ABSTRACT
The British rule introduced numerous economic changes, hardly any of which benefited the Myanmar people. Not surprisingly, the Myanmar nationalist movement began with the establishment of the Young Men's Buddhist Association in 1906. Like all other Burmese parties, the Thakins hated the Indian community in Myanmar, but it had tremendous regard for the Indian National Congress and its leaders. The Japanese experience was a great disillusionment for the Burmese nationalists. By August 1944, all Thakin nationalists groups came under the common aegis of the newly founded Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL). The AFPFL's manifesto, clandestinely published and circulated, promised to establish a "people's government" with a constitution approved by all people of Myanmar to include freedom of thought, speech, the press, assembly, and religion. The AFPFL, with its broad base of nationalist political representation and under the uncompromising leadership of Aung San, demanded immediate and complete independence.
