A Little About Burma

Our Quaint Life

So we have moved into our new home here in a nice little serene town in Northern Thailand along the Thai-Burma border. It is much more quiet and peaceful here than Mae Sot, the weather is more agreeable and the scenery is much more beautiful. It is not quite as interesting a town as Mae Sot but all in all it is a great placement. Both of our organizations are filled with great people who have really made us feel welcome. The living situation is nicer than expected and we even have internet hookup so no longer need to pay for internet cafes and can get some more updates on world news, music and everything else which is very nice. The food has been absolutely spectacular so far with tons of fresh veggies and spicy chilies. We already both feel quite at home and have settled into teaching at our respective organizations.

It is really gorgeous around here in the small village where we live and last week it was still quite cold (I could see my breath one morning). But summer is on its way and it has really begun to warm up this week. During March and April it can get really hot here which I am not exactly looking forward to it but I am used to it from the Philippines. The weather has been so nice this past month or so here in Thailand so far though it will be a little hard to get used to again. There are also lots of birds in the village and we have gone out a few times birding.

The classes that we are teaching are mostly people in their twenties and they are all very eager to learn which makes for a nice teaching environment. The classes are also small and some of the students really had basically no knowledge of English before. We were not exactly expecting this and did not know how to start at first but quickly figured it out how to teach and are hopefully doing a decent job. We are both enjoying it a lot and Casey much more so than he anticipated. I think the three months will fly by and perhaps we will wish we could stay longer (although I am not sure if this is a possibility with our visa situation).

As far as the people, they often have many interesting stories, especially those people in their 40's and 50's. I have met an extremely nice man who is originally from Burma and who works for the an international non-governmental organization that works with refugees and migrants all around the world. They have quite a large office in this town working with refugees and other organizations in the area who work with Burmese people. Most Burmese in this area are from the ethnic minorities that are found mainly in Eastern Burma and there are 135 of them in Burma. This man is from the same ethnic group that most of the people in the organizations that we work at, Pa-O. He came over in 1988 after the uprising and was in a refugee camp for about 6 years before getting a job at the NGO. He is still not a citizen or even a resident in Thailand and cannot leave this small area where he lives. He is an extremely kind man who always has time to share his story and information about the situation in Burma. He is an absolute wealth of information. He could probably give up his job here and actually get citizenship in a third country (some things are restrictive about living here and in some ways people from Burma living in Thailand are controlled by the Thai government as much as they are controlled by the Burmese government in Burma and Burmese are also heavily discriminated against here in Thailand) but he chooses to stay and do the most he can to help his people.

In the past few months preparing for our time here we did a little bit of reading up on Burma. Before this I really did not know much about the country or the situation. Since being here we have learned even more and from every angle the situation is pretty messed up. I know that things are messed up in many places in the world but I am here now so if you are interested in a little history lesson please read on. One thing that we have noticed is people that we have met are extremely ready and eager to talk about Burma, even if it sometimes hard to tell their sad stories, in order to get the message out about the situation there. Please read on and learn a little bit. For more reading check out this excellent series of articles and timeline done by the BBC.

Just a little history of Burma

Burma was independent until the mid 1800's when it was colonized by England extending from India because they felt that the Burmese were 'too uncivilized' to rule themselves. You see the nice British were doing them a favor. Even before this time I think that it was hard for Burma to be held together as a country due to the high number of ethnic groups all with different cultures, languages and ideas. While the Burmans are the majority and are found in the center of the country, the other ethnic groups have often been at odds with them. It has been said by certain ethnic groups that they actually liked the British colonization period because they were treated better than when the Burmans were in control. Before WW II, while Japan was on its quest to take over the world, they trained a group of 30 Burmese young soldiers to lead the revolution against England. While this worked in some ways, the Burmese soon realized the true aims of Japan and joined the allies to stop Japan domination in Asia. After the war, Burma was finally given its independence and all of the minorities were placed under the control of one central government even though they were not very happy about this.

In the 1950's I believe, the leader of the group that was trained in Japan and a leader in its fight for independence and democracy was in a position to become the new prime minister. This leader was the father of Aung San Su Kyi (the female nobel peace prize winner who is still under house arrest in Burma and who is the leader of the National League for Democracy, which is the main opposition to the military regime). Some people in the military had other ideas about him becoming the leader of a democracy and assasinated him along with his cabinet and seized control of power. Since that time Burma has been under a military dictatorship who does not like to give up any power or allow any form of democracy and rights for its citizens. The human rights violations of the regime make me sick and some are unthinkable.

So that has been 50 years and not a whole lot has changed in that time. Burma was once one of the most prosperous countries in SE Asia and it has now been crippled by the military regime. It was once the world's largest rice exporter and now it has to import rice and many farmers must sell their rice to the government for ridiculously low prices so that they do not have enough rice for themselves. They in turn have to buy rice at ridiculously high prices. The infrastructure of the country is terrible except for those places that the government and military use. The military outposts have 24 hour electricity and have used forced labor to build the dams to provide while most of the country is not provided with electricity. Many of the roads and transportation are poor but the military officials drive around in expensive cars with fancy gadgets from the West. The country is extremely rich in natural resources and therefore it should be able to provide better for its people but instead they have sold them off to China, Thailand and India raping the environment and causing associated problems for the people and using the money only for military purposes to further persecute the people. During the 1980's the government demonitized the currency not once but twice so that any savings that people held was basically useless. There are extremely high rates of inflation and goods are extremely expensive compared to what people earn. The black market system which is looked after by the government ensures that only a few people get rich while most of the common people remain very poor and without essential needs (clothing, food, shelter, etc...)

