The State Flag of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar was adopted on 21 October 2010.

Current flag since 2010

The State FlagArticle 437 (a), Chapter , Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, (2008) described in the 2008 Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar was adopted by enacting the 2010 Union Flag Law and the abolishment of the 1974 State Flag Law on 21 October 2010. It was hoisted for the first time at 3:00 p.m. local time on 21 October 2010. Orders were also handed out to ensure all old national flags were burned. Unlike the previous 1974 State Flag Law, the 2010 Union Flag Law includes the definition of the flag. The current flag is a horizontal tricolour flag of yellow, green, and red charged with a five-pointed white star in the centre of the field. The background is a yellow, green, and red tricolor, meant to honour the tricolours used during the independence struggle. The yellow represents unity, conformity, wisdom, happiness, and unity of all national races amicably. The green symbolises fertility, conformity, fairness, and being a peaceful, pleasant, and green nation. The red represents bravery and decisiveness. The white star stands for purity, honesty, fullness of compassion, and power. File:Flag of Myanmar.svg, State Flag of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, in use since 21 October 2010. File:Flag of Myanmar (construction sheet).svg, Detailed construction sheet. File:Flag of Myanmar specifications.jpg, Specifications of the flag.

Obsolete flags (1948–2010)

The two flags used by the country immediately before the 2010 flag both originated in the Burmese Resistance, which adopted a red flag with a white star when fighting the occupying Japanese forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

1948 flag

The National Flag of the Union of Burma was designed by Maung Win and adopted by the Constituent Assembly of the Union of Burma in August 1947. It was hoisted for the first time at 4:25 AM on 4 January 1948 when

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

gained its independence from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The flag consisted of a red field defaced with a blue canton. The blue canton was charged with one large white star surrounded by five smaller stars between its rays. The big white star in the canton and the red field honour the Resistance Flag and indicate the anti-fascist struggle. The five small white stars between the rays of the big white star symbolize the unity of various ethnicities of the republican union founded as a result of the resistance. The red represents courage, determination and unity. The blue canton means the nature of the sky, having deep meanings, the fresh and clear mind, and the light emitted in the night sky. The usage of stars is for the nature of the stars: never stopping, never cancelling the chosen path, always moving forward, being a guide for travellers, and existing since the beginning of the world indicating that Burma is with its rightful glory as an independent republic on the earth, while the colour white represents purity, righteousness and steadfastness. This flag has a ratio of 5:9 in which the canton has a ratio of 2:4. On 3 January 1974, it was replaced by the State Flag of the

Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma , conventional_long_name = Socialist Republic ofthe Union of Burma , common_name = Burma , status = , status_text = , p1 = Union of Burma (1948–1962)Union of Burma , flag_p1 ...

1974 flag

The State FlagArticle 191, Chapter , Constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, 1974 designed by Mya Thaung and adopted on 3 January 1974 upon the coming into force of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

of the

has a similar ratio and background colours as the previous flag but with different charge in the canton. The colour representations are also different: white is for purity and virtue, red for bravery and decisiveness, blue for peacefulness and steadfastness. It depicts 14 equal-sized white stars encircling a pinion with 14 cogs and ear of paddy with 34 grains superimposed on it (each star on each cog of the pinion) in a blue canton against a red field. The paddy represents peasants while the pinion represents workers; the combination symbolizes the peasants and workers as the foundation social classes for building the State. The 14 equal-sized white stars represent the equality and unity of the 14 members (7 states and 7 divisions) of the Union. The 14-star flag was hung upside down during the

8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising, also known as the People Power Uprising and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) that peaked in August 1988. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988 and ther ...

of 1988 by demonstrators as a sign of protest against the military government. Despite its association with the period of military rule under Ne Win and later the

State Peace and Development Council The State Peace and Development Council ( ; abbreviated SPDC or , ) was the official name of the Military dictatorship, military government of Burma (Myanmar) which, in 1997, succeeded the State Law and Order Restoration Council (; abbrevi ...

, the 1974 flag is used by demonstrators in the

2021 Myanmar protests 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

, alongside the 1948 flag.

Vertical style

Current flag

When hanging or depicting vertically, the yellow must be on left and the star must point to left.

Obsolete flags

1948 flag

When hanging or depicting vertically, the blue canton must be in the upper hoist, and the stars in the canton must point to the left.

