Interestingly the Burmese “invasion” of Thailand in modern times seems set to stay. If as they say being exploited is better than not, discriminated as second class citizens or not, you could say in the best tradition of capitalist globalisation that Thailand has been a great job creator for and benefactor of the downtrodden and desperate Burmese.
And heaven knows but for the border smuggling trade with Thailand the Burmese economy wouldn’t have functioned even at a very basic level all through the BSPP era up until recent times.
The beneficiaries of this trade included the KNU of course filling its coffers with “customs revenues”. But so far no armed minorities have succeeded to shoot their way into power. On the contrary they are still being either manipulated or exterminated.
Hi Paul, sorry just to correct one of your statements in which you said “The Burmese majority of Burma speak Burmese”. When you speak of the largest Ethnic Group within Burma they are known as Burman in which you can say they are Burmese Citizens and speak Burmese.
All the best.
Ian.
As a point of clarification, I did not state, nor did I intend to suggest, that Springer was not a serious analyst or scholar.
Rather, in my original post, I forwarded that those who actually hold to an orientalist interpretation of Cambodian political violence are not serious scholars. Such as Peang-Meth (1991), Prasso (1994), and Bit (1991)…
(… and so why carry on about their misguided ideas?).
Keith, so is this what you had in mind about more “productive conversations”? Attempting to string me up? I certainly don’t have to answer to you, as though you’re the arbiter of good scholarship on Cambodia. My reading of Roberts is what it is, and you’re free to disagree all you want. It remains the case that, in my view, his argument is deeply problematic and important to contest. More recently Roberts has produced some excellent work on biopolitics and governance, but his 1999 book remains flawed. What is particularly curious here is that you seem to disingenuously suggest that my argument is exclusively focused on Roberts, when clearly it isn’t. I’m far more critical of Abdulgaffar-Peang-Meth, Sheri Prasso, and Seanglim Bit than I am of David Roberts. Given that you’re so concerned with selective readings, why perpetuate one here? Also, perhaps you first want to explain why you care so much about what I write? After all, you’ve already made your ex cathedra judgement that I’m not a “serious analyst or scholar”. Beyond that, the reference to my work was a very minor point in Frewer’s argument and yet you took it as an opportunity to wax on about my scholarship. If you have a problem with or a question about my work, then a more productive approach might be to email me, or better yet, write your own paper, rather than waiting for opportunities like this to pounce. Also, there is no twisting here Keith, this isn’t a case of “anyone who raises an issue with my approach”, I’m talking specifically about you and your particular privileged comments in this thread. While it might seem suitable to you to move on from a conversation about the continuing reverberations of colonialism, that’s only because white males – like you and me – have benefited from this architecture of oppression… hence privilege. For those on the losing end of this ongoing, symbolic violence the conversation remains important. So please, by all means go ahead and get your final word in Keith, but I’m not interested in carrying this conversation forward in this forum because it isn’t productive and it has little relevance to Tim’s essay. I’m busy, I’ve got papers to write, and I’ll look forward to reading yours on the ostensible errs of my scholarship when it comes out. Until then, take good care.
The story of Balibo has yet to be written, and certainly won’t be by those who’ve tried to make a career from it and have reputations to protect.
The first journalist to break the story was the late Valens Doy, a cub reporter with Kompas based in Atambua, who used his contacts to play pingpong with the border. Editors didn’t run his full report, just breaking the story was enough to earn him death threats and he fled Atambua hiding under vegies in the back of a truck.
The racist stereotyping of Indonesian journalists, by members of a very unimpressive Australian media, as cowardly/unprofessional unwilling to investigate East Timor and/or colluding with Gov to cover up, is part of the wider picture of Australian racism and will one day be placed in it’s true perspective.
The manner in which some Australian journalists [and some academics] became conscious propgandists for the E.Timor independence cause, deliberately misinforming the public while hiding behind disingenuous claims of neutrality, has bequeathed a legacy of distrust in Indonesia and made it more difficult for Australians to cover Papua.
