Burmese Indians
Encyclopedia
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
al ethnicity who live in Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
(Burma). While Indians have lived in Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in the mid 19th century to the separation of British Burma from British India in 1937. During British times, ethnic Indians formed the backbone of the government and economy serving as soldiers, civil servants, merchants and moneylenders. A series of anti-Indian riots beginning in 1930 and mass emigration during the Japanese occupation of Burma followed by the forced expulsion of 1962 left ethnic Indians with a much reduced role in Burma.
Ethnic Indians today account for approximately 2% (about 950,000) of the population of Burma and are concentrated largely in the two major cities (Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
and Mandalay
Mandalay
Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region ....
) and old colonial towns (Pyin U Lwin
Pyin U Lwin
Pyin U Lwin or Pyin Oo Lwin , formerly Maymyo , is a scenic hill town in Mandalay Division, Myanmar, located in the Shan Highland, some east of Mandalay, and at an altitude of 1070 meters .-History:...
and Kalaw
Kalaw
For the bird locally known as Kalaw see Rufous HornbillKalaw is a hill town in the Shan State of Burma. It is located in Kalaw Township in Taunggyi District. The town was popular with the British during colonial rule. Kalaw is the main place of the novel by Jan Philipp Sendker, "Das...
). They are largely barred from the civil service and military and are disenfranchised by being labeled as 'foreigners' and 'non-citizens' of Burma. Amongst the well-known Burmese Indians is S. N. Goenka
S. N. Goenka
Satya Narayan Goenka is a leading lay teacher of Vipassanā meditation and a student of U Ba Khin. He has trained more than 800 assistant teachers and each year more than 100,000 people attend Goenka sponsored Vipassana courses....
, a leading practitioner and teacher of the vipassanā
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
meditation technique and Helen, a well-known Bollywood film actress.
History
The term "Burmese Indian" refers to a broad range of ethnic groups from South AsiaSouth Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, most notably from present-day Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Indians have a long history in Burma with over 2000 years of active engagement in politics, religion, culture, arts and cuisine. Within Burma, they are often referred to as ka-la (a term generally used for dark skinned foreigners though it has historically been also used to describe foreigners from the west), a term that is considered derogatory or Kala Lumyo. Its root is believed to be ku la meaning either "to cross over (the Bay of Bengal)" or "person" depending on the way it is pronounced. An alternative explanation is that the word is derived from “Ku lar”, meaning the people who adhere to a caste system.
The majority of Indians arrived in Burma whilst it was part of British India. Starting with the annexation of Tenasserim and Western Burma after the First Anglo-Burmese War, a steady stream of Indians moved to Burma as civil servants, engineers, river pilots, soldiers, indentured labourers and traders. Following the annexation of Upper Burma
Upper Burma
Upper Burma refers to a geographic region of Burma , traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery , or more broadly speaking, Kachin and Shan States....
in 1885, numerous infrastructure projects started by the British colonial government and increases in rice cultivation in the delta region caused an unprecedented economical boom in Burma that drew many Indians, particularly from southern India, to the Irrawaddy Delta
Irrawaddy Delta
The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Ayeyarwady Region , the lowest expanse of land in Burma that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, 290 km to the south at the mouth of the Ayeyarwady River...
region.
Anti-Indian sentiments
After the First World War, anti-Indian sentiments began to rise for a number of reasons. The number of ethnic Indians was growing rapidly (almost half of Yangon's population was Indian by the Second World War) and recent immigrants had a low standard of living and were willing to do dirty and dangerous jobs. Indians played a prominent role in the British administration and became the target of Burmese nationalists. Racial animosity toward Indians because of their skin-color and appearance also played a role. Meanwhile, the price of rice plummeted during the economic depression of the 1930s and the ChettiarChettiar
Chettiar , also spelled Chetty, is a title used by various castes in South India especially in Tamil Nadu. In Kannada, it appears as Setty, Shettar and Shettigar, who are Padmashalis in Andhra Pradesh....
from South India, who were prominent moneylenders in the rice belt, began to foreclose on land held by native Burmese.
