Aung Zan Wai ( my, အောင်ဇံဝေ; 19 November 1893 – 29 December 1984) was an Arakanese politician and one of the most important negotiators and leaders of the historical

Panglong Conference The Panglong Conference ( my, ပင်လုံညီလာခံ), held in February 1947, was a historic meeting that took place at Panglong in the Shan States in Burma between the Shan, Kachin and Chin ethnic minority leaders and Aung San, ...

in 1947. The signing of

Panglong Agreement The Panglong Agreement ( my, ပင်လုံစာချုပ် ) was reached in Panglong, Southern Shan State, between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on 12 February 1947. Aung Zan Wai, Pe ...

is now celebrated as a national holiday, Union Day, in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Early life

He was born in

Sittwe Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers empt ...

, Kyauktaw, British Burma in 1893. He was an ethnic Rakhine.

Politics

He joined an Arakanese Team called Rakhapura in 1918 as he started getting involved in politics, and worked as a Team Secretary. He used to be the member of

General Council of Burmese Associations The General Council of Burmese Associations (GCBA), also known as the Great Burma Organisation ( my, မြန်မာအသင်းချုပ်ကြီး; ''Myanma Ahthinchokgyi''), was a political party in Burma. History The GCBA was for ...

(GCBA) as well. Later he founded the English-Burmese middle school in

Kyauktaw Kyauktaw ( my, ေက်ာက္ေတာ္ၿမိဳ႕ ) is a town in northern Rakhine State, in the westernmost part of Myanmar. The famous Mahamuni Buddha image was originally situated near Kyauktaw, in the ruins of the old city of Dhanya ...

and worked as a Headmaster. In 1936, he was chosen as a Lower House Senator from

. Also he worked as a secretary at the Ministry of Law and Justice. In 1945, he joined

Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League The Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), ; abbreviated , ''hpa hsa pa la'' was the dominant political alliance in Burma from 1945 to 1958. It consisted of political parties and mass and class organizations. The league evolved out of ...

. He also worked as an adviser for the establishment of

in 1947. Then he participated as a minister in the Ministry of Health and Social Service which was part of the Council of Governor Sir

Hubert Rance Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance (17 July 1898 – 24 January 1974) was a British politician who was the last Governor of British Burma between 1946 and 1948, during the transition from Japanese to British colonial administration. Later he ...

where General Aung San was the Chairman. He participated in

together with other leaders and Myanmar Representatives who were the leader, General Aung San, Sir Maung Kyi, Dr. Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe,

Tin Tut Tin Tut, CBE ( my, တင်ထွဋ်, ; also spelt Tin Htut; 1 February 1895 – 18 September 1948) was the 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Burma, and the Minister of Finance in Aung San's pre-independence government. Educat ...

, Bo Khin Maung Kalay, Thakin Watin, Bo Aung, Bo Min Lwin, Ko Ko Lay, Bo Thein Swe, Tin Nyunt and Maung Maung.

After the war

After Myanmar was independent, he was assigned as a minister of the Ministry of Social Work and Health when he was chosen as a member of Chamber of Deputies represented for Sittwe. Then he performed as a minister of Ethnic Affairs in 1949. In 1970, he was a member in a committee formed to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of National Day of Myanmar.

Assassination

He survived from the attack when General Aung San and other ministers were assassinated on 19 July 1947.

Death

He died on 29 December 1984 in Rangoon and left his second wife, San Thar Nu, three daughters and a son.

References

{{Reflist 1893 births 1984 deaths Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League politicians Government ministers of Myanmar Burmese people of World War II Burmese people of Rakhine descent