Tag Archives: Burma

Deciphering Place in Numbers: A Rosetta Stone in Annual Budget Reports

Posted on by

DSCF3635The opening pages of  the  1877-1878 report from the Superintendent of Lighthouses in British Burma reads like a novel:

“The most noteworthy event in the history of the year was the total destruction in 1877 of the Krishna Shoal light-house , on the south coast of Pegu.”

While this report was extracted from the “Proceedings of the Commissioner of British Burma in the Revenue Department”, it contained these wonderful narrative and descriptive elements:

“This light-house, built throughout of iron, and supported on screw piles, stood on the south-eastern point of the shoal from which it takes its name, the depth of water round it at low water being three fathoms, with a rise and fall of 12 feet, and a tide running six knots and hour. It was begun in 1868 and completed in May 1869 at a cost of 16,000 pounds , the light being shown for the first time on 10th June in the latter year.”

Previous inspections  suggested vulnerability due to scouring, and while  subsequent repairs were carried out by the Public Works Department, they  proved insufficient.  Another noteworthy event that year, (though apparently not the most noteworthy) was the murder of Mr. E.R. Woodcock, “the only European ligthkeeper stationed at Table Island lighthouse,” by one of the “menial employees” there.  There were both civil engineering and criminal mysteries to unravel in this tale!

I came across this Report on Lighthouses off the Coast of British Burma in the India Office Records at the British Library. Thought it was before my grandfather’s time working on lighthouses there, I read these pages with deep interest for the texture they contained.  John O’Brien, the archivist of the India Office Records, shared with me that many of the reports and correspondences of the 19th century carried a level of detail that later ones in the twentieth century lacked.

I was curious to know if similar accounts existed for public works projects in Burma in the 1920s and 1930s. O’Brien pointed me to an index of the Proceedings of the Government of Burma, Public Works Department which contained reports of correspondences until 1924. I requested the volumes from 1919-1924. In each of these volumes there was a section called “Establishment,” which included notes about engineer appointments and transfers, as well as a section on “Accounts”.

Continue reading →

Researching the India Office Records at the British Library- Time and Timelines

Posted on by

photo 1Eager to resume research from where I left off on Saturday,   I  arrived at the  British Library  bright and early at 9 am on photo 2Monday morning.   However, it didn’t open until 9:30, so grabbed some Vanilla Roobois Tea with Soy Milk at the Last Word cafe in front of library.  It was kind of fun watching the queue form of other researchers/writers  ready to start their work.

Once opened, we locked up our bags in the locker room and  I proceeded to the Asian and African Studies room with my clear plastic photo 4bag, only to discover on Mondays, this reading room doesn’t open until 10. (9:30 am the rest of the week).  Took the extra minutes to peer down from the top floor, and also  do a bit of wandering around.  I discovered a Map room that I hope to further explore.

photo 3When the Asian and African Studies reading room finally opened, I had a chance to meet Margaret Makepeace, the Lead Curator of East India Company records, who I had connected with over twitter @UntoldLives.  [Check out  the Untold Lives Blog]  She introduced me to John O’Brien, Curator of Post 1858 India Office Records, who had been of great help to me via email preparing for this trip.  It was nice to finally meet in person and discuss my project.

I then got straight  to work.  During the  early part of this week, I was largely been going through the yearly “Civil Lists,” where I had first located my grandfather’s name.  These volumes are broken into quarters for each year.  There is an index buried toward the end of each quarter, so I can look up “Narayanan” and find the listing of my grandfather, though the correct page number is not always provided.  I’ve found that his name can be listed in several locations 1) Under Burma Engineering Service 2) Under the Geographic Division where he was stationed 3) Under Officers on Leave, if he had taken any leave.

I’m slowly making my way through his entire service record, compiling notes in a massive spreadsheet, tracking changes over time.  I’m learning all the places he was posted, sometimes what project he was working on (i.e. lighthouses) changes in his salary, when he passed his Hindustani exam and received an ( h.) next to his name, when he passed his Burmese exam and received and (h.) ( b.)  next to his name.    I am grateful for each tiny fragment I am learning.

