The National Library of Australia has begun subscribing to Khwamsangop: Siang khong pongkan khwamsangop pasason, a Lao national newspaper, issued by the Ministry of National Security for the past 11 years. It reports on law enforcement agency investigations and prosecutions of crime and security matters. Stories cover provincial and district news, as well as VIP and foreign affairs related news. Some of the 20 pages are in colour. An interesting piece from the 13-17 April  2009 issue discusses vehicle accidents in Viengchan (image below). Figures for the first quarter of 2009 include 930 vehicles damaged (373 seriously damaged), 325 people injured, 63 seriously injured, and 60 fatalities. This is very informative about the real state of traffic safety in Viengchan.

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Last month, it continued with the arrest of more journalists. It seems the arrests were not directly related to their line of work — they were members of a civil society group that allegedly received funds from abroad — but being a reporter or editor in Myanmar certainly puts one’s head above the parapet.

While several journalists were among 7114 prisoners released in a recent amnesty, it is thought many more are still behind bars. This fact, combined with the strict censorship regime the government has put in place to oversee local media, contributed to Myanmar placing fifth-last in a recent Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, above only Iran, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.

For foreign-based media groups, reporting from Myanmar is “at the best of times very difficult, at the worst impossible”, the BBC’s Burma desk editor, Soe Win Than, said at a debate on Myanmar’s future conducted at the launch of the 2010 Orwell Prize on October 29.

Repression of media has created an “atmosphere of fear” that makes it difficult for journalists to talk to people “even over non-controversial subjects”, he said.

While all this is true, it is incorrect to automatically dismiss local private media as being without value. I think many outsiders would be surprised at both the number and variety of journals available locally. At the end of 2008 there were almost 200 licensed journals, which generally publish weekly or fortnightly, and another 200 or so magazines that publish monthly. The number of these regularly publishing, however, would be somewhere between a quarter and one half of those figures.

Local publications cover a wide range of topics, from general news, foreign affairs and business to sport, fashion and celebrities.

Thant Myint-U made a similar point recently at a US committee hearing when he said  Myanmar has an “increasingly vibrant civil society” and “heavily-censored but largely privately-owned media”. These are both symptoms of the Myanmar people’s “obvious desire for greater freedom and government accountability”, he concluded.

Naturally, local journals are going to struggle to hold the military government to account with the present censorship system. However, there seems to be an ever-widening scope for debate, at least on certain issues. This has prompted some publications, including the The Voice Weekly, to begin running editorials — as far as I know, this is the first time this has been seriously attempted.

This drew the ire of The Irrawaddy, which said anti-government groups in the country were “enraged” by journals commenting favourably on the 2010 general election and the visit of US senator Jim Webb.

“In military-ruled Burma it is common that editors and publishers, if they are not outright apologists of the regime, compromise and toe the official line so their publications can survive,” The Irrawaddy’s chief, Aung Zaw, wrote in an editorial, pointing out that despite an apparent relaxation of censorship recently, few journals or editors “dared to question the election and publish critical analysis of the political process” in Myanmar.

But there is more to the local press than meets the eye. Aware of the limits of operating in a censored media environment, journals are clever enough to see the futility of outright criticism of the government, something best left to those outside the country. Publishers that disobey censorship pretty quickly have their journal shut down. Most are required to print a one-page government editorial in each edition but, outside that, it’s unusual to hear of journals being forced to publish propaganda.

More often, the censors compromise rather than demand. For example, journals were told last week they could only publish photos of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi if they also printed a Myanmar News Agency photo of Kurt Campbell shaking hands with Prime Minister Thein Sein.

There are opportunities to publish sensitive material. Corruption permeates everyday life here in Myanmar, and the censorship board is no exception. As a general rule, the more you give, the more you get. While this is ethically debatable, the same could be said of foreign-based media who, almost as a matter of course, refuse to name sources or (for obvious reasons) identify reporters operating in the country.

In short, what is accepted elsewhere does not necessarily apply in a place like Myanmar. While censorship is a major handicap that would not normally be tolerated, it has to be weighed up against the alternative — in this case, subjecting Myanmar readers to a media diet of only New Light of Myanmar, Kyemon and Myanma Ahlin (something you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy).

And, occasionally, you see something really surprising, like this expansive interview with the US charge d’affaires to Myanmar, Mr Larry Dinger. Most likely it was permitted to send a statement to visiting US envoys last week, and was widely quoted in international media.

There is another aspect of the local media industry that many critics ignore and should be taken into account. I would say, at a conservative estimate, local journals and magazines directly employ in excess of 10,000 people. The same number again would be employed indirectly in the printing, advertising and marketing aspects of the business. Many reporters have the opportunity to attend training courses abroad, and through the cultural arms of the US and British embassies in Yangon.

