U Saw
Encyclopedia
U Saw aka Galon U Saw was a leading Burmese politician
and Prime Minister
during the colonial era before the Second World War. He is best known for his role in the assassination of Burma's national hero Aung San
and other independence leaders in July 1947, only months before Burma gained independence from Britain
in January 1948.
, a former monk and medicine man, who became the leader of the Galon Peasant Rebellion (1930–32), at his trial by the British
colonial government, and came to be known as Galon U Saw. In 1935, he purchased the Thuriya (Sun) newspaper and turned it into a device to promote himself and his political interests. From 1940 to 1942, U Saw served as the third Prime Minister of Burma. In November 1941, he travelled to London
in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a promise from Winston Churchill
that Burma be granted Dominion
status after the Second World War; at the same time, he made contact with the Japan
ese to secure his own political future should Japan invade Burma. The British discovered incriminating papers relating to the communications, and U Saw was detained for 4 years in Uganda
.
Upon his return to Rangoon after the War, U Saw saw himself as a contender for the office of the first Prime Minister of independent Burma. However, the first postwar elections in Burma of April 1947 returned an overwhelming victory for Aung San
's Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League
(AFPFL) organization. The victory of the AFPFL had been interpreted as a universal endorsement of Aung San, but that was far from the truth. The AFPFL was a coalition of widely divergent political parties including primarily Communists, Socialists, and the Burma National Army
(BNA) led by Gen. Aung San, and, as the subsequent civil war in Burma demonstrated, no single group or individual could claim to lead it effectively as a whole; many to this day however believe that if Aung San had lived the course of modern Burmese history would have been very different, for he was the one leader that could unite the numerous and diverse ethnic minorities as well as the fractious and disparate political groups. Nonetheless, Aung San became the leader of the Governor's Executive Council by virtue of the victory of the AFPFL.
U Saw had attended, with Thakin Nu
(the Socialist leader who became the first Prime Minister of independent Burma as a direct consequence of the untimely death of Aung San and the earlier expulsion of the Communists from the AFPFL), the first Panglong Conference
in March 1946, convened by the Yawnghwe Sawbwa
Sao Shwe Thaik
to discuss the future of the Shan States
; the Kachin
, Chin
and Karen
representatives were also invited. It made no impact however on the Frontier Areas Administration (FAA), although a United Burma Cultural Society was formed as a result with Sao Shwe Thaik as chairman and U Saw as secretary.
In January 1947, U Saw and the Socialist leader Thakin Ba Sein were the only members of the delegation to London
, headed by Aung San to negotiate with the British government for Burmese independence, who refused to sign the Aung San-Attlee
Agreement. Also by 1947, political parties had set up their own militia including Aung San's Pyithu Yèbaw Tat (People's Volunteer Organisation or PVO; ), and U Saw too formed his own pocket army called the Galon tat (Garuda Militia) to commemorate his defence of the Galon rebel prisoners. The former British Governor Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith
had appeared to favour older pre-war politicians such as U Saw and Sir Paw Tun, whose popularity was now at a low ebb. The new Governor Sir Hubert Rance
, along with Lord Mountbatten of Burma
, however, decided to back Aung San and the AFPFL inviting them to join the Executive Council in order to calm the post-war political unrest.
during a meeting of the Executive Council (the shadow government established by the British in preparation for the transfer of power) and assassinated Aung San and six of his cabinet ministers; a cabinet secretary and a bodyguard were also killed. The evidence clearly implicated U Saw, who was tried, condemned, and sentenced to death. He was executed at Insein Jail on 8 May 1948. According to an eyewitness, a prison warden present at the execution, U Saw refused to have a hood over his face before he was hanged. U Saw was buried, according to custom, in an unmarked grave within the prison.
Many mysteries still surround the assassination. There were rumours of a conspiracy involving the British - a variation on this theory was given new life in an influential, but sensationalist, documentary broadcast by the BBC
on the 50th anniversary of the assassination in 1997. What did emerge in the course of the investigations at the time of the trial, however, was that several low-ranking British officers had sold guns to a number of Burmese politicians including U Saw. Shortly after U Saw's conviction, Captain David Vivian, a British Army
officer, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for supplying U Saw with weapons. Captain Vivian escaped from prison during the Karen
uprising in Insein in early 1949. Little information about his motives was revealed during his trial or after the trial.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
during the colonial era before the Second World War. He is best known for his role in the assassination of Burma's national hero Aung San
Aung San
Bogyoke Aung San ; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese revolutionary, nationalist, and founder of the modern Burmese army, the Tatmadaw....
and other independence leaders in July 1947, only months before Burma gained independence from Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in January 1948.
Political career
A lawyer by training, U Saw first made his name by defending Saya SanSaya San
Saya San was a noted monk, a Burmese medicine man and the leader of the Burmese peasant revolt of 1930-1931 and pretender to the Burmese throne...
, a former monk and medicine man, who became the leader of the Galon Peasant Rebellion (1930–32), at his trial by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
colonial government, and came to be known as Galon U Saw. In 1935, he purchased the Thuriya (Sun) newspaper and turned it into a device to promote himself and his political interests. From 1940 to 1942, U Saw served as the third Prime Minister of Burma. In November 1941, he travelled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a promise from Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
that Burma be granted Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
status after the Second World War; at the same time, he made contact with the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese to secure his own political future should Japan invade Burma. The British discovered incriminating papers relating to the communications, and U Saw was detained for 4 years in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
.
