Like all of us I’m capable of making mistakes. But as I said in response to Kevin Hewison, I’m happy to admit them and rectify them.
On your other point, of course I rely on information about translations reported in the media; they are what become the “news” and that is what guides people’s thinking.
And as Nganadeleeg points out, the translation or accusations of incorrect, malicious and misleading translation provides a pretext for intimidation.
One should rest assured that the RTG does not spend the substantial amounts of money necessary repeatedly to send Ajarns Suchit and Borwornsak to Western and Asian Universities only to have their statements limited to the immediate participants. After all, these are public relations stunts in the hope to influence those in the audience, and beyond. That reactions on statements made by the speakers can be different is not lost on the RTG, and neither on the speakers. Rather, they welcome them. And it underestimates both ajarns to think that are afraid of public reactions. Both of them are highly self-confident and seasoned members of Thai technocracy.
If Young not commenting is a loss for the “commentariat”, then this speaks volumes for the relevance of this “commentariat.” Some apparently think that public babbling is a virtue…
Obviously, Thaksin introduced the “CEO governors” (except for BKK, which has an elected governor).
There is no question of ending the military’s immunity from prosecution until one deals with the problem of the monarchy’s influence over the military.
Not too many years ago a royal cremation was organized for the reviled former dictator involved in the massacres of students in the 14 October 1973 democracy uprising, Thanom Kittikachorn. Surayudh Julanonda commanded forces that stormed the Rattanakosin Hotel during the May 1992 democracy movement, killing and wounding many protesters; following retirement he was appointed to the Privy Council. Today he is back in the Privy Council after being installed as PM following the 2006 coup. Suchinda Kraprayoon, who ordered the massacres of protesters in the streets during May 1992, can be seen today sipping cocktails at Thailand’s beach resorts. Chairman of the Privy Council, Prem Tinasulanonda, is widely acknowledged as being behind the 2006 coup and continues to exercise control over the Armed Forces. The generals involved in the coup which not only overthrew a democratically-elected government, but abrogated the popular Constitution and effectively stole the national budget for their own use – a far more serious and obvious form of corruption than anything Thaksin has been accused of – had an amnesty written for them by the royalist lawyer Mechai Ruchuphan.
Such travesties of justice are the tip of the iceberg. Everyone knows that the reason these people and many more are untouchable is because of their relationship with the monarchy.
Sawarin Suwichakornpong says “Thais will no longer be silent”, and that they were sending a “clear message to the establishment”. Brave words. But I have not heard anyone openly calling for the King to end his support for the military, except people like Da Torpedo.
This is precisely the point: Thais have no choice but to be “silent” on the monarchy’s close relationship with the military – otherwise they are in danger of being charged with lese majeste.
By contrast there is great freedom allowed for criticism of military figures because everyone knows that it is utterly ineffective – unless one criticizes the source of their security – the monarchy.
Today the military are a convenient “fall guy” for the monarchy. It’s a charade played out in order to hide the political control exercised by the monarchy and its network behind the scenes.
I think it is a good example of the sanctimoniousness of many Thai academics and critics, where they feign moral self-righteousness by criticizing the military or politicians, but show no moral courage whatsoever when it comes to discussing reforming the monarchy to make it more democratic.
Such discussion would not mean breaking the lese majeste law. But if one is really serious about democratic political reform and has the “courage” to discuss politically sensitive matters publicly, then these people ought to publicly raise issues such as reforming the Privy Council (if it can not be abolished altogether) by calling for appointees to it to be approved by parliament; parliamentary oversight of the Crown Property Bureau; more transparency and proper auditing of the finances of the Royal Projects, etc. etc.
Since the beginning, Kachins, naturally, were more than resentful to this Burmese intrusion. Land then was plenty so they traditionally used the slash-and-burn style but the newcomers were developing many permanent fields and so quickly reducing the availability of land for their nomadic style agriculture.
Also the army was preparing for serious conflicts since the KIA was very active in the area. Every Pa-La-Na village had a unit of people-militia (Pyi-Thu-Sit) armed with .303 rifles for their defense. The villagers were mostly Burmese but many among them were Kachin ex-soldiers from the army and most village chiefs were retired Kachin or Burmese NCOs. Eventually the armed-clashes became regular occurrence.
