Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs to Know (8 page)

By far the most important economic innovation was the development of the Irrawaddy Delta as the world’s premier rice-growing region. The delta was transformed from a lightly populated swampy area, largely inhabited by the Karen, into the world’s rice basket. Although such development started after the second Anglo-Burma War of 1852, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 expanded European markets. The Irrawaddy Delta was the site of the greatest global agricultural investment at that time. Just prior to World War II, Burma became the largest rice exporter in the world, shipping some 3.123 million tons in one year alone. There was substantial migration from central Burma to the delta to work the land because the poorer regions of central plain (called the dry zone because it required irrigation for rice cultivation) offered fewer economic opportunities even though it was the seat of Burman culture. (The Irrawaddy Delta was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.) The Japanese conquest of Burma in World War II was prompted not only by the wish for a route for the invasion of India but also to glean the state’s natural resources. The scorched-earth policies of both sides, however, destroyed about half of the Burmese infrastructure and industry.

“To be Burman is to be Buddhist,” as the saying goes. Buddhism was the primordial value of Burman society. The rites of social passage, the functioning of education, the prestige and glory (
hpoun
, in Burmese; a monk is known as a
hpoungyi
, “great glory”) was related to the
sangha
, the Buddhist clergy, which was controlled by an administrative hierarchy with the
thathanabaing
(supreme patriarch) at the apex. Education was monastically fostered at the village level, and the monks had the most prestige. The monarchs all built pagodas, the king’s advisors were often monks, and some monarchs themselves had been monks. Virtually every Burman male had become a
novice or monk at some time in his life. Every morning, offerings were made to monks who circulated through towns and villages, providing opportunities for the populace to gain merit. Contrary to Western popular opinion, they were not begging but providing a religious service to the people. Success in life—from position to wealth to health and family—were attributed to one’s good karma, built up through the work of previous incarnations.

The British eliminated this formal structure and undercut the position of Buddhism. They abolished the position of
thathanabaing
, so that the
sangha
lost administrative cohesion. They introduced modern secular education in both English and Burmese, thus not only truncating one of the important monastic functions in many areas but establishing alternative avenues of economic mobility that were not dependent on Buddhism. Those who had traditional educations could not compete for modern positions.

The monastery still was the center of village life. The monk had great prestige, and people offered up appropriate gifts to the members of the
sangha
. Still, the great title of respect for an individual was
payataga
, the builder of a pagoda. But society had changed. Because the Burman areas lacked a hereditary gentry, there was a fluidity of mobility. Some Burmans went to England and were educated as lawyers and doctors. Others went to prestigious mission schools in Burma and were taught in English. Others went to the University of Rangoon. The education of some minorities was encouraged; a high school (Kanbawza College) was established in the Shan State for the sons of the hereditary rulers—a kind of princely school along the English public school (i.e., private school) model. But Burma was treated as a plural society, unintegrated with parallel economic and social systems.

The Burmans had lost control over their own economy. Large corporations were often European owned; the Indians dominated much of the trade and were followed by the Chinese, who emigrated into the country both over land and by sea. From
the Burmese perspective, the Burmese were being deprived of their own heritage. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing beyond independence, there was an increasing demand to get the economy back under local control, meaning Burmese state control, that is, socialism. Although the communist movement began among intellectuals in the late 1930s and early 1940s (the party was founded in 1939), the ideological spur to socialism was more rooted in local reaction to economic disassociation than to international ideological stimuli, except among a modest intellectual minority. A moderate socialist civilian government was followed by a more radical military socialist government (1962–1988) until its collapse through incompetence in 1988. This issue of who controls the economy resonates even today, for the economic ascendance of the Chinese under the present administration has created nationalistic disquiet. If the Burmese were to feel that the Chinese (no longer the Indians or the Europeans) were in obvious economic command, there could be severe consequences.

With the end of the monarchy in 1885 and the exile of the king and his family to India, a period of intense but scattered rebellion and dacoity (armed robbery by gangs) developed in much of upper Burma. It took the British about ten years to pacify the country and establish their authority (there was also a war with the Chin 1917–1919). This was done in a brutal manner in which whole villages were destroyed and many were killed. As noted, even more important was the gradual downplaying of Buddhism through the elimination of its structure of authority and the development of alternative means of education.

The British banned political activity. But when the Burmans saw the inroads that Christian missionaries and institutions made on the population, especially those non-Buddhists among the minority groups, early Buddhist leaders saw the need to emulate
Christian activity. On the model of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the Burmese established the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA) in 1906; because it was religious, the British did not ban it. It was in fact both a religious and political organization. Later other Buddhist groups were organized, such as the General Council of Buddhist (Burmese) Associations in 1920, with political objectives in mind.

The link was thus established early between Buddhism and nationalism, and that link is still strong, although the issues may be somewhat different. Buddhist monks were active in the nationalist movement; two prominent ones went to jail, and one died in prison (U Ottama, 1879–1939). Both are considered martyrs to the nationalist cause. The educational marginalization of Buddhism together with economic deprivation, especially after the Great Depression of 1929, led to economic jealousies and frustrations that spilled into the streets, with monks leading demonstrations against Muslims, most of whom had migrated from the subcontinent, as a result of perceived insults against Buddhism.

