Border News Agency
Sittwe, May 20
Due to the Arakan decisive war, traditional handloom businesses in the Arakan region have come to a halt, according to local artisans.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the junta forces have blocked all road and water routes across the region, effectively cutting off the flow of goods into Arakan and imposing strict trade restrictions.
Due to the blockade and restrictions, handloom business owners say they can no longer purchase raw cotton, nor export finished fabrics. In addition, frequent power outages caused by ongoing clashes have made it impossible for their operations to run as usual, forcing them to shut down their businesses.
“A year has now passed since the handloom businesses came to a halt,” said a female handloom business owner from Sittwe Township to Border News Agency. “When the clashes first started, we still had electricity, so the machines could run and we were able to continue operating. But after the power was cut off, all the handloom businesses had to shut down — and it has remained that way to this day.”
The Arakan Army launched an offensive on Ponnakyun Township on February 21, 2024, and fully seized control of the area by March 4.
During the course of the battle to capture the township, Myanmar junta forces carried out heavy artillery shelling and airstrikes targeting villages located between Sittwe and Ponnakyun townships – areas where many traditional handloom businesses operate, according to local weavers.
Due to the artillery shelling and airstrikes, traditional handloom workers have been forced to flee their homes and take shelter elsewhere, resulting in the suspension of handloom operations, according to the weavers.
“We have relied on traditional handloom weaving skills passed down through generations to make a living. But once the fighting started, all our work came to a halt. Some villages were burned to the ground, and I don’t even know if our looms survived. It’s heartbreaking to think that Rakhine’s traditional handloom industry might disappear like this,” Daw Oo Than Sein, a former weaver from Wah Bo village in Sittwe Township, told Border News Agency.
“There’s a shortage of workers for weaving, and raw cotton threads imported from central Myanmar have become too expensive. On top of that, demand for handwoven fabrics has dropped significantly. Due to all this — combined with financial hardship during the war — we’ve had no choice but to suspend our weaving businesses,” former weavers explained.
Weaving has long been a traditional livelihood for residents in villages such as Taw Kan, Kyar Ma Thauk, Rar Tan, Wah Bo, Thein Tan, and Kan Kaw Kyun in Sittwe Township, as well as Ray Roe Prin and Kha Maung Taw in Ponnakyun Township, according to former weavers.
They also said that their handwoven textiles were once sold not only across different regions within Myanmar but even exported abroad.
In Arakan, traditional weavers say their communities were already struggling to recover after Cyclone Mocha struck on May 14, 2023, destroying many of their looms. Just as they were trying to rebuild their livelihoods, renewed conflict in the region forced them to suspend their work once again.
Because of this, traditional weavers and the people of Arakan are hopeful to rebuild the weaving industry but also worried it may disappear altogether.
