CANR
WORK TITLE: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF BURMA
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CA 271
http://www.ipacademy.org/about-ipa/people/thant-myint-u
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born January 31, 1966, in New York, NY.
EDUCATION:Harvard University, undergraduate degree, 1988; Trinity College, Cambridge, Ph.D., 1996; attended the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Historian. United Nations, New York, NY, involved in peacekeeping operations, 1992-96, former policy advisor for Relief Fund, head of policy planning, principal office in executive office of Secretary-General, 2004-05; freelance writer; former advisor to President of Myanmar; Yangon Heritage Trust, Myanmar, founder and chairman; U Thant House, Yangon, Myanmar, founder and chairman; founding partner of Ava Advisory Group; Myanmar National Economic and Social Advisory Council, Yangon, member, 2012-16.
AWARDS:Fukuoka Grand Prize, 2015; Padma Shri, 2018.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, London Review of Books, New Statesman, Far Eastern Economic Review, Time, and the Times Literary Supplement. Author of foreword of books, including Seven Days in Myanmar: Thirty Photographers, 2014.
SIDELIGHTS
A writer and historian, Thant Myint-U was born January 31, 1966, in New York City to parents of Burmese descent. He grew up in Riverdale, just outside of Manhattan, living in the home of his maternal grandfather, U-Thant, who served as the Secretary- General of the United Nations. Despite living in the United States, the family maintained strong ties to their heritage, and within the confines of the house spoke their native language, ate, dressed, and behaved overall as if they were still living in Burma. As a result, when Myint-U first attended school at the age of five, he spoke no English at all and was forced to learn it from the beginning in order to keep up with his lessons. Myint-U’s first real experience with Burma came in 1974, when the family traveled back to their homeland in order to bury U-Thant, who had succumbed to lung cancer. Though he was familiar with the language and culture, the political situation was far different from what he was used to back in New York, and it was this aspect of his visit that had a profound effect on him.
In an interview on the Greg Lowe website, Myint-U remarked: “My introduction to Burma as a country was Burma in crisis.” Because U-Thant had been a respected figure in Burma, having served as that country’s UN ambassador two times, in addition to serving as Secretary-General for two terms, the current political leader, General Ne Win, feared his power even after his death and refused to allow an official state funeral to be held. The people revolted and filled the streets to pay their respects; ultimately the army stepped in and seized the coffin. Myint-U’s memories of that day represent his first glimpse into the political situation of his homeland, and how that could affect him and his family on a personal level. Later, as an adult, he would return to the border between Thailand and Burma in an effort to help students fleeing from the atrocities taking place in Burma. He spent time living in Bangkok, where he assisted in fund-raising efforts to accumulate food and medicine to donate to refugees. He also took a position working for the United Nations Relief Fund in New York, where he served as a policy advisor. But Myint-U’s primary goal remains to get the message out, and to share information so that people will become aware of the crises in various parts of the world. In that role, he has written for various periodicals, including the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, London Review of Books, New Statesman, Far Eastern Economic Review, Time, and the Times Literary Supplement. He is also the author of a number of books about Burma and other war-torn nations.
The Making of Modern Burma takes a look at the history of the nation from a new perspective that includes much of the information that has been discovered regarding the country’s past in recent decades. Myint- U looks at the politics and the culture of the country, as well as its role in the development of various social and state structures in the Konbaung dynasty of the late-eighteenth century. He discusses the more centralized qualities of the country during its unified history prior to the appearance of the British, who annexed the nation and divided it into Upper and Lower Burma. He looks at the effects of British imperialism, as well as the division on both the politics and the culture of the region. Upper Burma, in particular, was shaped largely by the installation of a British administration to oversee the government there.
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies critic Jorg Schendel found a number of factual errors or unsubstantiated statements to be jarring, but he concluded that “its greatest strength lies in connecting hitherto separated research agendas on precolonial and colonial Burma. Thant Myint-U’s thoughtful account raises fruitful questions and will stimulate the debate on modern Burmese history.” Pacific Affairs contributor Joseph Silverstein observed that “the strongest chapters were those which dealt with what Burma was like following each of the wars with Britain, especially his discussion of the impact of being cut off from the delta lands and other parts of lower Burma.”
In The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma, Myint-U offers readers a history of Burma, including an inside look at the political strife and the military takeover that effectively closed the nation off to the outside world. In 1962, General Ne Win set out to isolate the country, maintaining a military dictatorship that cracked down on any outside influence. In 1974, as a result of Ne Win’s refusal to allow a state funeral for U-Thant, the students rebelled against the military, and that skirmish, though quickly ended through brute force, proved to be an early indication of the way that the nation was beginning to descend into civil unrest. In 1988, there was another uprising, one that was far more brutal and lengthy, but that also ended through military force, though only after a great deal of bloodshed. Myint-U includes this information in his book, illustrating just how far the nation has fallen. He describes the lack of outside assistance during this time, when the United States sided with the military government, and only China spoke against what was happening within the borders of Burma.
