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2 SPEAKING
FREELY Theater of the absurd in
Myanmar By Nancy Hudson-Rodd
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
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contributing.
The Disciplined
Democracy Play, directed by President Thein
Sein, formerly General Thein Sein, is a new
production in Myanmar's theater of the absurd.
Theatrical troupes, formerly troops, are
stationed all over Myanmar to ensure everyone
learns their new lines, follows the new script.
Well, nearly everyone. Not the 808,075 Muslim
residents who have been pretending to be citizens
in Rakhine, formerly Arakan state, for
generations. There were no parts in the old play
and no parts for them in the new play. They should have
realized this much
earlier when the directors of past plays were
grabbing land off the Muslim farmers, giving it to
army friends for business, and poor Buddhist urban
residents to start farms with free labor of the
displaced farmers.
The United Nations
Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and High
Commission for Refugees have been acting as agents
for these people with no success. It has been
difficult for the director and his regional
troupes to interest the country's more than
300,000 internally displaced people. Living in
theaters of war, they have been preoccupied with
avoiding landmines, just surviving, not giving
their full attention to performing in the new
democracy play. Some do not even know there is a
new play being produced by director Thein Sein.
Other individuals and groups who over-act
their new roles are quickly slapped down. Silly
really, but some actors in the new "democratic"
Myanmar get caught up in acting out the
participatory ideas of democracy and freedom in
life. Few actors have as much technical expertise,
skill and practice as army men following the
script. Other actors living rough with few acting
jobs available were out of practice. Until now
there was only one theater for decades giving
re-runs of old plays in which soldiers always had
acting roles.
Taking liberties, some go
beyond the strictly scripted plot of the new
disciplined democracy. Some are too excitable,
thinking they are now able to speak and act
freely. They can be forgiven for forgetting who
the director, producer, actors and funders are in
this grand drama. President Thein Sein, former
prime minister of the previous ruling junta, is
now internationally recognized as a reformist
director who cares for his actors, urges them to
participate, and wants the best for them. But many
actors do not know what is best for them or for
the play. They get carried away going off on
individual tangents, with some even bold enough to
try writing their own scripts.
General
Thein Sein, supported by his military colleagues,
envisioned a new drama. "The emergence of the
state constitution" may have been "the chief duty
of all citizens", as prominently displayed on
every article, newspaper and book published in
Myanmar since 1991. But it was Thein Sein's
strength of character that got the 2008
Constitution script successfully completed after
years of delays. This was a big venture. Several
eager writers needed to be jailed for questioning
the direction of the plot or challenging the
contents, arguing there needed to be more diverse
character roles. These people were jealous of the
large number of acting roles granted to military
friends of General Thein Sein and his supporters.
So many citizens, all with different ideas
of what should be in the play. It was too messy,
best to be guided by General Thein Sein, who had
the skills and technical ability to write the
perfect play. Script writers' advisors were
carefully chosen from all parts of the country for
their compliance with the direction of the play.
Reporters, photographers and journalists
were rightfully denied access to the script
writing sessions and pre-emptively jailed,
preventing them leaking exciting plot ideas to
other citizens before the script was completed.
Other individuals needed to be jailed for speaking
to foreign media on their illegal phones. It
became clear that only General Thein Sein and his
army had the security system in place to ensure
copyright of a clean, proper script.
Free
expression could jeopardize successful script
writing and deny fulfilment of the grand vision.
General Thein Sein and army supporters of the 2008
Constitution script wanted recognition of its
greatness. In the face of a great natural
calamity, Cyclone Nargis, destroying land, killing
people, and making many thousands homeless, the
citizens who barely survived were asked to vote.
Other citizens who put their efforts into
providing tents, clean water, and food to cyclone
survivors were jailed as they detracted from the
main play. They did not vote. U Myint Aye, for
one, was jailed for raising and distributing
relief aid to cyclone survivors. He ignored state
direction, teaching citizens a script of
individual freedoms and rights. His sentence of
life imprisonment plus eight years should be
enough time for him to learn new lines. He is able
to concentrate on new lines in Loikaw Prison, not
disturbed by visitors.
Over 90% of the
population responded in favor of the new script.
Trouble-makers argued the vote was not accurate.
They demanded another script. These citizens
needed to be jailed for the good of the theater.
To satisfy the citizens, a countrywide election
was held, voting overwhelmingly in support of the
theater's directors. The play, however, required
some costume changes. The director, General Thein
Sein, gave up his military suit to wear a
traditional longyi as new President Thein Sein.
Army supporters were so good in their old roles
they kept their lines and military costumes, even
when sitting in the new 'civilian' parliament.
Disciplined actors Actors must
be disciplined, as acting is a serious profession.
Few citizens in the people's disciplined democracy
of Myanmar know how to act freely like the
director wants. Citizens are such poor learners;
they often refuse to follow the director's script
and some keep trying to write their own script. So
the new reformist director prominently displays
the following daily reminder in the state
mouthpiece newspaper New Light of Myanmar:
True Patriotism. It is very
important for every one of the nation regardless
of the place he lives to have strong Union
Spirit. Only Union Spirit is the true patriotism
all the nationalities will have to
safeguard.
Many free thinkers are held
in prison, allowing them time to reconsider their
radical ideas and come around to the national
script of true patriotism. International play
followers are impressed with the director's
liberalizing of the press and media in Myanmar.
