Originally uploaded to Soundcloud in 2015.

Earlier this year a humanitarian crisis took place across Southeast Asia, as upwards of 25,000 Rohingya tried to escape from Burma by cramming onto boats bound for Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The Rohingya are an ethnic group of some 1.3 million from the Rakhine (Arakan) state in western Burma. Despite the fact that most Rohingya have lived in the country for generations the majority are denied citizenship and not recognized as one of the country’s official minorities. This crisis, however, was only the latest episode of ethnic violence in Myanmar. Since independence in 1948 Myanmar has been wracked by violence against the country’s myriad ethnic groups often resulting in civil conflict and insurgency. While the Rohingya crisis is the latest example of this there have been orchestrated campaigns against other groups including the Chin, the Kachin, the Karen, and the Shan.

One of the most vocal proponents of rights for the Rohingya during this recent crisis has been the 29-year-old activist Wai Wai Nu. Despite her relative youth, Wai Wai spent seven years in jail as a political prisoner in Burma’s infamous Insein prison between 2005 and 2012. Her crime was that her father was Kyaw Min, a member of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament, a group of MP-elects from the 1990 vote led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. In a closed trial Wai Wai’s father was sentenced to 47 years in jail, while Wai Wai herself received 17 years. Released in 2012 as part of the prisoner release program that accompanied the beginnings of reform in Burma Wai Wai founded the Women's Peace Network Arakan, to promote better understanding between Burma’s ethnic groups and Justice for Women, a network of female lawyers providing legal aid for the women of Burma.

Originally uploaded to Soundcloud in 2016.

With the world watching Myanmar's process of democratization with the elections in early Nov., Malaysia appears to be going in the opposite direction. Join us as we talk with Dr. Surain Subramaniam from UNC-Asheville about the current state of democracy in Malaysia and in Singapore.