Trouble is precisely that it has been “upholding and uplifting the national interest” for far too long, where national interest is unsurprisingly identified as its own interests.
Can I expect one on cockroaches next? Not ratty just concerned about another health hazard.
A rise in the paddy rat population, unless treated by locals as a welcome source of protein, perhaps tinned or more realistically salted and dried in the sun (rat jerky), will mean devastation to the crops with the threat of famine as in the Chin Hills. A drop in the snake population on the other hand can somewhat ameliorate the problem of the dire unavailability of anti-snake venom.
Most of the 100 million Filipinos do not live in Manila and even if they do, they could not afford and probably do not even know about “excellent bookshops in Manila” like Solidaridad in Ermita. They do have an internet connection and that is effectively their library now.
Being pushed beyond one’s comfort zone in one’s reading of history is really what is needed.
“Under Marcos, moreover, military murder was the apex of a pyramid of terror–3,257 killed, 35,000 tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated.”
(Alfred W. McCoy, DARK LEGACY: HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER THE MARCOS REGIME, available online)
That is the sort of thing that needs to be elaborated in a history, along with modern-day analogue (and continuation of what amounts to a cultural tradition) the Davao death squad backed by soon to be president Duterte (there is even a columnist at the leading newspaper Inquirer who finds virtue in such Davao death squad extrajudicial killings).
The effect of cronyism on the economy and human rights violations would be an important part of any meaningful critical history. And such a history would need the scholarly rigor and prestige of a publishing house such as Cambridge to have full effect.
Having said that both are fakes in and of itselves.
Both are nothing but devices of control.
The wannabe controllers created the fictitious:
1.) “Separation of state and church” and
2.) the ever confusing and ambiguous “social contract”
Almost if not all politicians hold or profess a certain beliefs.
Surely when he gets in control he would be lead and guided by his beliefs. Either sincerely espousing morality, or simply conniving for control does not matter as both are infringing the rights of the individual.
“The government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control.” – John Locke
тАк#тАОPASтАм is blatantly bulldozing the rights of the individual at its core applying both political and religion for control under the banner of a “religious political” party. The ultimate in skulduggery.
The Hudud Law is not only Draconic but totally dehumanizing.
The politics of hudud by PAS is satanic in every sense of the word.
Whereas тАк#тАОUMNOтАм … well, we’ll leave that for another time.
Australia needs to increase its engagement with Myanmar. Most of our interaction at the moment seems to be through mining companies. Given our track record on overseas mining development, this will end badly.
At this critical time, we need greater political and commercial engagement that will build the social and economic infrastructure of the country.
A secular state is probably the best possible arrangement for human relations everywhere, and especially in diverse societies such as Malaysia.
Yet, in this specific case you’ve got a part of the population, perhaps the majority, which does not seem to be quite ready for supporting, or even understanding, the beneficial aspects of living in a religious-blind state that treats citizens equally regardless of their beliefs.
Delightful and rather comprehensive “Kyut Deeka” (Rat Precis).
There are rats and rats. Some people in Burma do eat rat often times with drinks. But these are not the one the “Durwan” was trying to eradicate. They are of the paddy field type and are quite tasty.
Outside of Rangoon and large cities like Mandalay, rats are commonly found only in local bazaars or other area with lots of rubbish lying around. Most personal dwellings are nowhere as bad as in those urban areas.
Lately snakes- live snakes- become export commodity thanks to this wonderful reform business by this Reformist Thamada Gyi and ever so helpful forces of “western” democracy, etc. One side effect of it has been unchecked over growth in population of Paddyfileld rats affecting output.
I’m from Jakarta
The flooding problem is due to the behavior of low public knowledge of town planning and rivers damaged
Now the Mayor of Jakarta force for orderly city
No-one has mentioned ethnicity so far. Imelda, Bongbong and Aimee have resurrected their careers from their Ilocos base where they have a very solid following. So this might suggest that all Ilocanos are ‘nonchalant’ (or mad) or, possibly, that ethnicity counts for a lot more than it is given credit for by the above commentators.
But it is not just ethnicity – significant sections of the wider community, usually older people in my experience, do not condemn wholesale everything the Marcoses did and some compare favourably what they see as the achievements of the Marcos era with those of succeeding presidencies. And, at the mock elections at the University of the Philippines (Diliman) recently as many as one in six students said they would vote for Bongbong (which I, as an alumnus of the same college in Britain from which Bb was ejected with his ‘special’ diploma, find astonishing).
