Comments

  1. Greg Lopez says:

    Thanks for sharing your views tocharian.

  2. Surjadi Basuki says:

    “Economically, Indonesia’s achievements under Yudhoyono’s rule look impressive as well”. Without mentioning the failure to achieve self-targeted poverty rate in 2 RPJMN (5 year plan) despite the existence of TNP2K?? Wow!

  3. tocharian says:

    @Greg Lopez
    I haven’t read the book you mentioned, but it is clear from my comments above what my “answers” to your rhetorical questions would be. I do not want to engage in a purely academic discussion of the age old question of legitimising the authority of a State using moral or even religious arguments. Brainwashing the ant-like populace with ideological pheromones is a classic strategy used by the ruling class, especially in Asian countries. We now live in the age of the internet and the Higgs boson!
    In any case, Singapore is not the Vatican and Lee Kwan Yew is not the Pope. Besides morality is not just about keeping the streets clean from chewing gum and petty drug-dealers if at the same time the real big-time thieves, despots and opium war-lords can bring in their dirty money and live off their riches with arrogance and impunity in Singapore. Even the Pope would agree with me on that!

  4. Azmi says:

    Rohingya community does not depend to Bengali language, script and culture any where around the world.
    So, please don’t play blame game any more.
    If you are true then come face to face with your leadership , Bengali leadership and Rohingya leadership in the table talk.
    Azmi

  5. Azmi says:

    Why the ethnic problems have created by Burmese military regime?
    As a speaker of Rohingya language I am trying to give you some examples here.
    Because, when the milirary regime and their supporters are going on by giving disinformation agai…nst the aboriginal of Arakan State (Rohingya Arakanese) and about Rohingya language whose are suffering by the way of ethnically, culturally, politically, religiously rights around the world.
    History couldn’t be forgotten easily.
    Because, I have had research around in the Eroupean libraries where I have seen the historical map of Arakan State and its historical background.
    Now, the criminal military regime has changed the real name of (Arakan state) and its capital (Akyab).
    Now, such as Rakhine and its capital is Sittwe by showing negative remarks around the world.
    In the Eroupe in Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland (Swedish and Finish) and Denmark.
    These countries are spoken similar languages and writings but they have their own pronounciation.
    They understand each other easily and they have little bit difference in vacubularies.
    When they introduces, they never introduces theirselves by telling false nationality or country.
    Furthermore, Germany ,Austria,Luxemburg,liechtenstein and Switzerland.
    These all countries speaks similar Deutch languages (Deutsch) but they have their own pronounciation and differenciation etc.
    In Asian countries for examples Turkey, Azerbijan, Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan are spoken in Turkish language and have similarities but they have difference pronouciation.
    Pakistan (since 1947 national language Urdu), Punjabi, Sindhi language are spoken and written in Arabic alphabets however in India ( Urdu (mix with Hindi), Sindhi and Punjabi languages are speaken and written in Hindi.
    Both countries languages have similarities but they have difference pronounciation and writings.
    Iran speaks 100% persi language, Tajikistan (Tajik persi and 20% Russian) and Afghanistan (Dari language 80% persi,20% mix) are spoken in Persian language.
    They have similarities but they have difference pronounciation.
    Some illiterate people are trying to compare or combined Rohingya language with Bangla language, by lack of information in this subject.
    Actually, Bangla has completely difference writing, pronouciation just like Hindi alphabets in writing .
    Bangla Language has similarities with Hindi language too much.
    Rohingya language is formed from the word of Urdu. Hindi, Arabic, English, Bangla and Burman etc.
    However,we Rohingyas never reads, writes or speaks Bengali language in the past or present.
    We have some similarities just like Iran (Persi language) and (Afghanistan Dari language), not at all but the pronouciation is completely difference.
    Today, the brutal Military Burmese Govt. blames or claims that the Rohingyas are from Bangladesh or foriegners.
    It seems that those are hypocrites, discriminaters, deceivers, cheaters, enemies of peace, enemy of human being, enemy of human rights, mischief makers, wrong doers and killers of the nation.
    Whose are seeking to create new problems time by time by doing unlawful actions against nations, instead of giving the rights to live on this earth to another nation.

  6. Derek Tonkin says:

    The discussion on Mr Galache’s article has, not surprisingly, aroused considerable emotion. He has himself been subject to personal attack on several counts and has clearly resented these attacks. I would however point out that he himself set the tone of the debate by basing his remarks on a scurrilous and totally unjustified attack on me personally, alleging that: “Few people have made more effort to deny the claims of ethnicity by the Rohingya than Derek Tonkin…..”.

