The emergence of the KNU (4)

This post provides the translation of p. 147, 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:

နာယက ။ patron
ပင်လယ်ရပ်ခြား ။ overseas
တည်ခင်း ။ to serve (food)
နန်းရင်းဝန် ။ royal minister?
တောက်လျှောက် ။ at a stretch; continuously; nonstop; directly
ဂယက် ။ small waves or ripples; repercussions
ရိုက်ခတ် ။ to reverberate
လိုက်လျော ။ to comply with
အလျှို အလျှို ။ insert; hide, conceal

Translation:

They welcomed the representatives in many ways. I attended a welcome party. Mountbatten acted as patron and attended the party that was given by the overseas association.

The lunch that was served by Royal Minister Mr. Atlee was very important. I did not forget to ask Mr. Atleee "since when there had been Karen-British Goodwill." I spoke without forgetting to ask about the Karen helping the Allies during the war. While Looney was replying, Mr. Atlee told us good things about the Karens. Since arriving in London they had taken care of us and fed us and spoken only good words. [The trip] was of full feasts and welcome parties. During that time when we came to London there was something to ask. For that question, I still have not received an answer. Some peoples had left from the British Empire. We Karens did not want to leave like that. Therefore, what we wanted to ask was could we continue to stay in the British Empire?

"Atlee looked at his watch and while saying that there was another meeting that he had to attend left from the welcome party."

The British gave special importance to the Karen Goodwill Mission and welcomed them. The Conservatives especially welcomed them. Those Conservatives became intimate with the Karen after having direct communication [with the Karens]. However, in the government was Atlee's Labour government. Atlee did not have the power to give a written answer for the case submitted by the Karens. And [the reason] was that at that time the independence battle in Myanmar was intense. The crisis of a colonised country was starting to make ripples in the British parliament. Therefore, Atlee could not immediate comply with the case submitted by the Karens. While the Aung San-Atlee Agreement was being formalised, he included a clause so that regarding the frontier areas it would be according to the sentiment of the local residents. That clause was included because Atlee knew of the Karens' desire for the British.

Not long after the formation of Saw Ba U Gyi's KCO organisation the following Karen associations secretly emerged.

1. Burma Karen National Association (BKNA)
2. Karen Youth Organisation (KYO)
3. Karen National Association ('Dawkalu')

Saw Phya Tha, Saya Shwe Na, Saw Mya Thein and U Pandawantha led the BKNA. Some BKNA leaders were KCO Association members. As for the KYO, it spilt off from Mahn Ba Khaing and Bo Htun Sein's KCO organisation and joined with Saw Kyaw Sein and Mahn Win Maung. As for the 'Dawkalu' organisation, Saya Phoe Aye was the leader. On February 4th, 1947, after the Aung San-Atlee Agreement was finalised, the Karen Associations held a conference. After that they said that they could not at all accept the Aung San-Atlee Agreement. The reason was that amongst the Myanmar representatives there had not been one Karen. There were hardly any Karen representatives in the state and regional legislatures.