Burma had been a British colony since 1885 when the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942. Their strategic objective was the conquest of British India. To this end they enlisted the help of Burmese nationalists including Aung San. He soon appreciated the true nature of Japanese occupation and changed sides. The war ended with the Japanese surrender in August 1945. In 1947 Aung San became Prime Minister and prepared for independence as agreed with the Labour government in 1948. Aung San realised that Burma's success as a unified nation depended on the commitment of the ethnic minorities. Accordingly he negotiated the Pandong agreement giving recognition to the identities of ethnic groups in Kachin, Shan and the other states. Only the Karen remained outside Pandong. They were right to be sceptical as Aung San and 6 of his Cabinet were assassinated and conflicts began between the government and ethnic minority groups in the east and north.

General Ne Win, tired of the failure of civilian governments to end the civil wars, instigated a coup and installed the military government - the Tatmadaw - that has ruled Burma ever since. His constitution established Burma as a Buddhist country based on socialist principles. The consequences of socialism in Burma - as elsewhere - were, of course, an economy in rapid decline,The Burmese socialist Programme led to confiscation of private property, confiscation of farms and business nesses. State ownership of the media and banning of political parties, led to the end of this  to democracy. Burma became one of the poorest nations on earth.

Meanwhile Ne Win and his successors were no more successful than their predecessors in ending civil conflict,

The Tatmadaw has followed the usual socialist practice in exhorting the population to support its efforts: often with threats of what will happen to those who do not. One slogan outside the Palace Fort in Mandalay reads:'Tatmadaw upholds the cause and will crush all enemies'.

In 1988 University students started demonstrations which led to strikes spreading across the nation. This called the 8888 uprising was crushed by the military: with shootings of unarmed demonstrators and imprisonment without trial  large numbers in the ensuing crackdown. A new coup produced a hard line military council withe acronym SLOrC. General Than Shwe held effective power and began to align Burma with Russia and China. However, this failed to prevent the 'Saffron Revolution' of 2007 as Buddhist monks led widespread and prolonged protests . Again, the Army responded with killings and mass arrests,. Universities were closed for a time. 

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Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991. Following the 1988 events she was detained under house arrest: a total of 15 years between 1989 and 2010. She became leader of the newly formed National League for Democracy (NlLD): recognised by the red peacock flag.

In the elections of 2015 the NLD won 330 out of 440 seats in the House of Representatives and 221 out 264 in the House of Nationalities. The NLD will be able to nominate Chief Ministers from each of the States. Two, Rakhine (Araken) in the south west and Shan in the east do not have NLD majorities. It is unlikely that the NLD will impose their candidates for Chief Minister on those states: an Arakan National Party majority in Rakhine and an alliance between the pro-military USDP and ethnic groups in Shan State.

The key issue is who becomes President. Aung San Suu Kyi is debarred under section 59f of the constitutio: her children are British citizensit was perfectly plain that the nation regards Aung San Suu Kyi as its leader. It is time for the Tatmadaw to leave the stage and allow 'The Lady' - the title of a film on her life' - to finish the job started by her father, General Aung San 77 years ago. I mean that she can reach a on prehensile agreemen withe Burmese majority and the ethnic minorities on  decentralised federal form of democratic government.