Upon his return to Rangoon after the War, U Saw saw himself as a contender for the office of the first Prime Minister of independent Burma. However, the first postwar elections in Burma of April 1947 returned an overwhelming victory for Aung San
Aung San
Bogyoke Aung San ; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese revolutionary, nationalist, and founder of the modern Burmese army, the Tatmadaw....
's Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League
Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League
The Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League , or hpa hsa pa la by its Burmese acronym, was the main political party in Burma from 1945 until 1962...
(AFPFL) organization. The victory of the AFPFL had been interpreted as a universal endorsement of Aung San, but that was far from the truth. The AFPFL was a coalition of widely divergent political parties including primarily Communists, Socialists, and the Burma National Army
Burma National Army
The Burma National Army served as the armed forces of the Burmese government created by the Japanese during World War II and fought in the Burma Campaign...
(BNA) led by Gen. Aung San, and, as the subsequent civil war in Burma demonstrated, no single group or individual could claim to lead it effectively as a whole; many to this day however believe that if Aung San had lived the course of modern Burmese history would have been very different, for he was the one leader that could unite the numerous and diverse ethnic minorities as well as the fractious and disparate political groups. Nonetheless, Aung San became the leader of the Governor's Executive Council by virtue of the victory of the AFPFL.
U Saw had attended, with Thakin Nu
U Nu
For other people with the Burmese name Nu, see Nu .U Nu was a leading Burmese nationalist and political figure of the 20th century...
(the Socialist leader who became the first Prime Minister of independent Burma as a direct consequence of the untimely death of Aung San and the earlier expulsion of the Communists from the AFPFL), the first Panglong Conference
Panglong Conference
The Panglong Conference , held in February 1947, was an historic meeting that took place at Panglong in the Shan States in Burma between the Shan, Kachin and Chin ethnic minority leaders and Aung San, head of the interim Burmese government...
in March 1946, convened by the Yawnghwe Sawbwa
Saopha
Saopha, 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...
Sao Shwe Thaik
Sao Shwe Thaik
Sao 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...
to discuss the future of the Shan States
Shan States
The Shan States were the princely states that ruled large areas of today's Burma , Yunnan Province in China, Laos and Thailand from the late 13th century until mid-20th century...
; the Kachin
Kachin people
The Kachin people are a group of ethnic groups who largely inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Burma's Kachin State and neighbouring areas of China and India. More than half of the Kachin people identify themselves as Christians - while a significant minority follow Buddhism and some also adhere...
, Chin
Chin people
The Chin , known as the Kuki in Assam, are one of the ethnic groups in Burma. The Chins are found mainly in western part of Burma and numbered circa 1.5 million. They also live in nearby Indian states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur and Assam. Owing to Mizo influence and Baptist missionaries'...
and Karen
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
representatives were also invited. It made no impact however on the Frontier Areas Administration (FAA), although a United Burma Cultural Society was formed as a result with Sao Shwe Thaik as chairman and U Saw as secretary.
In January 1947, U Saw and the Socialist leader Thakin Ba Sein were the only members of the delegation to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, headed by Aung San to negotiate with the British government for Burmese independence, who refused to sign the Aung San-Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
Agreement. Also by 1947, political parties had set up their own militia including Aung San's Pyithu Yèbaw Tat (People's Volunteer Organisation or PVO; ), and U Saw too formed his own pocket army called the Galon tat (Garuda Militia) to commemorate his defence of the Galon rebel prisoners. The former British Governor Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith
Reginald Dorman-Smith
Colonel Sir Reginald Hugh Dorman-Smith GBE was a British diplomat, soldier and politician.-In politics:Dorman-Smith started his career with a strong interest in agriculture, becoming President of the National Farmers Union at the age of 32, and then later Minister of Agriculture...
had appeared to favour older pre-war politicians such as U Saw and Sir Paw Tun, whose popularity was now at a low ebb. The new Governor Sir Hubert Rance
Hubert Rance
Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance GCMG GBE CB was the last British Governor of Burma between 1946 and 1948, while the country moved towards independence. Later he became Governor of Trinidad and Tobago.-Career to 1945:...
, along with Lord Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, however, decided to back Aung San and the AFPFL inviting them to join the Executive Council in order to calm the post-war political unrest.
Crime and punishment
On 19 July 1947, a gang of armed paramilitaries broke into the Secretariat Building in downtown RangoonYangon
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...
during a meeting of the Executive Council (the shadow government established by the British in preparation for the transfer of power) and assassinated Aung San and six of his cabinet ministers; a cabinet secretary and a bodyguard were also killed. The evidence clearly implicated U Saw, who was tried, condemned, and sentenced to death. He was executed at Insein Jail on 8 May 1948. According to an eyewitness, a prison warden present at the execution, U Saw refused to have a hood over his face before he was hanged. U Saw was buried, according to custom, in an unmarked grave within the prison.
Many mysteries still surround the assassination. There were rumours of a conspiracy involving the British - a variation on this theory was given new life in an influential, but sensationalist, documentary broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on the 50th anniversary of the assassination in 1997. What did emerge in the course of the investigations at the time of the trial, however, was that several low-ranking British officers had sold guns to a number of Burmese politicians including U Saw. Shortly after U Saw's conviction, Captain David Vivian, a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for supplying U Saw with weapons. Captain Vivian escaped from prison during the Karen
Karen people
The Karen or Kayin people , are a Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic group which resides primarily in southern and southeastern Burma . The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people...
uprising in Insein in early 1949. Little information about his motives was revealed during his trial or after the trial.