ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY
DR. BA MAW, REPRESENTATIVE OF BURMA
November 5, 1943

Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies:
It is with some diffidence that I am addressing theAssembly. On an occasion like this it is only natural that
there should be just one thought in our minds. Our words
may be many, but our thought is one, one thought arisingfrom one mind, one will, one objective. Therefore, it will
be equally natural that is my speech I shall be often
repeating thoughts, emotions, facts, which have alreadybeen expressed. But I consider it worthwhile to do so, for
Burma, too, must express the same thoughts.
In a scene I have come from my country to speak thesame words others have spoken here, to convey the samemessage, for, after all, there can be only one message. As I
look around now, my thoughts go back to the meetings
which political circumstances forced me to attend in theWest. There, people met together, were polite to each other,laughed, discussed the weather among many other things.
But always I felt there like a stranger among strangers,
like a Greek slave in ancient Rome.
It is impossible to exaggerate the feelings which areborn out of an occasion like this. For yours in Burma I
dreamt my Asiatic dreams. My Asiatic blood has always
called to other Asiatics: In my dream, both sleeping andwaking, I have always heard the voice of Asia calling to
her children. Today, for the first time, I hear Asia’s voicecalling again, but this time not in a dream. We have cometogether, Asiatics, in answer to the call, to the voice of ourmother. I have listened with the greatest emotion to all thespeeches delivered around this table. All these speeches
have been memorable, moving; and—I may be
exaggerating, but you must forgive me—I seem to hear inthem the same voice of Asia gathering her children
together. Somehow or other, whatever the different
representatives may say, whatever local color they may
add, the undertone, the voice, is the same. There is always
a unity of design and purpose and mind which, I say, is thecall of our Asiatic blood. This is not the time to think withAsiatic blood. This is not the time to think with our minds;
this is the time to think with our blood, and it is thisthinking with the blood that has brought me all the way
from Burma to Japan.
Among the speeches made, the most memorable has
been the speech of His Excellency the Chairman. His
Excellency the Chairman has, as always, delivered afighting speech—indeed, today, more than a fightingspeech. It is a working speech. His Excellency has chosen
every word of his as a true samurai chooses his weapon.
He has streamlined and orientated every word to one
consuming purpose; and for this I join the otherrepresentatives in expressing my profound gratitude tohim.
The world is indeed moving very swiftly. Before thewar, it seemed that such a meeting as this would beinconceivable. It would have been impossible then forAsiatics to gather together like this. Yet now we are here. I
see with my mind’s eye a new world being exacted. I see

in the speech of His Excellency the Chairman a new world
structure actually organized as Asiatic world for Asiatics.
Only a very few years back, the Asiatic peoples
seemed to have lived in another world, even in differentworld, divided, estranged, and not knowing each other oreven caring to know each other. Asia as a homeland did
not exist a few years ago. Asia was not one then, but many,as many as the enemies which kept her divided one or
another of those enemy Powers.
In the past, which now seems to be a very long timeago, it was inconceivable that the Asiatic peoples shouldmeet together as we are meeting here today. Well, theimpossible has happened. It has happened in a way which
outstrips the boldest fantasy or dream of the boldest
dreamer among us.
Today, an East Asiatic Assembly is sitting in thecapital of East Asia. Thus, a new world has come intoexistence, a new order, a new citizenship. For the first timein history, the East-Asiatic peoples are meeting together as
members of a free and equal brotherhood which isfounded upon and consecrated to the truth that East Asia is
one and indivisible.
Today’s gathering of the East-Asiatic peoples has notappeared out of nothing, out of an empty hat as it were. It
is only the climax of a long sequence of happenings whichhave destroyed one world and created another in East Asia.
These happenings, as I have said, have been great and very
far-reaching; Japan’s assumption of Asiatic leadership; theswift march of her invincible forces across East Asia andthe equality swift destruction of the anti-Asiatic Powers:
the great rally, unique in all history, of the East-Asiaticpeoples around Japan against the common enemy; andthen, as another great turning point in our progress, theindependence of Burma and the Philippines. Nothing
greater or more important has ever happened to the East.
Before I proceed further, I wish to express a thought
which has already been expressed by all the otherrepresentatives. But Burma also must have the honor ofexpressing it.
These events which I have described as having
changed the East so completely could never have
happened without Japan. It is Japan, as the leader of theEast, who has led us out of the long wilderness in which
so many of us have for so long wandered, lost andunredeemed. To her all East Asia owes much and all East
Asia, I am perfectly certain, will gladly repay her much.
I say that today’s meeting is a great symbolic act. As
His Excellency the Chairman has said, we are truly
creating a new world based upon justice, equality andreciprocity, upon the great principle of live and let live.
From every point of view, East Asia is a world in itself;materially self-sufficient and even rich to overflowing;strategically strong as a rock which can defy all enemies;
spiritually, one and complete representing an entire worldof its own. We, Asiatics, forgot this fact for long centuries
and paid heavily for it, for as a result the Asiatics lost Asia.
Now that we have once more, thanks to Japan, recaptured
this truth and acted upon it, the Asiatics will certainly
recover Asia. In that simple truth has the entire destiny ofAsia.
I am speaking now as one coming from a country
which has learned this lesson at a great price. Many

