Monday, November 20, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

President Proposes New Ministries To Better Oversee Domestic and Foreign Affairs

Posted: 20 Nov 2017 04:12 AM PST

YANGON — A presidential proposal to establish two new government ministries was submitted to the Union Parliament on Monday, a move that would raise the number of ministries to 24.

The two additional ministries proposed by President U Htin Kyaw were a Government's Office and a Ministry of International Cooperation, which would be overseen by National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun and Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Tin, respectively.

Lawmakers will discuss the proposal and seek parliamentary approval on Thursday. No additional government staff will be employed for the two additional ministries. Instead they will be staffed with existing officials currently assigned to the Union government and the Foreign Affairs Ministry's International Organizations and Economic Department.

The move aims to allow the government to better manage domestic administration and international affairs, Union Attorney General U Htun Htun Oo told Parliament on Monday.

While State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also foreign affairs minister, has been overseeing diplomatic affairs, the newly proposed international cooperation minister would administer affairs related to international organizations from an economic viewpoint, in addition to the usual political perspective, U Htun Htun Oo said.

Meanwhile, another presidential proposal to replace the existing commissioners of Myanmar's anti-corruption body, which was formed under the previous U Thein Sein government was also submitted to Parliament on Monday. The anti-corruption commission mandated by the anti-graft law was formed in March 2014.

The proposal named former information minister U Aung Kyi, who is currently in charge of the government's peace commission, to replace existing chair U Mya Win. U Aung Kyi has served in the military and government administration for more than 50 years.

Former police chief Maj-Gen Zaw Win, who retired from the force in May this year, was also proposed as a commission member. Other proposed members include retired officials of the Attorney-General's Office and Special Investigation Bureau and legal experts.

According to unconfirmed sources, the government also plans to split the Ministry of Electricity and Energy into two ministries to be led by one minister each. Under the previous U Thein Sein government, Myanmar had 36 ministries.

Htet Naing Zaw contributed to this report from Naypyitaw.

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Minster Calls for Action to Save the Moken

Posted: 20 Nov 2017 02:18 AM PST

YANGON — Union Minister for Ethnic Affairs U Naing Thet Lwin has called for the creation of a special committee to save the Moken, who now number fewer than 1,000 people.

In response to a question by Upper House lawmaker Dr. Khin Maung Win on Friday, the minister suggested raising funds and establishing an official committee with anthropologists to prevent the Moken from going extinct.

"It is a long-term process and needs the cooperation of concerned authorities and experts like anthropologists as well as sufficient funds," the minister told Parliament.

The Moken, generically referred to as sea gypsies, are called 'Salone' in Burmese. They lead a nomadic life in the waters off the Tanintharyi coast of southern Myanmar, roaming the sea most of their lives in small handcrafted wooden boats that serve as their homes except for during the monsoon season.

The Tanintharyi regional government has opened basic education schools and a boarding school for Moken children, said U Naing Thet Lwin. Since 2016, the regional government has also funded Moken festivals and provided a certain amount of money for Moken families to buy rice, he added.

In the past, Moken people wandered from one island to another, leading a nomadic life, but these days, most of them are settled on the land, and some of them do not even know how to build canoes as their ancestors did, said Kawthaung local Ko Maw Kin, an expert on the Moken.

The Moken have no institutionalized religion, but believe in sea deities, he added.

U Naing Thet Lwin said the government allows Moken people to fish in the sea, and also has also sought combat drug trafficking at sea to help save them.

"Taking a look back at the history of the Salone people, Chinese and Malay people would buy sea products from them in exchange for clothes and drugs. In the last decade, drugs have nearly killed all the Moken male adults," said Ko Maw Kin.

The Ethnic Affairs Ministry has opened an ethnic literature and culture department, and an ethnic rights protection department in Dawei, the capital of Tanintharyi Region, and will cooperate with the regional government to conserve the customs and traditions of the Moken and protect their rights, said U Naing Thet Lwin.

According to the minister, there are only 635 full-blooded Moken people living in 145 households — 204 in Kawthoung and 431 in Myeik.

