My previous post on the Thai coup was somewhat hastily written before picking my mom up at the airport, and I haven't had much chance to make the follow-up that I'd hoped. My apologies for another hastily written update. An AP article in the Oregonian today reported that coup leader Sondhi Boonyaratkalin has announced that he will not call another election for at least a year. Presumably this year will be used to re-writed the constitution. The irony of postponing elections in order to draft a democratic constitution under military rule seems to be lost on them.   more »

I've come across two interesting articles recently that I thought I'd share. The first is from Dr. Habib Siddiqui writing at Burma Digest about the plight of Muslim Karens in Burma. Actually, its just a short post with photos, but I found it particularly interesting as it's the first I've heard of ethnic Karen who are Muslim.

By recent reports from the Free Burma Rangers, nearly 11,000 people have been displaced in the recent SPDC attacks in Karen State. It's not been big in the mainstream press, but there are certian Christian publications which tend to follow the events in eastern Burma, and as one would expect, have been following this most recent tragedy. It typically gets portrayed in the press that the Karen are Christian - a not untrue representation, but also not entirely accurate. I'm not personally fond of human rights issues such as this being given an overtly religious slant, as it tends to marginalize the stories of those who are not of the religion being representated. Christians are being persecuted in Burma, but so is everyone else.   more »

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced he was stepping down from his post on April 4th, after months of peaceful but adamant protests in Bangkok. His resignation followed closely on the election, which his party Thai Rak Thai won, but with a much smaller margin of approval than in any previous elections, and in which record numbers of abstention votes were cast in protest. The opposition parties had boycotted the election, essentially making it a referendum on Thaksin's leadership. There were enough abstentions in 39 districts that Thai Rak Thai members were unable to claim victory - parliament will be unable to convene until fresh elections are held in those districts.   more »

It seems there has been rising discontent among the people of Thailand recently, as a reported 100,000 came out in Bangkok to call for the Prime Ministers resignation. The protest was led by Sondhi Limthongkul, the media mogul who Thaksin tried to sue for defamation for publishing a letter which accused Thaksin's administration of being rife with corruption. Thaksin had also tried to sue a journalist for implying that he had been passing legislation which benefitted his own family's corporate interests. These lawsuits were dropped after His Majesty King Bhumibhol Adulyadej kindly suggested the PM listen to his critics instead of suing them.   more »

Looks like its time to turn our attention again to the Salween River. Early this past December the Thai government finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SPDC for the development of a series of hydropower dams on the Salween river. The Salween Watch site has all the dirt on the issue. S.H.A.N. has also published a great report on the public health ramifications of the proposed dams.

As one might expect, the dams will lead to massive displacement and loss of livelihood for locals in Shan and Karen States, as well as environmental destruction. Combined with the recent MoU Thailand signed to develop 17.5 million acres under a contract farming system in Shan State, one has to seriously question the current Thai administration's motivations and/or intelligence. It seems the dams are being built not only to produce electricity, which will be sent to Thailand, but are also intended to divert water to the Chao Praya basin, to be used in industrial operations in Thailand.   more »

The Shan Herald Agency for News has reported on a spate of land confiscations recently in Muse Township, near the Chinese border. So far, 175 households have lost about 620 acres of land. By logical deduction, most believe that this land has been taken as part of the 37,000 acres within Muse that have been earmarked for a rubber plantation - as part of the contract farming agreement that was reached last month between Burma and Thailand.

In the December 2 MoU, Burma agreed to reserve 17.5 million acres for Thailand, to be farmed under a contract system managed by Thailand. Burma supplies land and labor, Thailand takes care of infrastructure and ensures workers are underpaid. 17.5 million acres happens to be an area as large as Ireland. Thailand's Agriculture Minister Khun Ying Sudarat Keyuraphan says that it will be a 'win-win' situation. Burma gets jobs and money, Thailand gets cheap labor, sugarcane, oil palm, maize, cassava and rubber, and in theory, a stop-gap to keep so many Shan migrant workers from illegally fleeing to Thailand. And what do the people of Shan State get? Well, they now get the same crappy agricultural jobs they work in Thailand, with the added bonus of still being at the mercy of the Burmese military within their own borders!   more »

That's what being in Malaysia has been like so far. In Chiang Mai, I would sit on the floor at my Kachin friends' house, and Naw Kham would tell me traditional stories from the Jinghpaw, their tribe. Here in KL, I sit in the kitchen of the CRC offices and Zaw Zaw, a guy about my age who teaches the Chin children math in the afternoons, tells me stories about the times they'd all been arrested by the 'rayalah'. Somehow they are humorous stories. Like the time Roy, a skinny guy with dimples who laughs at nearly everything, escaped one of the raids after the rayalah officers had rounded up a group of people. Standing in the middle of the group, he slowly inched his way toward to the edge, where he ducked into the crowd of spectators and disappeared. Of course, retelling the story is not as funny as imagining Roy's face as he escapes with a sort of exaggerated nonchalance like a character in a black comedy. Roy has already been arrested twice in raids on the CRC office.   more »

