Mahn Ba Zan & the Karen Revolution

British Administration & Officer on Special Duty

World War II ended on August 5th, 1945. The British had reoccupied the whole of Burma. The military administration at that time was known as CAS-B (Civil Affairs Service-Burma). The British officers came to Maubin to establish military administration. Major D. Long was the Maubin District Officer and Major Rasborn was the Deputy District Officer. Of these two, Major Rasborn was known to him (Mahn Ba Zan) since their Officers Training days at Maymyo, and were together in Section 4 of Training Course #3.
As soon as they arrived in Maubin and saw him, one of them said, "Ba Zan, come on over, I am now on administrative duty in Maubin district. You must help me."
And I accepted the request to help.
Major Rasborn appointed him as Township Officer. Since this would allow him to work only in the township, he refused. Thus, he only accepted a position, which would make it possible to tour all the subdivision, known then as 'Special Officer' or Officer on Special Duty, with the rank of Sub-Division Officer (SDO).

This SDO-ranked Officer on Special Duty had three functions:

1.

To maintain peaceful conditions in the sub-division;
2.

To make tours and appoint administrators (Village Headmen);
3.

To help people in applying for Government aid.

In working for peaceful conditions, it was to prevent armed robberies, and to retrieve hidden weapons. Weapons meant the rifles and other firearms issued to village defense units organized for protecting villages during the Japanese regime. Actually, Major Rasborn had to be apprised of the prevailing situation and persuaded not to repossess those weapons.

He accepted the argument that these weapons were necessary for our nationality people. In which case, he advised them to hide the weapons in safe places. During the Japanese regime, only Burman Headmen were appointed in Karen villages, and the Burman villages naturally had only Burman Headmen. This situation was redressed by appointing only Karen Headmen in Karen villages. Government aid was fairly distributed. In the course of this work, the Maubin district Karens began to appreciate his (Mahn Ba Zan’s) efforts for them, and he received a certain measure of their support as well as their dependence on him. His organizational capability started to deepen.

Because, hidden weapons were not confiscated, Karen Headmen were appointed to Karen villages, and the government aid was properly and fairly doled out, there followed some success in support of the nationality movement. There was ready weaponry in the hands of Karen defense units. He worked as the SDO-ranked Officer on Special Duty for six months. The government of Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith (pre-war Governor of Burma) suspended the Military Administration and returned to the Township/District (Civil Service) Administration.

By the time the civil administration was reestablished, the District Officer Major Rasborn offered him the position of the Sub-Division Officer. Since he had successfully completed Officer’s training and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the British Army, he was entitled to back pay of about ten thousand rupees. He therefore declined the offer of the S.D.O. position.

Mahn Ba Zan, “My refusal to accept the S.D.O. post was because the Karen national problems became very important. There was a need for leadership. I was not aiming to become the top in the leadership, rather to be part of those leading the Karens. The education that we have acquired was invaluable to be utilized for the people.” He thus served six months as Officer on Special Duty and his career as a monthly wage earner came to an end.