Further, it is not exactly true to suggest that the Marcos story has not been written up in a relatively popular fashion – indeed Imelda’s story is especially fascinating; living shoeless in a coach house liable to flood when her father re-married, her story could be entitled”What happened to Ciderella after she married her Prince’. While I, like one of the commentators above, have little time for the National Bookstore, I would point out that there are several other excellent bookshops in Manila and that to this day one can easily find perhaps a dozen readable (and several more less accessible) books on the Marcoses.
In short, Mong’s article hits several nails squarely on their heads most notably that post-Marcos presidents (with the exception, in my opinion of Ramos) having nothing to be proud of. But I would be interested on any further comment he would make on the ethnicity of political support in the Philippines.
There are lots of sacrifices by the Tamadaw w/o which there will not be present NLD sweep.
The question now is can all reach an accommodation. The Tamadaw backing the NLD leadership.
This first step toward political unity of coequal branch preceding any things else must be the priority of DASSK.
This is not an impossible immediate future given he common threats as well as common destiny is clearly ID and accepted by both side instead of squabbling over the tits for tats of the past where the Tamadaw comes out ahead every time.
Thank you for this article Mong, it definitely helps elucidate the phenomenon of Marcos madness to those of us left uncomfortable at what appears to be a phenomenon of voluntary democratic contraction. It will be interesting to also observe how constructed images of the Marcos history at the hands of the cashed up clan tie into this “rebellion” of nonchalance demonstrated by the people
Mr Renaud Egreteau, a fellow at the Washington-based Wilson Centre and author of two books on Myanmar, said in an e-mail: “I don’t see the current Tatmadaw leadership having moved beyond the ideology it first defined more than 60 years ago.”
He added: “The constant emphasis on the multiple threats to the Myanmar nation and its sovereignty that are posed by a vast array of internal and external threats has been, since the 1950s, a consistent mobilising discourse for the armed forces.”
The message, said Mr Egreteau, is for not only the Burmese civilian elite, but also “the new generations of Tatmadaw officers (who) will lead the armed forces – and continue to intervene in political affairs – in the coming years, if not decades”.
A Burmese friend, who passed all the academic and psychological requirements for the DSA but was rejected at the last moment because he had flat feet, fills me in on the cadets’ mentality. “The point of going to the DSA is so you can become a rich and powerful person,” he says, relating the trajectory of a schoolmate who attended Burma’s West Point. His childhood buddy is now a rising star at a northern regional command, which means he can profit from government timber and mining businesses. “He is rich, his parents are rich, his brothers and sisters are rich, his children will be rich,” says my friend. “They don’t worry about anything.”
As if we need to be reminded constantly. The 71st Armed Forces Day is a reminder that the Tatmadaw are the most powerful political institution in Myanmar. The ‘international community’- statesmen, diplomats, media, analysts, experts all rubbing it in, thank you very much.
Still toting Heckler & Koch G3s and Uzis (the public staring down their barrels all too often) in the presence of the gigantic statues of the three empire builders I guess. Modernise, equip and train to defend the realm and protect the nation, or to lord over, suppress and exploit all the peoples of Burma, never mind majority or minority? And the same ‘international community’ watering the proverbial poison plant.
BTW the sign actually says,” Never divided, Ever united”. What it needs is the business end of a big wedge rammed through, long overdue.
People can win alright. Will is another issue. Definitely can.
Main problem here is putting their faith in empty vessel and feeling complacent about it as usual lazy fashion.
They have to understand that to improve their lives is not the same as copy and paste from any fancy country East or West they admire or any person local, regional, national or global but themselves.
They must now take this opportunity (it is -yes- an opportunity) to learn the ways of the world and find out how best to deal with it for the benefit for all.
Everyone must understand that one for all and all for one, even for the likes of Tayza although the likes of Surg Pun is different altogether.
With new technologies and likely imminent global chaos- financial and social- Burma does have opportunities if they do work hard to understand the ropes and use them well.
Current “holding” pattern of simply admiring their beloved Amay Suu wasting time- horse, cat, dog, rabbit trading always in secrecy as you stated- stretching her bum is gut retching and that sure will get you to devastation.
Facebook 
Twitter 
Soundcloud 
Youtube 
Rss
Myanmar’s army marches on
Trouble is precisely that it has been “upholding and uplifting the national interest” for far too long, where national interest is unsurprisingly identified as its own interests.