Equally as interesting is what is not contained in these records.  I learned that from July 1929- August 1930, my grandfather took a 13 month leave of absence.  Part of it was paid (A.P.- Average Pay), then H.P. (half pay), then unpaid.   There were other leaves noted during his service, but none of this length.  What did he do? Where did he go?

Continue reading →

Dispatches from London- An Introduction to the British Library

Posted on by

DSCF3564Greetings from London!

Several years ago when I was pursuing my MFA at Hunter, I attended these research seminars that were meant to show  the many resources available to us as creative writers.  I tried to make the best use of that time, attempting to find records of my paternal grandfather’s work as a civil engineer in Burma, before he quit to join the Freedom Movement in India. I was looking for historical documents that could shed light and add detail to tidbits of family narrative.  Most of my searches came up empty then.  I sent queries to other librarians, historians and scholars about my particular interests in Burmese Public Works projects and life in the 1920s and 1930s.  The responses I received were warm and inquisitive.  While they themselves did not have information that could help me, most thought my best bet would be the India Office at the British Library.   Since then, I’ve gathered more fragments of family history about this time which resulted in some answers, but even more questions,  pointing me once again to the British Library.   So here I am in London with the support of a Literature Travel Grant  (Thank you Jerome Foundation!)

The vastness of the  collections housed here—the legacy of colonialism—is  both impressing and unsettling.   With a  list of questions and gap-filled narratives, I arrived at the library with both hope  in the possibility of what I might find, but also fear of what I may not.   The fear is two-pronged: 1) that some records are truly and forever lost  and 2) that they are in fact here, but I won’t be able to find them.

I have spent a great part of the past year perusing historical records from a much smaller archive researching a different writing project, and even on that small scale, I never felt I had enough time to satisfy my increasing curiousity.  How does one even begin navigating the archives of an empire?  The British Library can be a bit overwhelming and distracting for inquisitive and wandering minds.  I’m trying to stay focused on the quest at hand, and not veer off into the stacks on Tamil literature, the encyclopedia of Hindu Architecture or Indian Cinema.  I thought I’d share some of my experiences from my first day. Continue reading →

Aung San Suu Kyi in Queens

Posted on by

Just after dawn on Saturday Morning, my brother and I arrived at the gates of the Colden Center at Queens College, where Aung San Suu Kyi was schedule to speak later in the morning. A crowd had already started to form. Burmese Americans traveled from near and far to greet her. Some camped overnight with picnic blankets and lawn chairs. The queue was colorful, dotted with vibrant sarongs and longyis matched with sandals and sneakers.   I spotted a tote bag bearing Aung San Suu Kyi’s face on one side, and her father, Aung San on the other.  Some came carrying red flags with the golden peacock, the symbol of the National League for Democracy. A few hundred had arrived and a few thousand were expected  to fill the hall during her Burmese address at 10:30 Am.

Prior to this, there was an event in English at 9 am, organized by Queens College at their Lefrak Concert Hall. Congressman Joseph Crowley, a Queens College graduate, hosted the program. Crowley, wearing a Saffron colored tie for the occasion, noted he, like Aung San Suu Kyi, was currently in the minority party in our legislature, and that maybe he and Daw Suu, the leader of Burma’s opposition party, should exchange notes. Crowley acknowledged both Secretary Clinton and former first Lady Laura Bush’s support for Burma, and hoped for more bipartisanship on this issue.

When Crowley  learned of Suu’s visit to the U.S. to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, he told her the people of New York wanted to see her. “We want to give you a very warm, a very Queens, New York City welcome.” Actress Angelica Huston read from Suu Kyi’s seminal essay “Freedom from Fear.” Christine Quinn, the first female speaker of NYC’s City Council, offered her gratitude to the newly elected Burmese MP.  The city council has been active on fighting repression in Burma, and  Quinn acknowledged comptroller John Liu in the audience who has been addressing this issue with respect to the city’s pension funds.

Quinn went on to tell Daw Suu the ways in which she has helped the city of New York. “To see what you have been through with an unbelievable amount of grace and dignity…It gives all of us strength and courage… and reminds all of us that faith and perseverance are always rewarded, ” Quinn said.  “I hope you know what you have done for the 8.4 million people living in New York City…Reminding us that we have power. Reminding us that our voice maters and we are citizens of the world… we are in your debt every day.”

