Independent Party (Burma)

The Independent Party, also known as the Golden Valley Party or ,^[1][2] was a pro-British political party in Burma during the 1920s and 1930s. Its leadership included Joseph Maung Gyi, U Khin and U May Oung.^[2]

History

The party was established as the Progressive Party in 1922,^[3] evolving from the senior faction of the Young Men's Buddhist Association, whose members were conservative, western-educated and willing to accept the colonial system of government.^[2]

Although the 1922 general elections saw the 21 Party emerge as the largest party in the Legislative Council, its leader Ba Pe refused to form a government with the Golden Valley Party, allowing Maung Gyi to head the new government.^[4]

In 1925 the party was renamed the Independent Party,^[5] also becoming known as the Golden Valley Party (Shwe Taung Gyar) in reference to the upper-class suburbs in which its leaders lived,^[1] but was not formally organised, nor had any popular support.^[2] The elections later that year (in which it won 20 of the 80 seats)^[2] and 1928 elections (12 seats) ended with the same outcome due to favouritism by the British authorities.^[4]

The party contested the 1932 elections calling for the separation of Burma from India, but were defeated by the anti-separatists, who won a landslide;^[2] Ba Maw of the Mawmyintbye Party became Chief Minister. It failed to win a seat in the 1936 elections.

References

1. Maung Maung (2012) Burma's Constitution, Springer Science & Business Media, p29
2. Haruhiro Fukui (1985) Political parties of Asia and the Pacific, Greenwood Press, pp133−134
3. Nirmal Chandra Sen (1945) A peep into Burma politics, Kitabistan, p18
4. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow The Irrawaddy, 3 November 2009
5. Sen, p27