Obviously he wants all to have a part in scripting
the democracy play. For so long citizens had been
told what to think, watch, listen to, write, what
not to think, not to listen to, not to watch, not
to write, when and where to think and write, that
it was confusing. The director and his team
clarified what the writers' roles were in the new
play:
The Myanmar Writers Association
which has been restructured to be commensurate
with the age must heart and soul serve the
country, people, the literary world and the men
of letters based on the nationalist fervor as it
preserves legacy and fine traditions of Myanmar
Writers and Journalist Association.
Journalists should lead to unity in
democracy in the interests of the country based on
the national cause. The Section (354a) states that
every citizen shall be at liberty in expressing
and publishing freely their convictions and
opinions if not contrary to the laws enacted for
Union security, prevalence of law and order,
community peace and tranquillity or public order
(New Light of Myanmar June 17, 2012).
Writers are most recalcitrant patriots.
The essential task of a writer is to look at the
world from his or her own independent point of
view, to tell the truth as she/he sees it, and to
keep watch in the interest of the society as a
whole. Writers find it difficult to follow the
script and many keep getting their lines wrong or
ignore the play's direction. International theater
lovers are impressed with the new script, as they
initially were not expecting much from the
director.
Yet when local writers failed to
play by the rules, the theatrical foundation,
known as the Press Security and Registration
Department (PSRD), stepped in. On August 6
officials of the PSRD said it had no option but to
suspend two weekly journals, Voice Weekly and
Envoy Journal, as "punishment for breaking the
44th directives of the central supervisory
committee". The writers mistakenly thought that
speech and expression was free in Act One of the
play.
As in past plays, the motherland
must be protected from free thought. The local
press went feral for about a month during the 1988
peaceful demonstrations. Writers left the state
press and started to think and express independent
views. The military soon made writers follow the
script. General Saw Maung, leader of The State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), decreed on
June 19, 1989 that the country's new name be
Myanmar. He re-instated the Working People's Daily
(Lok-tha Pyei-thu Nei-zin), shed the socialist
image, and re-named the state newspaper The New
Light of Myanmar (Myanma Alin) in 1993.
General Saw Maung, chairman of SLORC, made
international headlines for his strong leadership
that ended the nation's street disruptions, put an
end to demands for democracy, free and fair
multiparty elections and an end to oppressive
dictatorship which had decimated the economy and
abused the people for 26 years.
On August
8, 1988 millions marched in peaceful protests, a
nationwide general strike in all major cities of
what was still known as Burma. They were closely
watched by armed soldiers. A student demonstrator
reported at the time that: "We in turn, many
thousands of us, knelt down in front of the
soldiers. We sang to them. We love you. You are
our brothers. All we want is freedom. You are the
people's army; come to our side ... all we want is
democracy."
Near midnight the heavily
armed troops began a four-day massacre. They fired
into crowds of men, women, and children gathered
outside Rangoon's city hall. Burton Levin, United
States Ambassador in Burma, 1991 reported: "I saw
soldiers hunting down students on the streets and
people huddled behind trees being picked off by
snipers in buildings across the street." Students,
doctors, nurses, ordinary people were murdered,
shot at point blank range. The military swept
through Rangoon, collected unidentified bodies of
the dead, threw them in the back of their trucks
and transported them to the crematorium.
General Saw Maung (Bangkok Post, November
15, 1990) explained the script of the time. He
ordered soldiers to shoot citizens. "Someone might
say, 'Look friend, please do not shoot.' Well that
is not the way it works."
There was no
official investigation into the military's killing
of innocent people in 1988. No person was held
responsible for the murders. No military leader
questioned. No charges made. No changes made in
the structure. No explanation or apology given to
parents who lost their children. No burial
ceremonies. No mourning allowed.
Image
over substance After years of bad reviews
for forced labor, rape, and pillage of the
citizens, the SLORC was desperate to gain
international respect. They bought a new name, the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), from a
large American consulting firm. How very modern of
the directors to buy a softer image without
needing to change the plot or direction of the
play, only the name. They realized that image
trumps substance. People can be fooled. It is all
in the marketing.
However, plays staged
under the SPDC production name continued to get
poor international reviews from "so-called" expert
groups like the United Nations Special Rapporteurs
for Human Rights, the International Labor
Organization, the World Health Organization,
Medecins Sans Frontiers, the International
Committee of the Red Cross, Physicians for Human
Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines,
Transparency International, and the International
Trade Union Federation, to name a few. Some
foreign governments, not understanding the true
culture of Myanmar and its people, took the strong
stand that the plays were so bad that it was a
poor business decision and warned corporations
from investing in them.
The new democracy
play is proving to be a smash international hit.
Director Thein Sein has attracted international
financial support for his current production. Many
dignitaries want to meet him. Government leaders
who once had laws against investing in the country
are now lining up to meet the director, an
opportunity to introduce CEOs keen to finance the
new play. Director Thein Sein entertains foreign
guests on his golden throne in the grand Naypyidaw
film, set home to all the former generals who live
in opulent isolation. Citizens follow the exploits
of their leading stars in the New Light of
Myanmar.
China has always supported its
neighbor for mutual benefit. Leaders understand a
good play and the need to direct the actors. They
know strong military support is necessary to
maintain rule. Directors know money is needed to
support the lifestyles of their family and
friends, crucial to holding the theater together.
Director Thein Sein is lucky. The Constitution
script guarantees state ownership of all land. His
playground is endowed with rich natural resources,
including cheap labor, which he can sell off to
his military supporters, local and foreign
investors.
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