Demonstration of 1988

DEMONSTRATIONS OF 1988

After a quarter century of Ne Win's rule, Burma's severe economic crisis finally forced its citizens to face en masse the army's machine guns in 1988. In September 1987 his regime announced its third and most devastating demonetization. A government order canceled, without compensation, about 80 percent of the country's banknotes, wiping out the life savings of many ordinary citizens. That event contributed, with massive increases in rice prices, to near complete loss of confidence in the government and in the economy. Sporadic student protests occurred through late 1987. A student incident in March 1988 precipitated a crescendo of student demonstrations and confrontations with the army and police. The government closed all schools and universities, arrested thousands of students, and killed hundreds more, but it could not stop the gathering momentum of a society's outrage. Buddhist monks, the most respected group in Burmese society, started to join the students in increasing numbers. Demonstrations persisted month after month, gathering participation by more and more groups. In July 1988 Ne Win resigned as head of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, calling for economic reforms and a referendum on the issue of a one-party or multiparty system. His resignation was followed by a brief period of political chaos. A series of governments appointed by Ne Win's governing party--with, it is generally accepted, Ne Win in control from behind the scenes--attempted to stem the prodemocracy demonstrations and to restore order. Despite a declaration of martial law, massive arrests, and the ongoing murder of peaceful demonstrators, the protests persisted and grew. On 8 August 1988 a general strike began in Burma. During the next few days, military attacks on the protestors became bloodier. Demonstrations grew in response to the violence. Millions took to the streets throughout the country. People from all parts of society, including many police and military, pined the students and monks to demand democracy, human rights, the resignation of the ruling party's government, and an end to ruinous economic practices. During this brief, heady period, important opposition leaders appeared. An elderly U Nu, the prime minister deposed by Ne Win in 1962, emerged from obscurity to proclaim a parallel government with himself as prime minister, claiming that he had been the last and only leader legitimately elected by the people. U Tin U, a former chief of staff and minister of defense under Ne Win, sided with the prodemocracy campaign and helped to lead it. Most notably, Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of modern Burma's slain founder, Aung San, assumed the most visible leadership role among the opposition forces. On 26 August she spoke to a crowd of more than 500,000 people, immediately capturing the imagination of Burma and the world. In September, as demonstrations demanding the government's resignation became more militant, the ruling party convened a second emergency congress and proposed to hold general elections under a multiparty system. Mammoth daily demonstrations rejected the government's control and called for an interim government to oversee elections. Then on 18 September 1988 the military, which had never really surrendered power amid the desperate governmental shuffles that followed Ne Win's resignation, staged a fake coup. General Saw Maung announced that the military had assumed power in the form of a State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), with himself as prime minister, foreign minister, and defense minister. The new regime, whose real power remained the eminence grise Ne Win, determined to put down the mass uprising at any cost. It succeeded, and the cost was great. The ensuing bloodbath was far worse in absolute numbers than the similar and more notorious crackdown executed by the Chinese the following year. DEMONSTRATIONS OF 1988 After a quarter century of Ne Win's rule, Burma's severe economic crisis finally forced its citizens to face en masse the army's machine guns in 1988. In September 1987 his regime announced its third and most devastating demonetization. A government order canceled, without compensation, about 80 percent of the country's banknotes, wiping out the life savings of many ordinary citizens. That event contributed, with massive increases in rice prices, to near complete loss of confidence in the government and in the economy. Sporadic student protests occurred through late 1987. A student incident in March 1988 precipitated a crescendo of student demonstrations and confrontations with the army and police. The government closed all schools and universities, arrested thousands of students, and killed hundreds more, but it could not stop the gathering momentum of a society's outrage. Buddhist monks, the most respected group in Burmese society, started to join the students in increasing numbers. Demonstrations persisted month after month, gathering participation by more and more groups. In July 1988 Ne Win resigned as head of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, calling for economic reforms and a referendum on the issue of a one-party or multiparty system. His resignation was followed by a brief period of political chaos. A series of governments appointed by Ne Win's governing party--with, it is generally accepted, Ne Win in control from behind the scenes--attempted to stem the prodemocracy demonstrations and to restore order. Despite a declaration of martial law, massive arrests, and the ongoing murder of peaceful demonstrators, the protests persisted and grew. On 8 August 1988 a general strike began in Burma. During the next few days, military attacks on the protestors became bloodier. Demonstrations grew in response to the violence. Millions took to the streets throughout the country. People from all parts of society, including many police and military, pined the students and monks to demand democracy, human rights, the resignation of the ruling party's government, and an end to ruinous economic practices. During this brief, heady period, important opposition leaders appeared. An elderly U Nu, the prime minister deposed by Ne Win in 1962, emerged from obscurity to proclaim a parallel government with himself as prime minister, claiming that he had been the last and only leader legitimately elected by the people. U Tin U, a former chief of staff and minister of defense under Ne Win, sided with the prodemocracy campaign and helped to lead it. Most notably, Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of modern Burma's slain founder, Aung San, assumed the most visible leadership role among the opposition forces. On 26 August she spoke to a crowd of more than 500,000 people, immediately capturing the imagination of Burma and the world. In September, as demonstrations demanding the government's resignation became more militant, the ruling party convened a second emergency congress and proposed to hold general elections under a multiparty system. Mammoth daily demonstrations rejected the government's control and called for an interim government to oversee elections. Then on 18 September 1988 the military, which had never really surrendered power amid the desperate governmental shuffles that followed Ne Win's resignation, staged a fake coup. General Saw Maung announced that the military had assumed power in the form of a State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), with himself as prime minister, foreign minister, and defense minister. The new regime, whose real power remained the eminence grise Ne Win, determined to put down the mass uprising at any cost. It succeeded, and the cost was great. The ensuing bloodbath was far worse in absolute numbers than the similar and more notorious crackdown executed by the Chinese the following year. The international press estimated 3,000-10,000 killed, with thousands more imprisoned. In some cases soldiers went berserk, firing at random. Uniformed Red Cross workers were gunned down to keep them from reaching the injured. In some places Buddhist monks tried to stop the slaughter by surrounding the soldiers or forming a human barrier between soldiers and demonstrators. Some of the monks, too, were killed. Although demonstrations continued sporadically for months, the main force of the prodemocracy uprising was broken by brutal force and terror. The general strike ended. Ten to twelve thousand students fled to the border jungle regions where they took refuge with the ethnic minorities who, in some cases, had been fighting Rangoon for more than 40 years. In June 1989 the military junta changed Burma's name to Myanmar, the ethnic Burman name for Burma, and also changed the names of many cities; Rangoon, for example, became Yangon. This act echoed the Khmer Rouge's short-lived attempt to obliterate Cambodia's name. The UN, most governments, some foreign newspapers, and some nongovernment organizations have adopted the new names. Others refuse to do so, on the grounds that the name changes are yet another expression of oppression.

