Political History of Burma
and the story of my family

1870's
(Joe's note: I've been trying to pin down the approximate date of U Yan Shin (my paternal great-grand father fleeing Sale (sa. lay) to settle in Gyobingauk (kro. pin kauk.). U Po Thaw, the eldest son of U Yan Sin, was born in Gnathayauk (?) in 1871 (year given by U Aung Myint, son of U Po Thaw). Daw Choap, was the next younger sister of U Po Thaw. Her approximate date of birth is therefore 1873. She was about 6 years old when U Yan Shin relocated his family in Gyobingauk some time before his flight from Sale. This would place, the date I've been looking for as 1880.)

(Joe's note: U Yan Shin was the son of one of the two brothers: Hpo Min Tha and Hpo Ta Gaung. They were traditional chiefs of a huge area near Sale. The family owned extensive toddy-palm plantations according to my grand-mother Daw Choak. U Yan Shin used to accompany the horses he owned to sell in Lower Burma. He had an exceptional memory and knew his way through the forest treks even on dark nights by feeling his way through by touching and feeling the trunks of trees. He had extensive knowledge of Burmese indigenous medicine - even bordering on mystical powers. He had a sizable following (of fighters) and he was wrongly reported to the Burmese king (which king? Most probably King Thibaw.) of plotting a rebellion by U Tha Ya, the mayor of Sale. Such an accusation meant certain death, and U Yan Shin relocated his wife (first wife) Daw Htaik, his first son Mg Hpo Thaw (according to U Aung Myint - Mg Po Thaw, his father-to-be, was still an infant), and his second child Ma Choak (according to my father - his mother-to-be was about 6 years) to Gyobingauk in Lower Burma under the British administration. (My father was older than U Aung Myint. My father was about six years old when U Yan Shin died. And therefore I would go along with my father, and take that when U Yan Shin fled to Gyobingauk, Ma Choak was about 6 years. Therefore, as noted in the previous paragraph) the year that U Yan Shin has to flee was about 1880). U Yan Shin went back to Upper Burma, captured U Tha Ya, and executed him by decapitating with sword under three hta naung trees (hta. naugn: thoan: pin) on the road from Sale to Kyaukpadaung. He fled back to Gyobingauk during the night, feeling the trunks of trees on the way. This was the story told by my father, who had fond memories of his grandfather.)

(Joe's note: My father said Daw Htaik his grandmother died when he was still quite young - but remembered that she was buried together with "ta-gyu" (tan. chu - a long bamboo pole used to pluck fruit from tall trees) and "chin daung" (chin: taugn: - basket to carry the plucked-fruits in). The funeral articles according to my father, and to Hanthawaddy U Ba Yin a noted Burmese scholar meant, my great-grandmother belonged to Taung-thu ("Peasant Tribe") - possibly a descent of Taungthu Gyi Min (King) of the Pagan Era (about 1000 AD)).

(Joe's note: My father said U Yan Shin, his grandfather died when he was about 6 years (note the fondness of number 6 by the Burmese in describing a child's age). He remembered his grandfather's forehead was gilded (from gold-leaves - a process used to gild statues of Buddha) and the coffin was carried under gold-umbrellas. This according to Hanthawaddy U Ba Yin that was a sign that U Yan Shin was of noble birth - but not necessarily royal. My own conclusion is U Yan Shin belonged to the class of "ka-lans" (the office held by Kyansittha - or - ka. lan sis tha: - before he ascended the Pagan throne about 1100 AD).

(Joe's note: It would be foolish of me to claim my ancestry to the rulers of Pagan Era. Yet there was no doubt in my mind that our ancestors had been living in the Pagan area from times immemorial. This belief is supported by the fact that our family "nat" is Min-ma-ha Giri - or the Lord of the Great Mountain. (Mount Popa is the "Great Mountain"). According to my grandmother Daw Choak, another of the family "nat" was "Myin-phyu shin - or the Lord of the White Horse, and he actually uplifted the wealth of U Yan Shin after making the family "heard" the sound of horse's hooves and neighing, circling the house at night.)

(Joe's note: My father had "magic" tatooed spots (5 blue-black spots) on both his wrists - a gift from his grandfather bestowing "mystical powers" to his grandsons. U Kyi Zin, the eldest son of U Po Thaw, and thus the oldest of U Yan Shin's grandchildren was also reported to have received "mystical powers" from his grand-father. U Kyi Zin, was murdered by Ye-baw-phyu rebels in Yezagyo around 1950. His murderers could not kill him for several hours. U Kyi Zin was reported to be "bullet-proof", "dah-proof", and "doak-proof". He died only when he let go of his Will to live at the instigation of his phongyi who reminded him that even Buddha had to die. My daughter MaNi now wears U Yan Shin's "ruby" on her finger as a ring. This ruby is supposed to have magical powers and would protect the wearer from grave danger.)

(Joe's note: According to U Aung Myint, a grand-son of U Yan Shin, the British after annexing Burma made peace with U Yan Shin - or Bo Yan Shin and his followers of Sale area.)

(Joe's note: The British would not take off their shoes in Buddhist religious places much to the anger of the Burmese. They would even refused to take off their shoes inside the monasteries and front rooms of Burmese houses. This to the Burmese was an insult to their religion, and to their race!)

(Joe's note: The first Boycott by the Rangoon College students gave birth to National Day. Rangoon College affiliated to Calcutta University became an independent university as the Rangoon University. The youngest among the boycotters or boycott leaders was U Aung Din one of my father's close friends. This movement also gave birth to National Schools. My mother was a teacher in the Kungyangon National School, and my father was on the school committee. They were both singles at the time. My mother was the treasurer of the committee to celebrate the National Day concert staged by the school. My father was the auditor. My father used to tease my mother: "You could not keep your accounts straight and you ended up marrying the auditor!")

1930
Dobama Society (Joe's note: not the same as do. ba. ma a. se: a. yoan: The name means "We-the-Burmese Society") formed as a student nationalist group.

(Joe's note: U Saw who later became prime minister was a higher-grade pleader on the defence side. Many people in the Tharawaddy area, the starting point of the rebellion mistrusted Dr. Ba Maw, because of his Armenian looks, and his Christian religion. They hated Dr. Ba Maw, and backed U Saw his goal for political power.)

(Joe's note: My father the Public Health Inspector of Kungyangon North & South was a returning officer. From this fact I can guess when my father arrived in Kungyangon as follows: - I was born in 1935 Feb 18, Monday - my actual birth day. (My official birth day, 1934 Mar 19, Monday, had to be adopted to facilitate me to enter the Rangoon University in 1950 because no one under age 16 could join the university.) My father must have come to Kungyangon round about 1928.)

(Joe's note: According to my father Dr. Ba Maw after getting financial support from Indian merchants who would like to have Burma attached to India changed his policy from "Twei-ye" (Association) to "Hkwe-ye" (Separation))

(Joe's note: The Burmese (Karen) weight-lifter U Zaw Weik was a member of Indian team in an Olympic event. As a member of the Indian team he was made to wear an Indian turban - an insult to the Burmese pride. This convinces me that Olympic Games instead of promoting harmony and understanding among the various people was actually an instrument of the West used to dominate non-European cultures.)

(Joe's note: I was born in Kungyangon (kun: cran: koan:) formerly in Hanthawaddy district (now placed in Greater Rangoon) on 18th February 1935 at dawn. The 17th was the Full Moon Day of Tabodwei (ta. po. twei:). The Moon was full, but astrologically, because it was past midnight, I was taken as Waning-Moon-born (la. hsoap mway:))

(Joe's note: My mother, who used her Burmese name Daw Hla May after the WWII was still using her Chinese name and she was known to people of Kungyangon as Sayama (Teacher) Ma Haw. She was known to her Christian schoolmates as Mary Lwe. My father, U Tun Pe was the Public Health Inspector of both Kungyangon North and Kungyangon South villages with headquaters in Kungyangon. He had to do his rounds with the help of three vaccinators - (about 1938 they were - U Sein Hlaing, Ko Pan Mya, and Ko Ohn Hlaing). My mother conceived 4 times. The first two were still-borns. The third was a girl - Ma Mya Shwe (a) Baby. She died when I was 13 days old. My father could never got over the shock and he would "see" his daughter in almost every girl he met.)