Influence of pre-independence flags

The Tricolours

In 1930, the

Dobama Asiayone Dobama Asiayone ( , ; ), better known as Thakins ( , ; ), was a Burmese nationalist group formed around the 1930s and composed of young, disgruntled intellectuals. Drawing their name from the way in which the British were addressed during colon ...

adopted a

tricolour A triband is a vexillological style which consists of three stripes arranged to form a flag. These stripes may be two or three colours, and may be charged with an emblem in the middle stripe. Not all tribands are tricolour flags, which requires t ...

(, ) of yellow, green and red. In 1935, a peacock was added in the centre of the tricolour. In 1938, the leftists from Dobama Asiayone replaced the peacock with a

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: ) is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing wo ...

. Both of the tricolours were widely used by anti-colonialists during British rule. The peacock flag was also used by the

Burma Independence Army The Burma Independence Army (BIA), was a Collaboration with Imperial Japan, pro-Japanese and revolutionary army that fought for the end of British rule in Burma by assisting the Empire of Japan, Japanese in Japanese conquest of Burma, their c ...

and the

State of Burma The State of Burma (; , ''Biruma-koku'') was a Japanese puppet state established in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II. Background During the early stages of World War II, the Empire of Japan invaded British Burma ...

adopted it as the national flag from 1943 to 1945. In 1943, a stylized version of the peacock was introduced. This version was used by the Burma Defense Army (with the peacock in red) and as a variant of the national flag by the State of Burma (with the peacock in gold). There are two songs with the same name, "" (meaning: "Tricolour Song"), composed by two different composers about the meaning behind the Tricolour symbolism and the hope of Burmese people. File:National flag of Third Burmese Empire (Konbaung Dynasty).svg, Flag of Third Burmese Empire (Konbaung Dynasty) (1826–1885) File:Flag of Imperial India.svg, Burma as part of British India (1930–1935) File:Burmese Nationalist Flag.svg, Dobama Asiayone (1930–1935) File:Flag of the State of Burma (1943–1945).svg, Dobama Asiayone (1935–1938) File:Hammer and Sickle flag of Burma.svg, Dobama Asiayone (1938–1939) File:Black Hammer and Sickle flag of Burma.svg, Dobama Asiayone (Variant) (1938–1939) File:Flag of Burma (1939–1941, 1945–1948).svg, Flag of British Burma (1939–1941) File:Flag of Burma (1941–1942).svg, Flag of British Burma (1941–42) File:Flag of Japan (1870–1999).svg, Period of Japanese military administration (1942–1943) File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg, Burma Independence Army (1942) File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg, The State of Burma (1943–1945) File:Flag of the State of Burma (Stylized version).svg, The State of Burma (stylized) (1943–1945) File:Burma Defence Army Flag.svg, Burma Defence Army (1943) File:Flag of Burma (1939–1941, 1945–1948).svg, Flag of British Burma (1945–1948) In these tricolours, the color yellow symbolizes the Sasana (

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

) and education, green represents staple grains, crops, minerals and jewelry, red signifies bravery or courage, and the peacock represents the

Konbaung The Konbaung dynasty (), also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in history of Mya ...

. The hammer and sickle represent workers and peasants, respectively.

The Resistance Flag

In 1945, when the

Burma National Army The Burma Independence Army (BIA), was a pro-Japanese and revolutionary army that fought for the end of British rule in Burma by assisting the Japanese in their conquest of the country in 1942 during World War II. It was the first post-col ...

changed sides and fought together with local resistance forces against the Japanese. A new flag, with a red field charged with a white star in the upper hoist, was adopted as the "Resistance Flag."

Influences

The tricolours and the resistance flag have been depicted as "national flags" together with the pre-colonial and post-independence national flags. The resistance flag is alluded to and honoured by the 1948–1974 flag, while all the tricolours are referred and honoured by the current flag.