countries and peoples have paid this bitter price for thelesson. Burma paid the price heavily to an enemy whonever knew either mercy or justice. We are still paying theprice with death and destruction in every form. When wewere only sixteen million Burmese, although we struggled
for our birthright, it was in vain. For generations ourpatriots rose, led the people against the British enemy, but
because we never realized that we were a part of Asia, thatwhat sixteen million Burmese cannot succeed in doing a
thousand million Asiatis can easily do, and because wenever realized these basic facts, every revolt of ours
against the enemy was mercilessly crushed. Thus, sometwenty years ago in a national revolt Burmese villages
went up in flames, Burmese women were massacred,
Burmese patriots were imprisoned, hanged, exiled. But,
although the revolt ended in defeat, the flame, the Asiaticflame, kept burning in every Burmese heart. One revolt
was followed by another and in this way the struggle went
on. The day has at last come when our strength is not only
the strength of sixteen million Burmese but of a thousand
million East Asiatics, when so long as East Asia is strong,
Burma is strong and invincible.
I have spoken of East Asia as a whole, but the fact is
East Asia is not yet a whole. We must admit that the circle
still remains incomplete; there are still gaps in it here andthere. At this moment I am thinking particularly of India.
No one can think of the East without thinking of India.
There is no need at all for me to give reason for this. I
have often said that there cannot be a free Burma without
a free India. I will go further now and boldly declare that
there cannot be a free Asia without a free India.

