Naseer Al-Maghamsi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

 

Most people acknowledge the existence of the Burmese but few know about their lives in the Kingdom, where they came from and what exactly happened in their home country that forced them to leave.



There are an estimated 500,000 Burmese in the Kingdom who can be divided into four groups: Pakistani citizens, Bangladeshi citizens, those carrying identification cards and those who have no identification documents.



Abdullah Qarrash, chairman of the Committee for Residency Status Correction of the Burmese Community, said the process to correct the status of members of the community started two years ago under direct supervision of Makkah Governorate and with the effective participation of several government agencies.



He said the governorate had studied the issue of the community members’ status with consideration given to legal, security, social, educational and health factors.



A report is submitted to it every week concerning the correction process that is still ongoing, he added.



The Burmese status correction process is the result of a proposal submitted to the late King Abdullah by Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal in 2013.



The proposal suggested implementing the correction process for the Burmese community as part of the governorate’s plan to develop unplanned districts.



Prince Khaled sponsored the launch of the headquarters to carry out the process in the presence of the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and members of the team assigned to conduct the required studies and surveys in addition to senior officials of Makkah Province and members of the Burmese community.



The Burmese have formed councils to look after the community’s interests in the areas they tend to be concentrated in such as Makkah, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh and the Eastern Province.



In Jeddah, most of the Burmese community members live in Kilo 14 District. Um Assalam District Mayor Ahmad Al-Mabadi said: “The area extending from the old vegetable market to Alazizia Spring premises is known as the Barmawis neighborhood (the Burmese District).



 “They have been living in the area for years and many of them have integrated into the Saudi society and culture. “Many marital relations exist between them and Saudi families. “Their Saudi relatives and many Saudis living in the area have learned to speak Burmese.”



Abu Alshama Abdulmajeed, head of the Burmese community in the Kingdom, said Burmese in the Kingdom are immigrants.



Their immigration to close countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh and then Saudi Arabia 60 years ago was the result of the religious persecution they were subjected to in their country, he said. Being an immigrant community, the Burmese are concentrated in certain districts.



“We worked on establishing councils in every city where community members reside to solve any issue they may face,” he said.



The first group arrived in Makkah and resided in Attantabawi, Al-Zuhoor, Al-Rusaifa and Al-Khansa districts in addition to Al-Hajj Street, he said, adding that Burmese immigration to the Kingdom had stopped except for a limited number of those who went to other countries and came to Saudi Arabia carrying Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian passports.



Most of the Burmese in the Kingdom are part of generations whose grandfathers settled in the country decades ago.



The government is correcting their status in order to enable them to have access to job opportunities.



“The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques’ government enabled the Burmese community members to have more job opportunities by granting them legal residency,” Abdulmajeed said.



Salah Abdul Shakour, an Arakan News Agency official and Burmese community member, said the community has excelled in Holy Qur’an memorization activities, including efforts to teach the holy book to the youths.



They represent 70 percent of the total number of non-Saudi Holy Qur’an teachers and students in Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah.



Other members had also been selected as imams in Makkah and Madinah including Dr. Muhammad Ayoub, who had been the imam of the Prophet’s Mosque.