Burmese military leaders seek to erase legacy of General Aung San

Photo – General Aung San, the hero of Myanmar’s independence, is seen at Sumangala Park in Yangon on July 16, 2023. (AFP) Statues of the father of independence, General Aung San, are disappearing one by one across Myanmar. While the authorities under the military junta claim the statues are of "inaccurate proportions and shapes," analysts view this as a deliberate attempt to fade General Aung San’s image from public view and to undermine the legitimacy of the elected government overthrown by the military. General Aung San, who is revered as the father of the nation, founded the Tatmadaw (armed forces), began to unite the ethnic groups, and led the national movement to achieve independence from British colonial rule. General Aung San was assassinated just months after signing the historic 1947 Panglong Agreement, which laid the foundation for modern Myanmar, and it has been nearly 80 years since then. The statues of the General, many of which were erected during the brief period of democracy led by his daughter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government before the military seized power in February 2021, have been watching over a country he did not get to lead. James Char, an assistant professor of Asian history and international relations at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), said the removal of the statues is an attempt to "fade" General Aung San’s historical legacy. He said that even if this move is successful, it is a project that will take many years, and it will be very slow to bring any "tangible benefits" for the military leader Min Aung Hlaing, who is trying to gain regional recognition after elections widely condemned as fraudulent. Analysts observe that the engagement efforts of military leader Min Aung Hlaing, including mending relations with Thailand and Laos, and deepening ties with China and India, are based on a history shaped by the military and are contrary to the historical perspective represented by the statues. Dr. Yu Yu Win Nyein, a doctoral researcher and human rights activist at Erasmus University Rotterdam’s International Institute of Social Studies, who has studied Myanmar’s military rule and the Rohingya issue for many years, pointed out that the removal of the statues is a "political exploitation of a figure who should belong to all the people of Myanmar" and an attempt to reshape history at will. "Public monuments clearly represent the common identity of a group. When a government removes the monuments of a founding leader, it is an attempt to reshape the historical process and political legitimacy," he said. Yu Yuin also commented that legitimacy cannot be "created" simply by removing commemorative statues. "The history of a nation's origins should not be a victim of ongoing political conflicts. Such actions can further strengthen the public perception that the military dislikes the fact that General Aung San and his daughter's democratic legacy still have influence over the people," Yu Yuin said. Furthermore, Yu Yuin stated that this strategy will not heal the divisions within the country but may deepen them, and "can damage the common historical identity that is essential for a community to overcome periods of hardship." 'Dangerous' Historical Legacy Since the coup in 2021, the current military junta has been accused of killing tens of thousands of people, in addition to suppressing opponents and conscripting the public into a civil war against ethnic armed organizations and resistance forces that do not recognize its authority. However, Wilbrum, an associate professor at Canberra University who has studied Myanmar's nationalism and state-building, said that even the brutal military junta cannot ignore General Aung San. "His historical legacy is at the core of national identity. However, successive governments have selectively used the identity that is useful for their legitimacy, while fading or destroying what is not useful or is contradictory," Wilbrum said. Since the 1990 election, in which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, a result later annulled by the military, General Aung San's identity has become a "politically dangerous" image for military generals. "The junta removed portraits of the General from government offices and money. They reduced the inclusion of General Aung San in school textbooks and also closed the General Aung San Museum," Wilbrum said, referring to the former residence of the father of independence in Yangon, which has been converted into a memorial museum. Only the statue of General Aung San, stripped of all association with his daughter's democratic movement and with diminished influence and political symbolic value, is an image the junta can endorse. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who turned 81 last month, is believed to be detained somewhere in Naypyidaw, but her exact location is unknown even to her family members. Since 2022, family members and lawyers have not been able to speak directly with her, leading to demands for proof of life. "This looks less like Daw Aung San Suu Kyi being held under house arrest and more like the military trying to continue to manage a historical legacy that they have never been able to fully control," Wilbrum said. However, General Aung San's political legacy cannot be said to be equally owned by all ethnic groups in Myanmar. For the Karen, Shan, Tavoy, and other ethnic groups, the image of General Aung San is related to the equality promised in the Panglong Agreement but not implemented, and...