Burma’s National Day Fading from Memory

By MIN LWIN

Tomorrow is Burma’s National Day, commemorating the start of the resistance movement that eventually led to the country’s independence from British rule. But don’t expect any outpouring of national pride—the occasion is barely remembered by today’s Burmese youth.

Eighty-eight years ago, on the tenth day after the full-moon day of Tazaungmone on the Burmese lunar calendar—November 22 on this year’s Western calendar—hundreds of students from Rangoon College and the Baptist-affiliated Judson College began protests against the British colonial administration’s Rangoon University Act of 1920.

The Rangoon University Act was intended to restrict access to higher education to only the wealthiest families, but the student boycott led to revision in the act.

“National Day and the students’ movement cannot be distinguished,” said a Rangoon- based writer. “After the first Burmese students’ demonstrations in 1920, patriotic youths stepped up nationalist activities and progressed to the struggle for national independence.”

Soon after the boycott began, student leaders founded a “national college” and “national schools” around the country. The college did not last long, because of financial and other difficulties, but the schools enjoyed widespread support and succeeded in educating a generation of independence-minded young people.

The schools emphasized Burmese culture, history and language, but also provided education in English. Students were proficient in both English and Burmese.

Some of the country’s greatest national heroes, including U Razak, Thakin Mya and Aung San, father of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, graduated from the schools.

Burmese National Day became a symbol of the strong link between political and educational rights and highlighted the important role that students have played in Burmese politics.

“Students were the first to nonviolently demonstrate against the British ruling government,” said a student majoring in Burmese at Rangoon’s Western University.

However, some university students contacted by The Irrawaddy for comment seemed to show little interest in the anniversary.

“I didn’t even remember it,” said one student of English at Dagon University in Rangoon. “But I can remember learning about it in primary school.”

Many students pointed out that although National Day is commemorated in state schools as an important day for students, the authorities have downplayed its political significance.

It’s not difficult to understand why. Eighty-eight years after students first led the movement against British rule, the country’s current rulers are busy sentencing student activists to long terms in prison for continuing the struggle for freedom in Burma.