270WESTERN MYANMAR
RAKHAING STATE
RAKHAING STATE
The southern half of this state, which can
also be spelled ‘Rakhine’, is the only part that
foreign tourists can reach by bus, in addition
to by air. Here you’ll fi nd some of Myanmar’s
best beaches. The northern part of the state,
home to the capital Sittwe, must be accessed
by air or boat. History
Rakhaing’s historical roots are linked to those
of northern India, which held political and
cultural sway over the region for centuries
before the land fell under Bagan’s (Pagan’s)
dominance during medieval times. In 1430
the local king Naramithla returned after
three decades in exile in the Bengali city of
Guar and established a new capital at Mrauk
U, from where Rakhaing was ruled for the
next 400 years. When the British annexed the
state in 1826, the capital was moved to Sittwe.
With ethnic Rakhaing making up the ma-
jority of the population, there has been a per-
sistent move for autonomy from Myanmar
since Independence. In the 2010 election, the
Rakhaing Nationalities Development Party
(RNDP) had 35 of its candidates elected
across the national and local assemblies,
making it one of the most successful of the
ethnic parties.
In October 2010 Rakhaing’s coast was bat-
tered by Cyclone Giri, killing over 150 and
leaving another 70,000 people homeless.
Unlike when Cyclone Nargis hit in 2008, the
government took steps to ensure the safetyof those in Giri’s path, evacuating some
50,000 people from the port of Kyaukpyu,
under development as the terminus for an
oil pipeline to China.Ngapali Beach
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% 43
It feels weird to think about ‘getting away
from it all’ while in Myanmar, but Ngapali’s
idyllic palm-lined beach is the place to do it.
With pristine white sands on the Bay of Ben-
gal’s blue water, Ngapali – some say named
by a wayward Italian reminiscing about his
Napoli years ago – serves as the country’s
beach hot-spot for a jet-set crew of (mostly)
older Europeans and rich locals.
The place preserves its fi shing-village
roots with small boats heading out day and
night to catch a bounty that is later served
up superfresh in restaurants and hotels. Ox-
drawn carts amble along the beach as locals
fi nd the sand-ways a smoother ride than the
rough one-lane road. And barely a dozen
bungalow-style resorts over 2 miles gives a
lot of space on the beach.
Even at the height of the season, Ngapali
is a snoozy, early-to-bed place. But this could
soon change, as several new big resorts are in
the works and Tay Za (see p 26 ) is said to be
bankrolling the extension of the airport, to be
completed in the next three years, to enable
direct fl ights from Bangkok and Singapore.
Peak season is from November to March.
Things get even quieter in rainy season
(mid-May to mid-September) when fl ightsRAKHAING OR ARAKAN?The interchangeable terms Rakhaing and Arakan are frequently used and refer to the
people, the state and the local language. Arakan is actually derived from the way foreign
visitors from centuries ago pronounced the word Rakhaing. As it harkens to the era when
Mrauk U was a regional powerhouse, English-speaking locals often use the term with a
particular pride.
Names aside, there’s still debate over whether the Rakhaing are actually Bamar (Bur-
mans) with Indian blood, Indians with Bamar characteristics or a separate race (as is
claimed locally). Although the fi rst inhabitants of the region were a dark-skinned Negrito
tribe known as the Bilu, later migrants from the eastern Indian subcontinent developed
the fi rst Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in Myanmar before the fi rst Christian millennium.
These kingdoms fl ourished before the invasion of the Tibeto-Burmans from the north
and east in the 9th and 18th centuries. The current inhabitants of the state may thus be
mixed descendants of all three groups: Bilu, Bengali and Bamar.
The Rakhaing proudly speak ‘Arakan’, a language they claim birthed Bamar (and it’s
certainly related). But the national government uses Bamar in state communications
and supposedly forbids study of the Rakhaing script.