Perhaps Mr. Springer might honestly respond to the methodological question I raised, regarding what (I perceived as) a selective quoting of Roberts in his paper, and how non-Cambodian scholars might engage with the troubled issue of historical political violence in Cambodian society with sensitivity.
Unfortunately, Simon seems more interested in twisting this conversation to argue that anyone who raises an issue with his approach or his specific methods doesn’t understand postcolonial theory, and can only be speaking from a position of unacknowledged privilege.
Prabowo was a vice-presidential candidate in 2009. He was Megawati’s running-mate. So Thompson’s ‘standout’ program was of a vice-presidential campaign, not a presidential one, unless, of course, it was about Megawati’s campaign.
Neocons, neoliberals, neoimperialists, neonazis, neofascists… many a protagonist in this camp – former colonialists and postcolonials alike, would rather carry on beating about the bush (blame race and religion, tarr everyone with the same brush), in many cases knowingly, than talk about class, still a four letter word in polite circles. They’d get rumbled otherwise.
“Christians, whose native language is NOT Arabic, using Allah to denote God is farcical. The usage of Allah by these people bespeaks of an intent to appeal to Muslims used to usage of Arabic word for God.
Simple as that.”
It would appear simple to simple minded persons i.e. those not sufficiently educated. Arab Christians too use the word Allah, and those Sabah Christians who speak mostly malay (on account of the BN Govt`s BM campaign) would naturally use the Bible in Malay also.
Why don`t you just go and study the whole subject for the next 15/20 years and then come back and comment.
Colonialism including neo-Colonialism of the West by former subjects, or we adhere to the Saidian-correct faux paradigm that all Westerners are bad and everyone else, good ?
Of course Keith hasn’t done a hatchet job of my arguments or postcolonialism more generally. If it is time to “wrap up discussion of this idea of violent orientalism” one wonders what use postcolonialism is at all then, given its concern for the continuing legacies of colonial thought? Echoes of the “don’t talk about race because that’s where racism comes from” argument, which again, can only be articulated from a position of privilege. Unfortunately, racism and colonialism reflect existing hierarchical power relations and one can’t simply wish them away by ignoring them.
I trust that the Thai colonel was fully up-front about the huge profits from drug- and human trafficking that wound up in Thai pockets: both police and military, plus fortunes to Thai traffickers. The KNU/SSA cleaned up. They told me so themselves. TheThai language press was replete with well-sourced stories on just these topics.
In the new Myanmar, there’s no room for terrorist bomb-planters attacking schools and hospitals. Thein Sein and the Army is right to be a bit selective on who sits in parliament. As ex-SecState George Shultz said about Central America “Armed minorities shouldn’t be allowed to shoot their way into power.”
No one is affected? Nobody? None of those 150+ people who were summoned by the military and spent 7 or more days in detention at military bases having their attitudes adjusted? None of those folks who have fled the country to live in exile, including Kritsuda Khunasen? What about Dr. Pavin Chachavalpong at Kyoto University, who had his Thai passport revoked? What about former education minister Chaturon Chaisaeng facing computer crime charges for speaking before the FCCT and posting his criticisms of the junta online? He is facing a jail term of 14 years, but he is doing just fine? None of those 50+ people who have been charged with LM in the past nine months are affected? What about those two students who were sentenced to 5 years in prison (reduced to 2.5 years for pleading guilty to LM) for appearing in the play “Wolf Bride”? And that older guy, Theinsutham Suthijittaseranee, age 58, guilty on all five counts of LM, who received a preposterous 25 year prison sentence. I am sure he is just doing fine.
What about the 100,000 Cambodians who fled the country last June in the military crackdown on migrant workers? They are all well adjusted back home, or have they found new jobs with legal work permits and visas in Thailand?
