Union of Burma (1962–1974) ပြည်ထောင်စု မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် Pyidaunzu Myăma Nainngandaw Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (1974–1988) ပြည်ထောင်စု ဆိုရှယ်လစ်သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် Pyidaunzu Soshallhaitsammat Myăma Nainngandaw | |||||||||
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| 1962–1988 | |||||||||
| Anthem: ကမ္ဘာမကျေ Kaba Ma Kyei "Till the End of the World" | |||||||||
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| Capital | Rangoon | ||||||||
| Common languages | Burmese | ||||||||
| Religion | Secularism (de facto until 1980s)[1] Buddhism (majority;de jurestate religion,[2][3] de facto from 1980s)[1] | ||||||||
| Demonym | Burmese | ||||||||
| Government | Unitaryone-party[a][8]constitutional[b][10]socialist republic[11][9] under atotalitarian[15]military dictatorship[17] | ||||||||
| Chairman | |||||||||
• 1962–1988 (first) | Ne Win[c] | ||||||||
• 1988 (last) | Maung Maung | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1962–1981 (first) | Ne Win[d] | ||||||||
• 1988 (last) | Maung Maung | ||||||||
| Prime minister | |||||||||
• 1962–1974 (first) | Ne Win[e] | ||||||||
• 1988 (last) | Tun Tin | ||||||||
| Legislature | Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma (1962–1974) Pyithu Hluttaw (1974–1988) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
| 2 March 1962 | |||||||||
| 3 January 1974 | |||||||||
| 18 September 1988 | |||||||||
| HDI (1980) | 0.328[18] low | ||||||||
| Currency | Kyat | ||||||||
| Calling code | 95 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | BU | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Myanmar | ||||||||
| History of Myanmar |
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 Myanmar portal |
Burma was under themilitary dictatorship ofNe Win from 1962 to 1988. Ne Win and his allies in theTatmadaw – the country's armed forces – overthrew the government ofPrime MinisterU Nu in acoup d'état on 2 March 1962. A day later, the coup leaders established theRevolutionary Council of the Union of Burma as the country's governing body. In April 1962, the Revolutionary Council introduced theBurmese Way to Socialism and declared it Burma's state ideology. The Revolutionary Council then founded theBurma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) as the country'svanguard party on 4 July 1962. In 1974, Ne Win introduced anew constitution and replaced the Revolutionary Council with thePyithu Hluttaw, which consistedsolely of BSPP members. The country's official name was also changed from the Union of Burma[f] to theSocialist Republic of the Union of Burma.[g]
Ne Win's governance of Burma was characterised bytotalitarianism,isolationism,superstition (yadaya),xenophobia, and a rejection ofCold War politics. Ne Win ruled Burma as adictator, serving as both Chairman of the Revolutionary Council (laterPresident of Burma) andPrime Minister of Burma, the country'shead of state andhead of government, respectively. The nationalisation of major industries and rejection of foreign investment led to catastrophic declines in economic growth and living standards.
In 1988, mass protests known as the8888 Uprising pressured BSPP officials, including Ne Win, to resign en masse and adopt amulti-party system. However, on 18 September 1988 theTatmadaw staged a coup against the BSPP, violently ended the protests, and established a new military junta, theState Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
Burma under Prime MinisterU Nu and theAFPFL-ledcoalition government in theUnion Parliament had implementedleft-wing economic and welfare policies, although economic growth remained slow throughout the 1950s.[20] By 1958, Burma was largely beginning to recover economically, but was beginning to fall apart politically due to a split in the ruling AFPFL into two factions: theClean AFPFL led by U Nu and Thakin Tin, and the Stable AFPFL led byBa Swe and Kyaw Nyein.[21][page needed] This situation persisted despite the unexpected success of U Nu's "Arms for Democracy" offer taken up by U Seinda in theArakan, thePa-O, someMon andShan groups, but more significantly by the PVO surrendering their arms.[21][page needed] The Union Parliament became very unstable, with U Nu barely surviving ano-confidence vote only with the support of the oppositionNational United Front (NUF), believed to havecrypto-communists amongst them.[21][page needed] Hardliners in the Tatmadaw viewed this as a threat of theCommunist Party of Burma (CPB) coming to an agreement with U Nu through the NUF, and resulted in U Nu inviting GeneralNe Win, the Army Chief of Staff, to serve as interim prime minister to restore order in Burma.[21][page needed] Over 400 "communist sympathizers" were arrested, of which 153 were deported to apenal colony onGreat Coco Island in theAndaman Sea. Among them was the NUF leader Aung Than, older brother ofAung San. Newspapers likeBotahtaung,Kyemon andRangoon Daily were also closed down.[22]
