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Contents

Dear Reader

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A The Biographies

1

1 U Pe Maung Tin (1888-1973) 12 U Poe Toke (Pu Thu Kho Taut Meh Par) (1890 – 1962) 63 Rev. Vial Nang (1893 - 1960) 104 Dr. Hla Bu (1897 – 1970) 155 Mahn Saw Bu (1900 - 1952) 196 Rev. Thang Lian (1901 – 1971) 247 A Selfless Life of Rev. Yaw Han (1902 - 1989) 298 Mrs. Claribel Ba Maung Chain (Irene Po) (1905 – 1994) 329 Rev. Dr. Chit Maung (1905 - 2001) 3410 Daw Khin Khin (Pyi) (a) Catherine Khin Khin (1909 – 1995) 4111 Daw Khin Kyi (1912 – 1988) 4512 Daw Mya Kyi (1913 – 2008) 4813 A Stern and Courageous Portrait of Paul (1914 - 1990) 5014 Rev. Aung Din (1914 – 2005) 5315 Rev. Charles Paul (1914-1978) 6116 Dr. Morris Jamaldin (1915 – 1991) 6417 Mahn Mya Than (1921 – 2006) 6718 Rev. Dr. U Aung Khin (born 1929) 7019 Thadoe Maha Thray Sithu U Zahre Lian (1929 – 1997) 7520 Rev. U Pe Thwin (1929 – 1996) 7921 Archbishop Dr. Andrew U Mya Han (1932 – 2001) 8322 Major Nhkum Tang (born 1932) 9223 Bhikkhu Seveka @ Ko Ko Naing (born 1938) 9724 Melvin Eway (born 1941) A Glimpse at the Life and Work of the Iron Man

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25 Dr. Anna May Chain (born 1942) 10526 Naw Ruth (born 1946) 10927 Rev. Smith Ngulh Zgulh Za Thawng (born 1947) 11328 U Thein Lwin (born 1949) 11929 Thang Bee Lwei (born 1951) 12330 U Lapai Zau Sam (born 1956) 12831 U Hta Uk (born 1959) 13232 U Ah Htu (born 1963) 13433 Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe (born 1965) 13734 Saya U Lama La Rip (born 1971) 13935 Naw Ler Wah (born1972) 14236 Hnin Su Htwe (born 1987) 14537 Naw Ah Loh Wah Paw (born. 1988) 148

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B Historical Context of the Biographies 152

Narration

1 The Colonial Period until the First World War 2 From after the First World War until 1948 3 First Steps in Independence 1948-1962 4 The Burmese Way to Socialism 1962-1988 5 After 1988 and on the Way in the Present

Timeline

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152155157159161

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A Introduction

Dear Reader,

You will find here a rare treasure: a collection of 37 – amazingly as well as coincidentally the same

number as the canonised Great Nats1 - short biographies about the lives of Burmese Christians.

They were written by Burmese Christians from various Protestant denominations. They have a

background story to it. This story is a joint venture that spans the continents from Myanmar to

Germany.

A group of friends in Germany had connections to Burma and a concern for the land. They closely

followed the troubled political developments in the country, with a particular eye for the minority

Christian communities. Some of the group had contact with Burma stretching back years, while the

interest of others had grown from being concerned tourists. In 2007, meeting in Hamburg, the group

decided to call itself ‘Christian Friends of Myanmar in Germany’. On the Burmese side, there were

also women and men at theological institutes in Yangon who were interested in meeting these little

known Germans.

In 2009, there was an encounter in Yangon. For a period of a week, the ‘Myanmar Institute of

1 About all of the Great Nats were human beings who met violent deaths . Besides whose spirits can be called upon in

times of need. Besides, there exist many „small“ nats of treesm waters and mountains etc.

Group photo of the 2009 seminar

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Theology’ (MIT) hosted a series of seminars with the German group. A great number of themes were

explored: women’s work in the German churches, German fascism, the role of the military in Asia,

the New Testament as the foundation of faith, inter-religious dialogue, religion and evolution, etc.

An undercurrent throughout our meetings was questions related to the nature of democracy and the

role of religion in public life.

Since 2009, there have been numerous visits to and fro. Our relationship has been sustained

through bridge-people, those who have learned to live in more than one culture. There is, for

example, the theology professor, Saw Hlaing Bwa, who studied in Regensburg, Germany. On the

German side, there are a few who have spent several years working in Southeast Asia, mostly in

matters related to religion and church.

