Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Burma 1 Kyat 1972
Front: General Aung San
General Bogyoke Aung San (February 13, 1915 – July 19, 1947) was a Burmese revolutionary, nationalist, freedom fighter and founder of the modern Burmese army, the Tatmadaw.
He was instrumental in bringing about Burma's independence from British colonial rule, but was assassinated six months before its final achievement. He is recognized as the leading architect of independence, and the founder of the Union of Burma. Affectionately known as "Bogyoke" (General), Aung San is still widely admired by the Burmese people, and his name is still invoked in Burmese politics to this day.
Aung San is the father of Nobel Peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for the past 17 years. She began her 18th year on May 17, 2008
On 19 July, 1947, around 10:37 AM, a gang of armed paramilitaries broke into the Secretariat Building in downtown Yangon during a meeting of the Executive Council (the shadow government established by the British in preparation for the transfer of power) and assassinated Aung San and six of his cabinet ministers, including his older brother Ba Win, father of Sein Win who is leader of the government-in-exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB). A cabinet secretary and a bodyguard were also killed. The assassination was supposedly carried out on the orders of U Saw, a rival politician and former prime minister, who was subsequently tried and hanged.
However there are aspects of U Saw's trial that give rise to doubt.
Information and Image Obtained From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia