The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Myanmar: A Nation Living a Lie
• Just a Little Spice, Plenty of Tradition
• Oscar-Nominated Documentary Scrapes at Raw Wound in Indonesia
• The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (March 1, 2014)

Myanmar: A Nation Living a Lie Posted: 28 Feb 2014 08:02 PM PST Twisting the truth to suit those in power is almost a tradition in Myanmar. (Illustration: Totty Swe) The people of Myanmar live in a complex society where right and wrong are often impossible to tell apart. We are so accustomed to being lied to that we no longer know what to believe. Perhaps people in other countries also feel this way sometimes; but in Myanmar, there is an almost palpable sense that this is a society mummified by a web of lies. The truly disturbing part is that sometimes we can't seem to avoid being complicit in these lies. Whether we consciously accept falsehoods or simply fail to challenge them, we contribute to the way that we encase ourselves and others in dangerous delusions. A good example of this was when Gen. Ne Win introduced his "Burmese Way to Socialism" after seizing power in 1962. At the time, socialism was a popular ideology in many parts of the world, so he simply adopted it as a way of legitimizing his military dictatorship. Sadly, he fooled even real socialists—or rather, they fooled themselves—into accepting his bizarre brand of misrule as a serious attempt to turn Myanmar into a socialist state. After Gen. Ne Win was forced to step down in 1988—and a handpicked set of generals quickly stepped in to fill his shoes—the new regime continued to rule through a combination of brute force and brazen mendacity. Army officers who slaughtered civilians were called heroes, and dissidents were labeled terrorists and thrown in prison. Did anyone really believe this? Probably not. In fact, one of the few good things you can say about the post-1988 regime is that its lies were so blatant that the general public wasn't even tempted to be persuaded by them. But the generals were so insistent on their version of history and their role as "saviors" of the nation that most people simply held their tongues rather than argue with them and risk imprisonment or worse. These days, the situation is more complicated. Now everybody professes to want democracy, even the generals who spent half a century crushing it. Late last year, for example, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, was quoted by Radio Free Asia as saying that he wanted "real, disciplined democracy." But you really have to wonder if the word "democracy" means the same thing to him as it does to all those who have struggled for decades to achieve it, and for the millions in Myanmar who have lived their entire lives deprived of even the most fundamental rights. We are supposed to believe that Myanmar today is a country reborn, that its rulers have seen the light and are now intent on introducing democratic reforms. But even though there have been undeniable changes since a "civilian" government of ex-generals assumed power in 2011, how can we be sure that those who still have their hands firmly planted on the steering wheel are really taking the country in the right direction? The truth is that the current "transition" in Myanmar is built upon a foundation of lies—lies that the country's people were forced to accept as the only way out of a desperate situation. The first of these lies was perpetrated a week after Myanmar experienced the worst natural disaster in its long history. In a rigged referendum held on May 10, 2008, a nation traumatized by Cyclone Nargis supposedly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a military-drafted constitution that enshrines a leading role for the armed forces in political affairs. Kyaw Zwa Moe is editor (English Edition) of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at kyawzwa@irrawaddy.org. Then, in November 2010, the nation voted again, this time for a new government. Unsurprisingly, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won by a landslide. At that stage, no one had any reason to believe that anything had really changed. But after President U Thein Sein assumed office the following year, he started sending signals, such as releasing political prisoners and relaxing controls over the media, to indicate that he was a new kind of leader, and that the bad old days of arbitrary military were truly over. Eventually, even Daw Aung san Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy had boycotted the 2010 election, was sufficiently convinced of the president's sincerity that she decided to contest in by-elections in 2012, even though her party only stood to win a tiny handful of seats in the overwhelmingly USDP- and military-dominated Parliament. Now, nearly two years later, we find ourselves in the peculiar situation of half-accepting a political system that we know is no more than an extension of the former illegitimate regime. Even journalists who once fought for media