In May 1930, a British firm of stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
s at the port of Rangoon employed Burmese workers in an attempt to break a strike organized by its Indian workers. When, on May 26, the strike ended and the Indians returned to work, clashes developed between the returning Indian workers and the Burmese workers who had replaced them. The clashes soon escalated into large-scale anti-Indian and anti-Muslim riots in the city. Over two hundred Indians were killed and their bodies flung into the river. Authorities ordered the police to fire upon any assembly of five or more who refused to lay down their arms, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Within two days the riot spread throughout the country to locations such as Maymyo
Pyin U Lwin
Pyin U Lwin or Pyin Oo Lwin , formerly Maymyo , is a scenic hill town in Mandalay Division, Myanmar, located in the Shan Highland, some east of Mandalay, and at an altitude of 1070 meters .-History:...
.
The Second World War and after
At the start of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, almost half of Rangoon's (Yangon) population was India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n or South Asian, and about 16% of the population of Burma was ethnically Indian. As a consequence of the Japanese invasion of 1942, half a million members of the Indian community fled Burma overland into Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, largely on foot. The refugees suffered terribly and thousands died. Some of the Indian community remained in Burma during the war, others returned after the war, although many never did. After Independence, Burmese law treated a large percentage of the Indian community as "resident aliens". Though many had long ties to Burma or were born there, they were not considered citizens under the 1982 Burma citizenship law which restricted citizenship for groups immigrating before 1823.
After he seized power through a military coup in 1962, General Ne Win
Ne Win
Ne Win was Burmese a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981...
ordered a large scale expulsion of Indians. Although many Indian had been living in Burma for generations and had integrated into Burmese society, they became a target for discrimination and oppression by the junta. This, along with a wholesale nationalization of private ventures in 1964, led to the emigration of over 300,000 ethnic Indians from Burma. Indian owned businesses were nationalized and their owners were given 175 kyat for their trip to India. This caused a significant deterioration in Indian-Burmese relations and the Indian government arranged ferries and aircraft to lift Burmese of Indian ethnicity out of Burma.
Culture
India has been particularly influential in Burmese culture as the cradle of Buddhism, and ancient Hindu traditions can still be seen in Brahmans presiding over important ceremonies such as weddings and ear-piercings but most notably in ThingyanThingyan
Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Water Festival and usually falls around mid-April . It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the new year...
, the Burmese New Year festival. The Burmese poetry tradition of niti (notably the Dhammaniti) also has Indian origins. Traditions of kingship including coronation ceremonies and formal royal titles as well as those of lawmaking were also Hindu in origin. Many Burmese dishes and breads came as a result of Indian influence, prominently reflected in the Burmese version of Indian biryani
Biryani
Biryani, biriani, or beriani is a set of rice-based foods made with spices, rice and meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. The name is derived from the Persian word beryā which means "fried" or "roasted"....
.
Burmese Indians consist of numerous groups from different parts of India, including Tamilians, Hindi speakers, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Punjabis and Pathans. They form approximately 2% (about 950,000) of the population, according to the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
World Factbook 2006
The World Factbook
The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official paper copy version is available from the National Technical Information Service and the Government Printing Office...
, although exact figures do not exist due to uncertainties over census results and methods in Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
. Disaffected young Muslims often flee the cities and join ethnic resistance groups. The All Burma Muslim Union, which the government routinely considers "Muslim terrorist insurgents," operates alongside the Karen National Union and, despite a swelling of its ranks following anti-Muslim riots in the eighties, remains a very minor force.
Religion
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
(Mahamaydin - Muhammadan pronounced in Myanmar language) , Sikhism
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. Burmese Muslims, some of them of mixed blood born of Burmese mothers and some of them with full Burmese blood, call themselves Bama Musalin and the majority belongs to the Sunni sect with small numbers of Shi'as
Shi'a Islam
Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...
. The Burmese call them Zaydabayi or Pathi kala . Both Hindu and Muslim Burmese Indians are not allowed to fully celebrate any of their religious ceremonies. They can not run religious parades anywhere in Burma. The military dictatorship rejects or ignores their requests when they want to build mosques in the country or to go abroad for religious ceremonies.
