Dr Maung Maung: Gentleman, Scholar, Patriot

The Turning Tide

49 Section II, E. THE TURNING TIDE “The Turning Tide” reproduced from Maung Maung, Burma’s Teething Time (Rangoon: Burma Publishers, 1949) pp. 81–84; first broadcast 14 July 1949, by permission of Daw Khin Myint (wife of the late Dr Maung Maung). Now the tide has turned and is turning still and the forces of the law are sweeping on in one mighty wave. There is no stopping the forces now: they will just sweep on irresistibly, crushing all rebels and lawless elements that dare to stand in their way. Mostly these elements disperse and run on hearing the coming of the Union Armed Forces. And that, in fact, is the grand strategy of all the insurgents, red or purple or white; to take a town that is undefended, to loot the treasury and take the arms that are meant for the protection of the people and to establish a mockery of an administration for so long as the legal government takes time to launch the offensive. There is one thing, however, which insurgents can do with a measure of success — making speeches. Every-where they go they would summon, on pain of heavy penalty, the people from every house in the town and the surrounding 02E฀DrMaung.indd฀฀฀49 1/24/08฀฀฀10:22:52฀AM 50 DR MAUNG MAUNG: Gentleman, Scholar, Patriot villages to come and listen to them. At the appointed hour the people would assemble in fear and the leaders would then arrive heavily escorted — an army of escorts is essential to protect the leaders from the people for whom they profess a great love and to the elevation of whose status they say they are forever pledged. Then come the speeches, full of fury, full of fire, full of bitter hatred for the bureaucrat, the capitalist, the imperialist, the expansionist and such other bogies, and full of love for the common man, the downtrodden masses, the poor cultivator, the miserable worker. The people listen to the speeches without understanding them. The big words about the strange isms puzzle them; the bitter hatred and the abundant venom of the speeches make them nervous and uncomfortable. When the speech-making was done, the leaders go back satisfied that they have made use of the language and ideas which they have learnt with great labour from some book, and the people return to their homes with a sick feeling. But insurgents know that their days are numbered and they always have a programme of work by which they can make the most of their short hour. They collect the cash from the treasury, convert the stores from the Civil Supplies godowns into cash, and when the amount realised is not satisfactory, they supplement it by a little bit of robbery which they call an act of liquidating the capitalist class. So the insurgents who have started as unemployed and disgruntled persons who do not care to stoop below the rank of Prime Minister if they do have to do some regular work for a living, now become rich for just organising some armed gangs and making speeches. It is a profession they like and one to which they would wish to stick if they are allowed. They know however, that they will not be allowed and so they keep the riches packed and ready for the run. When the Armed Forces begin the onslaught, the insurgents make their hasty retreat taking away with them the loot and plunder which they have acquired. The people watch the heroes run and they are not surprised for they knew from the beginning that the heroes can only give brave talk but not brave battle. In fact it is a great relief to the people to have back law and order and to be able to settle down to work and normal life. The insurrections are, in the ultimate analysis, the manifestation of a conflict between good and evil, between good men and bad men, between the good in a man and the evil in him. Political causes may 02E฀DrMaung.indd฀฀฀50 1/24/08฀฀฀10:22:52฀AM The Turning Tide 51 have served as the spark to blow up the barrel, but the spark alone could have done little harm if there had not been the barrel which was only too eager to get blown up. There were the pent up feelings of hatred...