(Joe's note: hsin: rei: in Burmese is "poverty", and tha: is "son". Thus, the party's name is Sons of Poverty. It is ironic that Dr. Ba Maw, a wealthy man from a rich family should have chosen this name. This probably shows the darker side in the nature of this politician.)

Marxist groups formed by Thakin Soe (Joe's note: a writer not connected with Rangoon University) and Thakin Than Tun (Joe's note: a Rangoon University student.) and contacts established with the Communist Party in India.

(Joe's note: The prefix to a person's name, Thakin (tha. hkin) meaning "master" in Burmese was adopted by many nationalists to overcome the servile-minded pro-British attitude creeping into the minds of Burmese people especially those in the employ of the government. The most notable among the Thakins was Thakin Ko Daw Hmaing - a native writer who eventually won the Stalin Prize (?) during the days of Cold War which followed World War II. The majority of the Thakins were nationalist and not communists as evidenced by Bogyok Aung San, who as a student of the Rangoon University was known as Thakin Aung San.)

(Joe's note: I don't agree with Theda Maw's translation. pwint. does not always mean "flower" in Burmese. The Burmese for "flower" is "pan: pwint." pwint. in Nga-Bwint-Saing simply means there were five leaders.)

(Joe's note: myo: means "race" and chit means "love", and thus the party's name literally means "Lover's of Race" or loosely translated "patriots". The party's name shows its racist nature. The party's symbol was the Burmese utility heavy knife known as da. ma. The youth among the party's members were formed into brigades armed with heavy bamboo clubs or wa: rin: doat similar to the youth movements in Germany and Italy. - I'm writing from memory and this note needs confirmation.) (U Saw was later hanged for assassination of Bogyoke Aung San. However, his trial under the British-Burma administration was highly publicized and manipulated by a frenzied press, and was taken advantage of by the political enemies of U Saw.) (U Saw was a small town lawyer or Higher-Grade Pleader, with a middle school education - Sixth Standard (chauk tan:) Passed, which at that time was considered to be of good "secular" education - meaning primarily the ability to speak English the official language. He trained himself to be a speaker in English, and when he later became the prime minister before the outbreak of World War II, he was able to debate in English not only in the Legislature in Rangoon but also make a speech to the House of Commons in London, England.) (The Education Minister in the Cabinet of U Saw's prime ministership was blinded in one eye and the political enemies of U Saw would joke

eef;&if;0ef u ajcmufwef;
ynma&;0ef u apmufuef;
wdkif; jynf MuD; awmh
arSmufcef;?

nan: rin: wun ka. chauk tan:
pyin nga ray: wun ka sauk kan:
taign: pyay kre: taw.
mhauk hkan://

Translated:

(Joe's note: The origin of the Burmese-Muslims riots was due to a book written by U Shwe Hpi (u: shway hpe) -an ex-Buddhist monk who converted to Islam. This book extolling the truth of Islam and condemning Buddhism had been in circulation among the Muslims some time before. The Burmese political activists were supposed to have dug up this episode to create instability in the country. However, the ordinary Burmese, not knowing the difference between Hindus and Muslims, killed many Indians both Hindus and Muslims on sight. A gruesome murder of an Hindu Indian selling eggs took place in the vacant lot in front of 31 ThantadaLan, and your mother (Daw Than Than) was among those in ThantadaLan house who witnessed the crime. Your grandfather, U Maung Gyi had a Muslim servant "Mahmood" by name in the house, and he had to hide him in the ceiling for the first few days of the riots. U Maung Gyi, who himself had strong Indian features eventually sent Mahmood to a Muslim quarter (Kandawgalay) where Mahmood was safe for the rest of the riots.)

(Joe's note: According to my mother, when there was a scare in Kungyangon because of a rumour that an Indian mob from Taw-kayan-lay village (primarily inhabited by Burmese-Muslims known locally as ka. la: daigm or "shallow Indian") was on its way to Kungyangon to murder the Burmese. I, though still a three-year old took out my toy gun to guard my house. Tawkayanlay village was attacked by Burmese mobs early in the WWII years. See p.188 of Dr. Ba Maw's book.)

(Joe's note: The students on their way to demonstrate in front of the Secretariat (between JudaEzakel Street and Spark Street) was attacked by mounted-police on Spark Street infront of the office of a Burmese newspaper connected to U Saw. A student Aung Kyaw was killed. The student activists proclaimed Aung Kyaw as one of the leaders of the demonstration and made him a matyr. Ko Tun Shein (I called him Ko Ko Par, was eldest son of U Ba Tin & Daw Thaung Han) was injured by a police club. According to eye-witnesses, the people in the newspaper office were the ones who actually started by melee by throwing stones from the roof the newspaper office on the police. U Ba Tin was in Burma Civil Service in Rangoon. As an administrator, and a judge, he was warned by the authories to control his son Ko Tun Shein.)

(Joe's note: - Bo Mogyo meaning "Leader Thunderbolt" was the name given by the anti-British pro-Japanese movement to Mr. Suzuki, a Japanese civilian dentist. Mr. Suzuki was later revealed to be Major General Keiji Suzuki of the Imperial Japanese Army, and he became the creator of Burma Independence Army or BIA in 1941. The name mo:kro: was chosen probably because of a prophesy one of many strongly believed by the Burmese:

     tif; ukd [oFm qif; onf 

(Joe's note: See page 67 for the Burmese name of the Bloc. The Burmese name Htwet Yat Gaing (htwek yap gaign:) literally means "The Association of the Way Out" The politicians make use of another popular belief of the Burmese - a belief in alchemy through which a certain man by the name Maung Aung came to possess supernatural powers including very long life approaching immortality. As such he was (and still is) referred to as BoBo Aung. He became free of his human limitations and the King BodawPaya (youngest son of King Alaungpaya) was unable to put any restraints on him. The story goes: as monastic school-mates the boys who later became BodawPaya and Bobo Aung had promised eternal friendship. But the king became afraid of Bobo Aung and tried to assassinate him. Bobo Aung accusing the king of betraying his promise showed that his powers were far better than those of a mere king. Yet Bobo Aung promised that he would still honor his promise and would help a descendant of Bodaw Paya. When a descendent of Bodaw Paya by the name Setkya Mintha (Setkya in Burmese means "swastika") was being executed by drowning Bobo Aung was supposed to have saved him and had bestowed on him "immortality". Thus, the common people of Burma came to respect Hitler because of his swatika taking him to be Setkya Mintha himself or a descendent who would come and free Burma from the British.)

Nov. Freedom Bloc request for special legislative session to consider the war situation turned down by Government (Joe's note: Governor was Sir Dorman-Smith?).

(Joe's note: During this time, a lot of Burmese houses not connected to the British-Burma administration would put up a religious symbol over the front door out of sight of the police. The symbol an outer circle representing Bobo Aung encompassing a swastika representing SetkyaMintha, and four characters of the Burmese alphabet "sa./da./ba./wa./" known as sa. ma. lay: loan: each under the arms the swatika. Any one who could "control" these letters are supposed to be endowed with supernatural powers.)

(Joe's note: Tun Shein was the original name of Yan Naing. There were three persons with the same name, the two others were Max Tun Shein, and Beiktha: (Da Wei?) Tun Shein. All three together with other BIA officers were frequent visitors to our house in Pauk, where we took refuge under the protection of my father's elder (cousin) brother U Kyi Zin. My uncle ULay U Aung Myint and Bo Yan Naing were classmates in Rangoon University which helped him free his elder brothers U Kyi Zin, my father U Tun Pe, and U Tha Hsin when they were arrested by the BIA in Pauk a day after BIA forces led by Bo Yan Naing came into town.)

(Joe's note: aa na shin - means "holder of power" a term used by the Burmese for Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy. Refer to a WWII song:

(Joe's note: Thakin Than Tun (tha. hkin than: htun:) led the "White Flag" communist rebellion against the British-Burma government led by Bogyoke (Thakin) Aung San after WWII but before Independence). Thakin Soe (tha. hkin so:) after WWII but before Independence led the "Red Flag" communist rebellion against the Bogyoke Aung San's government. Thakin Nu became the first prime minister of independent Union of Burma. He later dropped the prefix Thakin and was known as U Nu. Dr. Thein Maung, became the Burmese Ambassador to Japan after Burma declared Independence in Aug 1943.)

(Joe's note: Why wasn't Dr. Ba Maw arrested? The theory held by many was he was an agent of the British or just an opportunistic politician who was trying to use the Thakins for his own political ends.)