I was in the army then and we were land-mined and ambushed so frequently on the bloody Ledo road our sergeants didn’t even let us ride on our trucks. We just walked every-bloody-where we went. One most serious incident I witnessed and still remember was the KIA’s raid on one Pa-La-Na village deep in the jungle south-west of Myitkyina.
It was Pa-La-Na 8 or 9 or 11, I can’t recall the village number now. All these villages had no name, just numbers in serial. Burmese Army definitely has no imaginations.
Most these villages were by the main Ledo road, but that one was at least 20 miles away from the road and occupied only by Kachin army vets and probably they thought their KIA brothers would leave them alone in peace. That was not the case and one night a KIA regular unit raided the village, captured the 20 odd strong militia, tortured and executed them all.
Our platoon was in the vicinity and when we arrived we had a short firefight and we wounded and captured one of them but the rest got away. We found the bodies of all militiamen including the 62 years old ex-sergeant-major village chief on the nearby rice-field. Their hands were tied behind on their kneels and their necks were hacked off from behind. We dug a long ditch and buried them in the mass grave.
One of our sergeants then bayoneted the wounded prisoner and dumped his body into the mass grave too. Then was my last days on the Ledo road since our battalion was later moved to Htaw Gaw hills near the Chinese border.
Pretty violent stuff, hope you are not put off by this!
I don’t know much about the insurgents from India though. Actually none at all apart from what I read in the papers and on the net.
[…] Here are some references for you, a lot seems to have disappeared or blocked see here. Agitated Red Shirts told me of people having been killed, and dragged by soldiers into lorries. I ha… There is more on the New Mandala website but I don't have the time to search just now but […]
Chris, I’m not an academic, I thought that was obvious.
Bkk Lawyer, you can google out “Thaksin CEO governors” yourself.
One of the first results is titled “Recentralising while Decentralising”
Governors were always appointed but had little real powers as central government operated through ministries and their on the ground structures, bypassing local authorities.
Young not participating here is a loss for the commentariat, not for Young.
Stan you should inform us when you quoted from the Nation because we need to read “Not the Nation” in order to know what exactly the facts are.
Thai society is changing. People would like to watch quality TV, not the existing government’s propaganda TV channels or other misleading media. When we judge someone, we examine the person’s intention. Sae Daeng wants to see Siam moves forward with Thais being intelligent and informed persons. We simply cannot make an intelligent decision if we don’t have quality news.
For Sae Daeng, it would be much more beneficial and convenient if he chose to side with those in power. But Sae Daeng didn’t do that. Instead he chooses to support the progressive forces that would bring real development to Thais and Siam.
Warriors are the bravest of men who stand tall in the face of danger. Sae Daeng has served the country in time of war and peace. Thais feel safe having Sae Daeng among the leadership. It is the fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone.
Agree with Bkk Lawyer: “They were not arrested to “give up the big fish”. They were arrested to frighten people away from discussing the issue on the internet.
What I find ludicrous about the whole situation is how mere rumours about the health of one man who is above politics (and presumably is not an active CEO of any major companies) can cause such instability in a county’s stock market.
How dumb is it for a country to have got itself into that situation?
If Aung San Oo is now a US citizen, since the Burmese government does not recognise dual citizenship, he forfeits any property rights in Burma. He wouldn’t have a case. That said, nobody will be surprised if double standards operate as usual, allowing him to contest and the case found in his favour and to punish the lady. The law is not an ass, it’s just putty in the generals’ hands.
Besides, if he does have ownership rights, isn’t he also responsible to keep the house in good repair so that it’s fit for human habitation?
so where are the yangon punk shows? can anyone tell me? i would really like to go.
whilst the punk of yangon (and half the world) may be more fashion than political dialogue. i remember my first experience of punk being The Ataris, a pop punk band who sing about girls and love rather than anarchism. yet I followed a path through them and punk and it’s related culture has educated me just as much as university.
while I agree with the sentiments expressed by both sides here, maybe i’m being idealistic, but punk always has the potential for positive change. true it may be hidden these days and you have to look hard, but it is there.
