Monday, September 16, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Thein Sein Holds First Meeting With 88 Generation Students

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 04:57 AM PDT

President Thein Sein, center left, stands with 88 Generation Students leaders, including Min Ko Naing, center right, in Naypyidaw over the weekend. (Photo: President's Office)

RANGOON — President Thein Sein reiterated over the weekend a pledge to free all remaining political prisoners by the end of this year, in his first-ever meeting with leaders of Burma's pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group.

Many members of the 88 Generation Students played a crucial role in organizing the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and were subsequently imprisoned under the former military regime.

"President Thein Sein said he is aiming to free all political prisoners by the end of this year, and he requested that we cooperate in the process," said Htay Kywe, an 88 Generation Students leader who attended the meeting on Sunday in Naypyidaw.

Thein Sein has freed several hundreds of political prisoners since coming to office in March 2011. In July, during his first official visit to the United Kingdom, he pledged to release all remaining political prisoners by the end of this year.

"Since there are political prisoners still remaining behind bars, and some are still being arrested, we still need to discuss with them [the government] about how to solve this problem," 88 Generation Students leader Jimmy told The Irrawaddy.

Members of the pro-democracy group have previously held talks with the government's chief peace negotiator, Minister Aung Min, as well as Union Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, but prior to this weekend they had never met with Thein Sein.

Aung Min also attended the meeting in Naypyidaw, as did Union Minister Soe Thein and Immigration Minister Khin Yee.

According to the 88 Generation Students leaders, the three-hour discussion focused broadly on the national reconciliation process, as the country transitions from nearly half a century of military rule. Other topics included the peace process with ethnic groups, land conflicts and economic development.

Thein Sein during the meeting reportedly said that he wanted to allow broader participation in the national reconciliation process and peace talks.

"Now we want to change this culture of politic to a culture of negotiation over disagreements and cooperating in sectors where we can work together," Jimmy said. "Because we decided during the Silver Jubilee of '88 that we would work with whoever wishes to work for the improvement of the country. President Thein Sein was of the same opinion."

Last month, 88 Generation leaders helped organized a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy protests. Thousands of people attended three days of events in Rangoon, including Aung Min and other government officials.

Thein Sein's willingness to reform after decades of government mismanagement should be welcomed, said 88 Generation Students leaders who attended the Naypyidaw meeting. But they added that it was premature to say that Burma had already transformed.

"We can't say we are changed democratically. This is just a transition period to democracy. The process of reforms must be solid, to create a foundation for the future," said Htay Kywe.

"He [Thein Sein] seems to understand the mismanagement of the past administration. He said he wants to provide hope and reassurance for the future. He also said that the real change of the country would be after 2015, so he wants to lay the finest foundation of change before that."

Htay Kywe said the meeting with the president was a positive—but early—step.

"This is the first step to build back trust between us, because for many years we have been opposed to each other and the government has been one sided. We talked about many issues, but more discussion is needed to carry on for better results."

German Press Corps Offers Lessons for Fledgling Burmese Counterparts

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 04:54 AM PDT

A group of Burmese journalists poses for a photo with Nick Leifert, moderator of the Bundespressekonferenz, in Berlin, Germany. (Photo: Facebook / DW Akademie)

BERLIN, Germany — A pre-autumn chill in the air of Germany's capital brought a shiver to some of the tropically acclimated Burmese journalists on a trip to study political reporting here, in a country thousands of miles from Southeast Asia that, like Burma, has its own history of authoritarian repression.

A group of 10 Burmese journalists from private print, broadcast and online media ventured northwest last week to observe press practices in Germany, which has transitioned from rule under one of history's most notorious dictators to a beacon of democratic stability in Europe.

In Berlin, the journalists sat in on a press conference organized by Germany's political reporting corps. For a country once cowed by the bellicose dictates of Adolf Hitler, the German press today is a tenacious and assertive force in the political discourse.

Three times a week, a press conference is hosted by the Federal Press Conference (Bundespressekonferenz in the German language), and attended by government spokespersons representing each cabinet ministry. Unlike many press conferences the world over, where the give and take between reporters and public figures is tightly managed by the latter, the Bundespressekonferenz event puts the journalists in charge.

"The speakers cannot leave the room until the journalists are done with their questions," said moderator Nick Leifert, a Bundespressekonferenz board member. According to Leifert, the forum offers an opportunity for political correspondents from smaller German publications to ask questions of high-level cabinet officials.

German politicians are in the home stretch of their political campaigns and political journalists are equally busy reporting them ahead of national elections on Sept. 22.

Germany's independent Bundespressekonferenz and its system of eliciting formal information from the government was deemed an enviable arrangement by the observing Burmese journalists, who exist in an information-starved political system despite recent reforms toward more openness and accountability in the Southeast Asian nation.

In Burma, the media environment has seen whirlwind changes since the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein took the reins in March 2011. In the last two years, several journalists' associations have been established and the government set up an interim Press Council, which is in the early stages of revamping the nation's press laws and media monitoring.

Journalist and writer Pe Myint, editor of the Burmese weekly The People's Age and a member of the observing press delegation, said despite the dramatic reforms to Burma's media landscape, the country's journalists were not yet on par with their German counterparts.

"We now have the journalists' associations, but there are only a few activities taking place, as well as many journalists not being a member of any of those groups yet," Pe Myint said.

"The journalists' associations could join hands together to become a journalists' league, like this club. The Germans have had this tradition for many years, for six decades."

Pe Myint and other journalists on the Germany trip agreed that the thrice-weekly Bundespressekonferenz event provided a good forum for the government to inform the press of its activities. Apart from the Bundespressekonferenz, the government has its own slate of press conferences and broadcast outlets for spreading information to private media and the public.

