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Volume 1, Issue 1

7 Sep 2012

The Summarized
M E D I T O R I A L Y A N M A R N E T I Z E N S

Last week can be named as a week of troll. Although it was intense on first few days, the hot topics were transformed into memes and hilarious poems. Few more netizens become to realize the power of social media yet development of citizen media in Myanmar is a long way to go.

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received a text message threatening that they would kill the photographer. According to some of the comments including the couples own, the wedding will be organized in December.

Last Thursday, a pre-wedding photo of a same sex couple went viral in Myanmar Facebook Community. It was shared on a photography page run by a professional photographer called Phone Myat Htoo. He took the photo of the couple who were fully dressed in Myanmar traditional wedding costumes and uploaded with a title Supporting Same Sex Marriage. It collected 868 likes, 1248 shares and 683 comments at the time of writing. Many conservative people criticized by pointing out that such marriage is against with Myanmar tradition while a number of liberal people backed LGBTs rights. A lot of LGBTs jumped in the discussion by sharing

their experiences and feelings as well. Some netizens with anti-LGBT sentiment harshly criticized by portraying them as if they

Pre-wedding photo went viral among Myanmar netizens

I N S I D E TH I S I S S U E :

Same Sex Merriage

Return of Exile Activists Perfect Joke to Perfect Swear? Funnier Oppa Gangnam

were animals, some brought the point that it is illegal for same sex marriage in Myanmar while others praised the bravery of the couple to show it off to public. The photographer claimed that his brother

R e t u r n
Myanmar government unblacklisted a number of people who escaped to exile to avoid detention for being activists against with military regime. Some of them returned to Myanmar last week. Majority of the public, however, does not seem to welcome

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leaders of All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF). What fired the belief is that they are being accused as the culprits of massacre to their own members of northern ABSDF. A number of netizens expressed their concern [Pg. 2]

all of them. The return of controversial activists such as Dr. Naing Aung and Moe Thee Zun sparked the anger of netizens who assume them as activists working for profit rather than political aims though they both were famous ex-

The Week of the Poems $68,000 Worth of Guitar? Peoples Voices on Constitutional Tribunal

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on return of those activists. A couple of days later, the issue become a kind of Internet humour. Some 9gag fans even created customized memes for Moe Thee Zun. Few Yangon-based activists wrote in-depth articles about their movement. The returned activists could not make it to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar democracy icon even though they have met and chatted with 88 genera-

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tion students organization whose members were protesting against government together with Moe Thee Zun in 1988.

PhotoMyint Kyaw Thu (Myanmar Memes)

P e r f e c t
Zarganar, a well-known comedian and activist, who is famous for his witty jokes against military regime shouted a vulgar word in public last Saturday. It happened at Yangon International Airport where he fetched his friend, Dr. Naing Aung who is ex-ABSDF leader. As return of unblacklisted activists to Myanmar would be a perfect headliner, a lot

j o k e t o s w e a r ?

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and spread among Myanmar Facebook users in a short period of time. Zarganar claimed that it was because a reporter pushed him and he fall off. A couple of days later, he officially apologised for his manner.

Pxxxx! Dont you understand Burmese language!?

of journalists gathered at the airport. They made a large crowd thus Zaganar and his friends had difficulties getting out of the airport. The impatient comedian who failed to ask reporters to give the way shouted Pxxxx! Dont you understand Burmese language!? It was recorded in a video

F u n n i e r
Oppa Gangnam becomes an overnight Youtube sensation. It becomes funnier for Myanmar netizens. A video of that song with misheard lyrics in Burmese was posted by a K-Pop fan. As the misheard lyrics added the humour level of the song, it received 1753 shares as of today.

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Though a great extent of music fans seems to enjoy it, few people assumed it is violation of copyright of the original song as misheard lyrics is something new for Myanmar people. The uploader is arguably very first misheard lyric com-

poser in Myanmar and two of her other songs hit not only to Myanmar K-Pop fans but also to average Facebook users.

