Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, DEC. 17, 1932. BURMA AND INDIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 17, 17 December 1932, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, DEC. 17, 1932. BURMA AND INDIA.

According to advices from Burma, the people are dissatisfied with the result of the recent election which was a verdict against separation from India. The decision has caused considerable surprise, for it was generally understood that the .Burmese were mostly in favour of self-gov-ernment. Early this year the Burma Legislative Council approved of the proposed new Constitution, and it was placed before the people, who, it would appear, were confused by crosscurrents introduced into the contest by the Anti-Separationist element. Yet in the debate in the Legislature at Rangoon there was a hint of divided opinions, disagreement being recorded that the Constitution envisaged did not completely satisfy the aspirations of the people. When interrogated in the House of Commons on the election, the Secretary for India (Sir Samuel Hoare) said there was good reason to believe that many who had voted for the anti-separationist candidates did so in the mistaken belief that it was open to Burma to enter the Indian Federation on terms enabling her to leave when she wished. The Prime Minister, he added, had plainly stated in June last that the Government could not contemplate such _ a contingency. The alternatives before Burma were separation from India in the immediate, future and the pursuit of her own political destiny, on the basis of the Constitu-: tion’agreed upon, or entry into the Indian Federation by which she. would remain a province of India, be treated in the same way as the other provinces, and have no means of withdrawing. It is plain that the Burmese who supported the opponents of separation, in what has been described as the most amazing election since the deposition of King Thibaw at the end of 1885, were misled, for they now assert they did so to wring further concessions from Britain. If a straightout plebiscite were taken on the question of separation from India, with its implications now thoroughly understood, it is stated, the decision of the recent election would be reversed. At present the AntiSeparationist Party, which gained 41 seats, refuses to form a Ministry unless the right to secede from India at will is granted, but this will not be conceded by Britain. The result has raised a new problem in the making of the Indian Constitution, and much may be said in favour of a further plebiscite, especially as a Federal India has been planned on the assumption that Burma would not form part of it. The country has never been an integral part of India and its people are of different stock. The Burmese are a distinctive race and, surrounded by other distinctive races, have retained their native civilisation and kept intact their culture and tradition which are remote from India’s. As the Simon Commission stated, “their religion, languages, social system, manners and customs, and national dress are different, and they have a divergent outlook on life. No one who visits Burma after some experience of India can fail to be struck by the distinctive character . not merely of the Burmese habits, but of the

whole Burrnan temperament.” The Commission found in Burma strong public opinion in favour of separation, a view that was strengthened by subsequent events leading to the approval of the new Constitution by the Burma Legislative Council this year. The growth of the movement against separation would, therefore, be difficult to understand were it not for the stated desire of the party supporting it to force better terms by joining the Indian Federation and deaving it when'it is deemed advisable in Burma’s interest, or rather that of the section of people who take a narrow view of the matter. So far there has not been an authoritative pronouncement as to the implications of the election upon the Federation for India, but the difficulties created cannot be disguised.