The international press estimated 3,000-10,000 killed, with thousands more imprisoned. In some cases soldiers went berserk, firing at random. Uniformed Red Cross workers were gunned down to keep them from reaching the injured. In some places Buddhist monks tried to stop the slaughter by surrounding the soldiers or forming a human barrier between soldiers and demonstrators. Some of the monks, too, were killed. Although demonstrations continued sporadically for months, the main force of the prodemocracy uprising was broken by brutal force and terror. The general strike ended. Ten to twelve thousand students fled to the border jungle regions where they took refuge with the ethnic minorities who, in some cases, had been fighting Rangoon for more than 40 years. In June 1989 the military junta changed Burma's name to Myanmar, the ethnic Burman name for Burma, and also changed the names of many cities; Rangoon, for example, became Yangon. This act echoed the Khmer Rouge's short-lived attempt to obliterate Cambodia's name. The UN, most governments, some foreign newspapers, and some nongovernment organizations have adopted the new names. Others refuse to do so, on the grounds that the name changes are yet another expression of oppression.

Civil War

CIVIL WAR

Civil war has bled Burma and the people of Burma for more than forty years. Its roots lie in Burma's patchwork of more than 100 ethnic groups. The majority ethnic Burmans live mostly in the central river valleys, and the many minority populations are scattered in a large arc among the mountains and forests of Burma's remote border regions. Just before the British withdrew from Burma, several ethnic minorities agreed to join the proposed union in return for certain guarantees: political equality, respect for and preservation of their traditional languages and cultures, and a federal arrangement whereby they would retain considerable autonomy in their own domains. The formula for Burma's heterogeneous population was to be majority rule and minority rights. The intention was good, but in practice discrimination and various abuses led to a gradual breakdown of trust between the minorities and the new nation's central government, which was controlled by the majority ethnic Burmans. Ethnic groups organized themselves against oppression and attempts at assimilation or annihilation. Some allied themselves with the communist insurgency which began with Burma's independence. In the early 1960s the civil government under Prime Minister U Nu determined to end this debilitating civil war by coming to terms with the country's rebel minorities. A "federal seminar" to reconcile differences was in progress in 1962 when General Ne Win deposed the government and discontinued negotiations. In 1963, peace talks were convened but very soon broke down. The regime accused the various insurgent movements of being insincere, while leaders of the various opposition armies all agreed that Ne Win wanted only their surrender. Ne Win decided instead to resolve issues between his government and the ethnic minorities by crushing them militarily. The military developed a strategy known as the Four Cuts--cutting food, funds, intelligence, and recruits from the resistance. In practice this has meant destruction of crops, forced relocation of villages, looting, rape, and murder. The Four Cuts strategy has been reportedly practiced in all parts of Burma since the mid-1960s. The military government's basic policy on all complex issues is summed up succinctly by large white signs in Burmese and English displayed throughout the country today: "Crush Every Disruptive Element!" The Ne Win dictatorship and the junta which succeeded him have consistently chosen to respond with force rather than negotiation. "In political tactics there are such things as dialogue and so forth," General Saw Maung, the current head of state, has said. "But in our military science there is no such thing as dialogue." When the prodemocracy uprising was crushed in 1988, 10,000-12,000 students fled to take refuge with, and to make common cause with, various ethnic groups along the borders of Thailand, India, and China. Others fled into Thailand. Some became armed guerrillas, others set up schools and medical facilities to serve the minority populations. In November 1988 the refugees from the prodemocracy movement of the cities joined with various ethnic minority forces and expatriate Burmese to create the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB). When SLORC refused to hand over power to the National League for Democracy (NLD) after the League's landslide electoral victory in 1990, and when it was clear that the generals intended to destroy the League, in October 1990 more than 200 representatives elected to parliament met and voted to form a seven-person provisional government to claim power from the junta. When their plans were discovered by SLORC, many were arrested. The designated members of the provisional government escaped to the jungle. On 18 December 1990 the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), led by Aung San Suu Kyi's cousin, Dr. Sein Win, established itself in Manerplaw, the capital of the Karen ethnic minority near the Thai border. Though lacking in resources or military power, this parallel government nonetheless poses a considerable political threat to SLORC, which has no real claim to legitimacy. There in Manerplaw a milestone in the fractious history of modern Burma occurred. The democratically elected parliamentarians of the National League for Democracy, refugee students, and the umbrella organization representing all 21 ethnic groups fighting the military government formed an alliance. The NCGUB stated its goals: to eliminate the militarization of the country, to achieve democratic rights and human rights, and to establish a genuine federal union where the rights of minority groups, including rights of self-determination, are fully guaranteed. Such political accord is unprecedented in modern Burma. If the provisional government and its alliance should survive, it would constitute the best political hope for Burma's future. The fate of the parallel government, the refugee students, and the minority insurgents looks difficult at best. The Burmese army outnumbers the rebels tenfold, and its huge cache of new weaponry is being used to devastating effect. In 1991 many insurgent camps fell to the Burmese military, though there have been rebel victories as well. With the communist insurgency dead, some minority rebels have been bought off with the heroin trade, and three groups have surrendered. The vastly superior numbers and firepower of the Burmese military is pitted against rebel endurance in a struggle that causes, year after year, vast human suffering. General Saw Maung himself admitted that as a result of more than forty years of civil war, the death toll "would reach as high as millions, I think. Indeed, it really is no good."

