Burmese History Books

“In our textbooks, there is no mention of ethnic struggles. They glorify the Burmese kings of the past, and never mention the ethnic cleansing that these kings committed against ethnic minorities, like the Mon.”

In trying to understand the relations between the Bamar and other ethnicities over the years, there are various historical frames of reference to explore, from the British Colonial era to the past rule of Bamar Buddhist kings. For Terence K. Htoo, it is essential to look at the role of the current public education system.

As a member of the Karen community, Terence has been acutely aware of how standardized textbooks, which are mandatory in all schools across the country, have highlighted Bamar leaders and their achievements while minimizing (and at times entirely striking out) the role that the country's ethnic groups have played over the years. And even worse, he notes that the belligerent and aggressive actions of past Bamar kings towards these ethnic communities are often wiped away entirely from the record.

This propagandized whitewashing of history, combined with the censorship seen across journalism, was effective in hiding the ugly truth of Bamar kings and the current Burmese military, and even worse, some people began to believe that did such atrocities not take place, but it was actually the ethnics who posed a risk to the stability of the country-- hence the justification for the Tatmadaw's brutal existence.

For those students like Terence, however, the real pain comes from being denied the opportunity to learn about the history, culture, and achievements of your own people, instead having to imbibe the far-fetched fantasies of a group that has long been an oppressor.