Moe Aung: i agree with you that “apeing western culture” is unproductive and will lead to frustration…hell even the tv shows in myanmar are set in upper class households…but punk is probably the one western subculture that discourages consumerism and encourages d.i.y. global viewpoints, anarchism (not chaos).
youth movements are not the part of western culture you need to worry about. the multinationals are…when yangon looks like Bangkok it will be a sad day.
StanG: If I’m not mistaken, Thaksin’s new style of CEO government had Thaksin at the top as CEO (there weren’t 75 “CEO governors”), and the governors were appointed by the Interior Ministry before Thaksin came along.
StanG: Either you’ve forgotten or you never understood it in the first place. You said:
“People arrested in the rumors case could have been a small fry pressured to give up the big fish. …”
The people arrested did nothing BUT translate the Bloomberg articles. This was clear from all the reporting at the time — even in The Nation. They were not arrested to “give up the big fish”. They were arrested to frighten people away from discussing the issue on the internet.
So your second sentence is correct:
“That would mean the prosecution isn’t about translating Bloomberg’s article at all ….”.
Thanks for the interesting points! Pa-La-Na villages seem like the strategy of the Junta to secure the Ledo road. How resentful are the Kachin to this? Has this spilled over into violent incidents? I understand most of them are christian/animists like the related Singpho/Lisu in India.
I am puzzled by the Junta’s attitude of cat and mouse with Indian insurgents, especially the ULFA as I read from Moe Aung’s news links above. The ULFA are Assamese with zero ethnic base in Burma unlike the Nagas. So what are the reasons of allowing them to camp in Burma – ace card against India?
I was interested to see Anwar interviewed on SBS TV last year. Late in the interview he was asked whether, given the nature of the charges against him, he empathized with the position of gay people in Malaysia. He looked shocked by the question. He made a mealy-mouthed reply, about homosexuality being unacceptable in Muslim society but also that people should be entitled to their privacy. Perhaps that is the only thing he could have said. Who knows if it’s what he really believes. Maybe I’m being unrealistic, but it was an opportunity to say sexuality is not the business of religion or the state. As long as views like those reflected in his answer persist, straight and gay people alike will be open to this type of persecution. In any case, I have not had quite the same sympathy for him since then.
It is quite handy having two passports though. When I was traveling frequently years ago for my business, I used my Aussie Passport from Sydney to Bangkok and Bangkok to Rangoon but used Burmese one to enter and leave Rangoon. Made life much easier.
I don’t know about now, but then the red Burmese passport had a lot of stupid restrictions. One was that you were restricted to go to only few countries listed in your passport. Mine had Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
And it lasted only two years and everyone was forced to pay ten percent of his or her stated annual income to the Burmese Embassy on every renewal.
Most countries didn’t even let the holders in too. Japan was the worst, some airlines wouldn’t even let one board with a Burmese passport. At Tokyo’s Narita Airport the immigration had a special line for the Burmese passport holders. Most were immediately put back on the plane they just flew in. There were tens of thousands of Burmese over-stayers in Tokyo then.
About ASSK’s house problem, it is now the most common problem for many Burmese living abroad. Many of them own one or more properties together with their siblings back in Burma.
The property prices in Rangoon has shot up thousand of times since the 1989 switch to market economy and are now quite comparable with the places like Singapore and Bangkok, and many Burmese living abroad are dying to sell them and cash their share. Aung San Oo, the dear brother of ASSK is just one of them.
But most siblings back home do not want to sell their common property for two major reasons. First, it was their home and they need a place to live, as in the case of ASSK. How the army gonna put her into a house arrest if she doesn’t have a house anymore? Second, they just don’t want to share the spoil from the sale of the inherited properties with the absentee brothers or sisters.
Legally ASSK now owns the house since the day her mother Daw Khin Kyi passed away, and Aung San Oo has no legal right to the house on the Inya Lake in Rangoon since the day he pledged his allegiance to the United States of America. But the generals conveniently ignored that fact just to make ASSK’s life a little bit more difficult!
