Shafey Danish
Burma has seen the rule of various dynasties and has played host to different kingdoms since ancient times. Because of its strategic position it has been much coveted by its powerful neighbours, among them the Chinese, the Mongols and the British. It kept passing through the hands of one dynasty after another until the British captured and consolidated it, after the 3rd Anglo – Burmese War in 1885.
In a parallel to Indian history, Burma fought and won its independence from British rule after a long drawn out freedom struggle. But unlike India it has not been able to establish a democratic government since then; the struggle for which still goes on. Below is a short recap of the history of Burma.
In the ancient age
The Burmese history started some 3000 years when the Mons migrated to the area and established the kingdom of Suwarnabhumi, around the port of Thaton in about 300 BC.
The Pyu were the next major dynasty. Even though they never managed to have an empire, they established their rule through various city states. By one account they numbered as many as 18 at one point. But the empire went into a decline after some time leaving it the the next dynasty, the Bagan, to fill the gap. The Bagan established a powerful kingdom in the north, under their King Anawrahta. Anawrahta was also the first to carve out a Burmese empire by defeating the Mon kingdom at Thanton. He was succeeded by two able rulers Kyanzittha and Alaungsithu.
The last king of the Bagan Narathihapate had to contend with the Mongols, who were raiding him from the north. He met them in a battle in Yunnan. His forces were thoroughly crushed, and he himself met with the sad end of being murdered by his own son.
Very soon the kingdom passed into the hands of the Mongols; who, much like imperialist powers of today, established a puppet king. Burma was divided and the Bagan culture was restricted to a small kingdom, the kingdom of Ava, ruled by the Ava dynasty.
After the Ava came the Toungoo dynasty. The first King Mingyinyo founded a powerful dynasty that went on to unite Burma once again into the second Burmese empire. But soon the dynasty was facing attacks from the Shan dynasty and from the Pourtugese, after a prolonged period of crisis the dynasty finally ended in 1752.
The golden age of Burma
A new dynasty the Konbaung, came to power under the leadership of a man named Alaungpaya. He managed to capture most of Burma and unite it under one rule. He was succecceded by his second son Hsinbyushin. Even though this was a period in which the chinese, fearing the growing power of the Burmese Monarchy was repeatedly sending its armies to check them, Hsinbyushin was able to repulse them. Thus he was able to keep the kingdom built by his father, intact. Another of the sons of Alaungpaya, Bodawpaya extended the kingdom to the very borders of the British India.
War with the British
The British were then the biggest power in the world. The consequences of the war being waged along their border, started affecting them soon enough. There refugees coming into their border and there were also direct attacks by the Burmese on the British territory. All this resulted in the 1st Anglo-Burmese war (1824-26). The British of course routed the Burmese and made them sign a humiliating treaty. The treaty made the Burmese cede many of the territories that they had earlier captured. Among them were Assam, Manipur and Arakan.
In 1852 Lord Dalhousie, who had his eyes on the territories of Burma, sent Commodore Lambert with some minor issue relating to the earlier treaty. The idea was to provoke a confrontation. The Burmese immediately conceded all the points that the British demanded. But the Commodore yet managed to provoke a naval confrontation in highly controversial circumstances. The 2nd Anglo-Burmese war led to an annexation of Pegu by the British, which they named Lower Burma.
The whole of Myanmar was finally annexed in 1885 in the 3rd Anglo-Burmese war, again fought under some false pretenses.
In 1886 Burma was formally made a part of the British India with its headquarters in Rangoon.
Burma under British
The British launched the kind of commercial exploitation that was the hallmark of their colonial rule. The opening up of the Suez Canal led to a great demand for Burmese rice and long tracts of previously unopened areas was put under cultivation. Even then the farmer class suffered from a great deal of exploitation. They had to borrow money from money lenders as exorbitant rates, this either drove them bankrupt or resulted in foreclosure. Even manual labour was not available to them as the farms were filled with indentured labour from India.
Villages after villages turned into lawless dens on unemployed youth. Burmese economy for all practical purpose remained in the hands of the few British firms while the indigenous population languished in poverty.
At the turn of the century great winds of political change started blowing. Political association, under the cover of religion, it was modeled on the YMCA and was called the YMBA (Young Men Buddhist Association).
A new generation of political leaders, who had been educated in the West, returned to their country with the determination to bring in change. In many ways, a situation very similar to India in the same period.
There were reforms, as in India itself, in the 1920s that led to the formation of a legislature with limited powers. But it was not enough and soon there were student protests in the universities against the University Act which the students believed would benefit only the elite. ‘National schools’ came up all over the country to counter the colonial system.
The day the protests broke out, 4 January, came to be commemorated as the National Day. Buddhist monks played a large part in the struggle for freedom that ensued thereafter.
The age of nationalism
In 1930 the Dobama Asiayone (We Burmans Association) was founded. There was a second wave of student’s strikes in 1936 that saw the emergence of Aung San, a student leader, on the national stage. Aung San was expelled from the Rangoon university over his refusal to reveal the name of the person who had written an article criticizing university officials. Ko Nu was another prominent student leader who along with Aung San made a successful transition to national politics.
