The Ottama Memorial Day organizing committee would appeal to the government to reinstall Rev. U Ottama’s statue to its original perch in the Ottama Park, on the occasion of the Ottama Memorial Day which falls on September 9.
Than Maung, the Information Committee in-charge said that they wish to reinstall the statue.
U Ottama was a Buddhist monk who fought against the British for Myanmar’s freedom. Currently, the statue is at the residence of the sculptor Han Tin, who made the statue.
Zaw Aye Maung, the Yangon regional government, Ethnic Rakhine Affairs Minister said, “We shall appeal to the government to allow us to reinstall the statue at an appropriate place inside the Ottama Park after taking it to the venue for the Memorial Day function. Now we have revived interest for the statue and we cannot let it disappear from our collective memory again.”
U Ottama's statue was first installed at the U Ottama Park in 1950. The statue was in the park for about ten years but it was not maintained properly and people forgot about its existence. Han Tin took it to his house to take care of it and it has been preserved by his daughter after he passed away.
Han Thein from the Committee for Reinstalling Ottama's Statue told Mizzima, “The statue has to be restored with great care in many places as it is old and has started to decay.”
The Committee visited Han Tin’s house in South Okkalapa Township on September 1, to make plans to take the statue back to its original place.
After gaining independence from the British, the Myanmar government installed the statue in the Cantonment Park, which was later re-named to Ottama Park, in honor of U Ottama's anti-colonial struggle.
