Mae Sot's Visitors

Mae Sot greeted a special guest late last week, Laura Bush. I was not overtly surprised to hear this news because she has always been a major advocate for peace in Burma. For example, after the cyclone that hit here in May, she became the voice of the administration when addressing the humanitarian crisis. The First Lady also seems to have a special bond with Aung San Suu Kyi, the female democracy leader who is under house arrest and who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. For these reasons, Laura Bush made a stop in Mae Sot, during the administration’s tour of Asia that coincided with the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. She first delivered aid to Doctor Cynthia’s prominent Mae Tao Clinic, a place where Burmese migrants can obtain free health care. From there, the First Lady traveled to a local refugee camp, to examine the camp’s conditions and again disperse aid. She also used this opportunity to make formal statements in an attempt to assure the stateless refugees and migrants that the west has not forgotten about them and that the United States is doing everything it can to bring peace, stability and democracy to Burma. Though encouraging it may have been to hear Mrs. Bush say this, many are skeptical to believe her promises can be fulfilled without actions, as the ruling junta has been deaf to the words of the west for far too long.

She was only in town for a few hours, yet her presence shut down Mae Sot for the entire day. We had to close our office because of the increase of Thai authorities that accompanied her, as we can not risk a potential raid the organization’s Burmese concentrated location. Just a few weeks ago, Thai officials rounded up 250 Burmese refugees and migrants to transport them back into Burma. Consequently, just about every other related NGO in Mae Sot was forced to follow suit. Because of the inconveniences that were created to facilitate Laura’s visit, many in the field here were upset that the First Lady would come here, as many claimed the visit was to strengthen her image or that she could have just sent a check in the mail. However, most of these criticisms came from international expats who dislike American Foreign Policy. I think her visit was important because she was able to take the situation in Burma and put back into international news. I also think the visit validates her sincerity to the issue because she her history as a pro Burma advocate. This aside, her visit gives hope to those suffering in Burma, showing that the world cares and that the victims should not give up.

A few days after Laura Bush’s visit, Mae Sot then welcomed the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana. This was an important moment for the NGOs here because no other special rapporteur had ever come to Mae Sot. Quintana spent a week in Burma meeting with junta officials and examining the human rights situation to the best of his ability. So after his visit there, he came to Mae Sot to have a panel discussion with the NGOs, in which we all shared our information and discussed strategies to solve Burma’s human rights problem. As our organization mediated his visit, we also had the opportunity to personally deliver the 2007 Burma Human Rights Yearbook to him. It was exciting to have reached our deadline in order to have presented our project to the UN when their representatives were here.

So, with all this commotion going on around Mae Sot, life has been very busy. Unfortunately too, I am entering my final week of work before heading to China on the 29th. It is going to be sad to say goodbye to everyone, especially since I have become so close to our local staff. Thus, it will be a tough week, yet very busy, since I still need to complete a couple of projects including a training seminar I am leading on the international norms of children’s rights for an upcoming project we are doing. I will be sure to let you know how it all wraps up.

Talk to ya soon! GO USA!

On the Inside

Hi Everyone,

On Saturday I went into Burma’s border town, Myawaddy, to renew my visa. I was eager to see what Myawaddy had to offer, even though I knew that it would not portray an objective representation of Burma. This is because Mywaddy is one of the few towns foreigners can get to from Thailand and the town is in an important location to facilitate Thai-Burma economic relations. In fact, the town is surrounded by check points that forbid any unauthorized people to leave the town, or get in for that matter.

Generally, the only westerners that enter Myawaddy are expats from Mae Sot that are looking to renew their visas, such as myself. The Burmese authorities are aware of this too, and are thus very suspicious of any foreigner that crosses Friendship Bridge (the bridge connecting Burma to Thailand). When one does cross, there are two ways in which he or she can see the town and experience the local culture; one can either hire a “guide” to tour the town, or one can choose to wonder solo, in which case he or she will be constantly followed and approached by other “guides” or border officers. And just so we are clear, by referring to a “guide”, I am in fact referring to an undercover junta officer, who is trying to obtain sensitive information from Mae Sot. I happened to choose the former of the two choices, because I felt that if I was going to be harassed, I might as well try to learn something about the town while I was there. My guide, Zaw, was very educated, spoke great English, and taught me a lot about Burmese Buddhism. However, he was overtly interested in what I was doing in Mae Sot and what my background was in Burma. When I told him that I was only a backpacker taking a holiday before going to China to teach English, he just laughed. Throughout the day Zaw would occasionally make controversial comments about the military regime, in an attempt to bate me into saying something I shouldn’t. At first, I just played dumb and would pretend not to know what he was talking about. Although, this strategy only lasted about a half an hour, as after one comment Zaw made about a recent political protest, he looked at me and said “and I already know you know all about these things.” I was left speechless.

From what I did see of Mywaddy, it was clean, full of beautiful Buddhist monasteries, surrounded by luscious rice fields, and the people were all so happy and friendly. Based on my surroundings I never would have known that I was in the country that is host to the longest lasting current civil war. However, on multiple occasions, when I would suggest wondering through a different area of town, Zaw would refuse, and at one point he claimed I was not allowed to see certain parts of Myawaddy. As you can imagine, I felt uncomfortable throughout the entire day. To me, Mywaddy was just a façade to the rest of the country, of what lays behind the check point only a couple of miles away. The day ended with Zaw and me walking through the lovely day market, checking out some local tea shops and the two of us sitting down to a cold Myanmar beer. After paying for the beers, and giving Zaw a small tip, I was back on Friendship Bridge, where I could again see some of the poverty stricken areas I had not been allowed, along with the young men and women who were desperately floating on their inner tubes back and forth across the muddy river. This final perspective of Myawaddy would only reinforce the obvious charade that the Burmese authorities were desperately trying to convey.

I still have not fully processed my day in Mywaddy, and before I knew it I was back in Mae Sot. Work has continued to be great, and we are ready to submit the 2007 Burma Human Rights Yearbook next week to the United Nations, so we are pretty excited about that. Aside from work, life is getting stranger because I arrived at roughly the same time as group of people whom I became good friends with, and now, every week someone is leaving, making the group that much smaller. It’s weird, I feel like I am playing Survivor or something!

Anyways, I have to get back to work now and I am sorry that I have not had a chance to post in a while. I will definitely write more in the next few weeks. Well, hope all is well and I will hopefully talk to you soon.

Cheers,