Heroin

HEROIN

Besides natural resources, the other big source of revenue for Burma's despots has been opium, which is refined into heroin. If Burma was once the world's largest exporter of rice, it is now the world's largest exporter of opium, supplying about half of the world's demand for that drug. Opium production doubled in Burma between 1984 and 1989, and it has increased greatly since then--to more than 2,000 tons of raw opium per year--because of an important political development. Until 1989 much of Burma's share of the opium-producing Golden Triangle was controlled by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), which had been waging an insurgency against the government in Rangoon since independence in 1948. In 1989 the CPB self-destructed through internal factionalism and disappeared as a political and military force. SLORC quickly stepped in and offered a deal to the militias which had supported the communist insurgency. If they would refrain from further fighting against the Burmese government, and if they paid the Burmese military protection money, they could engage unmolested in any business they wished. As a result of this deal, Burmese authorities now move freely in Burma's part of the Golden Triangle for the first time. This has resulted in an extraordinary streamlining and expansion of the region's drug empire, which has been switching from harvesting and exporting raw opium to using heroin refineries and thereby exporting a more lucrative finished product. SLORC has repaired the deteriorated trade routes in the region, including the legendary Burma Road of World War II fame. What was once a network of pony paths endangered by insurgents and gangs of thieves has become a safe and easy free-trade heroin highway between Burma and southern China. The rapid increase in drugs and prostitutes in the area has engendered "the AIDS route," spreading the disease into even the remotest hinterlands. The surging drug trade now reaches deep into Burma from what was once a remote frontier. Because of SLORC's protection, police and the military do not search trucks carrying heroin into the nation's heartland. Thanks to the Burmese regime's involvement, drug money has recently become an integral part of Burma's economy, with drug lords investing in property and businesses throughout the country. Drug addiction has been rising rapidly among the Burmese. There are 30,000 officially registered addicts, but unofficial estimates put the number at 160,000, half of whom are estimated to be infected already with the AIDS virus. Most of these are young people. Drug authorities in the United States estimate that 80 percent of the heroin currently sold in the US comes from the Golden Triangle. The amount of cocaine coming through Panama is dwarfed by the amount of heroin originating in Burma. In a public relations stunt in late 1990, SLORC made a show of burning two supposed "heroin refineries" in a non-opium-producing area. The buildings were located in q the middle of a wide-open paddy field, which observers considered a very unlikely site for heroin refining. The foreign press was invited, and officials from the US Drug Enforcement Agency and the UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control attended. One featured speaker at the ceremony was Pheung Kya-shin, one of Burma's most powerful drug lords. US Assistant Secretary of State Melvin Levitsky summed up the Burmese regime's drug record as "shameful." SLORC, he said, was even involved in "collusive efforts with some of these traffickers."

British Colonial Periode

Burma, British Colonial Periode

The Third Burmese Empire The Mon conquest of Ava was short-lived. The
Southerners were unpopular and within a year of taking the city, they had
a revolt on their hands. Alaungpaya, a local official from the nearby town
of Shwebo, refused to swear allegiance to the Mons and with the help of a
large following he recaptured Ava in 1753. Within 4 years, Pegu had also
fallen to Alaungpaya's forces; the Mon fled to the small town of Dagon, to
the SW. Three years later, Alaungpaya sacked the town, renaming it Yangon
-'the end of war'. But it was not the end of war, having conquered the
Mons, Alaungpaya attacked Ayutthaya. He was fatally wounded in the
process, in 1760. But in his few short years as King of Burma, he had
founded the Konbaug Dynasty, and with it, the Third (and final) Burmese
Empire. The dynasty lasted for over a century (1752-1865), during which
time the capital - which was first at Shwebo - shifted between Ava
(1765-1783, 1823-1837) and Amarapura (1783-1823, 1837-1857) before moving
to Mandalay in 1857.
Alaungpaya's second son, Hsinbyushin, came to the throne after a short
reign by his elder brother, Naungdawgyi (1760-1763). He continued his
father's expansionist policy and finally took Ayufthaya in 1767, after 7
years of fighting. He returned to Ava with Siamese artists, dancers,
musicians and craftsmen who gave fresh cultural impetus to Burma. The Mons
had been crushed and the Shan Sawbwas (feudal lords) were made to pay
tribute to the Burmese. The kingdom's NE borders came under threat from
the Chinese - they invaded 4 times between 1765 and 1769 but were repulsed
on each occasion. In 1769 King Hsinbyushin forced them to make peace and
the 2 sides signed a treaty. Europeans began to set up trading posts in
the Irrawaddy delta region at this time; the French struck deals with the
Mon while the English made agreements with the Burmese.
Bodawpaya, Alaungpaya's 5th son, came to the throne in 1782. He
founded Amarapura, moving his capital from Ava. Bodawpaya conquered
Arakan in 1784 and recovered all the Burman treasures taken by the
Arakanese 2 centuries before, including the Mahamuni image. Burmese
control over Arakan resulted in protracted wrangles with the
British, who by then were firmly ensconsed in Bengal. Relations with
the British deteriorated further when Bodawpaya pursued Arakanese
rebels seeking refuge, across the border - this was not to be the
last time refugees flooded over the border. Conflict ensued; the
British wanted a demarcated border while the Burmese were content to
have a zone of overlapping influence. to add to their annoyance,
British merchants complained about being badly treated by the king's
officials in Rangoon. The British decided enough was enough and
diplomatic relations were severed in 1811. Bodawpaya turned his
attention to the administration of his empire. He investigated the
existing tax systems and revoked exemptions for religious
establishments which incurred the wrath of the monk hood - as did
his claim to be a Bodhisattva.