One of the major differences between Germany and Burma is the absence in Germany of state-run daily newspapers, which have long served as government propaganda in Burma. The German government's Press Office is responsible only for communicating information to the nation's privately run media.

Pe Myint said the German model showed a commitment to transparency and assured that journalists were free of control from others.

"In Burma, such a practice would be very helpful for us while we undergo democratic reform," he added.

Germany's culture of openness and press empowerment was not an overnight creation, and took many years to achieve. The Burmese journalists last week also traveled to Leipzig, site of one of those battles for freedom of expression.

The city, in the eastern German state of Saxony, was the scene of peaceful protests in October 1989 that ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall one month later. Leipzig played an important role in reuniting East and West Berlin, a seminal moment in the Cold War's dying days.

"They [German journalists] said Leipzig is the place where the first daily newspaper was printed in the 1650s, so a free press has been rooted in their tradition since long ago," Pe Myint said.

"When they [Germany] shaped their democratic transition, they managed it well and Burma should gradually adopt such a system while we are in democratic transition," he added.

The Irrawaddy reporter Nyein Nyein and nine other Burmese journalists were invited to observe German press practices by DW Akademie, an international center for media development funded by the German government.

170 Burmese Workers Return Home Following Malaysia Crackdown

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 04:47 AM PDT

Burmese migrant workers pass immigration at Rangoon International Airport on Friday after returning from Malaysia. (Photo: Jpaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON—A group of 170 Burmese migrant workers returned from Malaysia on Friday with the help of a Buddhist monk, who funded their flight home.

Naypyidaw is cooperating with the Kuala Lumpur government during an ongoing crackdown on unregistered migrants in Malaysia, which has resulted in the arrest and detention of several thousand foreign workers in recent weeks.

The repatriation of Burmese workers was funded by well-known monk Sitagu Sayardaw. He received a donation of US$120,000 recently and spent a third of these funds on the repatriation of the 170 workers on Friday, a representative of Sitagu Sayardaw said, adding that the remaining $80,000 would be used to repatriate more workers.

The migrants flew back to Rangoon on Friday on a flight arranged by Myanmar Airways.

In recent months, the airliner and Kanbawza Bank paid $150,000 to help fly several hundred workers home, after deadly clashes reportedly broke out between Burmese Muslims and Buddhists migrants working in Malaysia. The unrest was a spillover of the inter-communal violence that has affected Burma since March.

Burmese migrants who returned on Friday said they had chosen to voluntarily leave Malaysia because they feared arrest by authorities. They said this year's crackdown was particularly thorough and unregistered migrants were constantly concerned about being apprehended.

"Working in Malaysia is not so bad, but I don't want to go back there since I'm really upset about this latest crackdown," said Thazin Aye, who worked abroad for about six years.

"I called the Capone [Malaysia-Myanmar Free Funeral Service] society in Malaysia and asked for help to return to my country as soon as I heard about the arrests," she said during an interview at Rangoon International Airport.

AungMyat, who worked at a photo camera factory in Kuala Lumpur, said many migrants tried to cross into Thailand and wait there until Malaysian authorities end their operations.

He said, "Although most Burmese workers planned to run to the [Thai] border after they heard about the crackdown, this did not work because Malaysian officials closed the border."

Malaysian authorities began operations in early September and are reportedly targeting about 400,000 unregistered migrant workers.

Malaysia employs millions of low-wage migrant workers from poor countries across the region, including up to half a million Burmese migrant workers. Many workers entered Malaysia illegally in search of work and have little legal recourse once apprehended by authorities, according human rights groups.

Most migrant workers who returned Friday said they received help from Burmese civil society organizations in Malaysia, but not from the Burma Embassy.

Burma's Labor Minister Aye Myint visited Kuala Lumpur early last week to discuss the expulsion of unregistered Burmese workers with the Malaysian government.

Upon his return Thursday, he said that unregistered workers would be allowed to come back to Burma without facing fines, even if they had left the country by crossing the border illegally.

He said the Burmese Embassy and Immigration Department would work with Malaysian authorities to verify whether or not arrested migrants were Burmese nationals.

According to Aye Myint, about 250,000 Burmese nationals work in Malaysia, more than 110,000 of who are without proper legal documentation. Some 8,000 Burmese in Malaysia are holding UN refugee status.

A spokesperson for the Migrant Workers Rights Network, which helps Burmese working in Thailand, said that after many years of neglect Burma's government was now slowly improving its assistance to overseas workers.

"The help of government for Burmese migrant workers was really weak in past. But now I think there are many indications that things are improving," he said, adding that private firms were stepping in to support the repatriation of migrants as the government could not afford to do so.

Burma to Grant UN Nuclear Watchdog Wider Access

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 04:30 AM PDT

Ex-Gen Shwe Mann (left) and Gen Kim Kyok-sik sign a memorandum of understanding at the defense ministry in Pyongyang in 2008. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

VIENNA — The U.N. nuclear watchdog will gain wider inspection powers in Burma under an agreement to be signed this week, in a further sign of the formerly army-ruled Asian state opening up to the outside world.

Burma will sign the so-called Additional Protocol—which allows unannounced inspections outside of declared nuclear sites—with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday, the Vienna-based IAEA said.

The move will help to ease any lingering concern about Burma's nuclear ambitions.

Burma has denied allegations made by an exile group three years ago that it was trying to develop nuclear weapons, and most experts say its technological expertise is still far short of that level.

But in early 2011, diplomatic sources in Vienna said the IAEA had written to Burma seeking information about its activities, suggesting it wanted to send inspectors there.

Western countries have lifted or suspended sanctions imposed during nearly half a century of repressive military rule in Burma. But human rights activists and ethnic minority groups remain wary about the government of President Thein Sein, a former general now heading a quasi-civilian government.

