Sunday, August 23, 2009
Understanding Myanmar
Following Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's trial as a Burmese made me mad, hopeful, happy and sad all at the same time. I regularly follow stories about Myanmar but I've paid special attention to this story since it broke in May. I wanted to see more news analysis, coverage, and understand the issues behind it before the verdict. I couldn't really find proper posts or articles that gives the big picture and puts the story in context. Disappointing -- yes, but not surprising. Coverage surged after the verdict because of the reaction of world leaders.
Myanmar is a country that exists in a glass dome. Isolated from the world, it almost has its own laws of physics. "Burma experts" are an entirely different species even in the academic circles. The country's laws, rules, customs, and culture is not easy to comprehend. Add to that, everyone has their own notions or opinions of Myanmar. I know a lot of you are saddened and angry at the verdict but for those of us who know the country, this is no surprise. Here's a break down of what happened.
The Context
Myanmar is in the midst of government led 'reforms'. Assemblies have been drafting the constitution since I was a kid in the '90s. That constitution was voted in as a referendum in May, 2008. Miraculously, it was approved with 99% votes in the middle of the the biggest natural disaster in the nation's history. Because of this referendum, we now have a constitution, which means the election process can start. The elections are scheduled for 2010. If Suu Kyi runs for the election, or even help the NLD it can mean chaos in the nation. Technically, she can't run because she was married to a foreigner. We've all known about the clause in the referendum since the late 90s.
John Yettaw
There's a lot of people who are angry that some American came out of the blue because of a 'vision'. Most Burmese will not say it out loud because they're polite, diplomatic, or don't want to taint relations with Americans. The timing's so perfect that conspiracy theorists are saying that it might be all planned. He's a perfect instrument for the government to use so that there's a rift between the pro-democracy movement and their American supporters. Most pro-democratic funding does come from America and Europe. Dropping him like a hot potato was no surprise either. We don't want attention, and worse yet, with his fragile health, we don't want him to die in captivity. Besides, we can't treat him for his PTSD, bi-polar, or anything else he might have. Releasing him was the best solution for all parties involved.
The Law
No matter how ridiculous it may be, the law for reporting overnight visitors is very clear, and very serious. You're required to report overnight visitors with proper ID etc. at the ward or township offices because it's a risk. It's a way to deter harboring terrorists or rebels. Besides, anything can be a 'technicality' in a political case. If the government can outlaw an entire constitution, what is a small section of a law going to do?
The Trial
August is a hot political month for Myanmar. BBC reported that there were in-decisions within the leadership, the matter is not as simple as that. The historic 8.8.88 uprisings happened in August, which placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest to begin with. If the verdict was held anywhere near that date, the government had uprisings to worry about. A lot of twitter folks were surprised that she was found guilty. Do you really think they'd let her lose in the middle of a highly anticipated election? Were we surprised that she got it easy. The whole deal about clemency was the government's way of saying to the world: "We hear you, but we're not going to bend our ways just because you want them to. We still run our own country."
The Coverage
I was surprised to see BBC reporting live, having in-depth commentary and making it into their feature story. Folks online really didn't care until UK came online. That's the only reason why "Aung San Suu Kyi" became a trend on Twitter. It wasn't trending when the story initially broke because people were still getting out of their beds. UK is #2 country that use twitter most, with London (where a lot of activist organizations are headquartered) being the top city. I was expecting only a couple minutes on the headlines. I was disappointed however, that the Indian media almost missed it. It came on the headlines only after it became a popular news story, and only for the 15 second headline blip spot. I don't blame the TV producers for it, it was those dissidents who were in cities like Delhi or Kolkata who should've been more prepared. They should rely less on the west and start concentrating on having the message heard in the east and global south more -- especially in ASEAN nations. If any change is going to come, it needs to be with the help of these nations. We have the closest trade and diplomatic ties with them.
If you want to read more of my rants on Myanmar here's another post.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
What's the Meaning of a Solar Eclipse In Burma?
