @UKBengali @Pan-Islamic-Pakistan @Imran Khan @pakpride00090 @Neptune_ @Pakhtoon yum @Zarvan @waz

 

[Imran Khan]

They should be punished for making 3 babies and not because of love or faith. They have nothing to feed themselves and they reproduced 3 lives

 

[Zane_K]

They should be punished for making 3 babies and not because of love or faith. They have nothing to feed themselves and they reproduced 3 lives

Punished ?
They're living a miserable existence already.. if you cannot feed, look after yourselves then how are you going to support 3 children. Lack of education /no protection/ upbringing /social norms / thinking ..if god blessing you with a pregnancy then you should have the child not abort it.
but yes Imran Khan I agree with you ..not the punishment though.

 

[Pakistani Fighter]

View attachment 600256

Born a Buddhist, he fell in love with a girl on the other side of the religious divide — a member of the Rohingya minority group shunned by Myanmar society at large.

He has since been ostracised by his former neighbours, lost his home and lives in a camp for displaced people in western Rakhine state, which is reeling from an upsurge of Buddhist-Muslim violence since June.

“The Rakhine side hated me when I converted to Islam,” he said

Mullah, 37, who changed his name from Kyaw Tun Aung, has had no contact with his parents since he married 10 years ago.

“For three days, my mother asked me why I was going to Islam, and I said that I didn’t like Buddhism, that I thought it was not the right religion,” he recalled.

His wife Amina, a round-faced 30-year-old with her hair tucked under a headscarf, said that despite the lack of tolerance for their marriage, they had “a very happy life” together.

“But since the violence, our life is hard,” she added.

Mullah, a construction worker, lived with his wife and three children in Rayngwesu, a Muslim district of the Rakhine state capital Sittwe, until clashes engulfed their neighbourhood in June.

He said the family’s home was one of the first to be torched.

Mullah’s background as a Rakhine Buddhist — who spent four years as a monk before converting one-and-a-half decades ago — did not help protect his home.

“Monks remembered me from the monastery, and they attacked my family and destroyed everything in my house,” he said.

Amina has not met her in-laws.

“I have never even seen them,” she said, adding that her husband was “a good Muslim”.

Their situation is unusual in Rakhine, despite estimates of around 800,000 Rohingya living in the state.
There are “not more than 100” mixed marriage couples, said Abu Tahay, a leader of the National Democratic Party for Development, which campaigns for the rights of the Rohingya — considered by the United Nations to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

“Some people meet and fall in love in school or doing business,” he said, but few opportunities for inter-religious courtship exist between the communities.

Oo Hla Saw, general secretary of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said he did know of one Muslim woman who had converted to Buddhism to marry a Rakhine, but “generally, Rakhine people do not accept mixed couples”.

A long history of discrimination and prejudice has left the Rohingya stateless, with restrictions placed on their movements and scant access to public services.

They are considered by the government and many ordinary people to be illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

June’s violence left about 90 people dead, according to official figures, although some rights groups estimate many more may have died. Three people were killed in the latest outbreak of violence on Tuesday.

Thousands from both communities were left homeless after whole villages were burned to the ground.

Now Mullah shares the fate of more than 50,000 Muslims, mainly Rohingya, who are housed in several wretched camps in the state, unable to go home.

For more than four months the family has lived with around 1,000 others in the Dabang camp on the outskirts of Sittwe.

Their flimsy white tent, lashed to a palm tree and bearing the slogan “Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Humanity”, is only a few metres square and pitched in thick mud as the monsoon drags on — a particular hardship as they struggle to look after their children including a six-month-old baby.

There is little sign of an end in sight — the fighting appears to have deepened animosities between the two communities, with growing calls among Buddhists for the Rohingya to be removed.

But Mullah and his wife said they have no regrets about choosing each other.

They even hope that one day they will be able to return to the lives they knew before and help reconcile the two communities.

“I want to go back to the city, where I lived for so many years,” Mullah said. “I would be very happy to live with Rakhine people.”

