Mohammed Abdul Gaffar (1910–1966), also known as Abdul Gaffar, was a politician from

Arakan Arakan ( or ; , ), formerly anglicised as Aracan, is the historical geographical name for the northeastern coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, covering present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar. The region was called "Arakan" for centuries. It is ...

, Burma (now

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

, Myanmar). He was elected to the

Legislature of Burma The Burma Legislature was the legislative body of British Burma from 1936 to 1947. As an elected body, the Legislature of Burma was a bicameral legislature consisting of the 36-seat Senate and the 132-seat House of Representatives. Establishment ...

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

from

Buthidaung Buthidaung (, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the westernmost part of Myanmar (Burma). It is the administrative seat of the Buthidaung Township. Buthidaung lies on the west bank of the Mayu river, and experienced severe flooding in June 2010 and ...

in 1947. After Burmese independence in 1948, the

President of Burma The president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar () is the head of state and constitutional head of government of Myanmar. The president chairs the National Defence and Security Council and normally leads the Cabinet of Myanmar, the ...

Sao Shwe Thaik Sao Shwe Thaik (, ''Tsaw³ Kham⁴soek³''; , ; 16 October 1895 – 21 November 1962) was a Burmese politician who served as the first president of the Union of Burma and the last Saopha of Yawnghwe. His full royal title was ''Kambawsaraht ...

appointed Gaffar as one of the seven members of the Inquiry Commission of Arakan in 1949. Gaffar was elected to the Chamber of Nationalities from

Akyab Sittwe (, ), formerly Akyab (), is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. As of 2019 the cit ...

West constituency in 1952. He was elected from

Maungdaw Maungdaw (, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the western part of Myanmar (Burma). It is the administrative seat of Maungdaw Township and Maungdaw District. Bordering Bangladesh, Maungdaw is home to one of 2 official border trade posts with Bang ...

in 1956. He also served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Health in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

U Nu Nu (; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as Burmese names#Honorifics, U Nu and also by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a prominent Burmese people, Burmese statesman and the first Prime Minister of Union of Burma. He was ...

. Gaffar was a member of the Rohingya community of Arakan, a state with the largest percentage of Indians in Burma. In 1949, Gaffar presented a memorandum to the Regional Autonomy Enquiry Commission describing Arakanese Indians as the "

Rohingya The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Ro ...

", based on the colloquial terms ''Rohang'' and ''Rohan'', the local Indian names of the region.

Early life

Gaffar was born in 1910 in the Rwanynotaung village of

in Arakan Division, Burma Province,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father was Ulah Meah. Gaffar attended the Chittagong Senior Madrasa in the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

, where he completed his secondary school studies in 1924. He completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from the

University of Dacca The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921 ...

in 1930 and a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...

degree from

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

in 1933. He served as a District Inspector of Schools (DIS) in Akyab from 1931 to 1942 and as a Township Officer (T.O) of Buthidaung from 1944 to 1945.

Political career

During the 1947 Burmese general election, Gaffar was elected to the Burmese constituent assembly as a representative of the Buthidaung constituency. On 4 January 1948, he took oath as a legislator of the Union of Burma. The first president of Burma appointed Gaffar as one of the seven members of the Inquiry Commission of Arakan in 1949. During the Burmese general election, 1951–52, he was elected to the Burmese

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

, the Chamber of Nationalities, as a representative of Akyab West. During the

1956 Burmese general election General elections were held in Burma on 27 April 1956 to elect the 250 members of the Burmese Chamber of Deputies. However, voting did not take place for 48 seats in which the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) candidates ran unopposed ...

, he was elected to the chamber as a representative of Maungdaw and Buthidaung. Burma's first prime minister appointed Gaffar as parliamentary secretary to oversee the Ministry of Health.

Memorandum of Appeal

On 20 November 1948, Gaffar presented a Memorandum of Appeal to the Principal Secretary of the Government of the Union of Burma asking for recognition of the Arakanese Indians as one of the "official nations" (ethnic groups) of Burma under the name Rohingya. The memorandum was published in the ''Guardian Daily'', an English newspaper in Burma, on 20 August 1951.

''We the Rohingyas of Arakan are a nation. We maintain and hold that Rohingyas and Arakanese are the two principal nations in Arakan. We are a nation of nearly 9
lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...
, which is sufficient for the population of a nation; and what is more is that we are a nation according to any definition of a nation, with our own distinctive culture and civilization,
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitude and ambitions; in short, we have our distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of
international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
the Rohingyas are a nation in Arakan.''

Political legacy

Despite Gaffar's call for constitutional recognition of his community, and increased Rohingya political participation in the 1950s; the Indian minority in Arakan faced discrimination after the

1962 Burmese coup d'état The 1962 Burmese coup d'état marked the beginning of one-party rule in Burma (Myanmar) and the political dominance of the military in Burmese politics. In the 2 March 1962 coup, the military replaced the civilian AFPFL-government headed ...

. The 1982 Burmese nationality law rendered the community stateless, by failing to recognize the Rohingya as one of Burma's "national races". Rohingyas are restricted from state education, government jobs and freedom of movement in Myanmar, with the conditions being described as similar to

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffar, M. A. Burmese Muslims Burmese politicians Rohingya politicians Aligarh Muslim University alumni University of Dhaka alumni People from Rakhine State 1910 births 1966 deaths

Early life

Political career

Memorandum of Appeal

Political legacy

See also

References