freedom are now happy to buy into the Ministry of Information's efforts to treat the press as a "public service" that needs to be regulated. On the subject of constitutional change, we no longer dare to question the legitimacy of the 2008 Constitution itself. Instead, we call for amendments to specific clauses, such as the one that makes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi ineligible for the presidency because she has two foreign-born sons. Some in the government have lent a sympathetic ear to calls for changes to the Constitution, although so far none have been willing to do more than pay lip service to the need for reform. Meanwhile, the USDP has ominously warned that any attempt to tamper with the charter could result in "bad consequences." We all know what that means: in a worst-case scenario, a return to outright military rule. Because we dread a reversal of the modest progress of the past few years, we are afraid to boldly speak out for more meaningful changes to the political system. To conceal their own timidity, some intellectuals have even tried to rationalize acceptance of the status quo by arguing that letting the supposed "moderates" among the ex-generals hold on to power indefinitely is the best way to ensure that the country doesn't fall back into the hands of the hardliners. It's difficult to know what to make of such an absurd argument. Perhaps the most generous thing we can say is that it is a product of half a century of military rule, which has left some minds so scarred that they can no longer conceive of a political system that doesn't have a tyrant at its center. But the people of Myanmar cannot allow themselves to be influenced by such weak reasoning, which is no more than a cover for cowardice. We all know the fear of speaking our minds in a country where that has long been a crime, but it is past time that we stopped being afraid of the shadows of a regime that now feels a need to hide behind a veil of democratic respectability. We know what we want: a democratic constitution, free and fair elections, and a government that is truly chosen by the people. What we don't know is how or whether we can achieve these things. And in our self-doubt, we may be tempted to do what we have always done: accept lies as truth and simply hope that we will one day enjoy the freedoms that other countries take for granted. If that is the approach we choose to take, then we can always take comfort in one thought: Even if we don't get the government that we want, we will at least have the government we deserve. Kyaw Zwa Moe is the editor of the English-language edition of The Irrawaddy. This article first appeared in the March 2014 print issue of magazine. The post Myanmar: A Nation Living a Lie appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Just a Little Spice, Plenty of Tradition Posted: 28 Feb 2014 07:00 PM PST A Little Bit of Mandalay, in the eastern part of the city, is a favorite among tourists to Burma's cultural capital. (Photo: Tay Za Hlaing / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — A visit to Mandalay, the center of Burmese culture, would not be complete without a taste of Burmese traditional cuisine. For those who wish to try Burmese traditional cuisines, but do not prefer strong tasting, oily, salty and spicy fare, A Little Bit of Mandalay is a good choice. Situated in the tranquil eastern part of the city, the decade-old restaurant is serving the Burmese traditional cuisines such as Thee Sone Hnat (vegetable curry), prawn curry and various traditional salads, all at a reasonable price. Burmese people usually love their curries to be a yellowish-red, produced by good helpings of turmeric and chili powder. These spices give a slightly hot taste to the curry, complemented by the sweet, salty taste of fish paste. But at A Little Bit of Mandalay, the color and the sweetness is produced just by tomato paste, and the curries stimulate the visitors' taste buds with a new flavor of Burmese traditional cuisine. Min Aung, the restaurant's owner and manager, said the customers' favorite is fried chicken sprinkled with honey. For those who like wine with their food, the establishment has the locally produced Aythaya and Red Mountain wines. Seasonal fruit juices are also available. The friendly chef and staff can make special arrangements for those with allergies. Since A Little Bit of Mandalay was born in 2002, it has become a popular traditional lunch and dinner stop for tourists is regularly recommended by tour operators. Located on 28th Street, between 52nd and 53rd streets, A Little Bit of Mandalay may be a little bit far away from bustling city center, but its hygienic, reasonably priced food, in a serene environment, is a fine place to dine. The post Just a Little Spice, Plenty of Tradition appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Oscar-Nominated Documentary Scrapes at Raw Wound in Indonesia Posted: 28 Feb 2014 06:13 PM PST People watch "Act of Killing" movie in Jakarta in February 