That is the position and growing strength of the armed forces. The army has acquitted itself well and contributes significantly to national morale. Its work does not stop with military operations against the insurgents. It is helping to integrate the frontier regions into the Union, and after the rebels are driven out of any given locality, the army sets in to rehabilitate it, organizing schools and building roads, bridges and hospitals. It has become the most disciplined and dedicated arm of the Union Government.

Is there a danger that the army, realizing its strength and prestige, might try to control the Government? Could Burma follow the familiar pattern of other small states where the military, in the name of the people, or efficiency, or national honor, have taken over complete control? I think this is most unlikely. In fact, there have been moments of crisis in the past decade when this could have happened and it has not. Today the armed forces of Burma work in complete harmony and partnership with the civilian leaders. The army chiefs feel themselves part of the team which has worked and fought together for thirty years to secure independence. None of them have displayed the egomania that would drive them to use the army as a tool for personal ambition. They are determined that the new Burmese army should be thoroughly democratic and imbued with the idea of service to the needs of the people.

Sadly, we all know how the course of history played out in the years following 1958.

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country

I have just returned from a screening of Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country, a documentary on the 2007 fuel protests in Burma, directed byAnders Ostergaard. First off, I really enjoyed the film. Its realism (despite a few obvious reenactments) blew me away. It’s incredible how all this, the crackdowns, the raids, the protests, everything could have been captured on home video by some truly brave people, dubbed ‘vj,’ short for video journalist.

The movie was, to put it simply, raw and real. There’s no other way to describe it, from the shaky camera angles to some escape scenes as the cameramen run away from gun-wielding soldiers. Although the film doesn’t really go into any depth on how and why the protests started (because of a two-fold increase in gas prices), it really struck my chords. Also, the movie devoted most of its time to Rangoon, where the bulk of the protests were and didn’t even mention Pakokku by name, the town where monks were brutally repressed by monks and the place that sparked countrywide protests later that month.

There were several scenes that filled me with rage and pure emotion. The narration, by the actual videojournalist who works for Democratic Voice for Burma was great. He ended the movie with a wonderful line about the Burmese notion of hna myaw, which I find hard to translate. It’s a sense of wasting one’s time and effort in pursuing something that seems to have no end despite how valuable and important this pursuit is. Maybe the 2007 protests were a repeat of the 1988 uprising or even a “failure” by the standards of some people. But it demonstrates that 19 years later, nothing has changed.

Going with some of my friends who grew up in Burma made me see the movie in a different light, because as an “outsider” who grew up in California, I don’t see things the way a Burmese born in Burma would. They brought up several interesting points. In Burma, there’s such a thirst for knowledge that cannot be quenched, as testified by the huge lines that form in the wee morning hours in front of the American Library in Rangoon. Yet people just do not get any news or information about the ongoing events in the country because of censorship and government repression. My friends said they learned more about their own country in America than back in Burma, where everything comes from hearsay and where everything is filtered at school, so only material the government wants to project is indeed projected. If only there were a way to disseminate this movie inside Burma.

Also, they were very pessimistic about a nonviolent struggle for reform, something that rarely succeeds in the third world. One said that it’s not an even playing field, with the soldiers and thugs on one hand carrying weapons and the defenseless citizens who have nothing except retreat on the other. I’m not sure how successful a violent struggle would be, but it’s interesting to see how many Burmese criticize non-violent means for change (my family included) while the West constantly lavishes praise on the Burmese for doing this. Traditional Buddhist doctrine, which strongly forbids violence of any sort, as well as the general stance of the Burmese pro-democracy movement are what keep potential violence, aside from occasional strange bombings, in check. But I suppose that there is never a clear answer except time.

One of my friends also mentioned that the failure of Burmese to trust one another, to be loyal to one another, the complete breakdown of social mores, play a major role in preventing ordinary Burmese from coalescing and creating change. When one is reduced to survival, what else is left? My grandfather always likes to say that the Burmese have no thissa, a sense of loyalty to one another. Cynical maybe, but the opinion of many.

In retrospect, it may not have been appropriate to call these protests the “Saffron Revolution” because Burmese monks’ robes are usually not saffron and it was not a revolution.

The movie will be released May 20. Anyone who is interested in Burma or the recent protests should definitely check it out.

While American and European foreign policy thinkers ponder how to financially strangle an army government that has ruled since 1962, Burma’s regional neighbors are embarking on a new Great Game, scrambling to outdo each other for access to this resource-rich land. (Time)

I’m glad I voted for Obama in the 2008 election. I’ve wondered whether his administration would change its position on Burma, or at least publicly acknowledge the ineffectiveness of the U.S.’ policy on Burma. I wanted to leave an Online Town Hall question on the White House website about this, but given the current interest in other issues, it would have probably been brushed aside by others (currently there are only 4 questions on Burma). But it’s interesting to see a shift coming from the Obama adminsitration. This is what Jim Steinberg, current U.S. Deputy State Secretary has to say:

“We all have a common interest in working together to get a constructive solution that convinces the junta that the path they are pursuing is not in their interest.” (AP)

The Washington Post also reported a month ago about this:

“Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn’t influenced the Burmese junta,” [Hillary Clilnton] said, adding that the route taken by Burma’s neighbors of “reaching out and trying to engage them has not influenced them, either.” (Washington Post)

Last week, a U.S. diplomat met with Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win, but the Obama administration vehemently denied changing course on its Burma policy:

Blake didn’t have “any substantive conversations” with officials in the country formerly known as Burma, “nor has the U.S. position on Burma changed,” State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said. (Bloomberg)

Regardless, it’s nice to know that they are reconsidering alternative ways of dealing with the military regime. It will be intriguing to see what happens in the upcoming weeks with regard to the American policy on Burma.