Language
Burmese Indians are from an array of ethnic backgrounds. There are Tamils, Punjabis, Parsis, Gujaratis and Marawaris as well as Bengalis and Pathans. All can communicate in BurmeseBurmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
, due to years of assimilation and lack of education in languages other than English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Other languages used by Burmese Indians include Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, and Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
.
Economic role
Historically, Burmese Indians have made their livelihoods as merchants, traders and shopkeepers as well as manual labourers such as coolies, dockers, municipal workers, rickshaw men, pony cart drivers, malis and durwans. They were also heavily represented in certain professions such as civil servants, university lecturers, pharmacists, opticians, lawyers and doctors. They dominated several types of businesses such as auto parts and electrical goods, ironmongery and hardware, printing and bookbinding, books and stationery, paper and printing ink, tailoring and dry-cleaning, English tuition, and money lending. They traded in textiles, gold and jewellery, where the market was traditionally dominated by Burmese women. The Chettiars of Burma functioned as moneylenders and have been thought crucial in the growth in agricultural output of Burma during the colonial era. Today, many Indians live in central Rangoon on both sides of the Su Lei Paya Road and are largely involved in businesses, including restaurants, jewellery shops and money exchanges.Notable Burmese Indians
- Karim GhaniKarim GhaniKarim Ghani was a politician in South-East Asia of Indian origin. Before the Second World War Karim Ghani was a parliamentary secretary in Burma under Dr. Ba Maw. During World War II, Ghani came to be the Minister FOR STATE IN Subhas Bose's Azad Hind government and was in Malaya...
was born in Sodugudi, Ilayangudi, a politician in South-East Asia of Indian origin Karim Ghani. Before the Second World War Karim Ghani was a parliamentary secretary in Burma under Dr. Ba MawBa MawDr. Ba Maw was a Burmese political leader, active during the interwar and World War II period.-Early life and education:Ba Maw was born in Maubin. Ba Maw came from a distinguished family of mixed Mon-Burmese parentage which bred many scholars and lawyers...
. - Ba Than Haq - Professor of Geology and Minister of Mines. Of mixed AfghanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and DanuDanu peopleThe Danu people are a sub-ethnic group of the Bamar, predominantly populating the areas near Pindaya Caves, in Shan State of Burma. They speak an archaic dialect of Burmese.-External links:*...
descent. - Bahadur Shah IIBahadur Shah IIHis Royal Highness Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar , also known as Bahadur Shah or Bahadur Shah II was the last of the Mughal emperors in India, as well as the last ruler of the Timurid Dynasty.He was the son of Akbar Shah II and Lalbai, who was a Hindu Rajput...
or Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor was exiled to Rangoon after the Indian Rebellion of 1857Indian Rebellion of 1857The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
. He, along with his wife Zeenat Mahal and granddaughter Raunaq Zamani Begum, is buried at the Mazar (mausoleum) at No. 6 Theatre Road in Yangon. - T. S. S. RajanT. S. S. RajanTiruvengimalai Sesha Sundara Rajan was an Indian doctor, politician and freedom-fighter who served the Minister of Public Health and Religious Endowments in the Madras Presidency from 1937 to 1939....
- Indian freedom-fighter and Minister of Health in Madras PresidencyMadras PresidencyThe Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...
from 1937 to 1940. - S. N. GoenkaS. N. GoenkaSatya Narayan Goenka is a leading lay teacher of Vipassanā meditation and a student of U Ba Khin. He has trained more than 800 assistant teachers and each year more than 100,000 people attend Goenka sponsored Vipassana courses....
