Flag of Myanmar

File:Flag of Myanmar (2007 proposal).svg

Flag adopted on 21 October 2010

The flag of Burma (also called Myanmar) was adopted on 21 October 2010, replacing the former socialist flag. The new flag has 3 horizontal bands of colour, light green, dark green, and red from top to bottom. A large white star is situated in the middle of the flag. There has been no official explanation as to what these elements symbolize.

History

Union of Burma flag (c.1948 to 1974).
Flag ratio: 5:9

Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma Flag (adopted on January 3, 1974).
Flag ratio: 5:9 (also 2:3 and 6:11)

The flag originated in the Burman Resistance, which adopted a red flag with a white star when fighting the occupying Japanese forces during World War II. Upon independence, the star was modified to a blue canton with 5 small stars surrounding one large one, symbolizing the uniting of the country's diverse peoples. Red stood for the courage of the people, blue for peace and integrity, and white for purity. The emblem was changed in 3 January 1974 upon the declaration of a socialist republic by Ne Win. The 5 stars were changed to 14, encircling a cogwheel and a rice plant. There are 14 stars encircling a cogwheel and a rice plant. The rice stands for agriculture, the cogwheel represents industry, the 14 stars represent the unity and equality between the 14 member states of the Union. These socialist symbols stand for the workers and farmers. The new flag design was not radically different from the previous flag of Burma, in that both featured a red field with a blue canton in the upper corner on the hoist side. However, the imagery within the canton was changed to reflect the new socialist ideology of the country.

Previous flags of Burmese monarchs featured the green peacock. The use of the green peacock was continued during British colonial times and the State of Burma. Although the star has replaced the peacock on the flag, the flag of the banned National League for Democracy party features both the peacock and the star.

Proposal for change

Proposed flag in 2006

File:Flag of Myanmar (2007 proposal).svg

Proposed flag described in the 2008 constitution

A new national flag was proposed on November 10, 2006, during a constitutional convention. The new flag would consist of three equally sized green, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, with a white star in the hoist end of the green stripe. Green represents peace, tranquility and the country's lush and verdant environment; yellow represents solidarity; while red represents valor and decisiveness. The star represents "the perpetual existence of the consolidated Union."

The proposal for changing the flag was put forward by a commission working under the National Convention, held in Nyaung Hna Pin. A few days later, state media reported that the delegates of the National Convention rejected the new flag.

In September 2007, another new flag was proposed, this time with a larger white star and with the stripes in a different order. The same order was used in the flag of the State of Burma, a Japanese puppet state which existed between 1943 and 1945, which featured a green peacock in the centre. This version was included in the new constitution, and was adopted with the 2008 referendum. The new constitution (and with it, the new flag) will come into force with the first sitting of the parliament to be elected in the 2010 election.

Similar flags

The former flag of Burma appears similar to the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and to the flag of Samoa . It has been reported that a Taiwanese spectator cheered for the Chinese Taipei national baseball team with a flag of Burma at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China (PRC) and many international sport games, where public display of the flag of the ROC was barred by the PRC.

Historic flags of Burma

• The Golden Hintha flag, used between (1300 - 1500)
  The Golden Hintha flag, used between (1300 - 1500)
• 
  Flag of Burmese Empire under Konbaung dynasty (1700-1885)
• 
  Flag of British Burma as a colony of British India (1824-1939)
• 
  Flag of British Burma, as a separate colony (1939 - 1943, 1945-1948)
• 
  Flag of the State of Burma (1943 – 1945)
• 
  Flag of the Union of Burma (1948 - 1974)
• 
  Flag of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (1974-1988) and the Union of Myanmar (1988-2010)
• Flag of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2010-current)
  Flag of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2010-current)

External links

Media related to Flags of Myanmar at Wikimedia Commons