Socialism and modernization

Socialism is harsh, as is modernization. I will attempt to tie together the story of my grandparents and their lives and Burma’s history, the effects of socialism, and today’s modernization.

Left: My grandparents wed in the 1940s in Rangoon. Right: My grandfather's businesses hit success in the 1950s.

Both my grandparents from my father’s side were born to upper-class families in colonial Burma. My grandfather is mixed Burman and Chinese, while my grandmother is Chinese. Their ancestors immigrated to Burma from Fujian Province in the 1800s via Penang, Malaysia. They married in the 1940s, near the end of British rule in a European ceremony. After independence of Burma in 1948, my grandparents, who had mostly spoken Chinese (Hokkien) at home, began adopting Burman customs, including wearing traditional Burman dress, to avoid harassment from any nationalist Burmans.

My grandfather's rice processing plant, the first electric-powered one in Burma. All the machinery still exists, but is no longer used.

My grandfather bought land in the 1950s, and operated an peanut oil refinery and a rice processing plant in Nyaunglaybin in Pegu Division, and the entire family moved there. They sent most of my aunts and uncles to Chinese-language boarding school in China, and later in Rangoon.

Left: When my grandparents owned it, the modern tile-paneling did not exist, and the house was not used as a shop. Middle: The house has degraded, and has no lighting inside. Right: The Buddhist altar my grandparents bought in the 1950s is still used.

However, in 1962, Ne Win’s socialist regime took over. The “Burmese Way to Socialism” was implemented, and forced all Chinese schools to be put under government control. Slowly, my family felt the effects of this. My grandfather lost control of his factories and refineries under Socialist nationalization, and life became tough. My father, who is the youngest son, attended a monastery school in Nyaunglaybin, learning Burmese, unlike his elder brothers, who continued to attend school in Rangoon, learning English, Mandarin, and Burmese. To this day, my father is only semi-fluent in Hokkien and does not know Mandarin, while his older siblings can carry a conversation in Hokkien and Mandarin flawlessly.

However, by the late 1960s, life became too difficult in Nyaunglaybin. Because of socialist takeover and nationalization, my grandfather’s income had diminished. My grandmother sold all of her jewelry and the remaining family moved to Rangoon, in hopes of finding prosperity and opportunity. They bought an apartment flat overlooking Mahabandoola Garden. Compared to the country house they had lived in, it was small and cramped. My grandfather bought a small convenience store to make a living. My father graduated from Rangoon University in the late 1970s, denied entrance to medical school because his nationality was “Chinese”. In the late 1960s to 1970s, the government incited riots against the “outsider” Chinese and Indians. After my grandfather’s shop was completely torched, the family immigrated to the United States in 1978, leaving behind their homeland for the last time.

Last year, my father visited Burma for the first time in 33 years. He visited his family’s old factories and houses in the countryside and his city home in Rangoon. The building is owned by a Burmese Muslim, of Asia Naple Co. Ltd. We arrived early in the morning and asked a young office worker if we could see my father’s old house. He kindly opened up the abandoned building for us, but told us not to take any photographs inside. The inside was beautiful, albeit dusty. It had a nostalgic colonial feel, high ceilings, large open rooms, and waxed teak-wood floors. My father went later in the day to speak to the owner about taking video of his old house, but the owner rejected his appeals.

A year later, I don’t know if my father’s old house still exists. It may have been razed for construction of a blasphemous hi-rise building called Centrepoint Towers, or may be demolished soon. The Burmese government is all too keen on “modernizing” Burma by destroying colonial buildings, which are historical relics that show Rangoon’s heritage. I am saddened by their carelessness–countless buildings have been destroyed to build nondescript hi-rises that are completely vacant anyhow (like the Sakura Tower, built by Petronas).

Maybe one day, when a democratic government that cares about the country’s historical heritage emerges will these buildings be preserved for future individuals to enjoy and reminisce. Sometimes, hi-rises are not the best indicators of a country’s overall prosperity. They indicate decay of history, a loss of legacy. There is nothing I can do now, except rely on my memories to imagine how my family once lived.