The rats of Rangoon
Can I expect one on cockroaches next? Not ratty just concerned about another health hazard.
A rise in the paddy rat population, unless treated by locals as a welcome source of protein, perhaps tinned or more realistically salted and dried in the sun (rat jerky), will mean devastation to the crops with the threat of famine as in the Chin Hills. A drop in the snake population on the other hand can somewhat ameliorate the problem of the dire unavailability of anti-snake venom.
Researching Myanmar today
Amen!
Curtain call for the CNRP?
You fail to explain that Hun Sen’s backtracking on revisions to the traffic law will result in countless more deaths on Cambodia’s roads.
Review of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine
Thoughtful review. Thanks!
The rats of Rangoon
[…] click here to read the full “The rats of Rangoon” article in the New Mandala by Griffith Asia Institute Adjunct Associate Professor, Dr Andrew […]
The return of the Marcoses
Most of the 100 million Filipinos do not live in Manila and even if they do, they could not afford and probably do not even know about “excellent bookshops in Manila” like Solidaridad in Ermita. They do have an internet connection and that is effectively their library now.
Being pushed beyond one’s comfort zone in one’s reading of history is really what is needed.
“Under Marcos, moreover, military murder was the apex of a pyramid of terror–3,257 killed, 35,000 tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated.”
(Alfred W. McCoy, DARK LEGACY: HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER THE MARCOS REGIME, available online)
That is the sort of thing that needs to be elaborated in a history, along with modern-day analogue (and continuation of what amounts to a cultural tradition) the Davao death squad backed by soon to be president Duterte (there is even a columnist at the leading newspaper Inquirer who finds virtue in such Davao death squad extrajudicial killings).
The effect of cronyism on the economy and human rights violations would be an important part of any meaningful critical history. And such a history would need the scholarly rigor and prestige of a publishing house such as Cambridge to have full effect.
The politics of hudud in Malaysia
Religion and politics is like oil and water.
They cannot mix.
Having said that both are fakes in and of itselves.
Both are nothing but devices of control.
The wannabe controllers created the fictitious:
1.) “Separation of state and church” and
2.) the ever confusing and ambiguous “social contract”
Almost if not all politicians hold or profess a certain beliefs.
Surely when he gets in control he would be lead and guided by his beliefs. Either sincerely espousing morality, or simply conniving for control does not matter as both are infringing the rights of the individual.
“The government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control.” – John Locke
тАк#тАОPASтАм is blatantly bulldozing the rights of the individual at its core applying both political and religion for control under the banner of a “religious political” party. The ultimate in skulduggery.
The Hudud Law is not only Draconic but totally dehumanizing.
The politics of hudud by PAS is satanic in every sense of the word.
Whereas тАк#тАОUMNOтАм … well, we’ll leave that for another time.
Myanmar’s army marches on
Australia needs to increase its engagement with Myanmar. Most of our interaction at the moment seems to be through mining companies. Given our track record on overseas mining development, this will end badly.
At this critical time, we need greater political and commercial engagement that will build the social and economic infrastructure of the country.
The politics of hudud in Malaysia
A secular state is probably the best possible arrangement for human relations everywhere, and especially in diverse societies such as Malaysia.
Yet, in this specific case you’ve got a part of the population, perhaps the majority, which does not seem to be quite ready for supporting, or even understanding, the beneficial aspects of living in a religious-blind state that treats citizens equally regardless of their beliefs.
The rats of Rangoon
Delightful and rather comprehensive “Kyut Deeka” (Rat Precis).
There are rats and rats. Some people in Burma do eat rat often times with drinks. But these are not the one the “Durwan” was trying to eradicate. They are of the paddy field type and are quite tasty.
Outside of Rangoon and large cities like Mandalay, rats are commonly found only in local bazaars or other area with lots of rubbish lying around. Most personal dwellings are nowhere as bad as in those urban areas.
Lately snakes- live snakes- become export commodity thanks to this wonderful reform business by this Reformist Thamada Gyi and ever so helpful forces of “western” democracy, etc. One side effect of it has been unchecked over growth in population of Paddyfileld rats affecting output.
