Since modern-day Burmese don’t know how to pronounce “r” anymore, Anawrahta might soon be written Anawyahta, the way Mranma is written Myanmar, Rankun is written Yangon etc. Rakhaing still pronunce “r” correctly and that is reflected in words like “Mrauk-U” ( which Thant-Myint U, whose Burmese was pretty weak in those days translated as monkey’s eggs in one of his books lol), Kyaukphru etc. Even buddhist monks nowadays do not seem to pronounce Pali words correctly anymore. I’ve heard people say Ayahan for Arahan. Oh well, words and names are smoke and mirrors in Burma and history is always written and rewritten by the ruling upper class to suit their needs and to brainwash the proletariat!
I guess time will tell. I’m still pretty comfortable with the assessment I made back in March. Here’s how The Myanmar Timesreported it:
Nicholas Farrelly, a researcher at Australian National University, says the government has “too many balls to juggle”.
“It’s an unenviable task and one not made any easier by the lofty expectations that many hold. Myanmar’s security forces will likely struggle with managing popular movements for many years to come. It’s a matter of practice, mentality and momentum,” he told The Myanmar Times yesterday.
“At almost every level, though, Myanmar is a more democratic, more inclusive and more successful society today than it has been for a couple of generations. The thugs who gave the orders for the attack on unarmed students deserve reprimand and punishment. But it shouldn’t be a surprise that flare-ups of abusive behaviour still occur.
“It would be a miracle, given the history and the politics, if this is the last time that cries of backsliding are heard. The last couple of years for Myanmar have been five steps forward, two steps back. At the very least that’s a much better track record than the countries with which Myanmar should be most readily compared: Thailand and Bangladesh.”
Counterintuitively it ain’t smart planning and wise judgment for the greater good you’d find topmost on the minds of our ruling generals but rent seeking and a stranglehold on this country’s political and economic life. The whole reform process is a means to that end.
The NLD is likely to reach the end of its tether soon though seemingly chomping at the bits. There’s only so much the regime is prepared to concede, perhaps not even as far as a coalition or power sharing. Watch this space.
The Summit brings together 1,350 young leaders from over 190 countries, making it the most international gathering of young people in the world, other than the Olympic Games. (From their website)
The holding of a youth summit in a military dictatorship is, though, a bone of contention.
I’m Not sure what this ‘Tyrell is hopeful’ stuff is rooted in. Activists bridging social divisions? Unconnected to color groups? Get real. The junta has no interest in that. They are opposed to any movement and activity directed at them, and especially any group advocating for real honest electoral democracy. The Thais generally know that, and know what will happen to such activists, which is why Thais generally are not lining up publicly behind them. Those politically conscious are scared, and will be until the junta really goes too far, in the view of most Thais.
A number of prominent “Burmese”, especially of the ruling upper class, such as Ne Win (Shu Maung), Lo Hsing-Han, etc., are actually ethnically Chinese or half-Chinese. Ne Win kicked out a lot of Indians from Burma in the 60’s (I was living in Rangoon in those days). Burma or Mianma as it is known nowadays, is well on its way to become a Chinese vassal state. Indians don’t have a chance in Miandian, even though Buddha was from India! China’s One Belt One Road (not about silk anymore!) strategy to “sinicise” the “barbaric periphery” is proceeding at an alarming pace. The “hinduisation” of Southeast Asia happened more than a thousand years ago but “islamisation” is still “work in progress”(completed now in Indonesia and Malaya?). I predict that the next big global conflict the world will see is that between the expanding Chinese (they are quite ubiquitous nowadays, not just the Muslims) looking for greener pastures (literally) that they can exploit and pollute and the fanatic Muslims of the “fundamentalist” type looking for their next “caliphate”. The US (looking for a pivot anywhere in this world?) s already caught up in this game of Go. Donald Trump shouldn’t blame everything on “illegal” Mexican immigrants (that would be just like Mianmese blaming everything on the wretched “illegal” Bengali immigrants lol)
By the way, when I use the word “Lebensraum”, I am thinking of maps like this one.
