Burma: The Curse of Independence

300 Pages·2001·3.858 MB·English

by  Shelby Tucker

Burma
The Curse of Independence
Shelby Tucker
P
Pluto Press
LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA
First published 2001 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
and 22883 Quicksilver Drive,
Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA
www.plutobooks.com
Sole distribution in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma by
White Lotus Co. Ltd
GPO Box 1141, Bangkok, 10501, Thailand
tel [phone]
fax [phone]
e-mail [email protected]
Copyright © Shelby Tucker 2001
The right of Shelby Tucker to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
ISBN 0 7453 1546 1 hardback
ISBN 0 7453 1541 0 paperback
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Tucker, Shelby.
Burma : the curse of independence / Shelby Tucker.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–7453–1546–1 — ISBN 0–7453–1541–0 (pbk.)
1. Burma—History—1948– I. Title.
DS530.4 .T8 2001
959.105—dc21
2001002154
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by
Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG
Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton
Printed in the European Union by TJ International, England
In memory of
Major Hugh Paul Seagrim, GC, DSO
and
Lance-Corporal N’Lam Awng
who gave their lives for others
Contents
Maps and Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements xii
Acronyms and Abbreviations xiii
1. The Burmese Void 1
2. Geography and Ethnicity 8
3. British vs. Japanese Line-up 27
4. We Burmans 65
5. Aung San Triumphant 106
6. A Hero’s Death 131
7. The Narcocrats 160
8. The Kleptocrats 185
9. Whither Burma? 198
Chronological Guide to the Burmese Civil War 218
Annotated Bibliography 237
Index 262
Maps and Illustrations
Maps
Ethnic Groups xvi
British Conquest xvii
Post-colonial States and Divisions xviii
Operational Areas of Principal Insurgent Groups, 1989 xix
Areas of Opium Poppy Cultivation xx
Illustrations
1. The last governor of British Burma, Sir Hubert Rance,
bidding farewell to Thakin Nu, the first prime
minister of independent Burma, on 4 January 1948 90
2. Two of the astrologers who selected the most
auspicious moment for transferring power and,
when the moment arrived, enhanced auspiciousness
by blowing on conch shells 91
3. 1998: government poster 92
4. Karen village incinerated by the Burma Army
implementing Ne Win’s ‘Four Cuts’ policy aimed at
severing insurgents from the people supporting them
with food, money, intelligence and fighting men 93
5. Karen grandmother with grandchild orphaned by
the Burma Army while implementing Ne Win’s
‘Four Cuts’ policy 94
6. ABSDF recruits training near Thai border 95
7. A KIA column fording a river 96
8. Pickets posted during a KIA unit’s crossing of a road
controlled by the Burma Army 97
9. Salween River, Karen State 98
10. Raw jade at KIA GHQ worth approximately
$2 million 99
11. KIA elephant convoy returning from delivering a
consignment of jade to China 99
12. Derelict house in Rangoon formerly owned by
an Indian merchant 100
13. Public transport in Maymyo 101
viii
Maps and Illustrations ix
14–17. Houses formerly owned by British companies now
owned by Burma Army officers 102
18. Opium addict 103
19. Military Intelligence officers attached to Burmese
Embassy in London photographing demonstrators
on the first anniversary of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s
arrest 104
20. President U Sein Lwin, Foreign Secretary
U Peter Limbin and Finance Minister U Win Ko
of the National Coalition Government of Burma
with author in 1992 105
Illustrations 1 and 2 are reproduced courtesy of The Illustrated London
NewsPicture Library. Illustrations 3–20 by Shelby Tucker.
. . . seventy of the royal blood, men, women, and children, were
murdered...andburiedwithinthepalace,inalongtrenchdugfor
the purpose. The eldest prince . . . died shrieking for mercy at the
handsofhisownslaves,whomhehadoftentortured....Theweakly
andgentle-manneredMaingtunmurmuredaprayerthatthehideous
sinofmurdermightbepardonedtoitsinstigatorandperpetrators,
and then resigned his neck to the club . . . The princesses were
subjected to nameless horrors, and the treatment of the children
recalledthedayswhenravaginghordesmarchedthroughtheland
with babes spitted on their pike staffs for standards. The poor old
regent of Pegu . . . had his nostrils and gullet crammed with
gunpowder,andwasthusblownup....Allthethreedaysbandsof
