The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

Meanwhile in the north of the district Mr. Todd Naylor and Mr. Collins had succeeded in breaking up the small gang that still held out under two noted leaders, and the district was finally cleared. All the leaders had been killed, captured, or driven out of the district. Some sought refuge in Lower Burma. One Lugalégyi, a well-known Bo, was arrested in Prome before the end of the year. To quote once more from the Gazetteer (1908): "Since then Magwè has been undisturbed" (vol ii., p. 56, article "Magwè").

I will give one more instance of dacoit methods reported to me by the late Mr. Donald Smeaton, then Commissioner of the Central Division, dated August 13, 1889, from the Pagyi country. Reading it over after the lapse of more than twenty years, I am glad that I was able to help in ending the anarchy which begat such crimes. Mr. Smeaton wrote: "Early in the forenoon of the 18th July I was riding back with Lieutenant Macnabb from Kyaw to Zeittaung. We were passing the village of Jut about four miles from Zeittaung, when we were hailed by a villager and a military policeman, who informed us that the village had just been dacoited by Saga and a gang of fourteen or fifteen men. We at once went into the village and were conducted by the Thugyi to the house which had been Saga's principal object of attack. We were there informed that this house had been singled out by Saga because its owner, Po Hkine, one of his late followers, had surrendered with his arms to the special officer, that Saga's object had been to kill Po Hkine. Fortunately Po Hkine and his wife were at Zeittaung when the attack was made. Not finding Po Hkine or his wife, Saga had dragged down from the house two old women, Po Hkine's mother and aunt, and tortured them by burning parts of their bodies with lighted torches. The elder of the two women was severely burnt and was lying on the ground: the other was sitting. Both were in great pain. We questioned the two women. They said the gang had come straight to their house shouting out 'Saga! Saga!' and on finding that Po Hkine was not there had gone up the bamboo steps and dragged them to the ground. They then reproached them with allowing Po Hkine to surrender and demanded all the money and jewelry in the house. The old women gave up all their money and their ornaments, but nevertheless they were tied up, a bamboo mat with a hole cut to allow the head to pass through was put over them, and two or three of the gang held lighted torches to their backs and between their legs. The villagers were too afraid to yield any assistance. The women fainted, and the dacoits left them lying on the ground. The villagers were doing their best to soothe the two women and alleviate the pain when we came to the house.

"I have known of several cases in which women have been regularly trussed and suspended over a fire by dacoits till they gave up their money and ornaments.

"I can recall one case in which dacoits pushed wood shavings up between a woman's legs and set them on fire.

"In several cases of this kind that have occurred within my own knowledge the unfortunate women have died."

But I must have surfeited the reader with robberies and murders and savage cruelties. My purpose has been to draw a true picture of the conditions with which we had to deal. There may be some who think that stern measures of repression are wrong and that under all conditions kindness and forbearance should be the only weapons of a civilized Government. It is to be wished that such persons could have an opportunity of testing their theories without danger to any but themselves.

It is well, however, to record as a matter of history that, so far as was practicable, the rank and file of those who joined insurgent or brigand gangs were treated leniently. They were freely pardoned, if they had not committed murder, on condition that they surrendered with their arms and engaged to live quietly in their villages. Where it was necessary and possible, work was provided for them. When I left Burma there were thousands who had so surrendered and were living honest lives. Very few, I believe, went back to the wild life.

There were a very large number of men, especially in the early years, who were run down and captured and sentenced by the magistrates to long terms of imprisonment. It would have done infinite mischief if these men had been released after a short time and allowed to join their old companions.

I opposed the idea of a general jail delivery. When it became possible, the cases were examined under my orders by an experienced officer and the sentences were revised. It was not a task that could be done without labour, care, and knowledge. It was necessary to consider the condition of the district to which each man belonged. If that district was still disturbed, and especially if the gang of which he had been a member was still holding together, it would have been foolish weakness to send him back again. As a dog returns to his vomit, so does a dacoit to his gang, if he can find it. The magistrate is bound to think of the people who may suffer, rather than of the criminal who had preyed upon them. In Burma at least we had not outgrown this primitive morality. No one who had had my experience of the difficulty of catching these very interesting gentlemen would have cared to let them loose again.

The First Durbar in the Shan States.