2013. (Photo: Reuters) JAKARTA/MADIUN, Indonesia — A chilling documentary about one of the worst massacres since World War Two is up for an Academy Award this weekend. If it does win, don't expect the Indonesian co-director to go on stage to receive an Oscar: he's worried for his life. The nearly three-hour "Act of Killing" centers on one of the killers in Indonesia's bloody purge of what was then the biggest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union, as he re-enacts for the camera, with no apparent sign of remorse, the way nearly 50 years earlier he had dispatched his victims by strangling them with a loop of wire. It touches on the darkest period of Indonesia's already violent early years as an independent state, which even after almost half a century is so raw a memory that it remains largely brushed from mainstream debate. The version in school textbooks still adhere to the line propagated by the autocratic leader Suharto who initiated the purge and who was forced to step down 15 years ago. At least 500,000 people are thought to have died in the rampaging violence that started in late 1965 after then-general Suharto and the military took power following an abortive communist coup. A million or more people were jailed. "It's a tragedy and we, just like anybody else, despise those in the movie and the reenactment of the atrocities. These people don't belong in Indonesia today," said presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah. He added: "It requires a lot of revisiting but…I don't think we are mature enough [yet] as a nation." In a sign of how sensitive the topic remains, the Indonesian co-producer of the documentary and the other Indonesian members of the film crew say they do not want their names to be made public. "Maybe we are too paranoid, but we discussed with various activists groups about the risk, the possibility of going from a threat to a real attack on our lives, and we really don't know what would happen if we revealed our names," the co-director told Reuters in a telephone interview. Triggered in the midst of the Cold War when the West feared that communism was sweeping through decolonizing Asia, much of the slaughter was in the populous main island of Java and the now-resort destination of Bali. Initially, it was the military that led efforts to crush the communist party. The operation was headed by a general, Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, the father of the country's current first lady, and whose son is thought to have an eye on the presidency. "Still Divisive" The campaign mushroomed into an orgy of killing that saw the country's biggest Muslim group, landowners, paramilitary organizations and those simply with a grudge against a neighbor, go after communist party members and their supposed sympathizers. "To this second, I don't know what I did wrong, why I was held, why I was beaten every night for six years, why they tore out my nails and…electrocuted me," Parmoen Soedjarwo told Reuters, sitting in his simple, red-roofed house in Madiun in the agricultural heartland of East Java where much of the violence occurred. "The military asked me if I belonged to the [Communist Party of Indonesia]. Whatever they asked me, I just said 'yes, yes, yes' to everything, even though I didn't understand what they were asking. I would have said anything to survive and be freed quickly." Soedjarwo, who served in the military before he was detained, was finally released in 1978. Like many other victims and their families, he found himself shut out of the system. He was unable to get a job in the public sector or secure a bank loan to start a business. He said he got by for years on handouts from his community. Now 70, he has saved enough to start a small fish farm. For decades, children of alleged communists were kept at arm's length by the government. One of Suharto's closest advisers at the time even sent his daughter abroad after she developed a relationship with the son of a supposed communist. Some observers worry the film does little to show the political context of the period and the tension at the grassroots level between religious groups and landowners and the communists, which was already seething before the attempted coup. "The issue is still divisive in society and nobody has ever really tried to reconcile," said Agus Widjojo, a retired army lieutenant-general who heads a think-tank on policy and strategic issues. "Indonesian society is not brave enough to start the endeavor to face the truth of the past…. But it's the only way we can learn lessons about what we have done wrong and to correct it so that we can assure future generations of Indonesia that those mistakes will not be repeated." For the film's Indonesian crew, the anonymity will not end any time soon, according to the co-director. "Revealing our identities would need a genuine structural change in Indonesia…and that genuine reconciliation will take a long time, but the time to start that is now." The post Oscar-Nominated Documentary