Saturday, December 27, 2014

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine


Photo of the Week (27.12.2014)

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 03:30 AM PST

PhotoWeekBig

Novice Buddhist nuns take rest under election posters opposite a polling station in Sanchaung Township, Rangoon, on Dec. 27, 2014. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

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Landmark City Elections Underway in Rangoon

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 12:11 AM PST

Election workers hold a YCDC ballot at a polling station in Rangoon's Sanchaung Township on Saturday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Election workers hold a YCDC ballot at a polling station in Rangoon's Sanchaung Township on Saturday. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Rangoon residents went to the polls on Saturday to elect a portion of their municipal government for the first time in more than 60 years, though initial reports indicated the landmark vote was under attended by an ill-informed electorate.

A total of 293 candidates are vying for 115 seats at the central, district and township levels of the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), which oversees management of Burma's biggest city.

Early indications were of an underwhelming voter turnout. Polls opened at 6:00 am and by midday, three polling stations in Insein Township—each of which had registered 500 households as eligible to vote—had seen 148, 36 and 41 voters cast ballots, respectively.

Win Cho, a former political prisoner and rights activist, is running for one of four seats on the YCDC Central Committee, the municipal government's highest representative body. The nine-member Central Committee is also comprised of five appointed members, including its chairman, Rangoon Mayor Hla Myint.

The 57-year-old Win Cho, who is not eligible to vote due to his criminal record, told The Irrawaddy on Saturday that his wife had run into problems at their local polling station.

"I have found that some officials at the polling station had no idea about the procedures," he said. "My name appeared on the voting list. That's not what is supposed to happen. After my complaints, they fixed it and let my wife cast the vote."

Voter awareness also appeared to be an issue.

"I voted for U Khin Maung Soe, from Insein Township. I know him, but the other two that I voted for, I don't know about them," said 53-year-old Aye Mu. "I hope they are good people. I just wish the three I voted for are good for the country and for the people."

In Insein Township's Zaygone quarter, where many people are civil servants from police and railway departments, resident Win Lwin Oo, 48, said the election was "low-profile," and that many in his neighborhood had only learned of it on Saturday.

"Another problem is that many people here are civil servants. The government has warned that every civil servant must have nothing to do with politics, so people think it'd be better for them to stay away from the election too."

By 1 pm on Saturday, two Zaygone quarter polling stations where 838 households were registered had only seen 76 ballots cast, polling officials there told The Irrawaddy.

In addition to the four Central Committee seats, 12 district- and 99 township-level positions are up for a vote. According to the 2014 YCDC election by-law, each district and township will consist of an elected three-member committee. Candidates for these seats are running under one of three designations—community leaders, academics and civil society representatives—and each committee will be made up of one of each.

"I think the process is clear, it's not confusing, but I don't know who all of the candidates are. I only know one candidate contesting for the Central Committee," said Thi Thi, a 45-year-old voter from Insein Township. "I voted for him because I know him personally. He and his family do social work in the ward."

Election officials have set up 1,086 polling stations across Rangoon's 33 townships. Polls close at 4 pm, and ballots will be tallied at each individual polling station, with the results then forwarded to City Hall. YCDC Election Commission chairman Tin Aye told The Irrawaddy last week that final results could be expected within 48 hours of the vote cut-off.

While Saturday's polls mark a measure of democratization for a municipal body that has been appointed since 1949, critics say the election falls short of allowing for a fully representative city government. Only one member of each registered household in Rangoon, a city of some 5 million people, has been allowed to vote, and the post-election Central Committee will remain majority-appointed by Rangoon Division's unelected chief minister.

This week Rangoon Mayor Hla Myint appeared to downplay the significance of the vote, saying YCDC committee members were "not policymakers or decision-makers," and were ultimately tasked with carrying out the dictates of their divisional and Union government superiors.

Reporting by Lawi Weng, San Yamin Aung and Feliz Solomon.

