Chit Po

Thura Ma Chit Po (; February 1908 – 8 April 1949) was a Burmese woman who was the one and only civilian woman to have received the Thura medal for bravery. She gathered intelligence on the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) on behalf of the Myanmar Military before she was caught and executed by the KNDO insurgents.

Biography Chit Po was born in February 1908 in Tavoy (Dawei), Tenasserim Division.

Service In 1949, the Myanmar Military (Tatmadaw) was fighting against the insurgent group called Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO).

One of the issues the Tatmadaw had was a lack of access to intelligence.

Shortly afterwards, Chit Po was arrested, interrogated, and killed by the KNDO on 8 April 1949. She was 41 (in her 42nd year). On 16 May 1949, her body was buried in a military ceremony. The sculptor was Maung Kyaw; the statue is over two metres tall, and shows Chit Po holding a machete and a bag of grenades.

The 110th anniversary of Chit Po's birth was commemorated in Pyin Oo Lwin in February 2018, organised by the Pyin Oo Lwin Township Writers' Association. Portrayed by Soe Myat Thuzar in 2017 film Thura Ma Chit Po. In the Hall of Tanintharyi Region, Ma Chit Po is memorialized with a bronze bust.