Because the monarchy and Buddhism were so intertwined, some of the rebellions against the British to try to reestablish the monarchy had a religious element. The most important of these was the Saya San (Hsaya San) rebellion of the early 1930s that was finally put down by the British with extra troops imported from India. Saya (teacher) San was a sometime monk who was later captured, tried, and executed. He established a jungle palace and advocated combined traditional Buddhist, magical, and astrological teachings. Most Western historians regarded the rebellion as a return to mystical fanaticism, but it was an atavistic reaction to conquest exacerbated by the depression that lowered international rice prices, and (as we might say today) globalization, akin perhaps to the Boxer Rebellion in China at the end of the nineteenth century. Both Burmese and some foreign historians have reevaluated its significance, and under the SLORC/SPDC, Saya San is considered a nationalist hero, and his portrait is on the Burmese currency.

World War II changed many elements of Burma. It destroyed much of the infrastructure and industry as scorched earth policies were applied as the British retreated and later as the Japanese did the same. Only some thirty years later did the Burmese per capita income reach pre–World War II levels.

The war caused the exodus of large numbers of Indians, who fled from the Japanese back to India. Lacking food and water, many of them died on the jungle tracks as they tried to walk out of the country. The war also exacerbated tensions between some of the minorities and the Burmans, for the Karen and the Kachin sided with the Allies and sometimes acted as guerrilla forces behind Japanese lines assisting the Allies (such as Wingate’s Raiders, Merrill’s Marauders, Force 136, Detachment 101, etc.). Until March 1945, the Burmans were officially in league with the Japanese. Burmans massacred Karens in Myaungmya in the delta area in May 1942, an event that is still remembered.

The role of Japan in Burma during World War II and the defeat of the Allies there and elsewhere in Asia hastened the end of colonialism and spurred the development of nationalism. It also established a bond between the Japanese and Burmese. This bond is compounded by sadness for the great losses the Japanese suffered in Burma, the mutual compassion of Buddhism (even if the two states adhere to different versions, Mahayana and Hinayana), and the suffering and poverty of the Burmese people. It later led to Japan becoming the largest donor of reparations and then economic assistance beginning in the 1950s.

Perhaps most important, it destroyed the illusion of Western and British invulnerability and boosted the rise of Burmese nationalism. Under the Japanese, Burma became titularly independent on August 1, 1943. It was a pseudo-independent state with a Burmese dictator, Ba Maw, with its capital called
Rangoon Naypyidaw. Its specious autonomy soon became apparent to the Burmese. Although there are still a few Burmese military alive who were trained under the Japanese and who reminisce fondly about their relationships, the Japanese military treated the Burmese with cultural disdain and a brutality that is largely forgotten. World War II also fostered the growth of ethnonationalism as some minority groups asserted what they considered their rights as part of the Allied war effort.

Although there were many British and a few elite Burmese in the safety of Simla in India or London who planned for the return of British-dominated government, World War II effectively ended the colonial era, even though it lingered for three more years. It also brought into prominence young Burmese who had been in the nationalist movement in the late 1930s who became the leaders of the independence movement and the new government. They included Aung San, U Nu, Ne Win, and others who played important later roles in contemporary Burma.

When Burma became separated from India in 1937, there were no Burmans in the regular army (one company had been employed in the Middle East in World War I). As noted, a small number (12.3 percent) of Burmans were eventually recruited, but the army was essentially composed of minority groups. When the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, many Burmans deserted and joined Aung San in an anti-British Burma Independence Army and were deployed with the Japanese invaders. This group was later disbanded by the Japanese, under whose auspices a smaller Burma Defense Army was formed under the command of Aung San; Ne Win commanded one of its three battalions. When Aung San became minister of defense under the puppet Japanese-controlled government, Ne Win became military commander under what was then called the Burma
National Army. In March 1945, Aung San (who had secretly been in touch with the Allies) and the Burma National Army turned against the Japanese and helped liberate Burma with the British. Some Burmese military officers as late as the early twenty-first century have expressed affection for the Japanese, some of whom maintained contact with their former Burmese colleagues.

A critical result of the early Burma military experience was the role of the Fourth Burma Rifles. Ne Win was its commander, and as he rose in prominence in later years, many of his officers and enlisted men assumed positions of authority. These included Aung Gyi, Sein Lwin, Saw Maung, and many more. The Fourth Burma Rifles under Ne Win became a type of entourage system, so important in Burmese political culture. It ensured that Ne Win’s influence would be felt in Burma/Myanmar long after he left official positions.

The colonial period is generally deplored, especially by the military, and cited as the root cause of most of the problems facing the state. Minority rebellions and difficulties are attributed to British policies of divide and rule and the development of only a relatively minuscule industrial base serving foreign interests. The Burmese, including many outside the government, consider the policy of unlimited Indian immigration a major social and economic deterrent to Burman development. Many feel the racist and segregationist elements of British rule contributed to the degradation of Burman culture. Burmans often criticize the role of Christianity in minority conversions and the educational marginalization of Buddhist monasteries. The military has specifically decried the subjugation of Burman women to foreign exploitation as unpatriotic and an attempt to dilute the Burman race. They cite the marriage of Aung San Suu Kyi to a British academic, Michael Aris, as disqualifying her from leading the country. This colonial issue, as exemplified
in Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The Road to Mandalay” (and its paean to Burmese women who had relations with British soldiers) and George Orwell’s
Burmese Days
(whose hero had a Burmese mistress), thus continues today.

There are probably few alive now who personally remember the colonial period. During the civilian era, however, when things were not going smoothly, many elderly did remember and appreciate certain aspects of life then, even if they deplored colonialism as such. Burmese would complain that the telephones worked better during the British days, trains were more comfortable, and there was less robbery and more law and order. More Burmese were trained under British rule than inhabitants of many other colonial states.