Bogyoke Aung San in London
Myanmar is in festive mood this
month as this year marks the birth centenary of Bogyoke Aung San, which
falls on February 13, regarded as National Children’s Day.
A multitude of cultural festivities –
being staged chiefly by the National League for Democracy (NLD) in
places like Yangon and Natmauk, Aung San’s birthplace – continue to
capture the imagination of the public in the run-up to the big day.
If you missed some of these celebratory events, don’t fret. Many more are still to come.
In Yangon, a traditional Anyeint
performance by the Aung San Thuriya Hnin Si Anyeint dance troupe on
February 9 and 10 at the National Theatre. Anyeint is a type of
slapstick comedy that combines music and dance. It’s performed by not
just professional comedians, but guest artists as well like actors,
singers and dancers.
In Mandalay, the famed Mandalay
Marionette Theater will stage two shows on February 10. The Htwe Oo
Myanmar puppet troupe will perform twice on February 11 in the same
city.
In Natmauk, the Phoe Chit dance troupe
will perform on February 11 before embarking on a tour across the
country. Natmauk will also host the Human Rights Human Dignity
Travelling Film Festival on February 12 and 13 at Sutaungpyae Payagyi
monastery.
These events serve to reinforce Aung San’s national resonance.
Informally referred to as “bogyoke”
(general), Aung San was born on February 13, 1915, in Natmauk, Magwe
district, into a well-to-do family with a long pedigree.
He received primary schooling initially
at the Vernacular High School in Natmauk and secondary education at
National High School in Yenangyaung.
He attended Rangoon University (now the
University of Yangon) in 1933 and took a degree in English Literature,
Modern History and Political Science. Later he attended law classes at
the same university.
It was during his university days when
Aung San developed his interest in politics and became a prominent
student leader while doing well academically. His political aspirations
were only to have a profound impact on his university life.
Phoe Chit’s dance troupe is to stage a traditional dance performance celebrating Bogyoke Aung San’s centenary. (Photo - EMG)
As a student leader, he was threatened
with expulsion from the university for refusing to reveal the name of
the author of the article “Hell Hound At Large”, which criticised a
senior University official. This led to the Second University Students'
Strike and the university authorities subsequently retracted their
expulsion orders.
At the university, he served on various
students' organisations and bodies, notably as Editor, Vice-President
and President of the Rangoon University Students' Union, and as one of
the founders and President of All-Burma Students' Union. He also served,
even as a student, along with another student representative, on the
University Act Amendment Committee appointed by the government in 1938
and succeeded in getting the progressive University Act passed by the
Burma Legislature.
As a student, he contributed many
articles to local English and Myanmar publications and served for a time
on the editorial staff of the “New Burma”, the only Burman-owned
and-managed, nationalist English-language tri-weekly.
In October 1938, he ended his law
studies abruptly and entered national politics to pursue the patriotic
cause of national freedom by joining the Dohbama Asi-ayone (Thakins), at
the time the only militant and extremely nationalistic political party
in Myanmar.
He became General Secretary of that
party until August 1940 when he went underground to continue the fight
for Myanmar’s independence. At this point, he was anti-British, and
staunchly anti-imperialist. He became a Thakin (lord or master – a
politically motivated title that proclaimed that the Burmese people were
the true masters of their country, not the colonial rulers who had
usurped the title for their exclusive use).
As a Thakin leader, he was arrested and
detained in 1939 for being one of those leading "a conspiracy to
overthrow the Government by force", according to a government
communique. But he was released shortly after.
He served also on the Working Committee
of the All-Burma Peasants' League and was one of the principal figures
initiating the Freedom Bloc of parties and elements interested in the
struggle for Myanmar’s freedom, along with Dr Ba Maw, during 1939-40.
He also acted as Secretary of the
Freedom Bloc until he went underground. In March 1940, he led a Thakin
delegation to the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress at the
invitation of the latter and visited several cities in India including
Gaya, Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, Peshawar, Khyber Pass, Lahore,
Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bombay and Calcutta.
After that trip, he served for a short
time on the Governing Body of University College in Yangon as a
representative of the Rangoon University Students' Union while
conducting an intensive anti-imperialist, anti-war campaign in Myanmar.
When a warrant was issued for his
arrest, he went underground. He then went to Amoy, China, to find
support for his cause: Myanmar’s independence from British rule. He
stayed for about two months in the International Settlement there before
the Japanese took him to Tokyo.
After three months in Tokyo, he returned
to his country in 1941 to communicate the plans given by the Japanese
to his comrades in Myanmar. He went back to Tokyo soon after, taking
with him the first batch of young men to undergo military training by
the Japanese for the purpose of staging an insurrection in Myanmar.
In 1942, he came to Bangkok to organise
the Burma Independence Army with the help of the Japanese. He marched
into Myanmar along with the latter as part of an invasion of the
country. Ever since he and his comrades were in Japan and eventually
became disillusioned with the Japanese. He even tried to organise an
anti-Japanese movement before he came back to Myanmar.
He attempted to form an anti-Japanese
Resistance Movement from 1943 and succeeded in forming the Anti-Fascist
People's Freedom League in August 1944. Finally he led the open general
rising against the Japanese militarists on March 27, 1945. In September
1945, he and 10 other colleagues went to Kandy to conclude a military
agreement for the amalgamation of the Patriotic Burmese Forces (as the
Resistance Forces were then called) with the Burma Army under British
control.
If Aung San were still alive, he would
probably regret that Myanmar is still not a fully independent country, a
point raised frequently by his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi.
“Myanmar already regained her
independence, but the people are living under oppression, this is why,
our country is not a sovereign state,” Aung San Suu Kyi said at a
ceremony marking he father’s centenary.
“If my father were alive, he would be
almost 100 years old. My father died when he was hardly 33 years old. We
need to rethink how much we have done for the objectives of the
independence. How much freedom and security have we restored? Freedom
and security are always related together,” she said.
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