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III. Religion and Politics in Modern Burma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

John F. Cady
John F. Cady
Affiliation:
Ohio University
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Extract

One of the most important problems which independent Burma faces is how to establish a basis for constructive cooperation between politics and religion in meeting the needs of the new state. The youthful political leaders; who dominated the immediate post-war period, were for the most part, disdainful of religion, and enamoured of Socialist or Communist ideas. They were acutely conscious of their country's relative backwardness in terms of education, health, and economic development, and wanted to move forward rapidly with their modernizing program and social reforms. They were by the same token impatient of popular apathy and resistance, which were strongly reinforced by religious traditionalism. The viewpoint of the influential Buddhist monastic community (Sangha) was poles removed from that of the sophisticated radicals. The traditionalist lore of the Buddhist teachers (Sayadaws) was pre-scientific, obscurantist in terms of modern learning, and unrelated to technological needs. The Sangha, furthermore, at the end of the war, was itself rent by factionalism and demoralized by its heavy involvement over the preceding quarter of a century in political matters which were not properly the concern of the monks.

Type
Religion and Modernization in the Far East: A Symposium
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , February 1953 , pp. 149 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1953

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References

1 Khit, Bama, Nov. 2, 1950Google Scholar; Oct. 3, 26, 1950; The Progress, Aug. 8, 1949.

2 Harvey, G. E., British Rule in Burma, 1824–1942. (London, 1946), 25–26Google Scholar.

3 Furnivall, J. S., Colonial Policy and Practice. (London, 1948), 143–4Google Scholar, 13.

4 Harvey, G.E., History of Burma. (London, 1925), 199, 206, 278Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., 81.

6 lbid., 38. The coronation ceremony was not Buddhist but Brahmanical.

7 Ibid., 88, 233, 244, 251.

8 Ibid., 62, 199.

9 Ibid., 50, 63, 177.

10 Ibid., 97, 107, 177–188, 183, 215, 235.

11 Fumivall, op. cit., 199–200.

12 Harvey, History of Burma, 50, 62, 68.

13 Ibid., 326.

14 Ibid., 268, 326.

15 Harvey, British Rule in Burma, 26–27.

16 Ibid., 27.

17 Furnivall, op. cit., 58–61.

18 Harvey, British Rule in Burma, 19, 27–28.

19 Furnivall, op cit., 62–70.

20 Harvey, , op. cit., 28. The Burma High Court in 1935Google Scholar annuled the last remnant of the thathanabaing's authority.

21 Furnivall, op. cit., 95–105.

22 Cady, John F., Development of Self-rule and Independence in Burma. (New York, 1948), 31Google Scholar.

23 Harvey, British Rule in Burma, 28–29.

24 Cady, op. cit., 31, 33.

25 Ibid., 48–49.

26 Ibid., 34, 37–38, 42–43, 45, 48.

27 Harvey, British Rule in Burma, 28–29.

28 Cady, op. cit., 42–45, 48.

29 Mills, Lennox, [ed.] The New World of Southeast Asia, (Minneapolis, 1948), 156–158Google Scholar.

30 The sophisticated editor of Oway (Sept. 29, 1950), noted that Nu had ceased talking about becoming a monk. The editor tauntingly offered to subscribe to Nu's ordination costs, and to get him a cheap robe whenever the time came.

31 The Progress, Aug. 8, 1949Google Scholar; The Tribune, Nov. 22, 1950.

32 The Progress, Nov. 1, 1949Google Scholar; Bama Khit, Dec. 11, 1949. Some 2.7 million children had been denied schooling during the war.

The post-war Associations of Burmese Medical Practitioners, for example, a group concerned with the preservation of ancient remedies, was severely criticized by the vernacular press of Rangoon because of its failure to undertake experimental research and to systematize practice. Religious taboos against destroying animal carriers of disease were directly challenged by one editor. The press unanimously acclaimed the grant of monetary assistance by the World Health Organization to provide modern medical books and equipment. See Oway, Dec. 9, 1949Google Scholar; The Progress, Dec. 17, 1949Google Scholar; The Rangoon Daily, Dec. 18, 1949Google Scholar.