Pico Iyer, in a review of the book for Time International, commented that “Thant is not by profession a writer and sometimes his pages are so clotted with detail that they read like a dusted-off doctoral thesis. But as a storehouse of facts about a history too little known, his book is fascinating.” Iyer went on to conclude that “he gives us both the savory details and the cruelties of colonialism, as well as a rare feel for palace intrigue.” Gilbert Taylor, writing for Booklist, concluded that “this readable, reflective history will support revived interest in Burma.”
Myint-U discusses the implications of Burma’s geographical location in his 2011 book, Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia. In the first of the book’s three parts, he offers information about the modern history of Burma. Next, Myint-U analyzes relations between Burma and China over centuries. In the final section, he examines Burmese-Indian relations, highlighting both nations’ histories of colonization. Myint-U highlights the importance of trade between Burma and the other two nations, emphasizing its impact on the rural areas of each of the countries. He explains that Burma has served as an important buffer between the two powerful countries of China and India. In addition to providing historical, political, and economic information about Burma, China, and India, Myint-U also recalls his own travels through the region. Among the journeys he describes are trips to Mandalay and Yangon, as well as to areas in China and India near the Burmese border. Myint-U discusses the long-running civil war in Burma and how it has affected foreign relations with its neighbors.
Allan Cho, reviewer in Library Journal, called the book “a highly readable and entertaining foray into the complex history of this ancient land.” Writing in Contemporary Southeast Asia, Hnin Wint Nyunt Hman commented: “Thant Myint-U’s book is essentially a travelogue. Yet readers who also expect a solid political, economic and strategic analysis of Myanmar’s relationship with China and India will not be disappointed. Indeed the author’s intricate weaving of the personal, the historical and the political both inform and captivate the audience.” Hman concluded: “Anyone interested in the rapidly evolving landscape of Asia has much to learn from this book.” “In a whirlwind tour through Burma’s history, politics, culture and geography, Myint-U makes a successful case for its importance in South Asia’s future,” remarked a Kirkus Reviews writer.
In the 2020 book, The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Twenty-first Century, Myint-U focuses on the turbulent period in Burma that was the 2010s. At the beginning of that decade, there was widespread optimism for the country’s future. A peaceful transfer of power from a military government to a civilian government seemed to be taking place. However, ethnic divisions, the drug trade, and political corruption derailed Burma’s upward trajectory and caused a civil war to break out. Thant analyzes the rule of Aung San Suu Kyi and highlights geopolitical and economic threats to the country. A Kirkus Reviews critic described the book as “a pointed analysis of a country that, though much in the news, remains a mystery to most outsiders.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Australian Journal of Political Science, November 1, 2002, David Scott Mathieson, review of The Making of Modern Burma, p. 587.
Booklist, December 15, 2006, Gilbert Taylor, review of The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma, p. 15.
Choice, July 1, 2007, S. Maxim, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 1965.
Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2012, Hnin Wint Nyunt Hman, review of Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, p. 139.
Entertainment Weekly, December 8, 2006, Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 101.
Far Eastern Economic Review, April 1, 2007, Bertil Lintner, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 66.
Geographical, May 1, 2007, Mick Herron, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 92.
Journal of Asian History, March 22, 2003, Michael W. Charney, review of The Making of Modern Burma, p. 106.
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, June 1, 2002, Jorg Schendel, review of The Making of Modern Burma, p. 370.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 889; August 15, 2011, review of Where China Meets India; September 15, 2019, review of The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Twenty-first Century.
Library Journal, October 1, 2011, Allan Cho, review of Where China Meets India, p. 93.
New Zealand International Review, July-August, 2013, Xin Chen, review of Where China Meets India, p. 28.
Pacific Affairs, December 22, 2002, Josef Silverstein, review of The Making of Modern Burma, p. 634; September 22, 2007, Robert S. Anderson, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 550.
Publishers Weekly, September 25, 2006, review of The River of Lost Footsteps, p. 54.
Spectator, March 10, 2007, “Brutal, Bankrupt Burma.”
Time International, January 22, 2007, Pico Iyer, “Alienated Nation,” p. 6.
Times Literary Supplement, April 13, 2007, “Meteoric Fall,” p. 30.
ONLINE
Catskill Review of Books, http://www.catskillreviewofbooks.com/ (February 3, 2008), review of The River of Lost Footsteps.
Generation 96 Blog, http://generation96.blogspot.com/ (October 31, 2007), “Free Burma.”
Greg Lowe, http://thegreglowe.com/ (March 11, 2008), “Thant Myint-U Interview.”
London Review of Books Online, http://www.lrb.co.uk/ (April 23, 2008), author profile.
New Mandela, http://rspas.anu.edu.au/ (December 14, 2006), Nicholas Farrelly, “New Book by Thant Myint-U.”
New York Times Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (December 13, 2006), William Grimes, review of The River of Lost Footsteps.
PEN American Center, http://www.pen.org/ (April 23, 2008), author profile.
Spock, http://www.spock.com/ (April 23, 2008), author profile.
U Thant House, https://www.uthanthouse.org/ (October 22, 2019), author profile.
We Want Forum, https://www.weforum.org/ (October 22, 2019), author profile.
Thant Myint-U is an award winning writer, historian, conservationist, and former advisor to the President of Myanmar.
