Aung San, << awng sahn >> (1915-1947), was a leader of the independence movement in Burma (now Myanmar). He helped his country gain its freedom from the United Kingdom, which had ruled Burma since the 1800’s, and from Japan, which occupied Burma during much of World War II (1939-1945). His daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, led the opposition to the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1988 to 2011. In 2016, after leading her party to victory in parliamentary elections, she became the unofficial head of the government.
Aung San was born on Feb. 13, 1915, in the town of Natmauk, in central Burma. He attended the University of Rangoon (now Yangon), where he became involved with the All-Burma Students’ Union, which promoted Burmese independence. Members of the union called each other Thakin (Master), a title of respect that had been used only in addressing the British. Aung San is still often called Thakin Aung San. In 1936, Aung San helped to lead a student strike against British authority. Later, he became active in Do-Bama Asi-ayon (We, the Burmese Confederation), a political party devoted to Burmese independence.
In 1940, during World War II, Aung San feared arrest and went into hiding. He soon traveled to China and Japan, where he sought Japanese support against British rule in Burma. Japan gave military training to Aung San and 29 other Burmese nationalists, who became known as the Thirty Comrades. Other Burmese later joined them to form a rebel army. The Japanese and the rebels drove the British out of Burma in 1942.
The Japanese then occupied Burma, and they ruled the country much more harshly than the British had. To resist the Japanese occupation, Aung San helped establish a secret group that later became known as the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL). In 1945, the Burmese rebel army joined with British and other Allied forces to drive the Japanese out of Burma.
In January 1947, Aung San led a Burmese delegation to London to arrange for Burma’s independence. Elections later that year made the AFPFL Burma’s governing party. On July 19, 1947, a political opponent had Aung San and other Burmese leaders assassinated. The anniversary of this event is a national holiday in Myanmar known as Martyrs’ Day. Burma received its official independence from the United Kingdom on Jan. 4, 1948.
