Jeddah, KSA: Arakanese Rohingya patriotic singer, Shabir Ahmed (Shobu) died on November 19, 2009 at about 9:20 am at the King Abdul Aziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), according to Ronnie, who works for human rights of Rohingya in Jeddah. He was 59.

Shobu died due to failure of both kidneys. He was going through dialysis for the last one year. He was admitted to the hospital nearly two weeks ago, he said.

The Arakanese Rohingya patriotic singer, Shabir Ahmed (Shobu) son of Azhar Meah, hailed from Myoma Khayandan (Shidar Phara) village, Maungdaw.

Shobu left his home town Maungdaw in 1980 for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for his performing arts given the oppression of the Arakanese Rohingya community by the Burmese military junta.

Shobu was the main singer of the Arakanese Rohingya theatre in Maungdaw and Buthidaung where they (he and some patriotic youth groups) explained about the Arakanese Rohingya and their situation through their artistic performance, said an elder from Maungdaw.

He was a patriot and imparted love and patriotism to thousands of Arakanese Rohingya through his wonderful songs. Tears would roll down people’s cheeks, when they heard his songs like “Arakanor Meri Herejohar…..”, said his best friend, Mohamed Alam who loved his songs and worked for his stage shows in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Shobu was a friendly person and worked for his community whenever he had time and composed songs of his community situation in Arakan, said Alam.

“His songs were an inspiration and a shelter to run away from the many untold suffering that the Arakanese Rohingya have to go through,” he added.