New Mandala

When on September 23 the Government of Myanmar announced that it was releasing 9002 people from its jails there was the usual response in the foreign media and from international agencies: how many were political prisoners? It turns out that about seven of them fell into this privileged category, among them the longest-serving of all, [...]

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In his opening lines to a 1976 article on hidden meaning in poetry, Mya Ketu (pen name of U Chan Mya, a former professor at the Mandalay Arts and Science University) writes that as there are secret matters in life so too there are secrecies in poetic literature. “However,” he goes on, “The secrets in [...]

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In some countries big disasters always seem to be followed by big charity songs, the type where a whole lot of famous but not necessarily talented people sway backwards and forwards together and try to look sincere about donating their time and vocal chords for a good cause. But that a group of popular singers [...]

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As if a cyclone and a disastrous exercise in disaster relief were not enough, Myanmar has in the past week been hit by floods. From Kachin State in the north to Bago in the centre, the Ayeyarwaddy, Chindwin, Sittaung and Bago rivers among others have spilled over into towns, farmlands and villages.
The Chindwin, which flows [...]

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The global media has reported widely on the immense damage that Cyclone Nargis caused to crops, fisheries and livestock in Myanmar, and international agencies and governments have justifiably shown particular concerns for the coming rice crop. However, another important product that has also been seriously affected but has attracted less interest is salt.
According to official [...]

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Some people suspect that the fire which destroyed the upper floor of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok on May 26 was a tactic to delay the granting of visas to foreign aid workers trying to get into the country for the post-Nargis clean up.
Not so, says a newspaper published by political exiles. The New Era [...]

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For the last three weeks, the Voice of America Burmese Service has run an interview series that has attracted many interested listeners.
The cause of their interest has been a former officer of Myanmar’s disbanded Defense Services Intelligence agency, Major Aung Lin Htut. In 2005 while Aung Lin Htut was working as deputy chief in the [...]

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In her book Behind the Teak Curtain, Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung suggests that farmers in Myanmar often assign the causes of their suffering to local authorities rather than those higher up. Asked who is responsible for their problems, many are inclined to blame the nearby administrators who meddle in the details of their lives, whose excesses [...]

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Contributor’s note: This post was written before Cyclone Nargis went through Myanmar on May 2 and 3. The government has since not said whether or not the May 10 referendum will be postponed. It has declared Ayeyarwady, Yangon and Bago Divisions, and Kayin and Mon States disaster zones. At this time housing, food and clean [...]

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