National Hero U. Ottama

Myanmar is a very old country in South East Asia. After the British annexation (1885), it was renamed as British Burma. In the first half of the twentieth century, nationalist movements developed in various parts of the British-occupied province of Burma. This movement was completed in 1948 through independence. One of the most successful leaders of this movement was U. Ottama. He was an ordinary Buddhist monk. He spent several years of his life in Calcutta for studying. He was inspired by the Indian National Congress and Gandhiji's ideology of non-violence. In the 1920s, he brought about a new change in the nationalist movement in Burma. The method of his movement was ?Non-violence? and ?Boycott?. That is why he is also called "Gandhi of Burma". Returning to the country after learning from India, Japan, etc., Ottama saw that different classes of people were angry on British rule and revolts had started in different parts of the country. He inspired the Burmese, by his speech and his "patriotic" writings in ?The Sun?. He became a member of ?Young Man Buddhist Association? and brought a new momentum to the nationalist movement, by his ideology of Non-cooperation and Boycott. Inspired by Ottama, a large number of Buddhist monks (Pongyi) took part in the political movement. He was first imprisoned in 1921 for his famous speech "Craddak Get Out" - in that time, Reginald Craddak was a Governor of British Burma. Even after this he was imprisoned many times. His Non-Violence ideals still memorable him in the Burmese nationalist movement.