Proposals

1947 proposals

In 1947, the Constituent Assembly of the Union of Burma formed a preparatory committee for State flag, State seal and State anthem. That committee held a flag design contest, and the flag designed by Maung Win won the first prize. There was a dispute at the committee's meeting in August 1947 whether or not the peacock should be added further to the proposed State flag; but after long discussions, the committee decided that the peacock should be rejected. File:Flag of Burma (1948-1974).svg, Flag designed by Maung Win, which won the first prize at the flag design contest (1947)

2006–2007 proposals

A new design for the national flag was proposed on 10 November 2006 during a constitutional convention. The new flag would have consisted of three equally sized green, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, with a white star in the hoist end of the green stripe. In September 2007, another new design was proposed with a larger white star in the middle and with the stripes in a different order, namely: yellow, green, and red. The proposal was a version of Burmese Tricolour with the white star. The flag proposed in September 2007 was included in the new constitution, and was accepted with the 2008 referendum. Flag of Myanmar (2006 proposal).svg, 2006 proposal Flag of Myanmar.svg, 2007 proposal

Former 2019 proposals

Two years before the 2021 coup, the ruling

National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy (, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a deregistered liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It became the country's ruling party after a landslide victo ...

(NLD) proposed a series of constitutional amendments in July 2019, including one to change the national flag. Four political parties, the NLD, SNLD, ZCD and NUP proposed four new designs for the flag. The NLD proposed changing the national flag as they do not believe that the flag adopted in 2010 has the full support of the people of Myanmar. Their proposed flag was based on the flag adopted by the country at independence and consisted of a red field with a blue canton in the upper hoist. Within the blue canton is a large white star representing the union which is surrounded by 14 smaller white stars representing the states and regions of the country. Flag of Myanmar (2019 proposal).svg, The NLD's proposal File:Flag of Myanmar - Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD)'s proposal 2019.svg, The SNLD's proposal File:Flag of Myanmar - Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD)'s proposal 2019.svg, The ZCD's proposal File:Flag of Myanmar - The National Unity Party (NUP)'s proposal 2019.svg, The NUP's proposal

Historical flags before 1948

File:Golden Hintar flag of Burma.svg, Flag used in the Hanthawaddy Kingdom (–1552) File:Flag of Konbaung Dynasty (Nonrectangular).svg, Flag used as national flag of Burma under

Konbaung Dynasty The Konbaung dynasty (), also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in history of Mya ...

(–1885) File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg,

Flag of the United Kingdom The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801, which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in pe ...

used as the colonial flag of

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

(1886 – 1942 ; 1945 – 4 January 1948) File:British Burma 1937 flag.svg, Colonial flag of

(6 February 1939 – 30 March 1941; 1945 – 3 January 1948) File:Flag of Burma (1941–1942).svg, Provisional colonial flag of

(30 March 1941 – 1942) File:Flag of Japan (1870–1999).svg, Provisional flag of Japanese Military Administration of Burma (1942–1943) File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg, State flag of the State of Burma (1 August 1943 – 1945) File:Flag of the State of Burma (Stylized version).svg, Stylized variant design of the flag of the State of Burma (1943–1945)

Gallery

File:Myanmar Presidential Palace.jpg, Flag of Myanmar flown on the Presidential Palace, Naypyidaw File:Flag of Myanmar at Byint Naung Statue Garden Park.jpg, Flag of Myanmar flown at Bayint Naung Statue Garden Park in

Kawthaung Kawthaung (, ; ; ; , ; , ڤولودوا) is a border town located in the southernmost part of Myanmar, in the Tanintharyi Region. During British rule in Burma between 1824 and 1948, it was known as Victoria Point. As of 2021, it has a population o ...

. File:Flag of Myanmar and Tanintharyi Region at 1199 Mountain Peak.jpg, The flag of Myanmar flown alongside the flag of

Tanintharyi Region Tanintharyi Region (, ; Mon: or ; formerly Tenasserim Division and Tanintharyi Division) is a region of Myanmar, covering the long narrow southern part of the country on the northern Malay Peninsula, reaching to the Kra Isthmus. It borders ...

on 1199 Mountain Peak in Kawthaung. File:Barack Obama speaks at University of Yangon.jpg, Barack Obama addressing the Burmese public during a speech at the University of Yangon on 19 November 2012. The vertical version of the Union Flag was depicted on the wall behind.

References

External links

*
Timeline Flag of Myanmar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Burma National symbols of Myanmar

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Flags with stars Quadcolor flags

Current flag since 2010

Obsolete flags (1948–2010)

1948 flag

1974 flag

Vertical style

Current flag

Obsolete flags

1948 flag

Influence of pre-independence flags

The Tricolours

The Resistance Flag

Influences

Proposals

1947 proposals

2006–2007 proposals

Former 2019 proposals

Historical flags before 1948

Gallery

See also

References

External links