Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T06:53:16.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Evolution of Concepts of Representation In Burma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Get access

Extract

Burma, like so many other former British colonies, embarked upon its independence period with the stated aim of establishing a representative government of the parliamentary type. From 1949 to 1962, with the single interruption of General Ne Win's caretaker regime (1958–1960), Burma conducted in practice what its leaders conceived as a Parliamentary system. Concepts of government were “democratic” and emphasized the need for open discussion, political competition, and some real sense of political representation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Cady, John F., A History of Modern Burma, Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1958, pp. 99104.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., pp. 150–151.

3. Pye, Lucian, Politics, Personality, and Nation Building, Yale University Press, New Haven 1962, pp. 101103.Google Scholar

4. Brant, Charles S., Tadagale: A Burmese Village in 1950, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, Ithaca 1954, p. 36.Google Scholar

5. Cady, , op. cit., pp. 241242.Google Scholar

6. Report on the Administration of Burma for the Year 1931–1932, Government Printing and Stationary, Rangoon 1933.Google Scholar

7. Cady, , op. cit., p. 267.Google Scholar

8. Ibid., p. 353.

9. Ibid., pp. 375–378, 471–484.

10. Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, The New Burma in the New World, Rangoon 1945 (?), p. 21.Google Scholar

11. Ibid., pp. 13–15.

12. San, Aung, “Inaugural Address as President of the AFPFL,” (1946)Google Scholar cited in Maung, Maung, Aung San of Burma, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. Cady, , op. cit., p. 563.Google Scholar

14. Tinker, Hugh, The Union of Burma, Oxford University Press, New York 1961, p. 76.Google Scholar

15. Cady, , op. cit., p. 562Google Scholar; Bailey, Sydney D.. Parliamentary Government in Southern Asia, Institute of Pacific Relations, New York 1953Google Scholar. For a detailed Legal analysis of the Burmese Constitution see Maung, Maung, Burma in the Family of Nations, Djambatan, Amsterdam 1957.Google Scholar

16. Furnivall, J. S., The Governance of Modern Burma, Institute of Pacific Relations, New York 1960, p. 31.Google Scholar

17. Ibid.

18. Tinker, Hugh, “Nu, the Serene Statesman,” Pacific Affairs, Vol. XXX, No. 2, 06 1957, pp. 120137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19. Nu, U, Towards a Socialist State, speech before the AFPFL, Ministry of Information, Government of the Union of Burma, Rangoon 1958, p. 56.Google Scholar

20. Nu, U, “National Day Speech,” New Times of Burma, Rangoon, 18 11 1957, p. 4.Google Scholar

21. “Prime Minister Delivers his Longest Speech in Parliament,” New Times of Burma, Rangoon, 28 09 1957, p. 1.Google Scholar

22. “U Nu speaks on Democracy at Tokyo,” New Times Burma, 25 03, 1960, p. 1.Google Scholar

23. “Nu's Inaugural Address,” New Times of Burma, Rangoon, 18 03, 1960, pp. 12Google Scholar. At another time Nu also said the following: “…the democratic form of Government, though the most desirable, is at the same time the most difficult form of government to operate. No amount of academic study of democracy will by itself produce a democratic society. Democracy simply cannot be forced on a people, however enlightened the. rulers may be. The basic principles of democracy have to be applied in each country in such a way as to suit local conditions, local beliefs and local customs. This means a slow process of gradual growth, and of education of the people.” See Nu, U, “Asians and Democracy,” Burma Weekly Bulletin, Rangoon, 24 11, 1960, pp. 287291.Google Scholar

24. Speech by Nu cited in Butwell, Richard, U Nu of Burma, Stanford University Press, Stanford 1963, p. 131.Google Scholar

25. Ibid., p. 249.

26. Ibid., pp. 74–75.

27. “U Kyaw Nyein Defines Political Leadership at Mass Meeting,” New Times of Burma, Rangoon 7 09 1959, p. 1; (italics mine).Google Scholar

28. Swe, Ba, The Burmese Revolution, Pyidawsee Printing Works, Rangoon 1957, p. 41.Google Scholar

29. Ibid., p. 40.

30. Butwell, Richard, “Civilians and Soldiers in Burma,”Google Scholar in Sakai, Robert K., Studies on Asia, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1961, p. 75.Google Scholar

31. Badgely, John H., “Burma's Political Crisis,” Pacific Affairs, 12 1958, pp. 336351.Google Scholar

32. Butwell, , “Civilians and Soldiers in Burma,” p. 77.Google Scholar

33. Von der Mehden, Fred R., “Report on the Military in Burma,” (mimeo), p. 28.Google Scholar

34. Rose, Jerry, “Burma and the Balance of Neutralisms,” The Reporter, New York 3 01 1963, pp. 2429.Google Scholar

35. “Specific Characteristics of the BSP Party,” Forward. Directorate of Information, Rangoon 15 09, 1964, p. 4.Google Scholar

36. read Von der Mehdon, R., The Role of Ideology in Burma, unpublished manuscript, p. 4.Google Scholar

37. Von der Mehden, , “Report on the Military in Burma,” pp. 5556.Google Scholar

38. BSPP, The System of Correlation of Man and his Environment, Ministry of Information, Rangoon 1963, p. 35.Google Scholar

39. Revolutionary Council, “The Burmese Way to Socialism.” The Guardian, Rangoon. Vol. IX, No. 7, 07 1962, p. 30:Google Scholar

40. “Specific Characteristics ot the BSP Party,” op. cit', p 4.Google Scholar

41. See The New York Times, 5 03 1962, p. 3.Google Scholar