    This is a preposterous allegation. I have since 2013 issued six balanced and independent commentaries on the problems facing the long persecuted, stateless and impoverished Muslim community in Rakhine State, endeavouring above all to contribute fresh historical materials and a new perspective to the problem. These six articles may be found by scrolling down http://www.networkmyanmar.org/index.php/rohingyamuslim-issues . This webpage also contains a selection of reference materials from a wide range of sources, including the most ardent supporters of the Rohingya including Dr Mohammed Yunus, Dr Habib Siddiqui, Nurul Islam, Ba Tha, Chris Lewa, Maung Zarni and several others. On other pages I have carried articles by contributors to “Rohingya Blogger”.

    On no occasion have I denied the claims of a separate ethnicity by Muslims in Rakhine State, and I spoke in strong support of this claim at the recent Burma Studies Conference in Singapore. What concerns me however is the identification of precisely which Muslim communities in Rakhine State voluntarily claim a “Rohingya” ethnicity when until Burmese independence in 1948 no such ethnicity was claimed by any Muslim community in Arakan, nor was it known to anyone in Burma or the outside world.

    I accordingly wish to reject as totally unacceptable the allegations made by Mr Galache, for which he has produced absolutely no evidence.

  7. Christine Gray, one of the most outstanding scholars of the modern Thai monarchy, made an important comment about this issue recently. You can read it by clicking here.

  8. Shwe Byan says:

    Nick. I read your article when it was first published and I have visited these Buddhist temples in Ramu. While the needless destruction of Buddhist temples and house in September 2012 at the hands of jihadists were horrific, the daily jihadi terror being rained in on the Jumma (mostly Buddhists with Christians, Hindus and animist) people at nearly Chittagong Hill Tracts are over hundreds of magnitude. Since these are mountainous and isolated areas, hardly any news are published. http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-187-2012.
    While the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has tried to steer her country to a more secular footing, Islamist terrorists are abound in Bangladesh and crept to core of the government and security agencies. In fact, the islamist tried to assassinate her in 2004. Should the government in Bangladesh change in the future and the Islamist come to power, all hell will break loose.

  9. Shwe Byan says:

    Myo Chit. No response required other than the facts and references that I had provided. Oh! I forget. Islamic terrorists cannot handle facts unless from a loud mouth mullah shouting to infidels “convert or be killed!”

  10. So you would wholeheartedly endorse “Rwangya” (which you admit might have been a forerunner of “Rohingya” [sounds pretty similar, actually] https://twitter.com/NetworkMyanmar/status/514055780467630080) but are reluctant to accept “Rohingya”? You say that you would endorse “Rwangya” because it was Arakanese Muslims’ choice of designation, then why don’t accept Rohingya (clearly their choice of designation now and possibly the same word with a different transliteration)? Are we discussing about a mere question of orthography, Mr. Tonkin, or is that you are unwilling to admit openly that there is such thing as a Rohingya ethnicity even in the face of your own evidence?

  11. Lee Jones says:

    I agree with Andrew. I appeared on a radio show to discuss Thailand’s crisis a while back, with another UK academic. Before the interview, this other scholar warned the presenter to “go easy on the king”, and he criticised me afterwards for openly discussing the king’s poor record in defending democracy, saying I was too crude and would struggle to return to Thailand if the broadcast was heard there. I think it would be better to change your research focus entirely rather than subject oneself to limitations on speech and academic freedom – particularly those imposed in a country where you do not live!

    This is not just important for one’s self respect and the fundamental social purpose of an academic. Many Thais have told me that objective analysis from overseas scholars is very important to them also, because of restrictions on what can be said and published domestically. Of course, those for whom this analysis is politically inconvenient or unpalatable will denounce the scholar in question as ignorant of Thailand, but that is par for the course.

    I think it is also incumbent on foreign academics to speak up on matters of particular concern to their profession, i.e. freedom of speech, academic freedom, and the autonomy of educators, students and educational institutions. When these things are threatened anywhere it should outrage the values of any academic worth the name, and they should stand in solidarity with their overseas colleagues in defending these values.

  12. I’ve made this point many times before, sometimes in an overly shrill way that alienated many people, but the best thing that academics in Australia and all over the world can do for Thailand right now is just to do their best to tell the truth about what is happening, and stop censoring themselves to conform to the ludicrous lese majeste law. I understand the risks and problems, but how can Thailand hope to make progress when even foreign academics contort themselves to avoid saying simple facts we all know to be true? It is a violation of academic (and journalistic) ethics and it needs to end.

