Aung San (1915-1947) was a nationalist and military figure who is considered the founder of modern Burma. He is the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. At the beginning of WWII, in 1939, he began secret conversations with the Japanese and ultimately collaborated with them in their invasion of Burma. By 1945, however, he turned on the Japanese and helped liberate Burma with the British. Although many in the British government viewed him as a traitor, they ultimately negotiated with him about the future of Myanmar. He led the 1947 Panglong Conference, in which Burmans and other ethnic groups came together to oppose British colonialism and to draft a Constitution for the Union of Burma.
He was assassinated in 1947 by a fellow Burmese politician, transforming him into a national martyr. His portrait was featured on currency in Burma for some 40 years until the political ascent of his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, following the 1988 coup. At that time, his image was removed from the public on a large scale in an attempt by the military junta to minimize connections between father and daughter.
Sources
David I. Steinberg, Burma/Myanmar: What Everyone Needs To Know (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Matthew J. Walton, “Ethnicity, Conflict, and History in Burma: The Myths of Panglong,” Asian Survey 48.6 (2008).
Image Credit:
"Aung San in Uniform," photographer unknown, modified from Wikimedia Commons.
