The warning signs are flashing. The two most combustible elements on the Burmese political landscape remain race and inequality. They are now being mixed together with immature democratic institutions, a blind faith in free markets, multibillion-dollar illicit industries, and an uplands awash in weapons. We risk a failed state in the heart of Asia.
Burma is running out of time. The country needs a radical agenda to fight inequality and prepare for the climate emergency to come. It needs as well a new story that embraces its diversity, celebrates its natural environment, and aspires to a new way of life. Perhaps most of all, Burma needs a new project of the imagination.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK IS BASED in part on my experiences over the nearly twelve years (2007–2019) that I’ve lived and worked in Rangoon. Everything I’ve done during this time would not have been possible without the advice and help of people from all walks of life, Burmese and foreign, who are too numerous to name but whose friendship has been invaluable. My conversations with them and our mutual efforts to try to improve things—some failures, others quietly successful—have been my education on Burma.
This book is based as well on more than forty interviews conducted over 2017–18. The names of those interviewed are all in the references except for those, primarily serving and past government officials, who have asked to remain anonymous. I’m grateful to Esther Htusan, Ohnmar Ei Ei Chaw, and Susanne Kempel for helping to arrange several of the interviews.
My special thanks go to my editor, Alane Salierno Mason at Norton, for her patient attention and all-important guidance, since the very earliest days of this book’s conception and writing. I’m especially grateful as well to Chiki Sarkar and Nandini Mehta at Juggernaut and Will Atkinson at Atlantic Books for all their sage advice and enthusiastic support. Thank you, too, to my agent Clare Alexander whose counsel has, as always, been indispensable.
My son Thurayn read drafts during our trips around Burma together this past year, providing unique insights and suggestions.
My deepest thanks go to my wife, Sofia, who has been with me in Rangoon through all these turbulent, often bewildering years. So much of my work has been in partnership with her. Without her steadfast support, encouragement, and good humor, this book and much else would not have been possible.
NOTES
ONE: NEW WORLD
1. Richard Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
2. Erik Klementi, “Tambora 1815: Just How Big Was The Eruption?,” Wired, October 4, 2015.
3. Robert Kelly, “Blast from the Past: The eruption of Mount Tambora killed thousands, plunged much of the world into a frightful chill and offers lessons for today,” Smithsonian Magazine, July 2002.
4. C. C. Gao, Y. J. Gao, Q. Zhang, et al., “2017: Climatic Aftermath of the 1815 Tambora Eruption in China,” Journal of Meteorological Research 31, no. 1 (2017): 28–38.
5. J. N. Hays, Epidemics and Pandemics: Their Impacts on Human History (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005), chapter 22.
6. Thant Myint-U, The Making of Modern Burma (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 100.
7. Quoted in Dorothy Woodman, The Making of Burma (London: Cresset Press, 1962), 64.
8. Government of India, Home Department, October 19, 1886, quoted in History of the Third Burmese War (1885, 1886, 1887), Period One (Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, Government of India, 1887).
9. Mira Kamdar, Motiba’s Tattoos: A Granddaughter’s Journey into her Indian Family’s Past (New York: PublicAffairs, 2000), 123.
10. J. S. Furnivall, Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India (New York: New York University Press, 1956), 304–5; see also Lee Hock Guan, “Furnivall’s plural society and Leach’s political systems of highland Burma,” Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, October 7, 2018.
11. Furnivall, Colonial Policy and Practice, 310–12.
12. George Orwell, “How a Nation is Exploited: The British Empire in Burma,” Le Progrès Civique, May 4, 1929.
13. Thomas Callan Hodson, “Analysis of the 1931 Census of India,” (New Delhi: Government of India Press, 1937).
14. Census of India, 1931, vol. 11: “Burma, Part One (Report)” (Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Burma), chap. 1, “Caste tribe race.” Available at: http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=3540&lo=&sl=.
15. Census of India, 1911, vol. 9: “Indigenous Races of Burma” (Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Burma), section 269. Available at: http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=3540&lo=&sl=.
16. Mitra Sharafi, “Bella’s Case: Parsi Identity and the Law in Colonial Rangoon, Bombay and London, 1887–1925,” (PhD dissertation, Princeton University, 2006), 309.
17. Census of India, 1901, vol. 12, “Burma, Part One (Report)” (Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Burma), 169. Available at: http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=3540&lo=&sl=.
