Section Archive

In 1943, Japanese forces finished the short-lived “death railway” at the cost of over 100,000 lives.

On this day in 2004, the military regime’s prime minister, General Khin Nyunt, was ejected from office for alleged corruption, defying orders and lawbreaking.

On this day 100 years ago, director U Ohn Maung’s ‘Love and Liquor’, Myanmar’s first feature film, premiered; Oct. 13 is now known as Myanmar Motion Picture Day.

Dr. Shaw Loo returned to Myanmar in 1867 after years of study in the US. He was the first Burmese citizen to study in the country.

On this day in 1946, Gen. Aung San visited the bedside of political foe U Saw, who had survived an attempt on his life; months later, U Saw plotted the general’s death.

On this day in 1958, the democratically elected government handed power over to Myanmar’s military in the wake of civil strife.

On this day 77 years ago Myanmar lost Thakin Pho Hla Gyi, a pivotal figure in the struggle for independence and workers’ rights, to cancer at the age of just 35.

On this day in 1947, Myanmar’s legislature, preparing for independence, adopted ‘Kaba Ma Kyei’ as the national anthem; flags have come and gone, but the song remains.

On this day in 1994, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, then under house arrest as the leader of Myanmar’s democracy movement, met junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe for the first time.

On this day 32 years ago, ex-strongman U Ne Win was informed that the country was sliding into anarchy; within a day he hatched a plan for the military to seize power.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, who helped establish Myanmar’s military and was a friend of dictator General Ne Win, was assassinated in Ireland in 41 years ago.

After returning to her homeland as pro-democracy protests were being crushed, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi demanded the military withdraw from politics and hold elections.

On this day in 1988, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi made a brief speech—her first in the country—to pro-democracy protesters from a makeshift stage at a Yangon hospital.

Japan founded its Officer Training School to bolster its grip on the former British colony, only for its graduates to rise against the occupation forces in 1945.

On this day in 1942, Myanmar declared that the Burmese language would replace English in government offices, as part of a push to remove relics of British colonial rule.