But the experience was amazing. Despite the simmering heat, which stripped me of my energy, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. My only complaint was the terrible heat. California is hot, but thankfully dry as well, so the heat doesn’t feel so instense. I am now thoroughly tan from my time there.

I arrived in Bangkok at 2 in the morning, because of flight delays, but I was surprised at how blatant prostitution was in the wee hours. By the freeway, in alleyways and on major streets, there were huge throngs of prostitutes soliciting men for services. I’ve never seen so many women, obviously and openly doing this for a living. The taxi driver, as he took my family to the hotel, sighed as he muttered “night ladies.” Dishonorable, perhaps, but as long as there’s demand, people will continue supplying and fueling the industry. Las Vegas is nothing in comparison to Bangkok in this respect.

I also did the usual tourist things, like ride elephants, pet tigers and visit the Grand Palace. The elephant mahout, to my surprise, was Burmese (from Burma, but had no citizenship in either Thailand or Burma). He was a Karen who made 3,000 baht ($85 USD) a month for his work and told us that there were at least 10 others from Burma working at the park. There’s an Economist article about Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, published 2 weeks ago that demonstrates how difficult it is for Burmese people there. While the taxi driver was quick to admit that Burmese laborers did work hard without complaint, he quickly followed it with a bleak criticism: “When they find out where the boss’s money is, they kill them and take off with the money.” A sentiment shared by many Thais, I presume, but it didn’t help that while on the trip, a British tourist was murdered by 3 suspected Burmese fishermen in Thailand.

Anyway, here are my 12:

Believe it or not, there was a traffic jam at 2 in the morning, from Suvarnabhumi airport to the hotel in Bangkok's Sukhumwit district.

A musician rocking his heart out at Chatuchak weekend market. It was my personal favorite place to shop, because of the deals and variety.

Dusit district's Government House, home to the PM's office. Luckily, I visited a few days before the 40,000 Red Shirts protested there.

Bangkok's Yaowarat is rough, grimy, vibrant and everything a Chinatown should be. And the markets are simply brimming with people.

A Thai-Chinese family selling Thai curries in Chinatown. It took about 3 shots to get the scene, because of passersby who kept on obstructing the view.

A Buddhist monk cremation on the outskirts of Bangkok. The King of Thailand had come earlier to ignite the remains in a traditional monk cremation.

An adorable little boy playing the xylophone underneath a BTS station in Silom. He won my sympathy. There are even school girls who play the recorder and high schoolers who play the violin for spare change.

Noodle vendors at the Suan Lum night market. I disliked the shopping there because it was overrated and overpriced, but the food was excellent.

A view of Bangkok from our apartment in Bang Rak (near Silom).

The King of Thailand is everywhere. On billboards, streets, shrines, hotels, cars.

The brand-new Suvarnabhumi airport. It looks sleek, but it suffers from some strange problems. On the return flight, passengers had to line up on the stairwell to check in.

Bangkok from SkyTrain's Siam station

I’ve completely neglected this blog for the past month due to a seemingly neverending line of midterms and finals. But just to be sure, I am still alive. I’m currently writing this from Bangkok, where I’m spending this spring break. It’s hot and humid, but a beautiful place nonetheless.

I recently learned about an interesting effort by the Burmese American community to have “Burmese” added to the U.S. census’ list of races, for a more accurate population count of the Burmese community in the States. According to the Burmese Complete Count Committee,

Burmese in general means everyone who is a descendent from current Burma or Myanmar. According to this definition, all ethnic groups and tribes who originated from the country Burma or Myanmar are included. Definition of Burmese is different from Bama. Burmese is inclusive of Mon, Karen, Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Lisu, Bama, Kayah, Palaung, Padaung, Pa-O, etc.

In the 2000 Census, only Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese were included as choices. It will be interesting to see whether the 2010 Census does include an option for “Burmese,” when larger communities like Thai Americans are not yet included. I don’t know how effective adding Burmese will be to the U.S. Census, because many Burmese Americans are either mixed Chinese or Indian (and would naturally gravitate  to the more visible groupings), or refugees from ethnic minorities that generally do not associate themselves with being “Burmese.”

Nevertheless, I think it’s a step in the right direction in making the Burmese American community more visible.

Hong Kong Consulate General Ye Myint Aung's letter about Rohingyas

In recent news (give or take a week), a Burmese diplomat by the name of Ye Myint Aung at the Burmese Consulate in Hong Kong used very politically incorrect language in describing the Rohingyas, an Muslim ethnic minority that has created controversy for the Burmese government, because they are not recognized as Burmese but as Bengali immigrants. Ye Myint Aung, in the letter above, refers to the Rohingyas as very “dark brown” and as “ugly as ogres.”

