U Razak ဦးရာဇတ် عبدالرزاق |
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Minister of Education and National Planning | |
In office September 1946 – 19 July 1947 |
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Prime Minister | Aung San |
Preceded by | Office not in use |
Succeeded by | Office not in use |
Personal details | |
Born |
Meiktila, British Burma, British India |
20 January 1898
Died | 19 July 1947 Rangoon, British Burma |
(aged 49)
Political party | AFPFL |
Alma mater | University of Rangoon |
Religion | Islam |
Signature |
U Razak (Urdu: عبدالرزاق, Abdul Razaq, Burmese: ဦးရာဇတ်, pronounced: [ʔúooo jàzaʔ]; also Abdul Razak; 20 January 1898 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese politician and an educationalist. He was a cabinet minister in Aung San's pre-independence interim government, and was assassinated on 19 July 1947 along with six other cabinet ministers. July 19 is commemorated each year as Martyrs' Day in Myanmar. Razak was Minister of Education and National Planning, and was chairman of the Burma Muslim Congress.
Abdul Razak was born in Meiktila, Upper Burma, on 20 January 1898 to Sheik Abdul Rahman, an Indian police inspector and a Burmese Buddhist woman Nyein Hla. While his brothers and sisters chose to be Buddhists, he maintained the Muslim name Razak, in honor of his father. Although nominally Muslim, Razak was a secularist who deeply loved Burma and encouraged unity in diversity. He studied at the Wesleyan School in Mandalay, and continued his studies at the Rangoon College, earning a B.A. degree in English. Throughout his school years, Razak was involved in athletics.