He was named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the "100 Leading Global Thinkers" of 2013 and by Prospect Magazine as one of 50 "World Thinkers" of 2014. In June 2015 he was awarded the "Fukuoka Grand Prize", Japan's highest cultural prize and in May 2018 the "Padma Shri", one of India's highest civilian honours.
He is the Founder and Chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust, the Founder and Chairman of U Thant House, a Founding Partner of the Ava Advisory Group, and from 2012-2016 was a member of the (Myanmar) National Economic and Social Advisory Council. As a Special Advisor for the peace process he was part of the team that led negotiations towards the 2015 "Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement" between the Myanmar government and ethnic-minority insurgent armies.
Thant Myint-U is a Myanmar national but born in New York City to Burmese parents in 1966, 'returning' to Burma for the first time when he was eight years old. He was educated at Harvard and Cambridge University, where he completed his PhD in history in 1996.
He has served on three United Nations peacekeeping operations, in Cambodia and in the former Yugoslavia, as well as six years with the UN Secretariat in NY, including as the head of policy planning in the Department of Political Affairs. In 2004-5 he was the Principal Officer in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General responsible for the 2005 World Summit.
Thant Myint-U taught modern history for several years as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and is the author of three books, The Making of Modern Burma, The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma, and, most recently, Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, which was short-listed for the Asia Society's Bernard Schwartz Book Award in 2012.
Thant Myint-U
Founder and Partner, Ava Advisory Group
1987, BA, Harvard University; 1996, PhD, Cambridge University. 1994-99, Fellow, Trinity College Cambridge. Served on three United Nations peacekeeping operations (1992-93, Cambodia and 1994-95 and 1996, the former Yugoslavia). 2000-06, also served in UN Secretariat, New York, including as Chief of Policy Planning, Department of Political Affairs. Currently, Chairman, Yangon Heritage Trust. Member, (Myanmar) National Economic and Social Advisory Council. Special Adviser, Myanmar Peace Centre. Author: The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma; Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, Founding Partner, Ava Advisory Group.
The U Thant House Trust is a registered Myanmar non-governmental organization set up in 2012 by the family of U Thant. The Trust has been the official caretaker of the property since then. U Thant’s daughter, Daw Aye Aye Thant, serves as patron of the U Thant House Trust, which is managed by a board chaired by Dr. Thant Myint-U, historian and grandson of U Thant.
Patron:
Daw Aye Aye Thant, daughter of U Thant.
Honorary Senior Advisors:
Professor U Thaw Kaung (retired), served as the Chief Librarian of the Universities Central Library from 1969 until his retirement in December 1997. Honored with the “Sithu Award” by Myanmar Government in 2011. Member of the Myanmar Historical Commission.
U Nay Oke, having dedicated his life to teaching and education, the now retired serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Su Educational Institute and Executive Committee Member of the Educational Network of the National League for Democracy.
U Thant Kyaw, Former Deputy Foreign Minister (2012-16), was also previously the Ambassador to Belgium and Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and to the European Union in Brussels. As Myanmar Foreign Ministry Officer (since 1979), he served also in Washington DC, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo. He graduated from Rangoon University in 1976 with degrees in Arts and Science.
Board of Trustees:
Chairman: Dr. Thant Myint-U, historian, writer, and former Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge. Founder and Chairman of Yangon Heritage Trust, Former Chief of Policy Planning, United Nations. Department of Political Affairs, has served with three UN peacekeeping operations.
Dr. Thant Thaw Kaung, Executive Director of Myanmar Book Center and its philanthropic arm the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation dedicated to develop public libraries in Myanmar. Executive Committee Member of Daw Khin Kyi Foundation chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Daw Pyone Kathy Naing, Member of Parliament Lower House (Pyithu Hluttaw) representing Kalaw constituency and member of the International Relations Parliamentary Committee and the Asian Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Committee. Formerly director principle of Kanbawza Private High School. Previously held posts with INGOs in the fields of Education, Public Health, Small Industries and Agriculture in 1997-2004. Graduated from Yangon University with a major in English Literature and has participated in exchanges and study tours in Israel, Japan and the USA.
Daw Yin Myo Su, Founder of Inle Heritage Foundation and MD of Inle Princess Resort, Chairperson of the Inle Heritage Hospitality Vocational Training Center and an advocate for sustainable and responsible development practices that brings both social and economic benefit to local communities and ensures the preservation of the fragile, cultural heritage of Inle Lake and Shan State. Recipient of several local and international awards in recognition of her work in hospitality, heritage preservation, women’s empowerment and leadership.
Executive Director: Ms. Sofia Busch, Founder of the Beyond Ceasefires Initiative (Myanmar),
formerly held senior positions with the World Bank and the United Nations in Political Affairs in
New York, peace support mission in Nepal, and at UNESCAP in Bangkok. She received her academic training at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and Uppsala University and holds a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Research.
Board of Advisors:
Daw Chaw Kalyar, Principal Architect at Statement Architecture+Design, holds a MSc in
Architecture and Environmental Design of Buildings from Cardiff University, UK, and a BA from
Yangon Institute of Technology and has been working as an architect since 2001. She is an EC
member of the Myanmar Building Engineering Institute’ s Green Building Committee tasked with policy development, and a Board Member of the Yangon Heritage Trust.
