This story fits the Thai old saying which says “р╕лр╕Щр╕╡р╣Ар╕кр╕╖р╕нр╕Ыр╕░р╕Ир╕гр╕░р╣Ар╕Вр╣Й”, which means “one who runs away from tiger, then encounters a crocodile”. Burmese who moves to Thailand, wishing for better lives, then realises that what they encounter in Thailand is pretty similar to what they have encountered in Myanmar. But would this article stop people from Myanmar emigrating to Thailand? Not likely.
I went to Thailand from my American college in ’69 to be a Buddhist nun, left the orders and later married into a Thai farm family. My Thai nephew-in-law laughed at my saying I’d write a book: “Monks help us, not another ‘Anna and the King’!”
My account is kinda an Ugly American/Jane Austen’s Emma discovering her own prejudices in Thailand,then her Thai husband’s shocks living in America. Very hard to see how one’s own assumptions color what one thinks one sees or what the reader will create of what one writes.
Migrant Burmese women workers in Thailand are ‘exploited and abused’. Migrant Burmese men workers are ‘exploited, abused, maimed and killed’ quite often, according to this article:
Stories like these give me the creeps everytime I eat in a Bangkok restaurant being served fish by a Burmese girl … but that the creeps did not stop me from enjoying my fish (should I be damned?).
I still fondly recall Thaksin boldly and loudly asserting that a one-party system is exactly what Thailand needs … citing Singapore as his role model. And I still fondly recall Thaksin not so boldly and not loudly enunciating that ‘corruption is o.k., and Thaksin is o.k. (to be corrupt that is)’.
One thing about Singapore, it is clean … and very very clean … untainted by any hi-level corruption, so far.
One thing about Thaksin, and his wife, and his clan … unclean corruption stick to them with extraordinary poetry of ugliness. If ever Thaksin’s ‘one-party-and-corruption-is-really-o.k.’ totally engulfs Thailand will be the complete modernization of Thailand ala present day Greece: a model of an economic and spiritual and democratic bankrupt.
That timing incidentally also coincides with the rainy season when even the Russian and Chinese pilot-ted Belarus reject and Chinese planes would not be able to support the troops at the mountain tops.
KIA could have upper hand for the next few months whereas they would now be busy practicing for acceptance speech for that Nobel Peace Prize of Nich.
I think you have over stated Mahathir’s influence. The list of events that he tried to influence but failed miserably shows that Mahathir’s influence at the grass roots level is all, but gone. He may still have some old cronies who think he is all powerful, but those cronies are also on the way out. Below are some examples
1. Lobbied for his son Mukriz to be UMNO Youth pres but failed
2. Lobbied and campaigned for Ibrahim Ali in Pasir Mas, but his pet “doggie” lost by a hugh margin. This is significant bcos, the same Ibrahim Ali won by a landslide, when he was on PAS ticket
3. Lobbied and campaigned for Zulklifi Ali in Shah Alam but failed. His “pet Islamist” lost by a hugh margin.
4. His Malay supremist NGO “Perkasa” could never get a even a thousand people together for any kind of demonstration, despite his presence.
“When Mahathir retired in 2003, if he’d just kept his mouth shut, he would have gone down as Malaysia’s greatest prime minister,” Lopez said. “He did great things for Malaysia. He put Malaysia on the map. But because of this ego he has, he overreaches himself.”
By all means suggest how certain things can be done better, but don’t ignore the obvious, that the Singapore government has done more for its people than almost any government in human history. People who have nothing good to say about the Singapore government are inveterate malcontents who cannot face the truth.
Going back to well used elephant and six blind men, everyone not in full picture interprets things as they “see” it. (Does then anyone know what an elephant is?)
For the Jesuits of Neo-liberalism, which paradoxically literally unites China and America, its pacific protege, Europe and even real arch-enemy of China- Japan (Nanking- of Kodama, Sasakawa- will never be left un-avenged in due time), would see any smoothing the way for “investment” (code word for resource rape, waste product dump and slave labour -if needed read recent history of the Latin Americas) as either great “Democracy” or “Progress in Civilization”.
Funny nowadays this “democracy” thing has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the masses. Ask that well hyper-certified champion of it , Aung San Suu Kyi who can be sen telling of those illiterate peasants, by definition – dumb, how they should curl up and die for the Chinese mine for which Chinese cheers her on. (On top of saying nothing about the Dam when she last went to Myitkyina).