This perhaps reflects prevailing trends in Burma, where light skin color remains fashionable (probably a product of Westernization and colonial rule), as in the rest of Southeast Asia. But strangely enough, most Burmese are not exactly light-skinned or “fair” in the least. Of course, there are those with lighter skin pigmentation, especially among the Shans, Kachins and mixed Chinese. But the darker-skinned Burmans, Mons and Arakanese predominate in Burma. Step away from an issue of the latest Myanmar People magazine and into a typical Burmese town and the picture becomes much clearer.

Regardless, what Ye Myint Aung said reveals some sentiment the Burmese hold against ethnic minorities, especially ones they see as “foreign.” It’s sad to see words like “ugly as ogres” printed on paper when things like sort are so commonly said, to say the least. In all honesty, the concentration of melatonin in one’s skin should have nothing to do with the way they’re perceived, but it’s an unfortunate fact of reality.

Here’s to hoping tomorrow is a better day.

For a look at the recent reaction and follow-up after this letter was sent, check out the following articles:

• “Myanmar’s Outrageous Racism Excused” (Asia Sentinel)
• “Burma envoy raps ugly, dark Rohingya” (Bangkok Post)
• “Skin Color and Prejudice Endangers Rohingya” (The Irrawaddy)
• “Myanmar envoy brands boatpeople ‘ugly as ogres’: report” (AFP)
• “From South to South: Burma’s Stateless Minority Under the Tip of Globalization’s Spear” (Huffington Post)

I came across a section that describes the yay zet cha (ရေစက်ချ) ceremony and found it particularly interesting. For those who don’t know, Burmese Buddhists often pour water from a glass (nowadays, fancy metal teapots have begun to replace the simple glass cup) into a plate or cup (as a symbolic act of offering the “earth” water) while monks recite blessings, in order to gain merit. In my family, usually the adult males (grandfather and uncles) sit in the front, slowly pouring water into a plate or cup, until the end of the ceremony. The water is then “released” outside, into the soil. Although quite ubiquitous among Burmese Buddhists, as I’ve seen this small ceremony performed at occassions ranging from housewarmings to funerals, I never really understood the rationale and history behind it.

According to Spiro:

The water-libation ceremony…is an intrinsic part of all public ceremonies and public acts of meritorious giving. As the formula indicates, it calls the merit of worshipers to the attention of an earth goddess, known in Burma as Withondara, an in ancient India as Vasundhara. Although little known in ancient Indian Buddhism, this goddess is widely known in Buddhist Southeast Asia. Indeed, it is a myth associated with her that provides the Buddhist charter for the water-libation ritual, which is no doubt older than Buddhism in Southeast Asia.

[...]

Like the Buddha, then, the Burmese commemorate their meritorious acts by pouring water onto the ground, calling upon Withou-daya to witness them. As in many rituals, however, the symbolism is overdetermined. The “intoxicants” for whose destruction the worshipper prays while performing the libation are also compared to floods which, if not controlled, wash away (from the path).

So apparently, the yay zet cha ceremony has Hindu origins, intertwined with a Buddhist parable. Withondara (ဝသုန္ဒရာ or ဝသုန္ဒရေ), the earth goddess, appeared as a woman when Buddha is confronted by Mara, who asks for examples of his merit. According to lore, she proves his symbolic merit by squeezing the water out of her hair, which creates a flood that washes Mara away. I think Withondara is analagous to the Thai earth goddess Mae Thorani, who plays a similar role in Thai Buddhism. The syncretic nature of Southeast Asian Buddhism is quite intriguing–Saraswati, Hindu goddess of knowledge is known as Tipitaka Medaw (တိပိဋကမယ်တော်) in Burmese, “protector of the Tipitaka,” which are the scriptures that form the foundation of Theravada Buddhism.

Anyhow, I thought I’d just share this. Back to work for me.

Myanmar needs the world’s attention
As a Burmese American and a member of the global society we all live in, it is imperative that all of us take any measures possible to make the world a better place by doing what we can.

The silence of the Daily Bruin, aside from recycled wire reports, on the recent cyclone in Myanmar that may have killed as many as 100,000 people and made more than 1 million people homeless, has dismayed me. To put it in perspective, the cyclone appears to have killed 100 times as many people as Hurricane Katrina did in 2005.

The epic scale of this tragedy in this country formerly known as Burma, coupled with the military junta’s reluctance and paranoia to allow foreign aid of any kind – despite the unimaginable outpouring of assistance by the United States, the United Nations and other countries – is unimaginable.

While the survivors languish from disease outbreaks because of poor sanitation, floating corpses, destroyed homes and lack of water and nourishment, the junta has decided to focus its energy and resources on less urgent matters, namely a constitutional referendum that will legitimize its place in the highest echelons of Myanmar government.

What makes me shudder most is that despite the stories that come out of Myanmar every hour and the nearly universal Internet access to among college students, many fellow UCLA students are unaware and oblivious to what is happening to the millions on the brink of starvation, malaria, cholera, diarrhea and ultimately, death.