Governor makes statement on dominion status for Burma. (Joe's note: The Governor was Dorman-Smith(?) - the move by the British was "too little - too late".)

(Joe's note: The theory was Dr. Ba Maw was arrested when the British finally realized that he was in contact with the Japanese - a double agent.)

(Joe's note: The police officer attached to Dr. Ba Maw was ULay U Khin Maung whom we came to know very well in Mandalay in 1967-71. U Khin Maung was chosen for this trip because of his fluency in English. He described to me this trip in detail. ULay U Khin Maung described this trip while I was in Mandalay where I was a lecturer in Chemistry with the University of Mandalay. According to him, Dr. Ba Maw was accorded every respect due to a gentleman and former prime minister. He was sent without any body-restraints or handcuffs in a private railway coach painted white - the coach reserved for high officials. Dr. Ba Maw was polite but would usually speak only in English even to a Burmese police officer!)

(Joe's note: It appeared that U Saw was not a Thakin who were Leftist leaning. He hated Dr. Ba Maw and everyone who could speak fluent English and were the product of Christian schools as instruments of the British. He was more of a Nazi and a Fascist. He was more truthful, blunt, more of a Burmese traditionalist than a modern politician.)

(Joe's note: Carrier based Japanese planes flew past Kungyangon on 23rd morning around 8:00 am. My first sight of warplanes flying in formation. The planes bombed and strafed Rangoon. The first refugees from Rangoon arrived in Kungyangon. My father and I went to meet them at the bus stop. My father confronted a man who claimed that the whole city was destroyed. During the conversation the man admitted that he was in western part of the city about to embark on the launch for Kungyangon, and his claim of the "whole city destroyed" was what he had witnessed in a very small sector where none of the bombs fell! My father pointed out to me not to believe the so-called eye-witnesses - a valuable lesson for a six-year old! The Burmese, including myself are fond of hyperbole!)

1942.
Jan. Yan Naing's BIA unit lands at Victoria Point. (Joe's note: Kawthaung - kaw. thaugn).

(Joe's note: My mother heading a small party of refugees headed for Pakokku and then Pauk. The party consisted: My mother, myself (age 7), Gna Htoo (age 8) - my servant-playmate, Daw Than Sein - my mother's cousin-sister-in-law, Tat Chun (age about 7) - Daw Than Sein's adopted son, Daw Hsin - my mother's youngest maternal aunt, and, Ma Mya Han and Ma Mya Than - my mother's former students from Dalla opposite Rangoon. My father could not accompany us and thus my mother, who could speak fluent English and Cantonese, and acceptable Hindustani, was the real leader. My father, with all government servants were under orders not to leave their posts. He received the evacuation order only in February - a month later, and was able to join us in Pauk after a rather hazardous journey up the Irrawaddy River.)

(Joe's note: The small party of refugees heading for Pauk, started early one morning by bus from Kungyangon. At Tah-wa, on Kungyangon-Twante road, we had to board the Rangoon Henzada steamer-ferry. The steamer would slow down to take on people who had to come out in sampans. We went past Ma-U-bin, Nyaungdon, to Henzada. We had to change boats in Henzada - unable to get tickets my mother went up to the District Commissioner to seek his help - relying on her fluency in English. Henzada to Prome - we passed A-kauk-tuaung (meaning "toll-collecting mountain" - the last defile of the Irrawaddy - where the wild monkeys came to the water's edge to collect bits of food thrown at them by those on board). We were stranded in Prome a few days unable to get on to Prome-Mandalay steamer. The steamer was a huge one with paddle wheels. Cholera was always around the corner in Burma - and when Gna Htoo came down with severe diarrhea on board the steamer my mother was really worried. She thought he was going to die. A fellow-passenger whom my mother tried to "relate" to my father's relatives, promised to help get rid of the body secretly were the boy to die. My mother knew perfectly well that if the captain were to know that he had a cholera case on board, we would immediately be left in a small town's hospital which would place the whole party in danger now that the war was breaking out. She administered over-dose the then best medicine "Mixture Prodiarrhea" which she had in stock and the boy recovered. We disembarked at Pakkokku. We stayed with Babagyi U Ba Yok and Kyikyi Daw Than, who themselves were refugee-guests of Pakkokku U Ba Gya. After a couple of days, my father's cousins came to fetch us to Pauk. Of the party which came out of Kungyangon, we left Daw Than Sein, Tat-chun and Daw Shin with Kyikyi Daw Than.)

Mar. Fall of Rangoon. Mogyo and BIA enter Rangoon. Mogyo announces creation of the Burma Baho Government, Rangoon. (Joe's note: Baho - ba. ho means "Central" in Burmese) Thakin Tun Oke (tha. hkin htun: aoap) appointed Chief Administrator.

(Joe's note: The British forces were under orders not to put up strong resistance, but to make an orderly retreat delaying the advancing Burmese troops as much as possible. The poorly armed Burmese forces eager for a major battle, in a pincer movement, unwittingly surrounded the British. The better armed British (who had light tanks) had to fight their way out with very little loss in life. In this battle the unit under Bo Thuya (bo thu ra.) was almost completely wiped out, and Bo Thuya suffered a reduction in rank. The same British forces came up the Irrawaddy river, up Yawchaung (yaw: chaugn:) and encamped in Pauk for a while. My father who was now in Pauk was asked to be their interpreter in the trial of three Burmese villagers who tried to rob a couple of Indian soldiers (on the side of the British). The leader was shot. The two followers were publicly caned. It was the first time I saw a man tied to a post and caned.)

(Joe's note: The British requested my father to give them medicines from my father's emergency medical chest - mostly quinine and anti-cholera mixture. The British were about to burn the town, and told my father to take his family out of the town before nightfall. My father pleaded with them to spare the town pointing out that he had parted with medicines which he had intended for his own family use. The British left the town without burning it. The sappers-and-miners left about mid-night. Some hours later, very early in the morning Bo Yan Naing's BIA troops entered the town. He troops were mainly from Da Wei and they had never had been this far up north. U Kyi Zin - my father's elder (cousin) brother, my father, and U Tha Hsin - U Kyi Zin's younger brother were arrested by the BIA for failing to surrender their fire-arms. My uncle ULay U Aung Myint, on learning that his class-mates Bo Yan Naing and others were the leaders, approached them and had his brothers released. All fire-arms were restored to the brothers. And from that day onwards the BIA officers, as long as they were stationed in Pauk, all of them Lower Burmans, were regular visitors to our house - ostentatiously to have a taste of Lower Burma food prepared by my mother. However, I'm sure, it was because of Ma Mya Han and Ma Mya Than, and also because of my mother's niece Ma SiSi, all three being Lower Burma city-girls must have appeared extraordinarily beautiful to the eyes of the young Lower Burmese officers who were very young.) (There was only one Japanese officer with the BIA troops, and he was probably a non-regular. I remember him to be a very civilized man unlike the Japanese soldiers whom we met later on our way down the Irrawaddy just before we entered the town of Sale (sa. lay). These latter Japanese soldiers were bathing with only their loin-cloths on, on a launch in the middle of the river. My mother took such a fright that she purged during that night!)

(Joe's note: One of the principal routes was through Pauk and Tamu (ta. mu:) which had been hastily opened by the British for their withdrawal. The British forces we met in Pauk was the British General Staff and the Brigadier-General (the most senior officer) responsible for retreat into India. They were the forces who had fought the BIA forces of Bo Yan Naing in Shwedaung.)

(Joe's note: When my father chose to send us to Pakkoku and Pauk to his elder cousin-brother U Kyi Zin. There was no regular route to Tamu from Pauk. Pauk was a very well protected town far away from the strategic towns and was at the end of the motorable road from Pakkoku. The British road-building party arrived and passed through Pauk only after our arrival in Pauk. The British instead of using the old motor road from Pakkoku to Pauk, built a new road along the northern bank of Yawchaung to Pauk. From Pauk, they had to build a motorable road to Gangaw and then an entirely new road to Tamu in India.)

(Joe's note: Soon after the road-builders had passed through the town long lines of war-refugees (mostly Indians) from Chauk and Yenanchuang, and elsewhere started passing through Pauk, right in front of our house (owner: Daw Sit Mei). Some of them would encamped in the town overnight in the empty area reserved for the five-day bazaar. They were on foot, foot-sored and tired. The town's people did all they could to provide them with food and water.)