- eminent VipassanaVipassanaVipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
Buddhist meditation teacher (b. 1924) - H. N. Goshal aka Thakin Ba Tin - CommunistCommunist Party of BurmaThe Communist Party of Burma is the oldest existing political party in Burma. The party is unrecognised by the Burmese authorities, rendering it illegal; so it operates in a clandestine manner, often associating with insurgent armies along the border of People's Republic of China...
leader and founding member from the 1940s to the 1960s killed in an internal purge in 1967. He was an ethnic BengaliBengali peopleThe Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
. - Helen of Bollywood. Born Helen Jairag Richardson Khan in Rangoon on July 14, 1938, she fled to India during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and became famous for playing the vamp in Indian cinema. - Dr. Maung Di - Department chair and dean of Rangoon Arts and Science University (now Yangon University), Deputy Education Minister. Son of the Dean of Islamic Religious College in KanbaluKanbaluKanbalu is a town in Shwebo District, Sagaing Division, in Burma . It is the administrative seat for Kanbalu Township. Kanbalu is on the main Burmese north-south railroad between Sagaing and Myitkyina. It's railyards were bombed by the Allies during World War II.-External links:** Maplandia.com...
. - S. Mukerjee aka Pyu Win - Communist trade union leader killed in the 1950s
- Dr. Nath aka Tun Maung - Communist leader and founding member killed in the 1960s
- Captain Ohn Kyaw Myint. - Martyred after failed attempt of coup d’état
- Saya Rajan aka Aung Naing - Communist trade union leader captured in the 1950s
- U RazakU RazakU Razak was a Burmese politician and an educationalist. He was a cabinet minister in Aung San's pre-independence interim government, and was assassinated on 19 July 1947 along with six other cabinet ministers. July 19th is commemorated each year as Martyrs' Day in Myanmar...
aka Abdul Razak - was a minister and was assassinated, along with his cabinet, on 19 July 1947. July 19 is celebrated in Myanmar today as Martyrs' Day. U Razak was Minister of Education and National Planning, and was chairman of the Burma Muslim Congress. - M. A. Rashid - Government Minister in the 1950s
- Thakin Tha Khin (Shan Indian) - Government Minister in the 1950s
- Daw Tint Tint aka Usha Narayanan The wife of former Indian President, Kocheril Raman Narayanan, was ethnically Bamar and met and married (8 June 1951) Mr. Narayanan when he was a diplomat at the Indian embassy in Rangoon. She adopted the Indian name Usha, became an Indian citizen and worked on several social welfare programmes for women and children. She translated and published several Burmese short stories; a collection of translated stories by Thein Pe Myint, titled Sweet and Sour, appeared in 1998.
- U Balwant Singh -A Jat Sikh from Burma sent to the United States by Burmese Govt (U NU) to work at the United Nations during the term of U Thant (Sec General of UN).
- Dr Ram Bax Singh - A Jat Sikh Served as the Port Health director for Port of Rangoon. till early 1960
Further reading
- Gregory, James Myanmar: A Neglected Area of Tamil Lexicography. University of Cologne.
- Pe Maung TinPe Maung TinPe Maung Tin was a scholar of Pali and Buddhism and educator in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Born an Anglican and named Maung Tin at Pauktaw, Insein Township, Rangoon, he was the fifth child of U Pe and Daw Myaing. His grandfather was the first Burmese pastor of Henzada...
and G.H. Luce or Gordon Hannington LuceGordon H LuceGordon Hannington Luce was a colonial scholar in Burma. He was born on 20 January 1889 and died on 3 May 1979. His outstanding library containing books, manuscripts, maps and photographs - The Luce Collection - was acquired by the National Library of Australia in 1980, as part of its major research...
, The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of BurmaGlass Palace ChronicleThe Glass Palace Chronicle of the kings of Burma is a historical work written in Burmese commissioned by King Bagyidaw in 1829, and compiled by scholars to consolidate and compile all works of the history of Burmese rulers...
, Rangoon University Press, Rangoon, Burma, January 1960. - Dr Than TunThan TunDr. Than Tun was an influential Burmese historian as well as an outspoken critic of the military junta of Burma. For his lifelong contributions to the development of worldwide study of Burmese history and culture, Professor Than Tun was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2000.-Overview:A...
