Only five months before Burma’s achievement of independence, its most prominent face in the task of liberation was assassinated. Without a doubt, he was an unlucky figure only to have been killed by the carelessness of his sentries. Charismatic and rich in political insight, he was like most revolutionaries. A student leader — who envisioned a better state and society for the Burmese masses. Inspired by the texts he has read, and moved by the plight of the masses witnessed. His name is Aung San.

Around 10:30 in the morning, July 19, 1947, a single army jeep carrying armed men hurried into the Secretariat Building. The place where Aung San and his new cabinet members were having a meeting. The building was unguarded by walls or gates, and albeit Aung San had been warned of a likely assassination, the sentries guarding the building didn’t stop nor challenge the vehicle in any way. Four men, there were four. Equipped with Thompsons and a Sten, grenades, they all ran up the stairs toward the council chamber. “Remain seated! Do not move!” they exclaimed, the leader Aung San stood and was immediately shot in the chest, killing him.

For a minute half, the gunmen rained the area with bullets, firing in whichever direction. Aung San perished and so did eight other people who were mostly members of his new cabinet.

In the last years of the British administration of Burma, Aung San became good friends with the penultimate Governor of Burma, Dorman-Smith. He was an Anglo-Irishman with whom he would confide of his personal difficulties. He confided in Dorman-Smith about his melancholy and isolation within the Burmese military. Friendless, and unpopular with the rugged soldiers — he was worried that assassination was imminent. He knew something was up due to his unpopularity, despite his party’s victory.

Then prewar Prime Minister U Nu was immediately arrested on the same day of the assassination. He has likewise had his life attempted on him, though he survived, losing an eye. U Saw was subsequently tried and hanged for his responsibility in the assassination. How was he responsible? The investigations of the time determined that low-ranking British soldiers sold firearms in the black market — where U Nu bought them from. David Vivian, a British Army officer was sentenced to five years in prison for supplying U Saw with weapons, though he escaped due to Karen soldiers breaking through and capturing Insein Prison in May 1949.

Reading his biography, I know most people would find his lifestyle ascetic and solitary. He persisted in revolutionary activity without the boldness of alcohol nor the inspiration from romantic relationships. Aung San was internally driven or it could be that his father died when he was in 8th grade — wanting to prove himself to his deceased father. He was not paid for most of his work as a student or political leader and lived for most of the time in a state of poverty. An activist and a revolutionary’s life is rarely ever profitable; commonly tied to “intellectual jobs” of translating, journalism, and teaching.

Young Aung rarely spoke before the age of eight. As a teenager, he often spent hours reading and thinking alone, usually oblivious to his external world. He was the type to be unstylish, indifferent to his appearance and clothing. His peers recognized him for his strong work ethic and organizational skills but was sometimes criticized by them for having poor public relations skills or for a perceived arrogance.

Like many rising political figures, Aung San became involved in student government at Rangoon University. He quickly emerged as a leader and was elected to the Executive Committee of the Rangoon University Students’ Union (RUSU), joining a cohort of intellectual students united by their opposition to British imperialism in Burma.

His political voice gained prominence when he became editor of Peacock’s Call, the magazine of the student union. During his time as editor, he was suspended and briefly imprisoned for refusing — along with his coauthor — to reveal the identity of a writer who had criticized a senior university official. That detention sparked the Second University Student Riots, ultimately pressuring the administration to reinstate the students. His arrest brought his name and face into the public spotlight, granting him a reputation that would serve him in the years to come.

In the following years, Aung San co-founded and joined several anti-imperialist and anti-British organizations. He had a strained relationship with the Communist Party of Burma, withdrawing from it twice due to internal disagreements. He went on to establish the Socialist Party of Burma (SPB) and joined the Dobama Asiayone, also known as the Thakin Society. Membership in this group conferred the title “Thakin,” meaning “Master,” though we don’t refer to him as such in this text. His life reflected that of a typical revolutionary of prominence — one marked by asceticism, struggle, and unwavering conviction.

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It is ironic — how he was once the blinding bright star of Burmese independence, only to be loosely associated, through legacy, with the HRAs by the Tatmadaw — the state military. How can someone so deeply linked to democracy and freedom also father a daughter complicit in the Rohingya genocide in Arakan?

A profound historical irony, indeed — for in the decades after his assassination, it was the Tatmadaw that became the primary perpetrator of genocides against Myanmar’s Muslim peoples. They turned the Karen, Kachin, Shan, and Chin into victims — through village burnings, militarized land seizures, mass rapes, extrajudicial killings, landmine deployment, forced labor, and cultural erasure.

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