In this post on The Interpreter, Andray Abrahamian recently drew attention to the Myanmar government’s decision to name a bridge in southern Mon State after the country’s national hero, Aung San, rather than leave the matter in the hands of the regional authorities. As the post noted, the issue has become a source of tension between the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) and the local community, one that could easily have been avoided.
This case highlights the central government’s continuing dominance of the 14 provincial assemblies in Myanmar, which have long struggled to exercise a substantive role. There is another way of looking at the bridge-naming controversy, however, and that is as an example of the shift in the country’s political iconography that began under President Thein Sein in 2011 and has picked up pace since Aung San Suu Kyi took power in 2016.
Ever since it regained its independence from the UK in 1948, successive governments in Myanmar (known until 1989 as Burma) have placed considerable importance on the use of flags, crests and other symbols to foster a sense of shared history, encourage national unity and in various ways promote loyalty to the government of the day.
The most potent of these symbols has been the hero of Myanmar’s independence struggle, General Aung San, who was assassinated with his provisional cabinet in 1947. His image was appropriated by the armed forces and, after Ne Win’s coup in 1962, was widely used to help legitimise socialist rule. For decades, Aung San’s picture hung alongside Ne Win’s in all government offices and at many public venues.
Please click here to read the full “Myanmar and Aung San: The resurrection of an icon” article in the Lowy Interpreter by Griffith Asia Institute Adjunct Associate Professor, Dr Andrew Selth.
