16 Facts About Ba Maw

1.

Ba Maw was a Burmese lawyer and political leader, active during the interwar and World War II periods.

2.

Ba Maw was the first Burma Premier and head of State of Burma from 1942 to 1945.

3.

Ba Maw came from a distinguished family of mixed Mon-Burman parentage.

4.

Ba Maw's father, Shwe Kye was an ethnic Mon from Amherst and well-versed in French and English languages.

5.

Ba Maw went on to obtain a doctoral degree from the University of Bordeaux, France.

6.

Ba Maw wrote his doctoral thesis in the French language on aspects of Buddhism in Burma.

7.

Ba Maw achieved prominence in 1931 when he defended the rebel leader, Saya San.

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Aung San
8.

Ba Maw acted as the lead counsel for Saya San, and other rebel leaders.

9.

In 1934, Ba Maw served as education minister, and then in 1937, he became premier under the new Burmese constitution.

10.

In July 1940, Ba Maw resigned from the Legislature of Burma.

11.

On 13 April 1942, Ba Maw escaped from Mogok during the Thingyan festival.

12.

On 1 August 1942, Ba Maw was inaugurated as the head of the Burmese government.

13.

Ba Maw attended the Greater East Asia Conference in Tokyo in November 1943, where he made a speech speaking of how it was the call of Asiatic blood that drew them together into a new era of unity and peace.

14.

Ba Maw fled just ahead of advancing British forces via Thailand to Japan, where he was captured later that year by the American occupational authorities and was held in Sugamo Prison until 1946.

15.

Ba Maw then was allowed to return to Burma, after Burma became independent of the United Kingdom.

16.

Ba Maw was jailed briefly during 1947, on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of Aung San, but was released.