REPORT OF THE FRONTIER AREASCOMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY, 1947CHAPTER I. THE PROBLEM

Origin of Committee
The Committee originated from the conclusions reached in the conversations between His Majesty’s Government and the Executive Council of the Governor of Burma in London in January, 1947. Paragraph 8(d) of these Conclusions states:- “A Committee of Enquiry shall be set up forthwith as to the best method of associa-ting the Frontier peoples with the working out of the new constitution for Burma. Such Committee will consist of equal numbers of persons from the Frontier Areas, nominated by the Governor after consultation with the leaders of those areas, with a neutral Chairman from outside Burma selected by agreement. Such Committee shall be asked to report to the Government of Burma and His Majesty’s Government before the summoning of the Constituent Assembly.”

Terms of Reference
The terms of reference of the Committee were those quoted above. They have, of course, to be considered in the light of the statement of the agreed objective of His Majesty’s Government and the Government of Burma with which paragraph 8 of the Conclusions opens:-
“To achieve the early unification of the Frontier Areas and Ministerial Burma with the free consent of the inhabitants of those areas.”
Scope of Committee
For the purposes of this Enquiry, Frontier peoples have been taken as those inhabiting the areas listed in both parts of the Second Schedule to the Government of Burma Act, 1935. These areas fall into two divisions, Part I administered by the Governor in his discretion and Part II administered by the Governor in his individual judgment. It was also decided that, although the three States of Karenni were not part of the Scheduled Areas and did not therefore necessarily come within the purview of the Committee, they should be invited to send representatives to express their views, on account of their close economic and racial ties with both Scheduled Areas and Burma proper. All three Karenni States duly accepted this invitation.
Administrative Units in Scheduled Areas
The Scheduled Areas as defined in the 1935 Act cover 113,000 square miles or about 47% of the total area of Burma. The population, however, is only 2,400,000 or 16% of the total. The main administrative units are the following:-