(Wai Yan Aung’s post from the IRRAWADDY NEWS MEDIA on 07 July 2020.)
The Day a British Benefactor of Burmese Youth and
Education Passed Away: On this day in 1960, John Sydenham Furnivall, a
pro-Burmese British ex-civil servant who dedicated himself to the educational
development of Burmese youth during the colonial period, served as a national
planning adviser to independent Burma, and loved to be addressed as “U Gyi”
(“uncle” in Burmese), died at the age of 82 in Cambridge, England.
Furnivall was born on 14 February 1878 in Great
Bentley, Essex in England. For secondary schooling, he attended the Royal
Medical Benevolent College (now Epsom College). He won a scholarship to Trinity
Hall, Cambridge University in 1896. Four years later, in 1899, he obtained a
degree in natural science.
He arrived in Myanmar (then Burma) in 1902 as a
public servant in the Indian Civil Service. He served as the Commissioner of
Land Settlement and Records across Myanmar. Furnivall, who married an ethnic
Shan woman and could speak Burmese fluently, was upset by the oppression of the
Burmese people. He boldly told his government that Burmese people deserved
self-rule and later retired from his position.
He founded the Burma Research Society, Burma Book Club, Burma Education Extension Association and the publication The World of Books (Ganda Lawka), which introduced Myanmar youth to the world’s literature and helped broaden their horizons. He also laid the foundation for the establishment of the Burmese Translation Society (now Sarpay Beikman) after independence.
Thakin Ba Thaung, the founder of the Doh Bamar
Asiayone (We Burmans Association), served as an editor of The World of Books,
and U Thant, the third United Nations secretary general, was a contributor to
the publication.
Following his retirement, Furnivall served as a lecturer in Burmese language at Cambridge University. After World War II, at the request of General Aung San, he served as a planning adviser for the reconstruction of Myanmar. He continued to serve as a national planning adviser in then Prime Minister U Nu’s administration until he was expelled in 1959 along with other foreign residents by the caretaker government of Burmese-Dictator General Ne Win.
However, after he was given permission to remain in
the country, Furnivall completed a report titled “Social and Economic
Development of Modern Burma (1862-1941)”, a task that had been assigned to him
by Prime Minister U Nu in 1952.
He left Myanmar in April of 1960 for what was
intended to be a brief residence in England, with the intention of returning to
take up the newly created post of visiting professor of economics at Rangoon
University. However, he passed away three months later in Cambridge as he was
preparing to return to Myanmar, the country he loved. U Nu sent a message of
condolence to Furnivall’s daughter in England.
Before he passed away John Sydenham Furnivall once
warned that “after a period of anarchy more or less prolonged, our
descendants may find Burma a province of China.” Now in the year 2025 his dire
warning is now rapidly becoming a frightening reality.
Published works by J S Furnivall include:
An Introduction to the Political Economy
of Burma (Rangoon: Burma Book Club, 1931);
Christianity and Buddhism in Burma: an
address to the Rangoon Diocesan Council, August, 1929 (Rangoon: Peoples
Literature Committee and House, 1930);
An introduction to the history of
Netherlands India, 1602-1836 (Rangoon : Published for the University of Rangoon
by Burma Book Club, 1933);
Wealth in Burma (1937);
Netherlands India : a study of plural
economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939);
The fashioning of Leviathan (Rangoon: Zabu
Meitswe Pitaka Press, 1939) - originally published in (1939) 29 Journal of the
Burma Research Society 1-138;
Progress and welfare in Southeast Asia: a
comparison of colonial policy and practice (New York: Secretariat, Institute of
Pacific Relations, 1941);
Problems of education in Southeast Asia
(New York: International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942);
Educational Progress in South East Asia
(1943);
Memorandum on reconstruction problems in
Burma (New York: International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations,
1944);
The tropical Far East (London: Oxford
University Press, 1945);
xperiment in Independence (1947);
Colonial Policy and Practice: A
Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1948/ New York: New York University Press, 1948);
The Government of Modern Burma (New York:
International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1958);
An introduction to the political economy
of Burma (Rangoon: Peoples' Literature Committee and House, 1957) 3rd ed;
The Government of Modern Burma (2d ed.
with an appreciation by FN Trager and a supplement on the Ne Win administration
by JS Thompson), (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1960);
Studies in the Economic and Social
Development of the Netherlands East Indies. I. An Introductory Survey,
1815-1930;
Studies in the Economic and Social
Development of the Netherlands East Indies. IIb. An Introduction to the History
of Netherlands India, 1602-1836;
Studies in the Economic and Social
Development of the Netherlands East Indies. III. State and Private Money
Making;
Studies in the Economic and Social
Development of the Netherlands East Indies. IIIc. State Pawnshops in
Netherlands India;
Studies in the Economic and Social
Development of the Netherlands East Indies. IVd. Fisheries in Netherlands
India.
(Cambridge University Press: A noted historian of Burma and a founder of the Burma Research Society, John Sydenham Furnivall (1878–1960) supported Burmese independence and freedom from colonial rule. However, he has been considered as Eurocentric and in favour of colonialism, in part because he saw it as a necessary stage in the improvement of certain societies. Stemming from a request in 1942 by the colonial government for Furnivall's views on reconstruction, this influential study was published in 1948.
Using the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as a
case study for comparison, Furnivall assesses the effects of the different
systems of colonial rule, framed within general surveys of their colonial
policies and practices. The book is driven by the goal of consolidating and
stabilising Burma's plural society, focusing on the importance of the welfare
of the native population. Furnivall's Netherlands India (1939) has also been
reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.)
