Flag of Myanmar

Current flag since 2010

The State Flag described in the 2008 Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar was adopted by enacting the 2010 Union Flag Law and the abolishment of the 1974 State Flag Law on 21 October 2010. It was hoisted for the first time at 3:00 p.m. local time on 21 October 2010. Orders were also handed out to ensure all old national flags were burned.

Unlike the previous 1974 State Flag Law, the 2010 Union Flag Law includes the definition of the flag. The current flag is a horizontal tricolour flag of saffron, green, and red charged with a five-pointed white star in the centre of the field. The background is a saffron, green, and red tricolor, meant to honour the tricolours used during the independence struggle. The saffron represents unity, conformity, wisdom, happiness, and unity of all national races amicably. The green symbolises fertility, conformity, fairness, and being a peaceful, pleasant, and green nation. The red represents bravery and decisiveness. The white star stands for purity, honesty, fullness of compassion, and power. File:Flag of Myanmar.svg|State Flag of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, in use since 21 October 2010. File:Flag of Myanmar (construction sheet).svg|Detailed construction sheet. File:Flag of Myanmar specifications.jpg|Specifications of the flag.

Obsolete flags (1948–2010)

The two flags used by the country immediately before the 2010 flag both originated in the Burmese Resistance, which adopted a red flag with a white star when fighting the occupying Japanese forces during World War II.

1948 flag

The National Flag of the Union of Burma was designed by Maung Win and adopted by the Constituent Assembly of the Union of Burma in August 1947. On 3 January 1974, it was replaced by the State Flag of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma.

1974 flag

Proportion 5:9; civil and state flag and state ensign. ]]

The State Flag designed by Mya Thaung and adopted on 3 January 1974

After the 1988 coup, the new juntas, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and its successor the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), continued to use this flag as the State Flag of the Union of Myanmar. But they removed the reference to socialism by replacing "the socialist system" with "the State" in the school lesson about the State Flag; peasants and workers became the fundamental social classes of building the State.

The 14-star flag was hung upside down during the 8888 Uprising of 1988 by demonstrators as a sign of protest against the military government. Despite its association with the periods of military rule, the 1974 flag is used by demonstrators in the 2021 Myanmar protests, alongside the 1948 flag.

Vertical style

Current flag

When hanging or depicting vertically, the yellow must be on left and the star must point to left. |access-date=25 March 2022 |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302103043/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/11/19/president-obama-promises-support-people-burma |url-status=live

Obsolete flags

1948 flag

When hanging or depicting vertically, the blue canton must be in the upper hoist, and the stars in the canton must point to the left.

Influence of pre-independence flags

The Tricolours

In 1930, the Dobama Asiayone adopted a tricolour (, ) of yellow, green and red. In 1935, a peacock was added in the centre of the tricolour. In 1938, the leftists from Dobama Asiayone replaced the peacock with a hammer and sickle. Both of the tricolours were widely used by anti-colonialists during British rule. The peacock flag was also used by the Burma Independence Army and the State of Burma adopted it as the national flag from 1943 to 1945. In 1943, a stylized version of the peacock was introduced. This version was used by the Burma Defense Army (with the peacock in red) and as a variant of the national flag by the State of Burma (with the peacock in gold). There are two songs with the same name, "သုံးရောင်ခြယ်သီချင်း" (meaning: "Tricolour Song"), composed by two different composers about the meaning behind the Tricolour symbolism and the hope of Burmese people.

File:Burmese Nationalist Flag.svg|Dobama Asiayone (1930–1935) File:Flag of the State of Burma (1943–1945).svg|Dobama Asiayone (1935–1938) File:Hammer and Sickle flag of Burma.svg|Dobama Asiayone (1938–1939) File:Black Hammer and Sickle flag of Burma.svg|Dobama Asiayone (Variant) (1938–1939) File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg|Burma Independence Army (1942) File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg|The State of Burma (1943–1945) File:Flag of the State of Burma (Stylized version).svg|The State of Burma (stylized) (1943–1945) File:Burma Defence Army Flag.svg|Burma Defence Army (1943)

In these tricolours, the color saffron symbolizes the Śāsana (Buddhism) and education, green represents staple grains, crops, minerals and jewelry, red signifies bravery or courage, and the peacock represents the Konbaung. The hammer and sickle represent workers and peasants, respectively.