India is the armoury and treasure-house, the footholdof anti-Asiatic aggression in Asia. The aggressors musttherefore be driven out of India with her endless treasuresand resources, her manpower and material power; theseresources of India must be wrested from the hands of theenemy. That is why I am confident that you will join me in
expressing quite definitely the view that Indianindependence is an integral part of Asiatic independence
and, therefore, India’s struggle is Asia’s struggle, ourstruggle , our war.
Mr. Subhas Chandra Bose will, I am sure, know that Iam speaking quite literally and with absolute conviction.
I now come to the present East-Asiatic war andEast-Asiatic order. There is hardly anything I can add towhat has already been said by the other representatives. Iwill however put it quite categorically. For us, this war
cannot be anything else than an imperative. Either East
Asia wins this war and lives, or she loses and dies. It isquite literally a matter of life and death. There is no otheralternative. It is a war for the very existence of East Asiaand her peoples, for her independence and peace andprosperity for a thousand years.
Let us face facts squarely. Burma is facing facts in aterrible way and therefore I am speaking boldly. I am sureI am also speaking for all other East-Asiatic countries
represented here. Everything is possible to East Asia if she
is united, strong and self-sufficient. A thousand million
East Asiatics standing together can win any war or anypeace.
As for the new Eastern order and economy, I am, as I
have said, profoundly grateful to His Excellency theChairman for his clear and unequivocal statement on it. He
has declared with his characteristic courage and decisionits basic principles to be justice, reciprocity, and mutual
respect for one another’s independence and sovereignty.
These are clear, reassuring words. These will be forever an
East-Asiatic Charter, a charter which will last as long as
the new East-Asiatic order will last. Founded upon theseprinciples the new Eastern Order will stand like a rockforever. This new East-Asiatic world has already thematerial conditions necessary for stability. Nature has, as I
have said, provided those material riches richly for thisnew world of ours. Materially, we lack nothing to makeour world stable and strong against our enemies. But thisdecidedly is not enough. Together with this material unity
there must be a spiritual unity based upon understanding
and tolerance, upon the fundamental proposition of one for
all and all for one. Together with our different nationalism
there must be a wider nationalism. Together with our
territorial horizons there must be a single East-Asiaticworld horizon. These are not mere sentiments or phrases
but a deadly task which we must accomplish or perish in
the attempt.
This is a general perspective of the whole questionwhich is now before us. As all the representatives haveemphasized, each one of us, all the individual nations mustalso travel their own way, move in their own orbit, andmake themselves strong in their own countries. We must
make ourselves good Asiatics, good neighbours, byprimarily being good citizens of our own countries. As I
have said more than once a strong Burma is Burma’s best
contribution to East Asia. Burma’s strength will be thestrength of East Asia and so also the strength of China,
Thailand, Manchoukuo, the Philippines and, last but notleast, India. And the strength of East Asia must be theunited strength of all these separate countries, moving,working, and co-operating in a free and equal world of
their own.
I will now try to apply this East-Asiatic principle toactual happenings. I will speak of my own country, Burma.
She is, as you all know, on the very front line of theEast-Asiatic war. You know what that means, thehardships, the terror, the loss of lives and homes—lives
existing one day and destroyed the next day. As I have said,Burma is facing these perils not only for herself but for all
East Asia, by guarding the common front line she isguarding the other parts of East Asia. I can assure you that
Burma will continue to maintain the front line to the end. I
wish however to ask the other East-Asiatic countries toremember that the war which is now actually raging in
Burma is also their war, that this war must be fought on
the principle of one for all and all for one, that it must befought with the strength of all East Asia. There must be apooling together of all our war strength and resources inorder to use them in the defense of the whole of East Asia,
in any country, on any front. In other words, just as East
Asia is one its efforts and economy and planning must be
one. There must be material as well as spiritual oneness.
The isolationist policy of every man for himself would be
the grossest act of betrayal and would destroy all of us,
sooner or later, above all the isolationists themselves.
Burma, as I have said, will continue to be as East-Asiatic
front line and to fight this war as East Asiatics for East

Asiatics. She, at the same time, naturally expects the otherEast-Asiatic countries to do the same.
You must pardon me if I am speaking so much about
war conditions in Burma. You will understand that I havecome as the representative of a people actually engaged ina total war in their own country. You will understand me if
I say that the people of Burma are living today in front line
conditions. Their homes and lives, their property,
everything that life means for them is daily exposed toenemy action. That is the reason why I have come, frankly,
with a firing –line complex in my mind. The Burmese inhistory have always proved themselves to be great fighters.
I can assure you that they still possess great fighting
qualities. Two years ago, our Burmese boys fought
without arms. They had to kill an enemy to get a gun andthey did it. Today, the war morale in Burma is strong andunbroken. Nothing will ever break it, for every Burmese
knows he is fighting for everything he holds dear.
I have spoken sufficiently of East-Asiatic oneness andthe need to fight this war together as East Asiatics and toconstruct a world together as East Asiatics. We havestarted this work in the right way at this Assembly. It is,however, necessary to continue the present work: further
than this, much further, to extend the work we have begun
so well today so that it should cover the whole area of thepresent war and the future peace. In other words, there
must be a permanent East Asiatic central organization
which will guide the common destiny of East Asia in aplanned collective way. This alone will make our unity
real and effective, a weapon indeed for both war and peace.
Needless to say, the council will represent the free andequal nations of Greater East Asia. The road before us
therefore is clear. We are only at the beginning of it now,
but we shall march forward. Past history shows thatwhenever the Asiatic power came together, whenever theyfound unity and leadership, they were able to march
anywhere, even to the world’s end.
Again and again in history the East has marchedagainst its enemies and destroyed them. It was only intimes when Asiatics forgot Asia that they broke before theenemy. But now, thanks to the great Nippon Empire, wehave discovered once more that we are Asiatics,
discovered our Asiatic blood, and it is this Asiaticc blood
which will redeem us and give us back Asia. Let us,
therefore, march ahead to the end of our road, a thousand
million East Asiatics marching into a new world where
East Asiatics will be forever free, prosperous and will findat last their abiding home.