“I call that capacity building, and there are a large group of publishers, editors and journalists in Myanmar who have similar views to myself. We see light at the end of the tunnel,” the controversial publisher of The Myanmar Times, Ross Dunkley, said in a recent profile published in the Bangkok Post.

The media sector is also one of the few growth industries in Myanmar. One local market research company estimated about US$17 million was spent on advertising nationally in 2006. Given the significant increase in new journals since then, advertising could perhaps be double that figure now and it is not unusual for large privately owned companies to have marketing and advertising budgets of several million US dollars.

However, one recent government decision could hurt the industry more than the much-publicised censorship regime.

From January 1, 2010 all alcohol and cigarette advertising will be banned from local media. For several months, the Ministry of Information’s Press Scrutiny division has been refusing to approve new alcohol advertisements, only allowing those that were approved for the ban was announced.

In spite of the fact sports journals will be most affected, this decision — ostensibly made for health reasons — appears to be politically motivated, designed to put the squeeze (economically) on journals ahead of next year’s proposed general election.

Many of the well-known news journals are published by media companies that also have profitable sports journals in their stable. The announcement came not from the Ministry of Health or Ministry of Information but from the Ministry of Defense.

Those in the industry will be watching to see how strictly this ban is enforced. Ironically, a well-directed bottle of Black Label could just be enough to get that lucrative whiskey advertisement published.

This manuscript was found in records concerning US foreign correspondents in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The manuscript may be a memoir, as there was a case alluded to within the same set of records, the news of which the Imperial German government was quick to suppress. This leads some credence to the view that this article presents a true account of a single trial or perhaps a composite of a number of cases from the same period. The manuscript, apparently for a German audience, can be dated to about1900, given its reference to Herzberg Hospital. The authorship is clearly attributable to Edward Breck, a liberal German-American who wrote for The New York Tribune in the 1890s [see Gillmeister, Heiner, Edward Breck: “Anglo-Saxon Scholar, Golf Champion, and Master Spy”, in, Sawada, Mayumi, L. Walker, and Shizuya T., Language and Beyond: Festschrift for Hiroshi Yonekura on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday (Tokyo: Eichosha, 2007), pp. 33-56], and also used “F.F. van de Water” as a pseudonym (the name of the narrator in this case).  Breck was an accomplished writer, both in English and German, both of fiction and nonfiction. This long manuscript was apparently originally in German and sequestered in the archives of the conservative Tribune. It was translated into English by an unknown translator, identified only with the initials “A. H. R” and who appears to have preferred leaving certain parts un-translated, perhaps to lend a feel of authenticity. This translation came with a number of footnotes; the translator seems to have added a few notes where clarification seemed appropriate. The original title has been retained. This manuscript was received from an unnamed source who found it in the Tribune archives, and thought it should be published as it had obvious relevance to the Thai situation.

The manuscript is available here. And here are the first three paragraphs:

Otto von Schelling, the Senior State Attorney, cut an impressive figure. His civil service uniform was immaculate. Before when I had seen him, he looked to be of average build. But seeing him before us, wearing his red imperial sash, his chest now seemed immense, seemingly swollen with pride for the recognition conferred him by the Kaiser. His whiskers were immense, and had they been on a less dignified mien, might have appeared startling, but for von Schelling they made him appear almost majestic. Removing his pince-nez, he looked out at those present and smiled.

“Gentlemen, I want to thank you for coming to the Reichsjustizamt this afternoon. We realize there has been some concern among you, our honoured foreign correspondents, about the use of the lese majeste law, and I want to clearly explain the government’s position on this matter.”

“As you may know, German law recognises the importance of honour and reputation. Everyone—from the Kaiser to the most humble citizen—is protected from libel and slander. Of course one whose reputation is besmirched may resort to seeking civil damages, but here the integrity of each person’s reputation is what ensures peace and order in society, and so the German state makes such violations criminal.”

“There has been concern in the local and foreign press that there is a perceived lack of discretion in the use of the lese majeste law. I say ‘perceived’ because I believe that there is a misunderstanding about the lese majeste law, particularly amongst our foreign guests. You may prize freedom of expression above all else. And we might say that we cherish protections of our good names. You should realise that the lese majeste provision is a deep expression of Teutonic, of German culture. I might even hazard saying that it is part of what makes us German, just as our love of monarchy is a central impulse of all true Germans. I might even go so far as to say that it is impossible to have a true German who entertains republic thoughts.”

Volume 1 Nation, was published in 1994. It is a forensic account of the construction of one of the core symbols of modern Thailand’s nationhood.