On 28 October 1958, Ne Win staged an internalcoup d'état under the auspices of U Nu and successfully restored Burma'spolitical stability, a period known as the "Ne Wincaretaker government", until theFebruary 1960 general election which returned U Nu's Clean AFPFL, renamed as the Union Party, with a large majority.[23] Ne Win officially handed back power to the victorious U Nu on 4 April 1960.[24] However, the situation in Burma did not remain stable for long due to petitions from the Shan federalist movement started bySao Shwe Thaik, the firstPresident of Burma from 1948 to 1952 and theSaopha ofNyaung Shwe. The Shan federalists were aspiring to create a "loose"federation in Burma, and were seen as aseparatist movement for insisting on the Burmese government honouring the right to secession in 10 years provided for by the1947 Constitution. Ne Win had already succeeded in stripping the ShanSaopha of theirfeudal powers in exchange for comfortable pensions for life in 1959, but the unresolved issues of federalism and social order continued.
The electedcivilian government had lost most of its legitimacy by 1962; the Burmese public perceived it as corrupt, inept at ruling the country, and unable to restore law and order. Meanwhile, the Tatmadaw rose in popularity thanks to the stability created by Ne Win's caretaker government. Burma also faced various economic, religious, and political crises, particularly theethnic-based insurgencies in the country's peripheries and the issues of federalism and separatism.[20][page needed] Less than two years after returning to civilian rule, Ne Win launched a second military-backed coup d'état on 2 March 1962, this time without U Nu's blessing.
The coup succeeded with little bloodshed and its instigators established theRevolutionary Council of the Union of Burma to replace the Union Parliament as Burma's supreme governing body. In April 1962, the Revolutionary Council declared Burma asocialist state and announced the "Burmese Way to Socialism" as a blueprint foreconomic development,decreasing foreign influence in Burma to zero per cent, andincreasing the role of the military in politics.[25][page needed] The Revolutionary Council also founded theBurma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) on 4 July 1962 to nominally separate the powers of the military from the government.[26] However, the BSPP's leadership was dominated by military officials for all of its history, although the party did make attempts to transition into a mass party, such as the replacement of the Revolutionary Council with thePeople's Assembly in 1974.[27]
Despite theUnion Revolutionary Council leaders' phraseology being socialist, their actions were those of ardent nationalists seeking to maximize the power of their state.[28]
The subsequent discussion of the nature of ownership, planning and development strategy in Burma between 1962 and the mid-1970s indicates that while Burma formally established the structures of a socialist economy, it did not effectively implement those structures. Furthermore, since the mid-1970s due to economic failure, Burma had to accept policies that imply more private activity, includingforeign investment.[28] According to a 1981 scholarly analysis, "there is little evidence that Burma either is now, or is in the process of becoming a socialist society". The study also stated that "the leadership, although demonstrating a certain social concern, clearly lacks the ability and the will necessary to build a socialist society".[28]
The implementation of the Burmese Way to Socialism negatively affected the economy, educational standards, and living standards of the Burmese people. Foreign aid organisations, like the American-basedFord Foundation andAsia Foundation, as well as theWorld Bank, were no longer allowed to operate in the country.[25][page needed] Only permitted was aid from a government-to-government basis. In addition, the teaching of the English language was reformed and moved to secondary schools, whereas previously it had started as early as kindergarten. The government also implemented extensive visa restrictions for Burmese citizens, especially when their destinations were Western countries. Instead, the government sponsored the travel of students, scientists and technicians to theSoviet Union andEastern Europe, in order to receive training and to "counter years of Western influence" in the country.[25][page needed] Similarly, visas for foreigners were limited to just 24 hours.[29]
Furthermore,freedom of expression and thefreedom of the press was extensively restricted. Foreign language publications were prohibited, as were newspapers that printed "false propagandist news."[25][page needed] ThePress Scrutiny Board (now the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division), which censors all publications to this day, including newspapers, journals, advertisements and cartoons, was established by the Revolutionary Council through the Printers' and Publishers' Registration Act in August 1962.[30] The Revolutionary Council set up theNews Agency of Burma (BNA) to serve as a news distribution service in the country, thus effectively replacing the work of foreign news agencies. In September 1963,The Vanguard andThe Guardian, two Burmese newspapers, were nationalised. In December 1965, publication of privately owned newspapers was banned by the government.[25][page needed]
The impact on theBurmese economy was extensive. The Enterprise Nationalization Law, passed by theRevolutionary Council in 1963, nationalised all major industries, including import-export trade,rice, banking, mining,teak and rubber on 1 June 1963.[25][page needed] In total, around 15,000 private firms were nationalised.[20][page needed] Furthermore, industrialists were prohibited from establishing new factories with private capital. This was particularly detrimental to theAnglo-Burmese,Burmese Indians and theBritish, who were disproportionately represented in these industries.
