YANGON: Unchaperoned teens, gay partners and sex workers – fictional characters in a new curriculum for Myanmar schools are causing a real-world tussle over morality in a deeply conservative nation. In Myanmar, sex out of wedlock is illegal, teenage dating is frowned upon by censorious elders and same-sex relations are still officially illegal. Yet sex […]
Myanmar to release 25,000 prisoners amid virus fears
April 30, 2020 by
YANGON — More than a quarter of Myanmar’s prison population is to be released, the president’s office announced Friday, as calls grow to ease pressure on overcrowded jails with coronavirus fears gripping the country. The Southeast Asian nation grants an annual pardon to thousands of prisoners to mark its April New Year holiday, but this […]
Online mystics cash in during Myanmar virus lockdown
April 30, 2020 by
YANGON: Myanmar lawyer Thiri had been excited about her wedding and new job this year – before the coronavirus threw both into doubt. With the stars very much unaligned, she turned to an astrology app for help. For a fee of a few dollars, Thiri’s online mystic advised the 26-year-old to carry out kind deeds […]
Civilians trapped as Myanmar rebels squabble over expected China boom
March 15, 2019 by
With artillery exploding around her village in Myanmar’s northeast, 70-year-old Nan Nyunt fled to a monastery, one of thousands of civilians trapped between rebel groups who are fighting for influence as a China-driven economic boom looms. “Houses were on fire and a buffalo died,” she told AFP, huddled on the floor with other elderly displaced […]
Muse: Myanmar’s militia-run, billion-dollar gateway to China
February 6, 2019 by
With tinted windows and their militia name emblazoned on the side of their Ford truck, “Pan Say” fighters cruise the sleazy streets of Muse, Myanmar’s main gateway to China and awash with weapons and cash from casinos, drugs and sex. Ten armed groups run the Shan State border town of Muse, which is separated by […]
What Does Myanmar’s ‘Biggest Ever’ Drug Bust Actually Mean?
January 25, 2018 by
On Thursday, the government of Myanmar announced what it claimed as the biggest recorded drug seizure in the country’s history. While the development does deserve mention as part of a wider ongoing crackdown by Naypyidaw, the focus on such record-breaking individual seizures also obscures the massive scale of the problem the country faces as well […]
Myanmar workers in Thailand victims of a broken system
July 18, 2017 by
MYAWADDY, Myanmar: With only meagre belongings stuffed into backpacks and duffel bags, tens of thousands of Myanmar migrants have streamed home across the Thai border over the past two weeks. But it is not a joyous homecoming for the truckloads of men and women, who fled Thailand in fear of a new law that hardens […]
Myanmar’s edible bird nest industry comes home to roost
June 14, 2017 by
The cries of amorous swiftlets echo around the dark room, an unlikely gold mine for traders in southern Myanmar who are cashing in on rising demand for the edible nests from China’s growing middle class. Dozens of buildings dedicated to the tiny birds have sprung up around Bokpyin in recent years, their grey concrete structures […]