Bodawpaya died in 1819 at the age of 75 and was succeeded by King
Bagyidaw. The Maharajah of Manipur (a princely state in the W hills to the
S of Nagaland) who previously paid tribute to the Burmese crown, did not
attend Bagyidaw's coronation. This resulted in the subsequent expedition
that took the Burmese into British India.

The expansion of the British into Burma This intrusion was used by the
British as a pretext for launching the First Anglo-Burmese War. The
British took Rangoon in 1824 and then advanced on Ava. In 1826, the
Burmese agreed to the British peace terms and the Treaty of Yandabo was
signed. This ceded the Arakan and Tenasserim regions to the British -which
were ruled from Calcutta, headquarters of the British East India Company.
Manipur also became part of British India.
But the peace treaty did little to ease relations between the British and
Burmese. The Burmese kings felt insulted at having to deal with the
viceroy of India instead of British royalty In 1837 King Bagyidaw's
brother, Tharrawaddy, seized the throne and had the queen, her brother,
Bagyidaw's only son, his family and ministers all executed. He made no
attempt to improve relations with Britain, and neither did his successor
to the Lion Throne, Pagan Min, who became king in 1846. He executed
thousands - some history books say as many as 6,000 - of his wealthier and
more influential subjects on trumped-up charges. During his reign,
relations with the British became increasingly strained. In 1852, the
Second Anglo-Burmese War broke out after 2 British shipmasters complained
about unfair treatment. They had been imprisoned having been charged with
murder and were forced to pay a large 'ransom' for their release. British
military action was short and sharp and within a year they had taken
control of Rangoon and Prome and announced their annexation of Lower
Burma. Early in 1853, hostilities ceased, leaving the British in full
control of trade on the Irrawaddy. The same year - to the great relief of
both the Burmese and the British - Pagan Min was succeeded by his younger
brother, the progressive Mindon Min.

The British were amazed at life in the Burmese court: the strict rules of
protocol prompted much debate, particularly 'the shoe question”. The
British where indignant at having to take off their shoes on entering
pagodas and while having an audience with the king. They were amused by
the ritual quandary surrounding the decision of which umbrella the king
should use, but nothing bemused them more than the status accorded the
white elephant. The 'Lord White Elephant'- or Sinbyudaw- commanded social
status second only to the king in the hierarchy of the royal court.
Sinbyudaw were treated with reverence and had white parasols held over
them wherever they went. Young white elephants were even suckled by women
in the royal court who considered it a great honour to feed the elephant
with their own milk.


A new king moved the capital to Amarapura and then to his new city of
Mandalay. The move was designed to fulfill a prophesy of the Buddha that a
great city would one day be built on the site. Court astrologers also
calculated that Mandalay was the centre of the universe - not Amarapura.
King Mindon attempted to bring Burma into greater contact with the outside
world: he improved the administrative structure of the state, introducing
a new income tax; he built new roads and commissioned a telegraph system;
he set up modern factories using European machinery and European managers.
He also sent some of his sons to study with an Anglican missionary and did
all he could to repair relations with Britain. A commercial treaty was
signed with the British, who sent a Resident to Mandalay. King Mindon
hosted the Fifth Great Buddhist Synod in 1872 at Mandalay. In these ways
he gained the respect of the British and the admiration of his own people.


The Burmese found the foreign presence in Mandalay hard to tolerate and
with the death of Mindon, the atmosphere thickened. King Mindon died
before he could name a successor, and Thibaw, a lesser prince, was
manoeuvred onto the throne by one of King Mindon's queens and her
daughter, Supayalat. (In his poem The Road to Mandalay, Rudyard Kipling
remarks that the British soldiers referred to her as 'Soup-plate'.) In
true Burmese style, the new King Thibaw proceeded, under Supayalat's
direction, to massacre all likely contenders to the throne. His inhumanity
outraged British public opinion. London was becoming increasingly worried
by French intentions to build a railway between Mandalay and the French
colonial port of Haiphong in Annam (N Vietnam). When Thibaw provoked a
dispute with a British timber company, the British had the pretext they
needed to invade Upper Burma. In 1886 they took Mandalay and imposed
colonial rule throughout Burma; Thibawand Supayalat were deposed and
exiled to Madras in S India. Supayalat was eventually buried at the foot
of the Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon as the British feared nationalist
rebellion if the funeral took place in Mandalay.


