Burma and Japan Since 1940: From 'Co-Prosperity' to 'Quiet Dialogue'.

• Author: Ganesan, Narayanan
• Position: Book review

Burma and Japan Since 1940: From 'Co-Prosperity' to 'Quiet Dialogue'. By Donald M. Seekins. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2007. Softcover: 181pp.

This book examines the bilateral relationship between Burma/ Myanmar and Japan since 1940, or rather, the onset of World War II. The book itself is divided into three major sections that chronologically fit the three main periods that Seekins thinks marks major policy shifts in the relationship. The first period spans from 1941 to 1945 and takes into account World War II and the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia; the second period from 1954 to 1988 when the bilateral relationship was primarily economic in nature, underpinned by Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA); and finally, from 1988 onwards. Readers familiar with political developments in Myanmar will realize the importance of 1988 in the country's political calendar. That year marked the collapse of the Burma Socialist Party Programme (BSPP) government that came into power in 1962 following the military coup led by General Ne Win. It should be noted at the outset that Seekins makes it clear that Japan has initiated the changes in the relationship--an unsurprising observation given the disproportionate endowments of power and prosperity between the two countries.

In the first chapter, Seekins begins by outlining what life was like in colonial Burma under British rule. He notes the variegated nature of the cultural life in the urban areas and compares it to Furnivall's description of "plural societies" where there is public disengagement from civic behaviour and the self-government that the British sought to initiate. There existed a measure of rational tolerance while mutual suspicions and anxieties between the different communities were rife. He then goes on to document how some of the liberal immigration policies introduced by the British for Indians and Chinese led to open conflict, especially between locals and Indians. Another important structural feature of colonization that he draws our attention to was the British division of Burma into the lowland areas or "Burma Proper" and the "Frontier Areas" that were inhabited by hill tribes.

The Japanese invasion and occupation led to a number of important developments. Among these, Seekins highlights the Burmese nascent conception of a post-colonial state, albeit the conception was not necessarily a holistic one involving all the different peoples. Secondly, the...