order to legitimize Tatmadaw clearance operations carried out to secure territory it sees as important to its economic ambitions in the Rakhine state. The 1948 act attempted to provide a clearer definition of independent Burma’s indigenous races, thereby establishing a baseline for future military justification of its persistent stronghold on economic and governmental power and control. Elaborating on the 1947 Constitution, the Act listed eight specific major ethnic groups that it considered to be indigenous to Burma: Arakanese, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon or Shan race and such racial group as has settled in any of the territories included within the Union as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 A.D. (quoted in Arraiza & Vonk, 2017, p. 6) Since the First Anglo Burmese war in 1823, the stipulation added at the end of the above section further expanded the foundation for future military manipulation. The Act marked the beginning of a historic but legal precedent of exclusion in Burma. Aside from the eight listed ethnic groups, the clause is considered open for interpretation and therefore was easily construed by the military in order to justify or legitimize its claims with regard to Burma’s various ethnic groups. The ambiguity of the 1947 Constitution and the 1948 Union Citizenship Act allowed for the restructuring of an imagined community—instigated by the nation’s elite —in order to garner support and justification for actions taken to reach specific military and political goals. Although it could be argued that these two legal covenants were largely written during a time of democratic fervor, it is clear they were soon used by those in the upper echelons of Burma’s political framework as a tool to maintain power. In addition, by 1949 all citizens were required to report to the government under the Residents of Myanmar Registration Act, thus signifying the infancy of a process that 64