(Joe's note: I remember, a verbal exchange between an Indian woman from Yenanchaung who spoke fluent Burmese and a Burmese woman of Pauk. The on-looking Burmese woman remarked rather loudly: tha. na: leik ta/ (I'm so sorry for them), the Indian woman over-hearing shot back: shin to. ko shin to. tha na: kra. pa/ (Pity yourself), kya. ma. to. ka. in dre. ya. rauk rin pe: pre (Ourselves, we are OK once we arrived India), shin to. ka. tha gya. pan nei. kyan hkei. mha (You on the other hand would be left dealing with the Japanese.). This produced quite a reaction on the onlookers and help-providers: ku. la: ma. ka. lu pa: wa. leik ta/ (What an insolent Indian female!). My mother would repeat this story many times - whenever, we talk of our days in Pauk, and she would remark: "How right she was!" One morning, a column of "Kamala" circus (my father told me the name when the same circus came back to Rangoon after the War.) No lions. No tigers. Horses with packages on their backs. An elephant drawing a wagon. Goats. A monkey who would jump on to the back of a horse, or on the elephant or even on a goat whenever the drivers were not looking. A sharp whack from a whip, the monkey would walk for a time, but would try to get a ride again the minute he got his chance. The lesson I got: "There are free-riders every day, every where, at all times.")

(Joe's note: My father and his brothers were worried. We were living right in the center of the town. As all the houses and the house-hold granaries were built of wood, with bamboo roofing (wa: kup which we saw for the first time in Pakkoku and Pauk. In lower Burma we were used to seeing da. ne.) there was the fire-danger. U Kyi Zin got permission from Mr. Max the local manager of BBTCL (Bombay Burma Trading Company Limited) to relocate our families in the huge office bungalo at the north-western end of the town. Located, in a huge compound, there was absolutely no fire-danger. BaBa Gyi U Kyi Zin's family: U Kyi Zin, Daw Twei - his sharp tongued wife, Ma Khin Oo - the elder daughter, Ma Khin Than - the younger daughter, Ye-Swe - the young adopted son in the over-sized upper left room. Our family: My father, my mother, myself, Gna Htoo, Ma Mya Han, Ma Mya Than in the equally over-sized upper right room. ULay U Aung Myint, ULay Thaung, Talaing, grown up nephews of my mother in the somewhat smaller lower left room (which we designated the bachelor quarter). U Ah Tat (a bachelor) - my mother's nephew, his mentally challenged mother, Ma Si Si - his sister, his younger brothers in the lower right equally smaller room. There was a very large drawing room up-stairs, which had been used as meeting room by the BBTCL officers or as the party room. I remember the huge solid teak table (the one of the kind I've seen) (BBTCL was a timber extraction and exporting company and Pauk was their operation head-quarters for Yaw area with large teak forests) in the room.)

(Joe's note: ULay U Tha Hsin, Daw Ma Ma - his wife, and his daughters Ma Khin Kyi and Ma Tin Myint, were housed in a smaller house across a dried-up creek north of our house the BBTCL building. ULay Aung Myint and particularly U Lay Thaung whenever they felt uncomfortable with their sister-in-law Daw Twei. would stayed with Daw Ma Ma who was very good natured. U Tha Hsin's house was well hidden behind huge trees, and we could not see it from the BBTL building, but every evening after his evening meal and after a drink of fermented toddy (palm wine), ULay U Tha Hsin would belche, and we could hear him. I suspect he over-did it to make himself heard.)

(Joe's note: U Kyi Zin was a veteran of World War I, and had served with the British forces in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq). He was a marksman. He had at least a single barrel shot gun and a service revolver. I'm not sure whether he had an elephant-rifle or not. He was at that time the chief Excise officer in Pauk. U Tha Hsin was also in the Excise department, and he also owned a shot gun. My father had his double-barelled shot gun which he was licensed to carry. My father used to hunt deer, boar, and birds while in Kungyangon. He was also a good shot. ULay Aung Myint and ULay Thaung knew how to use fire-arms very well. Thus the brothers formed a formidable force, and the BBTCL compound was their fortress. That was how the retreating British forces found us. That was also how the BIA found us.)

(Joe's note: However, all was quiet in Pauk. There was a chorela epidemic in town, and we lost Gna Htoo, and my mother's nephew U Ah Tat who with his mentally challenged mother, and brothers and sister (Ma Sisi) had came to join us. My father, without his medicines which he had handed earlier to the retreating British troops to save the town, was helpless. That was the price we paid for saving a town!)

(Joe's note: It was about this time we left Pauk. We came down Yawchaung in three country boats which were built for us which we paid. Yawchaung is fed by rains in the Chin hills, and was mainly used for floating huge teak logs and is not very navigable. Too little water for half the year, or a roaring sea the other half. We picked a time just when the rains have ceased, which left enough water for our boats to float down. We saw the devastation left by the British troops. At Seiktha village opposite the mouth of Yawchaung which empties into the Irrawaddy, we came to hear the first story of Japanese misbehavior (not atrocity). And that was why when my mother first saw the Japanese bathing half-naked in the middle of the river in plain view of everyone, that she took fright. (The boatmen, I remember about 9, had very little knowledge of the huge Irrawaddy. They had come that far, only because we'd promised to give them the three boats. They were very excited whenever they saw a fish blow calling out "gna: bat kre:" the only river fish they'd probably heard of. This shows how very little the Burmese traveled throughout their lives. Except for those in cities and towns, the people had lived happily in their own villages undisturbed by the Burmese kings, and the British administration who were only just content to collect the taxes.)

(Joe's note: Netaji Bose or Subhas Chandra Bose, was a Bengali who like Dr. Ba Maw had hoped to liberate India with the help of the Japanese. He formed the INA - Indian National Army.)

(Joe's note: It was around this time that we had arrived back in Kungyangon from the flight as war-refugees. On the way from Pauk, we spent some time in Sale, with Daw Tun Khin, the widow of U Aung Din. This U Aung Din was not the same as the Boycotter U Aung Din. This U Aung Din was a younger brother of U Kyi Zin. My father never met his younger cousin-brother U Aung Din. We then took a large country boat (laugn: lhay) to Kyangin (kyan hkign:) where my parents' friends U Ba Tin (U Ba Tin VI of Burma Civil Service) and his wife Daw Thaung Han were located. Daw Thaung Han was a native of Kyangin, but U Ba Tin was from Thaton. My parents loved and respected this couple so much, that they would always refer to them as elder brother and sister and we would normally refer to them as our blood relatives. On the other hand, because my mother was from Moulmein and also because her parents did settle in Thaton at one time, where she had relatives, she might actually be a blood relative of U Ba Tin. Who knows! and who cares! In Burma, it seems everybody is related one way or another to everybody. We had another boat built in Kyangin which took us down the river to Kyaikhtaw. The reason, why we could not take an upper Burma country boat this far down south is because of the presence of a worm which trives in tidal waters of lower Irrawaddy. This worm usually would destroy the timber used to sweet waters of the upper Irrawaddy. We stayed in Kyaikhtaw a couple of months before we came back to Kungyangon.)

(Joe's note: Once back in Kungyangon, my father reported for duty as the PHI. However, his service did not last long. He was dismissed from service for refusing to be relocated to Rangoon. He came down with low blood pressure and nearly lost his life. He was taken in for a day for questioning by the Japanese Kempai (military police). His friend, U Myint Thein, the township officer of Kungyangon-North was instrumental in getting him out. The Japanese major who did the questioning spoke very good English, and saw that those who had denounced my father to the Kempai were his old friends turned enemies. They were the Thakins who had joined the Dobama Asiayon. Another of my father's friend Thakin Tun Tin (who later became Bomhu (Major) Tun Tin of the 42nd Union Military Constabulary after 1948 Independence) was at that time serving as the township officer of Kungyangon-South. Sometime later two of my father's friends from Rangoon came to Kungyangon. They were U Aung Zan - one of the prominant film directors of prewar Burma and the Boycotter U Aung Din, who was well placed with the Dr. Ba Maw's administration. I believe it was U Aung Din who asked my mother, the former school-teacher, to organize the people of the town to form the Asia Youth League. This political movement was rival to Dobama Asiayon. My mother complied, and had my uncle ULay Thaung installed as the secretary of the party. U Aung Din was a constant visitor in our house, and thus my father's enemies could not touch us any more. My parents were intrumental in arranging the marriage of U Aung Din to Ma Hla Myint a former student of my mother. Our house became the groom's house, and when Thakin Kodaw Mhaing, Thakin Mya (who was later assassinated together with Bogyoke Aung San), Thakin Nyi Lay (of the Communist wing of the Thakins, and who was later beheaded by the Japanese during the Resistance movement) came for the wedding, they put up in our house as house- guests. U Aung Din, whom I called ULay Gyi, was in someway instrumental in instilling the love of the country in my young mind.)