However, there still remain 1,819 mixed-blood Moken people — Bamar-Moken, Karen-Moken, Mon-Moken and Pa-O-Moken — living in 440 households in the Tanintharyi Region.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Fear, Hunger, Hopes for a New Life — the Many Reasons Driving the Rakhine Exodus

Posted: 20 Nov 2017 02:04 AM PST

Critics of the Myanmar government have assailed State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for raising the question of why, in the wake of the incidents on Aug. 24-25, did Muslims flee to Bangladesh in unprecedented numbers and why those who stayed behind, stayed. Many observers from the international community — and especially the Western media — jumped to the conclusion that Muslims were pushed out of their villages by the security forces' clearance operations.

It is true that a large number of Muslims ran away when security forces undertook sweeps through their villages. However, to ascribe the Muslim exodus to this sole cause is simplistic. For example, if military operations had been the only reason for the exodus, we would have seen a significant drop in the number of Muslims fleeing once the military campaign stopped on Sept. 5. In fact, a significant proportion of Muslims left after the security forces halted their clearance operations.

It is clear that there are many factors at play in northern Rakhine State. To be sure, many of the 600,000 Muslims who have reportedly fled to Bangladesh have done so out of fear of future military operations. However, it is worth noting that Muslims are not just afraid of state security forces but also of militants from their own community.

Before fleeing, a Muslim farmer confided to me that he, and many Muslim men he knew, joined one of the mobs that attacked security outposts in northern Rakhine on Aug. 24-25. They did so mainly because the militants threatened to kill them if they did not participate. "No one was protecting us," he said. "If we had believed that the government would protect us, we would not have joined the militants. We would not have been a part of the mob."

There were also some Muslim families who decided to flee to Bangladesh because it was becoming more and more difficult for them to make a living in their own villages. This was due in part to further restrictions on their already limited freedom of movement and in part because they were not receiving sufficient humanitarian assistance. A Muslim villager from Maungdaw noted, "We could not go to towns to find jobs. Rakhine businessmen would not give us any jobs. We were not receiving any assistance from anybody. Even if other friends from other villages or other parts of Rakhine state wanted to help us, they would not be able to send us anything. Our Rakhine friends were too afraid to help us. When we ran out of food, we did not have a choice but to become refugees." The same villager noted that although he knew the situation at refugee camps in Cox's Bazar would not be very comfortable, refugees would at least get food rations from UN agencies and other international organizations.

Some villagers remarked enigmatically that they left their villages because they were asked to do so by "people from above" or "superior people." However, even when asked directly, they refused to identify who these "people from above" were. While Rakhine observers surmised that those "people from above" were leading members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which led the August attacks, some Muslim observers concluded that many Muslims from northern Rakhine were manipulated by other political actors who took advantage of the unstable situation to promote their agendas. Some villagers also reported that they decided to go to Bangladesh mainly because friends and families who were already there convinced them that they would enjoy somewhat better conditions at refugee camps in Bangladesh than if they remained in their villages.

The fact is that Muslim villagers from Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships did not stop fleeing to refugee camps in Bangladesh even after the government began providing food and other assistance to Muslim internally displaced persons (IDPs) and villages. Some residents of Buthidaung reported that many Muslim families sold their property, including animals, cooking utensils and furniture at discounted rates, bought gold with the money they earned from the sales, and left for the nearest jetty or border.

Despite efforts from the Bangladeshi security forces to stop boats bringing Muslim refugees to Cox's Bazar, at least two boats from Bangladesh reportedly came to a jetty in Buthidaung township on a daily basis to pick up refugees. Due to the high demand, the boat fare recently surged from 30,000 kyats per head to 160,000 kyats per head.

In interviews, three young Muslim men from Buthidaung and Maungdaw said they decided to leave for Cox's Bazar owing to a rumor that Muslim refugees from Myanmar would be able to go to a third country and start a new and better life afterwards.

There is also another rumor circulating in Buthidaung that Muslim families can now leave for Cox's Bazar without paying any money as some diaspora groups have paid for their boat fares. Although the rumor could not be verified, it is true that Muslims have managed to leave for the refugee camps in Bangladesh on a daily basis. Some observers have also questioned why the Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities failed to prevent the transportation of the refugees from the jetty in Buthidaung Township to Cox's Bazar.

