The emergence of the KNU (2)

This post provides the translation of p. 145, 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:

စေလွှတ် ။ to send (sb on a mission, errand)
ကျိတ် ။ in secret; secretly
အကွက်ကောင်း ။ opportune moment or situation
အကြောင်းရင်း ။ fundamental cause; root cause
ပေါ်လွင် ။ be evident; be obvious
မှားယွင်း ။ wrong; incorrect; erroneous; err, make a mistake; do wrong
နစ်နာ ။ suffer; feel aggrieved
နှိမ်နင်း ။ put down; suppress (rebellion); subdue (the enemy)
ဘဲဂယက် ။ ? place name "Begayet"; baccarat?
ဝိုက် ။ to take a detour; the surrounding area
မေ့ပျောက် ။ to fade from memory; think no more of
အထင်လွဲ ။ misjudge; misunderstand
နီးစပ် ။ to be intimate; friendly with

Translation:

"Saw Kyar Do who descended from England's Sandhurst Military Academy became deputy Colonel in the military ministry office. He organised a Karen Army section and sent Karen-Burman goodwill organisations to the delta.

Thakin Nu and Bo Let-ya's goodwill trips were successful. General Aung San, Commander Ne Win, Thakin Than Htun and Karen leaders like Saw Kya Do, Saw Henry and John Sin Gangyi discussing in secret strengthened Karen-Burman unity that was important to revolt against the Japanese."

However, the Karen-Burman riot created an opportune moment to divide the Karen and Myanmar for [the benefit of] the British Empire. In the root cause of the occurrence of the riot, it was as though there it was no evidence of Britain's long years and months of divisiveness and not many people knew of Japan's mistakes.

"Because some Japanese, some Burmans and some Karens acted incorrectly in the delta the ethnic problem emerged. Both Karens and Burmans suffered being killed. Karens from the Maung Mya jurisdiction killed Bo Mo Kyo [Colonel Suzuki]'s student called "Kimata". He [Bo Mo Kyo] received the news and sent Bo Kyaw Zaw's army unit to suppress [the Karen rebellion]. The fact of Kimata being killed near Pathein occurred in the area around Begayet [village]."

"Colonel Ne Win in 1946 met with Karen leaders and discussed and persuaded [them] to be able to forget about the issue of the riot. The matter that Colonel Ne Win said concerning the riot can be seen in the following."

"We had to go on a journey to Upper Burma. It was nearly one and a half or two and a half months long. Thus, while going on the journey I did not know about the matter of the fighting in the delta. Upon returning from Upper Burma to Mandalay a Japanese adviser spoke [about the matter] and I came to know. The Japanese [adviser] said that the English had placed weapons in the hands of the Karen. He said that [the English had done this] in order to catch the Japanese."

"At that time, I, General Aung San, Bo Let-ya, and Bo Zeya, all of us were not in Yangon. Only Bo Sa Kya had been left behind in Yangon. And he was not a person who could live with the army."

"Bo Kyaw Zaw was young at that time. He would have been over 20, only 23 years old. He went with the Japanese training of 'If you give an order to a soldier, he must do it all,' and fought the Karen."

"Up until today, in the view of the Karen people, it is firmly in their mind that it was the Myanmar (BIA)s."

"Truthfully, we leaders did not know anything."

"Although it was not an issue that I had done, during the Japanese period of 1943-44 for which I am misunderstood I came back and worked to be on friendly terms. [I] consulted with Saw Henry, Saya Kan Gyi, Saw Kyar Do, and Saw San Po Thin and gathered Karen soldiers to fight the Japanese."