The suggestion that the British had a policy
of divide and rule is not supported by the fact
that the frontier people themselves would oppose
unification as indeed they have for all the years
after independence.
The British had a considered policy to
rationalize the administration of the Shan States
and to link them to a federated Burma, while
undermining the authority of the Shan Sawbwas
who were never given the status of hereditary
rulers of sovereign states under British protection
as had been the case with Indian rajas
(Taylor.1987,91-98).
The use of the same laws as in Burma proper,
the use of Burmese rather than English for local
government business and the commonsense
realisation that anything more exclusive than
federation was an impossibility, made a unitary
government for Burma an inevitable development
sooner or latter whether the British or the
Burmese ran the government.
The whole trend was against divide and rule
and of course in the end the British wanted to get
out of Burma as soon as a reasonable constitutionally
based nationalist government could take
office. But in the areas covered by this paper the
personal feelings of the administrator were of
little relevance and the rational political aims of
the Burmese as much as the British, were
overtaken by popular anti-Burmese sentiments,
World War Two and its enabling of Kachin
aggressiveness which made this a practical
impossibility
The suggestion that the British had a policyof divide and rule is not supported by the factthat the frontier people themselves would opposeunification as indeed they have for all the yearsafter independence.The British had a considered policy torationalize the administration of the Shan Statesand to link them to a federated Burma, whileundermining the authority of the Shan Sawbwaswho were never given the status of hereditaryrulers of sovereign states under British protectionas had been the case with Indian rajas(Taylor.1987,91-98).The use of the same laws as in Burma proper,the use of Burmese rather than English for localgovernment business and the commonsenserealisation that anything more exclusive thanfederation was an impossibility, made a unitarygovernment for Burma an inevitable developmentsooner or latter whether the British or theBurmese ran the government.The whole trend was against divide and ruleand of course in the end the British wanted to getout of Burma as soon as a reasonable constitutionallybased nationalist government could takeoffice. But in the areas covered by this paper thepersonal feelings of the administrator were oflittle relevance and the rational political aims ofthe Burmese as much as the British, wereovertaken by popular anti-Burmese sentiments,World War Two and its enabling of Kachinaggressiveness which made this a practicalimpossibility
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