The post Landmark City Elections Underway in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Lawyer Confident of Testimony to Clear Burmese Duo of Britons’ Murders

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 12:07 AM PST

Htoo Chit, left, Aung Myo Thant, second left, and Kyaw Thaung of a committee set up by the Burmese Embassy in Thailand to investigate the Koh Tao island murder case address the media at Orchid hotel in Rangoon on Dec. 18, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Htoo Chit, left, Aung Myo Thant, second left, and Kyaw Thaung of a committee set up by the Burmese Embassy in Thailand to investigate the Koh Tao island murder case address the media at Orchid hotel in Rangoon on Dec. 18, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

BANGKOK — A lawyer for two Burmese nationals indicted over the murder of two British tourists on a Thai holiday island said on Friday he was confident of persuading scared witnesses to testify and exonerate the accused.

A trial date was set on Friday for July 8 next year by a court on Koh Samui, the neighboring island to Koh Tao, where the bodies of David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were found on a beach on Sept. 15.

Police arrested Burmese workers Zaw Lin and Win Phyo, both 21, in October, saying their DNA samples matched those found on the victims.

After a pre-trial hearing on Friday, Nakorn Chompoochart, the head of suspects' legal team, said there was more time to convince witnesses currently in Burma to appear at the trial.

A committee of investigators set up by the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok last week said potential witnesses able to prove the suspects were innocent were too scared to appear in court for fear of retribution by Thai police or their former employers.

"Now we have witnesses but the problem is they are scared. We might need more time and we might have to go to Myanmar to meet them," Nakorn told reporters.

"I'm confident because we have enough information to convince the court that the two did not commit the crime."

The embassy's investigators said they had interviewed about 40 Burmese nationals who were working on Koh Tao, a tiny island and popular diving destination, at the time of the murders.

They said "strong witnesses" had returned to Burma because they were worried they would be implicated in the crime.

The murders dealt a blow to Thailand's vital tourism industry, worth about 10 percent of its economy, when it was already hurting from a rash of cancellations due to months of unrest and a May 22 coup.

The military government pressed police to solve the case quickly. Zaw Lin and Win Phyo, who were migrant workers, initially confessed but later retracted their statements, saying they were given under duress.

Police deny that and say they have solid evidence.

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‘It Took Everyone in the Region by Surprise, Yet the Moken Survived’

Posted: 26 Dec 2014 03:30 PM PST

culture and mythology of the Moken

A still from the film "Sailing A Sinking Sea," which explores Moken mythology and culture. (Photo courtesy of Olivia Wyatt)

Olivia Wyatt is an American filmmaker and photographer originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. Her current project, a documentary film titled "Sailing A Sinking Sea," explores the culture and mythology of the Moken, or "sea gypsies," of Thailand and Burma—a nomadic group numbering only a few thousand who live for long periods at sea.

When a devastating tsunami hit 10 years ago on Dec. 26, 2004, the majority of Moken living off the coast of Thailand survived, despite their villages being swept away. The Irrawaddy contributor Sam Cartmell spoke with Wyatt about the film and her experience living with Moken communities as modernity closes in.

Question: How did you come to make an experimental documentary with the Moken people from southern Thailand?

Answer: I first read about the seafaring nomadic community, the Moken, after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December 2004. It took everyone in the region by surprise, yet the Moken survived. They survived due to their mythology, their ancestral wisdom, their shaman's dreams, their symbiosis with nature and their ancient songs.

Nothing modern predicted nor was able to prepare people for the disaster when it came. I thought it was so beautiful that one of the smallest ethnic communities in that region had such an innate knowledge of surviving an upset sea.

The Moken not only predicted the tsunami, but they are aquatic super heroes, according to some researchers—they can swim farther and see farther than any other human being under water. The Moken live in little wooden boats with their entire family the majority of the year and during monsoon season sleep on islands in houses set on stilts.

As a lover of indigenous communities and the sea, I was captivated by the Moken. I continued to read about them as the years passed and discovered that their life was rapidly becoming engulfed by modernity. I read that their population was in decline, that their communities were becoming government-endorsed tourist attractions and that governments were also controlling how often they fished and how much they made from selling their fish.