The reasons mentioned above are by no means conclusive. The point is that the military's clearance operations were not the only reason for the exodus of Muslims from northern Rakhine to refugee camps in Bangladesh. In trying to prevent Muslims from fleeing to Bangladesh, both the government and international actors will have to take into account all reported causal factors by listening to a wide range of voices.

First of all, the government must ensure the rule of law and provide protection to all law-abiding residents in northern Rakhine State. Secondly, the government and other stakeholders must work together to prevent "people from above" from manipulating civilians. Finally, while making sure that all residents in northern Rakhine State can make an adequate living, the government, international actors and other stakeholders should work together to provide accurate information to all residents of the area to prevent innocent people from being misled by unfounded rumors.

Sai Lon is a pseudonym for a Yangon-based independent analyst and a longtime observer of communal problems in Rakhine State.

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Humanitarian Group Discards Logo After Criticism of Creating Conflict in Rakhine

Posted: 20 Nov 2017 01:54 AM PST

YANGON — The Humanitarian Coordination Youth Team (HCYT), a group of volunteers providing humanitarian assistance in troubled northern Rakhine State, has discarded its t-shirts after the group came under fire for the logo.

The group, formed to support the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development (UEHRD)—an initiative by the Union government to provide assistance in Rakhine State—distributed uniform t-shirts and jackets for volunteers who would assist locals in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.

The garments featured a map of Rakhine on the back with Maungdaw and Buthidaug townships colored in red, and other areas in yellow, while Thandwe and Gwa townships were not included on the map.

Many netizens criticized the logo, interpreting it as the two troubled townships being split from Rakhine State.

HCYT released a statement on Nov. 13, saying that it had no intention other than to highlight the project area; and that Gwa and Thandwe were only left out because of limited space.

Two days later, the group announced that it had stopped using the clothing with the logo.

"We will not use it anymore because we are concerned that some people with bad intentions may take advantage of this," said Ko Htet Paing Soe, a senior member of HCYT.

"I would like to tell all, including locals in Rakhine State, that we had no intention of creating conflict with this logo. We welcome suggestions and are ready to cooperate to render assistance more effectively," he added.

HCYT sent its first group of volunteers to Rakhine State in the first week of November. Under the program, youth across the country will distribute relief supplies and collect data in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships for 20 days. Forty volunteers joined the first batch, and the second and third batches will leave for Rakhine State after receiving training in Yangon on Nov. 20 and Dec.7 respectively.

HCYT was founded in October by a group of youth, which includes Rakhine, Muslims, Hindus and other ethnic minorities such as Daignet, Mro, and Maramargyi from Rakhine State.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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Govt Plans to Relocate Hotels From Bagan Archeological Zone

Posted: 20 Nov 2017 12:25 AM PST

YANGON — Myanmar attempts to relocate controversial hotels in the archaeological site Bagan as it prepares the ancient city's final nomination dossier to become a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The temples of Bagan, dating from between the 9th and 13th centuries—when the Kingdom of Bagan ruled over much of lowland Burma—are considered Myanmar's biggest tourist draw and on par with Cambodia's Angkor Wat. Despite the historical, archaeological and cultural value, the ancient capital has yet to be granted Unesco World Heritage Site status, allegedly on account of being unable to present management plans to deal with sub-standard, inauthentic restorations and controversial hotel developments in the archaeological site completed under previous governments.

Showing a commitment to fixing mismanagement, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government's Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture said it would negotiate with developers whose hotels were built within the ancient city's archaeological vicinity to hotel zones or otherwise outside of the area.

"Relevant ministries and hoteliers will be discussing [the relocation] but we have not negotiated with or informed hotel owners officially yet," said U Aung Aung Kyaw, director of the ministry's Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library in Bagan.

In early September, the Association of Myanmar Architects (AMA) logged 3,822 ancient monuments in Bagan. Myanmar submitted its first bid in 1996 and failed to receive the status. As the ministry decided in June 2014 to restart the process, the draft nomination dossier to the World Heritage Site Committee of Unesco was submitted in September this year and the final version has to be delivered by February 1, 2018.

Significant hotels and landmarks that would be need to be relocated include Nan Myint Viewing Tower, the Bagan Thande Hotel, the Hotel at Tharabar Gate, the Bagan Hotel, the Bagan Thiripyitsaya Sanctuary Resort, one owned by the Eden Group Company Ltd that is still under construction, and multiple others, according to U Aung Aung Kyaw.