It was a long wait until Volume 2, King, emerged in 2006. But the wait was worth it. The author risked all to examine the personalities, the politics and the public relations behind the revered face of the one who never smiles.

Volume 3, Religion, hit the bookshops late last year. In this third volume of the trilogy, the author veers away from an explicit engagement with the politics of nationhood or monarchy. This is a more subtly subversive volume but, as it winds it’s way through monastaries, libraries and ancient manuscripts, a little-known subaltern world of religious practice emerges. Just as Volume 1 unravelled the nation and Volume 2 unravelled the monarchy, Volume 3 unravels the notion of a unified national religion shaped by reformist kings. 

I can think of no better introduction to some of the central themes in Thai national life than this extraordinary trilogy. Is a boxed set too much to ask for?

Lam tat (ลำตัด) is a Thai folk performance. It came to Siam from Malaysia during the reign of Rama V (1853 – 1910). Performances are sharp, witty, aggressive, and overtly sexual. Performers sing in turn, replying to each other in song, relying upon repertoire and improvisation. Booklets of lam tat lyrics were sold in markets.

Many performances were based on popular news items like murder, robbery, corruption among mandarins, capture of bandits etc. The covers were very eye-catching, using photos or drawings based on real events. The examples of booklet covers presented here were  published between 1924 and 1934.

The Son Killed his Father (1926)

She Killed Her Lover (1929)

Ee Nak Phra Khanong - popular ghost story (1920s)

The Brave Policeman (1928)

[This post is provided by the National Library of Australia as part of our Book Zone feature. For further information on the featured publications contact Saowapha Viravong at sviravong@nla.gov.au]

Congratulations Professor McCargo!

And thanks, as always, to Michael Montesano for keeping me in the loop (via the TLC list) of important developments in Southeast Asian Studies.

The field research for this book was conducted in 2001-2003. A few years earlier the Lao government stopped issuing export permits for wood resin, although wood resin from Cambodia was still being exported to Thailand via Laos. The argument of the Lao government at the time was that wood resin harvesting was damaging the forests, and that the destructive practice should be discontinued. Unfortunately, however, once there was no longer a market for wood resin, many villagers decided to cut their resin trees down to sell the wood. So, the export ban did not have the effect of protecting the trees, as was seemingly expected. Moreover, logging companies also took advantage of the situation to convince villagers to allow them to cut down their resin trees.

In any case, through reviewing the literature, it became clear that some researchers believed that wood resin tree tapping was destructive, while others thought it was sustainable. It seemed appropriate to investigate wood resin tapping in detail. What I found was that in my field site wood resin trees were not dying as a result of being tapped. I also found that without exception, all the researchers who investigated wood resin tapping superficially–whether in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia or elsewhere–came to the conclusion that it was destructive to the trees. This appears to be based mainly on the visual effect of seeing big black burnt holes in the trunks of resin trees. It’s a bit like the negative impression many people have when they first see a burnt swidden fields. However, the reality associated with swidden agriculture are frequently much more complicated. I also found that all the researchers who investigated wood resin tapping in detail, regardless of which country, came to the conclusion that while it certainly is possible to kill a tree through resin tapping, the reality is that this rarely happens, and that despite the ugly black holes in the side of the tree trunks, the trees are very hardy and almost never succumb to tapping damage.

Unfortunately, the 2009 book is a bit expensive. It is, however, available through Amazon.com The publisher can also be contacted here.   

The following photos (from the book) show the tapping process as performed by one of the Brao tappers I worked with during my research. The fires are necessary to stimulate resin production, but tappers lose production if they over-burn. Therefore, they tend to only allow fires to burn about 30 seconds before putting them out. Then they wait between a few days and a week for the resin to seep into the wedge shaped holes in the trunks. The resin is then taken from the tap holes and the holes are burnt again. The full details can be found in the book.

The National libray of Australia recently received the first issue of Voice of Taksin (เสียงทักษิณ ). The magazine has 70 pages with some colour  pictures. Published fortnightly, it is sold for 40 baht. Voice of Taksin features opinion pieces that reflect the political position of Thaksin’s followers.

[This post is provided by the National Library of Australia as part of our Book Zone feature. For further information on the featured publications contact Saowapha Viravong at sviravong@nla.gov.au]

The journal is available here (free-of-charge, and accessible to all — I might add).

It is also worth noting that during New Mandala’s Four Letter Words series back in 2008, Stephen (Help) and Susan (Kilt) both made interesting contributions.  Those are also well worth a look.

Here’s a new book in which I have a chapter. My chapter deals with contract farming in northern Thailand, based on the fieldwork I have been doing in Ban Tiam.  Details about the book are available here.

The book is a bit pricey so contact your library and recommend that they order it.