Aung San

Who is Aung San?

Aung San was a Burmese nationalist leader and revolutionary widely regarded as the father of modern Myanmar's independence. Born in Natmauk in 1915 to a family with a history in the resistance against British colonial rule, he rose to prominence as a student leader at Rangoon University, where he helped organize a major student strike in 1936. He became secretary-general of the nationalist Dobama Asiayone in 1939 and later helped found the Burma Independence Army, briefly allying with Japanese forces during the Second World War before switching his army to the Allied side in 1945 as it became clear that Japanese occupation offered no real path to independence. After the war he formed and led the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, using it to negotiate directly with the British government, and in January 1947 he reached an agreement with Prime Minister Clement Attlee that set Burma on a fixed path to independence within a year. His party won an overwhelming majority in the April 1947 constitutional assembly elections. He was assassinated on 19 July 1947, along with several colleagues, during an executive council meeting, just months before Burma's independence was formally achieved. He is remembered as the founder of Myanmar's armed forces and is the father of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sources: Britannica, 'Aung San' (biography entry) · New World Encyclopedia, 'Aung San' · aungsan.com, official life sketch archive