Dr Maung Maung

Explores the life of Dr. Maung Maung (1925-94), scholar, soldier, nationalist, internationalist, parliamentarian, public servant, and pioneer amongst post-colonial journalists in Southeast Asia. His life spanned seven decades of political, economic and social turbulence in the country he loved and served, Myanmar.

Dr Maung Maung (1925-94) was a man of many parts: scholar, soldier, nationalist, internationalist, parliamentarian, and public servant. His life spanned seven decades of political, economic and social turbulence in the country he loved and served, Myanmar. A pioneer amongst post-colonial journalists in Southeast Asia, he was equally at home in the libraries and seminars of universities in the United States, Europe and Australia during the Cold War. As a jurist, Dr Maung Maung knew the law must remain relevant to changing societal requirements. As an author, he wrote weighty scholarly tomes and light-hearted accounts spiced with his wry observations on human foibles. He was a keen observer of human strengths and weaknesses. A loyal friend, he never maligned his critics or denied their merits. As a man of affairs, he was capable of understanding the weaknesses of the institutions that he served and that ultimately failed to live up to their ideals. This book collects together a number of his now obscure but important historical and journalistic essays with a full bibliography of his works.

In their evolution of political structures and life, countries often undergo significant conjunctures, major events that reorder political structures and norms. The examination of such conjunctures offers an important methodological framework to uncover and document changes that have significantly altered the political template of a country. This collection of case studies examines the critical conjunctures that have affected the countries of Southeast Asia in recent decades. Each chapter traces the antecedent conditions prior to the event, describes the changes brought about by the conjuncture, and details the lasting legacy.

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar) contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture.

"Robert Taylor, one of the most prominent scholars in Myanmar studies, has written an illuminating study of Ne Win, the most enigmatic and controversial of the first generation of post-independence Southeast Asian leaders, and how he steered a then largely unknown country, Burma (now Myanmar), through the Cold War years. This book, by perhaps the only foreign political analyst to live in Burma under Ne Win, is a significant contribution to the historiography of Myanmar and its unnoticed role in the Cold War in Asia." -- Associate Professor Ang Cheng Guan, Head of Graduate Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. "This book fills a major gap in the literature on Myanmar by providing the first scholarly account of the life of General Ne Win, its enigmatic ruler for over 25 years. It will be of interest not only to professional Myanmar watchers, who have long awaited a detailed and comprehensive study of this important historical figure, but to anyone who wants to learn more about this troubled Southeast Asian country, where Ne Win’s legacy is still being felt today." -- Andrew Selth, Adjunct Associate Professor, Griffith Asia Institute. "The Colonel Ne Win of World War II and General Ne Win of post-independent Myanmar was not the same as Chairman Ne Win of the BSPP. Nor was the context of those days similar to the context by which he is normally judged today. The present work (and Taylor’s scholarship in general) is acutely aware of such anachronistic projections backward, made to commensurate with certain desired academic and political consequences. Taylor examines Ne Win’s life and career in the context of when it occurred. This book returns Ne Win to the period to which he belonged." -- Michael Aung-Thwin, Professor of South East Asian History, University of Hawaii. "It is difficult to imagine that this study of Ne Win, the dominant figure in the politics of Burma through most of the second half of the twentieth century, will ever be surpassed. Immensely detailed, insightful, and impressively understanding, this is an outstanding work of scholarship." Ian Brown, Emeritus Professor of the Economic History of South East Asia, School of Oriental and African Studies (London).

Crime does not pay, and politics by assassination pays even less. That is perhaps the one sharp lesson which stands out from the trial of U Saw and his men for the murder of Bogyoke Aung San and his colleagues. The trial is a historie one, and the murders undoubtedly altered the course of Burma' s modem history. I present the judgement of the Special Tribunal in full and the story of the assassinations for the record, in the hope that they will serve historians and our peoples in Burma in several ways. Mr. ]ustice Mya Thein of the High Court gave me the records which he compiled of the trial while serving on the prosecution. That was a few years ago, and I have, since then, wanted to edit and publish a book of the trial. Dr. Myint Thein, Chief ]ustice of the Union, also gave his file of the records to the Defence Services Historical Research Institute, and I was able to check and compare the papers. To both I owe and sincerely acknow ledge thanks. I am also grateful to Mr. ]ustice Aung Tha Gyaw of the Supreme Court who answered my questions with kindness and courtesy, and to U Kyaw Soe, Director of Information, and his staff, who dug up the pictures which are published in this book.