What Myanmar needs most is aid in the form of money, and medical, food and water supplies. Only 10 percent of the cyclone survivors have received aid in any form, and the military junta, which cannot sustain its own people in the best of times, surely cannot tackle this catastrophe on its own.

For more than four decades, America and the rest of the world have watched in complete silence as the military decimated the nation through genocide, slavery, repression and violence. But now is not the time to tackle the political issues Myanmar faces. It is our responsibility to act and do all we can to help in the humanitarian crisis that the survivors – people like you and me – face.

I guess I did help out in helping to make a difference for cyclone victims. But, I have been hesitating for quite some time on whether I should publish the following photos on this blog. I try to avoid intertwining my blogging with my personal life, although sometimes it is nearly impossible. In November of last year, the Burmese Student Association at UCLA, of which I am a part, held a charity concert and show benefiting Cyclone Nargis victims. We helped raise over $20,000 for Sitagu Sayadaw’s relief aid fund and for World Vision, one of the first NGOs to start working in the aftermath, a grand accomplishment for a club that was founded in May of that same year. The performances included a 2-hour concert featuring Ma Di and Natalise, as well as multicultural dances from Burma and the surrounding region (India, China and Thailand). A rare medley of colorful, beautiful and meaningful performances.

One of my friends took mainly backstage (and later, front stage) photos of the event. These photos are courtesy of Josie Lin.

My laptop screen projected on a huge screen in the Ballroom

Chinese lion dancers practicing backstage

Preparing for the Si Mi Gwet (Candlelight) dance

Si Mi Gwet (Candlelight) dancer

Preparing for the Yoke-Thay dance (Marionette dance)

Preparing for the Yoke-Thay dance (Marionette dance)

Preparing for the Thai Yai King Kala dance

Preparing for the Thai Yai King Kala dance

Karen ethnic dancers

Rakhine ethnic dancers

Rakhine ethnic dancers

Thai peacock dancers

Thai peacock dancers

Thai peacock dancers

Speech by Sayadaw Thisana

Ma Di's concert performance

Natalise's concert performance

Khu-hnit Htway dancers

In both Myanmar and China many lives could have been saved if authorities there had been better prepared, he added.

“Sadly, these losses could have been substantially reduced if buildings in China, particularly schools and hospitals, had been built to be more earthquake-resilient,” Briceno said.

“An effective early warning system with good community preparedness could have also saved many lives in Myanmar if it had been implemented before cyclone Nargis.”
-”Nargis dominates disaster toll: UN” (link)

I wonder how that one got through.

If this were Myanmar, governments like Australia’s would line up to denounce the arbitrary use of archaic laws and defend the rights of dissidents. Instead, it is meekly waiting for a royal pardon so it can spirit its citizen back home.
-”The trouble with Harry” (link), The Economist

Congratulations to Ashin Mettacara, an English-language blog written by the Burmese monk Ashin Mettacara  for winning the title ‘Best Asian Blog’ in the 2008 Weblog Awards and bringing more visibility to the active and passionate Burmese blogging community. Kudos.

A Buddhist altar at the Azusa Thondrarama Brahma Vihara monastery

I’ve been reading Spiro’s Buddhism and Society in my spare time because it is an interesting study on Theravada Buddhism in village Burma and its cultural significance. The following is a a short and interesting passage from the book:

“In the Theravada tradition, the Buddha is not a god in either the Hindu-Buddhist or the Judaeo-Christian sense of the term. He is superior to all the gods in the Hindu-Buddhist sense of “god”…Nor is he a god in the Judaeo-Christian sense, for the Buddha is neither a Savior–in Theravada Buddhism, as we shall see, man must save himself–nor is He alive.”

“The preponderant view concerning the Buddha in normative Buddhism (a view shared by almost all Burmese) is that, having attained nirvana, He is no longer alive, in any sense at least in which He can serve as a Savior. He shows the way to, but is not the agent of, salvation.”
-Interesting excerpts from Buddhism and Society (Melford E. Spiro)

This question has been puzzling and confusing to me all my life. Technically speaking, within Theravada Buddhism, the primary tradition practiced in Burma, there is no palpable importance attached to the notion of ‘God’ or the divinity of Buddha. Sure, there are hundreds, if not thousands of gods and goddesses, including Hindu ones like Thuyathadi (Saraswati) or spirits like nat that the Burmese worship in times of need. But one interesting point of contention is whether God figures any role in Burmese Buddhism.

I think some of my confusion arose from my being lost in translation. While growing up, I always equated the Burmese word shi-kho (ရှိခိုး) with English ‘worship,’ which I thought was its closest equivalent. When I actually looked up shi-kho recently, it is defined as “to do obeisance; to pay homage.” Whenever my parents would say Phaya shi-kho or ‘Pay homage to Buddha,’ I would inherently think I was worshiping Buddha, like Christians would to God. This may be because I grew up in the U.S. and what I saw all around me, made me want to find parallels in my own life. I probably fooled myself into thinking that Buddha chose who to punish (like the cartoons that showed God choosing who went through the pearly gates of heaven), especially when I would pray “Andaye kin, bay shin” (အန္တရာယ်ကင်းဘေးရှင်း) or literally “Be free from dangers and clear of harm’s way.” I remember in the third grade, a presumably Christian girl taunted me for being Buddhist, that “Behind Buddha is the Devil,” something I will never forget. Maybe she assumed that all Buddhists worship Buddha as God (as some Mahayana Buddhists do) or that I was idolatrous. I guess in a way, I was a naive kid. It didn’t help that a variety of Burmese phrases like “Phaya ma lo” (ဘုရားမလို့, rough equivalent “Thank God!”) or “Phaya mo gyo pyit” (ဘုရားမိုးကြိုးပစ်, rough equivalent “I swear to God”) that led me to assume Buddha is God.

But even my conception of who Buddha is and his role in Buddhism was skewed from the start. Perhaps my parents assumed that I understood what I was doing every time I put my hands together to pray because they couldn’t find a perfect way to explain to their American-born kids. I think part of my confusion stems from my own parents’ skepticism and lack of faith in the Burmese monkhood. My mom told me that as a child, her father forbade her from going to the monastery alone or without adults, because in his eyes, “monks are only people.” This general distrust of the Sangha is particularly resonant in America.

My parents, like many other Burmese Buddhists in the U.S., criticize the seemingly Americanized monks who own nice cell phones, refuse to wash their own dishes, drive brand new cars, live comfortable lives, fly first-class and loudly preach the concept that donating to the monastery as the best way to gain kutho (merit). In some ways, this is completely true. There is no sense of social obligation to help the poor or to feed the hungry in the Buddhist sermons I hear nowadays, even though those acts of kindness are just as spiritually rewarding (but I guess not financially rewarding to the monastery). Also, I think the that the reputation of Burmese monks in the U.S. has been marred by their inability to stay united (there are over 11 monasteries alone in Southern California, despite the fact that all share the same doctrine and are part of the same order–it’s mostly because of personal problems between monks that caused such splintering).

By the same token, the same reason many Burmese Buddhists reject Christianity is because of the Christian notion of God. As in the words of one of my aunts, “Christians believe that murderers and rapists can go to heaven as long as they accept Jesus Christ as their savior,” which completely defies Buddhist expectations, that heinous acts like rape and murder (which are prohibited in the Five Precepts) result in accumulation of bad karma. I think that this, along with the ubiquitous nature of Buddhism in Burma, have prevented Christianity from gaining much ground among most Burmese. However, Buddhism is not completely compatible with some Burmese beliefs either, such as the permanence of the soul, which the Burmese call a leikpya (butterfly), even though Buddhism teaches that nothing is permanent and that in Nirvana, the soul no longer exists. Nor is the Burmese belief in “luck” truly compatible with the Buddhist concept of karma (the Burmese word for both “luck” and “karma” is kan, but the Burmese use “luck” and “karma” in separate contexts).

The Burmese concept of God does not really exist, then, because Buddha does not control who is reincarnated. Burmese Buddhism teaches that each individual makes his or her own choices, accumulates his or her own merit to be reincarnated as a higher being or reach Nirvana. Buddha is only a beacon, the prime example of someone who eschewed attachment to reach Nirvana. Now that I think about it, Buddhists don’t pray to go to heaven or pray to be saved. 

I’ve been thinking much about religion these past two years in college, because some of my evangelical Christian friends who have some pretty rigid and orthodox views who asked why I was Buddhist or why I didn’t convert. Also, while studying evolutionary biology, my professor remarked that “Only in America is evolution rejected,” blatantly referring to the creationists who assert that God created all life. I wondered about what Buddhism taught on the origin of life. I felt at first, that I needed to truly understand my roots, what I believe. I was born to a Buddhist family, but I was a nominal Buddhist for much of the time, just a convenient label for who I was. For the past 19 years of my life, I’ve never had a complete grasp of what Buddhism, at least the Theravada tradition, really is, an experience mirrored among many first generation Asian Americans. To me, it’s been so detached and ceremonial, ritualized in a sense, more like a staged play than honest faith from within my heart. I’ve had so many questions and I’m only starting to get them answered.

Better late than never.

By the way, I apologize for this possibly dizzying entry. I was just sorting out what was on my mind. I’ll post a refined update later on.

Tipitaka stone inscriptions at Kuthodaw Pagoda

To be fair, Burmese isn’t the hardest language in the world to learn how to read and write. Its letters are simple and in general, pronunciation follows spelling. However, it has its fair share of oddities, mostly found in spelling. I’ve listed my top 10 annoyances below.

1. Ya-yit (ရရစ်) versus ya-pin (ယပင်)
   In Burmese, there are two different spellings for for the ‘-y-’ medial (as in ‘Myanma’), called ya-yit (ြ) and ya-pin (ျ). In olden times, the two symbols stood for two different pronunciations, -r- and -y- respectively (so ‘Myanma’ today was once pronounced ‘Mranma’). However, modern day Burmese has basically merged the ‘r’ sound into the ‘y’ sound, so there are now two medials for the same pronunciation. This is perhaps my biggest pet peeve in writing in Burmese. A dizzying number of Burmese words use the -y- medial. Deciding which one to use when I try to spell by sound is practically impossible without a dictionary, unless I bet on the 50/50 chance that one of the two is correct.
2. Pali spellings
   Without Pali, the Burmese would be at a loss for words, literally. Pali, as I’ve discovered (after learning to read and write) how much Pali and Pali-derived words are a part of daily conversation. We wouldn’t have the word for ‘taste’ (ayatha, အရသာ from Pali rasa) or even something as pedestrian as ‘things’ (pyissi, ပစ္စည်း from Pali paccaya) among other things, without even delving into Pali’s role in Theravada Buddhism (there’s a whole row of 5 complicated Burmese letters mostly dedicated to Pali). But, Pali and Pali-derived words are a source of pain to spell. Many have stacked consonants (next point) and spellings that don’t match pronunciation. A case in point: ‘knowledge,’ which is spelled pa-nya (ပညာ) but pronounced pyin-nya. I still don’t understand how a nasal ending and a -y- medial were added in the pronunciation–perhaps it’s an orthography rule because ‘perception’ is spelled tha-nya (သညာ) but pronounced thin-nya.
3. Stacked consonants
   Let’s not get started with stacked consonants (the practice of putting smaller consonants underneath the syllabic ending to start off another syllable). Since Burmese has merged all of its consonant endings into a glottal stop (like the uh in “Uh oh!”), you’re basically left to guess what consonants to use. Thankfully, stacked consonants are confined to loan words, usually Pali.
4. Sa (စ) and hsa (ဆ) letters
   Am I alone in thinking that the Burmese letters sa-lone (စလုံး) and hsa-lein (ဆလိမ်) sound exactly the same? I am just glad that sa is more commonly used.
5. Ya (ယ) and ya/ra (ရ) letters
   The Burmese alphabet has to catch up to modern spoken Burmese (although Arakanese and conservative dialects still use the ‘r’ sound though). The ‘r’ sound has essentially been obliterated from Burmese, save for a handful of Pali, Indian and English loan words. Yet, two letters exist for the ‘y’ consonant, ya-pa-let (ယပက်လက်) and ya-gauk (ရကောက်). For me, the fact that there are two letters that are phonetically equivalent makes spelling so much more difficult than it need be.
6. Measure words
   Measure words are such a hassle, especially when I speak Burmese. In Burmese, there are hundreds of words that categorize dozens of nouns (flat things have one measure word, vehicles have another, and monks have another) that can be added to counted nouns [NOUN+NUMBER+MEASURE WORD] (like ‘two cars’ ka hna zi, ကားနှစ်စီး which is literally CAR+TWO+MEASURE WORD) in the same way English uses ‘two cups of coffee’ instead of ‘two coffees.’ It’s especially frustrating when I cannot think of the right measure word to use. Luckily, there’s always the ubiquitous hku (ခု) for things to fall back on.
7. Two letters per consonant sound (z, b, d)
   This has bewildered me from the time my mother began teaching me the Burmese alphabet. Why in the world are there three pairs of letters, with each pair having the same equivalent pronunciation? (One thing to note: Burmese follows the Brahmic system of organizing letters, and in other Brahmi-based alphabets, those pairs have different pronunciations.) These include the letters for the ‘z’ sound: za-gweh (ဇကွဲ) and za-myin-zweh (ဈမျဉ်းဆွဲ); the ‘d’ sound: da-dway (ဒထွေး) and da-auk-chaik (ဓအောက်ခြိုက်); and the ‘b’ sound: ba-la-chaik (ဗထက်ခြိုက်) and ba-gone (ဘကုန်း). Perhaps a vestigial relic of ancient Burmese.
8. Consonant and nasal endings
   This is another one of the most confusing things about learning to write in Burmese. Three different nasal endings have the same pronunciation (-န်, ံ, -မ်) and two different consonant endings (-ပ်, -တ်) have the same pronunciation. An example: the only difference between ‘card’ (kat, ကတ်) and ‘disaster’ (kat, ကပ်) is the spelling difference between an ending ‘t’ and an ending ‘p’ because they sound exactly the same.
9. Ta (တ) and tha (သ) letters
   Maybe I don’t have a good ear, but I honestly cannot tell the difference between words spelled with the letter ta-win-bu (တဝမ်းပူ ) and the letter tha (သ) when they’re spoken. And both letters are commonly used, which add to the confusion. My understanding is that the Burmese ‘tha’ is equivalent to Pali ‘sa,’ which is the reason the Burmese water festival Thingyan (သင်္ကြန်) would be Sangkran in Pali (corresponding with the Thai Songkran) and the reason Burmese monks say ‘thadhu’ while Thai monks say ‘sadhu’ while chanting. But the words for ‘to attack’ (taik, တိုက်) and ‘nest’ (thaik, သိုက်) still sound identical to me.
10. Oddballs: Words that are pronounced very differently from their spelling
    Burmese has a number of words (usually loaned or commonly used ones) whose pronunciations don’t correspond to their spellings. A big example (at least to me) is the word ‘mint,’ (as in mint leaves) which is pronounced pu-si-nan but spelled pu-di-na (ပူဒီနာ). Maybe it’s because the word is originally Hindi. Another is the word ‘turmeric’, which is pronounced sa-nwin but spelled na-nwin (နနွင်း). How did the ‘n’ became an ‘s’?

