Your Joseph Conrad or George Orwell world
is populated by only one person…YOU.
Now having said that, you are right about
how the Chinese are treating Burma, because
that’s how China treats every country. You
think China doesn’t own Hun Sen and Cambodia or Laos ? But get over your neo-whatever view that all Westerners wear mosquito hats and dress in all whites and play polo on fine trimmed lawns and take tea at 4 PM. That day has long past, except for the Royal Family, and even they are feeling the economic pinch of reality. Some non-Burmese (Professor David Steinberg comes to mind) GET Burma, and they
understand Burma well.
In Malaysia, a similar study was conducted, and resume racism occurred (similar to Australia) but with an ironic twist — Malay controlled firms/employers discriminated against Malay applicants.
One of the main findings of the study was that the total resumes sent, only 13.1%(396) received callbacks, of those, 4.2%(63) were Malay and 22.1%(222) were Chinese. The study also found that the quality of applicants appeared to matter more for Malays than for the Chinese.
There was also a difference between industries, where engineering companies were responding to 25% of resumes by Chinese applicants and only 3% of resumes by Malay applicants while in accountancy, a lesser 19% Chinese applicants received callbacks compared to 6% of Malay applicants.
It was also found that discrimination against Malay applicants is highest among foreign-controlled companies, followed by Malay-controlled companies, then Chinese-controlled companies.
I’m glad to oblige!
The simplistic naive blue-eyed Western view of Burma (a country of almost 60 million): black vs white, good vs evil, ethnics (noble savages) vs “bama tatmadaw” (brutal ethnic-cleansing guys), Posh Lady (Suu Kyi with an Oxford accent) vs junta generals (ignorant uneducated morons), etc. etc. is of course very amateurish and facile. Let me add my fifty cents as someone whose ancestors were poor humble peasants from Burma. In Myanmar or Burma or Birmanie or Phama or Mian-Dian or whatever, you just change names. You don’t change the actors, you change their roles. Names are like smoke, roles are like mirrors. A lot of smoke and mirrors in Naypyitaw the “abode of the rulers”. Burmese are very fond of the theatre of the marionettes! Burma has always been ruled by a feudal oligarchy (Suu Kyi definitely belongs to the top echelon of the food chain) since the days of the monarchy, operating on the medieval principles of intrigues, coercion, nepotism, patronage and “appanage”. Connections (guanxi in Chinese) are the key to the web of power. Suu Kyi (most Burmese don’t put their father’s name in front of your name, unless he is famous!) might be considered a “Burmese idol” or a “human rights icon” for many people in the West like Bono (the U2 guy), but in Burma her fame and her “authority” (“awza” in Burmese, she doesn’t have power=“ana” yet until she becomes President) comes from the fact that her father Aung San was a national(istic) hero worshiped by the majority of the populace. He died early so we would never know if Burma would be very different now if he wasn’t assassinated. What Burma needs is a French Revolution of sorts (you know the kind that says: Liberté, ├Йgalité, Fraternité) before Suu Kyi gives another (in my opinion rather boring) lecture about democracy and “rule of law” (so what’s the citizenship law in Burma?) In order to share the “Burmese Peacock Throne” with the ex-junta-generals, Suu Kyi is busy collecting brownie points from the ex-junta generals and their Chinese paymasters. She recently strongly endorsed a Chinese copper mine which was poisoning the ancestral lands and ruining the livelihoods of the local farmers. I don’t know how much the “Lady’s” lakeside villa (her former prison) in Rangoon is worth, but here’s how the Chinese company treats the poor rural population in Burma: “570 farmers had received a total of 17.8 million kyat (US $20,300) for more than 1,700 acres of land” (each farmer gets less than 40 bucks and each acre (full of copper) is worth less than 15 bucks? Unbelievable exploitation and total disrespect of fellow human beings in this day and age. Burmese (sorry Myanmarese!) should give the wretched Rohingyas a break and look at what the Chinese are doing to their country.
