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Issued by the Information
Section, British Embassy,
80, Strand Road, Rangoon.
February 9, 1949
The following statement has been issued to the Press by the British Ambassador :
In these times of anxiety and tension I have noted with the greatest regret the frequent repetition of allegations that European foreigners, by clear implication British, have been assisting forces hostile to the Constitutional Government of Burma. The stories sometimes take the form that individuals have been seen fighting on the side of the insurgent forces and at other times that those insurgent forces have been supplied with arms, ammunition and equipment from abroad. These allegations have been swollen into wider allegations that there are some powerful “expansionist” elements who are conspiring to excite communal trouble in Burma and in some unspecified way to threaten Burma's independence.
The attitude of Great Britain to Burma must primarily be judged by the attitude of His Majesty's Government as chosen by the British public in free election. I have been assured by the Burmese Prime Minister that he is satisfied that His Majesty's Government have throughout maintained a correct and friendly attitude towards Burma. The fact that a British Services Mission is assisting in the training of the armed forces of the Union and that His Majesty's Government have throughout the last year made available to the Union Government very considerable quantities of arms and ammunition, [and] aeroplanes, apart from large quantities of arms and equipment and naval vessels handed over free to the Union Government at the time of the transfer of power, are a practical expression of His Majesty's Government's good faith. As for communal trouble, His Majesty's Government's earnest desire is that all communities should be united in mutual trust and friendship.
There have however been sinister suggestions that some British business interests are in some way defying the policy of their own Government and carrying out a private plot against the Government and Union of Burma. It is a British tradition that the foreign policy of the Government has the general support of the country. It is moreover, on the face of it, in the highest degree unlikely that foreign commercial interests operating in an independent country would do anything to damage the two pre-requisites for their own prosperous trade and commerce, namely, conditions of peace and order and maintenance of the good will of the legal Government of the country. The Burma Chamber of Commerce, representing British firms in this country, have now released the text of a letter written by them to Thakin Nu in November last and have repeated the assurance contained therein. This letter gives, on behalf of the European firms represented in the Chamber, an absolute and categorical denial that there is any vestige of substance in the suspicions that European business in Burma has in any way supported dissident political elements in the country. For my part I fully accept these assurances.
There remains the question of individual adventurers. In intercepted correspondence released by the Burmese Government in November last year it was revealed that certain individuals had been in contact with dissident elements in Burma. His Majesty's Government gave every assistance to the Union Government in this case and have offered every assistance if any other case of the sort should arise. I have made every effort to follow up all further stories of arms running, of mysterious aeroplanes and submarines, and of Europeans assisting the insurgents during the past year. In spite of these efforts I have been unable to get any evidence whatever, from either the Government of Burma or any other source, to substantiate these stories. There has now been ample time to investigate these stories and I am forced to conclude that they are untrue.
As I have said above I fully appreciate that these are times of anxiety and tension and I appreciate that the Burmese Government and people must be alert and watchful for any threat to their interests. If any individual British subject should be found to have been misbehaving, I have promised every assistance possible to the Burmese Government to check his activities. But I must warn the Burmese people that there are elements in Burma who are not really concerned about the peace and prosperity of Burma, nor about her security and continued independence. These persons, for their own ends, are stirring up trouble and doing their utmost to damage the friendship between Burma and Britain. It is my firm conviction that continued friendship is of great benefit to both countries. Let there be no mistake. The British Government and people earnestly desire Burma to be strong, prosperous, peaceful, united and independent. Members of the Burmese public who believe, or spread, stories against the good faith of the British Government and people in their relations with the Union of Burma are in serious danger of falling into a trap set by the enemies both of Britain and of Burma.