In 2010, a U.N. report suggested that North Korea, which has left the nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) and tested three nuclear devices, might have supplied Burma as well as Iran and Syria with banned atomic technology.

A Norwegian-based exile group said the same year that Burma had a secret program to develop the means to make nuclear weapons. Burma is a member of both the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the IAEA.

The IAEA said in Monday's statement that the Additional Protocol equipped the agency with "important additional measures that provide for broader access to information about the state's nuclear program, increased physical access by IAEA inspectors and improved administrative arrangements."

There are currently 121 states with such additional protocols in force.

Project to Take Stock of Rangoon’s Mon Population Ahead of 2015 Election

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 04:01 AM PDT

Mon people in Rangoon's Ahlone Township take part in a survey for the Mon Data Project, which aims to find out how many of the ethnic group lives in the city. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Ethnic Mon community leaders in Rangoon on Sunday began a census to determine the precise number on Mon people living in Burma's former capital.

It is hoped the Mon Data Project, which began with a survey of residents in Ahlone Township, will ensure the minority are better represented in Parliament after the 2015 elections.

Nai Kao Lawi, a project officer at the Mon Data Project, told The Irrawaddy that the team would survey 50 Mon families, an estimated 300 people on Sunday.

He said it would take between three to eight days to collect data for each of Rangoon Division's 45 townships. Data collection will run for the next two months.

Mon leaders say such a survey is necessary because at the time of the 2010 elections, they were told the Mon population was not large enough to mean an ethnic affairs minister would be appointed to represent them in Parliament. Other ethnic groups are represented by ministers for ethnic affairs.

Nai Chit Pe, a leading member of Mon Data Project's committee, said the figures held by the Immigration Department for the number of Mon in the city were too low because many people are listed as Burman on their identification cards or housing registration documents.

"At the election in 2010, they [the Immigration Department] used the housing list from 30 years ago. They told us there are only 30,660 Mon people in Rangoon. Because of this, our Mon in Rangoon could not have a constituency in Rangoon," said Nai Chit Pe.

He said the number of Mon actually living in the city—estimated to be home to more than 5 million people in all—was far higher.

Nai Soe Aung, the director of the Mon Data Project, said preparations for the project began in July, and that results from the survey would be made public in December, although funds are lacking at present.

The project needs a total of 30 million kyat, or about $31,000, but only about half of that had been raised in donations so far, he said.

"We have many challenges to do this project because we can't hire many office staff because we do not have enough budget," said Nai Soe Aung.

"We don't get money from NGOs. We only got donations from Mon businessmen who are in Rangoon. We even asked donation from Mon overseas, but we have not got anything yet from them."

The Mon Data Project is also seeking help from Mon residents and members of the Mon Literature and Culture committee to collect the data.

The Mon—one of the first ethnic groups to live in Southeast Asia who are thought to have built Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda—are now estimated to total about 3 million in Burma.

Win Naing, who is a Mon community leader in Ahlone Township said the project to establish the number of Mon living in Rangoon had been a long time coming.

"We all know that there are many Mon staying in Rangoon. But, I was unhappy when I found that Mon do not have ethnic affairs minister while Arakan and Karen have them," said Win Naing.

Troops Withdraw as KIO, Govt Delegates Meet

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 03:44 AM PDT

A meeting between the UN special advisor on Burma, Vijay Nambiar, and Kachin community leaders is seen in progress in May in Myitkyina. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Delegates from the Burma government peace negotiation team and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) met on Monday in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina to discuss military matters and the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Some government troops deployed in conflict-torn areas of Mansi Township were reportedly withdrawn amid the talks, which will conclude on Tuesday.

San Aung, a Kachin peace advocate who mediated discussions between the KIO and the government, told The Irrawaddy that about 200 government soldiers were withdrawn at 10 am on Monday from Mansi Township. Several villages, including Nam Lim Pa, had been under attack by government troops for several days last week.

The meeting between the technical teams of the KIO and the government's Union Peace Working Committee (UPWC) took place at KIO liaison office in Myitkyina.

San Aung said the two-day peace talks would focus on issues including the resettlement of Kachin IDPs, joint monitoring of a peace deal, and an all-inclusive ceasefire.

"We will also discuss the current fighting that recently resumed in different parts of Kachin State," he said. "Today we haven't heard any fighting yet."

He added that the delegates from both sides could decide to hold further talks between leaders from the government peace negotiation team and the KIO.

Representatives from the UPWC who attended the meeting included Col Than Aung, Security and Border Affairs Minister Lt-Col Aung Naing of the government's Northern Command, and members of the government-associated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), including Min Zaw Oo and Kyaw Yin Hlaing, according to Hla Maung Shwe, a leader of the MPC who was involved in the meeting.

The government peace team led by Minister Aung Min of the President's Office recently met in Thailand with an alliance of 11 ethnic armed groups known as the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), which is chaired by the KIO. The meeting in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai did not yield a concrete agreement.

Aung Min invited UNFC leaders to travel to Burma to sign a nationwide peace accord in late October. The ethnic leaders did not offer an immediate response but said they would notify the government at a later date of whether they would accept the invitation.

The last meeting between the KIO and the government peace negotiation team took place in Myitkyina in late May. The two parties signed a tentative peace agreement, pledging to undertake efforts to de-escalate and end hostilities.

The KIO and the government army have been fighting since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in June 2011. The conflict has displaced an estimated 100,000 people.

Since President Thein Sein took office in March 2011, announcing his intention to end decades of civil wars with ethnic rebels through a peace process, 14 major and minor ethnic armed groups in Burma have signed ceasefire agreements with the government. The KIO is the only major ethnic armed group that has not yet signed a ceasefire.