The government is considering allowing hotel owners at least 15 years to relocate from the archaeological site but the time frame will have to be mutually agreed on by the government and hotel owners, he added.

"Regulations will be set up for the relocation after negotiations between concerned parties are finished," he said.

U Chit Khaing, chair of the Eden Group Company Ltd, told The Irrawaddy that he has yet to be informed by the government regarding the issue. Authorities and officials from the ministry have been inspecting his hotel project that is still under construction in Bagan, and no decision or conclusion has been made by government officials, he said.

"If [the decision] is in line with the law and is for the benefit of the country, we have to give it considerable thought," U Chit Khaing said, claiming that the location where the hotel is being constructed was permitted for hotel developments.

"If our [hotel project] is a disruption in nominating Bagan to be listed as a World Heritage Site, we have to follow [the decision]," he said, adding that his hotel project will not be considered a disruption within a world heritage site as per his observation internationally.

Built in 2005, Nan Myint Viewing Tower gives tourists a bird’s-eye view of temple-filled Bagan, but the site faced criticism from archaeologists and preservationists for being built in the midst of such an important archaeological zone. (Photo: Zaw Zaw/ The Irrawaddy)

Unesco's national project officer for Myanmar Ma Ohnmar Myo said the government urgently needed to implement a systematic management plan to preserve ancient cultural heritage while upholding the interest of the local community.

"Unesco has suggested that the government start relocation of the hotels only after providing infrastructural needs including electricity and water supplies at new locations," Ma Ohnmar Myo told The Irrawaddy.

She added that if the government could not provide a relocation management plan in the upcoming final version of the nomination dossier, it would impact Unesco's decision on whether Bagan should be listed as a World Heritage Site.

"Mistakes have been made. So the government must show that it understands these mistakes and is willing to and is trying to remedy these mistakes," she said.

"The government's management plan has to be firm and resolute this time," she stressed.

U Khin Maung Nu, chair of the Bagan Regional Development Association, said hotel developments are extremely close to heritage vicinity sites and not appropriate among the cultural and religious ancient monuments.

"Rather than protecting the interest of elites, the government should prioritize the country's valuable heritage," U Khin Maung Nu said.

In the 1990s, about 6,000 people from the local community who used to live in the old Bagan area were forced to relocate from the ancient city. After the relocation, several hotel projects were built in old Bagan vicinity and hundreds of ancient temples were rebuilt inaccurately under the management of one of the then junta's most powerful leaders Gen Khin Nyunt, who wanted the ancient temples to have a "golden" look.

"Locals find it insufferable that people who had lived there for generations were forced to move out but hotels are being allowed to operate in the same area," he said.

During the 2000s, the military government faced severe criticism from local and international preservationists and archaeologists for permitting the construction of a nearly 200-foot viewing tower—part of the country's business tycoon Tay Za-owned Aureum Palace Hotel in Bagan, in the midst of the ancient temples. French architect and Bagan expert Pierre Pichard labeled the move a "cultural crime."

"If Bagan is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, we have to follow its standards and frameworks as a heritage site, U Aung Aung Kyaw said.

"At the same time, it has to be in line with our country's regulations and laws. If not, it will be like we don't respect the law."

August 24 marked one year since a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, centered about 15 miles west of Chauk town in Magwe Region. According to the religion and culture ministry's archaeology department, out of more than 3,000 temples and pagodas across Bagan—located north of the epicenter—389 were affected by tremors and needed renovation.

The post Govt Plans to Relocate Hotels From Bagan Archeological Zone appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Khin Aung Aye is the Ultimate Ambassador for Burmese Poetry

Posted: 19 Nov 2017 11:19 PM PST

Khin Aung Aye (b. 1956) is the reason this book and film exists. He became our advisor, helping us navigate through the maze of thousands of poets in Burma – many of whose work is not translated. He is the ultimate ambassador for Burmese poetry: one of the most respected poets of his generation, with a discerning eye that suffers no fools or mediocrity, and a seriousness about his art that borders on the monastic – and which in the end is not surprising, since he lived as a monk for a year.

Tell me about your life.

