On a sweltering May day in an impoverished village in Rakhine State, sitting on the front porch of a house boasting several plastic chairs and, somewhat incongruously, a smart set of golf clubs, two men discuss local religious tensions surrounded by a bevy of curious neighbours.
“I only heard these names Rohingya or Bengali after 2012,” says U Ka Lu, the retired leader of the Muslim village of Sin Tet Maw. “The people here all just use the name Muslim.”
His old friend U Tun Aye Thein, who is leader of the nearby Buddhist ethnic Rakhine village of Sin Ai, nods in apparent agreement.
Sin Tet Maw and the surrounding Buddhist fishing villages in Pauktaw township are very remote. With mountains on one side and sea on the other, interaction with the outside world requires a boat. Buddhist and Muslim neighbours have long relied on each other for trade and assistance. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
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