The emergence of the KNU (6)

This post provides the translation of p. 149, 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. This is the final page and the final post of this chapter.

Vocabulary:

ဆင်နွှဲ ။ to participate or take part in group activities or celebrations
အမြောက်တပ် ။ artillery
အချက်ပြ ။ to give a sign
ပျိုးထောင် ။ to sow seeds to get seedlings; to nurture
သွယ်ဝိုက် ။ indirectly

Translation:

...to appoint [some Karen] into [all departments]; and to conduct a census of the Karen population. These items were included [in the list of demands, but] the AFPFL government only accepted the demand to conduct a Karen population census. As for the British Royal Ministry, it did not reply.

Therefore, Saw San Po Thin, Mahn Ba Khaing, Mahn Win Maung and Saw Sein Tin said that they would resign from the KNU. Mahn Win Maung's Karen Youth Organisation joined with the AFPFL and forcefully criticised the KNU. The KNU boycotted the election that was held on April 9th, 1947. After that, while holding a KNU emergency conference on April 23rd 1947 Saw Ba U Gyi became the KNU chairperson.

The situation of the armed Karen

In accordance with the Kandy Agreement, when the Burma Armed Forces reformed although the majority of comrades who had participated in the Fascist revolution did not get permission to be included in the Armed Forces the British Empire systematically established Karen army units. General Smith Dun and General Saw Yisho from the Air Force became top Karen military officials.

In 1947, although there were four Burma Army battalions the British made a plan to increase 10 ethnic nationalities battalions. They were given the name "Mountain Range Militia" and Minister U Tin Htun was given authority over them. The English government disbanded the Burma Army artillery unit in which Karen, Burman and other ethnic peoples were mixed together. The #25 Munitions Battalion which included only Karen ethnic peoples was reformed. And a signals units with mostly Karens was formed.

Not only did the British Imperialists sow the seeds of Karen politics but they also worked to make [the Karen] be militarily powerful [and so] before independence was achieved the armed Karen army units became the strongest military force. With the expansion of the Karen Rifles, which was the strongest of the armed Karen forces, and the KNDO the KNU demanded that approximately the whole of lower Myanmar become Karen State. Amongst the many direct and indirect incitements of the British, it can be seen that the last of these was to cause the emergence of the Karen revolt.