In regards to Roy Anderson’s comment about satellite tracking and naming the company involved; there has been further investigations carried out by the English press and one mothership has been impounded by the New Guinea government.
It would also appear to be the tip of the iceberg with literally hundreds of Thai trawlers involved and more than one mothership. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/01/slave-ships-papua-new-guinea-hunt-burmese-men-trawler
And after two knee jerk editorials in the Nation, with a lot of breast beating, procrastination, childish chatter and indignant denials they finally have had the brains to actually check the figures and admit Thailand’s track record is appalling, and getting worse after the initial investigation and crackdown. The editorial is here: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Trafficking-report-The-facts-versus-the-fury-30265844.html
In other words Thailand has just gone the quick fix route scraping the surface and will now ignore the problem entirely.
“Today’s popular antagonism toward the Rohingya and other Muslim populations can be explained as part of a very old effort to police the boundaries of belonging”.
NO, it can be explained as Jake Lynch-led drivel to advance Islamist-Leftist interests
in Asia. The OIC now is talking of creating a UN Division solely for the “Rohingya” like the two that exist solely for the embellishment of Palestinian corruption. More Sudanese Muslims have died (at the hands of Sudanese Muslims) than any other group of Muslims, but do they have their own UN Division ? Of course not. The OIC ensures that the UN is blind to Muslim-on-Muslim violence, even if most of the World is not (entirely). The fetishism on New Mandala and elsewhere surrounding the Bangladeshi refugees, miscast as “Rohingya”, is another ideological delusion, foisted mostly on Myanmar, that has more to do with spin the macho Leftist bottle in academic departments, than anything to do with such nonsense as “popular antagonism”. Where ? Honduras ? Burkina Faso ? Moldova ? Yes, I am sure they just hate the “Rohingya”. Meanwhile, let us ask: Just how much money has the OIC spent on their fellow Ummah ? Myanmar does not prohibit political contact between Gulf States and refugees, for example. Perhaps, it is because then “popular antagonism” is really found in the lack of deeds by Muslim nations, and not in the false rhetoric of “belonging” of said Islamic countries.
For Burma it is exactly “A-thar-de-ga-lau-htwat” “maggots coming out of own flesh” (to please U Moe Aung).
A few bobs dropping from them for the flood victims, etc. would not make up even 1% of loots ripped off from the populace by the new greedy rapacious system they have been the back bone of.
Farrelly is right. It is the bulging middle class who are be the instrument of destruction of the pristine land.
Leading Thai Intellectual/Academic Thitinan apparently sees the Human Trafficking situation in Thailand (which he prefers to call “an illicit & unregulated labor industry”) is an example of an American lens applied inappropriately to SE Asia:
“Applied through the lenses of America’s human rights standards on Thailand’s booming but illicit and unregulated labour industry that is regionally integrated, Thailand can hardly get a passing grade”
Thitinan further says, “Migrant labourers of myriad backgrounds work in Thailand and transit through the country for work in neighbouring economies. So far there is no regional framework that governs this opaque and corrupt labour market which is exploited by those in local power for private gain. In absolute terms, a country like Thailand could be labelled as Tier 3 indefinitely”
IE., poor little Thailand is being picked on because other countries don’t like its Junta.
Surprisingly, Thitinan then makes a plea for all of us to believe that the Thai Junta “has placed human trafficking as a national priority, including actual arrests of senior officials involved”.
Whereas many observers see the present “Crackdown on Human Trafficking” as simply a piece of Theater meant to impress naive foreigners.
Clearly, large-scale Human Trafficking into and thru Thailand has a long tradition and many powerful vested interests which benefit from the huge ongoing cashflow it generates. Myriad Officials, high and low, are involved, not just the one or two arrested (but not yet charged, including many high military officials, including Army Generals and Navy Admirals (as well as their associates/front people and wives).
