Silence in Myanmar

Yahoo and Hotmail are banned. No credit cards or ATM’s are here—Visa and Mastercard pulled out. Coke and Pepsi are gone too. $20 fine for beeping your horn on the street. Phone calls to anywhere except Asia cost $12 a minute, cut off at the moment you mention Aung San Suu Kyi, the national elected leader again under house arrest. Talk politics to a local and you risk their life, we were told. Shop at stores with Myawaddy in their name mean you are supporting the military junta. There are officials and military people following and listening to everything—undercover officers patrolling the tourist locations. Two newspapers talk about the evil American empire and destructive imperialists. The military dictatorship State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC or 10 generals) even changed the name of the country without referendum from Burma to Myanmar in protest against British colonialism. This is the country that National Geographic described as a “bejeweled pauper,” blessed with rich natural resources such as timber, oil, jade, rubies, emeralds, topaz, and food stuffs but underdeveloped and left behind. It is a nation that went wrong. It sits at the bottom of Asia, a social and economic pariah with the 2nd lowest per capita GNP in Asia at $960 per person, but most people make less than 25 cents a day. The government controls the media, the hotels, the mail, the airlines and most parts of daily life. This is a pariah country cut off from the rest of the world. Even as I write, the United Nations and the United States were debating a complete worldwide embargo through the Security Council in December, unsuccessful due to the Chinese need for Burmese oil and timber. There is even debate between students, faculty, staff and our interport lecturer about whether or not we should go to this country, described as one of the most oppressive regimes in the world! We left the world’s largest democracy only 2 days ago to the world’s top most oppressive regime in the world, Burma. And indeed, Myanmar is one of the least visited countries in the world according to tourism statistics. Portrayed as a calm, free and laidback land, Burma is exactly the opposite. Listen carefully here: there is nothing but silence, repression and fear holding these great people down.

After traveling up the Ayeyarwady River to Yangon port, our diplomatic briefing the first night was conducted by the U.S. charje and diplomats—no ambassadors exist between these two estranged nations. They told us the grim details of this regime. 1100 political prisoners are in jail. The Constitution has been suspended since 1994, the elections in 1990 a distant dream. There are no freedoms of movement, privacy, speech, or assembly. There is no free press, no right to a trial or personal freedoms. The government spends zero to little money on education or health for fear of inspiring revolution with an educated and healthy populace. The capital of Yangon was even moved 250 miles north for fear of a U.S. invasion into the jungle where officials are dying from snake bites and high malaria infections. These rich military officials from the junta are banned from travel in most of the world. Compare this with some of the poorest people in the world. The embargo means that few goods come into the country from the West, and no souvenirs bought here can travel back into the States. Legally that is. Some foreigners are also in jail—one British example for distributing pamphlets in front of the government building and another American man for drug trafficking. In 1988, the worst massacre in Asia other than Tianamanen Square occurred here in Yangon—3000 were machine gunned down for protesting the regime in Inya Lake park.

Fear is the SLORC weapon on choice, and is created by the Military Intelligence, Department of Psychological Warfare, Department of Propaganda, and the Ministry of Information. Barricades, riot police, flak jackets, bayonets, rubber batons, rumors, misinformation, tanks, informers, bugged phones, surveillance operators, mass arrests, curfews and selective jail terms. In this manner, a small number of people control a vast populace, holding control by a thread through fear, hatred of colonialism, and false information. One million people are forcibly displaced throughout the country; the U.N. reports it is the most conflict prone country in the world. Out of 145, Burma ranks 142 on the World Corruption Index. Non-governmental organizations have all pulled out—no aid reaches Burma. The European Union and United States have placed trade bans on the country, but some Asian countries are after Burma’s rich resources. Indeed, China and India are now the only engagements with Burma. China desperately needs Burmese resources and inputs for its industrial machine, and China and India are played off each other by Burma by competing for the fat hydro-electric and gas energy fuel contracts.