Rangoon’s Ruined Glass Palace

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 02:29 AM PDT

Myat Kywe stands amid the ruins of his old glass factory in Rangoon. Click on the box below to see more photos. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON—As Cyclone Nargis lashed the outskirts of Rangoon in early May 2008, the family of glass-workers in the north of the city were already out of time. "We only knew there was a cyclone coming because a driver working for the UN came to warn us that evening," says Myat Kywe. "We heard no news about such a bad storm coming beforehand," recalls the 70-year-old glassmaker.

The tip-off came just a couple of hours before the wind and rain hit, time enough to do little more than stay awake and keep their wits about them as the storm rose during the night. It was way too late, however, to take precautions such as cutting the fruit trees growing around the furnaces and storerooms at the Nagar Glass Factory.

"The wind grew strong about nine [o'clock], and the storm reached its worst about five in the morning. Then the trees came down, smashing through everything," says Soe Soe Win, Myat Kywe’s sister and his junior by a decade.

Before the storm, the towering foliage had a purpose. "The trees helped clean the air and counter the heat of the ovens," says Myat Kywe. "The shade was nice too as Myanmar is already hot enough without the hot furnaces!" he laughs. But the trees that gave shelter and fruit before the storm turned nature’s executioner when the cyclone hit—chopping through timber factory buildings like axes wielded by a frenzied headsman.

Not all the trees were felled, and, down a snaking, rain-sodden and potholed lane, the remnants of the Nagar Glass Factory are soundproofed from the city’s din by the mango, orange, jackfruit, fig and starfruit trees. And by the spattering rain that rattles and drops off the foliage—green and dense and overarching enough to hide the smashed wooden factory like a fairytale den in a forest.

And glass. All around the downed and shattered buildings are thousands upon thousands of clear and green and blue bottles and bowls and statues. Some are piled among rain-soaked shrubs—refracting and reflecting and bouncing the greens of the leaves above like a watery jungle kaleidoscope. These mounds of glassware were the last to come out of the ovens before the factory was destroyed in 2008.

He won’t say so directly, but there’s a sense that Myat Kywe thinks the disaster was coming to the factory. Karmic allusions pepper his conversation—a resigned black humor as he reminisces about his old job and the characters encountered over the years. "If I made a figure and the nose was not right, sometimes I worry that my own nose will get broken," he laughs.

But the family fared a lot better than the 140,000 or so people killed as the storm smashed through the Irrawaddy Delta south of Rangoon, and better than the millions from farming families left homeless and destitute once the storm passed. "We were lucky," says Myat Kywe. "We can never thank that driver enough for warning us."

Now, five years after the storm, the pulverized timber walls and dangling bits of galvanized roof are but a memorial to a near 70-year-old business that earned the family renown in Burma and beyond.

Aung San Suu Kyi was a visitor and customer. "Her mother and our mother were good friends," says Soe Soe Win, one of a family of nine siblings who make up the second generation of the family’s glass-makers and merchants.

On the table is a black and white photo of a smiling Westerner, proudly cradling a freshly-blown glass bowl. Myat Kywe holds up the old picture, saying, "he wasn’t an ordinary man, you know. His brain was supernatural."

Supernatural? "He blew a perfect bowl. It was his first ever try. Nobody gets it right like that with their first blow," whispers Myat Kywe, still in awe a half-century later.

The smiling Westerner is John Glenn, an American astronaut who won fame as the first man to orbit Earth. The image was captured during Glenn’s visit to the Nagar Glass Factory in 1966, the same year Burma’s then-President Ne Win met Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House, the last such visit until President Thein Sein’s stateside meeting with President Barack Obama in May this year.

Back in the day, the Nagar Glass Factory supplied a variety of glassware to factories, restaurants, and embassies. While some wanted fine-cut statues or pristine bowls or ornate glasses, Soe Soe Win recalls that kerosene lamps were the factory’s main earner. "We also made simple glass cylinders for use in machines and in factories, to cover moving parts so operators could see the machinery inside," she says.

But the best-known piece of work to come out of the factory are the five feet by two-and-a-half feet glass eyes peering out of the head of the massive Chauk Htat Gyi reclining Buddha, a Rangoon landmark housed near the city’s Kandawgyi Lake.

And that job too has a story of its own. "The monk from the pagoda came to me in 1973 to ask me to make the eyes," recounts Myat Kywe. "I wasn’t sure at first, I didn't have the experience, and I had to bring in the help of a Chinese craftsman to color the glass, and an Indian man to help with the carving."

Then the dreams started. "I dreamt that the eyes had been chipped at the corners, and when I woke, I checked the work, and there was some damage that I had not seen before," Myat Kywe recalls.

The nighttime visions went on. "I dreamt that we would have summer rain," Myat Kywe continues, and sure enough, the rain came down during the night—out of season. The factory team had not made provision for the unexpected rain, so the unsealed oven started to steam up, resulting in bubbles in the glass inside. "We had to start again," laughs Myat Kywe.

Self-doubt crept in, so Myat Kywe spoke to the monk who commissioned the job. Rather than admonishing him, as he expected, or cancelling the contract, as he feared, the monk gave counsel that was both spiritual and dietary. "He told me not to eat after noontime and to be more devoted to the Buddha," says Myat Kywe. It seems the regimen worked. "I got the eyes finished and they were put in the statue," beams Myat Kywe.

But there were more reveries—nightmares really. "I dreamt the monk passed on," recalls Myat Kywe, in what turned out to be a morbid prophecy. With the eyes commissioned and crafted and mounted, the monk’s job was done, says the glassmaker. "He died, within one month of the eyes being finished."

That was four decades ago, and much has happened in the meantime, not least the destruction of the factory in 2008. But Myat Kywe hasn’t dreamt about restarting operations. "We don’t know if we can ever make glass here again," he says, and neither he nor Soe Soe Win, who goes by the nickname ‘Betty,’ know how much it would cost to get the place going again. "Oh quite a bit, I am sure," Soe Soe Win says.

