(excerpt from Burmese Immigrants to B.C., 1996)
A Brief History of Modern Burma
- Burma was renamed Myanmar in 1989 by the military government
- Burma was first established as a nation during the golden age of Pagan in 1044 AD. Pagan was the first capital city of the country, and became the site of numerous grand temples and pagodas attesting to Burma's Buddhist history.
- In its expansionist phase, the British Government attempted to colonize Burma in the 19th century during three successive Anglo-Burmese wars over sixty years. Britain arrested the last of many Burmese kings in 1886 and considered colonization complete. Burma then became part of British India. The British further divided the numerous ethnic minorities in Burma by favouring some groups over others.
- In the 1920s, organized resistance against British rule began. By 1935 students at Rangoon University were part of an active movement for national independence under the exuberant leadership of U Aung San. With the outbreak of World War II, he and 29 of his supporters left Burma to undergo military training in Japan. In 1941, he returned as General Aung San and fought alongside the Japanese who invaded Burma, promising that Burma would be freed once the British were defeated. When General Aung San realized that the Japanese were less interested in Burma's freedom than Japan's victory over the British claim to Burma, he switched allegiances and negotiated an agreement with the British. The Japanese were expelled from Burma in 1945.
- Under the leadership of General Aung San terms for independence were established in 1947. While drafting a new constitution, however, he and several members of his new cabinet were assassinated in July. Burma finally became independent from Britain in 1948, with U Nu - a member of General Aung San's cabinet - as the first prime minister of Burma.
- Burma enjoyed democratic rule from 1948 to 1962 until General Ne Win, army chief of staff, took power in a coup d'état from Prime Minister U Nu.
- Severe political repression combined with steady economic decline, including the devaluation of currency (80% of private savings were rendered valueless in 1987), led to uprisings in 1962, 1974, and most recently 1988. On August 8, 1988 (8/8/88), students and supporters took to the streets in protest, calling for an end to military rule and the restoration of democracy in Burma. In response, the army killed thousands of unarmed civilians and imprisoned thousands more. Heeding this show of force, survivors went underground with their protest. Many fled to the borders where they joined ethnic groups which had been fighting for independence since before 1948.
- General Ne Win renamed his government the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in the fall of 1988. Any opposition to his government was met with indiscriminate arrests; universities were closed; curfews were imposed; and meetings of three or more people were prohibited. SLORC continues to control public opinion by allowing only one newspaper and one radio station to operate in the entire country.
- In July 1989, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - daughter of General Aung San and party member for the National League of Democracy (NLD) - was put under house arrest for speaking out against the SLORC government. In 1991, while imprisoned, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was released in July 1995 and remains a critic of SLORC in Burma, though her movements are greatly restricted.
- In 1990, multi-party elections were held and the NLD won well over 80% of the seats, but SLORC denied power to the winning political party and imprisoned the elected members of parliament.
- Several hundred thousand Burmese civilians have crossed borders to seek safety in neighbouring countries. Ad hoc refugee camps have been established along the Thai-Burma border to assist those seeking safety. Thousands more Burmese are displaced within the country. It is estimated that one in twenty Burmese people are forced to leave their homes, either to find safety in neighbouring countries or become internally displaced persons (N.I., 1996: 19). Most of the Burmese newcomers to BC fled their homes during the 1988 uprising, became temporary refugees in Thailand, and have since been granted permanent immigration status in Canada.
Geographical Dimensions
- The population of Burma is approximately 45 million.
-The capital city is Rangoon, or Yangon, a port city;
-The country is 676,552 km (almost twice the size of B.C.), and situated with India and Bangladesh to the west, China to the North, and Thailand and Laos to the east.
- Burma is administratively organized into seven states which represent the home areas of the country's seven largest ethnic groups besides that of ethnic Burmans, the largest group. These include the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon, Rakhine, and Shan.
Social and Cultural Background
- One can classify the heterogeneous Burmese population into five general groupings, four of which are based on ethnic identity: the Tai (Shan); the Karen; Tibeto-Burmans; the Mon-Khmer, and the Rohingya who originally came from the Middle East and are Muslim (N.I., 1996: 26-27).
- The vast majority of Burmese people are Buddhist (80%), though a sizeable number of Christians and some Muslims exist among the general population.
- More than 100 languages have been identified in Burma. The most widely spoken is Burmese.