In Burma, it is illegal to change money on the Black Market, gather in groups of four or more, have political conversations, express support or desire for democracy, or have foreign guests in your house. Officially the kyat or “chat” exchanges at 6 or 7 to the dollar, but on the black market can be traded for the dollar at 1100 or 1200 on the street. With inflation at 50% a year, this rate is constantly in flux. Only a few years ago, $300 was paid to the military junta in return for visiting and just entering the country. This fee has been removed, and the government relies solely on the profits of the drug trade to stay afloat. The irony is that government owned hotels, restaurants, shops, airlines and trains only accept U.S. dollars, not local kyat.

Burma is also the 2nd largest producer of drugs in the world—a global trafficker of opium, heroin, methanphetamines and other narcotics. SLORC pacifies large areas of no-rule land by allowing for illegal trade, laundering money, and trading peace for the drug trade. They sell disputed Burmese land to China and India for rupees and yuan. Rich generals grow fat and retire while other generals rise up through the ranks to govern the land. In this strict Theravada Buddhism country, the military has completely lost the respect it once had by forcibly putting down the peaceful and loving Buddhist people. On a flight north to Pagan, three small planes sat on the ground at the airport next to the new terminal being built through a gift from a drug lord up north. Wow, it was beautiful. Amazing what millions of dollars of drug money can do to spruce up a dilapidated airport. The gift was given to celebrate the government’s new ceasefire agreement with this heroin drug pin in the lawless north.

I doubt our presence here meant much for political change. To go or not to go to Burma? Aung San Suu Kyi has asked nobody to visit Burma. Johnny our tourist guide hired through a locally owned company disagreed. But I was an observer. I watched and I listened. I talked to many Burmese people, the monks and guides and new friends. We live in a small world. At R.I.T., I met a student and her family while checking her into the residence halls. Her gracious and hospitable family welcomed me in Yangon. They treated me to a fantastic Baman dinner, but there was unfortunately less time than expected to visit her gallery. How many people can say that they showered with Buddhist monks in this isolated land? In five short days in Burma or Myanmar, I witnessed a magical, captivating land. Two days in Rangoon or Yangon (name changed to remove the old colonial name) and 3 days up north in Pagan or Bagan. Indeed many of the Roman language translations from the “bubble-like” Burmese have different sounds and transcriptions. There are 135 tribes in Myanmar and 8 peoples: Baman or Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Naga, Rakhaing, Shan and Wa. Among these people, we visited dozens of pagodas or temples, the circular gold centers protecting the statues of Buddha.

The people don’t complain, but proudly carry their culture forward. They continue the traditions more than any other Asian nation. Men wear longyis or traditional sarong-like garments and the women wear white thanakha or powdered wood make-up and perfume on their faces. The food is distinctly original with Shan noodles from the north and a blend of Chinese, Indian, Bamar and Mon influences. Fish, chicken and prawn curries are mixed with rice, chillies and masala spices. Burmese abstain from eating four-legged animal flesh, but there is some pork and beef available. Most popular is the mohinga (rice noodles with chicken or fish, spicy) for breakfast and as a snack all day. Oun-no hkauq-sweh is also popular, rice noodles with chicken in a spicy sauce made with coconut milk. Indian and Chinese restaurants complement the local food and are found on every corner in Burma. Fruit is for dessert with a wide variety of watermelons, grapefruits, papayas, melons, jackfruits, strawberries, pineapples and mangoes. I guess I’m also a culinary traveler—I go where my stomach takes me!