For now however, the family hopes that the coming end of the wet season and likely tourist influx to a newly-opened Burma will bring customers for the uncounted thousands of intact and sellable glasswork piled around the premises, all rinsed and glistening after the lunchtime rain.

That prospect is tinged with a yearning for days past, however. "We cannot show the visitors the glass being made or give them a chance to blow some glass," says Myat Kywe.

Standing in a clearing down a winding, glass-walled path 40 meters from the main reception area, Soe Soe Win points, tutting, to a now-overgrown furnace she says was built just a year before Nargis, in 2007."We didn’t have insurance, we were stubborn," winces Myat Kywe.

A lull in the conversation ensues as Soe Soe Win and Myat Kywe survey the wreckage all around. Breaking the silence, the sister whispers a loud whisper. "We should go back now," she says, jarringly, as if spooked under the rustling canopy by her brother’s morosely-humorous anecdotes.

"We should go," Soe Soe Win repeats, sterner, but laughing, while slapping a hand on the join of her neck and shoulder. "Too many mosquitoes, and I am out of repellent."

Reluctance to Trade the Sword for the Pen?

Posted: 16 Sep 2013 01:14 AM PDT

In Myanmar’s Schools, History’s in the Making

Posted: 15 Sep 2013 10:42 PM PDT

The education system in Myanmar is set for an overhaul. (Photo: JPAING / THE IRRAWADDY)

Growing up in southeast Myanmar's Mon State, Min Yarzar Mon listened to his parents tell stories of ethnic Mon kingdoms that ruled centuries ago, and of decades-long conflicts more recently between Mon armed groups and the national government.

His teachers taught a different version of the region's past.

"When we went to school, the history was very different," says the student, now 24, who attended a government primary school near the state capital, Mawlamyine. "We were always confused about history when we were young."

Min Yarzar Mon was raised speaking the Mon language and often struggled to understand the lessons, which were taught in the country's official language, Myanmar.

"The teachers didn't like us asking questions," he says, noting the emphasis on rote learning. "We didn't dare ask for clarification."

Ethnic minorities make up about 40 percent of Myanmar's 60 million or so population. The government, which is dominated by the majority Burman (or Bamar) ethnicity, officially recognizes eight major ethnic groups and more than 100 subgroups. Most of these groups speak their own languages, and more than 10 have fought decades-long insurgencies to achieve greater autonomy from the central government.

The wars are winding down now, with ceasefires signed by most major rebel groups. At the same time, the country has embarked on the colossal task of education reform, undertaking a review of the school system that could lead the government to not only revise its curricula—which experts say is outdated in basic subjects—but to also reconsider the language of instruction and methods of teaching the country's controversial history.

As Myanmar transitions from nearly half a century of military rule and even longer civil wars, questions are emerging about how education policies could either perpetuate or help reconcile political conflicts that have plagued the country for so long.

Hitting the Books

Students begin basic education at the age of five in Myanmar, with five years of primary school, four years of secondary school and two years of high school.

History was introduced as a core subject at the primary level relatively recently, but government textbooks have long incorporated stories about the country's past—often in a biased, Burman-centric way. Some democracy activists oppose the authoritarian overtones of lessons, while ethnic minorities complain their own histories have been left out, oversimplified or presented incorrectly.

"Our textbooks are thin. They say the Shan people live in Shan State, that's it," says 19-year-old Nan EiEiHlaing, an ethnic Shan student who grew up in east Myanmar and has since moved to Yangon. "There's very little about Shan culture or my history."

This problem is not unique to Myanmar. To some extent, school curricula around the world are used for nation-building, with textbooks promoting histories that favor those in power and gloss over unflattering events. In multi-ethnic Myanmar, where decades of dictatorship allowed Burman military generals to stifle voices of opposition and shut out the international community, the issue is perhaps particularly acute.

"In school they mentioned how the government fought for Myanmar's independence, how the government was great," says Ma Thida Win, 20, a student in Mandalay. "The fact that ethnic groups are fighting the government—they don't mention that."

Textbooks also skim over the Panglong Agreement, a deal reached in 1947 to bring ethnic minorities into the soon-to-be independent Union of Burma. Under the agreement, the government (represented by independence hero Gen Aung San) granted ethnic minorities a considerable degree of political autonomy. However, it was never fully implemented, and when the military seized power in 1962, it was scrapped completely.

"When we were young, they mentioned Aung San," says Min Yarzar Mon. "Later, when my younger sister started school, there was no more about him. They didn't want students to think about politics."

Writing History

Before colonialism, ancient Burman, Shan, Mon and Rakhine kingdoms in present-day Myanmar kept written records of their achievements, while Kayin and Kachin people passed down stories orally. But researchers believe Buddhist monastery schools, the mainstay of the education system, did not incorporate these histories into their lessons.

(Photo: STEVE TICKNER / THE IRRAWADDY)

When the British took power in the 19th century, they developed school curricula to justify their rule, says Rose Metro, a US-based education researcher who traced the evolution of Myanmar textbooks from colonialism through the military regime. British textbooks described conflicts between ethnic kingdoms, claiming the country was unified through colonialism.

After achieving independence in 1948, Myanmar's government painted a picture of greater inter-ethnic harmony. Textbooks became more Burman-centric after the 1962 coup that brought Gen Ne Win to power, and when a new military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, seized control in 1988, references to Gen Aung San were reduced. Stories about ancient kings were emphasized instead, and like the military rulers, they were portrayed as advocates of ethnic unity and Buddhism.

As civil wars continued, the government established a committee in 1991 to help enact educational laws that would support national solidarity.

