The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- At Rangoon Art Show, Obese Nudes Read the News
- Scores Displaced Following Fighting in Kachin State’s Mansi Township
- Thousands of Monks Attend Merit-Making Ceremony in Mandalay
- Vietnam Free High-Profile Blogger, US Calls for More Releases
- UK Eyes Greater Yuan Role, More Chinese Nuclear Investment
- Thaksin Tells Thailand’s Red Shirt Opposition: “Play dead”… For Now
| At Rangoon Art Show, Obese Nudes Read the News Posted: 21 Sep 2015 07:29 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. RANGOON — A Rubenesque ode to full-figured nude women and state media is on offer this week in downtown Rangoon, where the Burmese artist Sandar Khaing's exhibition "The Naked Truth" opened to the public on Saturday. The largest of these unconventional paintings depicts a woman with tree-trunk thighs seated naked on a toilet, with a copy of The Mirror—one of Burma's three government-run daily newspapers—going some way toward censoring her bare bosom. Other works are far less discreet portraits of the female form. The jarring imagery on display at the Cloud 31 art gallery is centered on the same overarching theme: All 34 paintings show a woman, sans clothes, reading a copy of The Mirror state mouthpiece. For some of these paintings, Sandar Khaing has pasted copies of real editions of the daily onto the canvas, making for a provocative ensemble of official state media in the hands of the obese nudes for which she has become well-known. The exhibit is a bold foray into the risqué, even by the standards of an increasingly liberal new age of art in Burma, which has seen previously draconian censorship against the arts lifted starting in 2012. In a particularly audacious stroke, the aforementioned woman on the toilet is reading a copy of The Mirror's coverage of government security forces' violent crackdown on peaceful student protestors in Letpadan, Pegu Division, in March of this year. Hundreds of student protestors demanding changes to the country's education system were on a march from Mandalay to Rangoon when they faced the violent crackdown by baton-wielding police some 80 miles northwest of the commercial capital. Dozens of participants were injured and more than 100 students and their supporters were detained. To date, 80 of them are still facing charges that could see them serve several years in prison. The student protestors hit a nerve within a quasi-civilian government whose predecessors saw their dictatorial hold on power challenged multiple times over the last 50 years by pro-democracy movements that were fueled by activists on campuses across the country. Sandar Khaing, in her early 40s, recalled the grief she felt in the aftermath of the March 10 crackdown. "Everyone was talking about that news, inside my own home too. I feel that all of us—young, middle-aged and old—tend to plunge ourselves into the news and information every day," said the artist. "And when we read newspapers and other publications, we tend to read them by sitting in different places, such as a chair, sofa, bed or even on the toilet, in different postures," she added, referring to the array of poses in which her nudes are depicted in the paintings. "This exhibition is all of that, and I would like to send that message—that in daily life, we are immersed in the age of news." But the artist pointed out that not all reports in newspapers and other media outlets are reliable, a particular concern when it comes to Burma's state-owned publications. "In my home," she said, "we buy various newspapers and publications every day. But I just try to absorb the news after subjecting it to my own scrutiny. The Mirror is one of them, but that newspaper is one of the least trusted and most unreliable." The Mirror is one of Burma's three state-run newspapers, along with Myanmar Alin and the English-language Global New Light of Myanmar. Another prominent player in Burma's daily news cycle is Myawaddy Daily, a newspaper owned by the country's powerful military. All of them are widely regarded as tentacles of the state's still potent propaganda machine, stubborn vestiges of an era under Burma's former military regime of strict censorship, and the broadcasting and publication of a torrent of pro-government exhortations. Publication of private dailies only resumed on April 1, 2013, ending a 50-year ban on such enterprises. But Sandar Khaing is trailblazing not only in her willingness