were acknowledged as an ethnic group, and they did not experience broad denials of their existence as a separate ethnicity. Despite the legal ambiguity that surrounded Arakan, the region remained peaceful following Burma’s independence. The same cannot be said for other groups or regions of the country. Social tensions and grievances were exacerbated when, acting on the orders of Aung San’s political opponent and right wing presidential candidate U Saw, a group of armed men burst into the Secretariat Building in Rangoon and assassinated Aung San and all of his high-ranking AFPFL members. Seekins explains: “This irrational act . . . was a terrible national tragedy, reflecting the violence that had become endemic in the country during and after the war and removing the one Burma (Bamar) leader who had won trust of the minorities” (Seekins, 2006, pp. 27-28). Following Aung San’s assassination, the British governor appointed U Nu to be his successor and to lead Burma as prime minister following Burma’s official Independence Day on January 4, 1948. Not long after the Burmese administration took over governance from the British, Arakan Muslims petitioned Rangoon to integrate Maungdaw and Buthidaung regions of northern Arakan into East Pakistan. This request was denied, and Muslims in general were labeled as hostile to the new, predominantly Bamar, government. This highlights the fact that from modern Burma’s earliest conception the northern-most portion of Arakan has been highly contested. Moreover, regions populated by non-Bamar groups were incorporated as part of the new nation which led to fresh debate among the governing elites. Some sought to use this historic moment in Burma’s story as a means to create a Bamar Buddhist polity that would exclude other religions and ethnicities. Others, including Aung San, strove to ensure that Burma would be an inclusive state supporting 9