Scouting in Burma

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Today, Myanmar is one of only six of the world's independent countries that do not have Scouting, however Scouting in Burma had a rich five decade history.

History

Scouting was founded in Burma as part of the British Indian branch of The Scout Association during colonial days, introduced in 1910 for British dependents. By 1913, Lone Scouts were found in Burma. Later, Scouting was opened to the Burmese. In 1922, Burmese Scouting became a separate branch of the British headquarters in London, but shared the same Chief Scout as India, the Viceroy. In the Burmese language, the Burmese Scouts are known as Image:Bscript MyanmanainnganKinht.png (Template:IPA2 Myanma naing-ngan kin-htauk mya).

World War II

In Hilary Saint George Saunders' The Left Handshake, written in 1948, we are told

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Post-War Burmese Scouting

Upon independence, the Union of Burma Boy Scouts was recognized in the spring of 1948, and was one of the founding National Scout Organizations of the Far East Regional Scout Conference. Because of the war and its aftermath, Scouting had almost disappeared, but strenuous efforts were made by former Scouters and Old Scouts to revive it.

J.S. Wilson, Director of the Boy Scouts International Bureau, visited Burma in 1952. Wilson's sole journey outside Rangoon was to fly to Myaungmya in the Delta. Scouting in that district was due to the enthusiasm of a Gurkha Preventive Officer, who formed all the official and influential men in the town into a Local Association. Many of those auxiliary leaders were given preliminary Scout training, and Scouters and Guiders received more intensive training, while he apprenticed a successor as District Commissioner. Wilson met Bluebirds and Guides, Cubs and Scouts at a refugee village rapidly becoming a cooperative settlement; Guides and Scouts in their own locale; as well as a little band of Scouts in the compound of a Buddhist monastery across the river.

Burma sent a representative to the 1957 Far East Scouters' Regional Pow-Wow held at Sutton Park, England. By 1959 the nation counted 13,889 members, and the University of Rangoon in 1960 hosted the Second Far East Regional Scout Conference, with the First Far East Professional Scouters Training Conference held at Inyale Camp in Rangoon as an ancillary event. U Tin Tun represented UBBS in the five-man Far East Scout Advisory Committee (FESAC). Burma's U Ba Htay was elected one of the very earliest chairmen of FESAC, which would later become the Asia-Pacific Region, and served from 1958 to 1960. Boy and Girl Scouts in Burma merged in 1962 to form the coeducational Union of Burma Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, which was active until 1964, reaching a membership high-point of 93,562.

Youth program

Aside from the traditional UBBS scheme for training youth in patrols and troops, the visibility of Scouting in the urban and rural communities consisted of citywide Cleaning Week campaigns, "Safety-on-the-Road" serices, and Cub Scout rallies at Rangoon's Inyale Training Center. Scouts' Day was celebrated every January 1 in Rangoon. In 1958, UBBS published the Handbook for Patrol Leaders in the Burmese language.

Adult training

The UBBS conducted a series of intensive training in the five regions of the country. In addition to the Cub Scout and Scout leaders' basic training courses, a Wood Badge course was conducted by John Thurman, Camp Chief of Gilwell Park in 1962.

Disbandment

On March 1, 1964 the military government dissolved the UBBS, Lieutenant Ye Htoon, the Director General of UBBSGG reported. The assets of the association were turned over to the Ministry of Education, which was authorized to form its socialist youth organization, the youth wing of the Burma Socialist Programme Party. Girl Guiding was not immediately outlawed, and the standalone Union of Burma Girl Guides Association remained a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and was last mentioned by WAGGGS in 1969.

International Scouting units in Burma

However, there are USA Girl Scouts Overseas in Yangon, serviced by way of USAGSO headquarters in New York, and there are American Boy Scouts in Yangon, linked to the Direct Service branch of the Boy Scouts of America, which supports units around the world.

See also

• The Bharat Scouts and Guides
• Bangladesh Scouts
• Pakistan Boy Scouts Association
• Edward Michael Law Yone

References

• Scouting 'Round the World, John S. Wilson, first edition, Blandford Press 1959
• Facts on World Scouting, Boy Scouts International Bureau, Ottawa, Canada, 1961
• The Left Handshake, Hilary Saint George Saunders, 1948
• Forty Years and Beyond published by the Asia-Pacific Regional Office, 1997
• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Bureau (1997), Trefoil Round the World. Eleventh Edition 1997. ISBN 0-900827-75-0

Additional information provided by and gratefully acknowledged from Ms. Arjay C. Francisco, Secretary, Youth Program and IT and Adult Resources and Research, WOSM Asia-Pacific Region