Schools continued to reduce their coverage of minorities, says Ms. Metro, who wrote a dissertation for Cornell University about Myanmar's curricula after regularly visiting the country and the Myanmar-Thailand border over the past decade. Statements such as, "Mons are considered to be pioneers of civilization in Myanmar," which were present in textbooks from the 1970s, were removed.

The resulting books were inaccurate, says Yangon-based librarian U Ye HtetOo. "The teachers must teach according to the textbooks," he says. "But I'm sure most students don't believe the textbooks, as their parents and peers always say something different."

'A Nod and a Wink'

In primary school, a series of textbooks known as the Myanmar Readers also promote a sense of ethnic harmony. The earliest readers include letters of the alphabet and short rhymes, while books for later grades include longer stories for memorization.

"There's the text, and also the illustrations, which are really striking," says Brooke Treadwell, an American education researcher who has studied the readers extensively. In one image, people from ethnic minority groups march in traditional attire, in a line behind a Burman man waving the Myanmar flag. "It looks like a nationalistic parade," she says.

The readers include frequent references to Buddhism, Myanmar's dominant religion. Christianity is widely practiced in Kachin and Chin states, while about 5 percent of the nation's population are Muslim, but in the readers "there's no acknowledgement of any other religion," Ms. Treadwell says, noting the exception of a reference to Christmas that lacks context about the holiday's religious significance.

New core subjects have been introduced to the basic education curricula over the last two decades, but the textbooks have stayed largely the same. "From the 1980s until now, very little has changed," says Ms. Treadwell. "A version of Myanmar Readers I saw from the 1950s had differences, for sure, but they also had a lot of similarities."

Among the differences? "In the 1950s, there was a passage about how the government was structured and how to vote," she says. "It talked about Parliament and had an illustration of a ballot box. There's nothing anymore about the political system in these Myanmar Readers, nothing about the structure of government."

Although most teachers stick to the textbooks, fearing possible retribution from the headmaster, some have found ways to subtly fill in historical gaps.

"If there was counter-narrative being expressed, it would probably happen in tutoring sessions," adds Ms. Metro, who spoke with teachers and students during a trip to Myanmar in July. "In school, some teachers would give a nod and wink to students to let them know something might not be exactly accurate."

Anatomy of an Education

More than 8 million students attend the government's basic education schools in Myanmar. Beyond the state system, monasteries remain a major provider of free education, private schools are an option for the wealthier, and a network of more than 1,000 "affiliated schools" are linked to nearby state schools but funded by communities.

In conflict zones, ethnic minority groups have established distinct education systems that often teach their own versions of history. The Karen Education Department incorporates the culture of the Kayin people, also known as Karen, into curricula that are used in more than 1,200 schools.

With funding from the community and limited international donor support, Kayin schools have for more than a decade promoted child-centered teaching methods that state schools—known for rote learning—have only more recently started considering.

Limited resources have forced smaller groups to use government textbooks—or to adopt hybrid teaching materials.

In Mon State, the rebel New Mon State Party (NMSP) administers more than 150 schools, where primary school students are taught solely in the Mon language. "In middle school we teach the government curricula in the Burmese [Myanmar] language, but we include Mon language and history, too," says Mi Kun Chan Non, a former teacher and adviser to the Mon National Education Committee. "In high school we have the same curricula as the government."

More than 36,000 students attend schools run by the NMSP, which include an additional 116 "mixed schools" that are administered jointly by the rebel group and the government.

In Kachin State, a ceasefire agreement in 1994 allowed students at Kachin schools to take the government exam that leads to study at Myanmar universities. Schools had their own textbooks, says Ms. Metro, "but teachers had to teach both curricula, or at least tell their students that whatever they believed, when it was exam time they had to follow the government books."

That ceasefire broke down in 2011 and fighting renewed in the remote northern region, displacing tens of thousands of people. A year later, more than 10,000 students were reportedly studying at schools administered by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), and as displaced families took shelter at camps in the KIO stronghold of Laiza, enrollment at the town's high school more than doubled. Clashes escalated early this year but have since calmed, with a tentative peace deal reached in May.

Revise, Revise

Myanmar's state schools were chronically underfunded by the former regime, which ceded power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. Since then, education spending has increased from US $340 million to $1 billion, about 5 percent of the national budget, and a process of education reform has begun.

Universities have taken much of the spotlight, with opposition leader Daw Aung San SuuKyi pushing to revitalize the University of Yangon, but basic education could also see a major overhaul. The government last year agreed to undertake a two-year review of the education system to identify areas for reform, with support from Unicef, the World Bank and other international development partners.

After consulting with the public, the Education Ministry will revise the curricula, according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an arm of Japan's government offering suggestions about how to effectively present school material. "We can support technically, but they have to decide what to teach their children," adds JICA spokesman Kohei Isa.

The ministry could not be reached for comment on changes to the curricula. But last year, the month it agreed to undertake the education review, it published a description of long-term plans that said the education system aimed to encourage loyalty to the state, with an emphasis on "union spirit and a willingness to abide by laws." A history volume was introduced starting from Grade 5 "to nurture patriotism," it said, along with "union spirit" lessons.

Decentralization is on the table, however, as ethnic education groups push for more control over curricula and school budgets. This is "very much a focus," says Jamie Vinson of UNICEF, adding that decentralization was not explored in detail in the first phase of the review but would be a priority in the second. "The Ministry of Education is very interested in options for how this can be done and headed in that direction, without knowing specifics."

A separate review of the school system is also being conducted by the National Network for Education Reform, a civil society group led partly by the country's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The network held a conference in June with more than 1,200 participants to revise policy recommendations that would be submitted to Parliament.

"We suggested educational freedom to develop curricula in different regions," says U TheinLwin, the NLD education spokesman. "They should be able to teach in their own language and teach their own culture."