I was born in Yangon. My family moved to Mawlamyine when I was old enough to register things in my memory: we were all together – father, mother and sister and I. When I was about seven, my parents separated. My sister and I were sent to Myaungmya to live with my aunt. We lived there for two years. After all the paperwork for the divorce was done, and their divorce became official, my mother came to pick us up. She had a small chicken farm in Rakhine State. My mother remarried. I went back to my father because I didn't want to live with my stepfather. I am saying all these details because my childhood memories are important like an opening scene in a movie in my life as a poet.

So I was in Yangon again. When I became a teenager, I started to have problems at home; I ran away twice. I also developed an interest in girls. I fell for this girl and that girl. They inspired me to write poetry. I also read classic Myanmar poems in textbooks. I liked the way these poems sounded. I wrote some myself imitating their styles.

I met my sister's friend during the Water Festival. We had feelings for each other, and then we had some issues. I was left with a broken heart. This inspired me to write more poems. Her name was Khin Ni Aye. I adopted the penname – one that I use to this day – Khin Aung Aye by inserting the word 'Aung' in the middle of her name. She was my first love and the love of my entire life.

I graduated from high school and enrolled at Yangon University. My friends and I published hand-written chapbooks of poetry. I became more engaged in writing poetry after my cousin showed me his modernist poems, which were very difficult to read. Writing love poems was no longer enough. My cousin also had a lot of poetry books which he shared with me. Under the Shade of Pine Tree, a collection of Western poems translated by Maung Tha Noe opened my eyes to a bigger world of poetry. After that, I developed a strong desire to become a poet.

During my third year at university, my mother divorced for the second time and my father disowned me. I joined art classes on the campus and became a member of the university's art society. I met many young student artists. We were like brothers and sisters. We painted and wrote poetry together. These were important watershed moments that sent me on the way to becoming a poet.

I got married in 1979, which happened rather unexpectedly. I didn't do much apart from writing poetry until my wife had our first child. Then came the second. I realized that it was time to look for a job. I had four or five different jobs during the first five years of the marriage. I used to keep a notebook and wrote poetry in it. Those poems were mostly unfinished short scribbles. Sometimes, I went through them and threaded some lines and stanzas together to produce more complete poems.

In 1990, I went broke and decided to go back to Yangon. But things didn't work out in Yangon, so I left for Mandalay. It was in Mandalay that my poetry took an aesthetic shift. There was a lot of oppression from the military junta then, and there were a lot of restrictions on printing and publication. Even Xeroxing could become a big issue. I secretly published a chapbook called "Poems, 1990" even though I knew this was very dangerous.

In 2000, the poet Maung Pyiyt Min invited me to collaborate on a book. I gave him the poems from this old chapbook. These poems were submitted to the censors who asked me to leave out some lines from one of my long poems. I didn't want to do that, so I left out the whole poem instead. Only five short poems went into publication. The long poem I left out would later be translated into English and published in Bones Will Crow – the first English language anthology of Burmese poetry. A poem that was written in 1990 got published in a faraway country twenty years later. That's something, isn't it?

Between 1990 and 2000, more things happened. I was an employee at a seafood export company owned by a Thai businessman, then a manager, then a director. In 1994, I went to Singapore to work. Once I was also appointed as a corporate representative at a company. In 1996, I became a monk. First I thought it would just be for a short period. But then I wanted to remain in the monkhood for life. However, after one year, I disrobed. My daughters were teenagers, and they needed me at home.

All these ups and downs of life were fuel for my poetry writing.

In 2005, I went to Singapore with an intention to settle there. But it didn't work out. An old employer from Thailand offered that I start a small business with him in Bangkok. I moved to Bangkok and joined him. Then in 2009 he died from a heart attack. Everything stopped with that, and I became depressed. I turned to poetry as a refuge. At the same time, the Myanmar poetry scene was going through a major change from modern to contemporary. I read translations and writings on contemporary poetry by my friend Zeyar Lynn. I started to experiment with new techniques. In 2010, my writing gained momentum again. I started a blog and connected with new and old readers. Between 2009 and 2013, I had some opportunities to attend poetry festivals in Europe and other countries. That gave me more inspiration and strength to continue writing. With financial support from my daughter based in London, today I can dedicate my life to writing poetry without much worry.

