Historic Hijacking to Get Big-screen Treatment

Moviegoers will soon get a chance to relive a dramatic episode in Myanmar’s early postindependence history

By KYAW HSU MON / YANGON

In June 1954, the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO), an armed group formed by the Karen National Union, was still reeling from the death of its leader, Saw Ba U Gyi, who had been killed in an ambush by government army troops four years earlier.

The loss left the KNDO (which later became the Karen National Liberation Army) severely weakened. The ethnic rebels struggled with a lack of financial support, medicine and weapons, leading to low morale.

Hoping to reverse the armed group’s fortunes, 28-year-old KNDO Maj Saw Kyaw Aye decided to do something that had never been done before in Myanmar: hijack a plane, in a desperate bid to reach a remote part of the Dawna mountain range in Kayin State where there was rumored to be an arms cache left behind by Japanese troops at the end of WWII.

In the end, the plan, carried out on June 25, 1954, failed: The Union of Burma Airways flight from Yangon to Sittwe that Saw Kyaw Aye and two colleagues decided to hijack was forced to land in Magyizin, a village in southern Rakhine State’s Gwa Township. Armed with pistols and hand grenades, the trio was powerless to reach their intended destination because the Dakota plane they were in didn’t have enough fuel to take off.

Faced with a hopeless situation, the hapless hijackers returned control of the plane to the pilot and made off with a government-owned strongbox guarded by a military officer who was also on board. The box contained 700,000 kyat in cash—at that time worth far more than the US $700 it would fetch today.

Now, nearly six decades after this incident made headlines in Myanmar, it is attracting renewed attention thanks to a book published in April of this year titled, “Myanmar’s Hijacking: The First in the World.”

Although the hijacking was not in fact the first in the world (that dubious honor goes to an incident in Arequipa, Peru, on Feb. 21, 1931), the book, by writer Hla Thaung, proved to be a big hit. And soon the movie-going public will also get a chance to relive this early episode in post-independence history, with a new film slated for release next year.

The 300 million kyat ($300,000) production, by Yangon-based director Antony, will be modest by the standards of studios in more developed movie markets. But despite its small budget, it aims to showcase Myanmar’s up-andcoming acting talent, and even hopes to find an international audience.

“I’m so excited to make this film. It’s a really big job,” said Antony, adding that while the film—based on the book and his own interviews with Saw Kyaw Aye and the last surviving passenger— would be historically accurate, it would also include “some romantic scenes.”

The director said he hopes to have the movie in theaters by next June, in time for the 60th anniversary of the hijacking, but worries he may have trouble arranging screenings at movie theaters in Yangon.

“If I can’t show it here at that time, I will attempt to show it in international theaters,” he said.

About 30 actors will participate in the project, including both new faces and some veterans of the Myanmar film industry. If possible, shooting will take place on location in Gwa Township, where the ill-fated plane made its landing.

Although filming is set to begin in November, one major challenge remains: finding a Dakota plane. There are only two of the aircraft still in use in Myanmar, both by the military. All the rest have been put in a museum in Yangon.