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| Historical Background |
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Polaeolithic and neolithic cultures flourished in many parts of Myanmar from about 20,000 years ago leaving behind much material evidence as well as the wall painting of Padalin Cave in the Shan foothills near Myittha. A bronze culture later developed, well represented by the Nyaunggan archaeological site near Monywa.
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Myanmar civilization achieved a high level of development at Bagan from the middle of the 11th century to the end of the 13th century. According to the chronicles, Bagan was founded in AD 107 by the Thamoddarit and ruled by a line of 55 kings, but written evidences are available only from Anawrahta (1044-1077) onwards. Anawrahta, the first unifier of Myanmar, established Theravada Buddhism with the help of Buddhist Missionary Shin Arahan and laid the foundation of Bagan’s great monuments of Shwezigon, Ananda, Thatbinnyu, Gawdawpalin and a host of other pagodas, several of them decorated with mural paintings on religious themes.
The decline of Bagan, brought about by a Mongol invasion in 1287, was followed by political confusion and Myanmar Kingdom
Myanmar civilization achieved a high level of development at Bagan from the middle of the 11th century to the end of the 13th century. According to the chronicles, Bagan was founded in AD 107 by the Thamoddarit and ruled by a line of 55 kings, but written evidences are available only from Anawrahta (1044-1077) onwards. Anawrahta, the first unifier of Myanmar, established Theravada Buddhism with the help of Buddhist Missionary Shin Arahan and laid the foundation of Bagan’s great monuments of Shwezigon, Ananda, Thatbinnyu, Gawdawpalin and a host of other pagodas, several of them decorated with mural paintings on religious themes.
The decline of Bagan, brought about by a Mongol invasion in 1287, was followed by political confusion and the emergence of two kingdoms: Inwa, founded by Thadominbya in 1365, and Hanthawady (Bago) founded by Banya U in 1369. Nineteen kings ruled in Inwa from 1365 to 1552 and 11 kings in Hanthawady from 1369 to 1538. From 1386 to 1422, there was war between Inwa and Hanthawady.
Myanmar entered a new phase of greatness when the kings of Toungoo moved their capital from Toungoo to Bago and three of its kings rules there from 1538 to 1599.
Bayintnaung (1552-1581), known also as Lord of the White Elephants and Conqueror of the Ten Directions, reunited the kingdom, created the vast Hanthawady Empire and rebuilt Bago on a magnificent scale.
Following the break - up of the Hanthawady Empire, Nyaungyan (1598-1606) established a new Myanmar kingdom, and ten kings reigned in Inwa from 1598 to 1752. The most famous of the Inwa kings, Thalun (1629-1648) built the Kaunghmudaw Pagoda near Sagaing. A rebellion which started in Bago led to the downfall of the kingdom in 1752.
In the tradition of Anawrahta and Bayintnaung, Alaungpaya (1752-1760) reunited Myanmar and established the last Myanmar dynasty of 11 kings who ruled from 1752 to 1885. The kingdom had a number of capitals, including Shwebo, Inwa and Amarapura, with the last capital, Mandalay, being founded by Mindon (1852-1878) in 1859.
In 1785, the Rakhine kingdom whose capital was Mrauk - U, founded by Minsawmun (1430-1433) in 1430, and which had a line of 49 kings reigning from 1430 to 1785, was made part of the Konbaung kingdom.
Myanmar fought three wars against the British and lost Rakhine and Taninthayi in 1826, Lower Myanmar in 1852 and its independence on 1 January 1886.
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The British started to rule parts of Myanmar in 1826 and the whole country in 1886. Myanmar was first placed under a Chief Commissioner, then a Lieutenant Governor in 1897, and then a Governor in 1923, and ruled as part of British India until separation in 1937. In Myanmar itself, the Shan States, the Kayah (Karenni) States and the hill areas were administered separately from Myanmar Proper.
An appointed advisory Council was established in 1897, a partially elected legislative Council in 1923, and a bicameral legislature with an elected House of Representatives in 1937.
Under British rule, an economic transformation took place with the commercial production of rice and the development of Myanmar as a major rice exporting country. British firms such as the Burmah Oil Company, Steel Brothers, and the Bombay Burmah Trading Company, dominated the economy.
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Armed resistance along traditional lines followed British annexation in 1886. A modern nationalist movement began with the formation in 1920 of the General Council of Burmese Associations which advocated constitutional advancement, and the staging of the University Boycott of 1920 directed against the restrictive University Act.
The National movement become more radical with the peasant uprising led by Saya San in 1930 and the formation of the Dobama Asiayon (We Myanmar Association) the same year. In 1938, the “Revolution of (the Myanmar Year) 1300”, which started with a strike in the Chauk-Yenangyaung oilfields, brought the nationalist movement to a high level of development.