And, despite the Junta’s theater and Thitinan’s plea for more understanding, the Thai Human Trafficking industry is probably going to be around for many more years to come.
The only antidote to “corrupting double-speak” is engagement with actual problems and issues.
Education, police and health are where the problems are but no one seems brave enough to actually do anything about them or even delve deeply into them.
And here I mean the all-important details of the problems, not parroting the word democracy, democracy, over and over again, which is not a source of hope, but rather a disconnect from the very issues and problems that democracy allegedly values and promotes a solution to.
Education, police and health is where the major issues that the public is concerned with lie, the important issues where most people wanted “reform” before that word was yet again turned into another empty joke word.
How could these young protesters be considered a “source of hope for Thai democracy.” The last decade pretty much proves that mere “protesting” without actually acting on problems to actually solve the problems amounts to just hot air and accomplishes diddly squat.
Protesters are only a source of hope for western intellectuals and the generalized program they are pushing, not for the people who actually experience the problems in their daily life and who need them solved. And there are two sides to every issue, for every poor motorcycle taxi who earns a livelihood speeding on sidewalks there is a child who cannot walk or ride their bike to school or a senior citizen who cannot even walk to the store because the sidewalk is dangerous or non-existent, yet academic nincompoops dismiss the BMA sidewalk cleanup campaigns as just more elitist BS.
Like the LM-focused articles of this blog, the protesters do not seem to engage with any of the pressing issues that are affecting the people of Thailand. If they were given even a basic quiz of how the government works or the people’s constitution worked and issues of importance in the news, would they even pass? I think not.
Democracy is an empty word if you do not fill it in with specific, concrete issues, and furthermore, the author Tyrell Haberkorn knows this, because her scholarly work pays great attention to detail, historical detail. 🙂
While the students principled position is to admire, it is though completely unrealistic and wishful thinking that out of their protest a large democracy movement or meaningful political party could possibly develop in Thailand’s present condition.
They have a two pronged strategy – one is to try to develop a large movement (which i can’t see happening) and two is to lead the military junta to damage itself (which so far they have been quite successful).
Even though the Red/Yellow conflict, especially the part played on the streets, has been on hold and dormant since the coup, and possibly will remain so for quite some time, it is more than likely not over with, and will break out again sooner or later in one form or the other. The conflict is too deep, all encompassing, and involving almost the entire society. A relatively tiny sector of progressives is not able to suddenly take the direction of this conflict into its hands. What the students can do, and did quite well, is to push and widen the discourse.
These young people are indeed a source of hope for Thai democracy.
One can only hope they will be able to stay away from the corrupting double-speak that is the “internal discourse” of the pro-TS UDD.
At some point they may provide the spark necessary for some of their elders to create a political party that could then appeal for the support of the many Reds who would vote for a genuine democratic party if one existed.
Their call for rule of law, as simplistic as it may sound, has the ring of genuine liberal-democratic desire.
After all, Thailand has had elections beyond count; it has never, however, come close to having rule of law.
Facebook 
Twitter 
Soundcloud 
Youtube 
Rss
Review of The Wheel-Turner and His House
I think Thant Myint-U’s translation as “Monkey Egg” was meant to be ironic, and is derived from Morris Collis’s translation from 1951.
Dear Malaysia: Mahathir is no messiah
Peter, Karpal murdered? That is a serious allegation. Where did you hear that from? We Malaysians are an ignorant lot, I must say.
Review of The Wheel-Turner and His House
Since modern-day Burmese don’t know how to pronounce “r” anymore, Anawrahta might soon be written Anawyahta, the way Mranma is written Myanmar, Rankun is written Yangon etc. Rakhaing still pronunce “r” correctly and that is reflected in words like “Mrauk-U” ( which Thant-Myint U, whose Burmese was pretty weak in those days translated as monkey’s eggs in one of his books lol), Kyaukphru etc. Even buddhist monks nowadays do not seem to pronounce Pali words correctly anymore. I’ve heard people say Ayahan for Arahan. Oh well, words and names are smoke and mirrors in Burma and history is always written and rewritten by the ruling upper class to suit their needs and to brainwash the proletariat!