Authors’ Note: These interviews are excerpted from Burma Storybook, a poetry and photography book inspired by the documentary film of the same name, produced by Corinne van Egeraat and directed by Petr Lom. 

The English language hardcover edition of the book is for sale at Hla Day, Innwa Bookstore, Myanmar Book Center and the Strand Hotel.

 A Burmese language-only paperback edition of the book is for sale through Yangon Book Plaza.

There will be a Free Open Air Screening of the Burma Storybook documentary film (82 min.) in Mahabandoola Park in Yangon on November 25 at 6 p.m. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, you can visit the interactive Burma Storybook Photo Exhibit at the Tourism Burma Building.

For more information: www.burmastorybook.com

The post Khin Aung Aye is the Ultimate Ambassador for Burmese Poetry appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Chinese Foreign Minister Promises Continued Support for Myanmar

Posted: 19 Nov 2017 11:09 PM PST

NAYPYITAW — Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised continued support for Myanmar amid mounting international pressure on the country over the Rohingya crisis.

The Chinese minister at a joint press conference with his Myanmar counterpart Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw on Sunday urged the UN Security Council to create a favorable environment for Myanmar and Bangladesh to hold discussions on the repatriation of refugees to Myanmar.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since late August, following a military counter-insurgency clearance operation in Myanmar's Rakhine State. But the Myanmar government has denied those figures.

"The bilateral talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh were critical to solve the Rakhine issue," said Wang Yi.

He suggested ensuring a ceasefire and restoring stability in troubled Rakhine State, signing a repatriation agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh as soon as possible, and Chinese assistance to fight poverty in Rakhine State, which was believed to be one of the main causes of conflict in the area.

Wang Yi said he also gave the same suggestions to Bangladesh.

Saudi Arabia's delegate on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) submitted a draft resolution entitled "Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar" at the third committee of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly on Nov. 17.

The committee approved the draft with a recorded vote of 135 in favor, 10 opposed (Belarus, Cambodia, China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines, Russian Federation, Syria, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe) and 26 abstentions.

Wang Yi talked about strengthening economic cooperation between China and Myanmar through the One Belt/One Road economic corridor, which will pass through Mandalay, Yangon and Rakhine State's Kyaukphyu Township.

Myanmar favors not only the Belt and Road initiative, but any project that serves mutual interests and forges bilateral relationships between the people of the two countries, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The main progress between our two countries is that we have now deeper mutual understanding. This is the most important progress because we will be able to solve any problem with mutual understanding," said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

"China respects the sovereignty, independence and peace of Myanmar. We hope that the government will be able to hold good talks with armed ethnic groups with Panglong Spirit [referring to the 1947 Panglong Agreement, a formula for federalism agreed to by Gen Aung San and Chin, Kachin and Shan leaders]," said Wang Yi.

He also said that defense ministries of the two countries are cooperating more closely to handle conflicts in the northern area of Myanmar where several non-signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are based.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called China's cooperation as a neighbor "crucial" for peace, stability and prosperity in Myanmar.

"I hope that China and Myanmar will be good neighbors forever with fraternal spirit," said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The post Chinese Foreign Minister Promises Continued Support for Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘Poetry Gives the Reader Moral Strength’

Posted: 19 Nov 2017 11:03 PM PST

Zeyar Lynn (b. 1959) has very long hair. And an interesting story to go with it. While teaching at Yangon University his boss called him into his office one day and ordered him to cut his hair. He refused and quit instead. Since then, he has run a successful English language school in downtown Yangon. He is famous in Myanmar for introducing postmodern poetry and language poetry in the country.

When did you start writing poetry?

I started writing poems in Grade Nine. Love poems, naturally.

And when did you think of becoming a professional poet?

When I was in my early thirties and some of my poems had already appeared in literary magazines, I felt I had built up enough confidence to call myself a poet, and what more, a professional poet.

How do you write?

I try to write everyday. Not always complete poems but drafts, notes, snippets of overheard conversation, striking images, thoughts, and so on, which I go through on Friday, and if, fortunately, I sense a spark, I follow it through to the end.

I also read other people’s poems too, both Burmese and international, to catch that source of energy that will build up in me leading me to a quick jotting down of the poem/draft line by line.