Aung San Suu Kyi received a standing ovation and assumed her place at the podium. Dressed in dark green and black Burmese dress, with flowers in her hair, she addressed the crowd unscripted, giving a glimpse into the way her mind worked.

She began talking about her love of New York when she had lived here many decades ago. “I loved the city at a time when people thought it was terrible. It was the only city in the world where I never got lost.” When she first arrived in 1968, she remembered her surprise to see that New York, a city of skyscrapers, did in fact look exactly like the post cards. She had a similar feeling when she was brought to Insein Prison for the first time. She was surprised that prison was just like the places with iron bars she read about in books. She recognized the similarity in these two moments, not to say that prison reminded her of New York (it did not), but to note that we can be surprised when we discover first hand that things are just like what we have been told. This applies too to the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma.

“Many young Americans take it [democracy] for granted,” she said. “I always say to my friends who live in democratic countries: ‘Don’t take it for granted.’” She felt that those who didn’t vote showed “a lack of respect for a right you should guard with your life.” Democracy requires practice and we must practice our duty as a citizen. “Duty may sound like a boring word,” she said, “but duty is very stimulating if you really think about what duty is.” She argued challenges are exciting, and “the greatest challenges are the ones where you have to struggle with yourself.

Continue reading →

The Dancing Peacock

Posted on by

“As a child I would stand on the veranda of the house where I was born and watch the sky darken and listen to the grownups wax sentimental over smoky banks of massed rain clouds… When bathing in the rain was no longer one of the great pleasures of my existence, I knew I had left my childhood behind.”- Aung San Suu Kyi

Peter Popham’s recent biography of Aung San Suu Kyi, The Lady and the Peacock, touches briefly upon this childhood. Daw Suu lost her father, the venerable Burmese General, Aung San, in 1947 when she was only two years old, “too young to remember him.” Some of what she does remember, she no longer trusts as her own memories. “I think this may be a memory that was reinforced by people repeating it all the time. In other words, I was not allowed to forget.” As she would be constantly reminded in the many decades that came after, she was her father’s daughter, but it would not be until her mother’s death in 1988 , that she would come to realize the duty and responsibility of this role.

Popham captures the young Suu, searching for purpose in her early years in exile, first in school in Delhi, where her mother was appointed as Ambassador to Burma by the ruling leader Ne Win (presumably to get Aung San’s widow out of his way) and later at college in Oxford and working for the UN in New York. Popam notes that it was on a visit to Algiers while still at Oxford that Suu got her first exposure to struggle:

“Here was the politics of liberation, being enacted before her eyes in all its passion and difficulty. For the first time in her life her sympathies and energies were fully engaged, however briefly, as a participant in the sort of struggle that she was to find waiting for her in Burma twenty three years later.”

Before marrying Tibetan scholar Michael Aris in 1972, she warned him that one day she may need to serve her country.

“I only ask one thing, that should my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them.”

It would not be for many years that she would come to realize that need. Reflecting on her domestic life in England prior to her return to Burma in 1988, Suu said:

“We called someone vicious in a review for the Times Literary Supplement. We didn’t know what vicious was.”

When Suu returned to Burma at the age of forty-two to the bedside of her dying mother, she witnessed her homeland in the midst of a revolution. Some of the most engaging parts of Popham’s narrative are from what comes after: Suu’s beginning days in politics on the campaign trail with the newly formed National League of Democracy. Aris was unable to join his wife on this journey as he left for England to take care of their two sons, but encouraged Suu’s companion and assistant Ma Thanegi to keep a diary to keep him in the loop. Popham included large excerpts from these diaries, and they are filled with charm. Thanegi kept a record of the details of daily life, what they ate, where there was a proper bathroom (Suu told Thanegi she should write a book about the loos of Burma), and the silliness that emerged when two people spent a long time together in close quarters on the road. Thanegi observed subtle moments of Suu remembering the family she left to serve her country. We witness both Thanegi’s and Suu’s refreshing honesty and sense of humor in these pages.

Continue reading →

Uprisings in Egypt and Burma

Posted on by

Tonight I attended this discussion that examined the similarities and differences between what is happening now in Egypt with the 1988 student uprising and the 2007 Saffron Revolution in Burma.