The centre of the neighbourhood
Thanks Moe Aung,
I guess time will tell. I’m still pretty comfortable with the assessment I made back in March. Here’s how The Myanmar Times reported it:
And this old piece also seems relevant again.
Best wishes to all,
Nich
The centre of the neighbourhood
Counterintuitively it ain’t smart planning and wise judgment for the greater good you’d find topmost on the minds of our ruling generals but rent seeking and a stranglehold on this country’s political and economic life. The whole reform process is a means to that end.
The NLD is likely to reach the end of its tether soon though seemingly chomping at the bits. There’s only so much the regime is prepared to concede, perhaps not even as far as a coalition or power sharing. Watch this space.
Hopes for democracy in Thailand
Whatever one’s position, these 14 students deserve to have their voice heard.
Such a demand is being made of One Young World, who are planning to hold their international youth summit in Bangkok in November.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Young_World
The event is likely to be a big deal:
The Summit brings together 1,350 young leaders from over 190 countries, making it the most international gathering of young people in the world, other than the Olympic Games. (From their website)
The holding of a youth summit in a military dictatorship is, though, a bone of contention.
Both these issues are addressed in this appeal
http://bit.ly/1DYgIBA
Further information for those who are interested may be found at:
https://www.oneyoungworld.com/bangkok-advisory-board
Flotillas, light shows, Royal Palace etc:
https://www.oneyoungworld.com/news/host-cities-2015-and-2016-announced
An article from the outside:
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2015/06/thai-student-predicts-world-change.html
Hopes for democracy in Thailand
I’m Not sure what this ‘Tyrell is hopeful’ stuff is rooted in. Activists bridging social divisions? Unconnected to color groups? Get real. The junta has no interest in that. They are opposed to any movement and activity directed at them, and especially any group advocating for real honest electoral democracy. The Thais generally know that, and know what will happen to such activists, which is why Thais generally are not lining up publicly behind them. Those politically conscious are scared, and will be until the junta really goes too far, in the view of most Thais.
The centre of the neighbourhood
A number of prominent “Burmese”, especially of the ruling upper class, such as Ne Win (Shu Maung), Lo Hsing-Han, etc., are actually ethnically Chinese or half-Chinese. Ne Win kicked out a lot of Indians from Burma in the 60’s (I was living in Rangoon in those days). Burma or Mianma as it is known nowadays, is well on its way to become a Chinese vassal state. Indians don’t have a chance in Miandian, even though Buddha was from India! China’s One Belt One Road (not about silk anymore!) strategy to “sinicise” the “barbaric periphery” is proceeding at an alarming pace. The “hinduisation” of Southeast Asia happened more than a thousand years ago but “islamisation” is still “work in progress”(completed now in Indonesia and Malaya?). I predict that the next big global conflict the world will see is that between the expanding Chinese (they are quite ubiquitous nowadays, not just the Muslims) looking for greener pastures (literally) that they can exploit and pollute and the fanatic Muslims of the “fundamentalist” type looking for their next “caliphate”. The US (looking for a pivot anywhere in this world?) s already caught up in this game of Go. Donald Trump shouldn’t blame everything on “illegal” Mexican immigrants (that would be just like Mianmese blaming everything on the wretched “illegal” Bengali immigrants lol)
By the way, when I use the word “Lebensraum”, I am thinking of maps like this one.
The centre of the neighbourhood
very FUNNY ! I suppose the quotation marks irritated you no end ?
The centre of the neighbourhood
Hey,
Please don’t call these people Rohingya and they are just homeless muslims, not Rohingya.
Thailand’s human trafficking won’t stop
In regards to Roy Anderson’s comment about satellite tracking and naming the company involved; there has been further investigations carried out by the English press and one mothership has been impounded by the New Guinea government.