Re: Chatham House Rule. I’m the one who opened the floor at Q&A session. Don’t worry too much about a confidentiality of participants. The Chatham House Rule, dated back to 1920s, was invented mainly to protect the safety of individual speakers– it was the time one out of five people sitting next to you could be a spy. David Fall, presumably trained in history (Arnold Toynbee was Chatham House’s first Director), wasn’t so serious when asking the audience to follow the Rule; he even joked with Thai students that ‘nobody will take away their studentship, etc.’. The fact that all ‘questioners’ opted to state their names, some in full, some in short, indicates that they have no fear to express their political opinions. I see that a Q&A of this nature is to be welcomed. It’s sending a clear message to the establishment that Thais will no longer be silent. Well informed and well educated Thais will no longer nod to any rubbish being fed by characterless academics, or whoever it may be.
Re: To Patra & Susan. The question I asked the panel is “When will Thai lawmakers begin to look seriously to the immunity cause?” It was asked in the context to law, specifically to respond to the panellists who kept murmuring the rhetoric of the “rule of law”. It has nothing to do with the past- pledging to bring previous coup-makers to justice is impossible, since the law cannot fall backward. The question is for the Present and the Future. If Thais are serious about putting on the Rule of Law, those who know laws must begin to tackle the military’s perpetual freedom of claiming “immunity”. In the case of coup, the “condition of Thai constitution”, de facto, leaves rooms for a possible meaningful collaboration between parliament and the real “sovereign” (yes, ‘the sovereignty’ remains even the constitution is torn!). Thais will have to think- hard and positively- if they want to prevent further coups.
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SOAS Thai politics event
“Both of them are highly self-confident and seasoned members of Thai technocracy.
Are they so deluded as to actually believe what they say, or are they more sinister than that?
Elephants in the room: Part 2
StanG,
Like all of us I’m capable of making mistakes. But as I said in response to Kevin Hewison, I’m happy to admit them and rectify them.
On your other point, of course I rely on information about translations reported in the media; they are what become the “news” and that is what guides people’s thinking.
And as Nganadeleeg points out, the translation or accusations of incorrect, malicious and misleading translation provides a pretext for intimidation.
SOAS Thai politics event
One should rest assured that the RTG does not spend the substantial amounts of money necessary repeatedly to send Ajarns Suchit and Borwornsak to Western and Asian Universities only to have their statements limited to the immediate participants. After all, these are public relations stunts in the hope to influence those in the audience, and beyond. That reactions on statements made by the speakers can be different is not lost on the RTG, and neither on the speakers. Rather, they welcome them. And it underestimates both ajarns to think that are afraid of public reactions. Both of them are highly self-confident and seasoned members of Thai technocracy.
Report on SOAS event, part I
If Young not commenting is a loss for the “commentariat”, then this speaks volumes for the relevance of this “commentariat.” Some apparently think that public babbling is a virtue…
Obviously, Thaksin introduced the “CEO governors” (except for BKK, which has an elected governor).
SOAS Thai politics event
There is no question of ending the military’s immunity from prosecution until one deals with the problem of the monarchy’s influence over the military.
Not too many years ago a royal cremation was organized for the reviled former dictator involved in the massacres of students in the 14 October 1973 democracy uprising, Thanom Kittikachorn. Surayudh Julanonda commanded forces that stormed the Rattanakosin Hotel during the May 1992 democracy movement, killing and wounding many protesters; following retirement he was appointed to the Privy Council. Today he is back in the Privy Council after being installed as PM following the 2006 coup. Suchinda Kraprayoon, who ordered the massacres of protesters in the streets during May 1992, can be seen today sipping cocktails at Thailand’s beach resorts. Chairman of the Privy Council, Prem Tinasulanonda, is widely acknowledged as being behind the 2006 coup and continues to exercise control over the Armed Forces. The generals involved in the coup which not only overthrew a democratically-elected government, but abrogated the popular Constitution and effectively stole the national budget for their own use – a far more serious and obvious form of corruption than anything Thaksin has been accused of – had an amnesty written for them by the royalist lawyer Mechai Ruchuphan.