Funny, but just two days ago somebody, a Thai academic, threatened me with being declared “persona non grata” for offering my version of the events of April 10, 2010, in which Col Romkhlao Thuvakam, deputy Army chief-of-staff from the Second Infantry Regiment in Prachin Buri, was killed by a gunshot to the head. He died when “men in black” elements of what I believe were rival Thai military, fired at him after he ordered his troops to fire on the Thai civilian protesters at Democracy Monument. Apparently he must be revered because he was a favorite of “someone important”, even though I am convinced he gave the order to shoot Thai citizens. Apparently academic freedom of expression is no longer allowed under the current military regime, but “no one is affected” because all the good academics know they should tow the line and only spout the PDRC/Democrat Party/”good people” version of the truth.
Please, go ahead and arrest and deport me, because I know we Americans have worn out our welcome here. We are being replaced by new alliances with the Russian and Chinese autocratic regimes, more to the liking of the military regime in power.
Apparently the new US Ambassador to Thailand reflects this new reality. Obama’s replacement of Kristie Kenney is Glyn Davies, the US former envoy to North Korea. According to Saksith Saiyasombut,
“Davies is a distinguished career diplomat with 35 years of experience, most notably as US representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Austrian capital Vienna, and from 2012 to 2014 as Special Representative of the U.S. Secretary of State for North Korea Policy, in which he managed the American position on the controversial nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, respectively. In other words, this man knows a lot about crisis diplomacy.” He appears to have been chosen because he knows how to negotiate with adversaries, because the current relationship between the two countries is “less than cordial.”
I am sure that no one will be punished by Article 44. Now that martial law has been lifted, its okay to give a three-finger salute. It’s also alright to assemble (in groups of fewer than five) to recommend changes to the energy policies like no new coal power plants in Krabi, or to seek compensation from EGAT for destroying the Moon River in Ubon, or to raise an issue with the ongoing reclamation of forestry land from poor farmers and rich developers alike. All of these policy issues can now receive input from concerned citizens, I am sure, because no one will continue to be affected.
A fascinating snapshot, marvellously written! That photo of the ‘true believers’ is pretty amazing too. It’s hard to see how Jokowi can walk the tightrope between maintaining any public semblance of Presidential authority and ‘autonomy’ whilst commanding the loyalty of PDI-P exec and rank-and-file whilst Ibu retains such an aggressive bargaining position and sense of entitlement. Jokowi could theoretically go independent right? The trade-off in terms of parliamentary loyalty of the PDI-P would be big, but if the clear public criticism continues surely that option becomes more appealing?
The next wave that will change the role of present government is from the result of the rural population taste of freedom.
The rural citizenry has always been constraint by devotion to Buddhism, which admonish one to be satisfied with peace from within, a favorite local monk subject.
The standard of the peace from within WILL BE ELEVATED by the freedom that is ongoing albeit not within but without.
The elevated sense of inner peace can only be accomplished by the true constant and consistent nurture of Health Care, education and Economic well being.
NLD that in the past has so correctly tried to court the rural citizenry has fallen by the way side since DASSK has been in the Hlutthaw. The evidences are the still closed and no longer attended various branches.
For now the key freedom accorded to the rural citizenry depend on the specific of available “Physical Transportation”.
If Soros et al or any other org. from lowly NGO to a country, truly wish Myanmar to be as Thailand like in a short while this can be done.
Actually the piece by the four wise Americans is rather impressive and, though carefully drafted not to upset, makes some excellent points.I cannot really understand why it has been interpreted as condoning the present dreadful regime.My slight objection to it (almost entirely a matter of presentation)is its insufferable condescension which plays to the myth that even intelligent foreigners cannot penetrate Thai mysteries.
Statistically India will become the country with the largest Islamic population in the world in a few years time.
The whole southern Burma especially when Thathone way b/f the colonist, Thathone was the center of commerce similar trading by Arabic, Persians (Muslim) and Portugese (from Goa) mainly as mercenary existed. All living under the center of Buddhism, Thathone.