It would also appear to be the tip of the iceberg with literally hundreds of Thai trawlers involved and more than one mothership.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/01/slave-ships-papua-new-guinea-hunt-burmese-men-trawler
And after two knee jerk editorials in the Nation, with a lot of breast beating, procrastination, childish chatter and indignant denials they finally have had the brains to actually check the figures and admit Thailand’s track record is appalling, and getting worse after the initial investigation and crackdown. The editorial is here: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Trafficking-report-The-facts-versus-the-fury-30265844.html
In other words Thailand has just gone the quick fix route scraping the surface and will now ignore the problem entirely.
The centre of the neighbourhood
“Today’s popular antagonism toward the Rohingya and other Muslim populations can be explained as part of a very old effort to police the boundaries of belonging”.
NO, it can be explained as Jake Lynch-led drivel to advance Islamist-Leftist interests
in Asia. The OIC now is talking of creating a UN Division solely for the “Rohingya” like the two that exist solely for the embellishment of Palestinian corruption. More Sudanese Muslims have died (at the hands of Sudanese Muslims) than any other group of Muslims, but do they have their own UN Division ? Of course not. The OIC ensures that the UN is blind to Muslim-on-Muslim violence, even if most of the World is not (entirely). The fetishism on New Mandala and elsewhere surrounding the Bangladeshi refugees, miscast as “Rohingya”, is another ideological delusion, foisted mostly on Myanmar, that has more to do with spin the macho Leftist bottle in academic departments, than anything to do with such nonsense as “popular antagonism”. Where ? Honduras ? Burkina Faso ? Moldova ? Yes, I am sure they just hate the “Rohingya”. Meanwhile, let us ask: Just how much money has the OIC spent on their fellow Ummah ? Myanmar does not prohibit political contact between Gulf States and refugees, for example. Perhaps, it is because then “popular antagonism” is really found in the lack of deeds by Muslim nations, and not in the false rhetoric of “belonging” of said Islamic countries.
Myanmar’s middle-class bulge
Hmm
Not only reinventing the wheel but also re defining or rather revising the whole characteristics of a wheel.
Myanmar’s middle-class bulge
Middle class is the bastion of exploitation in any society as is the most selfish of the classes.
http://aattp.org/new-poll-upper-middle-class-americans-really-hate-the-poors-and-a-surprise-twist-from-the-very-rich/
http://www.cityam.com/217724/rich-kids-are-selfish-and-its-bad-their-health
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/apr/02aruna.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Educated-middle-class-women-are-selfish/articleshow/5656059.cms
http://www.ibtimes.com/middle-class-death-culture-780829
For Burma it is exactly “A-thar-de-ga-lau-htwat” “maggots coming out of own flesh” (to please U Moe Aung).
A few bobs dropping from them for the flood victims, etc. would not make up even 1% of loots ripped off from the populace by the new greedy rapacious system they have been the back bone of.
Farrelly is right. It is the bulging middle class who are be the instrument of destruction of the pristine land.
Thailand’s human trafficking won’t stop
Link to Thitinan’s Bangkok Post article quoted above:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/639664/tip-shows-a-thai-us-alliance-under-strain
Thailand’s human trafficking won’t stop
Leading Thai Intellectual/Academic Thitinan apparently sees the Human Trafficking situation in Thailand (which he prefers to call “an illicit & unregulated labor industry”) is an example of an American lens applied inappropriately to SE Asia:
“Applied through the lenses of America’s human rights standards on Thailand’s booming but illicit and unregulated labour industry that is regionally integrated, Thailand can hardly get a passing grade”
Thitinan further says, “Migrant labourers of myriad backgrounds work in Thailand and transit through the country for work in neighbouring economies. So far there is no regional framework that governs this opaque and corrupt labour market which is exploited by those in local power for private gain. In absolute terms, a country like Thailand could be labelled as Tier 3 indefinitely”
IE., poor little Thailand is being picked on because other countries don’t like its Junta.
