Just as the prismatic effects of glass mosaics or mirrors produce the spectrums of colour that give Myanmar’s pagodas their glittering iridescence, Prisms on the Golden Pagoda offers a spectrum of views on the country’s national reconciliation process. Because many of Myanmar’s outlying ethnic groups straddle the country’s borders with neighbouring countries in South and Southeast Asia and with China, the outcome of this process is crucial not only for the country’s current domestic liberalization but also for regional geopolitics. The editor of this volume, Kyaw Yin Hlaing is a US-trained academic who currently serves as an advisor to Myanmar's President. He has assembled contributions from veteran activists such as the Shan leader U Shwe Ohn, the Chin politician Lian H. Sakhong, Widura Thakin Chit Maung, once leader of Burma's "Red Socialists", and Thamarr Taman, formerly a senior civil servant. Commentary by the editor, and by Robert H Taylor and British diplomat-turned activist Derek Tonkin, explains the context and significance of these materials. By showing how the national reconciliation effort has been viewed inside the country, the contributors provide an important insider’s perspective on Myanmar’s difficult legacies of violence and separatism.
Originally published in 1958, this is the autobiography of the 2nd Present of Burma, U Ba U, who “rose under British rule to be a judge of the High Court of Judicature in Burma and, among the Burmese judges in the latest days of British rule, he was the only one to have received the dignity of knighthood. “When Burma attained independence, he became, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the most authoritative guardian and guarantee for all the rights, inherited from British liberal traditions, which were conferred on the people under the Constitution and by law. Finally, by the unanimous vote of both Chambers of the Parliament in Joint Session, he was elected President of the Union, with precedence over all other persons throughout the Union, a position to which he has added further distinction by his judicious exercise of the powers and functions thereby conferred on him. [...] One feature of his character which the story of his life reveals is a quiet determination to do his duty as he sees it, and this feature is further illustrated by the writing of this book. In view of the changes in Burma during his lifetime, in which he has personally taken no small part, such a record must necessarily be of historical importance. And the book must also find a place in the history of Burmese literature as almost the first essay by a Burman in the difficult art of autobiography.”
This work explores the history of the university in Burma, both as an institution founded by the colonizing British, and as a medium for change that was used by Burmese students in their struggles for independence. Aye Kyaw describes student protests, strikes, and boycotts that were part of a nationalist movement calling for the study of Burmese culture, history, and language. As this discourse evolved, it invited radical explorations of such concepts as democracy, justice, and freedom.
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