RANGOON — US President Barack Obama has begun his second visit to the country’s former capital with a visit to the Secretariat Building, the site of Burma’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1948.
In his first official engagement for the morning, President Obama was accompanied by Thant Myint-U, the grandson of former United Nations secretary-general U Thant and the founder of the Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO working to preserve Burma’s former captial’s century-old architecture.
“President Obama is the first international dignitary to visit in decades,” said Thant Myint-U. “This visit is a wonderful recognition of the Secretariat and downtown Yangon’s historic importance and future potential.”
According to Thant Myint-U the Secretariat is the most important secular historic site in the country and the birthplace of Burmese democracy.
“It’s where the representative government first took shape in the early 20th century, where General Aung San and his colleagues worked to plan for a future democratic, multiethnic Burma, it’s where the Constituent Assembly met to draw up our only democratic Constitution, where independence was declared in 1948, and where parliament met from 1948 to 1962. It’s where so many of the key decisions in our history were made, from 1883 through the 20th century,” he said.
In 1947, Burmese independence hero Aung San and six fellow cabinet ministers were assassinated in the Secretariat Building during a meeting of the Executive Council as they planned the end of the country’s colonial era.
One of the country’s most recognizable colonial-era buildings, the overgrown ground of the imposing Victorian redbrick building on Theinbyu Road has lay derelict since the former military regime moved its administrative capital to Naypyidaw in 2005.
Despite its historical significance, like many buildings of the former capital’s colonial era, the Secretariat Building is currently in a dire state. The Baroque complex sprawls across 16 acres of land, but foliage creeps up its crumbling Venetian domes, weather has worn down its ornate turrets and boards cover up windows.
Until recently, the overgrown compound of this imposing Victorian style red brick building in downtown Rangoon was mostly quiet. Gatekeepers sat idle while stray dogs basked in the sun on the driveway.
Since the end of last week, however, the 16 acre compound has been buzzing with municipal workers hastily mowing lawns and trimming bushes around the building, while a contingent of police in riot gear have been on a 24 hour detail around the compound’s perimeter.
President Obama arrived just after 11am on Friday, and was accompanied by Thant Myint-U through the central courtyard to the area where Burma’s independence was publicly proclaimed in 1948.
The pair discussed possibilities for urban development and heritage protection in Rangoon during their 15-minute discussion.
“The president said he felt sad when arrived in Jakarta two or three years ago, because all architecture heritage of the bygone days had disappeared,” said Thant Myint-U.
“As there was no effective urban planning, the city development wasn’t beneficial to local people. He said he wants to see good urban planning in Rangoon and was considering how the US could help [to make it happen],” Thant Myint-U told the Irrawaddy immediately after the president’s tour.
President Obama has been in Burma since Wednesday evening to attend meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Summit. He first visited Burma in 2012.