18. Rudyard Kipling, From Sea to Sea (New York: Doubleday, 1913), 202.
19. Census of India, 1921, vol. 10: “Burma, Part One (Report)” (Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Burma), 207. Available at: http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=3540&lo=&sl=.
20. Census of India, 1911, vol. 9, “Burma, Part One (Report)” (Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, Burma), 241. Available at: http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=3540&lo=&sl=.
21. Quoted in Henry Yule, A Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968), 107.
22. Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909), 25.
TWO: CHANGING LANES
1. Nick Cheeseman, “How in Myanmar ‘National Races’ Came to Surpass Citizenship and Exclude Rohingya,” Journal of Contemporary Asia 47, no. 3 (2017).
2. Aung San Suu Kyi, “Socio-Political Currents in Burmese Literature, 1910–1940,” in Burma and Japan: Basic Studies on their Cultural and Social Structure (Tokyo: Tokyo University School of Foreign Studies, Burma Research Group, 1987), 65–83.
3. Aung San Suu Kyi, “Intellectual Life in Burma Under Colonialism,” in Freedom from Fear, and Other Writings (New York: Penguin, 2010), 104.
4. Nilanjana Sengupta, “Why Suu Kyi Favours Jean Valjean over Ulysses,” The Straits Times, December 13, 2015.
5. Aung San Suu Kyi, “The True Meaning of Boh,” in Freedom from Fear, 191.
6. Aung San Suu Kyi, “The True Meaning of Boh.”
7. Arab Press Service Organization, March 14, 1992, quoted in Minorities at Risk Project, “Chronology for Rohingya (Arakanese) in Burma, Minorities at Risk,” http://www.mar.umd.edu/chronology.asp?groupId=77501.
8. Bertil Lintner, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Burma (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), 90–91.
9. Inter-Press News Agency, “Burma—Human Rights: Divestment Campaign Gets Boost from Pepsi,” April 24, 1996.
10. Michael Hirsh, “Making it in Mandalay,” Newsweek, June 18, 1995.
11. Aung San Suu Kyi, “Please Use Your Liberty to Promote Ours,” New York Times, February 4, 1997.
12. Thomas Fuller, “Profits of Drug Trade Drive Economic Boom in Myanmar,” New York Times, June 5, 2015.
13. Fuller, “Profits of Drug Trade.”
THREE: DRIFTING TO DYSTOPIA
1. Moe Moe Myint Aung, author interview, August 21, 2018.
2. Charles Petrie, “End of Mission Report: UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative for Myanmar, 2003–2007.”
3. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/03RANGOON53_a.html.
4. Hannah Beech, “Laura Bush’s Burmese Crusade,” Time, September 5, 2007; Laura Bush, “Stop the Terror in Burma,” Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2007; Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York: Scribner, 2010), 393.
5. Francis Fukuyama, “The End of H
istory?,” The National Interest 16 (1989): 3–18.
6. Agence France Presse, “US Lawmakers Send Myanmar Sanctions Bill to White House for Signing,” July 17, 2004.
7. Jennifer Steinhauer, “Myanmar’s Leader Has a Longtime Champion in Mitch McConnell,” New York Times, September 14, 2016.
8. Human Rights Watch, “Crackdown on Burmese Muslims,” briefing paper, July 2002.
9. “A Darker Shade of Bleak,” Economist, October 21, 2004.
10. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Aid (ODA) disbursements to countries and regions,” 2005. Available at https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=Table2A.
11. World Health Organization, “World Health Report 2000,” http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/.
12. Htet Aung, “Freed HIV/AIDS Activist Calls for Government Cooperation,” The Irrawaddy, July 3, 2007.
13. Maung Than, author interview, August 20, 2018.
14. Razali Ismail, “Meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi,” The Irrawaddy, April 2007.
15. Jane Perlez, “Myanmar Is Left in Dark, an Energy-Rich Orphan,” New York Times, November 17, 2006.
16. Ko Ko Gyi, author interview, August 22, 2018.
FOUR: TEMPEST
1. Herman M. Fritz et al., “Cyclone Nargis Storm Surge Flooding in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwaddy Delta,” in Yassine Charabi, ed., Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change (London: Springer, 2010), 297.
2. ASEAN and United Nations, “Comprehensive Assessment of Cyclone Nargis Impact Provides Clearer Picture of Relief and Recovery Needs,” joint press release, July 21, 2008.