Daw Melinda Tun, a Myanmar-born lawyer who specializes in corporate and commercial law.
She is a Partner in Opade Partners and has advised large multinational companies in the Asia-
Pacific region on major corporate transactions. She holds degrees in Economics and Law (Honours) from the University of Sydney and is admitted to legal practice in Australia. She has been managing law and regulatory reform programs for the Asia Development Bank in Myanmar since 2014.
Daw Mya Myitzu, Creative Director at M.ID, a company specialized in interior design. She was
trained in Interior Design in the California, USA and since her return to Myanmar, has worked on several high-end projects including restaurants and hotels. Several of her designs have been
nominated for Best Renovation by Property Awards.
U Pyi Wa Tun (Ken), Chairman and CEO of Parami Energy, holds an MBA from National
University of Singapore and Bachelor of Engineering from Yangon Institute of Technology.
Founder of the Pyin Nyaw DaYa Foundation supporting 1500 monastic community schools and
over 300,000 children in rural Myanmar. Ken Tun was named a “philanthropist hero” by
Forbes Magazine in 2017.
Daw Khin Sanda Win, Founder and MD of Sanda Group of Companies comprising Sanda Hotel
& Service, Inle Lake View Resort & Spa, The Loft Yangon and SandaTour. Chairperson of the
Myanmar Business Forum for the Hospitality and Tourism Industry. Founder of a vocational
training school dedicated to training young people from remote areas for employment in the
hospitality sector.
U Zaw Lin Myat, Architect, MArch, MSc Historic Preservation, Columbia University and BA Arch, UC Berkeley. He designed Wyne Hotel in Yangon and Hu Pin Resort Cottages in Inle Lake and has been sharing his knowledge in architecture and conservation policies as a visiting architect with Yangon Heritage Trust since 2013 and is committed to contribute his expertise in design to improve the built environment of Myanmar.
Staff and Associates:
Finance and Administrative Manager: Daw Soe Hay Mar Oo, previously Finance Officer with the
Beyond Ceasefires Initiative, and Accounts Officer with Myanmar Egress and Myanmar Yachting Federation, holds a Bachelor’s degree from Yangon Institute of Economics, and a Diploma and several certificates in Accounting, Financial Management and Reporting. Currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Development Studies at Yangon University’s Department of Economics.
House Manager: Daw San San Aye, was previously the Centre Manager at Keier Serviced Offices. In the past, she served as Sales Manager at Park Royal Hotel (Yangon), Tour Coordinator at Asia Global Travels & Tours and Myanmar Travel Ltd. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Pyay University and Diploma in Electrical Engineering (EC) from AGTI (Pyay)
Museum Coordinator: Daw (Pinky) Htet Myo Htut Aung, received her Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Greenwich (U.K.) and is an active musician and artist since 2013. Pinky comes from a family of musicians and has trained with Gitameit Music Center and Academy of Rock in Yangon. She speaks Burmese, English, French and Japanese fluently.
Program Coordinator: Daw Su Nwe (Luna), holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Yangon University of Economics and completed her MBA in 2017 from the same university. She has worked with various business organizations and NGOs as a freelance translator and research assistant since 2014. As a writer, she has written over 100 articles in local newspapers and journals and published two article collection books.
Program Coordinator: Daw Khin Htet Htet Lwin, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management and Marketing from the University of the West of England. Previously she worked as a content developer at Geek Girls Myanmar and as a marketing intern at Rocket Internet Myanmar. Passionate about children’s learning and she has volunteered with many organisations in the field of non-formal education including the British Council Library and the Dhammdutah (Mawbi).
Communications Consultant: Daw Theingi Lynn, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications. Previously she served as a communications manager with YHT. Formerly a journalist, Theingi Lynn still contributes to the Irrawaddy News, while also pursuing her own projects. As a member of US Ambassador’s Youth Council, Theingi has been part of various youth led community projects. She helps with U Thant House’s media relations on a part time basis.
Associates:
Associate (Guide): Daw Shine Min Tun, Coordinator at Ava Advisory Group, holds a Master of Business Administration from Yangon University’s Department of Economics. Previously she worked as Network Coordinator at Willis Tower Watson. Shine served as one of the first guides at U Thant House and has appeared in many broadcasts about U Thant House.
Associate (Guide): Daw (Ju Jue) Hnin Htet Htet Aung, Program Associate with the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, researching extractive industries. Previously she was a Myanmar analyst with Singapore consultancy firm Vriens and Partners. She has also served with the People’s Alliance for Credible Elections. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Dagon University.
Associate (Guide): Daw (Beauty) Myo Shwe Yi Wyne is a part-one medical student at Yangon University of Medicine.
Caretakers: U Than Zaw Htay and Daw Lae Lae Htwe come from Yè Sakhan village near Kyone Pyaw in the Irrawaddy delta, not far from Pantanaw and the birthplace of U Thant.