In addition to the food, the most influential factor on Burmese culture is Buddhism. Buddhism is the influential psychological, cultural and religious way of seeing and understanding the world in Burma. The religion started as a reformation to Hinduism in Nepal and India and spread throughout Asia in the 5th – 3rd centuries B.C. Siddhartha, a Nepalese prince, was born a Hindu. He lived an extremely sheltered life inside the palace, and only ventured out of the great walls at age 29. Here he saw four sights that changed his life and the life of millions around the world: Old age, Sickness, Death and a Sadu or wandering Ascetic. He began practicing a life of austerities for 6 years, and was joined by 5 other ascetics. He takes many trips outside the palace, seeking Moksha or deliverance, and eventually decides to leave. Later, when given milk and rice by a maid, he finds the Middle Way, a life of moderation. Sitting under a fig tree in Bodgaya with a mind resolved, he passed through many distractions and temptations and became the Enlightened One. This is His life. His teachings were shaped by his life and include the Four Noble Truths: dukkha, life is suffering; tanha, the cause of suffering is desire; the cure for suffering is to remove desire; and to remove desire you must follow the Eightfold path. Compared to Indian dharma or duty, the Buddhist dhamma is to escape the suffering and the traps of life. Hinduism worships all parts of life, the inner divinity of the world and the innate meaning in it; Buddhism teaches the exact opposite. All is in flux, the Buddha teaches, and all is passing and changing and empty. By joining the Sangha or brotherhood of seekers united in seeking enlightment, you can seek meaning. “Everything that has been created is subject to decay and death,” Buddha taught, “Everything is transitory. Work out your own salvation with diligence.” The Eightfold path, listed in all monasteries and pagodas in Burma, includes: Right Knowledge, Right Speech, Right Thinking, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. With 500,000 monks in Myanmar, each man is expected to take up robe and bowl twice in their life. Every young boy at 13 enters the monastery for a week, dressed up as Prince Siddhartha, he sits on ponies and is treated like a prince. With his head shaved and wrapped in red robes, he enters at puberty. He explores the life of austerity, and is expected to become a full monk at least once later in life after age 20. Indeed, anyone can join and leave the Sangha at any time, and 1/3 of all Burmese go into monastery during the rainy season. This way of thinking shapes the Burmese identity, and even their nature as giving, warm and hospitable people. One student lost her passport and all her money at a pagoda on my trip. Eight hours later it was found—the same place she left it in the open.

How could a brutal military junta like Burma’s arise from such a peaceful, welcoming and religious people? Indeed, monks are calling for regime change, and have traditionally been targets of the military intelligence. Each day, as part of the Buddhist tradition, alms are collected, rice and daily food from the local people. The daily life of poverty includes pleading for the daily sustenance to keep them alive. In the past few decades, the monks refused to accept alms by turning their alms bowls upside down to soldiers and government officials. 130 monasteries were raided, and the process of buying off senior monks through new monasteries, trips and money began. In return for their cooperation, the Myanmar government gave the Sangha, or Buddhist brotherhood, expensive foreign trips, new monasteries, land and hush money. Many local people also gave over large tracts of land to monasteries, now totaling 1/3 of the total land, in order to escape government seizure of their land for arbitrary reasons. Now, the Sangha is so strong with such a large property wealth that the government is forced to work with them and continue to appease them. Yet, subtle forms of resistance go on, especially with monks calling for regime change abroad and informally in society. Quiet moral resistance to the regime occurs throughout the Sangha. In fact, Buddhism has become an active forum for social change.

Everyday life is still alive and vibrant in tea houses—tea houses for the military, tea houses for the underground opposition group and tea houses for the bureaucrats. Names are flexible, and change often, except when women marry. People like Dr. Monique Skidmore, our interport lecturer, are reflected in their Burmese names--“Tin Tin Swem” meaning strong but elegant. There are no first or last names, but a fluid and changing concept of who you are. Puppet plays are a popular past time where it is illegal for men to wear your hair below your shoulders. Traditional Burmese instruments complement skilled puppeteers’ fingers at the show we saw in Pagan.

To the north, where I flew for 4 days, foreigners are a rarity. Bagan, the land of 4,400 pagodas or temples, was developed for tourism by forced labor and people forced off their land. New Bagan replaced Old Bagan, surrounded by old walls protecting the pagodas. The pagodas are 800 years old, built under the last Burmese kings. And people stare at us. There are more pagodas than tourists here. “Mingalaba,” the children welcomed on the dirt roads as they ran up to see the White people. The pagodas are majestic sights, making for wondrous panoramas in Bagan. Most are neglected and free, allowing for exploration and freedom from tourists. Tight stairways lead up to wide-open views and others display vibrant murals depicting Buddha’s past lives. The people here don’t have much, and weave traditional lacquerware products like bowls and trays to make a living.

