Sultan Mahmud (1900 – 1982) was a politician from Arakan, Burma (now

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

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

). In the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

(which included

Burma Province ( Burmese) , conventional_long_name = Colony of Burma , common_name = Burma , era = Colonial era , event_start = First Anglo-Burmese War , year_start = 1824 , date_start = ...

until 1937), Mahmud served as cabinet secretary in the

Central Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was also sometim ...

. After Burmese independence, he was elected to the

Parliament of Burma The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စု လွှတ်တော် lit. Assembly of the Union) is the ''de jure'' national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar (officially known as the ''Republic of the Union of M ...

through a by election 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 1957. He was re-elected in 1960. He served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

of the

Union of Burma Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

from 1960 till the

1962 Burmese coup d'état The 1962 Burmese coup d'état on 2 March 1962 marked the beginning of one-party rule and the political dominance of the army in Burma (now Myanmar) which spanned the course of 26 years. In the coup, the military replaced the civilian AFPFL- ...

. When Burma was considering becoming a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

state under Prime Minister

U Nu Nu ( my, ဦးနု; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as U Nu also known by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a leading Burmese statesman and nationalist politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Burma under the pr ...

's "unity in diversity" policies, Mahmud proposed that Arakanese Indians should either have a separate province covering the area between the Naf and

Kaladan River The Kaladan River ( my, ကုလားတန်မြစ်, ; also Kysapnadi, Beino, Bawinu and Kolodyne) is a river in eastern Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar. The Kaladan River is called the ...

s; or if a separate Arakan province is established with Arakanese Buddhists, it should have a confessionalist structure, with Muslims and Buddhists alternating as provincial governor.

Early life

Mahmud was born in

Akyab Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emp ...

in 1900. He was educated in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

Political career

When Burma was a part of British India, Mahmud held the important post of cabinet secretary in the Central Legislative Assembly in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. During a by-election in 1957, Mahmud was elected to the

Union Parliament The Union Parliament ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်) was the bicameral legislature of the Union of Burma from 1948 to 1962, when it was disbanded by the Union Revolutionary Council. It consisted of an upper h ...

from Buthidaung North constituency. He was appointed

health minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

in the cabinet of

Prime Minister of Burma The prime minister of Myanmar is the head of government of Myanmar. The post was re-established in 2021 by the State Administration Council, the country's ruling military junta, to lead its nominally-civilian provisional government. The provis ...

. Mahmud was re-elected during the

1960 Burmese general election General elections were held in Burma on 6 February 1960 to install a government to take over from General Ne Win's interim administration, established in October 1958. The military-led administration was credited for bringing stability and improv ...

. He was head of a

Arakanese Muslim Association The Arakanese Muslim Association was a political party in Burma. The party was led by Sultan Mahmud, who served as Minister of Health during the U Nu period.Jacques Leider (2018"Rohingya: The History of a Muslim Identity in Myanmar"''Oxford Resea ...

and Arakanese Muslims Organization. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340754874_Rohingya_The_History_of_a_Muslim_Identity_in_Myanmar_Summary_and_Keywords Mr. Mahmud was arrested by the British after the war because he participated in the Indian liberation movement and helped Japanese forces and BAI forces to entered Arakan during the war. He was sentenced for ten months at the Jhingergacha jail, Josore. He was freed after Japan forces surrendered. In 1962, after dictator U Ne Win coup, minister Mahmud escaped and asylum in East Pakistan. He returned to his country in 1970. During his tenure as health minister, several hospitals were established in Arakan, including the Akyab General Hospital and Buthidaung Hospital. As an MP, Mahmud persuaded the education ministry to establish several schools, including the Shaheb Bazaar State Middle School and Minglagyi State Middle School. He also managed to create a scholarship program for Arakanese Indian students to study in Britain.

Statehood question

After winning in the 1960 general election, Prime Minister U Nu appointed an Inquiry Commission to study whether Arakan Division should be granted statehood. The commission found that most Arakanese Buddhists supported statehood, whereas most Arakanese Indians (Muslim majority) opposed statehood. Sultan Mahmud proposed that a state for Arakanese Indians be established in the northern part of Arakan, where Indians were a majority. Mahmud cited the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

's expeditions up till the Kaladan River under

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (22 November 1600 – 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the subahdar of Mughal Bengal. A maternal uncle to the emperor Aurangzeb, he acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan initially governed ...

in 1666 as forming the basis of the boundary between Arakanese Muslims and Buddhists. The Kaladan River divided Muslim-majority and Buddhist-majority areas.

Memorandum

On 20 October 1960, Sultan Mahmud and his colleagues submitted a memorandum to the Statehood Consultative Committee. The memorandum laid down two conditions for statehood: 1) if the Arakanese Buddhists would support their demands; and 2) if the constitution of the proposed province would include adequate safeguards for Indian autonomy. The governor of the new state would alternate between Indians and Arakanese Buddhists. The proposal mentioned that if the governor of a state was a Muslim, then the Speaker of the State Council would have to be a non-Muslim, but his deputy, a Muslim; and vice versa. The same arrangement would apply to most other elected or appointed public bodies. The memorandum called for

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...

, including freedom to learn religious studies in educational institutions, according to personal beliefs. Arakanese Indians should be allowed to develop the

Rohingya language Rohingya (), also known as Ruáingga ( Hanifi Rohingya: ; ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Rohingya people of Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Bengali–Assamese branch, and is closely r ...

and culture. The chief executive would have a designated officer to oversee the affairs of Arakanese Indians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmud, Sultan Burmese politicians Burmese Muslims Rohingya politicians People from Rakhine State 1900 births 1982 deaths

Early life

Political career

Statehood question

Memorandum

See also

References