Friday, May 15, 2009
Bagan Politics
In the year 1057 Anawrahta captured the Mon capital of Thaton. After this capture the Burmans adopted Theravada Buddhism from the Mons. The Burmese script was created, based on the Mon script, during the reign of King Kyanzittha. The Bagans became prosperous from trade. The Bagan kings also made some magniicient temples as well as pagodas in different places across the country. one can still see some of these temples even today. These historic monuments still bear the glory of a bygone era of Burmese history.
However, the Bagan’s power became waned in the 13th century. starting in the year 1277, Kublai Khan's Mongol forces invaded northern Burma. In the year 1287 they sacked the Bagan city and thus the two century old Bagan reign came to an end.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Early political History of Burma
The earliest identifiable civilization as well as political history of Burma or Myanmar date back to Mon civilization. The Mons settled in the Ayeyarwady River delta area as well as along the Taninthayi coast. The Mons are believed to have begun migrating into the area in about 3000 BC. The first kingdom of the Mon was Suwarnabhumi which was pronounced as Suvanna Bhoum. It was situated at port city of Thaton. The influence of the Mon extended from Cape Negaris, in the Ayeyarwaddy delta, up to the Chao Praya delta which is situated in modern day Thailand.
Tibeto-Burman speaking Burmans who are popularly known as the Bamar, began migrating to the Ayeyarwady valley from present-day Yunnan's Nanzhao kingdom since 7th century AD. The Bamars filled in the power gap left by the Pyu. This way the Burmans established a small kingdom centered in Bagan in the year 849.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Human Rights in Myanmar
Human rights in Myanmar or Burma has been a matter of grave concern for the human rights organizations as well as international communities. A general agreement is there that the military authority in Burma is the most abusive and repressive regimes in the world. General Ne Win was the leader of 1962 coup. He founded a totalitarian government.
Ne Win was a fan of Stalin and Marx. He used to brutally crush the opposition. The Burmese Way to Socialism which was popularly known as the Burmese Road to Socialism always included ideas such as isolationism, large scale nationalization, a police state and also ethnic cleansing. In Burma the brutally crushed 8888 Uprising forced the regime to reform a little. Today’s the State Peace and Development Council is still in power in Burma.
The military government was really worst and different human rights organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have reported on human rights abuses by the military government in Burma. It was reported that in Burma there was not even an independent judiciary present in the country. The military government restrains Internet access by software-based censorship. And this action of the military limits the material citizens the accession of getting on-line.
Some of the bad factors were very common such as human trafficking, forced labour and child labour. The activities were really brutal. The military is also infamous for rampant use of sexual violence. They use it as an instrument of control. Systematic rapes and demanding sex slaves for military as porters was very common. In exile, a strong women’s pro-democracy motion has formed and it occurred mainly along in Chiang Mai and the Thai border. With a view to fight with women’s human rights issues, a arising international movement is there.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Political Scenario of Burma under British Rule
Historically, Myanmar was a monarchy ruled by various dynasties prior to the 19th century. The British colonized the country in the late 19th century. After that the country was under the jurisdiction of the British Raj until the year 1937.
Myanmar was ruled as a British colony from the 1820’s until the year 1948. The Bamar heartland was directly administered by the British. Firstly it was a part of India then it was treated as a part of British Burma. However, there were some ethnic regions outside the heartland that were allowed some measures of self rule just like the princely states in India. This decision led to split loyalties among different ethnic groups along with the indigenous people of Burma.
The Bamars are the dominant ethnic group in Burma. The group make up approximately 68% of the total population of Myanmar. During World War II many Bamar joined hands with the Japanese to rule out the British from the country. However, many other ethnic groups supported the Allied Forces. This had a great impact on the history of Myanmar. When in the year 1948 Burma was granted independence from the Great Britain, Burma got a new ruler Aung San. The British gave him control over the areas that are not traditionally controlled by the Bamar.