Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Thant Myint-U tells the story of his family as well as modern Burma. He is critical of Burma’s present government but argues that engagement, not isolation, is the way forward.
Tell us about The River of Lost Footsteps.
Pascal had a rough time of it. Thant Myint U, by contrast, comes from a privileged family; his grandfather was the first Asian Secretary General of the UN. He grew up in New York and had never really lived in Burma.
Thant Myint U, the author, believes that engagement is the best way forward for Burma. Do you agree with him?
There is nothing wrong with engagement. If that would work, no one in his right mind would be against it. But it is wishful thinking. Burma doesn’t have the infrastructure to attract investment and tourism on a scale that would open it up. Businessmen aren’t going to invest for altruistic reasons and you can’t really make money in Burma as a foreign businessman. The book ends on this disappointing note about how Burma should change. Maybe he is correct theoretically but the reality is unfortunately very different.
After Thant Myint U’s grandfather died in 1974 there was a big disturbance in Burma. The generals didn’t want to give him a state funeral and the monks stepped in and helped seize his body in order to give him proper rites. We saw the mass uprising in 2007 involving the monks. The monks have always been active in Burmese politics haven’t they?
Well, the Burmese independence movement really gained momentum, shortly after the First World War, over the ‘Shoe Question’. The British decided that they had the right to walk into pagodas with their shoes on. That really ignited a lot of anti-British sentiment, because you don’t do that. The monks came to the fore of the movement saying: ‘These trouser people should not be walking into our pagodas with their shoes on; this is an insult.’ The shoe issue, more than imprisonment or executions, fired up the Burmese people against the British.
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Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist living in Thailand. He has reported on since the early 1980s. Bertil has written ten books and numerous articles on Asian current affairs and organised crime. Although blacklisted by the Burmese Junta in 1989, he remains one of the best-informed observers and sharpest critics on Burmese politics. Bertil tells the Browser which books to pick about Burma for a good introduction to an ethnically diverse country.
