A recent email from our friend S---,
"It's a common joke in Burma that the best way to find out what's happening in the country, is to leave...now writing from outside, I question that.
The little recent news that has leaked out of Burma's whisper-tight borders has left me less than optimistic. NGO's have been so far allowed to continue their reconstruction work, although the officially recognized disaster area has significantly lessened in size. It seems that aide is being held from particular areas, mainly Karin villages, possibly to "starve" off "undesirable" elements. It has also been reported that Aung San Su Kyi was allowed to meet with UN envoy Mr. Gambari, with no success to speak off. Many see such meetings as the Junta's way to gamble Su Kyi to rid western sanctions on party big wigs, and it is easy to assume that the State Peace and Development Council is waiting for Su Kyi to die under house arrest, as she is perhaps the only one able to unify Burma's remaining scattered and crippled resistance groups.
About two months ago I met a man who had just left the country, and sadly, his impressions were also a bit bleak. "Things seem to be sliding backwards, there's a feeling that we're heading back to the 'ol Ne Win days," he told me. Ne Win was the Junta's previous leader who oversaw a time when imports were outlawed and foreigners were lucky to obtain 48 hour visas. A time that most Burmese prefer to forget. It seems that as the current Junta head General Than Shwe grows older, his paranoia increases as his underlings tussle over power to take his throne. As for talk of democracy, like Su Kyi, it appears to be just another playing card in negotiations with concerned nations- unlikely to bring about any significant change.
But...all in all it is really hard to say. As we in the "outside" world cruise into this future of nearly free information access, Youtube now available in rural Pakistan and Google in the northwest coast of Ecuador, Burma somehow maintains their bizarre information hegemony. The only acceptable email services are run by the government, and all privately run Internet cafes are required to take a screen shot every 7 minutes to be submitted to the intelligence agency NIB. Sites such as Youtube, Yahoo and MSN are almost always blocked off. Local telephone lines are heavily monitored, and receiving an international phone call is highly unlikely. (Although, for a thousand US dollars one can acquire a cellphone sim card, a system entirely run by the government.) As for news, a few copies of last months Economist can be found at the bookstore- about a 4th of the pages gone. Some hotels do have the New York Times, with patchwork holes where articles about China, democracy, rebellion...or whatever...have been scissored out.
And of course surely it makes the SPDC comfortable that no one knows their ACTUAL ability to monitor. (I often wonder where the warehouses with rows of people cutting apart the newspapers are ....How do they feel about such a job?) I can say that in about a month's time, three undercover foreign Journalists were unmasked and deported, each leaving behind a reverberating paranoia among anyone they had spoken to. Confiscated bags, film cards and notebooks are left to the military-green uniformed airport staff (standing near a desk of already outdated computers still shrink-wrapped in original packaging). Helping a foreign journalist usually means prison, and sometimes violent harassment of family and friends.
So the updates I receive from friends and associates in country are almost always self censored- "things are ok...just ok" is a recent one. If someone were to write "Things are horrible, everyone is unhappy" the email likely wouldn't get through, even an interrogation could follow. On the other hand even if things are going relatively well, as long as the Junta is still calling the shots, things will be, at best "just ok".
Ultimately, inside the country or out its nearly impossible to know what's going on, how things work, who's in power when, etc ...and outside of the hyper paranoid ruling Junta, no one ever really has a clue. But one good thing about being outside Burma, is that one can be openly critical...and say things like "free burma" with out being deported and compromising the safety of others. Therefore:
FREE BURMA."