British colonial rule Burma was known as 'Further India' and was run on
the principle of 'divide and rule'. The colonial administration relied
heavily on Indian bureaucrats and by 1930 - to the resentment of the
Burmese - Indian immigrants comprised 1/2 the population of Rangoon. The
British permitted the country's many racial minorities to exercise limited
autonomy. Burma was divided into 2 regions: Burma proper, where Burmans
were in a majority - which included Arakan and Tenasserim - and the hill
areas, inhabited by other minorities. The Burmese heartland was
administered by direct rule. The hill areas - which included the Shan
states, the Karen states, and the tribal groups in the Kachin, Chin and
Naga hills - retained their traditional leadership, although they were
under British supervision. These policies gave rise to tensions that
continue to plague today's government.
The colonial government built roads and railways, and river steamers,
belonging to the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, operated between Rangoon and
Mandalay. The British brought electricity to Rangoon, improved urban
sanitation, built hospitals and redesigned the capital on a grid system.
While the British set about building and modernizing, they benefited
greatly from an economic boom in the Irrawaddy delta region. When they
first arrived in Burma, much of the delta was swampland. But under the
British, Burmese farmers began to settle in the delta and clear land for
rice cultivation. In 1855, paddy fields covered 400,000 ha; by 1873 the
forests had been cleared sufficiently to double the productive area. Land
under rice cultivation increased by another 400,000 ha roughly every 7
years, reaching 4 million ha in 1930. Population in the area - which was
about 1.5 million in the rnid-1 9th century- increased more than 5-fold.
Initially the rice paddies were farmed by Burmese smallholders but as rice
prices rose, larger holdings were bought up and large tracts of land
cleared by pioneers from central Burma. The agricultural economy in the
delta region was dependent on complex credit facilities, run by Indian
Chettiars - S Indian money-lenders - who extended credit to farmers at
much lower rates than Burmese money-lenders. The Chettiars grew into a
very prosperous community. Land rents had risen dramatically during the
boom years and when the world economic depression set in in the 1930s,
rice prices slumped and small-holders went bust. Between 1930 and 1935,
the amount of land owned by the Chettiars trebled in size due to
foreclosures, leaving them with well over a 1/4 of the delta's prime land.
The agrarian crisis triggered anti-Indian riots, which started in Rangoon
in May 1930 and then spread to the countryside.

From the beginning of the colonial period, the British stressed the
benefits of education, and formal Western-style schooling replaced the
traditional monastic education system. Rangoon University was founded in
1920 and a new urban 61ite evolved. They attempted to bridge the gap
between old and new Burma by calling for the reform of traditional
Buddhist beliefs and practices. In 1906, the Young Men's Buddhist
Association was established in an effort to assert Burmese cultural
identity and remain distinct from their colonizers. In 1916, the YMBA
objected to the fact that Europeans persisted in wearing shoes inside
religious buildings, which was considered disdainful. After demonstrations
in over 50 towns, the government ruled that abbots should have the right
to determine how visitors should dress in their monasteries - a ruling
hailed as a victory for the YMBA.
Following the introduction of greater self-government in India and the
spread of Marxism, the YMBA renamed itself the General Council of Burmese
Associations and demanded more autonomy for Burma. A strike was organized
at Rangoon University the year it was founded, and this spread across the
country as schools were boycotted. The most serious uprising was initiated
by a monk called Saya San; it represented the first concerted effort to
expel the British by force. From 1930-1932, during what became known as
the Saya San Rebellion, 3,000 of his men were massacred and 9,000 taken
prisoner, while the government suffered casualties of only 138. Saya San
was hanged in 1937. The underground nationalist movement also gained
momentum in the 1930s and at the University of Rangoon the All-Burma
Student Movement emerged. The colonial regime was clearly shaken by the
extent of the unrest and the level of violence and in 1935 the Government
of Burma Act finally granted Burma autonomy. In 1936, the groups' leaders
- Thakin Aung San and Thakin Nu - led another strike at the university.
They called themselves Thakin as it was previously an honorific only used
to address Europeans. In 1937 Burma was formally separated from British
India. It received its own constitution, an elected legislature and 4
popular governments served until the Japanese occupation.

During World War 2 Japan invaded Burma in 1942, helped by the new burmese
independence army (BIA) - a band of men secretly trained by the Japanese
before the war and led by Aung San, who had emerged as one of the
outstanding leaders during the student riots in Rangoon. The BIA grew in
number from 30 to 23,000 as Japan advanced through Lower Burma. The
Burmese saw the Japanese occupation as a way to expel the British
colonialists and to gain independence. The British were quickly
overwhelmed by the rapid advance of the Japanese 15th Army and fled to
India. Their scorched earth policy - which involved torching everything of
value and sabotaging the infrastructure they had built up over decades -
left total devastation in their wake. Fierce guerrilla warfare erupted
between the British and the Japanese and BIA, in which casualties were
high - as many as 27,000 may have died. Many of the British and Allied
troops who died - most in the hand-to-hand combat - are buried at the
Htaukkyan cemetery near Rangoon.
The war produced many heroes. Stilwell, an American, having retreated
through the jungle into India with 114 men, retraced his steps (through
Assam, across the Chindwin River to Myitkyina, and down the Irrawaddy to
Mandalay) and helped recapture Rangoon in May 1945. Wingate, a British
war-hero, used guerrilla tactics to successfully penetrate the Japanese
lines. His men were known as the Chindits - after the mythological
Chinthes, the undefeatable temple lions. Chennault was another hero, who
led the airborn division - nicknamed 'the Flying Tigers' - who were feared
by the Japanese. US ground forces in Burma were known as 'Merrill's
Marauders' and consisted of about 3,000 men, of which all but a handful
were killed.

The 800 km-long Ledo Road -from Assam to Mong Yo, where it joins the Burma
Road (see page 368) - was built during the war by 35,000 Burmese and
several thousand engineers, to enable a land force to enter Burma from
India.

