By Noe Noe Aung | Sunday, 01 December 2013
The broken windows, fading paint and locked doors are evidence enough that the building is abandoned and unloved. But passersby on the corners of Bo Aung Kyaw and Merchant streets can easily see that, while old, the structure known as Gandhi Hall was built to last – and last it has.
Like many of Yangon’s colonial-era buildings, it has a storied history – but is also threatened by the wrecking ball.
In the 1910s, it was the office of The Rangoon Times, one of the most influential newspapers in British Burma. In 1951, it was purchased by Prime Minister U Nu and the Indian ambassador to Myanmar, MA Rauf. They named it the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust and handed it to a board of trustees to manage.
But the same board is now pushing to demolish the existing structure and replace it with a “modern” 12-storey apartment building.
“The buildings around the hall are already modern buildings. We also want to transform [Gandhi Hall] into a modern high-rise building,” U Thein Tun, one of the nine trustees, told The Myanmar Times on November 27.
“That building is not connected with Mahatma Gandhi at all so we do not consider it a memorial building … It is just a hall,” he said. “This is our own building and we should have a right to do what we want.”
Despite their eagerness, so far the trustees have been blocked in their bid by Yangon City Development Committee and the Yangon Region government, on the recommendation of the Yangon Heritage Trust, a non-profit organisation that works to preserve and protect the city’s rich urban heritage. The Indian embassy in Yangon has also opposed the demolition, and the ambassador has personally asked heritage trust chairman U Thant Myint-U to help ensure the building is restored and put to use.
For decades the building was used for religious, social, intellectual and political gatherings. It was where the National League for Democracy drafted the Gandhi Hall Declaration, issued on July 29, 1990, which called for a rapid transfer of power after that year’s elections. In recent years, however, the building has been closed to outsiders.
U Nay Win, a spokesperson from YCDC’s Department of Engineering (Building), confirmed the committee had blocked the application to demolish the building at the request of the Yangon Region’s chief minister, U Myint Swe.
“[The trustees] applied for permission to demolish the building three or four times. And we reported it to the regional chief minister and he rejected it,” U Nay Win said. “It is a historical building. The authorities want to conserve it and it is also the wish of officials from the Indian embassy.”
He said that while the exterior of the building was neglected and weather-beaten, it is structurally sound and still in good condition on the inside.
“The frame, columns and walls are still in good condition and it looks grand. It certainly can’t be listed as a dangerous building even though it is more than 100 years old.
It would be a great historical building if it was renovated,” U Nay Win said. “The trustees want to demolish that building just for their own interest.”
But U Thein Tun said trustees would continue their fight to demolish the building they have been entrusted to maintain by petitioning Nay Pyi Taw to overturn YCDC’s decision. “We will keep trying as much as we can.”
Pedestrians pass Gandhi Hall on the corner of Merchant and Bo Aung Kyaw roads in downtown Yangon. (Ko Taik/The Myanmar Times)
ေအးခ်မ္းမြန္ Credit To >Myanmar Time < Thankhttps://www.facebook.com/excellencemedia
![Photo: Gandhi Hall saved from trustees’ condo plans
By Noe Noe Aung | Sunday, 01 December 2013
The broken windows, fading paint and locked doors are evidence enough that the building is abandoned and unloved. But passersby on the corners of Bo Aung Kyaw and Merchant streets can easily see that, while old, the structure known as Gandhi Hall was built to last – and last it has.
Like many of Yangon’s colonial-era buildings, it has a storied history – but is also threatened by the wrecking ball.
In the 1910s, it was the office of The Rangoon Times, one of the most influential newspapers in British Burma. In 1951, it was purchased by Prime Minister U Nu and the Indian ambassador to Myanmar, MA Rauf. They named it the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust and handed it to a board of trustees to manage.
But the same board is now pushing to demolish the existing structure and replace it with a “modern” 12-storey apartment building.
“The buildings around the hall are already modern buildings. We also want to transform [Gandhi Hall] into a modern high-rise building,” U Thein Tun, one of the nine trustees, told The Myanmar Times on November 27.
“That building is not connected with Mahatma Gandhi at all so we do not consider it a memorial building … It is just a hall,” he said. “This is our own building and we should have a right to do what we want.”
Despite their eagerness, so far the trustees have been blocked in their bid by Yangon City Development Committee and the Yangon Region government, on the recommendation of the Yangon Heritage Trust, a non-profit organisation that works to preserve and protect the city’s rich urban heritage. The Indian embassy in Yangon has also opposed the demolition, and the ambassador has personally asked heritage trust chairman U Thant Myint-U to help ensure the building is restored and put to use.
For decades the building was used for religious, social, intellectual and political gatherings. It was where the National League for Democracy drafted the Gandhi Hall Declaration, issued on July 29, 1990, which called for a rapid transfer of power after that year’s elections. In recent years, however, the building has been closed to outsiders.
U Nay Win, a spokesperson from YCDC’s Department of Engineering (Building), confirmed the committee had blocked the application to demolish the building at the request of the Yangon Region’s chief minister, U Myint Swe.
“[The trustees] applied for permission to demolish the building three or four times. And we reported it to the regional chief minister and he rejected it,” U Nay Win said. “It is a historical building. The authorities want to conserve it and it is also the wish of officials from the Indian embassy.”
He said that while the exterior of the building was neglected and weather-beaten, it is structurally sound and still in good condition on the inside.
“The frame, columns and walls are still in good condition and it looks grand. It certainly can’t be listed as a dangerous building even though it is more than 100 years old.
It would be a great historical building if it was renovated,” U Nay Win said. “The trustees want to demolish that building just for their own interest.”
But U Thein Tun said trustees would continue their fight to demolish the building they have been entrusted to maintain by petitioning Nay Pyi Taw to overturn YCDC’s decision. “We will keep trying as much as we can.”
Pedestrians pass Gandhi Hall on the corner of Merchant and Bo Aung Kyaw roads in downtown Yangon. (Ko Taik/The Myanmar Times)
ေအးခ်မ္းမြန္ Credit To >Myanmar Time < Thank https://www.facebook.com/excellencemedia](https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/p480x480/1486804_556901654401372_2072951254_n.jpg)
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