So these “Piece Deals” may have been struck. Meaning Gum Shawn may have gone back to KIA old habit of selling out the people for money/ power/ presumed prestige, etc. Like Mutu Sae Po. Whether it really happens is besides the point.
It merely needs to be seen so, so that the “Investors” in the “Developed” countries with meager little precious conscience left could feel easy in their mind to “invest” and “improve the lives” of the people of this cursed land.
All depends on what can be expected in return and what is on offer.
Say, people shooed off their ancestral land, they will simply be rewarded by being told to go back. No compensation, no help, no sorry. In fact none required, They must be grateful they can go back without being raped and eye gouged out. And worse they will be told to go to a particular place and do particular things. Their once peaceful truly lovely lives people like to pretend to admire and write those cheesy groovy poems about will be simply wiped off.
And there will be “development.”
Peace: Ha! Last time peace visited to the borderland courtesy of that live slithering snake Khin Nyunt in response to that spontaneous urban uprising of un-coordinated and aimless chaos threatening their very existence, the left to prosper opium and Yaba trade thrives to arm destitute Wa thugs to pay for killing implements and underground bunkers (Chinese style) and propped up what substituted for economy in Burma as a whole. If one cannot find Yaba in ANU compound as these word are read, I would eat my shoes. And traditional peaceful lives of mountain dwelling real human are forever lost.
Last time guns were silenced, that behemoth monster of narcotic production distributing AIDS spreading to all parts of the world but especially Sydney and Bangkok was born still raging destroying more human lives and livelihood than economists and politicians and ever understand.
Peace is peace only if it is done in right way for right reason.
Peace with IMMENSE BUILD UP of armies and arsenals simply for loot divvying up is such a shameful allegory any primary school child would be too embarrassed to call it so.
People of Burma who are the real owners of the lands and waters and geographic location vultures are swooping in had this odious military as their sole enemy before.
Now that military s propped up and joined by once believed to be “People’s champions” and the self serving “International communities” who are going to be the real benefactors and ever colluding with the power holders- academics.
My hope is this doesn’t turn out to be a seven day wonder just in time for the World Economic Forum. You underestimate the generals at your peril. Their track record for cunning manipulation is second to none. They are not known for putting their money where their mouth is.
Our history after 1962 is strewn with failed peace parleys until 1989 when on off ceasefires became the norm. Desire for peace is on a par with desire for democracy with our generals with one condition – the military rules the roost.
[…] to Facebook’s ability to develop a better mobile app than Friendster. ANU’s Sarah Logan, in an article cited on New Mandala in 2012, chalks it up to the fact that Facebook lets users friend anyone they want while Friendster […]
Most things in Singapore worked in the past because things were new and the city small , but with a total lack of good management and preventive maintenance the problems are now starting to show . Not just in transport , but the over construction ( tarmac & concrete) giving high speed rain runoff into an inadequate drainage system and the lack of real foresight in infrastructure.
An analysis on the performance of Malaysian women in politics:
Out of 222 Malaysian Parliament seats contested in GE13, women were elected only to 24 seats. That positioned us at the second lowest in rank of women’s representation in parliament in South East Asia.
Timor-Leste is the highest with 38.5 per cent followed by Laos at 25.0 per cent, Vietnam 24.4&, Singapore 24.2 per cent, Philippines 22.9 per cent, Cambodia 20.3 per cent, Indonesia 18.6 per cent and Thailand 15.8 per cent.
Then there is Malaysia at 10.81 per cent, slightly above Myanmar which have mere 6 per cent of women in Parliament.
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Malaysian women parliamentarians: why the different numbers?
It is Siti MARIAH (not MARIAM) Mahmud. Should you not at least get the name right if you are going to write about women parliamentarians?
Review of Thailand’s Hidden Workforce
This story fits the Thai old saying which says “р╕лр╕Щр╕╡р╣Ар╕кр╕╖р╕нр╕Ыр╕░р╕Ир╕гр╕░р╣Ар╕Вр╣Й”, which means “one who runs away from tiger, then encounters a crocodile”. Burmese who moves to Thailand, wishing for better lives, then realises that what they encounter in Thailand is pretty similar to what they have encountered in Myanmar. But would this article stop people from Myanmar emigrating to Thailand? Not likely.