to direct criticism at the government. Her penchant for painting nudes also runs against the grain of mainstream sensibilities in Burma's socially conservative society. Only in recent years has a ban on her works being displayed in the country been lifted. Her first solo show on a similar theme, titled "Nude With a Camera," was exhibited for the first time in 2014, and marked perhaps a first of its kind for Rangoon audiences. Prior to that, her paintings were shown only outside the country. "The Naked Truth" is open to the public through Friday. Cloud 31 is open from 9 am to 5 pm daily, at No. 49/51, first floor, on 31st Street, between Merchant and Maha Bandoola streets. Typical asking price for one of the artist's smaller works starts at US$300. The post At Rangoon Art Show, Obese Nudes Read the News appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Scores Displaced Following Fighting in Kachin State’s Mansi Township Posted: 21 Sep 2015 06:54 AM PDT  The Nam Lim Pa IDP camp in Mansi Township, Kachin State, March 2014. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) As people around the world, including in Burma's commercial heart Rangoon, marked the annual International Day of Peace on Monday, conflict continued in the country's north, leaving scores of newly displaced villagers in its wake. Fighting between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State's Mansi Township began on Friday and continued over the weekend, with over 180 villagers from Laika Zupja forced to flee their homes. Local relief group, the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), assisted the villagers in relocating to relief camps in nearby Mai Hkawng village in Mansi Township. Rev. Hkalam Sam Sun, a spokesperson with KBC, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the fighting was less than a mile from the displaced villagers' current location. "We worry about the villagers' safety if the fighting continues. We have plans to send food assistance to Mai Hkawng," he said. Fighting continued on Monday morning, with Mai Hkawng villagers reporting the sound of artillery. Since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the KIA broke down, over 120,000 people in Kachin and northern Shan states have been displaced, forced to take shelter in IDP camps in both government- and rebel-controlled areas. Hkalam Sam Sun told The Irrawaddy that some 200 villagers had also fled to the Chinese border after fighting between allied troops from the KIA and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and government soldiers in Muse Township's Mong Paw in northern Shan State. "Clashes have been frequent over the last few days and have caused people to flee," Gen. Gun Maw, the KIA's deputy chief-of-staff, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. He said the KIA was helping IDPs to reach safe territory held by the armed group, but he could not confirm how many people were displaced due to the recent fighting. In Shan State, Burma Army troops have recently engaged with TNLA soldiers in Kyaukme, Mongmit and Kutkai townships; with the RCSS in the Kho Lan area of Loilen district; and with the KIA in Pangsai, Muse Township. Col. Sai La, spokesperson for the RCSS, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that despite informing the government's chief peace negotiator Aung Min of recent fighting, tensions on the ground have failed to dissipate. Last week, the Shan armed group released a statement calling on political parties campaigning ahead of Burma's Nov. 8 general election to postpone their activities in over a dozen townships in Shan State until hostilities had ceased. Representatives from both the TNLA and RCSS told The Irrawaddy that sporadic fighting was recurring due to government troops entering territory claimed by the respective ethnic armed groups. The RCSS indicated last month that it intended to sign a long awaited nationwide ceasefire agreement that the government is desperate to formalize ahead of the country's general election. Sai La said the group maintained that view, but that "the offensives must stop for it to be a meaningful peace pact." Mai Phone Kyaw, spokesperson for the TNLA, said the Ta'ang group upheld its support for an all-inclusive pact. The TNLA is one of three major ethnic armed groups that Burma's government has shunned as an initial signatory to the ceasefire agreement. Nang Seng Nom and Kyaw Kha contributed reporting.