But on 19 July, a few months before Burma was to be granted full
independence, Aung San and 5 of his ministers were assassinated while
attending a meeting in the Secretariat in Rangoon. U-Saw, a right-wing
prime minister in the pre-war colonial government was convicted of
hatching the plot, and executed; he had hoped to create a leadership role
for himself. It was a tragedy for Burma as Aung San seemed best equipped
to unite the many different factions and minorities; had he lived,
post-war Burmese history may have taken a very different course.

Kingdom of Burma

Kingdom of Burma

The First Burmese Empire Pagan was the first established centre of Burma;
it was founded in 849 at a strategic location on the banks of the
Irrawaddy. It was also close to the mystical Mount Popa, the most
significant centre of nat (spirit) worship in Burma, which pre-dated the
arrival of Buddhism. in 1044 King Anawrahta seized the throne at Pagan.
Twelve years later, he was converted to Theravada Buddhism by Shin Arahan,
a missionary-monk from the Mon court at Thaton; he immediately set about
building the Shwezigon temple. In 1057 Anawrahta declared war on the Mons
to capture the Tripitaka, the Buddhist scriptures, which the Mon King
Manuba refused to give up. Anawrahta beseiged the Mon capital of Pegu for
months until Manuba surrendered and the city was destroyed. Anawrahta
returned to Pagan with the Mon royal family, 32 white elephants (each of
which was laden with the sacred books of the Tripitaka) and Thaton's
remaining 30,000 inhabitants - including craftsmen and builders. The Mon
king was dedicated to the Shwezigon as a pagoda slave. But despite their
inglorious defeat, the sophisticated Mons proceeded to dominate Pagan's
cultural life for the next century - many of the thousands of pagodas at
Pagan are Mon in style and the Burmans evolved their script from Mon.
Anawrahta also succeeded in breaking the power of the Shan states. Despite
his war-like tendencies, Anawrahta is said to have been a very religious
man. He is believed to have dispatched a ship laden with treasure to
Bodhgaya in India, where the Buddha gained enlightenment, to pay for the
restoration of the Mahabodhi temple. Anawrahta was killed by a wild
buffalo in 1077, but by then he had already put in place the foundation of
the First Burmese Empire. During his son, King Sawlu's, reign (1077-1084),
the kingdom continued to expand. It grew even bigger under King
Kyanzittha's reign (1084-1113), when parts of the S Tenasserim region came
under the control of Pagan. Kyanziftha began the construction of the
Ananda pagoda - the most famous temple on the Pagan Plain. The 12th
century was Pagan's Golden Age, when it was known - rather optimistically
- as 'the city of 4 million pagodas'. The Pagan civilization is believed
to have been supported by rice cultivation, made possible by a highly
developed system of irrigation canals.

In 1248 King Narathihapati came to the throne; he is reputed to have been
a hedonist who enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle. He completed the lavish
Mingalazedi pagoda at Pagan in 1274-but appears to have gone bankrupt in
the process. Pagan's economy fell apart and no more pagodas were built. In
1287 Kublai Khan led a Mongul invasion which captured the city and brought
the First Burmese Empire to an undignified end. The king fled to Bassein
earning the title Tarakpyenrin (meaning the 'king who fled from the
Chinese'), leaving the Monguis in his beautiful royal capital. The Mongul
military campaign against the Burman kingdom of Pagan was recorded in the
diary of Venetian merchant Marco Polo when he visited the Imperial Court
of China 5 years later. After 5 months exile in Bassein, the Burmese king
tried to return to Pagan but made it only as far as Prome, where his
eldest son was a governor. He murdered his father by forcing poison down
his throat and then battled with his 2 brothers for the throne. He
succeeded- but was deposed in 1298, marking the end of the Anawrahta
Dynasty.


The kingdom broke into a number of smaller states. From 1298-1364 the
Shans established power in Upper Burma, with their capital at Ava (founded
1364/5), near modern Mandalay. From 1364-1554, the Shans dominated the
Irrawaddy rice growing area and expanded into what is now Kachin state and
along the Chindwin River. The Shans did not manage to amalgamate into a
single powerful empire - but remained split into small kingdoms,
frequently feuding against one another. Only the W kingdom of Arakan
remained completely independent and spread N into Chittagong (in
present-day Bangladesh). The Arakanese capital was at Wethali until 1433
when they moved it to Mrauk U (Myohaung).

The Mon kingdom prospered as a trading centre, exporting rice to India and
Malaysia. Queen Shinsawbu (1453-1472) raised the height of the Shwedagon
pagoda in Rangoon. The queen went so far as to donate her own weight in
gold to gild the outside.

The Second Burmese Empire Many Burmans fled S from Shan domination and
established a centre around Toungoo and the Burmese and the Shan kingdoms
remained in a permanent state.

The kingdom survived, sandwiched between the Shans to the N and the Mons
to the S. When King Minkyino came to the throne in 1486 there was a
revival of the Burman national spirit and the Toungoo Dynasty was founded.
In 1530, the 16-year-old Tabengshweti succeeded his father and decided to
re-unite Burma. He captured the Mon port of Bassein in 1535 and then went
on to attack Pegu. He stormed the city 3 times, succeeding in 1539. With
Bassein and Pegu under his belt, he then captured Prome and was recognized
as the undisputed king of Lower Burma.
Meanwhile, to the N, the Shan King of Ava was gaining notoriety for
persecuting monks and plundering pagodas. Kings who engaged in such
activities never lasted long in Burma, and, sure enough, his actions
prompted a conspiracy to overthrow him. When he was successfully ousted,
the Shans United and took Prome and then besieged the strongly fortified
capital of Arakan, Myohaung. While besieging the city the Shans heard word
of a Siamese invasion from the E. The Shans had expanded their empire too
quickly and were unable to control such a vast swathe of territory. As the
Shan kingdom began to disintegrate, Bayinnaung (Burman King Tabengshweti's
son-in-law) inherited the throne in 1550 and re-established Burman control
over Lower Burma. He attacked Pegu 3 years later and the Mons fled to
Prome; Bayinnaung then targeted Prome and the city was starved into
surrender in 1542. Bayinnaung crowned his successes with the capture of
Ava in 1555. In doing so, he destroyed the power of the Shan states and
laid the foundations of the Second Burmese Empire. But Bayinnaung was not
content to stop there and turned his attention to neighbouring Siam.
First, he captured Chiang Mai, then set his sights on Ayutthaya. The King
of Ayutthaya was known to have 4 white elephants which Bayinnaung coveted
- white elephants had great religious significance as they were (and are)
believed to symbolize an earlier incarnation of the Buddha. On the pretext
of a manufactured border dispute, King Bayinnaung launched a successful
attack on the Siamese capital in 1564.