(Joe's note: August 1, 1943, 11:20 a.m. - Burma became an independent and sovereign state. Burma's independence was recognized on the same day by the Axis countries and their allies. See page 326.)

(Joe's note: I remember the Independence celebrations very well. We had it going for a week with all the play things and concerts. We sang:

    vGwf vyf jyD/ vGwf vyf jyD/ 

(Joe's note: I remember some INA soldiers who came to Kungyangon to extort money from the Chiteeyas (Indian Bankers). They arrested Sundarum, a Chiteeya friend of my father, and beat him all day long to get money from him. The beatings took place in the INA headquaters, a wooden house, in the middle of the town. All the passers-by could hear the screams of the Chiteeya, and came to hate the INA as nothing more than petty robbers.)

(Joe's note: My father had recovered from low-blood pressure. He was boiling soap, and selling from our house, under the brand "nay sak kra" (nay means the "sun" and sak kra means the "swastika") - the design was simple a circle encompassing a swastika. That was his answer to those who had denounced him to the Japanese Kempai. Since caustic soda was not available, my father extracted wood-ash, and causticised the extract with quick lime.)

(Joe's note: Next, my father roasted coffee in a hand-driven rotary drum. He roasted the beans with Indian butter or ghee to impart a likable aroma. He had Indian women pounded the roasted beans to a fine power, and had the powder sieved on a vibrating screen which he designed himself. We sold coffee in pound weight measure, and because the weights in pounds and ounces could not be bought, my father molded them from molten lead. My father would sell soap and coffee himself, or had somebody in the house do the selling. I would occasional help in screening the coffee powder, or selling the soap. For his own consumption, he made moonshine out of palm jaggery. He made "yeast" by crushing sprouting beans. The still was made from a gallon petrol tin, and the condenser an old automobile-radiator. He colored his brandy with caramel made by roasting sugar. As scent, he tried ginger, but finding that the brandy by itself had a pleasant flavour and aroma, he just added the caramel color and nothing else.)

(Joe's note: My father was suffering from hydrocele at this time, and the liquid had to be punctured out regularly. We had one Indian doctor (who was in the employ of the British-Burma government, but had not been given his job back by the Japanese government. The Dr. Raj, Indian doctor had his wife, daughter, and son living with him. The daughter was over 20 but the boy was in his teen. I remember the name of the daughter, "Shanti". My father had requested the Indian doctor to perform the operation. My father accompanied by me went to Dedaye (day da. rei:) by sampan to buy chloroform, spent a night in Dedaye, and return home the following day. The operation was performed sometime later on the upper floor of our house. The operation was a success, however, eventually the hydrocele returned, and was operated on only after the WWII in Taikkyi (taik. kree) hospital.)

(Joe's note: My mother by this time had become the principal bread-earner. She was in rice business. In the beginning she had used her old students to act as purchasing agents, and had them bought paddy for her. She had the paddy transported to a rice-mill some miles down the creek (actually a small river) and had it milled. The polished rice was then transported to Rangoon and sold whole sale. Her regular customers were U Ba Yin and Daw Mya - U Ba Yin's wife, and Daw Zin - elder sister of Daw Mya, of Theingyizay (After the death of Daw Mya after the War, U Ba Yin married her neice Ma Mya Thi. I remember Ma Mya Thi who was about the age of my ULay Thaung, to be very pretty inspite of her rather dark skin.) My mother had managed her family rice business (as assistant to her elder cousin-brother U Ba Ba - father-to-be of Ma Mya Tin and father-in-law-to-be of my cousin-brother U Saw Tun) even when she was still in teens in Moulmein (maw la. mraign) and knew the whole trade down to the smallest detail including the milling operation. She had her cousin-brother-in-law ULay Thaung withdraw slowly out of the secretaryship of the Asia Youth League, and had made him her assistant in rice-business. My mother would be travelling quite frequently to Rangoon by bus, and by sampan to fix the money transactions, whereas ULay Thaung would occasionally accompany the rice-sampan from Kungyangon to Rangoon himself. As her manager in station at the rice-mill she had recruited U Ba Tu (u: ba. tu) who was also the manager-mechanic of the rice-mill. Even though I was still young, except for the money transactions, I came to know the rice business almost completely.)

Mahabama Party formed. (Joe's note: maha or ma. ha means "great" or "superior". Thus Mahabama means "Superior Burmese" - smacking of racial overtones.)

(Joe's note: My mother had become quite rich by this time. My father had followed the politics of Europe before the outbreak of the War, over BBC broadcasts - he was the first person to have bought a radio in town. It was Philips, AC-DC, 5 valves. He had read books on Mussolini and Hitler (Penguin books) and the names Chamberlain, Mussolini and Hitler were quite familiar to my ears. Later, after becoming literate in English myself, I went through his book collection, and read what he had read. He had judged the war situation in Europe, and had made plans to evacuate his family even before the fall of Singapore. And that was why, when my mother had to head the group of women and children to Pakkokku and Pauk, she had all my father's cousins welcoming her even though she had never met them before. Now at this time during the War, my father had no radio - anyone still operating a radio could be reported to the Kempai as an agent of the "lait-kan" - meaning "English-American", and would be routinely tortured and executed. Yet, my father gathered all the news by reading between the lines of the news paper, reading "Lay-Nat-tha" (lay nat tha:) a clandestine news-leaflet dropped by the British and American planes, and through the "grape-vine" of his friends. So my father knew exactly what was happening. Thus, my parents prepared for another certainty - the coming back of British-Burma government.)

(Joe's note: At this time, the currency in circulation was printed by the Japanese Army, and was being inflated all the time. So my parents, changed the Japanese money into English money (the currency in circulation before the War) which was now illegal not only to use but to keep. One of my mother's older cousin-sister Daw Thant or KyeeKyee Thant (kye: kye: than.) the daughter-in-law of U Hsin Daw Htay (silk merchants) had taken refuge in Twante (twam tay:) a town nearer Rangoon. Also, one of my mother's nieces and her husband who was also my mother's nephew, Dr. Ma Ngwe Nyunt or Amy AhChu and her husband U Hone Kyan, with their family had taken refuge in Twante. Both, KyeeKyee Thant and Mama Amy (that was how I called them) had to survive by selling their savings in English money. So my mother had ready sources of English money, and once she had enough Japanese money to spare, or if KyeeKyee Thant or Mama Amy needed Japanese money, my mother would go to Twante to do the exchange. The Japanese troops stationed in Kungyangon had no regular cars of their own, and they would occasionally hire a civilian bus to go to Twante. Because of my family's connection with the Asia Youth League, and because of my father's friends, the Japanese Army had no suspicions of my family. The old Japanese colonel stationed in town knew my parents very well, and he would occasionally visit our house. He would then take out photographs of his three daughters. The eldest looked strikingly like my mother! And that was why, whenever he became homesick, he would visit us. My mother would be on the look out for the time when the old colonel would be going to Twante in the civilian bus. The old colonel was friendly enough to let the town's people come in the bus, and my mother would request him to let her come. It was usually on these trips that my mother smuggled back the English money. I remember, on one occasion, seeing the old colonel on the bus, my mother hurried home to let my father know of the opportunity. I would like to accompany her, but she refused. I followed her to the bus, with a sorrowful look on my face. My mother hit me when I insisted on coming with her. At that the old colonel scolded her, he let me come up and ride by his side to Twante.)

Sept Allied armies open offensive on Katha sector.

Anti-Fascist Organization (AFO) is formed.

(Joe's note: My father knew that the British were in Burma from reading a news report in the news paper. The headline read: "Enemy war-ship sanked in Chindwin." Now, Chindwin River was the main tributary of the Irrawaddy and it joined the main river in Upper Burma. Chindwin was usually shallow at this time of the year, the "war-ship" must be just a motor-boat. My father knew for certain, that the fighting was no longer on the India-Burma border, but right inside Burma, and approaching Mandalay!)