Surprisingly, Thitinan then makes a plea for all of us to believe that the Thai Junta “has placed human trafficking as a national priority, including actual arrests of senior officials involved”.
Whereas many observers see the present “Crackdown on Human Trafficking” as simply a piece of Theater meant to impress naive foreigners.
Clearly, large-scale Human Trafficking into and thru Thailand has a long tradition and many powerful vested interests which benefit from the huge ongoing cashflow it generates. Myriad Officials, high and low, are involved, not just the one or two arrested (but not yet charged, including many high military officials, including Army Generals and Navy Admirals (as well as their associates/front people and wives).
And, despite the Junta’s theater and Thitinan’s plea for more understanding, the Thai Human Trafficking industry is probably going to be around for many more years to come.
Hopes for democracy in Thailand
The only antidote to “corrupting double-speak” is engagement with actual problems and issues.
Education, police and health are where the problems are but no one seems brave enough to actually do anything about them or even delve deeply into them.
And here I mean the all-important details of the problems, not parroting the word democracy, democracy, over and over again, which is not a source of hope, but rather a disconnect from the very issues and problems that democracy allegedly values and promotes a solution to.
Education, police and health is where the major issues that the public is concerned with lie, the important issues where most people wanted “reform” before that word was yet again turned into another empty joke word.
How could these young protesters be considered a “source of hope for Thai democracy.” The last decade pretty much proves that mere “protesting” without actually acting on problems to actually solve the problems amounts to just hot air and accomplishes diddly squat.
Protesters are only a source of hope for western intellectuals and the generalized program they are pushing, not for the people who actually experience the problems in their daily life and who need them solved. And there are two sides to every issue, for every poor motorcycle taxi who earns a livelihood speeding on sidewalks there is a child who cannot walk or ride their bike to school or a senior citizen who cannot even walk to the store because the sidewalk is dangerous or non-existent, yet academic nincompoops dismiss the BMA sidewalk cleanup campaigns as just more elitist BS.
Like the LM-focused articles of this blog, the protesters do not seem to engage with any of the pressing issues that are affecting the people of Thailand. If they were given even a basic quiz of how the government works or the people’s constitution worked and issues of importance in the news, would they even pass? I think not.
Democracy is an empty word if you do not fill it in with specific, concrete issues, and furthermore, the author Tyrell Haberkorn knows this, because her scholarly work pays great attention to detail, historical detail. 🙂
Hopes for democracy in Thailand
While the students principled position is to admire, it is though completely unrealistic and wishful thinking that out of their protest a large democracy movement or meaningful political party could possibly develop in Thailand’s present condition.
They have a two pronged strategy – one is to try to develop a large movement (which i can’t see happening) and two is to lead the military junta to damage itself (which so far they have been quite successful).
Even though the Red/Yellow conflict, especially the part played on the streets, has been on hold and dormant since the coup, and possibly will remain so for quite some time, it is more than likely not over with, and will break out again sooner or later in one form or the other. The conflict is too deep, all encompassing, and involving almost the entire society. A relatively tiny sector of progressives is not able to suddenly take the direction of this conflict into its hands. What the students can do, and did quite well, is to push and widen the discourse.
Regional responses to Rohingya exclusion
Don’t you wish all the west can see the citizenry helping each other the best they can.
Last time Bangladesh experience this kind of flood, more international uproar then the quiet suffering of Myanmar citizery.
Hopes for democracy in Thailand
These young people are indeed a source of hope for Thai democracy.
One can only hope they will be able to stay away from the corrupting double-speak that is the “internal discourse” of the pro-TS UDD.
At some point they may provide the spark necessary for some of their elders to create a political party that could then appeal for the support of the many Reds who would vote for a genuine democratic party if one existed.
Their call for rule of law, as simplistic as it may sound, has the ring of genuine liberal-democratic desire.
After all, Thailand has had elections beyond count; it has never, however, come close to having rule of law.