The discussion covered the socioeconomic conditions of the two countries, the role of the military and the role of social media.

The poverty and unemployment rates in Egypt were presented and compared with Burma where 90% of the people live below poverty.  Burma has high infant mortality and child malnutrition as well.  In Egypt most households have electricity and water, which is not the case for Burma.  Out of the 80+ million people in Egypt, about 21 million are internet users, and 55 million people have access to cel phones.  In Burma, in 2004 it was estimated that less than one percent of the 55 million population  had access to the internet, though that number is increasing due to more internet cafes.

One member of the audience noted that Gmail and Facebook can be used, but yahoo is locked. Only secure web addresses are allowed.

Another gentlemen noted that in Egypt there is a common language of Arabic and there is a more digital media equipped to handle Arabic.  In Burma, there are many languages, and harder to both communicate within the country and outside.   English used to be spoken more (especially in the 1988 uprising). He also noted the difference between literacy (read, write and think) and functional literacy (read and write, but not think), which is what the military Junta advocates.

In the comparison of the two military forces, the big difference is that the Egypt’s military sided with the people instead of the government.   Soldiers in Egypt, receive a basic education, that includes political perspectives, and an understanding of the world.  Egypt requires compulsory military service, so perhaps that is why people respect the military, because all of their family members too had to serve.

In Burma, the military is large ( ~500,000) but that number is in decline.  Burma holds the largest number of child soldiers in the world (~70,000, from 2007 HRW).  Military used to maintain power.  They go through psychological training.  The military recruits orphans and children of rebels.  (Mention of ‘Tiger Schools’).

Nay Tin Myint, of the National League for Democracy ( Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party) was there to talk about the 1988 Uprisings.  He was a student at Rangoon University at the time.10,000 people had died, and there was no newspaper/tv coverage of the incident. There was no contact with the outside world.

They were able to end the Ne Win Regime.  But even after the 1990 Elections, which Aung San Suu Kyi won, the military put her under house arrest, arrested other political prisoners and held power.

Someone had asked, why did the activism seem to stop then.  Nay Tin Myint said, that those who continued were beaten and jailed.  He spent from 1989 to 2005 in  jail., seven of those years in solitary confinement.  There was lack of medical attention, lack of food. He was shackled and tortured daily.

The Military Junta employed a Four Cut Campaign ( cutting communication, food, resources, …)

But people still managed to communicate.  Another man discussed, the codes, he would use to meet up with someone.  His friend might scratch a lamp-post to indicate he wasn’t home, and he would leave a mark indicating he stopped by.Another way of organizing was by creating literature study groups and sharing books.

It was noted that 1988 uprising was inspired by 1986 events in Philippines.  And 1988 in Burma inspired 1989 in Tiananmen Square which later influenced Timor/Indonesia. (Just like Tunisia Inspired Egypt which is spreading elsewhere now too).

Nay Tin Myint noted that when he was release in 2005, other political prisoners too had been released and they were able to communicate with outside press, BBC, VOA, and Democratic Voice of Burma.  All of these are foreign radio stations.  Internal radio stations are censored.

Two monks were in attendance and one discussed the 2007 Saffron Revolution. He said that the number of monks in Burma roughly equals the number of soldiers.  The monks often come from rural areas and from the low to middle classes.

He noted three things that need to change in Burma.

1.) The low ranks of the military live in poor condition and receive poor education. It is important to educate them and change their ideology.  Perhaps then, they will stand with the people of Burma.

2.) Need technology and more access to Phone/Email/Fb.

3.) Take the opportunity to turn momentum into the Next Revolution  He noted that in 1988 they missed the opportunity to form an interim government. It would be important not to miss this the next time.

Open discussion talked about getting more books translated into Burmese language. Technology may be changing the way we transfer books too.

Discussion of music.  In Burma, “Dust in the Wind”, was a revolutionary song.  There is a strong Hip Hop movement in Burma today.

Folks from Digital Democracy were present and they noted that while social media has lots of potential, you have to be careful with it too.  It might be an easy way for a government to find out all the leaders of a movement and target them.

Hopefully the discussion will continue soon, and wonder what Malcolm Gladwell would think if he was here.