Such travesties of justice are the tip of the iceberg. Everyone knows that the reason these people and many more are untouchable is because of their relationship with the monarchy.
Sawarin Suwichakornpong says “Thais will no longer be silent”, and that they were sending a “clear message to the establishment”. Brave words. But I have not heard anyone openly calling for the King to end his support for the military, except people like Da Torpedo.
This is precisely the point: Thais have no choice but to be “silent” on the monarchy’s close relationship with the military – otherwise they are in danger of being charged with lese majeste.
By contrast there is great freedom allowed for criticism of military figures because everyone knows that it is utterly ineffective – unless one criticizes the source of their security – the monarchy.
Today the military are a convenient “fall guy” for the monarchy. It’s a charade played out in order to hide the political control exercised by the monarchy and its network behind the scenes.
I think it is a good example of the sanctimoniousness of many Thai academics and critics, where they feign moral self-righteousness by criticizing the military or politicians, but show no moral courage whatsoever when it comes to discussing reforming the monarchy to make it more democratic.
Such discussion would not mean breaking the lese majeste law. But if one is really serious about democratic political reform and has the “courage” to discuss politically sensitive matters publicly, then these people ought to publicly raise issues such as reforming the Privy Council (if it can not be abolished altogether) by calling for appointees to it to be approved by parliament; parliamentary oversight of the Crown Property Bureau; more transparency and proper auditing of the finances of the Royal Projects, etc. etc.
China and the Wa
Dear Sangos,
Since the beginning, Kachins, naturally, were more than resentful to this Burmese intrusion. Land then was plenty so they traditionally used the slash-and-burn style but the newcomers were developing many permanent fields and so quickly reducing the availability of land for their nomadic style agriculture.
Also the army was preparing for serious conflicts since the KIA was very active in the area. Every Pa-La-Na village had a unit of people-militia (Pyi-Thu-Sit) armed with .303 rifles for their defense. The villagers were mostly Burmese but many among them were Kachin ex-soldiers from the army and most village chiefs were retired Kachin or Burmese NCOs. Eventually the armed-clashes became regular occurrence.
I was in the army then and we were land-mined and ambushed so frequently on the bloody Ledo road our sergeants didn’t even let us ride on our trucks. We just walked every-bloody-where we went. One most serious incident I witnessed and still remember was the KIA’s raid on one Pa-La-Na village deep in the jungle south-west of Myitkyina.
It was Pa-La-Na 8 or 9 or 11, I can’t recall the village number now. All these villages had no name, just numbers in serial. Burmese Army definitely has no imaginations.
Most these villages were by the main Ledo road, but that one was at least 20 miles away from the road and occupied only by Kachin army vets and probably they thought their KIA brothers would leave them alone in peace. That was not the case and one night a KIA regular unit raided the village, captured the 20 odd strong militia, tortured and executed them all.
Our platoon was in the vicinity and when we arrived we had a short firefight and we wounded and captured one of them but the rest got away. We found the bodies of all militiamen including the 62 years old ex-sergeant-major village chief on the nearby rice-field. Their hands were tied behind on their kneels and their necks were hacked off from behind. We dug a long ditch and buried them in the mass grave.
One of our sergeants then bayoneted the wounded prisoner and dumped his body into the mass grave too. Then was my last days on the Ledo road since our battalion was later moved to Htaw Gaw hills near the Chinese border.
Pretty violent stuff, hope you are not put off by this!
I don’t know much about the insurgents from India though. Actually none at all apart from what I read in the papers and on the net.
The crushing of the Red Shirts
[…] Here are some references for you, a lot seems to have disappeared or blocked see here. Agitated Red Shirts told me of people having been killed, and dragged by soldiers into lorries. I ha… There is more on the New Mandala website but I don't have the time to search just now but […]
Report on SOAS event, part I
Chris, I’m not an academic, I thought that was obvious.
Bkk Lawyer, you can google out “Thaksin CEO governors” yourself.
One of the first results is titled “Recentralising while Decentralising”
Governors were always appointed but had little real powers as central government operated through ministries and their on the ground structures, bypassing local authorities.
Young not participating here is a loss for the commentariat, not for Young.
