Short period of happiness

followed by sad events and news

…

On the 12 February 1947, all of us agreed and signed to the Panglong Agreement, which  give birth to Union of Burma combining the Lower Burma, Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British.

On the 4 January 1948, we got independence and established the Democratic Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister.

The short period of joy is followed by neverending arrocities for Burma. 

On the 19 July 1947, our beloved General Aung San was assassinated with most of his cabinet members.  

Eight months old INFANT INDEPENDENT BURMA plunged into an all out civil war.

• Thakhin Soe’s Red Flag Communists had already started a rebellion,

• the Rakhine nationalists led by the veteran monk U Seinda

• the Mujahid Rakhine Muslims.

• The PVO (People’s Volunteer Organisation) formed from the demobbed war veterans by Aung San as his own paramilitary force) had split into White-band and Yellow-band factions; the majority White-band PVO led by Bo La Yaung, a member of the Thirty Comrades, and Bo Po Kun, joined the insurrection in July.

• The Karen National Union (KNU) rebelled at the end of January 1949

 The Army Chief of Staff Gen. Smith Dun, an ethnic Karen was replaced by General Ne Win who led a military coup d’état in 1962 .

The rest is the history of continuous raping of Myanmar Tatmadaw on Burma up to the present time.

The short period of happiness is followed by sad events and news:

I hope older generation Burmese could still remember the Academy winning, one of the most famous movies, “Bawa Sansara”, or The Wheel of Existence or life circle. [Director U Thu Kha, produced by Mandalay cinema (Mandalay Yoke Shin)]

We all must face_

1. the ageing,

2. contracting diseases

3. and ultimately will die one day.

In life there are circles of times of_

• happiness and sorrow,

• success and failure,

• famous and notorious,

• the time to laugh and smile and etc.

Suddenly Lashio Thein Aung’s once famous song, “Pyaw lo’ ma sone_Pyone ma wa they khin”, meaning the time of happiness and smiles are cut shot before we finished enjoying them. . .

The time for Condolence came suddenly without invitation or notice.  

I got the news of the assassination of the Karen National Union (KNU) general secretary Mahn Sha was gunned down in his home in Mae Sot, Thailand, Thursday afternoon by unknown assailants.

Farewell Comrade, although we do not know each other, I regarded the KNU leaders as the Comrades who could understand the sufferings of fellow Burmese.