The emergence of the KNU (3)

This post provides the translation of p. 146, 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:

အလိုတော်ရိ ။ sycophant
မြှောက်ပင့် ။ flatter
အံကျ ။ fit exactly
ညီလာခံ ။ conference
စင်စစ် ။ actually, in reality
ဓနသဟာယ ။ commonwealth of nations
ခင်မင် ။ to be friendly with

Translation:

A Karen army unit was established

Although Karen leaders gathered for the Fascist revolution there were some leaders who wanted the English and were English sycophants. Saw Ba U Gyi strongly showed his desire that a Karen jurisdiction be precisely formed and included in the British Empire. And the British always persuaded the Karens to have such a desire to be under such rule. In 1945, activism for the acquisition of Karen independence and a Karen State emerged. Karen military officers who accompanied the English army units during their retreat made requests for a Karen State. English Conservative Party members and party supporters supported the Karen activism. From June 28th 1945 until July 1st, Karen leaders met in Yangon and discussed. In that meeting they decided on the acquisition of a Karen State and the unity of all Karen people. Those decisions fit exactly with Britain's incitement and flattery of the Karens and especially motivated the Karens.

The emergence of Karen organisations

In February 1946, they held a Karen ethnic people's conference in Yangon. The Karen conference decided to ask the English government for the acquisition of Karen State. [The decision was also made to] submit the case to the regular English citizens. While deciding on the Karen Goodwill Mission that would go to England they decided on Saw Tha Din, Saw Po Chit, Mister Sydney Looney and Saw Ba U Gyi.

In that conference, the Karen Central Organization known as K.C.O. was formed with the goal of aquiring a Karen State. The leaders were Saw Tha Din, Mahn Ba Khin, Saw Ba U Gyi, Saya Tha Toh, Saw Mya Thein, Saya Shwe Ba, Mahn Ba Khaing, Bo Htun Sein and U Pya Gyi. The leaders of the Karens were military officers and Christian leaders from the Karen army units that had been organised by the British.

Actually, British politicians directly instructed the Karens' political activism and were holding the strings. In 1945, the Karen Goodwill Mission went to the English government and submitted a case to established a precisely demarcated Karen State in the British Empire. Regarding that matter Brigadier Bernard Fergusson who lead the 16th Battalion in the Myanmar war wrote the following:

"In 1946, an article was given to the editor of the London Times newspaper. A person called Audrey Buxton invited people who desired the benefit of the Karen to contact him. According to what I think, Buxton was a member of the Quaker Religious Sect. If he was a person who could make many benefits, he was a civil servant in 136 [?] for being in the military. Buxton [said that] a Karen representative organisation would come to London. [He] told me that the organisation would asked about wanting to be in the British Commonwealth."

"Sydney Looney would lead the Karen organisation. There were six members. All seven people were especially friendly. Amognst them the particularly effective person was Saw Ba U Gyi. I previously did not know them."