Ne Win's Burma: At the End of the First Decade

Abstract

hen Ne Win ousted constitutionally chosen Nu as Burma's prime minister on March 2, 1962, it was declared that he did so to save the division-plagued Burmese state. Imminent secession of the Shans in the northeast, guaranteed by the constitution, was particularly feared, but there was also concern among the country's military leaders about the other minorities' demands and their continuing insurgencies. Probably no lese important, the leading soldiers were fed up with what they perceived as the perpetual bickering and lack of unity of the country's political elite which had largely governed the nation since independence in 1948. Westernstyle democratic political institutions had been twice tried-and found wanting. And Burmese socialism had been too long delayed in its implementation, partly because of alleged ties between the country's politicians and the still economically important Indian and Chinese communities.1 For the ten subsequent years, the soldiers, led by Ne Win, ruled Burma-as soldiers. They did so through the instruments of a militarydominated Revolutionary and a subordinate Council of Ministers. Then, on April 20, 1972, General Ne Win became U Ne Win, resigning his military rank, together with 20 of his top aides, and becoming civilian premier of Burma, the country's first civilian leader in a decade.2 Two days later, a new draft constitution was announced, providing for a Socialist Republic of Burma with a single political party and an elected onechamber 600-member People's Congress. Earlier, in March, then stillGeneral Ne Win had announced major changes in the governmental administrative structure of the country, and in mid-year a similar revolution changing the judicial system was proclaimed.