Henri-André Aye has written a personal history of Shan State in Burma, focusing on the political issues, particularly those that his father was involved with, as well as providing many important aspects of culture and history of the Shan States (as the 34 principalities were known before independence).  Henri-André’s father Namkham U Htun Aye was elected Member of Parliament in the Chamber of Deputies in 1948, and became the Minister for Education and Social Welfare in the Shan State Government during the brief parliamentary democracy in Burma from 1948 to 1962.

Born in the 1950s, Henri-André has only a child’s remembrance of the military coup, but became opposed to his father work for the Revolutionary Council as he came to see the effect on society in Burma and on Shan State.  Henri-André worked as a travel guide in the 1980s, and after the 1988 uprising left for exile, living mainly in France where he now settled.  This book describes Henri-Andre’s life and times in Burma and abroad, and includes his own views of the impact of the military repression particularly as it has affected those living in Shan State, along with numerous personal anecdotes of his own and from his father.  This makes the book particularly interesting to anyone carrying out research into these times and the politics of Shan State since independence, as well as those generally interested in the history of the Shan States and the role of the Saophas.

Academic histories are usually written with access to national archives, published material and numerous personal testimonies and accounts.  At present this is particularly difficult in Burma, as access to the vital documents is rigorously controlled and censored by the military authorities.  However, when access does become available, it is accounts such as this one by Henri-André Aye that provide the personal reflections on the sometimes drier archive material.

Namkham U Htun Aye was an early advocate of the so-called anti-feudal Shan State People’s Freedom League, more aligned with the left-wing government of U Nu than the more conservative traditional Saophas.  Although there was much venom from the SSPFL and the Rangoon press against the traditional rulers, most people in Shan State now consider that rule from Rangoon was always much worst that that from the rule of the Saophas – something that Namkham U Htun Aye would probably agree with if he were alive today.

After the 1962 coup, Namkham U Htun Aye was asked (or rather ordered by Ne Win) to be chairman of the Shan State Council, replacing the democratically elected government.  For this and his continuing work with the Revolutionary Council and the BSPP, he is considered by many Shans as a collaborator, and his involvement with the military still arouses animosity.

During the constitutional discussions prior to 1962 and during the 1974 constitutional discussions, Namkham U Htun Aye (along with many other ethnic leaders and others) supported and strongly advocated the federal proposals that had formed the basis and the spirit of the 1947 Panglong Agreement.  Despite their efforts, there was to be response to this from the military dictatorship.

In 1988 Namkham U Htun Aye  was asked by U Nu to join his attempt to take back executive power from Ne Win; perhaps wisely, he declined the offer and 4 years later moved to live as a monk in a Vipassana meditation monastery in Rangoon, where he died in 2002.

Henri-Andre Aye explains that his father tried to work with the system, however odious he realised it became, to create a better government with a degree of autonomy for Shan State; he realised in the end that instead of a socialist welfare state, he had supported the entrenchment of the fascist military dictatorship.  This is perhaps a strong message that should get through to those Shan politicians inside Burma who are being cajoled by the SPDC in an attempt to gather credibility for the 2010 election process.

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Author:                  Henri-André Aye, 2009

Publisher:              BookSurge Publishing, USA – (April 14, 2009)

ISBN-10: 1439225729

ISBN-13: 978-1439225721

Availability:           Amazon.com BookSurge

Product Description

A chilling story of historical and political events told through the author’s personal life accounts. The author provides a memoir of his father, who was a member of parliament, cabinet minister in Shan State government, and finally head of Shan State. He narrates the modern history of Shan in unique perspective, describes the events in lively anecdotes, and recounts the racial and social injustices under the military dictatorship in Burma in astute observation. The book being released on March 1, 2010, is a revised edition in which the author improved the text, concentrated on clarifying the most significant and important elements in the story.

About the Author

Born in the Shan State in the 1950s, the author is now a French citizen and living in France. He has a keen interest in social and political developments of the Shan State and is dedicated to live a life of an observer to the full.

See also:                book review in Shanland (1^st Ed.)