Campaign to designate U Ottama Day an official public holiday continues, say advocates

By DMG 09 Sep 2021

DMG Newsroom
9 September 2021, Sittw  

People in Arakan State paying respects on Sayadaw U Ottama Day, commemorated September 9, said they would continue to push the government to designate an official public holiday for the independence hero, and would not quit until their demand is met. 

Sayadaw U Ottama was a revolutionary monk known not only in Myanmar but also globally, said author Bagyi Kyaw.  

“I’d like to demand that the day Sayadaw U Ottama died be set as a public holiday because he was arrested during the revolution for independence,” he said. 

Sayadaw Thabawa Nadi, general secretary of the Arakan Monk Association-Yangon, said they will demand that September 9 be set aside annually as an official public holiday. 

They also call for upgrading all parks that are opened in various townships with the name U Ottama, and to emphasise U Ottama in the curricula of Myanmar, Sayadaw Thabawa Nadi said. 

“Sayadaw U Ottama worked for both Myanmar and Asia; they are in his debt. So, the day to commemorate the Sayadaw should be set as an official public holiday and information about him should be included in school curricula. It is a kind of acknowledging what he did,” Sayadaw Thabawa Nadi said.  

U Poe San, a former Arakan State Hluttaw lawmaker in Kyaukphyu Township, said the day the Sayadaw died should be a public holiday. 

“The Sayadaw sacrificed to gain independence for Myanmar, so a martyr’s day should be set aside for him,” he said. 

The 82^nd anniversary of Sayadaw U Ottama’s death was commemorated in brief on Thursday at different townships in Arakan State, with participants laying wreaths to pay tribute to him. 

Sayadaw U Ottama is credited with inspiring a wave of patriotism and pro-independence zeal under British colonial rule, and is well-known as an architect of then-Burma’s freedom struggle. He died on September 9, 1939, at the age of 59.