The emergence of the KNU (1)

This post provides the translation of p. 144, chapter 20 of the text ပြည်တွင်းသောင်းကျန်းမှုသမိုင်း (အပိုင်း-၁) (The History of Revolt within the Country - Volume 1), published by the Myanmar Ministry of Information in 1990. The chapter runs 6 pages from page 144 to page 149.

Vocabulary:

စည်းရုံး ။ organise; persuade
လေထီး ။ parachute
ကမ်းလှမ်း ။ to negotiate; offer
စစ်သံမှူး ။ military attache
ဘင်ခရာ ။ drum and bugle corps; drum and fife band

Translation:

Chapter 20

The KNU association

The roots of the Karen rebellion

The expansion [that began] from the fighting of the multi-ethnic BIA military and the Karen military under English control up to the emergence of the Karen-Burman ethnic riot that were a result of the special opportunity given to the Karen ethnic peoples with the British imperial government's divisive system of rule has already been presented [in a previous chapter]. During that time with the hard work of Myanmar leaders the Karen-Burman riot became peaceful. In the struggle for Fascist revolution many Karen leaders participated in unity with Myanmar leaders. Karen military commander Saw Kyar Do took on responsibility for the revolution in the delta area due to General Aung San's persuasion. After finishing training in India Mahn Win Maung descended into Myanmar by parachute for the Fascist revolution. Arriving in the plains, he secretly went back and crossed over to India by foot.

The active combination of Myanmar leaders and Karen leaders during the period of Fascist revolution can be seen in the following writing on page 214 and 215 of Dr. Maung Maung's book Colonel Ne Win and the Myanmar Political Journey [Burma and General Ne Win]:

Karen leader Saw San Po Thin heard communications with the English Major Seagram who was organising army units that had taken refugee and disappeared on the Taungoo side and Bo Sa Kya made a verbal offer to send his force to India. San Po Thin sent news about the Burma Military preparing for revolution and Bo Sa Kya's verbal offer to Seagram. The Japanese came to know [about this] and arrested San Po Thin. Bo Sa Kya was appointed to be the military attache in the Myanmar embassy in Japan and sent him far away."

"General Aung San incorporated San Po Thin and Saw Kyar Do into the military. San Po who could sing and lead a drum and bugle corps became a Burma Military commander."