Before I take off for Malaysia, I thought it would be worthwhile to post a general overview of the situation with Burmese refugees there, and what I will be doing.

My first trip to Malaysia was just over a year ago - I stayed there during November and December after I left Thailand, and before I returned home to the U.S. I went after being asked to do so by Victor, a Chin community leader who lives and works in Chiang Mai. The idea was to help the Chin Refugee Committee with improving their office operations - stuff like organizing, writing reports and grant applications etc. At least, I think that's what the idea was, although I'm not sure how much I actually helped with that. I did write up a few reports for grant applications, and I wrote a couple official letters to other agencies. I also helped facilitate a few meetings with the Executive Committee to determine priorities for the CRC's future development, and come up with ideas for restructuring the organization to fix some problems they were facing. Unforutanetly, many of these solutions, like having staff members who were focused on community outreach, and developing a communications strategy, required money that's hard to come by. The CRC was formed with the moral support of the UNHCR, and they were tasked with managing the Chin community and handling pre-registration of asylum-seekers, but to the best of my knowledge, that moral support was not backed up by financial support. All of the CRC staff were volunteers, working for room and board, and small stipends to cover some work related costs.   more »

I missed blogging about the video of Thandar Shwe's wedding video when it first hit the internet a few weeks ago. If you happened to have missed all the fuss, there are now multiple video clips from what would appear to be nearly an hour-long video up at YouTube. Odds are slim I'd be able to find the reference, but I seem to recall one commentator referring to the wedding of Senior General Than Shwe's daughter as having the style of the gaudy (or was it tacky?) nouveau-riche. That sums it up fairly accurately.

One of the YouTube users who's posted multiple clips of the wedding is maungde, from whom I received an email last week about his (or her) most recent video posting. Thanks to Google Earth, we are treated to rather clear footage via sattelite of the new capital of Naypyidaw, as well as the General's own home. The video clips go by pretty quick, so it's worth pausing at the end to get a decent look at his palace. It comes complete with an inground pool and what's likely a pool house, and more rooves than you could shake a stick at.   more »