Aung San Museum

23 July 2013

The Bogyoke (General) Aung San Museum is set in the family's home in Yangon. The first thing that struck me was how quiet visitors were as we pondered the tragedies that this family has endured. General Aung San lived in the house for only two years until his assassination in July 1947, when he was 32 years old. The wooden house is large, as befits a Supreme Commander of the Burmese army, albeit such a young one, and includes extensive grounds and a library of over 200 books. A particularly poignant room was the children's bedroom with their three little beds in a row. One was for Aung San Suu Kyi and another for a brother who was drowned in a pond in the garden. An overall impression is how close Aung San and his wife Daw Kin Kyi were to their three small children. There are large photographs of Aung San in uniform, but many more of the family group smiling happily, unaware of the tragedies that would befall them. Short speeches Aung San gave are recorded in framed pictures. The most telling was his advice that unless the different ethnic minorities joined together with the majority Bamar, the country would not run smoothly. Those words, uttered more than 60 years ago, are just as applicable today. Hopefully, and soon, a better day will dawn.