  13. Myo Chit says:

    Shwe Byan! Your argument clearly shows how ultra-nationalist you are! Yes, we all know that there are few sympathies shown by the international community towards Rakhines. But wasn’t it partly because of Rakhines’ extreme pride and prejudice? Rakhines never reached out to the international community and to Burmese as well. Rakhines are so proud of their heritage and kingdom, which is understandable. But when you are EXTREMELY proud of your history, it means you have become an ultra-nationalist or extremist. And then you have a big propensity for turning violent too. And when Rakhines responded with extreme accusations of bias of the international community towards Rohingya, it was violent as well. They attacked the facilities of the international humanitarian offices and storehouses in Rakhine with Rakhine state government’s complicity. Now, Rakhines have gained notoriety which was brought upon them by themselves. Then, Rakhines started painstakingly showing it was Rohingya who used to terrorize peaceful Rakhines and Rakhines were only being defensive. I understand Rohingya must have made mistakes and committed violence to Rakhines on a number of occasions. But I don’t buy it if you say that Rohingya were always eternal bad men. And the Myanmar government was only on Rakhines’ side whenever it was about Rohingya. How could such a marginalized and discriminated community terrorize Rakhines, especially from the 1990s onwards? And now, you have a very good reason to show by repeatedly claiming that Rohingya are jihadist. But such cheap accusations only work with stupid, nationalist media back home. You can’t buy the international community with such conspiracy theories. Prove them!

  14. “Indonesia has a remarkable tradition of political poetry which has been used to challenge unjust and self-serving governments. This includes figures such as WS Rendra and Putu Oka.”

    I would change “Putu Oka” to Wiji Thukul who is still missing since 1998 until today. #MenolakLupa

    http://boemipoetra.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/mengapa-wiji-thukul-menolak-disebut-penyair-protes/

  15. Monique says:

    So nice to see that wonderful duality in academic Leftism and “feminist Islamism”, the sum of which, equal zero, and the subtraction of which, leads to infinity.
    Haiku and Pantun ? Not likely. Sexual abuse in Aceh ? Very likely and of much greater concern than “political poetry”.

  16. Elvis says:

    (1) First, I would review Australia’s policies of engagement with the old Soviet Union for real, practical theoretical examples and guidelines for engaging a totalist police state. Then you might ask yourself why the Russians were enemies and why the Thais are so-called friends while pursuing a similar ideology of governance.

    (2) I’d check Australia’s FDI companies, figures and numbers so as better to be able to re-check my own head in regards to how biased I am towards the capitalist social model. Also to see how much I unconsciously practice doublethink to consciously or unconsciously support hyper-exploitation of Thai labor, so as to better facilitate the privileges found in Australia.

    (3) I’d try to figure out who has sold their soul in Thai studies so as to easily be able to come and go for a little holiday-style R & R in Thailand, while keeping up appearances, and all the while prevaricating and endlessly talking around the critical central issues.

    That is start speaking openly, concretely and publicly about what is really, actually, in fact going on in the country. Of course – that will probably mean that whosoever do-eth won’t be able to return to that country on which they are making their academic buck. Where will the buck stop?

    (4) Quit smearing Prof. Ungpakorn’s analysis as “Marxist” and acknowledge it as “Reality”.

    (5) Why not ask Connor David Purcell?

  17. Greg Lopez says:

    This is interesting Tocharian — your views on morality.

    The recent book by Garry Rodan and Caroline Hughes, “The Politics of Accountability in Southeast Asia – The Dominance of Moral Ideologies” argues that the Singapore government — like other regimes in Southeast Asia — rely on “moral ideas” of accountability.

    http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198703532.do

    Are you suggesting that these governments are unaccountable within this framework?

    Are you also suggesting that they are immoral or hypocritical, both or something else?

    Thanks.

  18. Min says:

    Venerable Upaguta (Upagutta) is not Venerable Upagupta. Two individuals are different. Ven Upaguta lives in southern ocean – Incian Ocean.
    http://www.chomrompra.com/prashop_read_blog.php?code=b32

  19. Pete says:

    One obvious reform would be to make Thai studies courses available via online or distance learning.

    Why are they restricted to students who live in a certain place and can attend face-to-face?

  20. Min says:

    He’s not believed as a son of the Buddha that way but all monks are sons of the Buddha. True sons of the Buddha are arahants.

    Check this one
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4257181.stm