Floods and forced evictions in Jakarta
I’m from Jakarta
The flooding problem is due to the behavior of low public knowledge of town planning and rivers damaged
Now the Mayor of Jakarta force for orderly city
Jokowi’s Papua policy deeply flawed
[…] (Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge* & Djali Gafur*, Guest Contributors / New Mandala) : Jokowi’s Papua policy deeply flawed Photo : AK Rockefeller / […]
The return of the Marcoses
No-one has mentioned ethnicity so far. Imelda, Bongbong and Aimee have resurrected their careers from their Ilocos base where they have a very solid following. So this might suggest that all Ilocanos are ‘nonchalant’ (or mad) or, possibly, that ethnicity counts for a lot more than it is given credit for by the above commentators.
But it is not just ethnicity – significant sections of the wider community, usually older people in my experience, do not condemn wholesale everything the Marcoses did and some compare favourably what they see as the achievements of the Marcos era with those of succeeding presidencies. And, at the mock elections at the University of the Philippines (Diliman) recently as many as one in six students said they would vote for Bongbong (which I, as an alumnus of the same college in Britain from which Bb was ejected with his ‘special’ diploma, find astonishing).
Further, it is not exactly true to suggest that the Marcos story has not been written up in a relatively popular fashion – indeed Imelda’s story is especially fascinating; living shoeless in a coach house liable to flood when her father re-married, her story could be entitled”What happened to Ciderella after she married her Prince’. While I, like one of the commentators above, have little time for the National Bookstore, I would point out that there are several other excellent bookshops in Manila and that to this day one can easily find perhaps a dozen readable (and several more less accessible) books on the Marcoses.
In short, Mong’s article hits several nails squarely on their heads most notably that post-Marcos presidents (with the exception, in my opinion of Ramos) having nothing to be proud of. But I would be interested on any further comment he would make on the ethnicity of political support in the Philippines.
Eve of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day 2016
“I don’t see the current Tatmadaw leadership having moved beyond the ideology it first defined more than 60 years ago.”
Even a blind can see that although it seems the delusional’ s cannot.
Incidentally Sit-tut is Sit-tut. NO one calls it by that Khin Nyunt’s given name.
Eve of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day 2016
There are lots of sacrifices by the Tamadaw w/o which there will not be present NLD sweep.
The question now is can all reach an accommodation. The Tamadaw backing the NLD leadership.
This first step toward political unity of coequal branch preceding any things else must be the priority of DASSK.
This is not an impossible immediate future given he common threats as well as common destiny is clearly ID and accepted by both side instead of squabbling over the tits for tats of the past where the Tamadaw comes out ahead every time.
The return of the Marcoses
Thank you for this article Mong, it definitely helps elucidate the phenomenon of Marcos madness to those of us left uncomfortable at what appears to be a phenomenon of voluntary democratic contraction. It will be interesting to also observe how constructed images of the Marcos history at the hands of the cashed up clan tie into this “rebellion” of nonchalance demonstrated by the people
Eve of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day 2016
Today’s Straits Times has this to say –
TIME magazine in July 2010 ran this article titled Soldiers of Fortune about the “triumphant elite of the future” –
Eve of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day 2016
As if we need to be reminded constantly. The 71st Armed Forces Day is a reminder that the Tatmadaw are the most powerful political institution in Myanmar. The ‘international community’- statesmen, diplomats, media, analysts, experts all rubbing it in, thank you very much.
Still toting Heckler & Koch G3s and Uzis (the public staring down their barrels all too often) in the presence of the gigantic statues of the three empire builders I guess. Modernise, equip and train to defend the realm and protect the nation, or to lord over, suppress and exploit all the peoples of Burma, never mind majority or minority? And the same ‘international community’ watering the proverbial poison plant.
BTW the sign actually says,” Never divided, Ever united”. What it needs is the business end of a big wedge rammed through, long overdue.
Britain and Myanmar friends again
People can win alright. Will is another issue. Definitely can.
Main problem here is putting their faith in empty vessel and feeling complacent about it as usual lazy fashion.
They have to understand that to improve their lives is not the same as copy and paste from any fancy country East or West they admire or any person local, regional, national or global but themselves.
They must now take this opportunity (it is -yes- an opportunity) to learn the ways of the world and find out how best to deal with it for the benefit for all.
Everyone must understand that one for all and all for one, even for the likes of Tayza although the likes of Surg Pun is different altogether.
With new technologies and likely imminent global chaos- financial and social- Burma does have opportunities if they do work hard to understand the ropes and use them well.
Current “holding” pattern of simply admiring their beloved Amay Suu wasting time- horse, cat, dog, rabbit trading always in secrecy as you stated- stretching her bum is gut retching and that sure will get you to devastation.