With the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Thakin (later Bogyoke) Aung San of the Dobama Asiayon, making an effort to stage an armed struggle, made contact with the Japanese Army. A group of young member of the Dobama Asiayon, the Thirty Comrades, was given military training in Hainan and the Burma Independence into Myanmar with the Japanese Army and forced the withdrawal of the British in 1942.
The BIA, reorganized as the Burma Defence Army on 27 July 1942 joined other anti-fascist elements in the Anti-Fascist Organization (AFO) in August 1944 and started an armed struggle against the Japanese forces on 27 March 1945.
After the War, the AFO was reorganized as the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) with Bogyoke Aung San as president. Demonstrating its political strength in a general strike in September 1946. The AFPFL was admitted into the Governor’s Executive Council with Bogyoke Aung San as Deputy Chairman of the Council. In November 1946 the AFPFL called for independence within one year and discussions with the British Government resulted in the Aung San-Attle Agreement of 27 January 1947 which provided for the functioning of the Executive COuncil as an interim government and the holding of elections for a Constituent Assembly.
On 12 February 1947 Bogyoke Aung San concluded the historic Pinlone Agreement with Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders which laid the foundations for the establishment of a united independent Myanmar. Although Bogyoke Aung San and other national leaders were assassinated on 19 July 1947, Myanmar regained independence on 4 January 1948.
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By the Constitution of 1947 Myanmar was formed as a quasi-federal Union, with Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and Shan States as constituent states, and with a governmental system in which the cabinet was responsible to a bicameral legislature made up of the Chamber of Deputies and Chamber of Nationalities.
The AFPFL dominated early post- independence politics, but the country was much troubled by a widespread insurgency and the intrusion of Kuomintang forces retreating from China. The AFPFL Government attempted to follow a liberal socialist economic policy and launched the eight-year Pyidawtha Plan in 1952 in order to realize a welfare state.
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Because of a split within the ruling AFPFL, The Parliament appointed the Chief of Staff General Ne Win as head of a Caretaker Government on 28 October 1958 and entrusted him with the task of holding fair and free parliamentary elections.
During its tenure of office the Caretaker Government brought about the end of feudal rule in the Shan and Kayah States and concluded an agreement delimiting the boundary between Myanmar and China. It held elections on 6 February 1960 and on 4 April 1960 handed over power to the Pyidaungsu Party which had won the elections.
However, the political situation rapidly deteriorated under the new government with a split development within the Pyidaungsu Party, dissatisfaction against the making of Buddhism the State religion, and the development of a movement for the creation of a truly federal state.
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A military coup on 2 March 1962 resulted in the establishment of a Revolutionary Council which formed Security and Administrative Committee down to the ward and village levels and attempted to restore the security situation. Proclaiming a General Amnesty on 1 April 1963, it started negotiations with various insurgent groups and concluded an agreement with the Kayin Revolutionary Council on 12 March 1964.
The Revolutionary Council, taking a socialist stand, formed the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) as a nucleus party on 4 July 1962 and announced its philosophy in The Correlation of Man and His Environment in January 1963. In line with its socialist stand, the Revolutionary Council nationalized many economic enterprises and started on the First Four-Year Plan in 1971.
The BSPP, developing from a nucleus party to a people’s party, held its First Congress from 28 June to 11 July 1971. The Congress decided on the drafting of a State Constitution and a Commission was appointed in September 1971. The constitution which was drafted and submitted to a popular referendum was adopted on 3 January 1974.
Elections were held and the Revolutionary Council handed over power to the BSPP Government on 2 March 1974.
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The Constitution of 1974, drawn up on socialist principles, designated the BSPP as the leading party. Under the guidance of the BSPP, the unicameral Pyithu Hluttaw, elected on universal suffrage, was the superme State organ, enacting laws and appointing the executive and the judiciary. Three new States--Chin, Mon and Rakhine were created in addition to the four existing ones.
The BSPP, which was the ruling party, was organized on the principle of democratic centralism from the Central Committee down to the level of the party cell. It held regular Party Congresses in 1971, 1973, 1977, 1981 and 1985, and a number of extrordinary Congresses. It was supported by two class organizations, the peasants Asiayon and Workers Asiayon, as well as by the Lanzin Youth Organizing Committee.
Continuing the economic policies of the Revolutionary Council, the BSPP Government in 1973 started implementing the 20-Years Economic Plan whose guidelines were adopted by the 2nd Party Cogress in October 1973 and which looked to the doubling of per capita GNP, the transformation of Myanmar from an agricultural country to an agro-based industrial country, and the all full realization of socialist relations of production by 1994.
Because of a general dissatisfaction with the social and economic situation, a movement of protest development in August 1988 which soon deteriorated into disorder and anarchy. To prevent a further deterioration of the situation, the Armed Forces took on the responsibility of government on 18 September 1988.
