New Mandala

Many New Mandala readers will want to learn more about the renewed call to boycott Lonely Planet.  This protest is a response to the famous publisher’s continued efforts to print a guide to Burma.  More details from the boycott organisers are available here.  The Lonely Planet case for the guidebook is made in this (now dated) material from BurmaNet News.
Update [...]

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This post is part of New Mandala’s series of interviews with academics, activists and writers who contribute to major debates in mainland Southeast Asian Studies.  These interviews are designed to probe the experiences, arguments and ideas that have helped shape the field. The eleventh in New Mandala’s series of discussions with prominent personalities is with Professor Janet Sturgeon from the Department [...]

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Over the last couple of years I have been fortunate to travel widely throughout the borderlands where Burma, China and India come together.  In this time I have spent many hours bumping along the trans-regional connection, now often called the Stilwell Road, that was constructed by allied forces during World War II.  As many readers know, the road from [...]

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Even if [UN Special Envoy Ibrahim] Gambari does return to Burma in April, he may have little to do there.During previous visits, he was virtually a prisoner of the government and stayed in isolated Naypyidaw, following a regime-ordained itinerary that included attendance at a rally in Shan State denouncing September’s pro-democracy uprising.Aside from earning him [...]

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Continuing New Mandala’s recent series of pictures from Manau festivals in greater Southeast Asia, over the coming weeks I will be posting material from a recent Singpho festival held in Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, India.
To whet your appetite here are a few pictures that may help to set the scene.
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- Crossing part of the Dehing river in far [...]

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A recent report by Ashley South published by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions will be of considerable interest to those New Mandala readers who are hungry for more details on the nitty-gritty of life in Burma today.
The report:
…focuses on the ongoing abuses of [Housing, Land and Property] rights occurring under military rule today, particularly in [...]

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The Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth has a very worthwhile site where there is lively discussion of the role of anthropologists (and other social scientists) in counter-insurgency.  Some interesting pieces have been recently penned by Caroline Osella, David Price and Nayanika Mookherjee.
New material is being added all the time.  New Mandala commentary on the [...]

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Here is an article by Ji Ungpakorn that I just received by email:�
The Senate, 6th October , the South and Thai Democracy
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
The tragedy of Thai democracy today is that we have a Prime Minister and Interior Minister who tell bare-faced lies and an opposition, in the shape of the Democrat Party, that supported the [...]

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A regular New Mandala reader has sent me this link to blogger Jeff Ooi:
Popular Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi running for the Democratic Action Party against UMNO’s Koh Tsu Koon who is presently the Chief Minister of Penang. It will be interesting to see if a non-Malaysian can break the UMNO stranglehold. However, Jeff is in [...]

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Last year’s New Mandala interview with Paul Handley, the author of The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been recently translated by Fa Deow Gan.  I expect the translation will be of interest to many readers.

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