Under the Colonist Maulamyain and later Yangon become the centers, only after the British decide to discriminate Bamar from other favored immigrants especially the Muslim kalar, from India, after total annexation of Myanmar did the animosity of Kalar vs Bamar accentuated that were still absent to his day in the first British capital, in Myanmar.
We seem to be going round in circles regarding the Buddhist-Muslim faultline studiously ignoring the elephant in the room since it’s our very pragmatic govt that has been driving a wedge through the faultline stoking up racial and religious hatred with its attendant paranoia also on the rise in Western liberal democracies reported here by Gallup. Wirathu, 969, MaBaTha, MaHaNa, they are all willing instruments of the generals. It’s civil society and other monks who were left picking up the pieces, striving towards reconciliation and religious harmony.
The peace-making likewise reminds us of the Burmese expression – a flaming torch in one hand, a fire bucket in the other. So long as the CIC Min Aung Hlaing literally and metaphorically sticks to his guns over the six points, above all defending the 2008 Constitution, it will remain a mirage and a process of obfuscation organised mainly for the benefit of Western investors.
The Transnational Institute’s report this month highlights the concerns of many stakeholders vis-├а-vis the political will or the lack of it on the part of the ruling generals in securing the country’s well being.
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Southeast Asian Frontiers field course
Interestingly the Burmese “invasion” of Thailand in modern times seems set to stay. If as they say being exploited is better than not, discriminated as second class citizens or not, you could say in the best tradition of capitalist globalisation that Thailand has been a great job creator for and benefactor of the downtrodden and desperate Burmese.
And heaven knows but for the border smuggling trade with Thailand the Burmese economy wouldn’t have functioned even at a very basic level all through the BSPP era up until recent times.
The beneficiaries of this trade included the KNU of course filling its coffers with “customs revenues”. But so far no armed minorities have succeeded to shoot their way into power. On the contrary they are still being either manipulated or exterminated.
The ruling generals have proved to be fast learners in crash courses of Ceasefire Capitalism as well as Disaster Capitalism.
Review of Finding Their Voice
Thank you for writing the insightful review. Looking forward to grab a copy.
Review of Burma’s Spring
Hi Paul, sorry just to correct one of your statements in which you said “The Burmese majority of Burma speak Burmese”. When you speak of the largest Ethnic Group within Burma they are known as Burman in which you can say they are Burmese Citizens and speak Burmese.
All the best.
Ian.
Fascist assemblages in Cambodia and Myanmar
Hi:
As a point of clarification, I did not state, nor did I intend to suggest, that Springer was not a serious analyst or scholar.
Rather, in my original post, I forwarded that those who actually hold to an orientalist interpretation of Cambodian political violence are not serious scholars. Such as Peang-Meth (1991), Prasso (1994), and Bit (1991)…
(… and so why carry on about their misguided ideas?).
Anyway, indeed- this exchange is concluded !
Fascist assemblages in Cambodia and Myanmar
Keith, so is this what you had in mind about more “productive conversations”? Attempting to string me up? I certainly don’t have to answer to you, as though you’re the arbiter of good scholarship on Cambodia. My reading of Roberts is what it is, and you’re free to disagree all you want. It remains the case that, in my view, his argument is deeply problematic and important to contest. More recently Roberts has produced some excellent work on biopolitics and governance, but his 1999 book remains flawed. What is particularly curious here is that you seem to disingenuously suggest that my argument is exclusively focused on Roberts, when clearly it isn’t. I’m far more critical of Abdulgaffar-Peang-Meth, Sheri Prasso, and Seanglim Bit than I am of David Roberts. Given that you’re so concerned with selective readings, why perpetuate one here? Also, perhaps you first want to explain why you care so much about what I write? After all, you’ve already made your ex cathedra judgement that I’m not a “serious analyst or scholar”. Beyond that, the reference to my work was a very minor point in Frewer’s argument and yet you took it as an opportunity to wax on about my scholarship. If you have a problem with or a question about my work, then a more productive approach might be to email me, or better yet, write your own paper, rather than waiting for opportunities like this to pounce. Also, there is no twisting here Keith, this isn’t a case of “anyone who raises an issue with my approach”, I’m talking specifically about you and your particular privileged comments in this thread. While it might seem suitable to you to move on from a conversation about the continuing reverberations of colonialism, that’s only because white males – like you and me – have benefited from this architecture of oppression… hence privilege. For those on the losing end of this ongoing, symbolic violence the conversation remains important. So please, by all means go ahead and get your final word in Keith, but I’m not interested in carrying this conversation forward in this forum because it isn’t productive and it has little relevance to Tim’s essay. I’m busy, I’ve got papers to write, and I’ll look forward to reading yours on the ostensible errs of my scholarship when it comes out. Until then, take good care.
