View source for Thakins

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = We Burmans Association
| native_name      = တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး
| dissolved        = 1940s/1950s
| native_name_lang = my
| abbreviation     = DAA
| logo             = Doe Ba Mar A See A Yone Logo.svg
| colorcode        = #DA251D
| founder          = [[Ba Thaung]]
| founded          = 30 May 1930
| wing1_title      = Armed wing
| wing1            = Letyon Tat
| successor        = [[Freedom Bloc]]
| anthem           = [[Kaba Ma Kyei#History|"We Burmans"]]<br />({{lang|my|တို့ဗမာ}}, {{transl|my|Do Bama}}){{parabr}}[[File:Bamar.ogg|175px]]
| slogan           = "[[Burma]] is our country; [[Burmese literature]] is our literature; [[Burmese language]] is our language. Love our country, raise the standards of our literature, respect our language."<ref name="tarling"/>
| flag             = [[File:Burmese Nationalist Flag.svg|border|180px]]<br />{{list collapsed|title='''Other Flags:'''|[[File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg |border|180px|centre]] <br /> [[File:Hammer and Sickle flag of Burma.svg|border|180px|centre]]<br />[[File:Black Hammer and Sickle flag of Burma.svg|border|180px|centre]]}}
| flag_title       = Flag<ref name= Khinyi/>
| headquarters     = [[Rangoon]]
| ideology         = [[Bamar people|Burman]] [[Nationalism]]<br>[[Communism]]<br>[[Socialism]]
| country          = Burma
}}
{{Politics of Burma}}
The '''Dobama Asiayone''' ({{langx|my|တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး}}, ''Dóbăma Ăsì-Ăyòun'', meaning ''We Burmans Association'', DAA), commonly known as the '''Thakins''' ({{langx|my|သခင်|links=no}} ''sa.hkang'', {{IPA-my|θəkʰɪ̀ɰ̃|IPA}}, {{Literal translation|Lords}}), was a Burmese [[nationalist]] group formed around the 1930s and composed of young, disgruntled intellectuals. Drawing their name from the way in which the British were addressed during colonial times, the party was established by [[Ba Thaung]] in May 1930, bringing together traditionalist Buddhist nationalist elements and fresh leftist political ideals. It was significant in stirring up political consciousness in Burma, and drew most of its support base from students.
The party's song, ''Myanmar [[Kaba Ma Kyei]]'' ("Till The End of the World, Burma") also became the country's first national song and eventually its [[national anthem]]. Composed by [[Saya Tin]] (later known as "Thakhin Tin"), the song was a national symbol during the  [[Japanese occupation of Burma]] and was adopted in 1948 upon the achievement of independence.
==History==
[[File:Dobama protest.jpg|thumb|A Dobama protest]]
The DAA was established in 1930 in [[Yangon|Rangoon]] after [[Burmese Indians|Burmese Indian]] dock workers and their families were murdered by [[Bamar people|Bamars]] who believed that the Indians had taken jobs that rightfully belonged to them.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Paul H. Kratoska |title=South East Asia: Colonial History |year=2001 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-21539-0 }}</ref><ref name="gravers">{{cite journal | author =Mikael Gravers | title =Nationalism as Political Paranoia in Burma: an essay on the historical practice of power | publisher =Routledge | year = 1999 }}</ref><ref>A first hand account appears in [[Trials in Burma]] (1937) by [[Maurice Collis]]</ref> The Dobama organisation was nationalist in nature, and supported Bamar supremacy. Its members used the Burmese word ''Thakhin'' ("master") as their honorific title rather than the standard U or Maung, as Thakhin was the word traditionally used to address the British.<ref name=PP/> The slogan of the organisation was ''"[[Burma|Burma (Myanmar)]] is our country; [[Burmese literature]] is our literature; [[Burmese language]] is our language. Love our country, raise the standards of our literature, respect our language.'''<ref name="tarling">{{cite book |last=Tarling |first=Nicholas |title=The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge UP |isbn=0-521-66369-5 }}</ref> Dobama Asiayone was keen assimilating ethnic minorities into Burman culture, and most of its activities stemmed from [[University of Yangon|Rangoon University]].<ref name="tarling"/> Unlike former parties in Burma, the DAA was not reliant on support from foreign interests or Buddhist monks, and its establishment was a significant change in Burmese political history.<ref name=PP/> Its founders rejected compromise with the British authorities, and formed its own [[paramilitary]] group, the Letyon Tat.