The Myanmar-Kachin truce
Aww…you are such a cynic, Ohn. They must wonder why we are so like unforgiving elephants with long memories.
Review of Bombay Anna
Fascinating, including the comments.
I went to Thailand from my American college in ’69 to be a Buddhist nun, left the orders and later married into a Thai farm family. My Thai nephew-in-law laughed at my saying I’d write a book: “Monks help us, not another ‘Anna and the King’!”
My account is kinda an Ugly American/Jane Austen’s Emma discovering her own prejudices in Thailand,then her Thai husband’s shocks living in America. Very hard to see how one’s own assumptions color what one thinks one sees or what the reader will create of what one writes.
Review of Thailand’s Hidden Workforce
Migrant Burmese women workers in Thailand are ‘exploited and abused’. Migrant Burmese men workers are ‘exploited, abused, maimed and killed’ quite often, according to this article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2013/0530/Was-the-fish-you-had-for-dinner-caught-by-slaves-New-report-raises-alarm?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily&utm_campaign=20130530_Newsletter%3ADaily_Sailthru&cmpid=ema%3Anws%3ADaily%2520Newsletter%2520%2805-30-2013%29
Stories like these give me the creeps everytime I eat in a Bangkok restaurant being served fish by a Burmese girl … but that the creeps did not stop me from enjoying my fish (should I be damned?).
Why Singapore government become like that?
I still fondly recall Thaksin boldly and loudly asserting that a one-party system is exactly what Thailand needs … citing Singapore as his role model. And I still fondly recall Thaksin not so boldly and not loudly enunciating that ‘corruption is o.k., and Thaksin is o.k. (to be corrupt that is)’.
One thing about Singapore, it is clean … and very very clean … untainted by any hi-level corruption, so far.
One thing about Thaksin, and his wife, and his clan … unclean corruption stick to them with extraordinary poetry of ugliness. If ever Thaksin’s ‘one-party-and-corruption-is-really-o.k.’ totally engulfs Thailand will be the complete modernization of Thailand ala present day Greece: a model of an economic and spiritual and democratic bankrupt.
Review of The Art of Not Being Governed
oh my god, thank you so much! i’m reading this book for my modern world history class in my college, and this helped me a lot!
The Myanmar-Kachin truce
That timing incidentally also coincides with the rainy season when even the Russian and Chinese pilot-ted Belarus reject and Chinese planes would not be able to support the troops at the mountain tops.
KIA could have upper hand for the next few months whereas they would now be busy practicing for acceptance speech for that Nobel Peace Prize of Nich.
The pharaoh returns?
I think you have over stated Mahathir’s influence. The list of events that he tried to influence but failed miserably shows that Mahathir’s influence at the grass roots level is all, but gone. He may still have some old cronies who think he is all powerful, but those cronies are also on the way out. Below are some examples
1. Lobbied for his son Mukriz to be UMNO Youth pres but failed
2. Lobbied and campaigned for Ibrahim Ali in Pasir Mas, but his pet “doggie” lost by a hugh margin. This is significant bcos, the same Ibrahim Ali won by a landslide, when he was on PAS ticket
3. Lobbied and campaigned for Zulklifi Ali in Shah Alam but failed. His “pet Islamist” lost by a hugh margin.
4. His Malay supremist NGO “Perkasa” could never get a even a thousand people together for any kind of demonstration, despite his presence.
QED
The pharaoh returns?
Mahathir Mohamed, a Malaysian like no other.
Why Singapore government become like that?
By all means suggest how certain things can be done better, but don’t ignore the obvious, that the Singapore government has done more for its people than almost any government in human history. People who have nothing good to say about the Singapore government are inveterate malcontents who cannot face the truth.
Singapore’s insatiable hunger for sand
except Singapore isn’t expanding in that direction, it’s the other end of the coastline which is pretty much open sea.
The Myanmar-Kachin truce
Well, well, well.
Going back to well used elephant and six blind men, everyone not in full picture interprets things as they “see” it. (Does then anyone know what an elephant is?)