Each day at sunset, we took pony cart rides to watch the setting red sun over these ancient temples. Climbing to the top like Giza pyramids, hundreds of pagodas are seen across the horizon. The panoramas showcased palms set against the sun with goats and zebu cows feeding among the peanut and sesame fields. We learned how to sit properly in temples, with your feet behind and below you, never pointing at people—feet are unholy. Some delicate Western feet were burned after several days of no shoes on the hot bricks in the humid Burmese weather. When handing money or anything to other people, it is important to put your left hand fingers on your elbow as a sign of respect. Dress must be respectful, because no one will dare say anything if it’s inappropriate. We also were told not to show emotion on your face, especially anger, which means madness in Burma.

Our guide, Johnny, took us aside for an hour in an isolated village called Phwar Saw to see local life. Here where the locals didn’t know English and he trusted the people, we discussed taboo politics. This one great man expressed his opinions. Among the animals carting water and women weaving homemade cotton in thatch huts, Johnny fielded questions. In his view, the dollars and discussion outweighed the government sales tax. We are observers to report what is going on to the rest of the world. We buy local products and this money contributes to a better life for many. However, in Bogyoke Aung San Market in Yangon (or Scott’s Market under British rule), an army colonel’s wife owns the land and collects a 10% tax on all sales. Indeed, business can’t be legally conducted without a military connection. The government, we were also told, buys off small villages like this one by installing a water pump so locals don’t have to cart water 20 miles or more. Others receive intermittent electricity for their support. Still, ask many people on the street about the government, and they love the order and stability. If you are quiet, local life goes on. Many world journalists and researchers like Dr. Monique Skidmore are also banned from Burma—they published articles the government found revealing and scathing.

In Shwegadon Pagoda in Yangon, I chatted with a man who recently lost his wife and daughter. There is no health care in Burma he told me. He seeks refuge, calm and understanding from his daily meditations and prayers to the reclining Buddha. Life is hard, there are no jobs and he was retired. “No one will hire an old business man now,” he recounted. The government provides him 3,000 kyat a month to survive--$2 and 50 cents. He showed me around town to many of his favorite temples and monasteries, and we both learned from each other. One monk invited me to his English class to meet and chat with other monks. I asked about their families, their passions and daily life, but not politics. The discussions and sharing—maybe there was some good done after all by our visit. My impromptu guide departed at sunset—he didn’t want money he said, he wanted to work, but I gave him a few dollars anyway. Before he left, I asked his name. With fear and suspicion, he asked, “What—are you an informer?”

At each port, Semester at Sea organizes a welcome reception with the port universities and colleges. Not in Burma. One of the conditions for our visit is the agreement that we will not associate or meet with university students. Since 14 years ago when the young people organized and protested the military government, the doors to higher education have been closed. No universities have been here for decades. University campuses lie vacant, blown up and attacked during revolts, now just dead remnants of scholarship.
The new technical colleges recently opened have been moved 2 hours away from the capital to the isolated rice fields of Burma. Remote and uneducated, the people pose little threat to the strangle hold of the military.

There is a popular Burmese story among these peaceful and religious people. Some years ago, there was a famous and respected monk in the country, and three prominent generals often sought his council. In Theravada Buddhism, especially with a Burmese twist, the nats or spirits are highly respected and revered, and monks can see the past, the present and the future. On many occasions, these three generals from the military junta came to see the future of their lives and the rule of the country. However, being a strict and religious man, the monk refused to tell them—the future will unveil itself, he used to say. The generals were relentless, and the monk finally provided a bowl of water to these evil men. He said, “I will not tell you the future, but you may ask one question.” The generals asked who will rule Burma once the powerful and revered monk dies, and they quietly peered into the water. They thanked the monk and never spoke of the water ever again. Life in Burma continues and few people complain. “Life is suffering,” the Buddha preached, and people find a way to survive. Aung San Suu Kyi, the nationally elected woman president, remains under house arrest. The debate about whether or not we should go to Burma continues on our ship after our departure. The poor people appreciated our American dollars, but the government showcased the international tourism as tacit approval of the government. Burma was a life-changingly beautiful country—Myanmar indeed means golden land in Baman. The Burmese endure with such grace, and I am lucky to have been here. I am a smarter, wiser traveler because of this experience. In the end, the Burmese story has an open climax, just like Burma’s future—the great religious man and monk died 2 years ago. Still the people wait for their leader Aung San Suu Kyi to shine beyond the water and rise into the government, but the silence continues.