33 Bama Khit, Dec. 12, 1949Google Scholar; New Light of Burma, Dec. 8 and 10, 1949Google Scholar. The laymen directed Young Men's Buddhist Association sponsored popular examinations covering application to life situations of the principles of deference and respect found in the Mangla Sutras.

34 Translation of the Hon'ble Prime Minister's speech delivered at the Peace Monument Foundation Laying Ceremony on the 11th December, 1950. (Rangoon, 1949), 11, 13, 19–21.

35 The Progress. Sept. 5, 1950Google Scholar; The Rangoon Daily, Sept. 8, 1950Google Scholar; The Hanthawaddy, Oct. 5, 1950Google Scholar; The Sun, Oct. 5, 1950Google Scholar.

36 The Rangoon Daily, Oct. 3, 1950Google Scholar; The Tribune, Oct. 4, 1950.

37 The Sun, Nov. 11 and Dec. 11, 1950Google Scholar. The disciplinary problem was illustrated by a legislative act introduced in August, 1951, prohibited such irregularities as the forcible disrobing of alleged pongyi offenders by fellow monks. The action followed an incident in Rangoon where a disrobed monk accused of unchastity was paraded through the streets. The Burman, Sept. 10, 1951Google Scholar.

38 The Rangoon Daily. Oct. 5, 1950Google Scholar; New Light of Burma, Sept. 10, 1950.

39 Hanthawaddy, Oct. 5, 1950Google Scholar.

40 The Progress, Dec. 28, 1950Google Scholar.

41 Bama Khit, Dec. 15, 1950Google Scholar; The Burman, July 7, 13, 1951.

42 The Burman, June 1, 5, 23, 1951Google Scholar. The Senate insisted that advanced Pali was not taught at the University and that pongyis could not be fitted into a coeducational scheme.

43 Ibid., June 21, 1951.

44 Ibid., July 5 and Aug. 27–28, 1951. In July a so-called “Buddhist University” at Rangoon began soliciting applicants for admission.

45 The Sun (U Ba Pe), Dec. 11, 1950Google Scholar, charged that politics was interfering with religion and that the Act would inevitably be used as a stepping stone for politicians.

46 The Burman, Jan. 6, 1951Google Scholar.

47 Ibid., June 4, 1951. Both the cheating on the examinations and the open defiance of the venerable Sayadaws in charge of the Pali University suggest not only personal indiscipline, but also the influence of economic distress growing out of diminishing popular support at Rangoon for the needs ot the clergy. The key to the situation seems to have been the government's offer of financial support to those pongyis who qualified as preceptors in the examinations administered by the Pali University authorities.

48 The Burman, Sept. 21 and 24.

49 This Association was broadly representative, including one representative from each administrative district (three each from Rangoon and Mandalay), five from the Shan States, and a lesser number from Kachin, Chin, and Karen inhabited areas. The officers were to be the Minister of Religious Affairs ex officio, nine monks nominated by the President of the Union in consultation with the Sangha, nine regional representatives, and eight additional persons chosen by the President. New Light of Burma, Oct. 6, 1950Google Scholar.

50 New Light of Burma, Oct. 6, 1950Google Scholar; The Rangoon Daily, Oct. 6, 1950Google Scholar; The Progress, Oct. 7, 1950Google Scholar; Summary of the Hon'ble Prime Minister's speech delivered in Parliament on 3rd October, 1950. (Rangoon, 1950), 1–4Google Scholar.

51 Some editorial comment was less narrowly partisan, stressing Burma's world role to counter greed, hatred, and war, and suggesting cooperating in a world religious front to oppose irreligion. Bama Khit, Oct. 8 and Dec. 27, 1950Google Scholar.

52 The Burman, Jan. 22, and Feb. 6, 1951Google Scholar.

53 The Burman, June 4, 15, 1951Google Scholar.

54 Ibid, Oct. 24, 31, 1951. Bunna's numbering ignores several other such Councils in recent years held in Thailand.

55 The Nation, April 19, 1952Google Scholar.

56 The Burman, May 5, 30, 1951Google Scholar.

57 The Sun, Sept. 14, 1950Google Scholar; The Burman, June 12, Oct. 18, 1951Google Scholar.