For the Jesuits of Neo-liberalism, which paradoxically literally unites China and America, its pacific protege, Europe and even real arch-enemy of China- Japan (Nanking- of Kodama, Sasakawa- will never be left un-avenged in due time), would see any smoothing the way for “investment” (code word for resource rape, waste product dump and slave labour -if needed read recent history of the Latin Americas) as either great “Democracy” or “Progress in Civilization”.
Funny nowadays this “democracy” thing has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the masses. Ask that well hyper-certified champion of it , Aung San Suu Kyi who can be sen telling of those illiterate peasants, by definition – dumb, how they should curl up and die for the Chinese mine for which Chinese cheers her on. (On top of saying nothing about the Dam when she last went to Myitkyina).
So these “Piece Deals” may have been struck. Meaning Gum Shawn may have gone back to KIA old habit of selling out the people for money/ power/ presumed prestige, etc. Like Mutu Sae Po. Whether it really happens is besides the point.
It merely needs to be seen so, so that the “Investors” in the “Developed” countries with meager little precious conscience left could feel easy in their mind to “invest” and “improve the lives” of the people of this cursed land.
All depends on what can be expected in return and what is on offer.
Say, people shooed off their ancestral land, they will simply be rewarded by being told to go back. No compensation, no help, no sorry. In fact none required, They must be grateful they can go back without being raped and eye gouged out. And worse they will be told to go to a particular place and do particular things. Their once peaceful truly lovely lives people like to pretend to admire and write those cheesy groovy poems about will be simply wiped off.
And there will be “development.”
Peace: Ha! Last time peace visited to the borderland courtesy of that live slithering snake Khin Nyunt in response to that spontaneous urban uprising of un-coordinated and aimless chaos threatening their very existence, the left to prosper opium and Yaba trade thrives to arm destitute Wa thugs to pay for killing implements and underground bunkers (Chinese style) and propped up what substituted for economy in Burma as a whole. If one cannot find Yaba in ANU compound as these word are read, I would eat my shoes. And traditional peaceful lives of mountain dwelling real human are forever lost.
Last time guns were silenced, that behemoth monster of narcotic production distributing AIDS spreading to all parts of the world but especially Sydney and Bangkok was born still raging destroying more human lives and livelihood than economists and politicians and ever understand.
Peace is peace only if it is done in right way for right reason.
Peace with IMMENSE BUILD UP of armies and arsenals simply for loot divvying up is such a shameful allegory any primary school child would be too embarrassed to call it so.
People of Burma who are the real owners of the lands and waters and geographic location vultures are swooping in had this odious military as their sole enemy before.
Now that military s propped up and joined by once believed to be “People’s champions” and the self serving “International communities” who are going to be the real benefactors and ever colluding with the power holders- academics.
Study of Burmese migrant experiences in Australia
Why do people migrate? Did the aborigines ask the same question? Just wondered.
The Myanmar-Kachin truce
My hope is this doesn’t turn out to be a seven day wonder just in time for the World Economic Forum. You underestimate the generals at your peril. Their track record for cunning manipulation is second to none. They are not known for putting their money where their mouth is.
Our history after 1962 is strewn with failed peace parleys until 1989 when on off ceasefires became the norm. Desire for peace is on a par with desire for democracy with our generals with one condition – the military rules the roost.
Southeast Asia’s Facebook revolution
[…] to Facebook’s ability to develop a better mobile app than Friendster. ANU’s Sarah Logan, in an article cited on New Mandala in 2012, chalks it up to the fact that Facebook lets users friend anyone they want while Friendster […]
The Myanmar-Kachin truce
I read Nich’s piece just after a post on the same issue by Maung Zarni.
http://www.maungzarni.com/2013/05/the-latest-peace-charade-by-thein-sein.html
They are as different as chalk and cheese and regretfully I find Zarni’s piece the more realistic.
The Myanmar-Kachin truce
BGF in kayin state is nothing more than yet another criminal syndicat/gang who wanna control (illegal) border trade/activities. we all know…
Why Singapore government become like that?
Most things in Singapore worked in the past because things were new and the city small , but with a total lack of good management and preventive maintenance the problems are now starting to show . Not just in transport , but the over construction ( tarmac & concrete) giving high speed rain runoff into an inadequate drainage system and the lack of real foresight in infrastructure.
Malaysian women parliamentarians: why the different numbers?
An analysis on the performance of Malaysian women in politics: