Letting the colonial relics rot

The Secretariat in the foreground and St. Paul’s Cathedral and Shwedagon Pagoda in the background.
After reading an article about Rangoon’s Secretariat building (alternatively called the Prime Ministers’ Office or Ministers’ Office) in shambles in the New Era Journal (Burmese article here, but I cannot find an English translation), I felt compelled to write about the [...]

60 years on: Burma’s Martyrs’ Day

Today, July 19, is one of Burma’s most important national holidays. Martyrs’ Day is called Azani Nay (အာဇာနည္‌ေန ့) in Burmese (Azani is Pali-derived word for martyr). It commemorates the day in 1947 nine prominent men, namely Aung San, Thakhin Mya, U Ba Cho, U Abdul Razak, U Ba Win, Saopha Sao San Tun, Mahn [...]

Interesting Burmese word origins

A graphic I made, showing some of the linguistic diversity found in the Burmese language.

Burmese has a hodgepodge of words that come from other languages, some that would surprise most people, at least me. It’s a given that many Burmese words come from Pali (from Buddhism) or English (from colonial rule), but quite a number [...]

Are Burmese non-Buddhists superior?

Left to right: Anglican cathedral in Rangoon, Chinese temple in Kalaw, Shan State, Hindu temple in Rangoon, Mosque in Rangoon, Buddhist temple in Taunggyi. All photos taken by me.

In Burma, approximately 9 in 10 are Buddhist, while the remainder are Muslims, Christians and animists. There are conflicting statistics, though, with some estimates of non-Buddhists as [...]

Buddha in a bottle

My grandfather’s house has an immense collection of Buddha statues, extending throughout the entire length of the living room. The most interesting Buddha in the three altars is one in a bottle. It is amazing how the artisan managed to put the elaborate altar, details like the disciples and flower vases inside the bottle, but [...]