Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ment. This would not be the last involvement of the sangha(Buddhist brother-
hood) in politics.
U Ottama, a monk who had studied in India and returned to Burma in 1921, pro-
moted religious liberation as a way to bring the independence movement to the at-
tention of the average local Buddhist. After numerous arrests, U Ottama died in
prison in 1939. Another monk, U Wizaya, died in prison in 1929 after a 163-day hun-
ger strike, which began as a protest against a rule that forbade imprisoned monks
from wearing robes.
In the footsteps of these martyrs to the nationalist cause strode the brave monks
who, risking arrest and worse, marched the streets in 2007. Monks currently ac-
count for 256 of Burma's 1994 political prisoners and include the 31-year-old U
Gambira, one of the organisers of the 2007 protests, who is serving a sentence of
68 years.
Aung San & WWII
More famous in the West as Aung San Suu Kyi's father, Bogyoke (General) Aung San is
revered as a national hero by most Myanmar people and his likeness is seen throughout
the country. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was only two when he died, called him 'a simple
man with a simple aim: to fight for independence'.
Aung San was an active student at Rangoon University: he edited the newspaper and
led the All Burma Students' Union. At 26 years old, he and the group called the 'Thirty
Comrades' looked abroad for support for their independence movement. Although ini-
tially planning to seek an alliance with China, they ended up negotiating with Japan and
receiving military training there. The 'Thirty Comrades' became the first troops of the
Burmese National Army (BNA) and returned to Burma with the invading Japanese
troops in 1941.
By mid-1942 the Japanese had driven retreating British-Indian forces, along with the
Chinese Kuomintang (KMT), out of most of Burma. But the conduct of the Japanese
troops was starting to alienate the Burmese. Aung San complained at Japan's 15th Army
headquarters in Maymyo (now Pyin Oo Lwin): 'I went to Japan to save my people who
were struggling like bullocks under the British. But now we are treated like dogs.'
Aung San and the BNA switched allegiance to the Allied side in March 1945. Their
assistance, along with brave behind-enemy-lines operations by the 'Chindits', an Allied
Special Force, helped the British prevail over the Japanese in Burma two months later.
Aung San and his colleagues now had a chance to dictate post-war terms for their coun-
try.
