Monthly Archives: May 2014
Democracy in India and Burma
Written on May 30, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
In the week of Narendra Modi’s swearing in as Indian prime minister, I’m reminded of a classic work of political science – Samuel P Huntington’s Political Order in Changing Societies, published nearly half a century ago in 1968. In particular I’m thinking of a brief passage on India (on page 84 of the book), in…
On the Way to School
Written on May 29, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
“Too often we forget how lucky we are to go to school.” It’s corny, I guess, but it also expresses an important truth. It’s how French director Pascal Plisson opens his lovely 2013 film Sur le chemin de l’école. The 75-minute documentary celebrates education simply by tracing the route to school taken by four children and their…
Bookstart in Myanmar
Written on May 28, 2014 at 12:01 am, by Ian Holliday
One key finding of the CESR 2012-13 rapid assessment (mentioned yesterday) was that there is very little preschool provision in Myanmar. This is the relevant sentence on page 21 of the report: “Preschool classes that support Basic Education had been opened in only 6.7 per cent of Basic Education schools by academic year 2011-2012.” Major…
Education matters
Written on May 27, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Education has been in the spotlight a fair bit recently in Myanmar, and by and large that’s a good thing. On four successive days last week, the Irrawaddy carried important stories. The first was favourable: launch of an education reform website linked to the Comprehensive Education Sector Review. The second was also welcome: announcement of…
Military reform in Indonesia – Dulyapak Preecharush
Written on May 26, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
In the late 1990s, the academic consensus was that military forces faced declining political power across Southeast Asia. In fact, subsequent years saw soldiers in the Philippines extend their socio-political privileges under the Arroyo administration, and in 2006 and again last week witnessed military coups in Thailand against governments led by Thaksin Shinawatra and members…
Burma at British Pathé
Written on May 23, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Talking about Burma on film, one major source of newsreels is British Pathé. Last month the archive uploaded its entire set of 85,000 films to its YouTube channel. The collection is also freely available on the British Pathé website. Shot across an 80-year period from 1896 to 1976, the films are an incomparable record of…
Workshop on Politics, Business and Human Rights in Myanmar
Written on May 22, 2014 at 5:18 pm, by Ian Holliday
Murdoch University
May 29, 2014
Myanmar’s politics and economy has been military dominated for some 50 years. With that weight now somewhat reduced, the country is in a state of rapid change. What are the opportunities and challenges? What does reform mean for markets and politics? How will poverty, inequality and rights be addressed? In this Workshop, four leading experts assess these questions and Myanmar’s future.
The Workshop will be followed by a reception to acknowledge the generous gift of 20 contemporary Myanmar paintings to the Asia Research Centre and Murdoch University by Professor Ian Holliday. All participants are welcome to join the reception and view a selection of these art works.
Assignment: Burma
Written on May 22, 2014 at 12:30 am, by Ian Holliday
A couple of days ago I crossed the campus to attend a screening of a documentary recently produced by the University of Southern California’s US-China Institute. It’s part of Assignment: China, a 10-film series on the work of American journalists. The sequence opens with the late civil war years at the end of the 1940s,…
wendylawyone.com
Written on May 21, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Excellent news for Myanmar watchers – Wendy Law-Yone has taken up blogging at wendylawyone.com. The author of a series of novels situated in key phases of the country’s modern history, Wendy has also published an acclaimed memoir of Burma viewed through the life of her father. As proprietor of The Nation, Edward Law-Yone was a…
Multiculturalism in Myanmar
Written on May 20, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Following up on yesterday’s post, I draw today on my article “Addressing Myanmar’s Citizenship Crisis”, which was published online by the Journal of Contemporary Asia about three months ago. The hard copy will appear later this year. It notes that while multiculturalism (Multikulti in the German shorthand) has often been pronounced dead by western politicians,…