Ever since grabbing power in 1988, the Burmese military junta has never officially referred to the regions of Arakan State as either "Northern" Arakan or "Southern" Arakan, despite its use of such terms as part of its divide and rule tactics in Shan State.

However, authorities recently referred to "South Arakan" and "North Arakan" in relation to a football match that was sponsored by the Western Command Commander General Thaung Aye.

The football match was held on the ground in Kyauk Pru, a district town in the middle of Arakan State, and seven townships located in the south of Arakan State were chosen to participate in the tournament.

The seven townships were Gwa, Thandwe, Taungup, Rambree, Manaung, Kyauk Pru, and Ann. The tournament was held from November 29 to December 7, 2008.

The tournament was titled, "Arakan State Chairman's Cup", but townships in the north of Arakan were not invited to send teams to the event.

Because the military authorities have never held such a tournament for Arakan's southern townships before, there is much speculation in the state that the event was coordinated as part of a divide and rule policy.

An Arakanese politician from Sittwe said he was also concerned by the government's choice of phrase for the event, saying, "It is a big problem for our people's unity if the government has plans to disturb Arakanese unity."

The past parliamentary government led by Minister U Nu from 1948 to 1962 also played politics with Arakanese identities, using the official terms "Northern Arakan" and "Southern Arakan".

Arakanese politicians from the south and the north were not unified, and shared power by taking the Arakan Region minister position for six months each in a year.

Prime Minister U Nu set up a university for Arakan State in the southern city of Kyauk Pru, the second largest city in the state, instead of in Sittwe, the state capital.

After its establishment there was conflict among the Arakanese people over whether the university should have been located in the state capital or in the central part of the state, and the university was subsequently closed down by the authorities.

Many Arakanese are now concerned that the government has restarted the practice of separating Southern Arakan and Northern Arakan because they had such a bitter experience under the past parliamentary government's use of such a convention.