The Resistance Flag

In 1945, when the Burma National Army changed sides and fought together with local resistance forces against the Japanese. A new flag, with a red field charged with a white star in the upper hoist, was adopted as the "Resistance Flag."

Influences

The tricolours and the resistance flag have been depicted as "national flags" together with the pre-colonial and post-independence national flags. The resistance flag is alluded to and honoured by the 1948–1974 flag, while all the tricolours are referred and honoured by the current flag.

Proposals

1947 proposals

In 1947, the Constituent Assembly of the Union of Burma formed a preparatory committee for State flag, State seal and State anthem. That committee held a flag design contest, and the flag designed by Maung Win won the first prize. There was a dispute at the committee's meeting in August 1947 whether or not the peacock should be added further to the proposed State flag; but after long discussions, the committee decided that the peacock should be rejected.

File:Flag of Burma (1948-1974).svg|Flag designed by Maung Win, which won the first prize at the flag design contest (1947)

2006–2007 proposals

A new design for the national flag was proposed on 10 November 2006 during a constitutional convention. The new flag would have consisted of three equally sized green, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, with a white star in the hoist end of the green stripe.

In September 2007, another new design was proposed with a larger white star in the middle and with the stripes in a different order, namely: yellow, green, and red. The proposal was a version of Burmese Tricolour with the white star. This proposal is also based on the flag of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

The flag proposed in September 2007 was included in the new constitution, and was accepted with the 2008 referendum.

Flag of Myanmar (2006 proposal).svg|2006 proposal Flag of Myanmar.svg|2007 proposal

Former 2019 proposals

Two years before the 2021 coup, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) proposed a series of constitutional amendments in July 2019, including one to change the national flag. Four political parties, the NLD, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy(SNLD), Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD) and National United Democratic Party (NUDP) proposed four new designs for the flag. The NLD proposed changing the national flag as they do not believe that the flag adopted in 2010 has the full support of the people of Myanmar. Their proposed flag was based on the flag adopted by the country at independence and consisted of a red field with a blue canton in the upper hoist. Within the blue canton is a large white star representing the union which is surrounded by 14 smaller white stars representing the states and regions of the country.

Flag of Myanmar (2019 proposal).svg|The NLD's proposal File:Flag of Myanmar - Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD)'s proposal 2019.svg|The SNLD's proposal File:Flag of Myanmar - Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD)'s proposal 2019.svg|The ZCD's proposal File:Flag of Myanmar - The National United Democratic Party (NUDP)'s proposal 2019.svg|The NUDP's proposal

Historical flags before 1948

Main article: List of Burmese flags#Historical flags

File:Golden Hintar flag of Burma.svg|Flag used in the Hanthawaddy kingdom (–1552) File:Flag of Konbaung Dynasty (Nonrectangular).svg|Flag used as national flag of Burma under Konbaung Dynasty (–1885) File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|Flag of the United Kingdom used as the colonial flag of British Burma (1886 – 1942 ; 1945 – 4 January 1948) File:British Burma 1937 flag.svg|Colonial flag of British Burma (6 February 1939 – 30 March 1941; 1945 – 3 January 1948) File:Flag of Burma (1941–1942).svg|Provisional colonial flag of British Burma (30 March 1941 – 1942) File:Flag of Japan (1870–1999).svg|Provisional flag of Japanese Military Administration of Burma (1942–1943) File:Flag of Burma 1943.svg|State flag of the State of Burma (1 August 1943 – 1945) File:Flag of the State of Burma (Stylized version).svg|Stylized variant design of the flag of the State of Burma (1943–1945)

Gallery

File:Myanmar Presidential Palace.jpg|Flag of Myanmar flown on the Presidential Palace, Naypyidaw File:Flag of Myanmar at Byint Naung Statue Garden Park.jpg|Flag of Myanmar flown at Bayint Naung Statue Garden Park in Kawthaung. File:Flag of Myanmar and Tanintharyi Region at 1199 Mountain Peak.jpg|The flag of Myanmar flown alongside the flag of Tanintharyi Region on 1199 Mountain Peak in Kawthaung. File:Barack Obama speaks at University of Yangon.jpg|Barack Obama addressing the Burmese public during a speech at the University of Yangon on 19 November 2012. The vertical version of the Union Flag was depicted on the wall behind.

References

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