Rice Killing Day

On This Day in Arakan History ၊ August 13, 1967

August 13, 1967, is etched into the collective memory of the Arakanese people as "Rice Killing Day" (Sittwe Rice Crisis), a day of state-sponsored brutality that remains one of the most painful reminders of centralized failure.

During the height of Ne Win’s "Burmese Way to Socialism," catastrophic economic mismanagement led to a severe man-made rice shortage in the "Granary of Arakan."

While the state forcibly collected grain for export, the local population in Sittwe faced starvation. When thousands of desperate citizens, including monks and students, took to the streets to demand food, the military responded not with relief, but with bullets.

The massacre resulted in the deaths of scores of protesters—official figures claimed around 24, but local accounts suggest hundreds were killed or disappeared as the military opened fire on the crowds near the Sittwe rice mills.

Photo Related to the Incident (photocrd)

Photo Related to the Incident (photocrd)

This event shattered any remaining trust in the central government’s "socialist" promises. It proved that the state prioritized the extraction of Arakan’s resources over the very lives of its people, treating a humanitarian plea as a political insurrection.

In the contemporary "Rakhita" struggle, August 13th is observed as a day of national mourning and a symbol of "Internal Colonialism." 

It serves as the historical justification for the pursuit of total food sovereignty and resource control. For today's generation, the Rice Killing Day is a solemn reminder that as long as the "keys to the granary" are held by a distant, indifferent capital, the survival of the Arakanese people will always be at risk. It remains a foundational catalyst for the modern revolutionary movement's demand for self-governed security.