The Siamese king, queen and youngest son were taken prisoner and the heir
to the throne was left to govern as a tributary king. In Burma, the
deposed king of Ayutthaya became a monk and his younger son died. King
Bayinnaung, in a compassionate moment, then allowed his widow and children
to return home to Ayutthaya - a move which proved to be a tactical error
as their return prompted the tributary king to re-assert his independence.
Bayinnaung was furious and launched a fresh Burmese invasion of Siam. He
left with 200,000 troops, many of whom died during the subsequent 7-month
siege of Ayutthaya. The Burmese finally captured the city however and the
belligerent King Bayinnaung went on to attack Vientiane in Laos (see page
686). But King Razagyri of Arakan took advantage of the depleted Burman
army and attacked Toungoo, taking the white elephants as booty. From then
on the King of Arakan had the title 'Lord of the White Elephant'.
For all his warmongering, Bayinnaung seems to have been a model Buddhist:
he forbade the sacrificing of slaves, horses and elephants and sent brooms
of his own hair (and that of his wives) to sweep the Temple of the Sacred
Tooth in Kandy, Ceylon. He eventually died in 1581, apparently leaving 97
children, and was succeeded by the eldest, Nandanaung, who ruled from
1581-1599. King Nandanaung did not have his father's force of character,
military skills or administrative ability. In 18 years, he lost nearly
everything his father had fought for and the empire broke up again due to
internal feuding. In 1636 the capital was moved to Ava, but by then the
empire was in decline. While it was disintegrating, the Mons were once
again becoming increasingly assertive; they re-established their kingdom
in the S, with Pegu as the capital. Avawas recaptured by the Mons in 1752,
with the help of French arms. The king was taken captive back to Pegu and
the Second Burmese Empire floundered as the toungoo Dynasty dissolved. The
Mons then shifted their capital back to Ava.

The early history of Burma

The early history of Burma

Burma's early history is practically uncharted but by the 8th century the
Mons - who probably originated in Central Asia - occupied the lower
portions of the Irrawaddy basin, while the Burmans had established
themselves on the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy. Burma's subsequent
violent history largely concerns the struggle between these 2 predominant
racial groups. Kings fought wars in order to carry off slaves from the
kingdoms they conquered; it was important to have a large labor force to
build temples and pagodas and to grow rice.

The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma (a 19th century
historical mythology) claims that the Burmese kings were descendants of
the Buddha's family but historians have found no evidence of any ruler
before the 1th century King Anawrahta of Pagan. From the 10th century on,
the Burmans were the largest group; they were also the most important in
terms of their historical, cultural and political contribution to Burma's
heritage. Between the I7th and 19th centuries, the Burmans succeeded in
uniting the country under one monarch on 3 separate occasions. When each
of these empires fragmented, Burma became a muddle of quarrelling races.
In the 19th century, the Burmese frequently clashed with the British and
were defeated in 1885, resulting in the capture and exile of the last
king. Early history

There are traces of some form of settlement in Burma as far back as
2,500-2,000 BC. The Pyus were the first settlers and occupied the upper
Irrawaddy River. The early Pyu city of Sri Kshetra, near present day
Prome, was enclosed in a massive wall and was possibly even bigger than
the later Burmese cities of Pagan and Mandalay. When the Pyu capital was
captured and the people enslaved by the neighboring power in Yunnan, the
Burmese moved into the power vacuum in the Irrawaddy area. The Burmese
came to dominate both the Ryu and the Mon.
The Mons settled in the lower Irrawaddy delta region around Thaton and
were the first people to establish Buddhism in Burma. Little is known
about the earliest phases of Mon art - although their artistic and
architectural skills were obviously coveted and their works have been
unearthed not just in Burma, but also in Thailand and Cambodia. The great
King Anawrahta brought Mon craftsmen to Pagan where their temple and stupa
designs characterized the first recognizable architectural 'period' - the
Mon Period. The last group to migrate from China were the Tai, who fled
the Mongul invasions from the 9th-11th centuries and settled in the hills
on the present Thai-Burma border.
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Profile of Burma

PROFILE
OFFICIAL NAME:
Union of Burma
Geography
Area: 678,500 sq. km. (slightly smaller than Texas).
Cities: Administrative capital--Nay Pyi Taw, near the township of
Pyinmana (pop. 200,000); Other cities--Rangoon (pop. 5.5 million),
Mandalay (pop. 1.2 million).
Terrain: Central lowlands ringed by steep, rugged highlands.
Climate: Tropical monsoon; cloudy, rainy, hot, humid summers
(southwest monsoon, June to September); less cloudy, scant rainfall,
mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter (December to April).