3. Thein Sein, author interview, August 2, 2018.
4. Simon Montlake, “Burma (Myanmar): An Unbending Junta Still Blocks Aid,” Christian Science Monitor, May 12, 2008.
5. Seth Mydans, “Myanmar Seizes U.N. Food for Cyclone Victims and Blocks Foreign Experts,” New York Times, May 10, 2008.
6. Global Policy Forum, “The Responsibility to Protect and Its Application,” May 9, 2008; Timothy Garton Ash, “We Have a Responsibility to Protect the People of Burma. But How?”, Guardian, May 22, 2008.
7. Scott Marciel (deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific), “Burma in the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis: Death, Displacement, and Humanitarian Aid,” statement before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, May 20, 2008. Available at: https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/eap/rls/rm/2008/05/105017.htm.
8. Kyaw Thu, author interview, September 3, 2018.
9. Soe Thane, author interview, March 1, 2017.
10. Farik Zolkepli, “Asean task force to channel aid to Myanmar,” The Star, May 19, 2008.
11. “Myanmar Agrees to Allow ‘All Aid Workers’: UN Chief,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 23, 2008.
12. “At Donors’ Meeting, Ban Ki-Moon Says Myanmar Relief Effort to Last at Least Six Months,” UN News, May 25, 2008.
13. Irin News, “ODA Shrinks Post-Nargis,” January 24, 2011.
14. Irin News, “Myanmar: Shelter Issues and Land Rights Frustrate Resettlement,” June 9, 2010.
15. Kyaw Thu, author interview, September 3, 2018.
16. Noeleen Heyzer, author interview, April 19, 2018.
17. Noeleen Heyzer, author interview, April 19, 2018.
FIVE: FIGHTING CHANCE
1. Thant Myint-U, The Making of Modern Burma, 29.
2. Michael Wines, “China Fails to Prevent Myanmar’s Ethnic Clashes,” New York Times, September 3, 2009.
3. Ja Nan Lahtaw, author interview, August 28, 2018.
4. Glenn Kessler, “Shift Possible on Burma Policy,” Washington Post, February 19, 2009.
5. Josh Rogin, “Webb Fires Back at Critics of his Burmese Outreach,” Foreign Policy, September 18, 2009.
6. Jim Webb, “We Cannot Afford to Ignore Myanmar,” New York Times, August 25, 2009.
7. Thant Myint-U, testimony before the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, September 30, 2009, https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Myint-UTestimony090930p.pdf.
8. Tin Maung Thann, author interview, February 28, 2017.
9. Tin Hlaing, author interview, August 10, 2018.
10. “Myanmese Envoy Says Rohingya Ugly as Ogres,” South China Morning Post, February 11, 2009.
11. Jack Davies, “Aung San Suu Kyi Release Brings Joy, Tears—and New Hope for Burma,” Guardian, November 13, 2010.
12. John Simpson, “Aung San Suu Kyi Aims for Peaceful Revolution,” BBC News, November 15, 2010.
13. U Myint, “Second Development Partnership: Roundtable and Development Forum, Naypyitaw, 15 December 2009,” press briefing, January 9, 2010.
SIX: ALIGNMENT
1. Simon Montlake, “McCain Visits Burma, but Will Calls for Change Backfire?” Christian Science Monitor, June 7, 2011.
2. Joshua Hammer, “A Free Woman: Can Aung San Suu Kyi Unite a Badly Weakened Opposition?,” New Yorker, January 24, 2011.
3. Aung Min, author interview, December 22, 2016.
4. Hla Maung Shwe, author interview, February 23, 2018.
5. Wai Moe, “Suu Kyi Satisfied with Thein Sein Talks,” The Irrawaddy, August 20, 2011.
6. Thein Sein, author interview, August 2, 2018.
7. Thein Sein, author interview, August 2, 2018.
8. Rachel Harvey, “Burma Dam: Why Myitsone Plan Is Being Halted,” BBC News, September 30, 2011.
9. “‘Save The Irrawaddy’ Campaign Gains Momentum,” The Irrawaddy, September 2, 2011.
10. Hannah Beech, “In a Rare Reversal, Burma’s Government Listens to Its People and Suspends a Dam,” New York Times, September 30, 2011.