That said, I’m glad Burmese spelling is much simpler than Thai spelling (where up to five letters exist for one consonant) or even English spelling (where many words are an exception to the rule of “sounding it out”).

I hope everyone had a great New Year.

Note: This post requires a Unicode 5.1 Burmese font (I highly recommend Padauk.) Zawgyi and other pseudo-Unicode fonts will not properly display the following Burmese text.

Watching the final minutes of the movie, my mom whispered to me the Burmese saying သေရင်မြေကြီး ရှင်ရင်ရွှေထီး (thay yin myay-gyi, shin yin shwe hti), poorly translated ‘death means going to the ground, living means being under a golden umbrella’ because Burmese kings were shaded underneath a ceremonial golden umbrella. The saying refers to certain situations such as coups in which people face a life-or-death situation, either becoming “king” (succeeding) or being buried (failing).

My mom has a store of thousands of Burmese sayings in her mind, appropriate for every situation. It’s actually quite remarkable (when my dad married my mom, he realized her penchant for Burmese sayings and starting keeping a notebook of thousands of sayings she’s said).

I personally love Burmese sayings, how such few words can have such meaning and how lyrical they are. But I’m really bad at translating them into English, because it’s hard to retain the same poetic quality. Here are some of my favorites:

1. စကားနည်း ရန်စဲ
   Zaga ne, yan ze
   Less talk, less enemies. (About being cautious with one’s words)
2. ထမင်းအသက် ခုနှစ်ရက် ရေအသက် တစ်မနက်
   Htamin a-thet ku-hnit yet, yay a-thet ta ma-net
   One can survive without food for  7 days, but without water for only 1 morning. (About the importance of drinking water)
3. ကုလားမနိုင်ရခိုင်မဲ
   Kala ma naing, Yakhaing me
   Because you can’t dominate the Indian, you pick on the Arakanese. (About some people who are mad take it out on others)
4. ခွေးမှီးကောက်ကျည်တောက်စွပ်
   Khway hmi kauk, kyi-htauk sut
   A dog’s crooked tail straightened with a bamboo rod. (About temporary solutions to everpresent problems and quick fix solutions)
5. ကျွန်းကိုင်းမှီ၊ ကိုင်းကျွန်းမှီ
   Kyun kaing hmi, kaing kyun hmi
   Islands rely on reeds just as the reeds rely on islands. (About mutual dependence)
6. ပါးစပ်ကဘုရား ဘုရား၊ လက်ကကားရား ကားရား
   Bazat ga phaya phaya, let ga kaya kaya
   Mouth says “God, God” but hands do otherwise. (About practicing what one preaches)
7. သေကံမရောက် အသက်မပျောက်
   Thay gan ma yauk, a-thet ma pyauk
   Life cannot vanish without reaching the destiny of fate. (About people beat the odds of mortality)
8. ပညာရွှေအိုး လူမခိုး
   Pyinna shwe o, lu ma ko
   Education is like a golden pot nobody can steal. (About the importance of education)

Note: This post requires a Unicode 5.1 Burmese font (I highly recommend Padauk.) Zawgyi and other pseudo-Unicode fonts will not properly display the following Burmese text.

The LA Times has an interesting article “Burma’s Stilwell Road: A backbreaking WWII project is revived” out, about the 1,000 mile Stilwell Road, built during World War II by African American soldiers to connect India and China by a land route. The article also touches on China and India’s current interest in resurrecting “it as the first major overland trade route since World War II with India.” It’s worth a read.

I apologize for my lack of updates in the past three months or so.  Bogged down by schoolwork (21 units in a quarter is no fun), family drama and other nonsense, I haven’t had time to write anything here. Finally, winter break has come.

One of the classes I took this fall was History 9E: Southeast Asian Crossroads, to kill two birds with one stone (fulfill a GE requirement and Southeast Asian studies minor requirement). I think this class made me rethink a lot about my perceptions of Burma and Southeast Asia in general. To really understand Southeast Asia, one needs to understand its past. However, I felt that large swathes of Southeast Asia were completely omitted, especially Malaysia and Vietnam, but I can understand the impossible task of covering all of Southeast Asia in the matter of less than 10 weeks.

I really want to share the paper I wrote for the class, about the colonial rice economy and its impact on Burmese society. I really found it interesting because of my grandparents’ ties to the colonial rice trade and the profound ways it helped shaped the Burmese identity. I’m sure it’s far from perfect, but I will not, for the time being because I don’t want to be involved in a college plagiarism scandal. I intend not to get a scarlet letter branded on my record.

Without a doubt, this is the most interesting class I’ve taken this quarter and one of the most interesting I’ve taken in college thus far. It made me reconsider my current career plans and especially my major. I’m left wondering whether I’m truly supposed to enjoy learning the about the joys of organic chemistry and the wonders of van der Waals forces. Hmm…

I’ve made it a personal goal next year (a resolution, perhaps) to update this blog as frequently as possible for me–and to revive it. It was good to take a break from all this. But I’m back.