An idea came to the Germans. We felt the need for stories that would help us gain a greater

understanding of the Burmese churches and could be a useful resource for others too. We proposed

collecting biographies of Christians in Myanmar. Prof Bwa, with his students, colleagues and

friends in Myanmar responded with their willingness to research and write up the life histories. It

was agreed that the stories had to be short and introduce Christians who had made a contribution

to country and church in the last two hundred years. We told our Burmese partners that we were

eager to get some information about church leaders and people recognized for their achievements

but also about ordinary Christians.

A group at MIT chose the 50 men and women whose brief biographies would be told. Some

members of the group of biographers travelled far and wide, including in the mountainous border

regions, to undertake interviews with the chosen or with those who had known them. The collection

of stories was then translated into English in Myanmar and the first translated texts arrived 2013 in

Germany. Some of these stories have also been translated into German, and have been augmented

with brief commentaries and a general introduction to the land and its history for publication. A

translation of the historical overview can be found at the end of the collection of biographies.

The aim here is to present all the English translated stories as they stand. The collection reflects the

rich variety of religious adherence, ethnic background, and social setting that characterise the

Protestant churches of Myanmar. In these, it is clear that circumstances of birth and the names of

family members play an important role in telling the story of individuals.

The stories are without commentary in the English. They are of varied length and written in various

styles. A few appear hagiographic in nature. It is also possible to see some inaccuracies of

expression and, here and there, the meaning of a sentence is unclear. The stories require patience,

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Title page of the German edition

especially since they are translated materials. We have decided to leave them as they are, however,

because a further editing process would have been too much for us to take on. Ideally, the English

texts should be read in conjunction with a good, critical introduction to Burma and its religious

makeup.

It is exciting to see these stories being published online and in book form. Often the impression is

given that Christians in Myanmar are living in great isolation and under threat from the dominant

Buddhist culture and unsympathetic military. The stories show us women and men, young and old,

from different denominations and parts of the land, who have played an important role in their local

communities and churches, often undergoing great hardship and sacrifice. We hope that this

collection will be a valuable historical archive for scholars, academics, and others concerned about

the peoples and religions of Myanmar. And we hope that it will provide a platform for a greater

understanding of the rich heritage of Myanmar Christianity.

This collection contains 37 biographies. Some more are still in the pipeline at the end of 2015 and

will be added in a second edition. The order of the texts follows the dates of birth of the people

portrayed. Accidentally, the birthdates span exacly one century - from 1888 to 1988. The

biographies can therefore be regarded as a special commentary to the troubled history of

Burma/Myanmar from the end of the 19th century until today, and as a church history in the

making.

What is presented here, are the texts submitted by

the Judson Research Centre to the German editors.

Some but most likely not all typos were corrected.

Through this ”raw material”, the reader thus gets

insights not just into the lives of the persons

portrayed but into the assessment of these life

stories of the biographers as well. In the booklet

containing 15 selected biographies published in

German, some editing was done to bridge the gap

between the liveworlds of the two countries. In this

edition, the commentaries of the respective editors

are added. For the biographies not included in the

German version the editors of this collection chose

captions to highlight a characteristic feature of the

respective person portrayed. These subtitles are

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located under the name of the author of the respective biography.

It is hoped that this way of presentation will help to view Myanmar`s Protestant Christianity in a

multi-perspective way.

Some people involved in the project

In Myanmar, Prof Saw Hlaing Bwa is director of the ‘Judson Research Centre’, which is linked to

MIT in Yangon. He has overseen the implementation of the project at the research centre, with the

support of his assistant Mr Nathanayla, who has also contributed some biographies.

In the dialogue office of ‘Bread for the World’, Ms Lai Ya has worked with the project and kept in

contact with the many authors involved. The German group who started the dialogue consisted of

four theologians: from Hamburg, Gerhard Köberlin, Peter Tachau, and Hans-Bernd Zöllner, and

from Freiburg, now Edinburgh, Kenneth Fleming; the ethnologist Ulrike Bey, former director of the

Burma Initiative of the Asia Foundation (now called the Stiftung Asienhaus in Cologne); Kathrin

Jaschinsky, designer, Berlin; Sylvia Jaschinsky, teacher, Hamburg; Gertrud Wellmann-Hofmeier,

librarian and synod member in Hamburg. For the financing of the project and publication costs,

thanks go to ‘The Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany’ (EMW) and to a

donation by the German group. The translation work of some texts from German into English was

done by Kenneth Flemming (this introduction) and Beverly Olson-Dopffel (the German

introductions and commentaries, the historical context and the timeline).

February 2016

Commentaries and questions on this volume are appreciated. Please contact Hans-Bernd Zöllner (habezett@t-online.de) or/and Gerhard Köberlin (gerhard.kob@gmx.de).