According to the network's recommendations, curricula would be based on a new national education policy, with quality monitored by an independent body of scholars recognized by the government. A child-centered approach to teaching would be promoted, along with better pay for teachers.

Min Yarzar Mon from Mon State supports efforts to give ethnic schools more freedom.

"But it has to be systematic," he says. "In Mon State, we have many ethnic groups—not just Mon, but also Kachin and Rakhine. If we allow teachers to focus on Mon language and history, what about other ethnic groups?

"Every group has a great history. If they really want the country to be a union, they should teach it."

This story first appeared in the September 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

Four Men Given Death Sentences in India Gang Rape

Posted: 15 Sep 2013 11:33 PM PDT

Demonstrators hold a placard outside a court in New Delhi on Sept. 13, 2013. (Photo: Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

NEW DELHI — An Indian court Friday sentenced to death four men for the gang rape and murder of a young New Delhi woman, ordering them to the gallows for a brutal attack that riveted India, where it became a symbol of the widespread mistreatment of women and the government's inability to deal with crime.

Issuing his decision, Judge Yogesh Khanna said the attack "shocked the collective conscience" of India. "In these times, when crime against women is on the rise, the courts cannot turn a blind eye toward such gruesome crimes."

After the death sentence, the wail of one of the four men, 20-year-old Vinay Sharma, filled the tiny courtroom. Sharma, an assistant at a gym, then broke down in sobs.

As Khanna walked from his bench, defense lawyer A.P. Singh, who has defended all four men at various times, began to shout at him: "This is not the victory of truth. But it is the defeat of justice."

Like all death sentences, Khanna's order must be confirmed by India's High Court. The men can appeal their case to the High Court, as well as to the Supreme Court, and ask the president for clemency.

The victim's family, along with numerous politicians and government officials, had long called for the men to be executed. The family was in the courtroom as the sentence was announced. "I am very happy our girl has got justice," said the victim's father, who cannot be named under Indian laws guarding his daughter's identity as a rape victim.

The 23-year-old victim and a male friend—by all accounts they were not romantically involved—were coming home last December from an evening showing of the movie "Life of Pi" when the men lured them into boarding a bus they were joy-riding through the city. They quickly beat the friend, held the woman down and took turns raping her. They also penetrated her with a metal rod, causing the massive injuries that led to her death in a Singapore hospital.

India's Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty should be used only in "the rarest of rare cases," though what defines those cases remains highly debated. Only two people—both terrorists—have been executed in India since 2004.

Under intense pressure, the Congress party-led national government worked hard to project a tough-on-crime image after the attack, reforming a series of laws on sexual violence. Many in the party, which faces dwindling support and national elections next year, had made clear they wanted the men to be executed.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who earlier in the week said death sentences were assured in the case, welcomed the sentence. "The victim and her family have got justice," he told reporters in New Delhi. "The judge has set an example for anti-social elements that they would meet a similar fate if they committed such crimes."

If India's chaotic judicial system is supposed to be independent of politics, Singh, the defense lawyer, saw a political hand in the judge's decision.

"The judge has given the death sentence under political pressure," he said. "The punishment has been given at the government's insistence."

Many have expressed hope that the case, and the intense media coverage, will help change traditional attitudes that relegate women to subservient roles and contribute to a landscape of sexual harassment and fear. Women learn from girlhood to dress conservatively and avoid going out after dark. They teach themselves to ignore the rampant groping and lewd comments—locally known as "eve-teasing"—they encounter in public.

Rapes are regularly blamed on the victims. Many rape victims are shunned by their families, fired from jobs and driven from their home villages. As a result, most rape victims are still thought to remain silent.

"Too often the pressure is on the girls to stay safe. But parents need to take responsibility for their sons," said protester Satvinder Kaur, a 40-year-old mother. "The culture will only change when mothers stop their sons from going out late at night, when they make it clear they will not stand behind them if they do something like this."

Kaur said the sentence sent "a very positive message to the ladies in India that the government is standing behind them."

Faced with the outcry, the government in March created fast-track courts for rape cases, doubled prison terms for rape and criminalized voyeurism, stalking and the trafficking of women.

The dozens of protesters outside the courthouse on Friday, while lauding the sentence, called for swift justice in tens of thousands of rape cases that remain backlogged in Indian courts.

An estimated 100 to 150 people are sentenced to death in India in most years, but the vast majority of those cases are eventually commuted to life in prison.

The defendants, like the rape victim, lived on the bottom rungs of India's booming economy. Nearly all came from families that had moved to New Delhi in recent years from desperately poor rural villages, hoping to find well-paying jobs in the capital. Few had such luck.

One, Mukesh Singh, occasionally drove the bus where the crime occurred and cleaned it. Sharma, the gym assistant, was the only one of the attackers to graduate from high school. Akshay Thakur, 28, occasionally worked as a driver's helper on the bus. Pawan Gupta, 19, worked in a streetside fruit stall.

With them on the bus were two other men. Police say Ram Singh, 33, hanged himself in prison, though his family insists he was killed. Another man—an 18-year-old who was a juvenile at the time of the attack and cannot be identified under Indian law—was convicted in August and will serve the maximum sentence he faced, three years in a reform home.

The young woman was trying to escape the economic mire she had been born into. Her father supported five people—his wife, the woman and two younger sons—on a little over $200 a month working as an airport baggage handler.

While women remain second-class citizens in most Indian families, expected to stay home and care for their parents and then their husbands, her parents and brothers had supported her as she worked for an education, even breaking with tradition by helping her leave her home for a time to study physiotherapy.

At the time of the attack, she was awaiting exam results for a physiotherapy degree. The results came after her death. She had passed.

Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.