I decided several months ago that I would return home at Christmas. As much as I love Chiang Mai, I was quite happy with this decision, and I felt I left myself plenty of time to plan my strategy for leaving. Because it does take a strategy, as much as I'm sure that for all appearances I seem to be operating according to no plan at all. But leaving, and saying goodbye to people and places is a complicated process, the only advantage of which is that it is a fairly predictable process. There's a certian range of emotions one has to go through, from being excited about going, and seeing new things, (or old friends), to falling in love all over again with the place and the people you're leaving behind. In between of course, are all the feelings of sadness and guilt at having to say goodbye to people you care about. But, I find that if you plan in advance and give yourself enough time to manage all the emotions of leaving, makes it easier to say goodbye without any regrets. Having time makes it easier to deal with the emotions one at a time.   more »

It seems Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Co., are single-handedly making Thailand as sue-happy as America. He currently has multiple (civil and criminal) lawsuits pending against various media figures.

The first lawsuit, filed last year, was lodged by Thaksin's own Shin Corp. against media reform activist Supinya Klangnarong. Shin Corp. is demanding 400 million baht in the civil case, alleging that Ms. Supinya had defamed the corporation by publishing comments that the companies profits had soared since Thaksin had taken office, and that certain government policies represented a conflict of interest, as they had directly benefited the PM's private businesses.   more »

The news from Burma's been pretty busy lately, but some of us have been to busy cleaning up to blog. You can get your news updates here.

Chiang Mai was inundated with floods, again, last week. The first flood hit early in August, and was reportedly the worst in 40 years, with the Ping river reaching about 4.75 meters. About three weeks ago we had another, smaller, flood. Then this past week there was another one, even worse, with the river hitting 5 meters. Luckily, sort of, we had more warning and did not actually lose anything. Except the nice new paint job we did after the first flood. The government even gave us a goody bag of supplies, with some prawn mama noodles, toilet paper, sardines, and soy milk. Mmm..thanks Mr. Thaksin, but can I just have the 100 baht in cash next time?   more »

The class I've been teaching for the last three months is no more. Originally, our plan was that I would volunteer with these guys, who are from the AKSYU, until I went home at Christmas - doing research training, and helping with editing or whatever else came up. But Tuesday night they cracked open the beer after dinner, and announced that there would be no more classes. A surprise going away party for me, I guess they thought beer would soften the blow. Its terribly dissapointing, for so many reasons. But, where they've been living has been operating as sort of a satellite office for their organizations, and there just isn't the funding to keep it open anymore.

Its also incredibly dissapointing to get this news a day after I read this. USAID has awarded the IRC an annual funding of $24.4 million for an "ambitious five-year program aimed at improving education and health services for Burmese refugees and migrants in Thailand." Part of this new program will also include working with local organizations on capacity building in the areas of education and health care.   more »

What is Books for Burma? Books for Burma is a project to bring educational resources to the people who need them - refugees and exiled activists who for political and financial reasons have been unable to continue their higher education.

You can read about some of my own students here. They're doing some great work here; research, community development, and journalism. But for the most part they have to learn as they go. Right now, the best chance they have for furthering their knowledge is through independent study. When the time comes, these guys, and others like them, will be on the front lines of rebuilding their nation - an education is not only something they deserve in its own right, but it is essential to the success of their cause and their nation.
   more »

The worst flood in 40 years hit Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand this weekend, and even yours truly and her cat are now staying with friends. The area from the Night Bazaar to the Airport was one of the hardest hit in Chiang Mai, being inundated with up to two meters of murky scummy river water in the deepest places. The flood lasted about two and half days, with the clean-up effort already begun yesterday. As a prime tourist destination, the government will be quick to clean up and restore order. With damages estimated at about 1 billion baht, the hardest hit will be small businesses, and workers in the night bazaar. Many of the workers in the night bazaar are fearing wage cuts, and loss of income from commissions. Its doubtful they'll be able to access official releif efforts without legal papers and id cards. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the the government issues emergency loans and funding to their employers to get their businesses up an running again. We'll just have to wait and see what will happen to the workers. I've also been told that an exiled Burmese human rights organization has also been hit hard by the flooding, their office being near the river and the Night Bazaar. Again, they won't be able to access official channels for releif, and must rely on the generosity of friends.   more »

The Salween dam, a proposed joint venture between Thailand and Burma, is back on the agenda after the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), has decided it's a good idea. There are innumerable reasons as to why this is the stupidest thing the Thai government has done of late, and I expect to be expounding on them in the future. In fact, it is an assigment I'm giving myself for the blog. So stay tuned. In the meantime, read more:

From Scorched Earth To Flooded Earth: The Generals' Dam On Burma's Salween River

Signature campaign to oppose the Salween Dam