On 20 December 1938, Bo Aung Kyaw was killed during a mounted police charge by the British Indian Imperial Police during the third

Rangoon University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

student boycott. Bo Aung Kyaw Day (20 December) commemorates him as the first student leader who died in the independence struggle of

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 ...

. In December 1938, striking workers from the Chauk and

Yenangyaung Yenangyaung ( my, ရေနံချောင်း; literally "stream of oil") is a city in the Magway Region of central Myanmar, located on the Irrawaddy River and 363 miles from Yangon. Until 1974, it remained the capital city of both Minbu Div ...

oilfields of the

Burmah Oil Company The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. History ...

marched to Rangoon to meet the British authorities. When the strikers reached Rangoon, they joined up with Rangoon University students who were staging their third annual protest against

colonial rule Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...

. The demonstration, which blocked access to the Secretariat, the seat of the colonial government, was broken up by the Indian Imperial Police. Many students, including

Kyi Maung Colonel Kyi Maung ( my, ကြည်မောင်, ; 20 December 192019 August 2004) was a Burmese Army officer and politician. Originally a member of the military-backed Union Revolutionary Council that seized power in 1962, Kyi Maung resigne ...

and Aung Kyaw, received serious injuries, and the latter later succumbed to a head injury received from a police baton. Aung Kyaw was posthumously conferred the title ''Bo'' (leader) by the students.

References

Nationalist movements of Myanmar December observances {{Myanmar-stub