America needs Thai style democracy
“No one is Thailand is was affected by martial law, and no one is affected by this Article 44”
If I was in the room you are in now I would be turning the place upside down looking for a crack pipe.
Shooting the messengers? Journalists in Indonesia
The story of Balibo has yet to be written, and certainly won’t be by those who’ve tried to make a career from it and have reputations to protect.
The first journalist to break the story was the late Valens Doy, a cub reporter with Kompas based in Atambua, who used his contacts to play pingpong with the border. Editors didn’t run his full report, just breaking the story was enough to earn him death threats and he fled Atambua hiding under vegies in the back of a truck.
The racist stereotyping of Indonesian journalists, by members of a very unimpressive Australian media, as cowardly/unprofessional unwilling to investigate East Timor and/or colluding with Gov to cover up, is part of the wider picture of Australian racism and will one day be placed in it’s true perspective.
The manner in which some Australian journalists [and some academics] became conscious propgandists for the E.Timor independence cause, deliberately misinforming the public while hiding behind disingenuous claims of neutrality, has bequeathed a legacy of distrust in Indonesia and made it more difficult for Australians to cover Papua.
Fascist assemblages in Cambodia and Myanmar
Hi:
Perhaps Mr. Springer might honestly respond to the methodological question I raised, regarding what (I perceived as) a selective quoting of Roberts in his paper, and how non-Cambodian scholars might engage with the troubled issue of historical political violence in Cambodian society with sensitivity.
Unfortunately, Simon seems more interested in twisting this conversation to argue that anyone who raises an issue with his approach or his specific methods doesn’t understand postcolonial theory, and can only be speaking from a position of unacknowledged privilege.
Shooting the messengers? Journalists in Indonesia
Prabowo was a vice-presidential candidate in 2009. He was Megawati’s running-mate. So Thompson’s ‘standout’ program was of a vice-presidential campaign, not a presidential one, unless, of course, it was about Megawati’s campaign.
Fascist assemblages in Cambodia and Myanmar
Neocons, neoliberals, neoimperialists, neonazis, neofascists… many a protagonist in this camp – former colonialists and postcolonials alike, would rather carry on beating about the bush (blame race and religion, tarr everyone with the same brush), in many cases knowingly, than talk about class, still a four letter word in polite circles. They’d get rumbled otherwise.
Rachel Leow on Malaysian Allah
“Christians, whose native language is NOT Arabic, using Allah to denote God is farcical. The usage of Allah by these people bespeaks of an intent to appeal to Muslims used to usage of Arabic word for God.
Simple as that.”
It would appear simple to simple minded persons i.e. those not sufficiently educated. Arab Christians too use the word Allah, and those Sabah Christians who speak mostly malay (on account of the BN Govt`s BM campaign) would naturally use the Bible in Malay also.
Why don`t you just go and study the whole subject for the next 15/20 years and then come back and comment.
Fascist assemblages in Cambodia and Myanmar
Colonialism including neo-Colonialism of the West by former subjects, or we adhere to the Saidian-correct faux paradigm that all Westerners are bad and everyone else, good ?
