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Instead, the British issued arrest warrants for their leaders.

 

After the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, however, Aung San and the independence fighters eventually turned to the Allies, including the British. They helped to inspire almost all Burmese to join them in resisting the Japanese occupation forces. The day this started was March 27, 1945. It was first called “Resistance Day,” later to become “Armed Forces Day.”

 

The armed forces gained political clout after the Japanese surrender in August 1945, and independence in 1948 by fighting various insurgencies. These included the Communist Party of Burma, Karen and other ethnic minority armed separatists. During these years they served under the command of a civilian government, headed by U Nu.

 

But military rule came to Burma in 1962 ironically at the hand of one of the Thirty Comrades who had struggled for freedom, Gen Ne Win. Under his administration, Burmese society, economy and politics all came under the military. Freedom became an increasingly distant memory, leading to a popular pro-democracy uprising against Ne Win’s rule in September 1988. The army bloodily suppressed this mainly peaceful protest, killing at least 1,000 civilians.

 

When the military regime called a general election in 1990, it proved a mistake. It was won handsomely by the National League for Democracy, or NLD. The regime simply ignored the election result and later arrested NLD leaders Suu Kyi and Tin Oo. Both are still detained.

 

Burma has an estimated 450,000 soldiers in its national army today. It allegedly includes child soldiers forced into service. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has claimed that at least 20 percent of Burma’s soldiers on active duty are under the age of 18.

 

International rights activists also say the regime relies heavily on forced labor in infrastructure projects. Latest reports say while the use of forced labor has eased in major projects in the central regions of Burma, it continues especially in border areas where it is mainly used for moving equipment in military operations against ethnic insurgencies.

 

Burma’s armed forces now claim that they remain “the only institution that has discipline, loyalty, unity and deep commitment to protect the sovereignty and independence of the country.” Founding father Aung San would have rejected such a view.

 

Today’s military leaders appear intent on maintaining their grip on the country, while paying lip-service to democratic reform in the future. Aung San wanted the armed forces to be an honorable institution, incorrupt, driven by self-sacrifice and self-discipline dedicated to serving the country. Many ordinary Burmese remember the founding father’s words:  “There are others who are not soldiers who have suffered and made all kinds of sacrifices for their country. You must change this notion that only the soldiers matter.”