I discovered that many of them were no longer nomadic and read that many Moken were dying. It saddened my heart to read all of this. I knew that soon we wouldn't be able to differentiate Moken from [people in] the rest of the world and that their traditions, life-saving stories, mythology and songs were disappearing. I decided I wanted to make a documentary exploring their mythology and culture. It took three years, me losing almost everything in Hurricane Sandy and my friend Will Oldham believing in me and the project before I would actually make the dream a reality.

I went and stayed with 13 different Moken communities in the spring of 2013 and documented everything I could. I interviewed village elders, mothers, lovers, and teenagers about their mythology and recorded as much music as possible.

Q: There are some great singing and percussion performances in the film. Can you talk about the music in the film and the role of music in Moken culture?

A: Many members of the Moken community performed several of these songs [in the film] during ceremonies and some songs were sung during interviews to illustrate something to me. There are a few songs that blend Moken [style] with traditional southern Thai styles. My favorite songs come from the ceremonies and generally [involve] free form call and responses between a man and a woman.

I found these songs to always have a sense of humor. There is a song about a 'shrimp' and a 'crab' becoming new lovers and hiding from each other and the singers are actually referring to male and female genitalia. There are Moken songs for everything. There is even a song Moken sing to the fish while spear fishing.

Songs are very powerful among the Moken community. In fact, there is one song that children sing to call the waves, and some elders feel that song carries enough energy to create a tsunami. It is also interesting to me that within the Moken community women are the percussionists.

The Moken used to have guitars made of coconuts and I searched high and low for one. I even traveled six hours by boat to an island to find one [but] when I got there they said, 'We used to have one right here, but someone stole it.'

Q: How does your film deal with the political and economic pressures faced by Moken and other nomadic and semi-nomadic communities?

A: I believe ethnic communities, regardless of where they are, should be allowed to exist on the land that their ancestors also called home. There are so many battles the Moken have to fight— missionaries, modernity, governmental sources, non-governmental agencies—the right to land shouldn't be one of those struggles.

The films I create are meant to celebrate cultures rather than exploring the atrocities surrounding them. I feel that the news and other films do a good enough job of covering that aspect. With 'Sailing A Sinking Sea,' I only explore Moken mythology and music, though several of the Moken interviewed do mention the challenges they face today due to political, economic, and even environmental factors.

While these issues are briefly touched upon, they are not a central focus. The world is getting smaller and unfortunately we cannot [stop] these factors [from affecting] their lives, but it is my hope that through sharing and celebrating how beautiful and unique the Moken community is, it will cause others to want to approach it delicately and in a way that maintains the distinctiveness of the community versus destroying it.

Q: Has 'Sailing A Sinking Sea' been completed? What are your plans for the film?

A: I have just finalized a cut of the film, however I still need to do audio mastering and color correction. I have applied to many festivals and am hoping to be selected to show my film. My main goal is to have a DVD release of the project and I would like to have screenings on the Moken islands. One village elder said that in his village, which is on the mainland and often referred to as Moken, even the Moken children no longer speak the language and they are losing a sense of pride for their ancestry. He felt that the project could help make them feel honored to be who they are and want to carry on their traditional ways. I truly hope this is the case!

Sam Cartmell co-founded and regularly contributes to The Archive of Southeast Asian Music (http://aseam.info/).

The post 'It Took Everyone in the Region by Surprise, Yet the Moken Survived' appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma


Australia’s refugees – The people behind the policy

Posted: 26 Dec 2014 10:00 PM PST

From the time she was a little girl, Eh-Moo (pronounced similarly to Emma) Da lived in uncertainty with no real place to call home.

That changed three years ago when her family was settled in northern Brisbane, a far cry from the refugee camps dotting the border between Thailand and Burma, or Myanmar as it is officially known.

Having fled Burma in fear for her life, Eh-Moo's mother, Happy Da, was only 16 years old when she first entered the camp with two-year-old Eh-Moo. Over the next 15 years, while moving constantly between camps, Happy married another man, had twin boys, and was granted a visa to live permanently in Australia.

Their story is familiar to many refugees – the terrifying journey to the camps in the dark of night, the bleak uncertainty of constantly travelling from camp to camp, always moving and never settling.

But Happy and Eh-Moo's story has a happier ending than most who have endured the experience.

Eh-Moo is now studying to be a dental assistant.

