The Mayu Frontier District () was an administrative division of Burma (present-day

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

) that existed between 1961 and 1964. It covered the Maungdaw District of present-day

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 ...

in the historical region of

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 ...

. The zone was administered directly from the capital Rangoon (present-day

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Geography

The Mayu Frontier District was named after the Mayu River. It included Maungdaw Township,

Buthidaung Township Buthidaung Township ( ) is a township of Maungdaw District in the Rakhine State of Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in ...

and a part of Rathedaung Township. The Mayu Range of mountains separated Maungdaw and Buthidaung. The

Naf River The Naf River ( ''Naf Nodi'' ; ; ) is an international river marking part of the Bangladesh–Myanmar border, border of southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar. Geography The Naf's average depth is , and maximum depth is . Its width ...

estuary formed the northern boundary of the district, on the international border with

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

Background

After the 1960 Burmese general election, Sultan Mahmud, the Burmese health minister, advocated a state for 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 ...

community in the northern part of Arakan. Mahmud suggested the

Kaladan River The Kaladan (, ) or Kissapanadi River (, ), also known as the Beino, Bawinu and Kolodyne, is a river in the eastern Mizoram, Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar. The Kaladan River is called the Chhimtuip ...

as the boundary between Muslim-majority and Buddhist-majority Arakan. Mahmud submitted his proposal to the Statehood Consultative Committee. Mahmud said that Rohingyas would accept a joint state with Arakanese Buddhists if there was adequate protection and representation of the Rohingya. If adequate safeguards were not possible, Mahmud proposed that a separate northern Arakan zone should be administered directly from the national capital Rangoon. On 1 May 1961,http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs14/Kei_Nemoto-Rohingya.pdf the Prime Minister of Burma

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 ...

implemented Mahmud's ideas, albeit the new zone did not extend up to the Kaladan River.

Demographics

The Mayu Frontier District had a Rohingya majority, among whom most were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. During this period, the term "Rohingya" was widely used, including in the speeches of Burmese leaders and on Burmese radio broadcasts. The term was popularized by M. A. Gaffar after he submitted a memorandum to the first Burmese government in 1949.

Administration

Between 1961 and 1962, the Mayu Frontier District was governed by the elected government in Rangoon. 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 ...

ended Burmese

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...

. Following the coup, the Mayu Frontier District was directly administered by the

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

(Myanmar Armed Forces) and the

Union Revolutionary Council The Union Revolutionary Council (), officially the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma () or simply the Revolutionary Council (RC; ), was the supreme governing body of Burma (now Myanmar) from 2 March 1962, following the overthrow of U N ...

Dissolution

The Burmese military ended the special status of the district in February 1964. The Mayu Frontier area was placed under the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs. In 1974, when Burmese dictator

Ne Win Ne Win (; ; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002), born Shu Maung (; ), was a Burmese army general, politician and Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's mili ...

proclaimed the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, the Mayu Frontier area was incorporated into Arakan State as the Maungdaw District.

References