The good and bad effects of British rule remain
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Ref: "Violent Burmese Buddhists more to blame than Brits"
I nearly stood up and sang “Rule Britannia” upon reading Robin Grant’s last paragraph that “We British gave the Burmese their independence in 1948. We no longer have any responsibility....”.
Robin, the good and bad remnants of British colonial rule (at onetime covering one-quarter of the world’s population) still remain today. Besides many good deeds, the bad effects of the British footprint of “divide and rule” still remain in places like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Ceylon and the Maldives.
The significant number of Rohingya in Myanmar largely resulted from the British push (1826-1948) to counter balance the Buddhist majority.
However, some historians believe that a small pocket of this ethnic group was already in Myanmar before the period of migration, which repudiates the Myanmar government’s contention that they are not one of the 135 ethnic groups recognised in Myanmar.
If Grant had watched Jeremy Paxman’s 5 television series of “Empire”, he would not talk like that. Despite the shortfalls, the Brits came out best among those former colonialists, if they could be a bit humble.
Songdej Praditsmanont
Bangkok