Eh-Moo is now studying to be a dental assistant.

Following her family's settlement in Mitchelton, a suburb of Queensland's capital Brisbane, Eh-Moo and her family were recommended to the St Vincent de Paul society's recently developed Volunteer Refugee Tutoring and Community Support (VoRTCS) programme, which aims to help refugee families improve English language skills and provide support for individuals struggling to adapt to life in Australia.

After working with her tutor, Brian Dickson, for a little over a year now, Eh-Moo, now 20, has successfully graduated high school and is now enrolled in tertiary education with ambitions to become a dental assistant.

"I study Diploma of Dental Technology and I hope when I finish, I get a job to work." Eh-Moo said, frowning slightly as her tone turned serious. "Because people need their teeth, and if they don't have their teeth, this is not good for them.

"I like to study, I like to learn. But it [is] hard."

Dickson, a Brisbane resident and dedicated volunteer, said that English language skills aren't the only thing he teaches Eh-Moo and her family. As per the VoRTCS programme mission statement, he also aids the family in other ways, such as helping Eh-Moo's parents navigate the Queensland schooling system and helping them pay their bills via email.

"You don't realise there's all these things we do that we take for granted," Dickson said, "It's important to be reminded just how fortunate we really are to live in this country and appreciate it more than we do."

Even with the support offered by her tutor, Happy struggles with tasks most Australians do not think twice about. The family only has one 2-hour tutoring session per week, and Happy often takes the back seat with English lessons, preferring to allow the tutor to focus his energies on helping the children with their homework. When there is some spare time, the family's father, Pa Da, will usually need help with the bills, or some other kind of paperwork foreign to Burmese nationals. As a consequence, Happy cannot speak the language as well as her children.

With the help of Eh-Moo translating, Happy spoke about her lessons with a separate church group, where she learns English and "Australia skills" such as telling time from analogue clocks, how to write neatly, and how to draft a CV.

Just like any proud mum, Happy loves to celebrate each and every one of her childrens' achievements in school.

Just like any proud mum, Happy loves to celebrate each and every one of her childrens' achievements in school.

"I know 'o'clock time', and handwriting, and email now," Happy said proudly, beaming at her tutor.

"Next I write a paper to get me job, and I be very happy."

St Vincent de Paul Society Chief Executive Dr John Falzon said he believes that if given both the chance to thrive and the appropriate support, refugees such as the Da family can make a valuable contribution to their communities. Falzon was quoted earlier this year stating: "…When embraced by our community, there is strong evidence [that refugees] contribute enormously to our nation."

In Eh-Moo's case, positive contributions are certainly evident already. At the time of writing, the 20-year-old was about to begin a week-long work experience placement at a local dentistry office.

"We have many more opportunities here than we did before. [In the camps], we stay home, we help Ma clean," said Eh-Moo, jabbering excitedly.

"But now, I go out with my CV, and I talk to dentists in English, and they give me a little job."

Dickson said that the only difficulties he encounters in the job is that there is never enough time for him to spend with the Da family, and having to say goodbye at the end of each session.

When asked why he began tutoring with the VoRTCS program, Dickson simply said, "I learned that there were three sources of assistance that people could call on: the government, other people, and me.

"The government can only provide minimally, leaving other people and me. I thought; 'If not me, then who? If not now, then when?'"

Now, thanks to VoRTCS's support of around 1,060 refugees in the Brisbane area, the Da family is more than a simple statistic in Australia's policy politics. Having now been granted the right to education, to freedom, and most importantly, to happiness, Eh-Moo is able to venture freely into her future as she calls Australia home.

The post Australia's refugees – The people behind the policy appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

Roadshow recap: The magic of Inle lake

Posted: 26 Dec 2014 09:22 PM PST

On the third episode of DVB’s Doh Pyay Doh Myay Roadshow, the team travelled to southern Shan State to take time out on the beautiful Inle Lake.

The team experienced a day in the life of the In-tha, the sons and daughters of the lake.

Join us, as we again take you off the beaten track in Burma.

[DVB Bulletin will return on 5 January]

 

The post Roadshow recap: The magic of Inle lake appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.