2. Interview with Mr. Amery

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 144, 27 March 1942, Page 7

2. Interview with Mr. Amery

‘THE day after U Saw’s departure} from London, David Martin was received by Mr. Amery. Here is his account of the interview: "I appreciate and sympathise with the national aspirations of the Burmese people," Mr. Amery told me. "And I can also understand that there should exist a widespread sympathy for these aspirations in America. From a distance, the problem seems relatively simple. In reality, it is extraordinarily complex. We must take into account not only all possible international contingencies, but also the internal situation of Burma. While it is true that sectional differences in Burma are fortunately not as acute as they are in India, it is also true, for example, that at the Round Table

Conference the Shan leaders were opposed to control by a central Burmese Government. "Under all these circumstances, the Government did not feel justified in giving an unconditional pledge which might only result in serious misunderstanding. We have informed U Saw that it is our desire to assist Burma to achieve Dominion status at the earliest possible date, and that to this end we favour calling a conference on Burma’s status as soon as the war is over. U Saw, on the other hand, asked us to tie ourselves down to the declaration that, after the termination of the war, Burma would automatically be accorded Dominion status, subject only to temporary reservations of Defence and Foreign Affairs: The difference between us is one of form and not of purpose. What the Burmese advocates of an immediate categorical statement fail to realise is that no member of the British Commonwealth has, achieved Dominion status as a result of a dated promise delivered beforehand;~ they have achieved Dominion status rather as a result of a process of natural growth. That our assurances to Burma are made in all good faith is attested to by the remarkable degree of autonomy which Burma has achieved since its reconstitution as a separate unit of the Empire in 1937," Mr, Amery confirmed my. information that in the course of the discussion U Saw had offered to give Britain a certain measure of control over military and foreign affairs for a temporary period after Dominion status came into effect. I asked him whether such a compromise would not be satisfactory to the British Government. "The offer in no way affected the general tenor of our conversations," Mr. Amery informed me. "We felt that the complexities of the situation, nationally and internationally, prevented us from specifying a definite date. We hope that U Saw believes that, despite the unavoidably general form in which it is couched, Britain will honour her assurance to Burma."