General Ne Win’s Legacy of Burmanization in Myanmar

This book focuses on how Burmanization created and reinforced ethnic divides since the 1962 coup d’etat. when General Ne Win concentrated all authority in the Burmese speaking army. Background research for the book includes Burmese language materials from the Burmese Socialist Party (BSP) and others that describe with what the BSP believed in their own terms. This is unique from previous works on the topic which either simply pointed out that the policies “didn’t work” and therefore are uninteresting, or to claim that they were “necessary” given the chaos of the previous regime. The authors agree that Ne Win’s policies “didn’t work.” However, the book goes further by elaborating why Burmanization policies developed in the 1960s are important for understanding Burmese society today. Most importantly, Ne Win’s ideology reflects how patterns of interethnic relationships in Myanmar lead to the “intractability” of the battles in early twenty-first century Myanmar.

“This book is an insightful and thoughtful exploration of Ne Win's vision and legacy of Burmanization in Myanmar. The author offers a deep understanding of Myanmar's complex history and the challenges to peace it faces in the 21st century. Carefully unpacking Ne Win's strategies, the author illuminates the country's past by weaving in personal narratives. Saw Eh Htoo was a dear friend. We shared countless coffee-fueled conversations, discussing ideas and his passionate hopes for a united, peaceful Myanmar. I deeply miss my friend and his vision for his homeland.” (Dr. Charlotte Hill, Lecturer, Chiangmai University)

“An important and original contribution to scholarship on - and from - Burma. Prof Tony Waters has done a wonderful job curating Thra Eh Htoo's insightful analysis of Burmanization in Myanmar. First-hand accounts from Eh Htoo's personal experience contribute to a deep and rich treatment of the subject. The book is particularly valuable for its use of primary sources. It should be essential reading for those seeking to understand the country - particularly, as Eh Htoo notes, the army of foreign aid organisations which so often take government announcements and policies at face value, without realising the underlying structural and cultural violence at the heart of Myanmar.” (Dr. Ashley South, Author and Independent Consultant, Chiangmai)

“I have had the opportunity of staying with Eh Htoo during our Ph.D studies at Payap University for two and half years. Every time we sat down and talked together with Prof. Tony Waters, Eh Htoo always expressed his thoughts about how our country (Burma) was ruled and portrayed by the successive military governments. This book reflects his personal and historical accounts, and his dream for the country’s future. I appreciate his love for the country and what he wanted to see in the future.” (Hayso Thako,  President of the Institute of Higher Education for KECD and Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity (KRCEE))

“Eh Htoo’s writing evoked nostalgic memories of the time we spent together during our PhD journey. Both Eh Htoo and Hayso are my beloved Karen brothers and I learned about the spirit of “imagined Kawthoolei community" from them. While reading his book, I hear his cry in the poem "Burmese Burden" which he adapted from Kipling's classic work, The White Man's Burden. “Half devil and half child, take up the Burmese burden, In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror, And check the show of pride.”  Eh Htoo left us a spirit of peace as his legacy.” (Dr. Mon Mon Myat, Lecturer, Department of Peace Studies, Payap University, and Journalist)
 

Saw Eh Htoo was born in the Irrawaddy River Delta in 1976, to a Karen family. He later moved to Yangon where he studied Philosophy (B.A.), Christian Studies (M.A.) and Cultural Anthropology (M.A.). At the time of his death he was completing his PhD dissertation at Payap University, Chiangmai, on which this book is based. He founded a Myanmar NGO Kaw Lah Foundation which did applied field research in Rakhine, Chin, Shan and Kayin (Karen) States; and Bago Region in Myanmar.

Tony Waters is a Professor of Sociology currently at Leuphana University (Germany). Previously he taught at Payap University in Thailand, and at California State University, Chico, USA. He is the author of academic books and articles dealing with issues of social theory, East Africa, mainland Southeast Asia, refugees, and other sociological subjects.