In 1935 the closely affiliated All-Burma Youth League merged into the DAA and its first conference was held in [[Shwebo]]. Following the second conference in [[Myingyan]] in 1936,<ref name=PP>Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, p128</ref> the Thakhins decided to contest the [[1936 Burmese general election|1936 elections]] under the name '''Komin Kochin Aphwe''' (''One's own King, One's own Kind Party''). It put forward 28 candidates three of which were elected;<ref>Fukui, p138</ref> [[Thakin Mya|Thakhin Mya]] in Tharrawaddy South, [[Thakhin Hla Tin]] in Henzada East and [[Thakhin Ant Gyi]] in Pakokku South.<ref name= "Khinyi">Khin Yi (1988) ''The Dobama Movement in Burma (1930–1938)'', SEAP, p39</ref>
Despite winning three seats, the Thakhin group temporarily became inactive until being resurrected in 1937 under the leadership of participants in the [[1936 Burmese student strike|1936 student strike]], including [[Aung San]] and [[U Nu]].<ref name=PP/> This led to a split, with the older leaders being opposed to the left-wing leanings of the new leadership.<ref name=PP/>
By the late 1930s, the Thakhins had risen through the ranks to emerge as a prominent nationalist group. To achieve its objectives, the group committed itself to the use violent means, such as strikes and force. In 1937, a Thakhin leader had surfaced: a young lawyer by the name of [[Aung San]]. In 1939, the Thakhins took over the Dobama Asiayone and brought about the collapse of the government of [[Ba Maw]], then the premier of the country. In 1940 the Thakhins and Ba Maw's [[Poor Man's Party]] merged to form the [[Freedom Bloc]], although the DAA founded the [[People's Revolutionary Party (Burma)|People's Revolutionary Party]] in secret.<ref name=F2/>
In 1946 a new DAA was established by founding members Ba Sein and Tun Oke. Although it failed to achieve widespread support, Ba Sein and Tun Oke were both included in the Governor [[Reginald Dorman-Smith]]'s Executive Council in 1946. The party continued to exist into the 1950s, but was not successful in elections.<ref name=F2>Fukui, p129</ref>
==Achievements==
The Thakhins were credited for the formation of the Burma Independence Army. In 1940, a Japanese army officer, Colonel [[Suzuki Keiji]], took thirty Thakhins including [[Aung San]] and [[Ne Win]] for military training at Japanese schools in Formosa ([[Taiwan]]) and [[Hainan]]. These thirty Thakhins, known as the [[Thirty Comrades]], were the founding members of the Burma Independence Army, which would later number around 8000 men. When the Japanese invaded Burma in late 1941 and early 1942, the BIA marched with the Japanese to expel the British. On 1 August 1943, the Japanese granted Burma a kind of independence.  The BIA was renamed the [[Burma National Army]] (BNA). Recognising that the Japanese had merely replaced the British rather than providing the independence they sought, in March 1945, the Burma National Army turned on the Japanese as the British [[Fourteenth Army (United Kingdom)|Fourteenth Army]] advanced on Rangoon.
==See also==
* [[Patriotic Association of Myanmar]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.bookrags.com/research/thakins-ema-05/ Thakins] Encyclopedia of Modern Asia
*[http://epress.anu.edu.au/mdap/mobile_devices/ch05s03.html Burma’s Struggle for Democracy: The Army Against the People] Josef Silverstein
*[http://david.national-anthems.net/mm.htm Myanmar] National Anthems
[[Category:Nationalist movements of Myanmar]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Myanmar]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1930]]
[[Category:1930 establishments in Burma]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1940]]
[[Category:1940 disestablishments in Burma]]
[[Category:Burma in World War II]]
[[Category:Burmese words and phrases]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Myanmar]]