Local attendance sparse at Arakan State Day celebration in Sittwe

By DMG 15 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
15 December 2022, Sittwe

Local people were not interested in the 48th anniversary of Arakan State Day event organised by the military regime and only civil servants under the military junta attended the event, said people who visited the celebrations.

According to people who attended the Arakan State Day ceremony in Sittwe, security was tight and there were hardly any locals.

“I was checked by security personnel at a checkpoint before going to the park to celebrate the Arakan State Day event,” said an unnamed resident of Sittwe. “I replied that I had come to attend the Arakan State Day event, and the police pressed a badge on my shirt and gave me a security card. I was told to leave my mobile phone at the checkpoint. So I decided not to join the Arakan State Day celebration and returned home. This year’s Arakan State Day event didn’t attract many locals in Arakan State.”

This year’s Arakan State Day, which fell on December 15, was commemorated at U Ottama Park and Khaing Thazin Park in Sittwe, with Daw Aye Nu Sein, a member of the State Administration Council (SAC), in attendance along with Arakan State military council members, departmental staff and a few locals.

A DMG reporter saw around 50 junta soldiers and police providing security along the road near U Ottama Park. Locals speculated that the limited number of visitors to the Arakan State Day event might have been due to tight security by the soldiers.

“I came to this year’s Arakan State Day celebrations as the event was scheduled to include traditional Chinlone and other sporting events,” said U Aung San Tun, a resident of Ponnagyun. “Many people celebrated Arakan State Day events in the past. I came back as dozens of security personnel were deployed. People dared not join the event as junta soldiers and police were deployed at the event.”

The last Arakan State Day was celebrated virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Hundreds of people participated in previous Arakan State Day celebrations.

Former political prisoner U Khaing Kaung San said the “junta-organised” aspect of this year’s Arakan State Day commemoration may have been the reason that local residents were less likely to participate in the event, as awareness among the Arakanese people has broadened.

“Arakanese people have become more aware and knowledgeable; they are no longer interested in Arakan State Day as it was in the past. Previously, the people of Arakan happily participated in the Arakan State Day. The Arakan Army is getting stronger and trying to achieve confederation, so the Arakan people are no longer interested in celebrating Arakan State Day,” he explained.

According to the 1974 Constitution drafted during the Burma Socialist Programme Party, Arakan State Day was designated on December 15, 1974, when Arakan Region was designated as Arakan State.

The 48th anniversary of Arakan State Day came in the wake of the military and Arakan Army observing an informal ceasefire on November 26, after some four months of renewed conflict in Arakan State and neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township.