People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Burmese.
Population: 54.3 million (UNESCAP 2004 estimate); no official census
has been taken since 1983.
Annual population growth rate (UNESCAP 2004 estimate): 2.0%.
Ethnic groups: Burman 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine 4%, Chinese
3%, Mon 2%, Indian 2%, other 5%.
Religions: Buddhist 89%, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic
1%), Muslim 4%, animist 1%, other 2%.
Languages: Burmese, minority ethnic languages.
Education: Literacy--adult, 89.9%; male, 93.9%; female, 86.4% (UNDP
2004 estimate).
Health: Infant mortality rate--76 deaths/1,000 live births (UNDP
2004 estimate). Life expectancy--60.6 yrs.: male, 57.8 yrs.; female
63.5 (UNDP 2004 estimate).

Government
Type: Military junta.
Constitution: January 3, 1974 (suspended since September 18, 1988,
when the current junta took power). A national convention started on
January 9, 1993 to draft a new constitution, but collapsed in 1996
without an agreement. The junta reconvened the convention in May
2004 without the participation of the National League for Democracy
and other pro-democracy ethnic groups. It has convened
intermittently since then, with the latest session running from
October 10 to December 29, 2006.
Branches: Executive--Chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) Senior General Than Shwe is the head of state. Prime
Minister Gen. Soe Win is the head of government. Legislative--The
suspended constitution provides for a unicameral People's Assembly
(Pyithu Hluttaw) with 485 seats; members are elected by popular vote
to serve 4-year terms. The last elections were in 1990, but the
military prevented the Assembly from ever convening. Judicial--The
legal system is based on a British-era system, but with the
constitution suspended, the military regime now rules by decree and
there is no guarantee of a fair public trial; the judiciary is not
independent.
Political parties: National League for Democracy (NLD) is the
primary opposition party; National Unity Party (NUP) is the primary
pro-regime party; the Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA) is a pro-regime socio-political organization; there are also
many smaller ethnic parties.
Administrative subdivisions: The country is divided into seven
primarily Burman ethnic divisions (tain) of Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy),
Bago (Pegu), Magway, Mandalay, Yangon (Rangoon), Sagaing, and
Tanintharyi (Tenassarim) and seven ethnic states (pyi nay): Chin
State, Kachin State, Kayin (Karen) State, Kayah (Karenni) State, Mon
State, Rakhine (Arakan) State, and Shan State.
Suffrage: Universal suffrage at 18 years of age (but there have been
no elections since 1990).

Economy
GDP: $9.6 billion (estimate at March 2007 market rate).
Annual growth rate: 2.9% (2006 estimate); the regime claimed the
2005-2006 rate was 13.2%.
GDP per capita (2006 estimated): $174.
Natural resources: natural gas, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper,
tungsten, lead, coal, limestone, precious stones, hydropower, and
some petroleum.
Agriculture: Products--rice, pulses, beans, sesame, peanuts,
sugarcane, hardwood, fish, and fish products.
Industries: Types--agricultural processing, knit and woven apparel,
wood and wood products, copper, tin, tungsten, iron, construction
materials, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizer.
Recorded trade: Exports (IMF 2006)--$3.6 billion. Types (2005-2006
official statistics)--natural gas 30.2%, teak and forest products
13/3%, beans and pulses 9.1%, garments 7.7%, and marine products
5.5%. Major markets (IMF 2005-2006)--Thailand 38%, India 14%, China
10%, Hong Kong 7%, Japan 4%. Imports (IMF 2006)--$2 billion. Types
(2005-2006 official statistics)--machinery and transport equipment
15.5%, refined mineral oil 13.6%, base metals and manufactures
10.1%, fabrics 8.0%, and electrical machinery 5.6%. Major suppliers
(IMF 2005-2006)--Singapore 28%, China 24%, Thailand 11%, Malaysia
7%.

PEOPLE
A majority of Burma's people are ethnic Burmans. Shans, Karens,
Rohingya, Arakanese, Kachins, Chins, Mons, and many other smaller
indigenous ethnic groups form about 30% of the population. Indians
and Chinese are the largest non-indigenous groups.

Although Burmese is the most widely spoken language (approx. 32
million speakers), other ethnic groups have retained their own
identities and languages. Some of the most prominent are Shan;
various Karen, Karenni and Chin languages; Arakanese; Jingpaw; Mon;
Palaung; Parauk; Wa; and Yangbye. English is spoken in many areas
frequented by tourists. The Indian and Chinese residents speak
various languages and dialects of their homelands: Hindi, Urdu,
Tamil, Bengali, Mandarin, Fujian, and Cantonese.

An estimated 89% of the population practices Buddhism. Other
religions, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Muslim 4%,
and animist 1%, are less prevalent, although Christian and Muslim
groups claim the regime significantly underestimates their number of
adherents.

According to the UN Development Programme's 2006 Human Development
Report, public health expenditure equaled only 0.3% of Burma's GDP.
High infant mortality rates and short life expectancies further
highlight poor health and living conditions. The HIV/AIDS epidemic
poses a serious threat to the Burmese population, as do tuberculosis
and malaria. In 2006, the UNDP's Human Development Index, which
measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational
attainment, and adjusted real income, ranked Burma 130 out of 177
countries.

There are numerous documented human rights violations, and internal
displacement of ethnic minorities is prevalent. Over a million
Burmese, many of them ethnic minorities, have fled for economic and
political reasons to Bangladesh, India, China, Malaysia, and
Thailand to seek work and asylum. More than 150,000 Burmese live in
nine refugee camps in Thailand and roughly 30,000 live in two camps
in Bangladesh. Roughly 30,000 Burmese (mostly Chin and Rohingya)
have fled to Malaysia.