Scrapes at Raw Wound in Indonesia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (March 1, 2014) Posted: 28 Feb 2014 06:03 PM PST Burma Improves Investor Confidence But Corruption Rules, Says Report Burma's government is making the country more attractive to foreign businesses but the improvement and enforcement of regulations which reassure investors is "slow and lacks sufficient transparency," a new study said. The country's adoption of the international Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards is a positive step, but fitting it into Burma's "complex and ill-developed legal framework will be a major challenge," said the January-March Country Risk Report by UK business analysts Maplecroft. "Investors will find that the business environment is skewed in favor of local conglomerates such as the Myanmar Economic Corporation," the study said."These businesses have strong ties to the military, and have a dominant market position in sectors ranging from fuel distribution to real estate." It also warned that foreign investors partnering local businesses "face very high risks of corruption and mismanagement". However, on the positive said Maplecroft said there was little risk of the state nationalizing investor assets. It warned that medium-term economic growth in Burma could be upset by a labor skills shortage even though there was a large and underemployed workforce. "Foreign firms looking to invest in agribusiness, forestry, extractives, construction, manufacturing and services are struggling to find qualified local workers," said Maplecroft, in part because of a poor education system. The return home of more Burmese now working abroad would be a benefit, it suggested. 'Policy Vacuum' in Thailand Leaves Burmese Workers Facing Extortion Burmese and Thai racketeers are cheating tens of thousands of Burmese workers in Thailand amid a "policy vacuum" on employment visas, a workers' rights group has alleged. Failure by Thai authorities to implement a transparent visa renewals system for migrant workers whose visas are expiring means that there are now more than 100,000 officially registered Burmese in Thailand illegally, said the Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN). "Workers are being dismissed by employers and cheated by agents and employers offering fake or expensive documents," said MWRN in a statement urging the Burmese government to intervene to help. "More worryingly, such workers are increasingly being arrested and extorted by law enforcement officials or forced to buy unlawful protection cards in some provinces." The governments of the two countries discussed the issue in the middle of 2013 but the subsequent political chaos in Bangkok with many government offices disrupted by protesters for months means little has been done to establish a proper visas extension scheme. "This policy vacuum and lack of procedural clarity means employers and workers must rely on expensive and unregulated Thai and [Burmese] labor agents or brokers for information and to navigate complex procedures," said MWRN. Major Japanese Retailer Eyes Shopping Malls in Rangoon Japanese retailer Aeon Group is reportedly planning to promote its Topvalu and Jusco brand products in Burma. Aeon will open offices in Rangoon soon as part of investment plans to develop retail outlets in Burma, said the Japanese news agency Kyodo. Aeon, the second-biggest retail business in Japan, has been expanding in Southeast Asian and now operates shopping malls in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, and is planning ventures in Indonesia and Cambodia. Aeon hopes to open an office in Rangoon in March to "lay the groundwork for launching a shopping mall in the country's former capital and largest city by 2016," said Kyodo. Bagan Visitor Fees 'Could Fund an Improvement in Tourism Facilities' Visitor entrance fees to the Bagan ancient city and temples site will total around US$3 million in a full financial year and some of the money could be used to improve tourism facilities in the popular area, a travel trade newspaper said. The total number of annual visit to the sprawling site is fast approaching 200,000 and the entrance fee was increased to $15 per person in July last year. The Myanmar Tourism Federation is negotiating to take over collection of the fees from the Ministry of Culture, said TTR Weekly. "The federation will pay 85% of the fees to the government, while 5% will go towards Bagan's regional development projects and the remaining 10% will be used to ensure [Burma] is promoted at international travel forums and conferences," said the newspaper, based in Bangkok. Media reports have said that the swell of visitors to Bagan over the past two years has put a strain on services, and a shortage of accommodation has encouraged some younger tourists to camp overnight inside the site. The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (March 1, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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