Pakistan should had invaded the Rohingiya places back

 

[Buddhistforlife]

Pakistan should had invaded the Rohingiya places back

Lol Rohingyas are majority in the bordering areas of Rakhine state. Overall Rakhine Buddhists are majority in Arakan

 

[jamahir]

They should be punished for making 3 babies and not because of love or faith. They have nothing to feed themselves and they reproduced 3 lives

You are correct but they might not have been educated by some government population control program because of the disputes that Myanmar is having presently.

But all the best to them.

Though I wish that all this converting to the husband's or wife's religion becomes not necessary. This is 2020.

 

[halupridol]

Punished ?
They're living a miserable existence already.. if you cannot feed, look after yourselves then how are you going to support 3 children. Lack of education /no protection/ upbringing /social norms / thinking ..if god blessing you with a pregnancy then you should have the child not abort it.
but yes Imran Khan I agree with you ..not the punishment though.

You are correct but they might not have been educated by some government population control program because of the disputes that Myanmar is having presently.

But all the best to them.

Though I wish that all this converting to the husband's or wife's religion becomes not necessary. This is 2020.

Just stop repeating these lies,,,lack of education,protection,upbringing n what not.just stop it.
One doesnt need to be a Phd or a rocket scientist to figure out how babies r made or how much resources they need to be able to survive in todays world.
They just want those children to live like they do,,like cockroaches.
These people r one of the worst of human beings.

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

Pakistan should had invaded the Rohingiya places back

There was a large separatist movement and they wanted to join pakistan. Then the munafikeen Bengalis created Bangladesh and thses people refused to be a part of Bangladesh.

 

[jamahir]

Just stop repeating these lies,,,lack of education,protection,upbringing n what not.just stop it.
One doesnt need to be a Phd or a rocket scientist to figure out how babies r made or how much resources they need to be able to survive in todays world.
They just want those children to live like they do,,like cockroaches.
These people r one of the worst of human beings.

Then why did India have the "Hum do humaare do" government-created family-planning program ??

 

[halupridol]

Then why did India have the "Hum do humaare do" government program ??

Yeah right,,,n it has worked wonders,,,our population doubled from what it was in '79.
Might i say majority of these breeders expect free doles from govt.
Be it education,health,jobs,food subsidies n what not.
Not to mention how hum do humare do is set to fail from the beginning.
Govt. gives Rs 1700 to patients undergoing vasectomy n similar amounts to women undergoing tubectomy procedures done in govt hospitals,,,,whereas one gets somthng around Rs 20000 for girl child.
So ppl just declare tht they had a girl child n take benefits in rural areas(whether its a boy or girl,,just give some money to asha worker,,,done deal)

 

[Buddhistforlife]

There was a large separatist movement and they wanted to join pakistan. Then the munafikeen Bengalis created Bangladesh and thses people refused to be a part of Bangladesh.

First of a there are no rohingya majority region in Rakhine state. What you are referring to are rohingya majority township near the Bangladesh Myanmar border. Buddhists are 65% of the total population of Arakan and are clear majority.

 

[Buddhistforlife]

Punished ?
They're living a miserable existence already.. if you cannot feed, look after yourselves then how are you going to support 3 children. Lack of education /no protection/ upbringing /social norms / thinking ..if god blessing you with a pregnancy then you should have the child not abort it.
but yes Imran Khan I agree with you ..not the punishment though.

How does God bless someone with pregnancy? It is the male who is engaging in intercourse and producing children.

Overpopulation is a real problem. South Asian people particularly south asian muslims should understand this.

Overpopulation leads to crime, illiteracy and many other problems

 

[jamahir]

So ppl just declare tht they had a girl child n take benefits in rural areas(whether its a boy or girl,,just give some money to asha worker,,,done deal)

Surely something would have become visible in the ten-yearly Census exercises ??

 

[Buddhistforlife]

You are correct but they might not have been educated by some government population control program because of the disputes that Myanmar is having presently.

But all the best to them.

Though I wish that all this converting to the husband's or wife's religion becomes not necessary. This is 2020.

Not possible. Humans are communal/social beings who are attached to certain communal/social values and order. If we leave religion and talk about ethnicity for example, then in many mixed race marriages, a girl/boy from one ethnic group is expected to follow the culture or social norms of their spouse. One may hate or like it but that's the truth.