Burma legend recalled from exile

Published on 10/09/2012 01:03

One of Burma’s legendary “Thirty Comrades” who spearheaded the struggle against British colonialism has been invited back from exile by president Thein Sein.

The daughter of 92-year-old Kyaw Zaw told Radio Free Asia in an interview this weekend that the invitation was conveyed by president’s office minister Aung Min. She spoke from Kunming in southern China, where she lives with her father.

The Thirty Comrades were led by independence hero General Aung San, father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. During the Second World War, they went to Japan for training to fight against the British.

Seeing that Tokyo had no intention of giving his country real independence, Aung San turned against the Japanese as the war was ending and negotiated independence from Britain, but was assassinated before it took place.

Kyaw Zaw joined the underground Communist Party of Burma in 1976 and fled to China in 1989.

Hla Kyaw Zaw said her father wished to return home but might not be able to make the journey soon because of ill health. She said he also would have to consult with the Communist Party, which maintained a large guerrilla army through the 1970s, but now has no role in the country’s politics.