Martin Morland

My Conscience

History & Biography

“I spent three years in Burma in the 1960s as a junior member of the British embassy, and returned there 25 years later as ambassador. I was at my post during the uprising of 1988, and its aftermath, so vividly covered in the book. The author with Riri his Indonesian wife describes a huge range of experiences and events throughout these years, his objective to make Burma's vicissitudes known to the widest possible audience and to point the way to the future. He managed to involve the great and sometimes the good in his efforts, in the U.S. from ex-President Carter downwards and in Burma all the main players. While his father did his best to give Ne Win and the army the benefit of the doubt he rejected their claims from the outset. I can only add that U Nu once told me emphatically Burma was two thousand times better under the British, two thousand times.”