(Joe's note: After a bitter battle in IndawGyi area, the Japanese became suspicious of the BDA, and the brigade involved, (it was BDA brigade No.2 ?) was sent down south for "rest" in Mu-la-man just outside Twante. In that brigade was one of my mother's cousin who was also one of her former student. He was leutenant Bo Hla Myint (after the Independence, he eventually rose to the rank of a full colonel, injured in spinal area in a helicopter accident, retired from the army and joined the Ministry of Mines as director in 1970's). He came to see us in Kungyangon regularly, and whispered the true situation to my father. Thus, my father came to know that there was a resistance movement afoot. ULay Myint (that was how I called him) told my father to persuade my mother to wind up the rice trade in the 1944-45 season. And, so again, my father was able to plan ahead for the eventuality.)

(Joe's note: I was still in the "scout" movement of Asia League. Youths and children were formed into brigades to keep a look out for "sa. peign" or "spies" who dropped from the sky from "enemy" planes. We drilled with sharpened bamboo sticks. There was a rumor that a white man had parachuted near Kungyangon. There was a change in the hair style of ULay Myint - they had stopped shaving their heads clean. The BDA forces wore uniforms similar to the Japanese, and had their heads clean shaven. Now, they had stopped shaving, and ULay Myint was visiting our house more often. Later, I learned it was in preparation of going underground and a shaven head in civilian dress would betray their identities after going underground. However, during the resistance, the Japanese adopted another strategy to identify an underground soldier - they looked for smooth and soft soles a sign that the feet had been in army boots!)

(Joe's note: It was about this time the modern theatre (pra. zat) came to Kungyangon - a spill-over from Rangoon. The only film cinema had never reopened during the War. And upto this time, the only entertainment in town had been the regular Burmese pwes.)

(Joe's note: It was Mar 27, and there was a parade west of Shwedagon Pagoda, and Bogyoke Aung San astride a horse saluted his troops. He extolled his troops to go after the nearest enemy - a hidden message to attack the Japanese - who were usually referred to by the Burmese soldiers as "gna. pu." the "short scoundrel". The troops filed out of the parade ground ostentatiously to go to Upper Burma to fight the "enemy". There were spectators lined along the route and Thanthan's elder sister Ma Than Khin (she was still in her teens) was among the spectators. Ever curious, she had gone to see the parade riding her bicycle. She would even point out to the tree against which she had her bicycle leaning. Now and then, a soldier would quietly slip out of the file and melt into the crowd, changed into a loangyi and took off his khaki vest and became a resistance fighter. This historical parade still being observed every year on Mar 27 - the Resistance Day now known as Armed Forces Day.)

(Joe's note: Thanthan's sister, Ma Than Khin had earlier joined the Foreign Office of the Dr. Ba Maw's government. Their office was first of all situated on the bank of the Inya Lake - in the socalled "white house". Thakhin Nu was the Foreign Minister (?). U Kyaw Nyeing was his assistant (?). Some of the Foreign officers were U Ba Toke (who after the War became Thanthan's and my mathematics lecturer in Rangoon University), and U Khin Maung Latt (husband of Daw Khin Myo Chit , female university student activist in league with the university student-Thakins led by Aung San. After my marriage to Thanthan in 1956, I came to know U Khin Maung Latt and Daw Khin Myo Chit - they became my Uncle (ULay) Latt and my aunt or cousin MaMa Mya. My sister-in-law to be Ma Than Khin was a typist. Unknown to Ma Than Khin, the foreign office was a bed of "spies" supporting the underground movement of Aung San.)

(Joe's note: The British had stepped up their bombing raids. They dropped more and more heavier bombs. They carpet-bombed the Prome Road flattening the University Teachers Trainning College (TTC). Their bombs hit the Botataung Pagoda in east Rangoon, and the goldern umbrella and the diamond bud with all and jewels were about to fall. It was taken down and entrusted to the Government.)

(Joe's note: Some of the town's people of Kungyangon including myself would usually go to the eastern end of the town and watch Rangoon being bombed at night. We could also feel the earth tremored and hear the faint sounds of explosions. It was a sort of fireworks display and fun to look at - little knowing that my future wife and her family in Rangoon would be huddled in the bomb shelter!)

(Joe's note: With Dr. Ba Maw's family, was his nephew U Nyunt Han, U Nyunt Han's wife Emma Ba Yoke (my cousin), and their two children. The elder child a son - Hunny Bun. The father of U Nyunt Han was Dr. Ba Han the elder brother of Dr. Ba Maw. Dr. Ba Han and his family were staunch Baptists, and my cousin Emma became a Baptist after marrying U Nyunt Han. My understanding was Dr. Ba Maw and his family were also Baptists, however, during his days as a politician, he had always tried not to reveal his faith. He let the song writers to portray him as a true Burmese implying that he was also Buddhist.)

    wdkif; t8Fvef
    rdwfqm bk&if/

(Joe's note: It was rumored that Dr. Ba Maw had taken the diamond bud of the Botataung pagoda to Japan. - I don't recall hearing that the diamond bud was ever recovered.)

(Joe's note: It was at this time the British shelled the Mandalay Palace, burning all the wooden buildings to the ground. The capture and the destruction of Mandalay Palace was described to me in great details by Daw Ma Ma Gyi (Aunty Gyi) and Daw Thi Thi (Aunty Thi Thi) during our stay in Mandalay in 1967-71. According to them there were no Japanese troops in the palace, and the shelling was a deliberate and willful destruction of the Burmese heritage by the British. It should be noted that Daw Ma Ma Gyi was Catholic, but her sister in law Daw Thi Thi was Buddhist. Daw Ma Ma Gyi's father was U Toke Galay, the grand son (or son?) of physician to King Mindon and also either the son or grandson of Aukmawun (Minister of Elephantry) to King Mindon, and nephew of Thanchakwun (Minister of Steel Industry) to King Thibaw. Thanchakwun became the ambassador of King Thibaw to France. Because of his strong connections, U Toke Galay or Maung Toke Galay as a young boy was sent to study in France, and he was at the Burmese Embassy in France when Britain annexed Burma in 1887. Daw Ma Ma Gyi described to us what her father had witnessed in 1887, down came the Golden Peacock Flage of the Burmese Kingdom and up went the Union Jack of Queen Victoria. Maung Toke Galay completed his studies in England at the expense of the British Crown, came back to Burma and eventually served as a Deputy Commission in British Burma government.)

(Joe's note: The theatre in Kungyangon staged a version of the Indian film "Khasanchi". The tailor or Punjabi dressie in my mother's employ noted that when that film was shown in Calcutta, there was an earthquake and many people had died. He predicted that something awful was about to happen. There were also bad omens around - two flocks of crows would battle in the sky at dusk, and the town people would watch them comparing them dog-fights between warplanes. My mother, well-known in our family for her future-telling dreams, started having dreams to show how the people would be in dire trouble. In one of her dreams an old man in white (signifying our family nat - Min-ma-ha-gi-ri) showed her exactly which way we would have to take when fleeing out of the town.)

(Joe's note: My mother had her rice trade all wound up. We had large bags and bags of rice - three baskets to each bag- stacked inside the house. My father had trenches dug one large one for my mother, myself, and the rest of the family, and two single fox-holes each for himself and ULay Thaung. For medicines he had quite a few bottles of brandy. We were thus prepared to wait for the coming of the "English" troops even though he no longer had his double-barreled shot gun which he had earlier surrendered to the Japanese in Kungyangon.)

(Joe's note: Kungyangon was bombed and strafed for the first time either on April 12 or 13. I remember it to be the eve of the Water Festival. After the first attack, the old Japanese colonel assured my mother that nothing was amiss. However during that night the old colonel and his troops left Kungyangon for good. It was rumored that he lost his life in crossing over to Rangoon. The Kempai major who had questioned my father was also reported to have been killed when his motor boat was strafed by the "English" planes in the Twante Canal. Kungyangon was fire-bombed and strafed severely on April 16 (?) - the Burmese New Year Day. That was too much for us, and we ran during the lull in bombing taking the road shown to my mother in her dream by our ancestral family nat.)

(Joe's note: We took refuge in Kamaba (ka. ma ba) a Karen village near Kungyangon, and we were housed under the Baptist church which was a house built on stilts. I think ULay Thaung remained in Kungyangon to guard the house.)

