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Ba Maw
Ba Maw (Burmese: ဘမော်, pronounced [ba̰ mɔ̀]; 8 February 1893 – 29 May 1977), known honorifically as Dr. Ba Maw, was a Burmese lawyer and politician, active during the interwar period and Second World War. He was the first Burma Premier (1937–1939) and head of State of Burma from 1943 to 1945.
Ba Maw was born in Maubin. He came from a distinguished family of mixed Mon-Bamar parentage. His father, Shwe Kye was an ethnic Mon from Amherst (now Kyaikkhami) and well-versed in French and English languages. Thus Shwe Kye served as a royal diplomat who accompanied Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung in the Burmese diplomatic missions to Europe in the 1870s, and worked as an assistant tutor to Royal tutor Dr. Mark at the last royal palace of the last Burmese monarchy. Ba Maw's elder brother, Professor Dr Ba Han (1890–1969), was a lawyer as well as a lexicographer and legal scholar, and served as Attorney General of Burma from 1957– 1958. He was brought up as a Christian and later converted to Buddhism to win the favor of Burmese Buddhists.
After an education at Rangoon College, Ba Maw obtained MA degree from the University of Calcutta in 1917. Then he was educated at Cambridge University in England and received a law degree from Gray's Inn where he was called to the bar in 1923. He went on to obtain a doctoral degree from the University of Bordeaux, France. Ba Maw wrote his doctoral thesis in the French language on aspects of Buddhism in Burma.
After graduating from Rangoon College in 1913, Ba Maw began working as a teacher at Rangoon Government High School and later at ABM school. In 1917, he got an MA from the University of Calcutta, and became the first English lecturer at Rangoon University where he worked for the next four years.[citation needed]
From the 1920s onwards, Ba Maw practiced law and dabbled in colonial-era Burmese politics. He achieved prominence in 1931 when he defended the rebel leader, Saya San. San had started a tax revolt in Burma in December 1930, which quickly grew into a more widespread rebellion against British rule. San was captured, tried, convicted and hanged. One of the presiding judges that tried San was another Burmese lawyer, Ba U.[citation needed]
Ba Maw acted as the lead counsel for Saya San and other rebel leaders. According to Ba Maw, the government "...under the cloak of judicial trail, went on enforcing the law against thousands of villagers who knew nothing of that law, but only how they were unable to pay their taxes in time, and their homes and villages were wrecked..."
In 1934, Ba Maw served as education minister, and then in 1937, he became premier under the new Burmese constitution. In July 1940, Ba Maw resigned from the Legislature of Burma. During a conference of the Sinyetha, he issued seven orders, one of which was, "to refuse to participate in the war in any way as long as freedom was refused to the Burmese." On 6 August 1940, he was arrested for violating the Defence of Burma Rules, and taken to Mandalay for trial.
According to Ba Maw, "My trial in itself was a ritual sort of affair, brief and formal and without any touch of drama in it. All the drama was taking place outside [...] where people everywhere had begun to speak with greater racial feeling and defiance." On 28 August, Ba Maw was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for a year. Originally jailed in Mandalay, he was later relocated to Mogok, in northern Burma.
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Ba Maw
Ba Maw (Burmese: ဘမော်, pronounced [ba̰ mɔ̀]; 8 February 1893 – 29 May 1977), known honorifically as Dr. Ba Maw, was a Burmese lawyer and politician, active during the interwar period and Second World War. He was the first Burma Premier (1937–1939) and head of State of Burma from 1943 to 1945.
Ba Maw was born in Maubin. He came from a distinguished family of mixed Mon-Bamar parentage. His father, Shwe Kye was an ethnic Mon from Amherst (now Kyaikkhami) and well-versed in French and English languages. Thus Shwe Kye served as a royal diplomat who accompanied Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung in the Burmese diplomatic missions to Europe in the 1870s, and worked as an assistant tutor to Royal tutor Dr. Mark at the last royal palace of the last Burmese monarchy. Ba Maw's elder brother, Professor Dr Ba Han (1890–1969), was a lawyer as well as a lexicographer and legal scholar, and served as Attorney General of Burma from 1957– 1958. He was brought up as a Christian and later converted to Buddhism to win the favor of Burmese Buddhists.
After an education at Rangoon College, Ba Maw obtained MA degree from the University of Calcutta in 1917. Then he was educated at Cambridge University in England and received a law degree from Gray's Inn where he was called to the bar in 1923. He went on to obtain a doctoral degree from the University of Bordeaux, France. Ba Maw wrote his doctoral thesis in the French language on aspects of Buddhism in Burma.
After graduating from Rangoon College in 1913, Ba Maw began working as a teacher at Rangoon Government High School and later at ABM school. In 1917, he got an MA from the University of Calcutta, and became the first English lecturer at Rangoon University where he worked for the next four years.[citation needed]
From the 1920s onwards, Ba Maw practiced law and dabbled in colonial-era Burmese politics. He achieved prominence in 1931 when he defended the rebel leader, Saya San. San had started a tax revolt in Burma in December 1930, which quickly grew into a more widespread rebellion against British rule. San was captured, tried, convicted and hanged. One of the presiding judges that tried San was another Burmese lawyer, Ba U.[citation needed]
Ba Maw acted as the lead counsel for Saya San and other rebel leaders. According to Ba Maw, the government "...under the cloak of judicial trail, went on enforcing the law against thousands of villagers who knew nothing of that law, but only how they were unable to pay their taxes in time, and their homes and villages were wrecked..."
In 1934, Ba Maw served as education minister, and then in 1937, he became premier under the new Burmese constitution. In July 1940, Ba Maw resigned from the Legislature of Burma. During a conference of the Sinyetha, he issued seven orders, one of which was, "to refuse to participate in the war in any way as long as freedom was refused to the Burmese." On 6 August 1940, he was arrested for violating the Defence of Burma Rules, and taken to Mandalay for trial.
According to Ba Maw, "My trial in itself was a ritual sort of affair, brief and formal and without any touch of drama in it. All the drama was taking place outside [...] where people everywhere had begun to speak with greater racial feeling and defiance." On 28 August, Ba Maw was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for a year. Originally jailed in Mandalay, he was later relocated to Mogok, in northern Burma.