Friday 7 October 2016

By Alex Clark


Myanmar came out of nowhere only to find itself on a path to oblivion. It has a storied past, rich and exalted, has survived battles that both scarred and informed its character, and today is building a future that will surely rival its past. The ethnic origins of modern Myanmar (known historically as Burma) are a mixture of Indo-Aryans, who began pushing into the area around 700 B.C. , and the Mongolian invaders under Kublai Khan who penetrated the region in the 13th century. Anawrahta (1044-1077) was the first great unifier of Myanmar.

Myanmar is also known as Burma, although it is officially referred to as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. It is a country in the Southeast Asia bounded on the northeast side by China, on the southeast flank by Thailand, on the east side by Laos, on the west edge by Bangladesh, on the northwest border with India, and on the southwest bank by the bay of Bengal. Its southern limit is demarcated by the Andaman Sea. Geographically Burma is a coastal nation as almost one-third of the land is bounded by the sea.

The flag of Myanmar was recently adopted on October 21, 2010, in order to replace the socialist flag. The changes were made because of the constitution amended in 2008 including the name of the country.

The flag of Myanmar, formerly Burma, consists of a red background with a blue square in the top left corner. Inside the square is a white emblem. The emblem consists of a cog wheel and a paddy ear surrounded with 14, five-pointed stars.

The former flag, used from 1974 to 2010, was red with a small dark blue rectangle in the top left corner overlaid by a gear/pinion of 14 cogs, a grain paddy and a circle of stars, all in white. The number 14 signified the seven states and seven divisions of the Union of Myanmar, the gear, industry and the paddy, agriculture. The State Seal also has a 14-cog pinion. It has a map of Myanmar in its center, surrounded by ears of grain, and floral designs, flanked by two watchful lions.

This order of the colors is reflected in the flag of the State of Burma that was used at the time of the Japanese Occupation and has a green peacock at the middle. The new design of the flag can be regarded as a combination of this old flag with the white star and remove the green peacock. The white star represents the Union of Burma. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Myanmar flag for the future.




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