Burma’s ‘Jack London’ Honored in Commemoration

By MIN LWIN

Burma’s “Jack London” died 30 years ago, but his books still influence many Burmese, including youth who are drawn to his commitment to truth and the fight against oppression.

Bhamo Tin Aung, a well-known Burmese leftist writer and journalist, was respected by many people, especially in literary circles. On Thursday, well-known writers, journalists, poets and politicians joined in a memorial ceremony at his daughter’s house marking the 30th anniversary of his death.

Bhamo Tin Aung was known as the “Jack London” of Burma because he wrote several novels from a socialist viewpoint and focused on the poorest classes, such as farmers, workers and the oppressed.

A publisher in Rangoon who attended the event said Tin Aung’s works are still popular among readers because he wrote about progressive, modern ideas, including philosophy and religion, for three decades.

“He was a progressive and a model in Burmese literature,” said the publisher, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday.

“He created many model characters, such as people who made sacrifices and other patriots in his novels. His philosophy was for the oppressed and the lower classes.”

A Rangoon journal editor said that Bhamo Tin Aung’s literature influenced many readers including communist sympathizers and anti-communists.

Tin Aung founded Linyone (the Eagle) journal in 1950, and he was one of the first journalist who was arrested and detained by U Nu government. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1952.

“Linyone journal will defend the oppressed and stand for peoples’ rights until the end,” Bhamo Tin Aung wrote in the publication’s first editorial in 1950.

Bhamo Tin Aung had a lot of trouble with the authorities. One of his readers from Mandalay said that he had never been one who bowed down to any government until his death.

Bhamo Tin Aung joined the Burmese British Army in 1941, and he was involved in the anti-fascist movement. He often criticized the ruling governments and was imprisoned several times.

He was arrested by the late Gen Ne Win’s Revolutionary Council Government in 1963 while he was actively involved in the anti-civil war campaign and sent to detention in Coco Island.

Shortly before he died of lung cancer in 1978 when he was 58 years old, he wrote a biography of Jack London, “The Life and Literature of Jack London.”

Well-known writer Dagon Taryar and Win Tin, a veteran journalist and the longest detained political prisoner before he was freed in September, were among 100 people who attended the commemoration.