Two soldiers
Stan you should inform us when you quoted from the Nation because we need to read “Not the Nation” in order to know what exactly the facts are.
Thai society is changing. People would like to watch quality TV, not the existing government’s propaganda TV channels or other misleading media. When we judge someone, we examine the person’s intention. Sae Daeng wants to see Siam moves forward with Thais being intelligent and informed persons. We simply cannot make an intelligent decision if we don’t have quality news.
For Sae Daeng, it would be much more beneficial and convenient if he chose to side with those in power. But Sae Daeng didn’t do that. Instead he chooses to support the progressive forces that would bring real development to Thais and Siam.
Warriors are the bravest of men who stand tall in the face of danger. Sae Daeng has served the country in time of war and peace. Thais feel safe having Sae Daeng among the leadership. It is the fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone.
Elephants in the room: Part 2
Agree with Bkk Lawyer: “They were not arrested to “give up the big fish”. They were arrested to frighten people away from discussing the issue on the internet.
What I find ludicrous about the whole situation is how mere rumours about the health of one man who is above politics (and presumably is not an active CEO of any major companies) can cause such instability in a county’s stock market.
How dumb is it for a country to have got itself into that situation?
Report on SOAS event, part I
StanG – you still have n’t answered my question :
are YOU an academic ?
Aung San Suu Kyi’s leaking roof
If Aung San Oo is now a US citizen, since the Burmese government does not recognise dual citizenship, he forfeits any property rights in Burma. He wouldn’t have a case. That said, nobody will be surprised if double standards operate as usual, allowing him to contest and the case found in his favour and to punish the lady. The law is not an ass, it’s just putty in the generals’ hands.
Besides, if he does have ownership rights, isn’t he also responsible to keep the house in good repair so that it’s fit for human habitation?
Yangon punks
so where are the yangon punk shows? can anyone tell me? i would really like to go.
whilst the punk of yangon (and half the world) may be more fashion than political dialogue. i remember my first experience of punk being The Ataris, a pop punk band who sing about girls and love rather than anarchism. yet I followed a path through them and punk and it’s related culture has educated me just as much as university.
while I agree with the sentiments expressed by both sides here, maybe i’m being idealistic, but punk always has the potential for positive change. true it may be hidden these days and you have to look hard, but it is there.
Moe Aung: i agree with you that “apeing western culture” is unproductive and will lead to frustration…hell even the tv shows in myanmar are set in upper class households…but punk is probably the one western subculture that discourages consumerism and encourages d.i.y. global viewpoints, anarchism (not chaos).
youth movements are not the part of western culture you need to worry about. the multinationals are…when yangon looks like Bangkok it will be a sad day.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s leaking roof
ABMO_Monks declared ‘Boycott’ against Suu Kyi’s brother
statement on post
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/abmo_monks-declared-boycott-against-suu-kyis-brother/
Report on SOAS event, part I
StanG: If I’m not mistaken, Thaksin’s new style of CEO government had Thaksin at the top as CEO (there weren’t 75 “CEO governors”), and the governors were appointed by the Interior Ministry before Thaksin came along.
Elephants in the room: Part 2
StanG: Either you’ve forgotten or you never understood it in the first place. You said:
“People arrested in the rumors case could have been a small fry pressured to give up the big fish. …”
The people arrested did nothing BUT translate the Bloomberg articles. This was clear from all the reporting at the time — even in The Nation. They were not arrested to “give up the big fish”. They were arrested to frighten people away from discussing the issue on the internet.
So your second sentence is correct:
“That would mean the prosecution isn’t about translating Bloomberg’s article at all ….”.
Duh. Thanks for the insight.
China and the Wa
Thanks for the interesting points! Pa-La-Na villages seem like the strategy of the Junta to secure the Ledo road. How resentful are the Kachin to this? Has this spilled over into violent incidents? I understand most of them are christian/animists like the related Singpho/Lisu in India.
I am puzzled by the Junta’s attitude of cat and mouse with Indian insurgents, especially the ULFA as I read from Moe Aung’s news links above. The ULFA are Assamese with zero ethnic base in Burma unlike the Nagas. So what are the reasons of allowing them to camp in Burma – ace card against India?