Theoil industry, which was previously controlled by American and British companies, such as the General Exploration Company and East Asiatic Burma Oil, were forced to end operations. In its place was the government-ownedBurma Oil Company, which monopolised oil extraction and production. In August 1963, the nationalisation of basic industries, including department stores, warehouses and wholesale shops, followed.[25][page needed] Price control boards were also introduced.
The Enterprise Nationalization Law directly affected foreigners in Burma, particularly Burmese Indians and theBurmese Chinese, both of whom had been influential in the economic sector as entrepreneurs and industrialists. Such xenophobic policies of the government caused large scale emigration of British, Indians & Chinese out of the country. causes By mid-1963, 2,500 foreigners a week were leaving Burma.[25][page needed] By September 1964, approximately 100,000 Indian nationals had left the country.[25][page needed]
Theblack market became a major feature of Burmese society, representing about 80% of the national economy during the Burmese Way period.[20][page needed] Moreover, income disparity became a major socioeconomic issue.[20][page needed] Throughout the 1960s, Burma's foreign exchange reserves declined from $214 million in 1964 to $50 million in 1971, while inflation skyrocketed.[31] Rice exports also declined, from 1,840,000 tons in 1961-62 to 350,000 tons in 1967-68, the result of the inability of rice production to satisfy demand caused by high population growth rates.
In the 1stBurmese Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) Congress in 1971, several minor economic reforms were made, in light of the failures of the economic policy pursued throughout the 1960s. The Burmese government asked to rejoin the World Bank, joined theAsian Development Bank, and sought more foreign aid and assistance.[29] The "Twenty-year plan", an economic plan divided into five increments of implementation, was introduced, in order to develop the country's natural resources, including agriculture, forestry, oil and natural gas, through state development.[29] These reforms brought living standards back to pre-World War II levels and stimulated economic growth.[29] However, by 1988, foreign debt had ballooned to $4.9 billion, about three-fourths of the national GDP, and Ne Win's later attempt to make thekyat based in denominations divisible by 9, a number he considered to be auspicious, led to the wiping of millions of savings of the Burmese people, resulting in the8888 Uprising.[29][32]
The Burmese Way to Socialism has largely been described by scholars as an "abject failure" which turned one of the most prosperous countries inAsia intoone of the world's poorest.[33] Burma experienced greatly increasedpoverty,inequality,corruption andinternational isolation,[34][35] and has been described as "disastrous".[36] Burma's real per capita GDP increased fromUS$159.18 in 1962 to US$219.20 in 1987, or about 1.3% per year, one of the weakest growth rates inEast Asia over this period, but still positive.[37] The program also may have served to increase domesticstability and keep Burma from being as entangled in the Cold War struggles that affected otherSoutheast Asian nations.[25][page needed]
တည်ဆဲဥပဒေဖြစ်ပါသည်
The second is that of a socialist and totalitarian state.
Chapter XVI General Provisions: "In order to overcome this deterioration and to build Socialism, the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma assumed responsibility as a historical mission, adopted theBurmese Way to Socialism and also formed theBurma Socialist Programme Party"
Totalitarianism also aptly describes the Soviet-dominated regimes in eastern Europe during the Cold War, North Korea under the Kim dynasty, andMyanmar (Burma) under Gen. U Ne Win (1962–88) and the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC; 1988–2011).
This military and totalitarian regime has ruled the country of Burma with iron hands and cruel tactics for the last 38 years.
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