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| Our family being taken by a guide to take a walk by a lake in Yangon. But Inya Lake is not just any lake. The guides are prohibited to take you to see "The Lady's" home, where Aung San Suu Kyi (opposition leader) had been under house arrest before and since her party fairly won elections in 1990, for a total of about 15 years of house arrest. Guides know Americans especially love seeing "The Lady's" home. Since the guides are not allowed to take us to see it, they, instead, offer to take us for a walk by the lake. I asked our guide, "So, is that the Lady's home?" I'd get the slippery answer: "Oh, I'm not sure, it's maybe the one on the left or the right." Then, I looked a bit harder and it was glaringly obvious to both of us that the white house with tall fences, barbed wire, and spotlights on it, surrounded by guards was "The Lady's" home. We were both playing roles in a farce written by the military government. |
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| "The Lady's" house |
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| The Military-Government-controlled newspaper propaganda. Almost laughable. Foreign, democracy-supportive broadcasts, like "Voice of America" (VOA) are seen as a threat by the Burmese military government. |
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| Enlarged photo on wall of Buddhist temple -- Military leaders coming into the Buddhist temple grounds to give yet another gold-laden object at a ceremony. |
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| A photo up on a Buddhist temple wall of the military general leaders praying at the temple. The military want to make sure that they achieve two aims by becoming a part of Buddhist life in the country: (1) The generals seem like friendly, accessible people who are worthy of being revered by the people, the same way the people revere their Buddhist monks as leaders, and (2) The military sees the Buddhist monks as a threat, ever since the monk uprisings, so they have insinuated themselves into Buddhist life in Burma. |
June 12, 2011 Visit to Burma (Written and Adapted on November 26, 2011)
Burmese Military Government-Controlled Newspaper Propaganda:
“People's Desire: Wipe out those who inciting unrest and violence.”
I know the military government is no longer officially in charge, but let's get real here -- the military is still completely in charge of Burma. Let's first go back a bit in time --
In 2007, the Burmese monks rose up against the government,
with protests in the streets of Yangon. To the world, the monks seemed fed up with feeling
oppressed and the lack of free speech from the military government. The initial spark came because an elder monk, who had been critical of the government, was thrown in jail. The military government (now a civilian government, but in name only) reacted
brutally, shooting at the monks and more. Even people watching on the sidelines had photos taken of them by the military and were thrown in jail. Those jailed were not allowed
to see their families, who also did not know where they were. If they were released from jail and returned
home, they were different, mentally ill people, suggesting torture may have happened in
jail. And, their families were not able to make a living because the government
made sure their families paid a hard price too. Supposedly, at least 2000 political
dissidents are still in jail now. They are given non-political charges like
stealing. That may change now that the Burmese government is trying to win international public opinion back. The government's recent "flickers of change" (quote from Obama) have managed to convince the ASEAN nation leaders that Burma deserves to be the next ASEAN chair, in its rotating chair position.
Still, the suppression of the monk uprising wasn't that long ago. Brutal suppression of dissidents and minority ethnic groups continues. How does living in this kind of fear, even if it is a bit milder, affect a community and
its interactions with each other on the ground? It breeds mistrust and paranoia. One of
our guides explained that you cannot even trust your neighbors since they dress
as a common man but are really spies for the government. The mistrust extends
to the rampant corruption practices by the military government wanting to control
everything. You have to pay brokers if you want anything, even to buy a piece
of land. But, unlike the U.S., the Burmese brokers are an extension of the
military government, and you have to pay a bribe to the government broker to buy the
home.
Our guide believed that even friends can’t trust each other,
because when it comes to money they will turn on you. They smile, turn on the charm, then they will take
your money behind your back, he said.
Even our most cynical guide believed that there was some, small perceptible change now that the government was no longer officially controlled by the military. He judged the change using the "Tea House Indicator." Tea houses are a haven of late-night male citizen conversations criticizing the government. When the military government was at its worst, tea house conversations had to be whispered, since it was believed that spies were planted at nearby tables, waiting to overhear and report dissident conversations. After the military stepped down recently, the guide felt more comfortable chatting openly with his friends at his local tea house, because there seemed to be less government spying going on.
Our guide also had a very different view of Buddhism in
Myanmar, compared to “the people.” He thought the Myanmar people gave millions
of dollars to the Buddhist temples to gold-plate them because they
prayed to Buddha like he was a god who could grant their wishes to make them more
money. But, it seems like Buddha’s writings do not suggest he wanted to be prayed to like he was a
god, and he didn’t think praying should be used to get things. Desire for
anything, including money, went against Buddha’s teachings.
Interestingly, after the 2007 Buddhist monk uprising and
suppression, the generals made sure that the generals were painted into murals
of them praying at Buddhist temples and giving inaugural golden temples to "the people." The
oppressive government is trying to use Buddhism as a way to control the
“people,” along with using the words “democracy” and by using the education system to
control them.
In the military-controlled newspaper, the word "democracy" was used very differently than in most democratic nations. In the military-controlled media, democracy is operationalized as: A
democratic people do not do "uprisings." They wait until the constitution is
changed. If you wait for the constitution to change, I’m not so sure it will
ever change, at least not the way you want it to change.
As far as education goes, the educated are a threat to the
government here. How so? The 1988 uprising against the socialist government was
led by the university students. This military government took over after the
student uprising had overthrown the socialist government. Then, the military
government learned from the weaknesses of the socialist government. The
military then changed the entire university education system. Before the military
government, there were 5 very large universities in Myanmar. When the military got in
power, they saw the congregation of large groups of students as a recipe for
unrest and dissent. So, they broke up the universities into a few hundred
universities scattered nationwide.
What’s wrong with having so many small universities? When
there was only 1 medical college in Yangon, pre-military, all the high quality
teachers were located in Yangon. Post-military, there are multiple medical
colleges all over Myanmar, staffed by many more professors than pre-military,
leading to lower quality professors being hired. Now, people are
scared to go to the doctor – people have lost respect for medicine, as a result
of the military-led changes in the university system.
Such change is all a part of the military’s efforts to squash
free speech and unrest. Same is true for the cost of cellphones and the internet
system. Cell phones are over $900US, if you factor in cost of sim cards and the
phone itself. Only the very wealthy can afford cell phones. It’s said that the
military is keeping the phones expensive to avoid human rights issues from
leaking out of Myanmar. The internet is hard to get access to and it’s said
that most Myanmar people are not allowed on yahoo among other sites. One guide
said each email received and sent is checked by the government, even thought that's hard to believe. There is probably selective screening of certain, threatening citizen's emails.
Parents are complicit with the government suppression of
free speech too, with one guide’s mother saying to him from a young age:
“If you think different (criticize the government or
Buddhism), keep it to yourself. Do not tell anyone.”