According to Mizzima News, three prominent Burmese news websites (The Irrawaddy, Khit Pyaing and Democratic Voice of Burma) have been disabled by distributed denial of service attacks, which overload the servers used to load webpages with information. Reminds me of how Russian hackers disabled Estonian websites using the same method in 2007.

I don’t know what to say. I guess the Burmese hacker community is alive and well.

With each breathing moment, I lose more and more hope for the nation of Burma. Bomb attacks in Pegu, famine in Chin State, and countless failed attempts by UN envoys to bring reform to Burma. What more is there to say? It’s depressing.

“The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030,” the report said.
–”‘Drill here, drill now’ is drilled in to Americans” (link)

Unfortunately, Obama has reluctantly supported offshore drilling to remain competitive in the presidential race, because he knows if he continues to oppose offshore drilling, he will lose people’s votes, even though gas prices would not immediately decrease as a result of offshore drilling. McCain has already been trying to drill into people’s heads that Obama is against offshore drilling, to scare them into voting for him. Too bad the media refuses to clear up the confusion either. It took an LA Times blog for me to realize this myself.

I think people don’t realize that drilling for oil is not like sipping milk through a straw. It takes years to even get the drilling started (10 years for production to get going). I know Americans like myself want lower gas prices at the pump, but McCain himself would be older than 94 years of age when offshore drilling has an impact on gas prices. That’s a full 22 years+ from now to feel the price change.

+ADD
It’s really annoying to see McCain say that Palin is well-versed in energy policy since she’s the governor of the U.S.’ 2nd largest producer of crude oil. Might I add that Texas is #1 in crude oil production and not too long ago, President Bush was Governor Bush of Texas, and gas prices have increased during his administration.

And yesterday I watched Nightline, in which Charles Gibson interviewed Palin. They talked about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and how Palin hasn’t budged on wanting to drill there (of course not, it’s beneficial to get revenue for her state when Palin is the governor). The US Government reports that opening up the refuge would not lower gas prices immediately–it would take ~20 years to see a major impact:

But the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent statistical agency within the Department of Energy, concluded that new oil from [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] would lower the world price of oil by no more than $1.44 per barrel—and possibly have as little effect as 41 cents per barrel—and would have its largest impact nearly 20 years from now if Congress voted to open the refuge today.
–”Arctic Drilling Wouldn’t Cool High Oil Prices,” US News and World Report (link)

It’s so sad that we’re living in the age of information, where information is more readily available than ever, but we’re just as uninformed or even less informed than ever.

That said, Palin’s interview with Charles Gibson was mediocre, at best. She reminded me of a high school debater (my high school has a cult-like speech and debate following, with the 3rd largest forensics team in the country), who is not well-versed but knows how lengthen sentences to buy time. I remember my 8th grade English teacher always wanting her students to add florid, totally useless and irrelevant words and sentences, because that was her style. I’m good at that and obviously Palin is too. (But being good with words doesn’t mean I should become VP) She circled around almost every question, to the point that Charles Gibson told her that he got lost in “her blizzard of words.”

If you just read her answers, I can assure you that you would not be able to guess what Gibson had been asking. Her eye twitched and I could tell she was nervous. That’s what she should’ve felt, because she secluded herself from the press for half a month and built anticipation among Americans. Palin didn’t have a thorough understanding of foreign affairs. I’m no scholar on this either, but geez, even my sister learned the Bush doctrine in high school while taking AP US History. Palin should at least know a lot more than high schoolers taking Advanced Placement exams, since she is running for the Second Highest Office in the Land.

Palin was way too confident in what she said (I believe in a more flexible foreign policy, the carrot and stick approach) She said we shouldn’t second-guess Israel three times. She didn’t know how to answer several questions. In one instance, when Gibson was obviously asking her about the importance of foreign policy, she tried to change the topic and started blabbing about energy independence, her comfort zone.

Remember when Palin said that the presidency isn’t “supposed to be a journey of ‘personal discovery’”? Well, the vice presidency shouldn’t be a journey of personal discovery either. I don’t know what she’s insinuating, but unlike President Reagan, Palin has not formulated any political ideology and I don’t know if she even has any of her own ideas when it comes to the way she will approach foreign affairs when she kept recycling McCain’s words. Palin also tried to show us how “small” this world really is by telling Americans that from a desolate island in Alaska, one can see the thinly-populated Siberia. Just because my friends at UC San Diego can sometimes see the Mexican border as they drive south doesn’t mean they’re knowledgable in foreign affairs.

Then Palin told us this beautiful story about how she believes God’s plan is life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Maybe it’s just me, but weren’t the Constitution and Declaration of Independence framed by Enlightenment thinkers, those who rejected the antiquated dominance of church in philosophy and thinking? She strangely quoted Abraham Lincoln when Gibson asked her why she said that our leaders sent troops away on a mission from God. That was obviously rehearsed and had little to do with what she said in church.