I clicked the link. It begins with how a lady named Leigh encountered difficulties thanks to an unpronounceable surname, and ends with how the author changed her name from Catherine Southam to Catherine So when applying for jobs in Hong Kong. According to that article it’s not cut-and-dried ‘resume racism’. I’d love to read the study and find fault with the methodology used but it’s unavailable.
It’s a game of musical chairs and Yingluck’s bottom can’t be on any chair when the music stops. What Suthep wants, or rather what those pulling Suthep’s strings want, is to avoid that scenario.
To take this scenario further we’d have Suthep getting roundly chastised while Yingluck gets a gentle slap on the wrist? All hell would break loose. But could it be that Suthep’s group have actually figured this into their calculations, having already outmaneuvered Thaksin by counting on his vanity? Well, we’re still at the ‘protest’ stage, not the ‘confrontation’ stage.
I hope someone with a conscience take this opportunity to challenge her position regarding the Rohingyas, the growing anti-Islamic sentiments (and the 969 movement), and her role in perpetuating this continued racist campaign. Much could also be said about her silence in the nation-wide ceasefire initiative, especially in relation to continued fighting with the KIA.
Such an intervention would put Thailand’s “royalists” in a hot seat.
Their (alleged) allegiance is entirely personal and does not extend to the institution… in fact, many of the “royalist” leaders are actively working to undermine the heir presumptive.
It’s a game of musical chairs and Yingluck’s bum can’t be on a chair when the music stops. What Suthep wants, or rather what those pulling Suthep’s strings want, is to avoid that scenario.
Like Corazon Aquino in the Philippines, Daw Aung Suu Kyi is a symbol to many Burmese. However, not having had the opportunity of political office, her leadership and technocratic skills remain a question. There are inspirational leaders who have much charisma and charm, but aren’t necessarily good technocrats; the Oval Office in Washington, DC has one at the moment.
For some statistical backing to John’s comments, read a research paper by former ANU professor, now Labour member of parliament, Andrew Leigh on “resume racism.”
The research, by Andrew Leigh, Alison Booth and Elena Varganova of the Research School of Social Sciences, used equal measures of Anglo-Saxon, Indigenous, Middle-Eastern, Italian and Chinese names to apply for entry level jobs in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
They found that to receive the same number of interviews as a candidate with an Anglo-Saxon name, a Chinese applicant must submit 68 per cent more applications, a Middle Eastern applicant 64 per cent, an Indigenous applicant 35 per cent more and an Italian applicant 12 per cent more.
Our Thai PM Yingluck has this pipe dream of getting her fugitive brother Thaksin ‘pardoned’ of all his crimes, even to the extent of tweaking, with the help of 310 Thaksin-servants posing as legislators, the constitution to get that vomit-inducing amnesty that had riled the whole Thai citizenry.
(1) Were you ‘asking for it’ Nick?
(2) Were you ‘cursing’ at the protesters, deliberately to goad an attack at your person?
(3) Were you ‘cursing’ at the anti-Thaksin protesters at their previous gatherings?
I have read enough persuasive accounts describing how he was ‘asking for it’ – arguing with attendees and using curse words at them – at the gathering the other day as well as at previous Yellow gatherings. Some of his performances on New Mandala over the years only lend credence to those assertions.
Such cowardly attacks are to be condemned but the question must be just how far he went putting his personal safety at risk – was it purely in the interests of taking photographs? Did he get too involved with events he was claiming to be documenting?
No, it’s a very important picture he snapped back in October 2008 on one of the first occasions when Nick took front-line photographs for this site. As Des says, “this is a classic photo of a Border Patrol Police officer assisting a wounded journalist”. Seems relevant in the circumstances.
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Burma’s next president
Tocharian,
“You doth protest too much..”
Your Joseph Conrad or George Orwell world
is populated by only one person…YOU.