musicwereplayingthroughoutthepalace,anddancersposturingto
divertattentionfromwhatwasgoingon,andtodrownthecriesof
thevictims.Thecustomofputtingtodeathalldangerousrivalson
theaccessionofanewkingwaswithoutdoubtalmostarecognised
thinginBurmawhenevertherewasanewsovereign.ManyBurmans
defenditwarmly,onthepleathatitsecuredthepeaceofthecountry.
Shway Yoe,
The Burman(1882)
. . . at a few minutes to six, McGuire informed me that Kyaw Nyein
wanted to see me on a matter of great importance and would arrive
at GH in about ten minutes’ time with some other Ministers. My
heart sank, and I was left wondering what further catastrophe had
occurred. I was awaiting the Delegation in my study when at about
18.18 hours my ADC reported that the whole Cabinet had arrived
and were awaiting me at my office. I proceeded as quickly as possible
to the office, assured now that something frightful must have
happened, and there I met Thakin Nu dressed in his best clothes
with a gaungbaung on his head. Nu then told me that it had been
discovered that Sunday 20th July when the majority of the new
Cabinet were sworn in was a most inauspicious day. The Cabinet
therefore tendered their resignations individually and in writing. I
was then asked to re-swear the Cabinet in immediately as Friday 1st
August between 18.20 and 18.25 hours was most auspicious. The
time was then about 18.21 hours and the chap that held the key of
the office containing the form of oaths and the regalia could not be
found. Tin Tut reminded me that the oaths were in Government of
Burma Act 1935 and that book luckily I had with me. The Cabinet
stood up and with their right hands lifted repeated after me the oath
of allegiance. I then discovered that the oath of secrecy was not
included in the Act, so while the remainder of the Cabinet stood
strictly to attention with right hands lifted, Tin Tut hastily scribbled
out an oath of secrecy which was duly repeated after me. The
ceremony was over by about 18.27 hours and I then called for drinks
which were enjoyed by all . . . It is incidents like these that make us
love the country and the people so much.
Sir Hubert Rance, Governor of Burma,
Telegram to the Earl of Listowel, 2 August 1947
Burma needs to appraise itself quite as much as outsiders need to
understand Burma.
John Frank Cady, 1957
When the Army shoots, it shoots to kill.
General Ne Win, addressing demonstrators, 23 July 1988
Acknowledgements
Burma had no Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Livy or Tacitus.
Until Arthur Purves Phayre published his history in 1873, the meagre
records of its past consisted of court chronicles, stone inscriptions
and saga. Moreover, no one person can be expected to master all of
this long, complex story, most of which remains to be explored. Nor
is the student’s task helped by the military’s policy since 1962 of
allowing access to Burma’s archives exclusively to sycophants. I
stress, therefore, that responsibility for all mistakes in this study, all
facts, the manner of presenting facts, and all deductions, evaluations
and opinions expressed, is mine alone.
I have many people to thank, great and small, some of whom
cannot be named. They include the late Colonel Seng Hpung and
General Sai Lek, and Major-General Zau Mai, General Kyi Myint and
Major N Chyaw Tang, who first guided me in the thickets of Burma;
U Nyunt Aung, Anna Joan Allott, Colonel Ian Scott, Colonel Ray
Scott and Patrick Molloy for certain facts not in the public domain
or unknown to me save through them; U Kin Oung, Dr Kyin Ho,
Colonel Hugh Toye and Anthony Stonor for facts concerning Aung
San’s assassination and U Saw’s trial; U Thaung for allowing me to
draw on his impressive knowledge of the military’s exploitation of
Burma’s industrial, commercial and mineral wealth; Anne Nimmo
for allowing me to inspect materials in the collection of her late
husband, Bill Nimmo; Professor Josef Silverstein, Dr Robert Taylor, Dr
David Steinberg, Martin Smith, Andrew Selth, Bertil Lintner and
Mary Callahan for their patient assistance in defining their views
regarding Burma’s future prospects; Edward Stell for his painstaking
and scrupulous proof-reading of the typescript; and, most especially,
Patricia Herbert and John McEnery who, with erudition, tact and
well-reasoned arguments, persuaded me to make certain changes to
the text, and Ruth Willats for the quality and professionalism of
herediting.
xii