Thant Myint-U
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Thant Myint-U
Native name
သန့်မြင့်ဦး
Born
31 January 1966 (age 53)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater
Harvard University
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Johns Hopkins University
University of Cambridge
Occupation
Historian
Spouse(s)
Sofia Busch
Parent(s)
Tyn Myint-U
Aye Aye Thant
Relatives
U Thant (grandfather)
Khinlei Myint-U (sister)
A-thi Myint-U (sister)
Aye Myint Myint-U (sister)
Awards
Fukuoka Grand Prize
Padma Shri
Thant Myint-U (Burmese: သန့်မြင့်ဦး [θa̰ɴ mjɪ̰ɴ ʔú]; born 31 January 1966) is a Burmese historian, writer, a past fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, a former Adviser to the President of Myanmar, and the founder and chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust.[1] He is the author of four books, including the bestselling[2][3] and critically acclaimed The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma[4] and Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia[5]
He was named by the Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the "100 Leading Global Thinkers" of 2013 and by Prospect Magazine as one of 50 "World Thinkers" of 2014.[6][7] He was voted 15th in Prospect Magazine's subsequent poll of "World's Leading Thinkers"[8]
Contents
1
Early life and education
2
Career
3
Literary works
4
Awards and honours
5
References
Early life and education[edit]
Thant Myint-U was born in New York City to Burmese parents and is the grandson of former Secretary-General of the United Nations U Thant. He has three sisters.[9] He has always been a Myanmar national.[10]
He was educated at Harvard University, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cambridge. He received his PhD in History from Cambridge University in 1996, MA in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University and BSc in Government and Economics from Harvard University. From 1994-99 he was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,[11] where he taught Asian and British imperial history. He lectured extensively, including at Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, London University, the University of Chicago and the Australian National University.[12][13]
Career[edit]
He has served in three UN peacekeeping operations. He first worked with the UN from 1992-3, as a Human Rights Officer in the UN Transitional Authority for Cambodia in Phnom Penh. In 1994 he was the Chief Spokesman for the UN Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia, based in Sarajevo, and in 1996 was a Political Advisor in the Office of the UN's Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.[14]
In 2000 he joined the UN Secretariat in New York, working first in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and then in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, becoming in 2004 Chief of the Policy Planning Unit in that department.[15]
During this time he was a member of the secretariat of the Secretary-General's Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (High Level Threat Panel) which produced "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility".[16] In late 2005 and early 2006 he was briefly a Senior Officer in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General coordinating the establishment of the new Peacebuilding Commission, Peacebuilding Support Office, and the Mediation Support Unit, and other related reforms.[17]
Aside from being Chairman of the Yangon Heritage Trust, he was from 2011-5 a member of the (President of Myanmar's) National Economic and Social Advisory Council,[18] and a Special Advisor to the Myanmar government for the peace process at the Myanmar Peace Centre, a senior research fellow of the Myanmar Development Resources Institute, a member of the Fund Board of the (Myanmar) Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund.,[19] and the vice chairman of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for South East Asia. He has held visiting fellowships at Harvard University, the International Peace Institute in New York,[20] and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, was for many years a research associate of the Cambridge Centre for History and Economics, and is a research associate of the Cambridge Centre for South Asian Studies.[21]
Literary works[edit]
In addition to The River of Lost Footsteps and Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, he is also the author of The Making of Modern Burma (Cambridge University Press 2000) and The UN Secretariat: A Brief History (Lynne Rienner 2007).[22] He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times[23] the International Herald Tribune, The London Review of Books,[24] the New Statesman, the Far Eastern Economic Review, Time magazine[25] and The Times Literary Supplement. He was awarded the "Asia Pacific Awards" (Asian Affairs Research Council and Mainichi Newspapers) "Special Prize" in November 2014 for "Where China Meets India".[26]
Awards and honours[edit]
Fukuoka Prize (2015)[27]
Padma Shri (2018)[28]
QUOTED: "a pointed analysis of a country that, though much in the news, remains a mystery to most outsiders."
Myint-U, Thant THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF BURMA Norton (Adult Nonfiction) $27.95 11, 12 ISBN: 978-1-324-00329-8
Recent developments in a South Asian country that, the author suggests, is unduly shackled by the past.
At the beginning of the 2010s, writes Myint-U (Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia, 2012, etc.), everything seemed to be looking up for his nation: An entrenched military government was giving up power to a civilian one, and "everybody, at least in the West, began to believe that the country was in the midst of an astonishing transformation." Alas, Burma, endowed with some of the planet's greatest biodiversity, is also riven by ethnic tensions and politics colored by money, much of it from the trade in opium-based drugs. In Burmese thought, writes the author, "kala" has an important role--that is, a notion of overarching ethnicity that sharply separates people into clans, tribes, groups of others. Colonizing powers reinforced this division. As the author notes, during World II, Japan backed the Arakanese Buddhists while the British armed the Muslims who are now in the headlines as the Rohingya. These groups continue to clash, with recent ethnic violence forcing untold hundreds of thousands of Burmese Muslims to take refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. The world found much hope in the freeing of former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, who became a member of parliament and then president. However, writes the author, she has since practiced politics pretty much as usual, seeking a reconciliation between her party and the all-powerful military and emphasizing "at every opportunity that she loved the army…and that she wanted more than anything to see it stronger and more respected than ever." The conflict rages on, not just internally, but also with an encroaching China. So does economic anxiety, as the government "advocated liberalization and a welcoming of foreign investment" but refused to abandon cronyism and bureaucratic micromanagement. The author calls Burma an "unfinished nation," and the description seems apt.