Fascist assemblages in Cambodia and Myanmar
Of course Keith hasn’t done a hatchet job of my arguments or postcolonialism more generally. If it is time to “wrap up discussion of this idea of violent orientalism” one wonders what use postcolonialism is at all then, given its concern for the continuing legacies of colonial thought? Echoes of the “don’t talk about race because that’s where racism comes from” argument, which again, can only be articulated from a position of privilege. Unfortunately, racism and colonialism reflect existing hierarchical power relations and one can’t simply wish them away by ignoring them.
Southeast Asian Frontiers field course
I trust that the Thai colonel was fully up-front about the huge profits from drug- and human trafficking that wound up in Thai pockets: both police and military, plus fortunes to Thai traffickers. The KNU/SSA cleaned up. They told me so themselves. TheThai language press was replete with well-sourced stories on just these topics.
In the new Myanmar, there’s no room for terrorist bomb-planters attacking schools and hospitals. Thein Sein and the Army is right to be a bit selective on who sits in parliament. As ex-SecState George Shultz said about Central America “Armed minorities shouldn’t be allowed to shoot their way into power.”
America needs Thai style democracy
No one is affected? Nobody? None of those 150+ people who were summoned by the military and spent 7 or more days in detention at military bases having their attitudes adjusted? None of those folks who have fled the country to live in exile, including Kritsuda Khunasen? What about Dr. Pavin Chachavalpong at Kyoto University, who had his Thai passport revoked? What about former education minister Chaturon Chaisaeng facing computer crime charges for speaking before the FCCT and posting his criticisms of the junta online? He is facing a jail term of 14 years, but he is doing just fine? None of those 50+ people who have been charged with LM in the past nine months are affected? What about those two students who were sentenced to 5 years in prison (reduced to 2.5 years for pleading guilty to LM) for appearing in the play “Wolf Bride”? And that older guy, Theinsutham Suthijittaseranee, age 58, guilty on all five counts of LM, who received a preposterous 25 year prison sentence. I am sure he is just doing fine.
What about the 100,000 Cambodians who fled the country last June in the military crackdown on migrant workers? They are all well adjusted back home, or have they found new jobs with legal work permits and visas in Thailand?
Funny, but just two days ago somebody, a Thai academic, threatened me with being declared “persona non grata” for offering my version of the events of April 10, 2010, in which Col Romkhlao Thuvakam, deputy Army chief-of-staff from the Second Infantry Regiment in Prachin Buri, was killed by a gunshot to the head. He died when “men in black” elements of what I believe were rival Thai military, fired at him after he ordered his troops to fire on the Thai civilian protesters at Democracy Monument. Apparently he must be revered because he was a favorite of “someone important”, even though I am convinced he gave the order to shoot Thai citizens. Apparently academic freedom of expression is no longer allowed under the current military regime, but “no one is affected” because all the good academics know they should tow the line and only spout the PDRC/Democrat Party/”good people” version of the truth.
Please, go ahead and arrest and deport me, because I know we Americans have worn out our welcome here. We are being replaced by new alliances with the Russian and Chinese autocratic regimes, more to the liking of the military regime in power.
Apparently the new US Ambassador to Thailand reflects this new reality. Obama’s replacement of Kristie Kenney is Glyn Davies, the US former envoy to North Korea. According to Saksith Saiyasombut,
“Davies is a distinguished career diplomat with 35 years of experience, most notably as US representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the Austrian capital Vienna, and from 2012 to 2014 as Special Representative of the U.S. Secretary of State for North Korea Policy, in which he managed the American position on the controversial nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, respectively. In other words, this man knows a lot about crisis diplomacy.” He appears to have been chosen because he knows how to negotiate with adversaries, because the current relationship between the two countries is “less than cordial.”
