HOUSE OF THE WEEK
A Golden Valley white out
UNBEKNOWST to Myanmar’s diligent meteorological department, an extremely localised snowstorm has carpeted the interior of this two-storey Golden Valley house. moreU Nyun, a man for all seasons
Myanmar’s connection with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) goes back much further than last month’s Development Forum in Nay Pyi Taw, contributing editor Ma Thanegi writes
Top: U Nyun (second right) meets US Vice President Hubert Humphrey (second left) at the UNECAFE headquarters in Bangkok on February 13, 1966. Bottom left: U Nyun in December, 1931. Bottom right: U Nyun with his wife, Daw Than Tin. Pics: SuppliedWHEN people use the word “great” to describe someone, too much emphasis is now placed on how famous they were, rather than what they may have done for the good of others.
One great Myanmar man, who was well known and highly respected within his profession and society and a much-loved patriarch of his family, was U Nyun, who, if he were still with us, would be celebrating his 100th birthday on January 20.
He did much good, not just for others but for the entire Asian region. From 1959 to 1973, he was executive secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), the predecessor to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), based in Bangkok.
During his term at ECAFE, he was instrumental in introducing decision-making by consensus rather than by vote.
Under his leadership of 14 years, ECAFE gave impetus to the progress of the region, which now boasts numerous Asian Tigers. U Nyun was also one of the initiators of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and he is, in fact, often called the Father of ADB.
As a devout Buddhist deeply steeped in the culture of his country, U Nyun knew the value of graciousness, generosity of spirit, humility and dignity and he brought these traits into his professional life. ECAFE was where Asian issues were discussed in such a non-controversial manner that it became known as Asia’s Parliament.
His 14 years as executive secretary of ECAFE were spent trying to empower Asia by turning it into an industrialised region. While it was a time fraught with conflict, including the India-Pakistan War and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, under his leadership ECAFE sessions went smoothly. There was friendliness between member nations and no influence or pressure from the “big” Western countries. ECAFE developed what would become known as the “Asian Way” of doing things.
U Nyun retired in 1973. In Resolution 128, sponsored and adopted by all member countries of the UN on his retirement from ECAFE, it was noted that they were “deeply appreciative of his enduring efforts to foster realisation of a sense of Asian identity and co-operation” and of his “assiduous and manifold contributions to the concept of brotherly understanding that has come to be known as the Asian Way”.
For his contribution to the region he was awarded the Sithu title by the Myanmar government and the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand by the King of Thailand.
Born in 1910 to a Bamar father and a Mon mother, U Nyun came from a family that had been landowners for generations. At the time, Yangon – then known as Rangoon – was still very much a British town. The population was made up more of Indians than Bamar, many of whom preferred to live in the countryside, as they had for centuries.
When universities were established in Yangon in the early 1920s, well-off Bamar families from both the city and country began sending their sons and daughters to college. When the students graduated, the men began their careers in the British administration and strived to join the Indian Civil Service (ICS), as at the time Myanmar (then called Burma) was considered part of India within the British Empire.
For the women, some became doctors or lawyers, while others undertook religious or welfare works in their communities. These early graduates settled in Yangon and with both family wealth and prestigious careers became the founders of the old-money aristocracy of Yangon, by now a huge community. Today they are all but invisible to those outside their society; many have no idea they exist at all.
Being studious, U Nyun was a scholarship boy from Grade 7 until his graduation from college. It was not all books and study for him, however; he was a “Gold” oarsman at the Yangon (Rangoon) University Boat Club, twice beating the all-British Rangoon Boat Club. He once swam two kilometres across Inya Lake in forty minutes, a feat his third son repeated in two hours. He was active in Buddhist affairs and was one of the founders of the University’s Dhammayone, or Buddhist prayer hall.
After his graduation in 1930, he sat for and passed the ICS selection exam and was sent to Oxford, London University and the London School of Economics. During his days in London, a friend recalled with amusement how he once saw U Nyun on a soapbox in Hyde Park, lecturing away on what he discerned was the issue of Myanmar’s separation from India but could not hear because the crowd was so large.
In 1933, U Nyun was appointed to the ICS in London and returned to serve in various districts in Myanmar. During WWII, he continued serving the Myanmar government and when the British returned to Myanmar after the war he was appointed Collector of Customs. When meetings took place in Switzerland for the setting up of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), U Nyun was Myanmar’s representative as a founding member country. (GATT later became the World Trade Organisation, or WTO.)
After independence in 1948 he became the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade. He then joined ECAFE in 1952 as chief of the Industry and Trade Division and in 1959 was appointed executive secretary. The same year, Lord Jellicoe, on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, hosted him to a lunch at Lancaster House in London.
A studious boy of a traditionalist family, one who was always the first to arrive in school, U Nyun wore his long hair in an elegant old Burman knot and only exchanged it for a Western haircut when he entered college. At college, his green blazer drew appreciative looks from the inhabitants of Inya Hall, where only the most popular and prettiest female students lived.
A devout Buddhist who energetically campaigned for a Dhammayone, he also enjoyed sharing jokes with the boys and loved classical songs.
Later, U Nyun was a dedicated administrator with an important mission, one who believed that ECAFE should address its message to senior officials rather than to governments – a man who knew the vital role of techno-crats in a country’s progress.
But what was he like as a person, a man away from his official duties?
As a Myanmar citizen, he did us proud in 1972 by installing the floodlights to beam up onto the spire of the Shwedagon Pagoda. This was unheard of in Myanmar at the time and the same was later done at Kaba Aye Pagoda’s Great Cave. Previously, a string of light bulbs were all that illuminated Shwedagon at night and it bore little resemblance to the golden glory we can now see at night.
He was a devoted husband to wife Daw Than Tin, who he met in college where they were both involved in Buddhist affairs. He was a good father to his four sons – U Aung Nyun, Dr Than Nyun, Dr Saw Win and Dr Hla Nyun – and one daughter, Daw Khin Than Nyun, who all did well in academia or medicine and made marriages for love in a society where arranged marriages were normal.
Among family and friends who were proud to be part of his extended family, he was a role model, mentor and succour.
He was a grandfather who delighted in sneaking away with his 11 grandchildren from under the stern eyes of their mothers for monthly toy shop forays. In his Shan shoulder bag – always on hand – there were notes of various denominations to tip his household staff, or buy things he did not need, at double the asking price, from downtown sellers whom he thought needed customers. He had time for friends, family members and strangers; rich or poor and from all walks of life.
What he used to tell his grandchildren and his great grandchildren – 14 so far – would be good guidelines for anyone. One thing he said in particular is noteworthy in these times of coming political change: In life, everyone faces problems, personally or professionally. One type of person sits and complains, while the other solves or tries to solve problems. That, he said, was the mark of a true leader.