A pointed analysis of a country that, though much in the news, remains a mystery to most outsiders.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Myint-U, Thant: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF BURMA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2019. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A599964339/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ad981550. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A599964339
QUOTED: "a highly readable and entertaining foray into the complex history of this ancient land."
Thant Myint-U. Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia. Farrar. 2011. c.320p, maps. index. ISBN 9780374299071. $27. INT AFFAIRS
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Interweaving the history and geography of Burma (Myanmar) with a travel memoir, Thant (The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma) narrates the compelling story of his journey through this rapidly evolving region rich in culture and heritage. Since the earliest days of China and India, parts of each nation and Burma have made up an expansive frontier that stretches across the Himalayas, made up of jungle, hostile tribes, and remote inland kingdoms. The book reveals that, since World War II, as Burma's once impenetrable land of forests and roads has been replaced by shopping malls, cosmopolitan cities, and a modernized economy, this region of many cultures and religions has experienced a tectonic shift. Examining Burma from its days as a colony to its current status as a modern nation-state, Thant reveals just how important this small nation has become to China and India as they position themselves for supremacy in the 21st century. VERDICT A highly readable and entertaining foray into the complex history of this ancient land, this book will be of interest to lovers of history and travel writing.--Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver
Cho, Allan
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Cho, Allan. "Thant Myint-U. Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia." Library Journal, 1 Oct. 2011, p. 93+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A268651181/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f29dc67c. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A268651181
WHERE CHINA MEETS INDIA: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia
Author: Thant Myint-U
Published by: Faber and Faber, London 2011, 358pp, US$18 (hb), $13.40 (pb).
The recent armed conflict, escalating from a ground war to airstrikes, between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myanmar's (Burma's) armed forces has added more uncertainty to the prospect of the truce talks between the two sides. The crisis in Kachin state has meanwhile heightened Chinas dismay over the intensified unrest along its ethnically-diverse south-west border. China is also being torn between supporting Myanmar's government and maintaining business ties with the Kachins. India, too, has reportedly registered discomfiture over a similar dilemma of endorsing the punitive action against the KIA but risking pushing the latter deeper into alliance with ethnic insurgent groups in its own troubled north-east or tacitly backing the Kachins but compromising its effort to catch up with Chinas comprehensive and already well implemented relationship with Myanmar.
All the above has highlighted an intricate link in the interactions among the three neighbouring countries that Thant Myint-U (grandson of former UN Secretary-General U Thant) argues is largely overlooked internationally. Much has been said and written about the intentions, approaches, and potential regional and international consequences of the Myanmar-China-India three-way engagement and competition. Critical comments focus on Beijing's diplomatic and economic support of the 'padah' regime for access to Burma's natural resources and the Indian Ocean. In that regard, the former junta and the current quasi-civilian government of Myanmar are typically criticised as well for their exploitation of Chinas hunger for energy and anxiety over the 'Malacca dilemma' to offset international pressure for democratic reform and human rights compliance. India, on the other hand, seems to attract both sympathy and disappointment for its lack of the political and economic muscle to knock Myanmar off Chinas orbit and balance Chinas rising profile as a 'two-ocean' country.
There is little doubt that China sees an energy/resource conduit through Myanmar as a strategic hedge against its over-dependence on the Malacca Strait. Yet in his book, Thant Myint-U accompanies his readers surely and rightly through the meanders of another related daunting challenge that China hopes that its involvement in Myanmar may help meet. That challenge is to redress effectively Chinas inter-regional economic imbalance and income disparity between its prosperous east coast and still poverty-stricken west interior. An important item on the 'Go West' agenda is to make China a 'bi-coastal' county Myanmar, sitting on top of the Bay of Bengal, is seen as a new outlet to the sea for landlocked south-western China. Meanwhile, Yunnan province, which shares a 2000-kilometre border with Myanmar, is also emerging from being Chinas backwater to become 'a new regional hub' for South and South-east Asia. Thant Myint-U's study, however, shows that Chinas push across Myanmar is not intended simply for securing more resource/energy supplies or seizing new markets for the continued growth of its economic strength. Myanmar, rather, neighbours Chinas largest concentration of ethnic minorities, the province of Yunnan, which once impressed Marco Polo as a place totally outside the Chinese civilisation. To a great extent, the modern history of this frontier province has indeed been a history of tribal wars and integration with China proper. Today, ethnic minorities in Yunnan are arguably more assimilated into mainstream Chinese society than at any time in history. Nevertheless, Beijing remains worried that Chinas rapid but imbalanced economic growth may widen ethnic divisions in this province. The worst nightmare for the Chinese government remains that China follows in the footsteps of the former Soviet Union. Billions in annual national budgets have thus been channelled to Yunnan for its economic progress.