I am sure that no one will be punished by Article 44. Now that martial law has been lifted, its okay to give a three-finger salute. It’s also alright to assemble (in groups of fewer than five) to recommend changes to the energy policies like no new coal power plants in Krabi, or to seek compensation from EGAT for destroying the Moon River in Ubon, or to raise an issue with the ongoing reclamation of forestry land from poor farmers and rich developers alike. All of these policy issues can now receive input from concerned citizens, I am sure, because no one will continue to be affected.
What we’ve got here is failure to communicate
A fascinating snapshot, marvellously written! That photo of the ‘true believers’ is pretty amazing too. It’s hard to see how Jokowi can walk the tightrope between maintaining any public semblance of Presidential authority and ‘autonomy’ whilst commanding the loyalty of PDI-P exec and rank-and-file whilst Ibu retains such an aggressive bargaining position and sense of entitlement. Jokowi could theoretically go independent right? The trade-off in terms of parliamentary loyalty of the PDI-P would be big, but if the clear public criticism continues surely that option becomes more appealing?
Reading Myanmar politics in 2015
Ko Moe Aung
The next wave that will change the role of present government is from the result of the rural population taste of freedom.
The rural citizenry has always been constraint by devotion to Buddhism, which admonish one to be satisfied with peace from within, a favorite local monk subject.
The standard of the peace from within WILL BE ELEVATED by the freedom that is ongoing albeit not within but without.
The elevated sense of inner peace can only be accomplished by the true constant and consistent nurture of Health Care, education and Economic well being.
NLD that in the past has so correctly tried to court the rural citizenry has fallen by the way side since DASSK has been in the Hlutthaw. The evidences are the still closed and no longer attended various branches.
For now the key freedom accorded to the rural citizenry depend on the specific of available “Physical Transportation”.
If Soros et al or any other org. from lowly NGO to a country, truly wish Myanmar to be as Thailand like in a short while this can be done.
America needs Thai style democracy
Actually the piece by the four wise Americans is rather impressive and, though carefully drafted not to upset, makes some excellent points.I cannot really understand why it has been interpreted as condoning the present dreadful regime.My slight objection to it (almost entirely a matter of presentation)is its insufferable condescension which plays to the myth that even intelligent foreigners cannot penetrate Thai mysteries.
Vale Pamela Gutman
“Only the Good Die Young”
Statistically India will become the country with the largest Islamic population in the world in a few years time.
The whole southern Burma especially when Thathone way b/f the colonist, Thathone was the center of commerce similar trading by Arabic, Persians (Muslim) and Portugese (from Goa) mainly as mercenary existed. All living under the center of Buddhism, Thathone.
Under the Colonist Maulamyain and later Yangon become the centers, only after the British decide to discriminate Bamar from other favored immigrants especially the Muslim kalar, from India, after total annexation of Myanmar did the animosity of Kalar vs Bamar accentuated that were still absent to his day in the first British capital, in Myanmar.
Reading Myanmar politics in 2015
We seem to be going round in circles regarding the Buddhist-Muslim faultline studiously ignoring the elephant in the room since it’s our very pragmatic govt that has been driving a wedge through the faultline stoking up racial and religious hatred with its attendant paranoia also on the rise in Western liberal democracies reported here by Gallup. Wirathu, 969, MaBaTha, MaHaNa, they are all willing instruments of the generals. It’s civil society and other monks who were left picking up the pieces, striving towards reconciliation and religious harmony.
Loosening the grip has been highly selective just as rule of law has been malleable as putty in their hands.
The peace-making likewise reminds us of the Burmese expression – a flaming torch in one hand, a fire bucket in the other. So long as the CIC Min Aung Hlaing literally and metaphorically sticks to his guns over the six points, above all defending the 2008 Constitution, it will remain a mirage and a process of obfuscation organised mainly for the benefit of Western investors.
The Transnational Institute’s report this month highlights the concerns of many stakeholders vis-├а-vis the political will or the lack of it on the part of the ruling generals in securing the country’s well being.