(Joe's note: We stayed in Kamaba for a couple of weeks. During that time, the Burmese resistance fighters, headed by Bo Ne Win (later General Ne Win who staged a regular miltary coup in 1962) came to Kamaba. The resistance fighters took U Thwin, ex-Inspector of Police of Dedaye, and shot him dead under the "nat-shrine" at the head of the village. U Thwin was survived by his wife, a son, and a pretty daughter. The son and daughter and I went to the same school in Kungyangon - it's curious I've forgotten the girl's name - but remember only her face! U Thwin was a friend of my father, and it was rumored that some resistance fighters who had been dacoits before the War (U Zaw Pe, their leader: was wanted for murder and dacoity by Kungyangon and Dedaye police before the War) having a grudge against all government officers (which probably included my father) was instrumental in murdering U Thwin without the knowledge of Bo Ne Win. My parents did not dare tarry in the village anymore. They did not know what was actually happening in Rangoon - however, we knew that bombing had stopped, but we were not sure whether there were still fighting in the city. We hired a bus and before day break on May 6, the bus was pushed out of the village not daring to start the engine, and without turning on the head lights for fear of being attacked by the planes and resistance fighter whose whereabout were not known. We arrived at Tah-wa (ta wa.) - a village midway on the Twante canal at daybreak. My father called on one of his sampan-rower friends. All the sampans were swamped under mud, for fear of being commandeered by the everyone (Japanese, resistance-fighters, or just bad-hats) who had firearms. My father's friend floated his sampan, washed the mud from the boat, and we were rowed towards Rangoon. Usually, the middle part of the sampan would have a roof to protect the passengers from rain and sun, however, that day there was no roof to let the planes flying overhead see the passengers were civilians and not Japanese soldiers. We arrived in Rangoon about midday. What a sight Rangoon harbour was, troop-ships unloading English and Indian troops, American and African troops (white, brown and black men). I saw amphibious jeeps - "ducks" the first time. The wharves were lined with children mostly Chinese waving British and American flags, but actually trying to exchange eggs for chocolates and cigarettes with the soldiers. Rangoon had fallen to the 14th Army on the 4th of May, and we had landed in the city on the 6th!)

(Joe's note: We stayed with one of my parents' Chinese friends from Kyaikhtaw - U Kyaung Gna:. The house on Dalhousie Street in China-town was 3-storied, the Chinese family had the uppermost floor, we were put up on the middle, the lower was a regular Chinese textile shop. My parents contacted their Burmese friends who were taking refuge on the Shwedagon Pagoda Hill. After a week or so, we moved to Bahan quarters - Wungaba Road and stayed with my parents' friends - U San Thein (Income-tax officer). Even after a couple of weeks of the 14th Army entering the city, old scores were being settled (murders and executions) in most parts of the city except in the China-town. My parents knew of one case for certain!)

(Joe's note: After a few weeks with U San Thein, we moved to No 221 Thompson Street, East Rangoon. No water, no electricity, nothing. There were only soldiers and soldiers in the street. East of lower part of Thompson street was denied access to civilians - the British had set up their Central Ordinance Depot (COD)).

(Joe's note: 221 Thompson Street (now Botataung Paya Lan) was a 2-storied house, built to house 4 families and faced east so the morning sun would shine through the front windows, but the house was protected from the sun in the afternoon. It faced Rama Khrisna Society (locally known as Ghandi Hall). We had the upper-left "room". My father, my mother, myself, ULay Thaung, our 2 servants (Talaing -age about 20, and Tha Nyun - age about 8) were housed in a flat 12 feet (front to rear) x 50 feet or so (wide): one bed-room, a large kitchen which extended into the area above the garage which made the kitchen 20 feet wide. We were used to large houses in Kungyangon, but now we were really cramped in. The rent was reasonable (50 rupees - not kyats at that time))

(Joe's note: Burma was under CAS(B) administration (Civil Affair Services (Burma)) - the British military administration. My father, without a job, without knowing what to do, took a walk (no buses, no rickshaws, no horse-drawn carriages) one morning towards the Secretariat Buildings, the government adminstrative buildings of British-Burma. He did not came back the better part of the day, and my mother was very much worried - there were still rumors that old scores were being "settled". He came back in the evening, told us he had met his old bosses from the Health and Medical services who had come back with the 14th Army, and had a job - leutenant in the newly formed Epidemic Mobile Team (EMT) as the second in command which was headed by a medical doctor - a captain. The captain was Dr. U Shwe Baw newly recruited like my father. Dr. Shwe Baw was shorter in height, and could not speak English as well as my father, and could not speak Hindustani with which my father was very familiar. Thus my father was the defacto commander of the Team. The team was issued with a brand new military ambulance - which had never carried dead or dying before - a fact important to my mother, especially because it was always parked out in the street in front of 221 Thompson Street!)

(Joe's note: My father was now entitled to British army rations - K-ration and all rations for the "English" troops which was changed later to "Indian" army rations much to the consternation of my mother. She started trading these rations in in the China-town in which she was quite comfortable because of her fluent Cantonese. After, NAFI was opened in Bogalay bazaar, my mother representing her husband would not only draw his rations but would buy things sold in NAFI, which she would later sold back in the China town. NAFI was run by Punjabi soldiers, and with her fluent English she enquired about her (and my father's) friend who was a Punjabi doctor in the 1930's in Kungyangon. Dr. Gobra Singh was the Punjabi doctor. He was in the house when I was born. (I was actually delivered by Daw Ah Nyun - a Karen mid-wife.) My mother guessed correctly that the sons of that doctor, who were also her former students would be of the age to be in the army. She found Khrisna Singh one of the two sons of Dr. Gobra Singh - now a captain. Khisna introduced her to his friends the Punjabi officers running NAFI as his "aunty" wife of his "uncle". My father in army uniform, with height 5 feet 11 inches, with his Punjabi-Muslim ancestry, Khisna wasn't much far from the truth. Now, it seems that the whole NAFI was opened to my mother.)

(Joe's note: Only ULay Thaung was without anything to do and eventually after quarrelling with my mother went back to his elder brothers in Upper Burma.)

June 20. Governor Dorman-Smith (Joe's note: Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith) announces British postwar policy for Burma. Governor's Executive Council created.

Aug Ambassador Ishii informs Dr. Ba Maw of Japanese surrender. (Joe's note: The Japanese forces went on fighting a couple of months after the Japanese surrender. Every where except in Rangoon and Mandalay, old scores continued to be settled. My father and EMT taking up the rear of front line troops were reopening hospitals, doing public health work, and was out of Rangoon headquarters continuously. At one time, he and the EMT went down south to Tavoy, Mergui, and southernmost town of Burma - Victoria Point in a troop-ship.)

Dr. Ba Maw leaves Burma. (Joe's note: Can we believe this - with Japan already surrendered, could he still manage to get to Japan?)

Aung San, Than Tun, U Ba Pe, and others meet Mountbatten in Ceylon. (Joe's note: later Earl Lord Mountbatten of Burma.)

(Joe's note: U Boon Shein and Mg Than Kyaw (later renamed by my mother as Saw Tun: reason - astrological) - my mother's nephews, sons of U Shein Yu (C. Shein Yu of Kyaikhto) who was her cousin and legally-adopted brother, arrived in our home at 221 Thompson Street. They had to flee Kyaikhto-Thaton area where Japanese were still fighting and hunting down and beheading anyone suspected of being connected to Resistance (after making the victim dig his own grave). The Japanese captured Thakin Nyi Lay (who was our house-guest when he and others came to U Aung Din's wedding in Kungyangon) - tortured and beheaded him calling him "You Big Communist!")

(Joe's note: U Ba Tin, Daw Thaung Han and family were our houseguests most the time. BaBa Gyi (Elder Uncle U Ba Tin as I'd address him) was Deputy Commissioner in Myaungmya during the War years - and we started hearing war-time stories - conflicts between Karens and Burmese which eventually resulted in the Karen rebellion of 1949.)

(Joe's note: CAS(B) administration ceased. 14th Army and other troops left for Singapore. The NAFI the source of my mother's income closed. My father and the EMT with their ambulance was taken in by the British Military Police for failing to renumber the ambulance. EMT was in the midst of its tour. Informed the MP of having yet to report back to their headquarters in Rangoon, was let go. The structure and name of EMT was retained by the newly formed British-Burma administration Public Health Directorate.)

