Watch Burma Closely
In all the chaos of trying to organize the move to a new apartment in Istanbul, I very nearly missed this news.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been released.
In 1996, I was outside the house in which she has been imprisoned for most of the past few decades. There were crowds outside--waiting for her--so I think I can imagine what it looks like now. The driver who took me there told me with a shrug that the police would probably question him for it. (I wished I'd asked him, or thought of this, beforehand; I didn't like the thought that I would be responsible for this.)
I wish I could remember better whether I actually saw her: I have what feels like a memory of that, but I'm not sure whether I'm manufacturing it or fantasizing it. It seems as if I did see her, from a distance. I certainly remember the eerie atmosphere, the sense that this was, for those gathered there, a sacred and dangerous place.
Burma in 1996 was utterly beautiful, moving, mysterious, spooky and horrible. It had been simply frozen in time. I've never seen anything else like that. I have to imagine it's still much the same way.
I wonder what will happen next?
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Oct '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
In 1987 I was among a small group who were early entrants to Cambodia after the Vietnamese, who saved the lives of the Khmer people, whom they hated, began to allow outsiders into the country of the killing fields. My guess is that Burma, not that far to the west, is much like Cambodia was then. Elements of great Western advancements fallen to destruction, and great beauty surrounding it. And a people who hadn't yet come to grips with the idea that the worst was over, but the best will never again be.
Aug '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
Military rule, which derives its power from brutal suppression of the people and its revenues from the heroin trade rumored to be buying NoKo nuclear goodies.
What could go wrong ?
Nov '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
Yes, you really have to give some credit to the Vietnamese for this.
Claire, I'd love to hear more about your experience in Burma.
May '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
Burma is like a country frozen in time. When I visited in about 1970 it was very spooky (it hadn't changed since 1945) and I suppose it hasn't changed even now.
But Suu Kyi's release may be camouflage for a China-like strategy: The new ecnomic zone is part of that:
http://bruneitimes.com.bn/news-asia/2010/11/05/myanmar-build-first-special-economic-zone-along-thai-burma-border
The location confuses me. It is near Bangkok but there is a mountain range in between. The idea may be to bypass the Malacca Strait, but the Thais tried that with Highway 44 (check Google maps [Surat Thani Province] --they couldn't decide where it should go so it goes from nowhere to nowhere). Why the new economic zone is not west of Ranong, I don't know. There is already a mini free-zone on an island on the border (check out http://www.andamanclub.com/)
Maybe Burma plans to connect to China thru Thailand and Laos but that's a big infrastructure job. Northern Burma borders on China, but the ethnic groups in the north (the Shan States) are not Burman and are historically hostile.
May '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
BTW, you can see Suu Kyi's house if you pump 16.825862,96.150692 into google maps.
Nice neighborhood.
Re: Watch Burma Closely
Lucy Pevensie
Yes, you really have to give some credit to the Vietnamese for this.
Claire, I'd love to hear more about your experience in Burma. · Nov 13 at 4:50pm
It was brief--just a few days--and I wish I'd taken notes at the time, because now my memories are uncertain. Ben Fountain wrote a wonderful short story called "Asian Tiger," set in Burma. It's in this collection--which is way better than you'd think from the title. It seemed to me to capture the place perfectly.
May '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
I just read up on Suu Kyi's father Aung San. Very interesting. It turns out that Aung San had bad relations with the Karen people (mentioned in the podcast this week). Aung San had Japanese connections and the Karen were pro-British.
Amazingly, it also seems that her brother, Aung San Oo, is an American citizen, harboring some political ambitions, perhaps. He's building a house in Bagan (previously called Pagan, which I was lucky enough to visit before the major earthquake in 1975).
Suu Kyi's father was killed when she was two, with some British involvement.
May '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
We must wait to understand the true meaning of all this till Guy Delisle clues us in via the next episode:
http://www.amazon.com/Burma-Chronicles-Guy-Delisle/dp/1897299508
Aug '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
outstripp: Burma is like a country frozen in time. When I visited in about 1970 it was very spooky (it hadn't changed since 1945) and I suppose it hasn't changed even now.
Maybe Burma plans to connect to China thru Thailand and Laos but that's a big infrastructure job. Northern Burma borders on China, but the ethnic groups in the north (the Shan States) are not Burman and are historically hostile. · Nov 13 at 7:26pm
Sounds like you might find this book interesting: Now the Hell Will Start by Brendan I. Koerner.
It is the true story of Herman Perry. Perry shot and killed an officer while his unit built the Ledo Road (from India, across northern Burma, toward China). He fled into the jungle and was received into a tribe of headhunters. The army launched a massive manhunt and he became a folk hero. Any more description will spoil the story.
It is a good read.
May '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
Louie Mungaray Now the Hell Will Start by Brendan I. Koerner.
It is the true story of Herman Perry.
http://www.amazon.com/Burma-Chronicles-Guy-Delisle/dp/1897299508
Thanks for the leads. You might also look at Gordon Young's Tracks of an Intruder.
He was born into a missionary family and grew up in a Lahu village. The apocryphal story I heard was that his father, after working in remote areas of Yunnan, moved to Northern Burma after the war. His great success in converting tribal people to the Baptist faith prompted the Baptists to investigate and it may have been that he was stretching baptist theology a little too far (to include himself); anyway that's what I heard. Later the family moved to Thailand and started the Chiangmai Zoo. Gordon became a Supreme Hunter of the Lahu Tribe. (Basically, they give you a butter knife and a Snickers bar and you have to go out into the jungle and come back six months later with a tiger).
Nov '10
Re: Watch Burma Closely
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
It was brief--just a few days--and I wish I'd taken notes at the time, because now my memories are uncertain. Ben Fountain wrote a wonderful short story called "Asian Tiger," set in Burma. It's in this collection--which is way better than you'd think from the title. It seemed to me to capture the place perfectly. · Nov 13 at 9:37pm
Ouch, Claire. I'll have to check the local public library. I don't see how I could possibly buy a book called Brief Encounters with Che Guevara.