(History Professor, Mandalay University) M.A., B.L., D. Lit., Ph.D."Bagan Culture", - Tamil Studies Abroad, A Symposium edited by Xavier S. Thaninayagam, published by the International Association of Tamil Research, 1968:
- The Chettiars in Burma by Sean Turnell, Economics Department, Macquarie UniversityMacquarie UniversityMacquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
http://www.econ.mq.edu.au/research/2005/chettiar.pdf. - The Sikh Regiment In The Second World War, Colonel F.T. Birdwood OBE.
- Myanmar Muslim History, Myanmar Muslim Students Association, Rangoon Arts and Science University. Limited Edition.
- Bertil Lintner, Swedish journalist, expert on Burma, 17th. of April 1988 in the Bangkok Post.
- "Dialogue with a Shan Leader: H.R.H Hso Khan Pha" - Tiger Yawnghwe or Prince Hso Khan Pha; he is the eldest son of Sao Shwe ThaikSao Shwe ThaikSao Shwe Thaik was the first president of the Union of Burma and the last Saopha of Yawnghwe. His full royal style was Kambawsarahta Thiri Pawaramahawuntha Thudamaraza. He was a well-respected Shan political figure in Burma...
, the former SaophaSaophaSaopha, Chaofa, or Sawbwa was a royal title used by the rulers of the Shan States of Myanmar . The word means "king" in the Shan and Tai languages...
(Prince) of Yawnghwe (Nyaung-Shwe) and the first President of BurmaPresident of BurmaThe President of Burma is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and leads the executive branch of the Burmese government, and heads the Cabinet of Burma. The president is elected by members of parliament, not by the general population. The Presidential...
after Burma's independence from British colonial rule. Interview with Dr Tayza, Chief Editor of Burma Digest. - Dr Than Tun (History Professor, Mandalay University) "The Story of Myanmar Told in Pictures".
- Elizabeth Moore, Myanmar Historical Research Journal 2004.
- D. G. E Hall, Daniel George Edward Hall, "A History of South East Asia", New York, 1968.
- G.E Harvey,Geoffrey Eric Harvey, "History of Burma", London 1925.
- D. G. E Hall, Studies in Dutch Relations with Arakan, Journal of the Burma Research SocietyBurma Research SocietyThe Burma Research Society was founded on 29 March 1910 at a meeting held at the Bernard Free Library in Rangoon by J S Furnivall, J A Stewart, Gordon H Luce and Pe Maung Tin....
, VOL XXVI, 1936, P. 6. and Mr. R. B. Smart, Burma Gazetteer-Akyab District, voL A., Rangoon. 1957 - A.P. PhayreArthur Purves PhayreLieutenant-General Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, GCMG, KCSI, CB was a career British Indian Army officer who was the first Commissioner of British Burma, 1862–1867, Governor of Mauritius, 1874–1878, and author....
, "History of Burma", 1853. - A.P. PhayreArthur Purves PhayreLieutenant-General Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, GCMG, KCSI, CB was a career British Indian Army officer who was the first Commissioner of British Burma, 1862–1867, Governor of Mauritius, 1874–1878, and author....
, Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Purves Phayre, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1846. - M.S. CollisMaurice CollisMaurice Stewart Collis was an administrator in Burma when it was part of the British Empire, and afterwards a writer on Southeast Asia, China and other historical subjects.-Life:...
, Maurice Stewart Collis, Arakan's place in the civilization of the Bay, Journal of the Burma Research SocietyBurma Research SocietyThe Burma Research Society was founded on 29 March 1910 at a meeting held at the Bernard Free Library in Rangoon by J S Furnivall, J A Stewart, Gordon H Luce and Pe Maung Tin....
, 50th Anniversary publications No.2, Rangoon, 1960.
External links
- Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/MMIndex.aspx
- US Department of State, Burma, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2005.Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/
- Amnesty International's report on Burma
- Burma’s Rangoon University 1957, History lecture by Professor Kyaw Thet’s YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0epnuboiO0 In English about Chittiers, Irrawaddy Delta Agriculture and loans.
- History of South East Asia http://www.aseanfocus.com/publications/history_myanmar.html