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The Armed Forces which took on the responsibility of government on 18 September 1988 formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) with Chief of Staff General (later Senior General) Saw Maung as Chairman. Senior General Saw Maung retired on 23 April 1992 and was succeeded General (later Senior General) Than Shwe.
Committing itself to the national causes of non-disintegration of the Union non-disintergration of national solidarity and consolidation SLORC gave priority to the restoration of law and order, the improvement of communications and the uplift of people’s livelihood. It moved away from the centrally planned economy of the BSPP period and towards a market-oriented economy, relaxing the former restrictions and private industry and trade and offering incentives to attract foreign investment. It also promoted tourism and designated 1996 as Visit Myanmar Year.
SLORC declared its intention of creating a multi-party democratic State and, towards that end, held fair and free elections on 27 May 1990 and convened a National Convention on 6 January 1993 to draw up the guidelines for the drafting of a new Constitution.
SLORC took initiatives to end the insurgency which had troubled the country since independence and concluded cease-fire agreements with most of the armed ethnic groups. With peace restored in the border areas, SLORC extended and intensified its development and drug eradication programmes in the border areas and established a separate Ministry for the development of the border areas.
In the country as a whole SLORC embarked on a construction programme which included the building of bridges, roads and railway lines to improve communications, the building of dams and reservoirs to expand cultivation, and the building of satellite towns and better housing to improve living conditions.
Under SLORC, Myanmar, adhering to an active and independent non-aligned foreign policy, participated in the activities of the United Nations and its agencies, cultivated friendly relations with all countries, especially its neighbours, and took an active part in regional
affairs, joining the Association of South-East Asian Nations on 23 July 1997.
In 15 November 1997 SLORC was reorganized as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in order to better carry out its task of making Myanmar a modern, development nation.
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The Revolutionary Council transferred State Power to a Constitutional Government in 1974. Thus, on 21 February, 1974, the Yangon Municipal Committee was again dissolved i accordance with The Revolutionary Council Notification No . 112. Then on 25 March 1974, the following Yangon City Development Commttee which included elected people’s representatives was formed under notification issued by the Ministry of Home and Religious Affairs.
(a) U Thein Win
CHAIRMAN
Pyithu Hluttaw Representative
(b) A member of the Executive CICE- CHAIRMAN
Committee of the Divisional
People’s Council in charge of City
Development Affairs
(c) One representative each, MEMBERS
In charge of City Development
Affairs of the Executive Committee
Of The 27 existing Township
People’s Council, altogether
totalling 27
(d) One non-Exeutive Committee
MEMBER
Member each of the existing
27 People’s Township Councils,
altogether totalling 27
(e) Secretary of the Yangon City
SECRETARY
Development Committee
On 6 May the Government issued Order No : 1/78, 1978, for the reorganization of the Yangon City Development Committee with 36 members. The new Committee consisted of the following.
(a) The Chairman of the Yangon Divisional
People’s Council
CHAIRMAN (Mayor)
(b) One Executive Committee member of the Yangon Divisional People’s Council VICE-CHAIRMAN
(c) One member each of the Executive Council of the Township People’s Councils
MEMBERS
(c) The 6 Chairman of the work committees of the Divisional People’s Council
(e) The Chief Executive Officer
SECRETARY
According to the census figures of 1983, the population of Yangon at the time was 2,513,023.
In 1984 the Puithu Hluttaw (National Assembly) promulgated the Development Committee Act, (Pyithu Hluttaw Law No. 5) in 1984. The Council of State exercising the authority vested in it by the provisions of the said Law issued Council of State, Order No: 38/85, to replace the existing Development Committee with an independent Yangon City Development Committee.
Then, the Council of Ministers issued Notification No: 3/85, forming a new Yangon City Development Committee with 5 permanent members, 6 part – time members, making a total of 11, with their duties and rights clearly defined.
Colonel Thura Tin Pe was designated Chairman (Mayor) of this newly- formed Committee and U Maung Maung Thone, its Chief Executive Officer. The Chairman of the Divisional People’s Council was thus no longer Mayor and became a part – time executive committee members. Similarly, the Directors- General of the General Administration Department, the Housing Department, Road Transport Department: the Managing Director of the Electrical Power Corporation and the Yangon Division Police Force Director, all were assigned as part – time members only. This committee began to function on April 1, 1985. The list of person successively appointed Chairman (Mayor) is given below;
(a) Colonel Thura Tin Pe
1- 4-85 to 15- 8-86
(b) Colonel Aung Khin
31-12-86 to 10-11-88
(c) Colonel Ko Lay
7-12-88 to 26-8-03
(d) Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lynn
27-8-03 to date
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copy right© PUBLIC RELATIONS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Yangon City Development Committee, City Hall
Yangon, Union of Myanmar
Tel:204052,248112(267)
Fax:95-1-2-246016 IDD
Email:priycdc@mptmail.net.mm
Web Master: ygnweb@yangoncity.net.mm
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