My Father Lost his Forefinger...

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

Preamble

During the Japanese Occupation of Burma I was very young, maybe 3 or 4 years old at the beginning of occupation and 6 or 7 years old at the end of it. I was born in the quiet residential quarter of Monywa where the well-to-do and senior government servants lived at the time. I had a happy childhood then, playing, eating, sleeping and swinging.

(My Parents Daw E Sein and U Hla Maung, Now Deceased.)

Suddenly I lost all those good things when my parents had to move to Mon-Yway, a village 7 miles south of Monywa on the east side of Myinmu Road or now renamed Bogyoke Aung San Road, the main road to Mandalay as all government offices and hence all town people had to move there to avoid bombing by the Allies airplanes. I remember we had to drive our bullock cart swiftly into the roadside bushes when two planes flew over us to search for their targets. They were the British bombers known locally as the "twin buffaloes". Luckily no one was hurt.

(Sunset on the Chindwin River in Monywa)

Miseries during Japanese Occupation

I remember my parents and my elder siblings(one elder brother and one elder sister) had to suffer a lot. My father was not with us for most of the time as he was busy with his work. My mother had to look after us, cook meals, weave clothes and sell groceries to earn a living. My elder brother and sister had to help her all the time. All our children clothes were made from our parents’ old clothes as new fabrics were rare and costly. My mother grew edibles in the home’s backyard and ate as well as sold the produce. I remember eating the fried cotton seed sprouts, cooked egg plants and soup of homegrown Roselle (Chin Paung). It was a happy day when we could eat meat.

( Monywa Thanbuddhay Cedi, Built During the Japanese Time)

My father would be working with the Japanese Administration. He was also working for the Asia Lu-Nge (Youth Asiatic Association) in Monywa. Yebaw Htay, Linyone (Eagle) Maung Maung, Lawyer U Chit, Thakhin Ba Zan were his comrades then. My father's name was Thakhin Hla Maung, a member of the Dhobama Asiayone fighting for Burma’s independence. One day we cried as we heard that he was taken away by the Japanese Army to Mandalay.

(Two White Elephants Guarding the Entrance of Thanbuddhay Pagoda;

My Parents Had to Pass Through Them Frequently During WW II.)

During his absence my mother and elder brother looked after us, trying to feed regular meals, maybe themselves skipping one or two. They went to Mohnyin frequently to sell the home produce and they came back with fresh meat and groceries. The Japanese Army had camped one battalion near the Thanbuddhay Cedi that was being built despite the war. Mohnyin Sayadaw said he was building it to keep the people safe. It's true the Allies did not bomb the Cedi construction site.

Happiest Day in My Life

One day, my mother took us back to Monywa as all the government offices were returning to the old town. We were placed in a house in Kadoh Kone at the southern entrance of Monywa on the quay of the Chindwin River. It was in the middle of an orchard where mango, Jack fruit, palm and coconut trees were abundant. There were a variety of vegetables too like egg plants, lady fingers, guava, tomatoes, water cress etc. So, food was plenty for us. But we were missing our father. We prayed daily for his return.

(British Amphibious Vessels Fighting Against the Japanese During WW II)

One midnight, my mother woke us up shouting,” All rise, rise up, your father has come back!” We woke up wildly happy. Our father smiled, greeted each of us, felt for our shoulder or forehead and gave us some sweets he had taken from Mandalay. We did not sleep the whole night and it was the happiest day of my life.

Rice Falling Through His Fingers

The next morning, we were eating morning meal together and I noticed rice falling from my father fingers as we ate with hands as most Burmese do. I asked,” Father, why does rice fall through your fingers?” He smiled and said,” Yes, I have no forefinger.” “Why”, I asked.

(Busy and Boisterous Gaw-Wain Jetty, Mandalay)

My mother intervened and said,” Why do you ask? This is not your concern. Just finish your meal!” But father smiled and said,” Let him ask. He needs to know. I’ll tell the story.”

Father Lost his Forefinger

My father was a liaison officer going between the Dhobama Asiayone (Our Burman Association) and the Japanese Administration in Monywa. He held an officer rank in the civil administration and he had to supply the information required by the Japanese. At the same time he was giving information of the Japanese activities to the Dhobama Asiayone through the Asia Youth Organisation. As a precaution, the Japanese took him to Mandalay when they retreated in March 1945.

(Mandalay Palace; My Father Saw it Burning Twice, First When the British Retreated

and Second, When the Japanese Army Retreated.)

On the way, the Japanese Army suffered many casualties and deaths as they were ambushed by the Burmese Resistance Forces. They suspected the leakage of news from the Burmese they took along. So, they threatened them with death and as a threat to the likely traitors they cut the fingers of the Burmese they held .

(Mandalay Prison Inside the Mandalay Fort, Upper Circular Building)

Instead of cutting the little finger as the Yakuza in Japan they cut the distal phalanx of the forefinger only to disable them in pulling the trigger of a gun. But some people lost the whole finger due to sepsis. Luckily my father just lost the distal phalanx of his right forefinger only. My father was taken to Mandalay and jailed there. He was going to be killed later, but at night there was an Allies bombing and my father escaped as he knew the roads and corners of Mandalay. He had high school friends there too as he was educated at the Laphone High School. He returned to Monywa the next day and we met him at midnight in Kadoh Kone.

(Mahamuni Buddha Image; War or Strife He Remains Unperturbed.)

Envoi

My father continued living in Monywa after the Second World War. He led many social organizations like the District Olympic Association and the District Library of the Government Servants Association. He led and acted in the plays staged by those associations. The first Burmese Premier Thakhin Nu praised my father’s anti-Japanese services when he came to Monywa in 1949. Monywa was then not over-run by insurgents.

(Premier U Nu Congratulated My Father For His Anti-Japanese

Activities During His Visit to Monywa in 1949)

Yebaw Htay became a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Burma and died in the jungle. Linyone Maung Maung was a communist, became a well-known writer and lived in Yangon. He met my father again in Monywa in the late 1980s. Both died in the late 1990s. U Chit led the Burma Workers and Peasants Party, later the national United Front, in Monywa. Thakhin Ba Zan went underground with the Communists (CPB). All of them are now dead.

I’m proud of my father losing his forefinger.

(Fast Flowing Chindwin River; On its East Bank Monywa is Situated.)

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

27.01.2009