- The region's two superpowers, China and India, have historically exerted both cultural and political influence in Burma and on its people.
Economic Profile
- Burma is rich in timber, minerals (gems, coal, petroleum, natural gas), fish and agricultural products, especially rice. It has 80% of the world's teak reserves, though current rates of deforestation are not sustainable.
- Nonetheless, Burma is recognized by the UN as one of the least developed countries in the world.
- Today, the SLORC government spends 40% of the national budget on the military; the average amount a Burmese citizen earns in a year is US$250.
- Burma produces an estimated 60% of the world's heroin from which the SLORC government profits (Burma Action Group, 1995/96).
Position of Women in Burmese Society
- The British census in 1872 noted that "female education was a fact in Burma before Oxford was founded" (Lintner, 1990: 15). Historically, women of certain backgrounds have had access to higher education and professional training. The majority of teachers in Burma are women, unlike Cambodia or Laos where they tend to be men.
- Despite these positive achievements, instability and conflict have had created many conditions of adversity for Burmese women. The effects of women's dislocation in Burma and as refugees in other countries include rape and violence, forced labour, prostitution, and trafficking of Burmese women for the sex industry in Thailand.
- Burmese culture socializes women not to speak up in the presence of their husbands, and certainly not to disagree with them in public. To a large extent, traditional gender roles are adhered to whereby men are dominant as heads of the household, and they make most decisions within the family context.
Education & Literacy
- Burma once won the UNESCO prize for its high literacy rate among both men and women; today, less than a fifth of school children complete four grades of primary school. UNICEF estimates that 4 million out of 11.8 million children aged 6-15 may be working today (N.I., 1996:18).
- Public education consists of primary school (kindergarten to fourth grade); secondary school (grades 5 to 8), and high school (grades 9 and 10). People in urban areas are more likely to finish high school than those in rural, agricultural parts of the country.
- The most widely spoken language is Burmese. Some basic English is generally part of the school curriculum for students after primary school.
- Training standards have historically been high for professional qualifications: physicians train for 7 years after completing high school and complete a one year practicum before they can be registered. A nurse requires 3 years post-secondary training plus a one year practicum to qualify. Up until 1976, the qualifications of physicians trained in Burma were completely transferable to the UK.
Health
- One source estimates that 30% of Burmese children suffer from malnutrition (N.I., 1996).
- Most hospitals are operated by the government; wages are low and many physicians supplement their hospital work with private clinic earnings for out-patient health services. Medicine is difficult to access and expensive.
- Fourteen states and divisions for health exist throughout the country, each with smaller sub-centre 'township' operations. Colonial rule in Burma left a reasonable legacy of health infrastructure that has since deteriorated.
- HIV/AIDS has become a serious health issue in Burma; estimates for 1995 put the number of people infected with HIV at between 350,000 and 450,000, roughly one percent of the population (ibid.).
- Malaria, leprosy, trachoma, and tuberculosis are high priorities for the Burmese primary health care system.
- Like many other refugees fleeing repressive and violent conditions, Burmese newcomers are not immune to post-traumatic stress disorder and/or other stress-related illnesses.
References
Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear (London, Penguin, 1995), first published 1991.
Basch, C. E. "Focus Group Interview: An Underutilized Research Technique for Improving Theory and Practice in Health in Education", Health Education Quarterly, vol 14(4): 411-448 (Winter 1987).
Burma Action Group, 1995/96 Briefing paper, London (see N.I., 1996).
The Globe & Mail, May 22, 1996.
Immigrant Services Society of B.C. "New Roots" newletter, Spring 1996.
- An Overview of the Needs of New Immigrants in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, (Vancouver: ISS, 1993).
Immigration and Refugee Services of America, World Refugee Survey 1996, (Washington D.C.: US Committee for Refugees, 1996).
- World Refugee Survey 1995, (Washington D.C.: US Committe for Refugees, 1995).
International Burma Campaign, Burma Today: Land of Hope and Terror, second draft, Washington D.C., December 1991.
Lintner, B. Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency since 1948 (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1994).
- Outrage: Burmese Struggle for Democracy (London/Bangkok: White Lotus, 1990).
New Internationalist, "Burma - a cry for freedom", no. 280, June 1996.
Shwe Lu Maung, Burma Nationalism and Ideology: An analysis of society,
culture and politics (Bangladesh: U.P. Ltd., 1989).
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