Monthly Archives: July 2014
Naypyitaw neighbourhoods
Written on July 31, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
In two days, both quite busy, I scarcely got to visit any Naypyitaw neighbourhoods – or zones (ministry, military, residential, hotel, etc) as they’re officially known. But I did travel about a bit and feel I’d like to note down some of what I saw, as much for the record as anything else. Less than…
Naypyitaw rising
Written on July 30, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Last week I was in Naypyitaw only very briefly, and for just the second time – but even a limited acquaintance is bound to stimulate thought. What, then, to make of a city that in December 2013 hosted the 27th Southeast Asian Games, in 2014 is the venue for a wealth of international meetings under…
Empowering parliamentarians
Written on July 29, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
In the middle of last week I was talking in Naypyitaw with MPs and parliamentary officials about problems of humanitarian intervention above all in Rakhine State. My trip was arranged by Martin Tuang and Bwe Doe Aye (Daniel) from Myanmar Scholarship Alumni Association’s Empowerment Program for Parliamentarians. I was impressed by the work EPP is…
MSF in Rakhine
Written on July 28, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Excellent news at the end of last week that MSF-Holland is being allowed to resume aid operations in Rakhine State. Unexpected, too, since the fierce drumbeat of grassroots public opinion ever since activities were suspended in late February has been not on any account to let that happen. Matters of detail still need to be…
New economic thinking
Written on July 25, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
It’s not quite a MOOC. Nevertheless, the University of Oxford’s Institute of New Economic Thinking is putting together a course on foundations of economics to be taught across five campuses starting from September. What makes it MOOC-like is that students from universities in countries as far apart as Brazil, India and the UK will study…
Thinking by writing
Written on July 24, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Ba Win, from Bard College in upstate New York, delivered a neat speech to a plenary session of last week’s Social Science Curriculum Working Group Meeting. I particularly liked the description he gave of a young Burmese student travelling to the US, as he did in 1965, and being required to think independently. It reminded…
Restoring the University of Yangon
Written on July 23, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
On May 19, 2012, presidential adviser and public intellectual U Myint issued a famous open letter calling for restoration of the University of Yangon to its former glory (when it was known as Rangoon University). He made a point of arguing for reconstruction of the Student Union building notoriously blown up by Ne Win on…
Rebuilding political science in Myanmar
Written on July 22, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
At the Social Science Curriculum Group Meeting at the end of last week, my main role was to participate in a working group looking at curriculum development for Myanmar’s nascent political science programme. In one form or another, this discipline was taught in Burma from 1920, when Rangoon University was formed, to 1962, when the…
Higher education reform in Myanmar
Written on July 21, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
In the two weeks to this past weekend, I participated in a couple of fascinating and stimulating events on higher education reform. The first was the Global Education Dialogue – Myanmar, which took place at Park Royal Hotel, Yangon on July 4-5, and was co-sponsored by the British Council and UNESCO. The second was a…
Refugee crisis
Written on July 18, 2014 at 12:05 am, by Ian Holliday
Also on refugees, but not directly related to Myanmar, is a recent New York Times op-ed by Sonia Nazario. The central claim is that what the US faces on its southern border with Mexico is not an immigration crisis, as many in Congress and the media would have us believe, but rather a refugee crisis….