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British Burma - The Nationalities Issue

During the Konbaung period, the Shans, Chins, Kachins, Kayahs, and other peoples had been linked to the royal court in a tributary relationship that did nothing to limit the local authority of their rulers. The British policy, developed first in India, was to interfere as little as possible in the internal affairs of the minority groups and to separate their administration from that of Burma Proper. Thus when the dyarchy system was introduced in 1923, the Burma Frontier Service was created with its own corps of civil servants.

In the 1937 constitution "Ministerial Burma" (Burma Proper, which was included in expanded self-government) and the peripheral border areas were further segregated. The border areas themselves were divided into "Part I" areas, also known as Excluded Areas, which were under the direct control of the governor, and "Part II" areas, which were under the jurisdiction of the legislature. The governor could veto any bills passed in reference to these areas. Some Part I areas could elect representatives to the legislature. The rationale behind the separation of Burma Proper and the border areas was that the border peoples needed a period of political tutelage; the effect of the policy, however, was to exacerbate divisions in the country that would persist long after independence.

The situation of the Karens was somewhat different from that of the other minorities. They were tribal peoples who had migrated from southern China around the sixth or seventh century AD. Karen nationality was in part developed through Christian missionary activity, for proselytization encouraged a feeling of common ethnic identity contrasting with that of Buddhist Burmans or Mons. Memories of harsh treatment under the Burmese kings led Karen leaders to form the National Karen Association in 1881, which promoted Karen unity and supported the establishment of British colonial rule. The Karen role in the British armed forces in Burma also prompted them to identify their interests with those of the British. Karens were treated harshly by the BIA during the Japanese takeover; a large number of them were executed as British sympathizers. After World War II a number of Karen leaders agitated for the establishment of a Karen state within the Commonwealth of Nations but separate from Burma.

During and after the war Aung San had been diligent in forging links with minority leaders, including those of the Karens. The AFPFL included minority groups, but most remained unconvinced of the advantages of becoming part of an independent Burma rather than retaining a British-sponsored separate identity.

In January 1946 Aung San went to Myitkyina to gain the support of Kachin chiefs. In March the first Panglong Conference was held, attended by 34 Shan sawbwas and representatives of the Karens, Kachins, and Chins. Thakin Nu represented the AFPFL, but his statements that it was the British who had fostered ethnic divisions through their separation of Burma Proper and the border areas met with general suspicion. Because the British at the time seemed determined to implement the white paper provision concerning separate minority areas, the AFPFL reasserted its claim that the Burmans and minority peoples should together form a single state. Aung San enunciated his own liberal concept of nationhood, which contrasted with the older, Burman-centered notions of other nationalists. The basis of nationalism, he argued, was not race or culture but a feeling of "oneness" that develops as different peoples share hardship and prosperity in common. A nation is a "conglomeration of races and religions [that] should develop a nationalism that is common with the welfare of one and all, irrespective of race, religion, or class or sex."

The British favored integration of the border areas with Burma Proper following the January 27, 1947, agreement, and a second conference was held at Panglong between February 7 and 12, 1947. It was agreed that Kachin State would be established in the north of the country, that the autonomy of the Shan sawbwms would be recognized within the separate Shan State, and that the Chins would also join independent Burma if promised material assistance. The Panglong agreement settled, for the time at least, the question of the border areas.

The question of the Karens, however, remained unresolved, because the AFPFL rejected the proposal of the Karen National Union that a separate Karen state be established in the Thaton coastal region, where Karens were a minority. The union retaliated by boycotting the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for April. The question of whether the Kayah would join independent Burma was still left open.

In April elections were held for the Constituent Assembly. There were a total of 255 seats, Burma Proper being allotted 210, of which 24 were reserved for the Karens and four for Anglo-Burmans, and the border areas were allotted 45. The AFPFL won an overwhelming victory, returning some 248 representatives, most of whom were socialists or members of the PVO. The assembly met on June 9, and Thakin Nu was selected as its president.