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Voices Against Injustice

Edited by the Thanakha Team, ALTASEAN Burma (Alternative Network on Burma), June 2003, Bangkok. 187 pages including the covers.

What I thought to be another report of the ongoing violations of civil and human rights in Myanmar is actually a dark journey into the minds of human beings. This slim volume documents the lives of Burmese women from various ethnicities, of their struggles in coping with a cruel regime, while struggling to maintain their personal integrity and unwavering hope for a better future.

This anthology consists of testimonials, personal stories and opinions of Burmese women from within and beyond the borders of Myanmar. Some of these women were writing from the Thai-Burmese border, with at least one writing from Bangladesh, another from India, some from Bangkok, and the more fortunate ones from the resettlements in Canada and Australia. Fortunate or not, these women share one hope of seeing the installation of a democratic institution in their homeland.

Many of these women, despite being intelligent and versatile, were denied higher education due to the unrest in their country, economic oppression and enforced statelessness. Women from ethnic minorities found themselves doubly oppressed, being both suppressed within their community and by the military junta's programme of genocide. We read of Burmese women who scrapped for living as traders, teachers, nurses and NGO workers, while the hapless ones were sold into the flesh trade as sex slaves and to other exploitative work, to repay the debts of their families. These young girls and their families are mostly illiterate and poor, having almost no understanding of the economics of money or their rights, caught as they were in a vicious cycle of indigence and debt. Hence they never realised that they were being cheated off their money and their virtue until it is too late. Many of these women sold into brothels were not given a second chance to regain their lives and to earn a decent living, as they are ostracised by their communities for circumstances beyond their control. However, it is heartening to note that there are other Burmese women who are fighting to help free these unfortunate women and assist them in regaining their dignity. People from outside are beginning to pay attention to their plight.

The beauty in the stories told by these women of Burman, Chin, Karen, Mon, Rohingya and other ethnic origins is that it emphasised the importance of rights for women to attain a truly democratic society. While some of these writers have been to universities at least for a short while or longer, some of them only finished primary school or high school in rather straitened circumstances- without the kind of facilities that we women in Malaysia enjoy. Many of them would not have the leisure to study feminist theories nor would they have a chance to gain an academic understanding of the subject. Yet in their simplicity, they recognise that fighting for a society that is not truly egalitarian in every sense of the word -whether for the ethnic minorities or the women- will mean just replacing one oppressor for another. Status quo will remain and little progress made. The voices of the women are gradually increasing as they insist on active participation in the fight for freedom and democracy. They insist on being part of the decision-making. They insist that they be accounted for when their leaders, who usually are men, make decisions.

Could you imagine not having a car or any means of transport, no proper amenities, no proper food or water, and having to hike through the thick jungles in the darkness of the night to escape from junta's surveillance, therefore trekking for nights on end. Imagine not being able see your family again because doing so will jeopardise their safety. This sounds like Lord of The Rings transplanted onto Burmese soil. I am sure that a vast majority of Burmese might not even have the pleasure of watching this movie, especially not when electricity does not exist in their villages, or is supplied erratically. All forms of media is heavily censored and controlled in Myanmar. Most Burmese have no access to the Internet. If they have had the chance to watch this movie, they would have empathised totally with Frodo and his gang.

Women have been involved in many revolutionary processes, from Algeria to China, all over South East Asia, just to name a few places. Franz Fanon spoke of them in his book "Wretched of the Earth". Yet when peace is finally achieved, their voices are usually ignored. The writers in this book want to make sure that this will not happen to them.

Reading through this book is like watching several episodes of a docu-drama. The stories told highlight the problems faced by the Burmese faced by many societies, like domestic violence, drug abuse, prostitution, high commodity prices, slums, homelessness, and exploitative labour, just to name a few. The writers lament the waste laid to their land, with their children dying or corrupted by the unjust society that they are forced to live in. Natural resources are raped indiscriminately. Precious human resources are wasted with mass-killings. History replays itself through the narratives of these women, who range from over sixty to their early twenties.