(Joe's note: With Dorman-Smith back in Burma, quarrellings among the Burmese politicians resumed. How my mother hated Dorman-Smith for forcing the CAS(B) to cease and bringing back the politicians.)

(Joe's note: Schools reopened. Ko Saw Tun and I were enrolled in Burmese Methodist school on Creek Street. The school was an Anglo-Vernacular school. We had our first regular English (language) lessons.)

(Joe's note: Aunty Eva (or Daw Khin Nyunt or Mrs. Rafael) came to stay with us for almost a year. Aunty Eva was an Anglican even though her husband Jacob (Jack) Rafael was a Jew. Uncle Jack and Aunty Eva had taken refuge during the War in Bassein where the Rafeal family business had substantial assets. Uncle Jack died during the War in Bassein. I used to accompany Aunty Eva to the St. Mary's Cathedral in Rangoon. We came to know of the disappearance of Daw Kyin Yone - sister of Aunty Eva. Daw Kyin Yone was married to one Mr. Thompson of Burma Corporation, Bawdwin, Namtu, Northern Shan State. They had 2 children, a boy and a girl of my age. I'd met them before the War, and I remember Tiny, the girl to be a pretty "bo ma. lay:" - meaning "young English girl". It was reported that the Thompson family had trekked to India at the outset of the Burma campaign at the beginning of the Japanese invasion. They took the Hukon valley pass which was longer than the other two and the most dangerous. It showed that they must have started out late and or had been misinformed or had went with the others from Bawdwin. There were no eyewitnesses of their deaths!)

(Joe's note: Aunty Eva was pivotal in reestablishing contacts between my mother and her Anglican friends, some of whom had been her school mates before World War I at St. Mary's Girl School. (My mother was known to them as Mary Lwe.) There was one whom my mother and Aunty Eva would address as Aunty Sarah, who was born in the last century, and she related to us what she had witnessed as a young girl at about the time of British Annexation of Burma. That, Creek Street was a really a creek on the eastern parameter of Rangoon. She remembered crossing over the creek to go to Pazunhtaung (pu. zun htaugn) over a wooden bridge. I don't know how old she was when I met her, but as she was about my grandmother's age who was born round about 1874: Aunty Sarah must have been about 70.)

(Joe's note: Aunty Eva took me to my first Christmas party given by the Anglican bishop who had returned from England. The party was celebrated in St. Michael Church compound in Kemmendine. I remember my first Christmas present, one very large red and white red marble, and two or four smaller ones - very rare gifts to a boy at the end of the War.)

(Joe's note: One of our frequent house guest was U Po Yin my mother's uncle and the father of ULay Myint, or Bo Hla Myint who had been stationed in Twante before Resistance. Hpo Hpo (grandfather) U Po Yin and his wife Hpwa Hpwa Daw Lay Yin lived across the river in Syriam. U Po Yin was at one time Police Inspector in Kungyangon at about the time of the wedding of my parents. His children had been my mother's students. Hpo Hpo U Po Yin and my mother would recount my mother's maternal side of the family stories - my Mon ancestry. Thus, he was instrumental in impressing upon my young mind the importance of family history. Aunty Sarah was the one who made me interested in the history of Rangoon.)

(Joe's note: 221 Thompson St. was a sort of refugee-relocation center, and at times there would be about 20 spending (sleeping) the night.)

(Joe's note: There were also our overnight guests of BaBa Gyi U Ba Tin and Kyee Kyee Daw Thaung Han. There was U Than Tin - younger brother of U Ba Tin, who had gone over with the withdrawing British forces to India over the Hukon pass driving sometimes a bullock cart. He was trained as a parachutist, and was dropped at least twice behind the Japanese lines to gather intelligence. He was with the front line troops of the 14th Army, and was wounded severely in the left arm during a skirmish between the river borne British forces and and Japanese forces on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy near Pagan in Upper Burma. I'd listen wide-eyed all the war-time stories. BaBaGyi U Ba Tin would described to us the SayaSan Rebellion which according to him and other of his friends had been politicized as a peasant uprising, but which in reality was the uprising of a half-demented indigenous medicine practitioner who had imagined that he would be the next Buddhist king of Burma - the Galuna Raja. Such uprisings by Min Laungs (kings-to-be) were quite common in Burmese history.)

(Joe's note: There were overnight guests of BaBa Gyi U Ba Tin's sons. I remember one Ko Than Tin (not the same as the parachutist). He was a communist and went underground when the communists went underground before Burma's independence. He took on a nom-de-guerre Bo Mo Hain, was captured in battle, imprisoned in Tharawaddy Jail, set free by White Flag communists when they overran Tharawaddy some time in 1949 or 1950. So the names Lenin and Stalin became quite familiar to me.)

(Joe's note: There was one over-night guest of HpoHpo U Po Yin who eventually became a family friend of BaBa Gyi U Ba Tin's family. He was the astrologer U Khin Maung Thein. From him I came know the practice of astrology and "yay-da-yar")

(Joe's note: The general public at this time had made a hero of Bogyoke Aung San as the leader of the Resistance.)

(Joe's note: Dr. Ba Maw because of his collaboration with the Japanese was vilified - and Dobama Asiayone was a spent force, just a name.)

U Saw returns from Uganda (Joe's note: U Saw spent the War years in a British colonial prison in Uganda), becomes President of Myochit Party.

(Joe's note: Though U Saw still had very strong support from Tharawaddy area, elsewhere he was also a spent force. The people were just fed up with all politicians of the pre-war Burma. They are now focussed on Bogyoke Aung San and Thakin Than Tun who were not full blown politicians before the War, but were only student activists.)

(Joe's note: My mother pulled us out the Burmese Methodist School, and enrolled us in SilvaDale English Primary School - a private school opened by Nancy deSilva and her sister Annie. I was enrolled as Harry Kyaw Tun (after Harry Truman - the US President), and my cousin Clarence Saw Tun. We were not even put in the first standard (grade). What a demotion - third class in Burmese Methodist School - now zeroeth class in SilvaDale. The first story in the English reader was "The Bean, the Straw, and the Cinder" - and my mother drilled us through the lessons. What an awful time, my school-teacher mother really believed in the efficacy of the "rod".)

(Joe's note: About this time U Tin Tun, editor of the English Daily "Nation ?" was assassinated in front of his newspaper office on Sparks Street. (A tripped bomb was placed under his car.) The perpetrators were never caught. Assassination attempt on U Saw in Myaynegon. (He was shot at from a passing car). He lost one eye - perpetrators were not found.)

(Joe's note: I doubt the truth of this claim. The people were very angry with him especially over the disappearance of the Diamond Bud of the Botataung Pagoda. If Bogyoke Aung San had invited him to join AFPFL, it was probably to silence a "meddling voice". The people were also angry with Dorman-Smith - the governor who had posted wanted postors on (Bogyoke) Aung San before the War, especially because of 15 rupees reward! The mood of the general population was quite militant, and about to rise up against the British-Burma colonial government.)

(Joe's note: Thakin Than Tun was already making speeches for a communist uprising. In one of his speeches given in Pazundaung (Turtle Lake Garden) he went as far as to declare that after forming the communist government he would confisticate the gold of all pagodas including the Shwedagon. He would disrobed the Buddhist monks and make them earn their living. If this would not turn the country against the communists, I can't imagine what else would! What nerve, the communists had!)

(Joe's note: Bogyoke Aung San was the leader of the Executive Council. The country came to look on this as Bogyoke Asoya (aa. so: ya.) - "Government of General Aung San". we sang:

vl xktm; ukd
trsm; MuD; vkd onf

lu du. a: ko
aa mya: kre: lo the/
bo choap aa. so: ra
aa. cho: kya. ku nye/
ne: pay: lan pya. the
se: kan she. ra. mye//

(Joe's note: When the police went to arrest them, they had already been tipped-off and had gone underground. This shows how much the communists had penetrated into all branches of the government.)

(Joe's note: The Conservatives and Churchill (who opposed Burma's Independence) were no longer in power.)

(Joe's note: this cumulated in AungSan-Atlee Agreement which finally led the way for Burma's independence on January 4, 1948.)

1947
(Joe's note: We are now at a time fifty years before the present. What happened in 1947 and after is still somewhat fresh in my memory and I may not be able to form a balanced view at present - Joe, Deep River 970310 Mon.)