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Myanmar’s atypical music duo talk art, identity and the music industry
Both W-A.I., aka Waiyan Kyawni, and Steph KoKo seem like pretty typical millennials — mindful of the latest trends, tuned into the hashtag zeitgeist, and always down to laugh about hating and loving Kanye West. You probably wouldn’t recognize them if you’ve only listened to or watched W-A.I.’s music videos. His face is routinely hidden ...
The struggles of being a Burmese millennial
Myanmar has changed in so many great ways over the last couple of years, but the pressure to maintain the culture, values, and traditions we grew up with remains a part of...
‘We Feel Neglected’: Life waist-deep in a flooded Myanmar village
The residents of Nanbaw village are no stranger to floods. Every rainy season, the rivers around them swell, and they are forced to suffer bouts of dampness, but life goes on as...
For ‘mixed-blood’ citizens, Yangon’s passport office is a racist hell
As dawn breaks over Yangon’s Passport Issuing Office, a throng of would-be globetrotters gathers in front of the squat Yankin Township building and snakes around the corner....
From the killing field to the courthouse: The unexplored story of Captain Moe Yan Naing
Police Captain Moe Yan Naing has been hailed as a hero for exposing the police plot to trap Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. What few have talked about – what...
One family, four countries — the dispossession of the Rohingya
It takes a few moments to sift through the years of chaos and dislocation before Rohingya refugee Robi Alam settles on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, August 2012, as the last...
Does Amnesty’s ARSA report prove anything?
A fissure that has long been forming within the Rohingya rights community was exposed this week when Amnesty International released a report that many found less than helpful to...
Fueled by Folly: Yangon’s great garbage fire
From a distance, the fire devouring Yangon’s sprawling Htein Bin landfill is invisible. Unlike the plumes of black smoke billowing from the chimneys of the nearby factories of...
Burmese refugee’s remains discovered in US river, strangers team up to bring them home
It took one person to strip Phyu Phyu Aye of her dignity and an unexpected, international network of total strangers to restore it. A month ago, on the morning of March 29,...
With Rohingya gone, Myanmar’s ethnic Rakhine seek Muslim-free ‘buffer zone’
Buddhist flags hang limply from bamboo poles at the entrance to Koe Tan Kauk, a “model” village for ethnic Rakhine migrants shuttled north to repopulate an area once...