Nearly 100 Philippine Rebels Killed or Captured

Posted: 15 Sep 2013 11:02 PM PDT

A government soldier takes a position with a machinegun during fighting with Muslim rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga city on Sunday. (Photo: Reuters)

ZAMBOANGA — Philippine forces have killed or captured nearly 100 of the Muslim guerrillas who have held scores of hostages for a week in a southern city, as the government pushes ahead with an offensive to retake rebel-held coastal communities, officials said Sunday.

Army troops and police special forces have regained rebel-held grounds and are pressing an assault deeper into communities in the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga city, where more than 100 Moro National Liberation Front guerrillas are holding hostages, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.

Several hostages have escaped or were freed, but it was unclear how many were still in rebel custody. Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the rebels were still holding up to 40 hostages in one community alone.

Zagala said troops taking part in the offensive were calibrating their firepower to avoid harming civilians.

"We’re gaining ground, we’re pushing forward," he said.

At least 51 rebels have been killed and 42 others captured, most while trying to escape along the coast after discarding their camouflage uniforms for ordinary clothes, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said, adding that the gunmen would face criminal charges. The bodies of two rebels, a man and a woman, were found Sunday by advancing troops.

Six policemen and soldiers, along with four villagers, have been killed in the standoff, which began Monday when troops foiled an attempt by the rebels to march and hoist their flag at Zamboanga’s city hall. The rebels, who arrived by boat from outlying islands, barged into five coastal villages and took more than 100 hostages as human shields.

Army troops and police, backed by helicopters and navy gunboats, initially surrounded the rebels with their hostages while government officials tried to convince the insurgents to free their captives and surrender. But government forces decided to attack Friday after the guerrillas started setting on fire clusters of houses and fired mortar rounds that wounded several Red Cross aid workers, Zagala said.

While the government’s offensive is gaining momentum, Roxas said it’s difficult to tell when the troops will be able to end the standoff, which has displaced more than 67,000 residents.

The crisis has virtually paralyzed the port city of nearly a million people, after authorities closed its international airport, suspended sea ferry services and shut down schools and offices. Officials of a Zamboanga city hospital evacuated 472 patients as clashes erupted nearby last week. They pleaded to the military Sunday to help them return to the hospital to retrieve ventilators, anesthesia machines and other equipment for their patients.

The Moro insurgents, led by rebel leader Nur Misuari, signed a peace deal in 1996, but the guerrillas did not lay down their arms and later accused the government of reneging on a promise to develop long-neglected Muslim regions in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

The rebels have become increasingly restive in recent months as they’ve been overshadowed by a rival rebel group that engaged President Benigno Aquino III’s government in peace talks brokered by Malaysia. The talks have steadily progressed toward a new and potentially larger autonomy deal for minority Muslims in the south.

Misuari, whose group launched a similar attack in Zamboanga city in 2001, has not been seen in public since the standoff began.

Cambodian Strongman Hun Sen Meets Opposition After Protest Death

Posted: 15 Sep 2013 10:55 PM PDT

A protester supporting the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) reacts as police fire tear gas during clashes near the Royal Palace in central Phnom Penh on Sunday. (Photo: Reuters)

PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met the country's main opposition leader on Monday after violence broke out at a rally the previous day to protest July's contested general election result and one man was shot dead.

At least 1,000 protesters were camped out in the rain in makeshift tents in Freedom Park in the capital Phnom Penh late on Sunday and many remained on Monday in a tense standoff.

The electoral authorities say Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has been in power for 28 years, won the election, but the opposition claims the CPP rigged the vote and wants an independent inquiry.

Clashes broke out in several places in Phnom Penh on Sunday as supporters of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) tried to remove razor-wire barricades and refused to restrict their protest to a designated site in Freedom Park.

Chan Soveth, a worker for human rights group Adhoc, said a man was shot in the head and died when CNRP supporters tried to move razor-wire barricades set up by the authorities in the Monivong Bridge area near their party headquarters.

He said the man was not a political protester but someone who lived in the area and was among a group of local residents angry that they could not reach their homes.

Chan Soveth said he had visited five other people in hospital who had been hit by live rounds. "These bullets came from where the authorities were," he told Reuters.

Kheng Tito, National Military Police spokesman, said police had used only teargas, batons and smoke grenades and he could not say how the man died.

"I don't know how he was killed. We didn't use live bullets," he said.

The capital has been tense since the election on July 28 but protests were mostly calm until this weekend and the security forces, prone to cracking down on dissent in the past, had also been restrained.

King Norodom Sihamoni summoned Hun Sen and CNRP leader Sam Rainsy to a meeting on Saturday morning but it lasted just 30 minutes and apparently produced no results.

Authoritarian Premier

According to the electoral authorities the CPP won the election with 68 seats to the CNRP's 55, a greatly reduced majority that, even before the protests, signaled dissatisfaction with Hun Sen's authoritarian rule despite rapid economic growth in a country seen for decades as a basket case.

The CNRP says it was cheated out of 2.3 million votes that would have handed it victory.

It was unclear how long the demonstration against Hun Sen would last. Those wrapped in blankets in Freedom Park have vowed to stay for at least three days.

"We're here to protest against the National Election Commission that stole our votes. They should be the referee, not the puppet of the ruling CPP," said Yong Ol, 43, who had come to the capital by truck from southern Prey Veng province.

Analysts see the standoff as a war of attrition stacked in favor of a premier not known for compromise.

The opposition will try to paralyze the legislature by boycotting parliament's first session on September 23.

Hun Sen, 61, has been a dominant force in Cambodia for years and has taken credit for steering it away from a chaotic past towards economic growth and development.

But many urban youth born after the 1975-1979 "Killing Fields" rule of the Khmer Rouge see little appeal in his iron-fisted approach and are disillusioned by growing land evictions, labor disputes and graft plus the country's close political ties with top investor China.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)