ANALYSIS / INDEPENDENCE DAY
Bangkok Post, 2008 Jan 7
Sixty years of ‘freedom’ finds a war-ravaged land, a weary people _ and a buoyant energy sector, thanks to complicit neighbours
By KYAW ZWA MOE
”Let us rejoice at the independence which has come to us today, the result of sacrifices undergone by us and those who preceded us in the years that have passed.” Those are the words of Burma’s first president, Sao Shwe Thaike, in his independence message on Jan 4, 1948 when the country gained its independence after nearly 100 years of British rule.
What has the 60th anniversary of Burma’s independence brought in 2008? Did it bring freedom, prosperity and happiness?
Sadly, little of that can be found in the country today. Instead, we find more oppression, poverty and misery.
On Independence Day, the then-prime minister U Nu also said: ”There is no room for disunity or discord _ racial, communal, political or personal _ and I now call upon all citizens of the Burma Union to unite and to labour without regard to self and in the interest of the country to which we all belong.”
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