Arakan State Day commemoration to be held virtually this year amid pandemic

By Myo Thiri Kyaw 14 Dec 2020

Myo Thiri Kyaw, DMG
14 December 2020, Sittwe 

The 46^th anniversary of Arakan State Day, to be observed on December 15, will be available for internet users to partake in via an online livestream, according to the Ministry of Arakanese Ethnic Affairs in Yangon Region.  

Tuesday’s live online event is being held thanks to a partnership between the ministry and the We Love Rakhine group, in an effort to offer an alternative to the crowds that might normally mark the occasion in a non-pandemic year, it said.   

The event will be available to stream on the We Love Rakhine Facebook page on December 15 from 8:50 a.m. to 7 p.m., said U Zaw Aye Maung, Yangon’s Arakanese ethnic affairs minister.  

“The event is being held to send a message to each and every one of the Arakanese people, who are from different political parties with different policies, to demand unitedly for the emergence of a genuine Arakan State,” he said.  

During the event, local products from Arakan State will be sold and paintings that capture the atmosphere of Arakan State will be sold at auction, said U Tun Tun Naing, chair of the We Love Rakhine group. 

“We Love Rakhine group has a project. It is to provide basic foods such as rice, cooking oil and salt worth K10,000 per a household for 55,000 households across 17 townships in Arakan State, including people in need and IDPs. Sixty percent of the state’s population are poor and deprived and this is our first donation to 10% of them,” he said.  

People watching the livestream event and other donors can contact the We Love Rakhine group to donate to IDPs in Arakan State, he added.  

The event will feature a programme titled “Arakan Vision 2030,” and includes talks by U Kyaw Thein Khaing (Arakanese Entrepreneurs’ Association); Daw Htoot May (Amyotha Hluttaw MP); Daw Tin Mar Aung (Rakhine Thahaya Association Yangon); U Kyaw Zaw Oo (Arakan Front Party); and U Khaing Kaung San (Wan Lark Foundation).   

Arakanese Ethnic Affairs Minister U Zaw Aye Maung, the historian Professor Dr. Aye Chan, We Love Rakhine chairperson U Tun Tun Naing, the author Sittwe Nyo Thant and Daw Aye Nu Sein will also give speeches to mark Arakan State Day. 

Arakanese vocalists Win Ko Khaing, Min Thar Ki, Thar Nge, Yadanar My and Nyi Min Khaing will entertain in the evening, from 5 p.m.