There have been two attempted uprisings by the people, both time led by students in Rangoon, the largest city and previous capital. These peaceful demonstrations have been crushed by the military with extreme brutality and force. Many times the military fired into crowds of unarmed students and even monks (this in a Buddhist country) and there are estimates of thousands of people being killed. In 1988 this uprising stirred lots of things up in the country and many students were eventually forced to leave because they were hunted by the military. Many fled to the jungle in Eastern border along Thailand and took up arms to fight the military regime here. These students joined local ethnic groups who already were in armed conflict with the Burmese along the border. The Burmese had continued their persecution of these ethnic groups, many of which want their own autonomy and state. As a result many of these ethnic groups have armies of their own to fight the Burmese military which treats them as no one should be treated, especially those which are supposed to be a part of the same country (more on that later).The uprising also stirred up many things in other areas of the country as there was a push to overthrow the regime not only in Rangoon but also in other places. Many of the students and other political leaders were forced to flee to the jungle and many died here through malnutrition, malaria or fighting. I have already met a few people who were a part of this and who eventually came to Thailand as a result of this situation.

Life for anyone in Burma who is not associated with the regime maybe is not the best but the ethnic minorities have gotten the worst end of the deal perhaps. It seems that the military wants to hold control of the land that they occupy but they do not want the people there. So as part of an ethnic cleansing they continually raid villages (raping, burning and pillaging) in the process. The people are often displaced and live the rest of their days in the jungle or at least until they can find another place to settle only to fear a similar situation in the future. The government instigates conflicts between different armed ethnic groups so that they do not have to do the work themselves. People are often captured while they are away from their village and then used as 'voluntary' porters for the army who have to be the frontlines while fighting (basically just to be a human shield) or are used as landmine locaters. The war crimes of these people are absolutely deplorable and it just makes me mad. It gives war is hell another meaning and this has been going on for 50 years and continues today. Just recently the military has been relocating Karen villages (raiding them and forcing them to move) in order to pave way for a dam of the Salawin River, one of SE Asia's longest so that it can provide electricity not for people in Burma but instead for Thais. This will wreck the environment of the area and only give more money to the regime to continue its abuses. I hold Thailand accountable for this shitty proposal as well.

There is perhaps some hope for Burma but sometimes I just see the situation as bleak. There is Aung Sun Su Kyi, the leader of the NLD and the work that she and many others have been doing to work for democracy. She lived in England and has a British husband and children in England. In the 80's around the time of the uprising, she returned to Burma to help her dying mother. At this point, she felt that she could no longer sit idle and made a speech which really unified the country against the regime. Her party gained in recognition and many people began to publicly show support, even though this support means the risk of one's life. After the uprising in 88 the head general of the government resigned and it was decided that there should be elections since it seemed like the people were a 'bit unhappy' with the government. This was a time when many people thought things were changing and there was excitement in the air. The NLD and many other parties campaigned and many people showed support for the possibility of democracy. The military regime and their party (SLORC) did not think much of it and thought that they would still win the election. They were a bit wrong and NLD won around 90% of the votes I believe. So it was pretty obvious people wanted a change but the military then said the election was just a test and not really valid. So instead they just changed a few things in the current government system and continued on screwing the country and its people over except now they got even stricter. Since that time Aung Sun Su Kyi has been under house arrest 4 times for numerous years even though if she wanted she could go back to England. This is quite inspirational as she could give up after twenty years and go home (she cannot leave her house and her family is seldom even allowed to visit) but she chooses to stay and fight on. He husband recently died of cancer and she was unable to attend to him and he was unable to visit.

Many people who have been involved in politics have been imprisoned on false charges and many remain in prison today. The prisons in Burma are reported as some of the worst in the world with tons of torment and torture. Many people have died in these prisons as a result of brutality, starvation and diseases (they force them to share needles for injections so HIV / AIDS runs rampant). I have met a number of people who have been in the prisons and it does not sound like a whole lot of fun. The prisoners are also used for forced labor and work 12 hours a day or more to build projects for the government.

There are spies everywhere in Burma and people are afraid to talk about things for the most part because who knows if your friend down at the store is actually a spy. People are not allowed to leave their homes for the evening unless they tell the government where they are going and why. Many people can just not take it anymore and run across the border to either live illegally in Thailand and always worry about being sent back or live in refugee camps where life is sometimes not that much better or even worse than in Burma.

There are still many people who fight on though for democracy and freedom from this deplorable situation. This is what is inspirational. Some are here on the border working to help their people inside the country. Others face greater risks in the country and continue to try to buck the system. Unfortunately I don't know how long it is going to take and I'm not sure if it going to happen.

I am happy to be here though to learn about this and do a little part (very little indeed). For me it is more of a learning experience though and these people here are doing the best they can to help themselves and their fellow people.

So sorry about this long, depressing blog. But I want to share the situation as I think it is important to know. I did not know anything about it until a few months ago. I know there are many similar situations around the world with people trapped and persecuted by their government but by being here I have learned a lot more about this one.