11. Aung Hla Tun, “Myanmar Govt Shelves $3.6 Bln Mega Dam – Officials,” Reuters, October 1, 2011.
12. Waiyan Moethone Thann, author interview, December 8, 2017.
13. Ben Rhodes, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House (New York: Random House, 2018), 167.
14. Steve Lee Meyers, “Clinton Says U.S. Will Relax Some Restrictions on Myanmar,” New York Times, December 1, 2011.
15. William Wan, “Clinton, Suu Kyi Discuss Burma’s Road to Democracy,” Washington Post, December 2, 2011.
16. Agence France Presse, “Norway Lifts Economic Sanctions Against Burma,” April 16, 2012.
17. Aung Kyi, author interview, July 1, 2018.
18. Ye Htut, author interview, January 9, 2018.
19. Soe Thane, author interview, April 3, 2017.
20. Hannah Beech, “The Lady Abroad: On First Foreign Tour, Aung San Suu Kyi Enchants and Lectures,” Time, June 1, 2012.
21. “Aung San Suu Kyi Receives Honorary Degree,” University of Oxford News, June 20, 2012.
22. “Aung San Suu Kyi Awarded US Congressional Medal,” Guardian, September 20, 2012.
23. “Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Given US Congressional Medal,” BBC News, September 19, 2012.
24. Rhodes, The World as It Is, 243.
25. Rhodes, The World as It Is, 193.
26. Rhodes, The World as It Is, 193.
27. David Eimer, “Barack Obama Warned: Don’t Be Lured by Burma ‘Mirage of Success,’ ” Daily Telegraph, November 19, 2012.
SEVEN: BLOOD AND BELONGING
1. Aung Min, author interview, December 22, 2016.
2. Aung Min, author interview, December 22, 2016.
3. Aung Min, author interview, December 22, 2016.
4. Aung Min, author interview, December 22, 2016.
5. International Crisis Group, “A Tentative Peace in Myanmar’s Kachin Conflict,” update, June 12, 2013.
6. Bertil Lintner, “Myanmar Airstrikes Reopen Ethnic Wounds,” Al Jazeera, January 10, 2013.
7. Lian Sakhong, author interview, September 3, 2018.
8. Lian Sakhong, author interview, September 3, 2018.
9. Yun Sun, “China and the Myanmar Peace Process,” US Institute for Peace, March 2017, 13.
10. Ankit Panda, “After Myanmar Bombing, China Deploys Jets,
Warns of ‘Resolute Measures,’” The Diplomat, March 15, 2015.
11. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, Humanitarian Bulletin 7, Myanmar issue, November–December 2015.
12. United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees, “Villagers Still Fleeing Homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State,” update, October 4, 2012.
13. Aye Aye Soe, author interview, August 10, 2018.
14. Tin Hlaing, author interview, August 10, 2018.
15. “Call to Put Rohingya in Refugee Camps,” Radio Free Asia, July 12, 2012.
16. President’s Office, statement, July 12, 2012, http://www.networkmyanmar.org/ESW/Files/Thein-Sein-Guterres.pdf (with unofficial translation).
17. Thomas Fuller, “Myanmar Troops Sent to City Torn by Sectarian Rioting,” New York Times, March 22, 2013.
18. “Meiktila Violence Work of ‘Well-Trained Terrorists,” Myanmar Times, April 1, 2013.
19. Tun Khaing, “The True Face of Buddhism,” Frontier, May 12, 2017.
20. Kyaw Phone Kyaw, “The Healing of Meiktila,” Frontier, April 21, 2016.
EIGHT: VIRTUAL TRANSITIONS
1. Kyaw Hsu Mon and Simon Lewis, “Rangoon Rental Costs in the Spotlight After UNICEF Outcry,” The Irrawaddy, May 30, 2014.
2. Adam Feinstein, Pablo Neruda: A Passion for Life (New York: Bloomsbury, 2004), 53–67.
3. Rhodes, The World as It Is, 193.
4. McKinsey Global Institute, “Myanmar’s Moment: Unique Opportunities, Major Challenges,” May 30, 2013.
5. World Bank, Myanmar Living Conditions Survey 2017, June 2018.
6. Myanmar Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), Household Survey, 2015, vii–viii.
7. Livelihoods and Food Security in Rural Myanmar: Survey Findings, report of a joint Australia-Myanmar project funded through the Australian Research Council, 2016.
8. Htet Naing Zaw, “Gov’t Committee to Settle All Land Grab Cases in Six Months,” The Irrawaddy, July 1, 2016.
9. Mra Tun, author interview, August 21, 2018.
10. See Yan Naung Oak, “Even with New Data, Valuing Myanmar’s Jade Industry Remains a Challenge,” Open Data, Natural Resource Governance Institute, http://openjadedata.org/Stories/how_much_jade_worth.html.
The Hidden History of Burma Page 28