Similar to Chinas 'Look South' strategy, India's 'Look East' scheme, also via Myanmar, is not straightforward either, but is shaped by a mix of complex factors and pragmatic considerations. Chinas growing activities in the Indian Ocean are a widely acknowledged concern. The prospect of a Myanmar dominated by China is obviously intolerable, too. India's rapid economic growth since the 1990s has also increased Myanmar's strategic importance as both a potential trading partner and energy supplier. Yet a more immediate challenge that has helped push New Delhi to back away from its hard-line approach to Myanmar is to defuse ethnic-based insurrections in its north-eastern states along the Indo-Myanmar border.
Thant Myint-U's research reaffirms that India is not merely a nation state but a civilisation, which has stronger historical ties and cultural similarities with other South Asian countries than with its own north-eastern states. The latter have been in the Indian union since 1947, when the departing British colonial authorities passed their region on to the newly independent country in the sub-continent. Yet locals by and large still have not established devotion to India, or identified themselves as Indians. Continued negative popular sentiment in the north-east towards the rule of a seemingly indifferent mainland India has over the decades reduced the region to a protracted war theatre of secessionist movements.
Racial distinctiveness, local patriotism, aspirations for statehood and human rights grievances are among generally accepted explanations for decades-long violent demonstrations in India's north-east, and Thant Myint-U notes that poverty is the more fundamental issue plaguing the region. While its per capita income was higher than the national average at India's independence, it is today a world away from new economic centres like Bombay or Bangalore. The conclusion reached in the stories also coincides with that of Thant Myint-U, that if Myanmar is the gateway for a 'Look East' policy meant for deepening India's commercial and strategic ties with South-east Asia, that gateway will be in the north-east.
Interweaving historical records with evolving reality, literary insights with field research snapshots, conventional wisdom with personal reflections, Thant Myint-U concisely and effectively lays out the fact that Chinas economic and strategic penetration into Myanmar, India's competitive wooing of Myanmar, and that country's playing the Asian giants off against each other for maximum benefits and leverage involve not only the three national governments but also many other players, histories, and relationships in between. Their constantly interacting with and adapting to each other and the changing environment suggest that they will likely remain cross-border networkers and bridge-builders. At the same time, however, cross-border spillovers, reinforcement or reproduction of each other's problems will almost certainly continue not only to threaten the stability of this remote but strategically important junction of three countries but also to further complicate interactions among the three governments and other key stakeholders involved.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 New Zealand Institute of International Affairs
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Chen, Xin. "Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia." New Zealand International Review, July-Aug. 2013, p. 28+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A338035915/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=dd74c162. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A338035915
QUOTED: "Thant Myint-U's book is essentially a travelogue. Yet readers who also expect a solid political, economic and strategic analysis of Myanmar's relationship with China and India will not be disappointed. Indeed the author's intricate weaving of the personal, the historical and the political both inform and captivate the audience."
"Anyone interested in the rapidly evolving landscape of Asia has much to learn from this book."
Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia. By Thant Myint-U. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Hardcover: 361pp.
Thant Myint-U's book is essentially a travelogue. Yet readers who also expect a solid political, economic and strategic analysis of Myanmar's relationship with China and India will not be disappointed. Indeed the author's intricate weaving of the personal, the historical and the political both inform and captivate the audience.
The book is divided into three parts: the first part is devoted to Burma/Myanmar's turbulent modern history; the second focuses on Sino-Burmese relations both past and present; and the third examines the colonial histories and legacies of India and Myanmar. Most current affairs observers tend to characterize Myanmar-China-India dynamics only in terms of the interests of Yangon, Beijing and Delhi. But the book reveals a much more complicated relationship with a detailed analysis of how the rural provinces of China and India are important drivers in national policy planning. Indeed, as the pages turn, it becomes more obvious that the policies dictated by governments in faraway capitals are themselves governed by the need to develop their rural areas and promote cross-border trade.
The very first page of the Prologue posits that since imperial times China has searched for a back-door passage to India through the lands of present-day Myanmar. Chinese policy-makers today have successfully realized the imperial plans of their forebears and are building a direct route to the Indian Ocean via Yunnan and through Myanmar. Additionally, India's north-eastern provinces have always looked to links with northern Burma for mutual prosperity. Both countries harbour an age-old dream of connecting trade and commerce through Myanmar. But history tells us that building these trade links have taken centuries and that they are not yet complete. Colonization and World War II put the otherwise unnoticed and remote areas of Myanmar on the radar of national governments, but they also left behind a succession of armed conflicts, mostly provoked by centuries of migration, racial tensions and geopolitics.