Now having said that, you are right about
how the Chinese are treating Burma, because
that’s how China treats every country. You
think China doesn’t own Hun Sen and Cambodia or Laos ? But get over your neo-whatever view that all Westerners wear mosquito hats and dress in all whites and play polo on fine trimmed lawns and take tea at 4 PM. That day has long past, except for the Royal Family, and even they are feeling the economic pinch of reality. Some non-Burmese (Professor David Steinberg comes to mind) GET Burma, and they
understand Burma well.
Say what, cakap apa?
In Malaysia, a similar study was conducted, and resume racism occurred (similar to Australia) but with an ironic twist — Malay controlled firms/employers discriminated against Malay applicants.
Burma’s next president
I’m glad to oblige!
The simplistic naive blue-eyed Western view of Burma (a country of almost 60 million): black vs white, good vs evil, ethnics (noble savages) vs “bama tatmadaw” (brutal ethnic-cleansing guys), Posh Lady (Suu Kyi with an Oxford accent) vs junta generals (ignorant uneducated morons), etc. etc. is of course very amateurish and facile. Let me add my fifty cents as someone whose ancestors were poor humble peasants from Burma. In Myanmar or Burma or Birmanie or Phama or Mian-Dian or whatever, you just change names. You don’t change the actors, you change their roles. Names are like smoke, roles are like mirrors. A lot of smoke and mirrors in Naypyitaw the “abode of the rulers”. Burmese are very fond of the theatre of the marionettes! Burma has always been ruled by a feudal oligarchy (Suu Kyi definitely belongs to the top echelon of the food chain) since the days of the monarchy, operating on the medieval principles of intrigues, coercion, nepotism, patronage and “appanage”. Connections (guanxi in Chinese) are the key to the web of power. Suu Kyi (most Burmese don’t put their father’s name in front of your name, unless he is famous!) might be considered a “Burmese idol” or a “human rights icon” for many people in the West like Bono (the U2 guy), but in Burma her fame and her “authority” (“awza” in Burmese, she doesn’t have power=“ana” yet until she becomes President) comes from the fact that her father Aung San was a national(istic) hero worshiped by the majority of the populace. He died early so we would never know if Burma would be very different now if he wasn’t assassinated. What Burma needs is a French Revolution of sorts (you know the kind that says: Liberté, ├Йgalité, Fraternité) before Suu Kyi gives another (in my opinion rather boring) lecture about democracy and “rule of law” (so what’s the citizenship law in Burma?) In order to share the “Burmese Peacock Throne” with the ex-junta-generals, Suu Kyi is busy collecting brownie points from the ex-junta generals and their Chinese paymasters. She recently strongly endorsed a Chinese copper mine which was poisoning the ancestral lands and ruining the livelihoods of the local farmers. I don’t know how much the “Lady’s” lakeside villa (her former prison) in Rangoon is worth, but here’s how the Chinese company treats the poor rural population in Burma: “570 farmers had received a total of 17.8 million kyat (US $20,300) for more than 1,700 acres of land” (each farmer gets less than 40 bucks and each acre (full of copper) is worth less than 15 bucks? Unbelievable exploitation and total disrespect of fellow human beings in this day and age. Burmese (sorry Myanmarese!) should give the wretched Rohingyas a break and look at what the Chinese are doing to their country.
Say what, cakap apa?
I clicked the link. It begins with how a lady named Leigh encountered difficulties thanks to an unpronounceable surname, and ends with how the author changed her name from Catherine Southam to Catherine So when applying for jobs in Hong Kong. According to that article it’s not cut-and-dried ‘resume racism’. I’d love to read the study and find fault with the methodology used but it’s unavailable.
What does Suthep really want?
It’s a game of musical chairs and Yingluck’s bottom can’t be on any chair when the music stops. What Suthep wants, or rather what those pulling Suthep’s strings want, is to avoid that scenario.
A royal intervention?