The post Scores Displaced Following Fighting in Kachin State's Mansi Township appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Thousands of Monks Attend Merit-Making Ceremony in Mandalay Posted: 21 Sep 2015 03:37 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. MANDALAY — The usually quiet northeast corner of Mandalay's ancient moat was alive with activity early on Sunday as youth and laymen prepared for a donation ceremony for some 10,000 monks from Burma and Thailand. As dawn broke, empty seats were quickly filled with thousands of monks in their distinctive saffron or orange colored robes. A giant statue of the Buddha looked on from a stage among a sea of flowers and plastic white and red sheets were spread from the old moat's corner along the main roads heading north and east. The alms giving ceremony was organized in cooperation with the abbot of Thailand's Dhammakaya monastery, Luang Por Dhammajayo, and Mya Kyauk Sayadaw Baddanda Khaymarsara of Mandalay. Of the thousands of monks in attendance, around 100 were from Thailand. "The idea of the ceremony is to unite Buddhists and to promote Buddhism," said Pharamaha Nopporn Boonyadhamma, a spokesperson from Dhammakaya monastery. "Mandalay is a center for Buddhism in the country, with many Buddhist monks and monasteries, which is why our honorable abbot wanted to make this happen." "The event intends to strengthen Buddhism, to conserve the Buddhist tradition and to strengthen ties between the two countries as well," he added. Mandalay Division Chief Minister Ye Myint also attended the ceremony along with the divisional minister of religious affairs and other Burmese government officials. After monks from both countries chanted Buddhist prayers, they walked through the long lines of alms givers to collect contributions. "I'm so happy to participate in such a mass donation," said San San Maw, a local donor. Burma has hosted mass donation ceremonies for monks in the past but Sunday's event was unique for its inclusion of monks from Burma's eastern neighbor. The post Thousands of Monks Attend Merit-Making Ceremony in Mandalay appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Vietnam Free High-Profile Blogger, US Calls for More Releases Posted: 21 Sep 2015 12:56 AM PDT
"We welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release Ta Phong Tan who decided to travel to the United States after her release from prison," said Terry White, a US Embassy public affairs officer. "We remain deeply concerned for all persons imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms and call on the government to release unconditionally all these prisoners and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views without fear of retribution," he said. Tan, 47, a former policewoman, was arrested in 2011 for writing about human rights and corruption on her blog and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda in a trial that also convicted fellow blogger Nguyen Van Hai, better known as Dieu Cay. Over the past two years, several high-profile dissidents have been released and sent into exile in the United States, including Dieu Cay, who was released last October. His case had been mentioned by President Barack Obama. Human Rights Watch welcomed Tan's release, but said no one should have been jailed for peacefully expressing their views. "This release continues Vietnam's cynical practice of releasing high-profile dissidents from prison directly into forced exile, with immediate departure from the country being the price of their freedom," Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. US officials have said that Vietnam needs to improve its human rights record if it wants to expand economic, trade and military ties with the United States. Hanoi says that no one is imprisoned in Vietnam for expressing their views, and that only law breakers are punished. The post Vietnam Free High-Profile Blogger, US Calls for More Releases appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| UK Eyes Greater Yuan Role, More Chinese Nuclear Investment Posted: 21 Sep 2015 12:51 AM PDT  Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai (R) shakes hands with Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (L) before the start of the 7th China-UK strategic economic dialogue at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, in Beijing, China, September 21, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — British finance minister George Osborne said on Monday Britain would like to continue helping the gradual internationalization of the yuan and that it welcomed the potential for majority Chinese investment in future nuclear projects. Speaking at the start of an annual economic and financial dialogue, Osborne said that there was probably no country in the West that was more open to Chinese investment than Britain. Britain will also provide 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) of initial support for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in southwest England, a project China is backing, the finance ministry added. The guarantee will pave the way for French utility EDF, and financial partners China General Nuclear Corp and China National Nuclear Corp, to give the go-ahead to the 16 billion-pound scheme later this year, the government said. "We very much welcome Chinese investment not just in that project but the potential for majority Chinese investment in future nuclear projects in the United Kingdom," Osborne said. "There is another opportunity for Chinese investment, in high speed rail, in the north of England," he added, without elaborating. Despite disagreements over human rights and the former British colony of Hong Kong, China values Britain's staunch defense of free trade and lack of obstacles to investing in Britain. Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Britain next month. London has been especially keen to attract Chinese banks and encourage offshore trade in the yuan to bolster its position as the world's main center for foreign exchange trading. "We want to continue to play our role as the world's leading financial center in helping with the gradual internationalization of the renminbi, and I hope we can take further steps today to strengthen cooperation between our financial markets," Osborne said.