As Thant observes, present-day Myanmar's borderlands are far from peaceful. Although ceasefires have been signed with various ethnic militias, a viable and long-term political solution is yet to be put on the table. Moreover, the northern Chin, Kachin and Shah states each have not one but many armed groups which spill over into neighbouring countries. The Chin National Front, the Kachin Independence Army, the Shan State Army-South, and the United Wa State Army have significant numbers of men under arms and still control territory where the Myanmar armed forces cannot set foot. These lands are far from the central authorities, and the government is unable to administer or promote development in such remote parts of the country. China faces a similar scenario. Its high national GDP and other economic development indicators apply mostly to the eastern coastal provinces. Unlike Myanmar, the century of internal conflict has passed for China. However, continued national progress can only be assured by equitable development. In part two of the book--"Southwestern Barbarians"--Thant explains in detail how inland provinces such as Sichnan, Guizhou, and particularly Yunnan which border Myanmar lag behind their counterparts on the eastern seaboard. According to Thant, Chinese policy-makers believe that connecting the inland provinces to the Andaman Sea through Myanmar will significantly improve trade and commerce, pushing them to higher levels of economic prosperity. In part three of the book--"The Edge of Hindustan"--the author describes a similar strategy employed by India to develop its north-eastern province of Assam by opening a direct line via north-western Myanmar to the Bay of Bengal. Assam, Thant notes, is also as far away from Delhi as Yunnan is from Beijing, only linked to the rest of the subcontinent by the "chicken neck", a narrow area of land choked between Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. To complicate matters, unlike Yunnan, it is still a region beset with conflict. Internal conflicts and China's increasing regional influence have led to suggestions that Delhi isolate north-eastern India from its neighbours. However, some argue that the only viable alternative to lasting peace and development would be for the government in Delhi to transform the north-east into a regional hub similar to Yunnan (p. 291).
Yet as Thant notes, the times are changing, at least for Asia and seemingly for the better. While the "decline" of the West has almost certainly been exaggerated, many would agree that the rise of the East is not. Burgeoning economic growth is invariably accompanied with an increasing thirst for energy and resources and as China and India are well aware, Myanmar possesses the two in abundance. Even after decades of exploitation from colonial rule and resource extraction by Chinese companies over the past two decades, the country still makes neighbours' eyes sparkle with all its gas, oil, teak, minerals and gems. The author describes several large infrastructure projects underway that are designed to harness Myanmar's resources. They include the Dawei or Tavoy industrial zone, which, with an initial investment of $8.6 billion, will include a deep-sea port, steel, fertilizer and petrochemical plants, and an oil refinery, with highways connected to Bangkok and to the new railway lines linking Yunnan, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. Sea cargo and even oil from the Middle East would pass through Dawei to China and the rest of mainland Southeast Asia, thus bypassing the narrow and congested Straits of Malacca. India is also trying to make progress on the $400 million Kaladan "multi-modal" project linking Mizoram and Assam through highways and inland waterways to Akyab, a port in south-western Myanmar. With the analyses above, the Epilogue accurately concludes that here too, virtually all trade and commerce with the outside world will be conducted via Myanmar's sea coast for India's remote north-eastern province.
After centuries of potential, it appears as though Myanmar is finally set to become the new crossroads of Asia. But the author is fully aware of the unpredictable nature of Myanmar politics and the vagaries of Asian geopolitics, and he is careful not to make firm predictions. Only two scenarios are laid out: first, Myanmar internal affairs continue to be messy and beset with conflict, while natural resources are corruptly exploited with the proceeds lining the pockets of the ruling elite; or second, the new quasi-civilian government enacts reforms, Western sanctions are lifted, the middle class grows larger leading to even more reforms, and a democratic government manages national resources prudently in equal partnership with the neighbours resulting in mutual benefits for all involved. Even hardboiled sceptics would agree that in Myanmar today it is the second scenario that is currently being played out though there is, of course, a long way to go.
Anyone interested in the rapidly evolving landscape of Asia has much to learn from this book. And if the reform process continues in this once isolated country (they are likely to do so), a new Myanmar would indeed be a "game-changer" for all Asia. Thant Myint-U's book helps us understand some of the rules of this new game.
HNIN WINT NYUNT HMAN is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
DOI: 10.1355/cs34-1i
Hman, Hnin Wint Nyunt
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hman, Hnin Wint Nyunt. "Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia." Contemporary Southeast Asia, vol. 34, no. 1, 2012, p. 139+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A287390665/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=937df6f3. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A287390665
QUOTED: "In a whirlwind tour through Burma's history, politics, culture and geography, Myint-U makes a successful case for its importance in South Asia's future."
Myint-U, Thant WHERE CHINA MEETS INDIA Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Adult Nonfiction) $27.00 9, 20 ISBN: 978-0-374-29907-1
An illumining look at a country torn between two emerging superpowers.
Former UN diplomat Myint-U (The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma, 2006, etc.) takes readers through his home country in this mixture of travelogue and history. The author begins by discussing the rising powers of China and India, and then turns to the small country caught in the middle, which has served as a buffer between these two countries for centuries. With crisp, clear, authoritative prose, Myint-U chronicles his journeys from Rangoon to Mandalay, explaining the complex culture and history of the Burmese. Aware that most Western readers will not be overly familiar with the history of his country, the author takes great pains to explain the most basic details of Burmese history and geography without being patronizing. From the unfinished Burmese civil war to their wars against the British, Myint-U successfully conveys how Burma's past has affected what it has become. The author then turns to China and India, journeying to the areas closest to Burma. He provides comprehensive insight into Burma's precarious situation, as well as an understanding of its possibilities for the future. He leaves readers pondering the implications of a democratic Burma and how that might affect the Sino-Indian rise to power in the region.
In a whirlwind tour through Burma's history, politics, culture and geography, Myint-U makes a successful case for its importance in South Asia's future.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Myint-U, Thant: WHERE CHINA MEETS INDIA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2011. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A264114669/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=11bb7442. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A264114669