Burma’s Constitution

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-X

   PDF

2. The Story of the Constitution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages XI-XI

      PDF

   2. Annexation and British Rule

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 1-47

   3. War and Japanese Occupation

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 48-67

   4. Liberation and Fulfilment

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 68-87

3. The Constitution at Work

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 89-89

      PDF

   2. Form of State

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 91-93

   3. Fundamental Rights

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 94-106

   4. Peasants and Workers

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 107-110

   5. Directive Principles of State Policy

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 111-115

   6. The President

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 116-121

   7. Parliament

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 122-128

   8. The Union Government

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 129-147

   9. The Union Judiciary

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 148-168

   10. The States

       • Maung Maung

       Pages 169-194

   11. Amendment of the Constitution

       • Maung Maung

       Pages 195-196

   12. International Relations

       • Maung Maung

       Pages 197-205

   13. General Provisions

       • Maung Maung

       Pages 206-210

   14. Transitory Provisions

       • Maung Maung

       Pages 211-213

4. Epilogue

   1. Epilogue

      • Maung Maung

      Pages 214-216

This is an attempt to study and interpret the Constitution of the Union of Burma which has now passed its tenth year. A constitution read outside the context of constitutional history is incomplete, and I have, therefore, tried to trace the developments which culminated in the constitution; then study its important features with reference, where necessary, to the background in which they took shape and form; and, while studying how the constitution has been working, touch lightly on contemporary events and trends. It is a vast canvas I am trying to cover and what I am able to draw on it would inevitably be sketchy. But I do not write as a historian whose focus is on detail in a narrow area. Rather, having dug and gathered the facts, I trace their sweep in history. The details I willingly and happily leave to the historians, hoping only that my study will be of some use to them, if only as a target for their learned criticism. Some of the events and people I describe are still too near, and a clear perspective is therefore difficult. What is nearest appears biggest, and I often find it tempting to see and accept that Burma's history as a new independent nation began with the students' strike of 1936 or the resistance movement during the Second World War.

• Evolution
• Nation
• Policy
• Revolution
• democracy
• education
• fundamental rights
• international relations
• organization
• politics

• Lincoln’s Inn, Utrecht, The Netherlands

  Maung Maung

Policies and ethics