To take this scenario further we’d have Suthep getting roundly chastised while Yingluck gets a gentle slap on the wrist? All hell would break loose. But could it be that Suthep’s group have actually figured this into their calculations, having already outmaneuvered Thaksin by counting on his vanity? Well, we’re still at the ‘protest’ stage, not the ‘confrontation’ stage.
Burma’s next president
I hope someone with a conscience take this opportunity to challenge her position regarding the Rohingyas, the growing anti-Islamic sentiments (and the 969 movement), and her role in perpetuating this continued racist campaign. Much could also be said about her silence in the nation-wide ceasefire initiative, especially in relation to continued fighting with the KIA.
Uprooting the Thaksin regime
“…all the seats in parliament are restricted to holders of university degrees?”
Not a requirement for MP candidates under the 2007 Constitution – see Art 101. Still a requirement for Senate candidates – see Art 115(3).
A royal intervention?
This is a sign that we are in a transition period like what Surachai Sae Dan says.
A royal intervention?
Such an intervention would put Thailand’s “royalists” in a hot seat.
Their (alleged) allegiance is entirely personal and does not extend to the institution… in fact, many of the “royalist” leaders are actively working to undermine the heir presumptive.
What does Suthep really want?
It’s a game of musical chairs and Yingluck’s bum can’t be on a chair when the music stops. What Suthep wants, or rather what those pulling Suthep’s strings want, is to avoid that scenario.
Burma’s next president
Like Corazon Aquino in the Philippines, Daw Aung Suu Kyi is a symbol to many Burmese. However, not having had the opportunity of political office, her leadership and technocratic skills remain a question. There are inspirational leaders who have much charisma and charm, but aren’t necessarily good technocrats; the Oval Office in Washington, DC has one at the moment.
A royal intervention?
I imagine that if HRH were to arrange a royal pardon for Thaksin and allow his return he would be wildly popular in the countryside.
Say what, cakap apa?
For some statistical backing to John’s comments, read a research paper by former ANU professor, now Labour member of parliament, Andrew Leigh on “resume racism.”
A royal intervention?
Enough pipe dreams Andrew Walker!
Our Thai PM Yingluck has this pipe dream of getting her fugitive brother Thaksin ‘pardoned’ of all his crimes, even to the extent of tweaking, with the help of 310 Thaksin-servants posing as legislators, the constitution to get that vomit-inducing amnesty that had riled the whole Thai citizenry.
Jeeeeeeez!
Condemning the assault on Nick Nostitz
Let’s ask Nick Nostitz:
(1) Were you ‘asking for it’ Nick?
(2) Were you ‘cursing’ at the protesters, deliberately to goad an attack at your person?
(3) Were you ‘cursing’ at the anti-Thaksin protesters at their previous gatherings?
Condemning the assault on Nick Nostitz
Can you please provide links to the “persuasive accounts” you’ve read so that we can all get an idea as to their credibility?
Thanks
A royal intervention?
Groundhog day, May 1992
Condemning the assault on Nick Nostitz
I have read enough persuasive accounts describing how he was ‘asking for it’ – arguing with attendees and using curse words at them – at the gathering the other day as well as at previous Yellow gatherings. Some of his performances on New Mandala over the years only lend credence to those assertions.
Such cowardly attacks are to be condemned but the question must be just how far he went putting his personal safety at risk – was it purely in the interests of taking photographs? Did he get too involved with events he was claiming to be documenting?
Condemning the assault on Nick Nostitz
Thanks R.N.,
No, it’s a very important picture he snapped back in October 2008 on one of the first occasions when Nick took front-line photographs for this site. As Des says, “this is a classic photo of a Border Patrol Police officer assisting a wounded journalist”. Seems relevant in the circumstances.
The original is in this important post (WARNING: Graphic content).
Hope that explains why it’s being used here. I apologise that the context wasn’t made clearer — a bit too much going on today.
For those of you wanting the reference for the other photo associated with Des’ short post, it comes from this powerful 2009 Nostitz story.
Best wishes to all,
Nich