Malaysia on Trial – Really?
I was interested to see Anwar interviewed on SBS TV last year. Late in the interview he was asked whether, given the nature of the charges against him, he empathized with the position of gay people in Malaysia. He looked shocked by the question. He made a mealy-mouthed reply, about homosexuality being unacceptable in Muslim society but also that people should be entitled to their privacy. Perhaps that is the only thing he could have said. Who knows if it’s what he really believes. Maybe I’m being unrealistic, but it was an opportunity to say sexuality is not the business of religion or the state. As long as views like those reflected in his answer persist, straight and gay people alike will be open to this type of persecution. In any case, I have not had quite the same sympathy for him since then.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s leaking roof
It is quite handy having two passports though. When I was traveling frequently years ago for my business, I used my Aussie Passport from Sydney to Bangkok and Bangkok to Rangoon but used Burmese one to enter and leave Rangoon. Made life much easier.
I don’t know about now, but then the red Burmese passport had a lot of stupid restrictions. One was that you were restricted to go to only few countries listed in your passport. Mine had Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
And it lasted only two years and everyone was forced to pay ten percent of his or her stated annual income to the Burmese Embassy on every renewal.
Most countries didn’t even let the holders in too. Japan was the worst, some airlines wouldn’t even let one board with a Burmese passport. At Tokyo’s Narita Airport the immigration had a special line for the Burmese passport holders. Most were immediately put back on the plane they just flew in. There were tens of thousands of Burmese over-stayers in Tokyo then.
About ASSK’s house problem, it is now the most common problem for many Burmese living abroad. Many of them own one or more properties together with their siblings back in Burma.
The property prices in Rangoon has shot up thousand of times since the 1989 switch to market economy and are now quite comparable with the places like Singapore and Bangkok, and many Burmese living abroad are dying to sell them and cash their share. Aung San Oo, the dear brother of ASSK is just one of them.
But most siblings back home do not want to sell their common property for two major reasons. First, it was their home and they need a place to live, as in the case of ASSK. How the army gonna put her into a house arrest if she doesn’t have a house anymore? Second, they just don’t want to share the spoil from the sale of the inherited properties with the absentee brothers or sisters.
Legally ASSK now owns the house since the day her mother Daw Khin Kyi passed away, and Aung San Oo has no legal right to the house on the Inya Lake in Rangoon since the day he pledged his allegiance to the United States of America. But the generals conveniently ignored that fact just to make ASSK’s life a little bit more difficult!
SOAS Thai politics event
Re: Chatham House Rule. I’m the one who opened the floor at Q&A session. Don’t worry too much about a confidentiality of participants. The Chatham House Rule, dated back to 1920s, was invented mainly to protect the safety of individual speakers– it was the time one out of five people sitting next to you could be a spy. David Fall, presumably trained in history (Arnold Toynbee was Chatham House’s first Director), wasn’t so serious when asking the audience to follow the Rule; he even joked with Thai students that ‘nobody will take away their studentship, etc.’. The fact that all ‘questioners’ opted to state their names, some in full, some in short, indicates that they have no fear to express their political opinions. I see that a Q&A of this nature is to be welcomed. It’s sending a clear message to the establishment that Thais will no longer be silent. Well informed and well educated Thais will no longer nod to any rubbish being fed by characterless academics, or whoever it may be.
Re: To Patra & Susan. The question I asked the panel is “When will Thai lawmakers begin to look seriously to the immunity cause?” It was asked in the context to law, specifically to respond to the panellists who kept murmuring the rhetoric of the “rule of law”. It has nothing to do with the past- pledging to bring previous coup-makers to justice is impossible, since the law cannot fall backward. The question is for the Present and the Future. If Thais are serious about putting on the Rule of Law, those who know laws must begin to tackle the military’s perpetual freedom of claiming “immunity”. In the case of coup, the “condition of Thai constitution”, de facto, leaves rooms for a possible meaningful collaboration between parliament and the real “sovereign” (yes, ‘the sovereignty’ remains even the constitution is torn!). Thais will have to think- hard and positively- if they want to prevent further coups.
I hope this is clear.