Bad luck. Burmese society is extremely superstitious. Folks take unusual disturbances in nature or heavenly objects to be 'a sign'. Historically, it's always been bad. Take 1988, there was a solar eclipse in March. Elders often talk of the fact that the eclipse was some how a warning for the 1988 uprising and bloodshed. From then onwards, the country became pretty much isolated from the world. There's not a lot of stuff written online about Burmese culture and solar eclipses but I found this Burma forecast from an astrologer. Astrology is a BIG DEAL in Myanmar. Children are named according to the day that they were born and their characteristics determined. Star charts and various rituals are preformed for almost every phase of life. The people who rule the government are extremely religious and adhere to strict rituals as well.
When Cyclone Nargis hit, it coincided with the voting for the national referendum on the new Constitution. Rumors spread throughout the nation that it was "god's punishment" or disapproval. People often joke amidst the destruction on how even the storm wanted to vote for "their election". Miraculously however, there was a 99% vote on the approval of the referendum.
In a couple of hours there will be another solar eclipse -- an eclipse you can see from Myanmar but not Thailand. In two days time on July 24th, the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's verdict is supposed to be heard in court. Fascinating coincidences that we'll just have to brace ourselves and see what happens.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
World AIDS DAY: Remembering AIDS victims of Burma (Myanmar)
I lost two cousins back-to-back to AIDS a couple of years ago. One was a famous rock star in Myanmar (Burma) Ba Din -- most people of my generation would remember him. He's one of those rare musicians that actually composed his own music. Most music in Burma are just the western music in Burmese. (Try listening to "My Heart Will Go On" in Burmese it's horrible, though Eminem is not bad.) The other cousin was his brother -- one of the first generation Burmese programmers. Ko Ba Din, ("Ko" is a title of respect and love that the Burmese endow upon older brothers.) left behind a wife and a son. Ko Kwa's wife disappeared shortly after his death and many suspect her to be dead.
Incidentally, probably that same year, 2000, I had called my father to tell him that a report came out from the World Health Organization (WHO) that said that Myanmar had the highest HIV infection rate. Our health care system was ranked 190 when there's only 191 countries. Read the SF Chronicle article here. My father denied the facts, of course, as any good career diplomat would over the tapped phone lines. I understood something was up. And sure enough a couple of months down the line, my other cousin who was studying in Illinois emails me to tell me that Ko Kwa passed away from some sort of illness. I don't even know if he himself knew that it was AIDS related then.
Fast forward eight years to 2008 -- there's a ton of orphans in Myanmar right now because a lot of people from my cousins' generation are dead. Still to this day, nobody really knows how many Burmese are HIV-positive but the recent press release from UNAIDS estimates that about 240,000 people in Myanmar are infected. According to the Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) 76,000 Burmese are in urgent need to antiretroviral treatment or else they will die needlessly (Most likely producing more orphans). Apparently, Myanmar receives the lowest humanitarian aid -- USD $3.00 per person only. Probably the lowest in the region compared to her neighboring countries.
This is not surprising to me, I went to Myanmar right after the Cyclone Nargis. Literally, I landed right after the skies were cleared. I wasn't used to living without electricity or proper water, but my family and neighbors managed. My mom cooked me my favorite dishes, they found stuff even when prices where going through the roof. My aunt even got me some frog curry (Ya I have weird taste in food, I can be Anthony Bourdain's apprentice). My dad put me back on the plane as fast as he could. When I came back to India, I saw that Myanmar made New York Times headlines for a couple days. As I ask myself: why do we make headlines only when monks or students get shot or a major cyclone disaster hits? Then, I check another email from the New York Times, this is a sad one: Myanmar didn't make it on the "most emailed" articles list of that week. People were more concerned about the Emmy nominations.
So this World AIDS Day, are people really concerned about AIDS or are they more concerned about Cyber Mondays and Mobile Tuesdays? Are they concerned about who to invite to their Christmas party, or their jobs, Britney Spears's new documentary on MTV, or world peace? What are folks really worried about? If you're really concerned about AIDS and the dying children in Burma, you can go ahead and send some cash to Doctors Without Borders by clicking here.
Because if you really care, saving a life is only a couple of clicks away.