These two, especially Aung San, were to play an important part in the country’s politics in the immediate future.
In 1937, Burma was separated from the mainland at the same time giving the Burmese a new constitution which called for an elected assembly, perhaps in a bid to dampen the struggle going on from 1936.
But it had the very opposite affect. The Burmese, aware of the constitutional reforms that were then going on in India, saw this as a ploy to exclude Burma from the ambit of those reforms.
Burma saw two prime ministers between 1937 and 1942, Ba Maw and U Saw. U Saw was arrested in 1942 by the British on the charge of having been in league with the Japanese.
Burma during the WW II
During WW II some of the leaders of the Burma wanted to exploit the opportunity to gain concessions from the British in return of their war effort.
But Aung San along with other Thakins was opposed to such a plan. He did not want the Britsh to be helped under any circumstances.
He formed the Communist Party of Burma in 1939 to popularize and propagate the ideas of Marx.
During the course of the war he came in touch with the Japanese and started working closely with them. In 1941 when the Japanese occupied Bangkok, he formed the Burmese Independence Army (BIA), in anticipation of eventual Japanese conquest of Burma.
As the war progressed, the BIA was able to form provisional government in some of the areas of Burma.
Later when the Japanese did conquer Burma, they appointed the deposed prime minister Ba Maw as the Prime Minister, but Aung San was included in the government. The Burmese Independence Army was reorganized into Burmese National Army, which was a regular and trained force.
Aung San soon realized that the Japanese did not wish to give the Burmese any real independence, and were in fact trying to run the government by proxy. He formed the Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) along with communist leaders Thakin Than Tun and Thakin Soe and socialist leaders Ba Swe and Kyaw Nyein.
In the year 1945, informal contacts were established between the AFO and the Allies and on March 27, 1945, the Burma National Army revolted against the Japanese. Gen Aung San and others held negotiations with Lord Mountbatten and joined the Allies as the Patriotic Burmese Forces (PBF).
But this was obviously not enough for the British. After the war, the British governor returned and British rule was again imposed. Once again a series of strikes rocked the country. Finally the British relented and independence was granted to Burma in January 27, 1947 after the Aung San-Atlee Agreement.
But Aung San was not destined to savor his country’s independence. In 1947 he was assassinated by his political rival U Saw.
After the Independence
Unlike India and Pakistan, Burma did not join the British Commonwealth.
The political history of Burma immediately after independence was turbulent, and various parties and factions fought for control of the nascent state.
The army had always played a part in the independence of Burma, later too it remained active as a political force. In 1958, amidst fast deteriorating political situation, the then head of government, U Nu invited the Army Chief of Staff General Ne Win to take over the country, making the role of the army official.
Burma under the Army
Ne Win was able to bring in stability to torn the country. In 1960 under his caretaker government elections were held which returned U Nu to power. But the army having once tasted power was unwilling to give it up. In 1962 Ne Win staged a coup that overthrew the government.
He declared Burma a ‘Socialist State’ to be run by the ‘Revolutionary Council’ of senior military leaders. He established a one-party system, and since he was not running a party till then, formed the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), which of course took complete control of all the wings of the government. He ruled through the BSPP till 1988, when due to worsening economic crisis, he decided to step down.
Wide spread protests rocked the country following the exit of Ne Win as the people saw a chance to get rid of the oppressive rule. Civil administration ceased to exist. It became a war between the military and the people. Finally a second military coup, in which thousands of protesters were killed, managed to restore order.
Military rule II
The military administration that took power in 1988 was headed by Saw Maung. The military accused the underground Communist party of orchestrating the revolution, even though there was no substantial evidence that the communists had played a major role.
In 1989 the Military Junta changed the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar. It also continued the economic reforms that the last government had initiated. Further, it called for the election of Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.
A year ago, in 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Gen. Aung San, had entered politics as the leader of the National League for Democracy. But she had been put under house arrest in 1989.
In 1990, elections were held to the constituent assembly. The NLD won it by a wide margin, trouncing not only the military supported National Unity Party (NUP), but also all other parties.
As a natural corollary of this result, Aung San Suu Kyi, should have been elected the Prime Minister. Instead, the Junta refused to honour the election results, and did not let the assembly convene. Suu Kyi was also not released from prison.
In 1992 Saw Maung, the Leader of the Military Junta, was succeeded by Than Shwe. Than Shwe took a more moderate line, he relaxed the restrictions on Suu Kyi’s house arrest and released U Nu, another leader of NLD. In 1993 Than Shwe allowed the National Convention to meet, but he insisted that the constitution should envisage a large role for the military in the government. This the convention refused to do. As a result, the military suspended the convention finally in 1996.
In 1995 he released San Suu Kyi from arrest under a UN brokered deal. But she was again put under arrest in 2000 and again in 2003.
From then to this day Suu Kyi has spent the greater part of her life under house arrest. Democracy continues to languish in this troubled country. The current crisis brings the latent problems of Myanmar once again to a head.
We are yet to see if they lead to another round of brutal suppression or a solution to Myanmar’s problems.