The post UK Eyes Greater Yuan Role, More Chinese Nuclear Investment appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Thaksin Tells Thailand’s Red Shirt Opposition: “Play dead”… For Now Posted: 21 Sep 2015 12:21 AM PDT  Red shirt movement leader Kwanchai Praipana poses with a photo of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra at his office in Udon Thani, Thailand, September 15, 2015. (Jorge Silva / Reuters) UDON THANI, Thailand — From self-imposed exile, the influential leader of Thailand's rural "red shirt" opposition movement has delivered a simple message to followers chafing at the military junta's iron rule: lay low for now, don't panic, "play dead." Billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, long-time political leader of the north's disenfranchised electorate, is watching events at home closely and urging patience from those who want to see his allies return to power. "When I spoke to Thaksin, he told me to pretend to be dead a little longer," red shirt leader Kwanchai Praipana, a popular pro-Thaksin leader in the northeastern province of Udon Thani, told Reuters. "He told me to… wait until the next election. That will be the moment that we will win. The only question is whether an election will ever take place." Kwanchai said he spoke to Thaksin a month ago, though he did not specify how they communicated. Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail sentence for graft, was ousted in a coup in 2006, but remains a major figure in Thai politics. While the military has kept a firm grip on power since it felled the remnants of the government of Thaksin's sister Yingluck in another coup last year, he and his allies have won every election since 2001 and anger is mounting among farmers and political opponents. The military government has slashed rural subsidies and coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said this month the next election would not be held until "around" July, 2017, the latest delay to Thailand's return to democracy. Drive-by Shooting The reference to playing dead resonated with Kwanchai, who rolled up his sleeve to show a scar the length of his upper arm from a drive-by shooting at his rural home when Bangkok was paralysed by protests that preceded the coup. Prayuth's ban on political activity has severely curtailed the red shirt movement and his junta has quashed any sign of open dissent. "They have bullied us too much," said Kwanchai, adding that he has to report his movements to the military every day. Prayuth staged the coup and banned political activity after months of sometimes deadly street clashes, saying he had to reconcile a dangerously divided society. Many Thais, especially Bangkok's middle class and urban elite, backed the intervention. But sharp divisions remain and the Shinawatras retain their popularity in northern strongholds. A draft constitution that critics said was an attempt by Prayuth to prevent a comeback by the Shinawatras was rejected by a military-appointed reform council rather than taken to a national referendum that may have become a public test of the junta's popularity. "At first we thought the drafting of the constitution, had it been passed, would have been the time to protest," said Sabina Shah, a red shirt leader and radio DJ in the northeastern city of Khon Kaen. The radio station was shut down after the coup and remains off air. "People want to protest. But they are afraid, despite facing difficulties and hardship… The economy's been going backwards." Hundreds of activists on Saturday defied a ban on protests and marched in Bangkok in a rare rally against the military to mark the ninth anniversary of the coup against Thaksin. Lines of police stood by as crowds of people chanting "no dictatorship" and carrying anti-junta banners marched to the city's Democracy Monument. 'Almost Dying' Compared with the Shinawatra clan, Prayuth has done little for Thailand's farmers. He ended subsidy schemes that funneled billions of dollars to agricultural communities. The populist schemes were fiercely criticized as vote buying by opponents of the Shinawatras. Without the subsidies, rice farmers have seen their income per kilogram of rice fall by about a third and are struggling to pay down debt they took on when times were good. "I'm not that happy at the moment because agricultural prices for us have not been good at all," said farmer Samrong Pongthai in lush rice fields outside Udon Thani. "The government won't increase the price. It's been a struggle really. You make a loss if you sell it these days." Despite his distaste for populism, Prayuth has turned to one of the architects of Thaksin's economic policies in an attempt to revive Thailand's stumbling economy. But farmers say the soft loans and spending on small projects announced so far are not enough. "This government tells us to stop making demands, and to live sustainably," said Samai Sribang, who owns a rubber plantation in Nong Khai province near the border with Laos. "But how can it be sustainable if we can't sell our goods? If Thaksin can hear us, tell him we are almost dying." Prayuth's government is considering asking farmers to not plant an off-season crop next year after drought left many reservoirs low. It has also tried to encourage rubber farmers to cut down trees to reduce oversupply. Both measures will only add to farmers' resentment, said Teerasak Teecayuphan, the mayor of Khon Kaen. "If that is all the government can come up with there is little hope of restoring political faith," Teerasak said. "Sooner or later this pot will boil over. You can't suppress it for long if you don't solve the problems."
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