Читать книгу Burma and the Karens - Dr. San C. Po C.B.E. - Страница 3

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The object of this book is to present and to explain to the reading public, and to those who are in authority, the condition of the Karens, the position they occupy, and their aspirations as a nation second in importance of the indigenous races of the province of Burma. It is their desire to have a country of their own, where they may progress as a race and find the contentment they seek. It is this contentment which gives a man or a nation that satisfaction and good-will and creates that patriotic feeling so essential to the well-being of the nation. Self-respect in a nation begets respect from other nations and races. What a grand thing the achievement of their ambition will be for the Karens, and what praises and blessing will be showered upon those who shall have made it possible. The Karens will then be in a position to show sincere respect to other races, especially to the Burmese, with whom they have been at variance, and in turn the Burmese will find them worthy of respect and esteem.

The thirty years of my life which I have devoted to serving my own people, in the course of which I have had the opportunity of exchanging ideas with those officials and non-officials who represent the opinion of other races, have furnished me with varied experience, and I am emboldened to write this book in the hope that it will stimulate in the reader an interest in the Karens as a race--as a nation which will have to be reckoned with in the struggle for self-determination or for what the present Reforms Scheme may have in store for the province. It has been truly said: "To remove misunderstandings is the real road to abiding peace among men." Some of the statements or comments in this book may displease a few individuals for there is truth in the Burmese saying: (too straight a truth is hard to bear). Should any of my intimate and highly esteemed Burmese friends with whom I have associated and co-operated for many years chance to read this book, I wish them to understand that it is not the expression of my own personal relations with them, but that it represents the feelings of the Karens as a race towards the Burmese in general.

I beg to acknowledge my indebtedness to Major Enriquez, from whose most interesting work A Burmese Wonderland I have quoted freely, and to the copyright-holders of Mr. Donald Smeaton's Loyal Karens of Burma from which fairly extensive extracts will be found in the following pages, and lastly to Sir Frederick Whyte from whose able discourse in his little book India, a Federation? quotations have been made. I also wish to express my thanks to those who have made contributions to Chapter VI.