I hardly ever start with a theme or a subject, but rather I let the theme or subject(s) form itself/themselves through the process of writing the poem. I have to keep my rationalizing part of the mind in check and let another (the ‘other’) part take over. When that energy runs out, it is also the end of the poem. Creativity to me is open, free, play, jouissance.

What is the role of the poet in society?

Unlike prose, poetry gives the reader moral strength and makes her believe in a better future. That's how poets have helped strengthen the people's resolve against the military regime.

But now, I have shed the ambiguous/ambivalent role of the poet as ‘an unacknowledged legislator’ of society.

I am beginning to feel that my subjectivity is equally as important and real as society and social critique.

How did the sixty years of dictatorship affect poetry in Myanmar?

Our years of isolation under the dictatorship led to a certain degree of impoverishment in poetry. And certainly in terms of the art and craft of poetry-making, Burmese poets are not as sophisticated as say, the former East European poets, to cite a comparison, because of similarities in the social-political systems. However, in terms of wielding influence, some poets have become icons in the Burmese poetry world for their poetic voice that rings with strong political sentiments. Think of Hla Than, for instance. The lack of creative writing programs in the education system is partly to blame for the majority of readers wanting ‘clear’, ‘straightforward’, ‘message-carrying’, and other mediocrity in poems.

How is poetry now changing in Myanmar?

With the quasi-victory (the military still wields a lot of power) of the NLD party [the National League for Democracy] there has been a fresh sense of freedom of expression. For example, I notice the younger generation women poets taking on the themes of gender, feminism, and sexuality, breaking down social-sexual taboos along the way. I personally know two women poets in their early twenties who openly admit to being bisexual in their poems. This is quite extraordinary in our society that is very traditional and conservative.

And so, the ethical/moral responsibility you ask about has not faded because of our new political freedom. Instead, it has widened to include issues of land use and abuse, minority rights, gay rights, race and religion, environmentalism, global terrorism, and so on.

And when it comes to how these changes are affecting contemporary poetry in Myanmar, I think we have greater opportunity to learn more and experiment more, so that contemporary poetry is becoming more complex. And more poetic and less rhetorical and polemical.

Our generation wants more art and less politics. We often talk about the two Ps: politics and poetry. Which one will you write as a capital, which one as a small letter? For us, the capital letter is poetry. It doesn't mean we are against politics – that's impossible of course – even the air we breathe is political. But what we want to focus on is the poetic nature of a given work of art.

 You introduced contemporary "language" poetry in Myanmar.

Yes. Language poetry was an avant-garde group or tendency that emerged in the late 1960's in the US that saw a poem as a construction in and of language itself. It is an example of poetic postmodernism.

I still encounter resistance to it. Many poets still see language as merely a vehicle to carry their thoughts and feelings, which are ‘the stuff of poetry’. Language is usually relegated to second place after thoughts, feelings, theme or message. I have been told off several times that the reason I emphasize language is that I have no lofty thoughts or feelings like them so I just play with language games. They don’t know Gertrude Stein, Wittgenstein, and Charles Bernstein, the three Steins in my poetry life.

Tell me about your poem "The Chicken/Duck Market".

That poem started with the smell of stench, chicken shit and duck shit, and stale blood as I was going past the main Chicken and Duck Slaughterhouse in Yangon. The walls, I noticed, were whitewashed as if the whiteness (innocence, purity) could hide the slaughter going on behind the walls. What an irony. When I wrote that poem, the censor board had already been abolished. I believe I wrote that poem just as a poem rather than a statement against injustice.

Authors’ Note: These interviews are excerpted from Burma Storybook, a poetry and photography book inspired by the documentary film of the same name, produced by Corinne van Egeraat and directed by Petr Lom. 

The English language hardcover edition of the book is for sale at Hla Day, Innwa Bookstore, Myanmar Book Center and the Strand Hotel.

 A Burmese language-only paperback edition of the book is for sale through Yangon Book Plaza.

There will be a Free Open Air Screening of the Burma Storybook documentary film (82 min.) in Mahabandoola Park in Yangon on November 25 at 6 p.m. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 4, you can visit the interactive Burma Storybook Photo Exhibit at the Tourism Burma Building.

For more information: www.burmastorybook.com

The post 'Poetry Gives the Reader Moral Strength' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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