Welcome to the Temple -- painting and photograph, copyright Kyi May Kaung
I could not agree with Dr. Zarni more.
Anyone who has read Dr. Victor Lieberman's Burmese Administrative Cycles
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/900222
knows there is nothing romantic or even high flown about the Burman or Bama monarchies.
Essentially dynastic founder kings unified by force, then as the dynasty progressed to the brain cracked end products (due to royal intermarriage) at the end of dynasties, the same cycle started again.
Gen. Ne Win and Sr. Gen Than Shwe imagining themselves Bama kings are very dangerous.
Though the colonial period had problems - (it also was centralized as a bureaucracy) - at least it had a semblance of peace and law and order.
But during the Independence struggle the "romance" of Nationalism, like the Irish struggle, was revived again.
Everyone knows that Dr. Htin Aung was stranded in UK in old age and wanting to come home and wrote Stricken Peacock to curry favor with U Ne Win and get to go home.
And he did.
Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)
Left on Irrawaddy site -- 10-17-09
Note: Bama or Burman is the predominant ethnic group. Some others are Shan, Karen, Kachin, Lahu, Wa, Chin etc etc.
Burmese is the name for the collectivity. I don't think "Myanmarese" is in general use.
Myanmar is name the junta calls the country.
Everyone else (almost) calls it Burma.