Misheard Lyrics Video Uploaded on Facebook

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Ex-ABSDF leaders are not welcomed warmly by Myanmar public for their return after more than a decade. Almost all of Facebook walls in Myanmar Facebook Community are flooded with harsh criticizing on them, especially on Moe Thee Zun who said that he loves Myanmar public as netizens do not believe his sincerity and doubted his intention of coming back to Myanmar. After a number of memes, notes, statuses and photos with funny captions are shared among Myanmar

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into Pxxxx. Once the poem has gone viral, a couple of netizens replied it with similar poems. In both poems, the vulgar word which later became a form of satire is used together with the name Aung Way. The poems mainly emphasized on why people did not welcome Moe Thee Zun and differences between a sincere exile activist and Moe Thee Zun.
*Note : The links are in Burmese.

Facebook users, a modern poet called Aung Way who got asslyum in U.S after 2007 Saffron revolution posted a poem online. He supported Moe Thee Zun in his poem by mentioning the facts that people in Yangon are foolish and know nothing about Myanmar politics. He also portrayed Moe Thee Zun as an awesome activist fighting for freedom o f Myanmar. Furthermore, he used a vulgar word with a bit of pronunciation transformation repeatedly in his poem which can literally be translated

$ 6 8 , 0 0 0
On 1st September 2012, 88 Generation Students Organisation organised a fund raising concert in Yangon. Apart from other donations, a guitar painted by 88 generation student leaders was auctioned with listed price of $1000. President of Myanmar Football Federation, U Zaw Zaw , bid till $58,000 but a giant TV service provider, Skynet, obtained it

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customers have to pay about $9 for their satellite rearrangement without request. Some netizens even claimed that Skynet must have the hidden relationship with ministry of information or its former minister, Kyaw San. They doubted the intention of Skynet for giving away $68,000 to possess a guitar from 88 Generations Students Organisation.
Note: Amount in $ are estimated with $1 = 860 kyats.

with $68,000. U Zaw Zaw donated his bid of $58,000 though he did not achieve bidding. 88 Generation Students donated $23,000 to Kachin civil war victims and $11,000 to Rakhine riot victims on the spot. However, the auctioned guitar remained controversial among netizens. Skynet has being criticized for their service quality lately. The

They doubted the intention of Skynet for giving away $68,000 to possess a guitar from 88 Generations Students Organisation.

P e o p l e s v o i c e s o n c o n s t i t u t i o n a l t r i b u n a l
One of the most discussed topics among netizens since last month is the conflict between parliament and the constitutional tribunal. Constitutional tribunal decided the committee groups organised by senators are not at the union level when government brought up the question. Parliament committees condemned the constitutional tribunal for their decision. The debate lasted about a month and the public concerned about the time and effort spent for the issue. On 6th September 2012, President Thein Sein allowed the resignation of chairman and members of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union. Some supported the presidents decision yet others think this should not have been ended up in such unpleasant way. Some of the netizens who follow the issue closely mentioned a better approach and solution would have been gained for the debate between parliament and the constitutional tribunal.

President office website posted the Order No. 29/2012

VISIT US! HTTP://MMNETIZENS.WORDPRESS.COM


We are neither junta pets nor blind exile media supporters! We are here to voice out the real opinion of genuine Myanmar citizens! We, the legal, official and genuine Myanmar citizens, beM Y A N M A R N E T I Z E N S

come to realize that there are less factual opinions and unbiased voices in English when it comes to Myanmar political and national issues. We could easily find a report from an exile media but rarely a single note by Myanmar nationals. We would like to change this cliche by voicing out more. Mission To serve the international readers with fresh and true voices of Myanmar people without any kind of influence neither from the government nor the exile medias or politicians. Vision To be a reputable online media for any issues regarding to Myanmar.

http://mmnetizens.wordpress.com http://www.facebook.com/mmnetizens Email: mmnetizens@gmail.com

Myanmar Citizens Genuine Voices.

A b o u t
The Summarize is the weekly newsletter issued on every Friday Night by Myanmar Netizens. Both Burmese and English versions serve different purposes. As Myanmar readers might have involved in the hot topics on social network, Burmese version serves as a weekly record for the voices of Myanmar Netizens while English version intends to give a quick look on what is happening in citizen media world of Myanmar for International readers. As the first project of Myanmar Netizens, we would stick to be neutral on curating netizens voices. The facts the netizens mention may be less accurate or may include harsh manners or may be hilarious at

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times. Yet, this newsletter would be a platform to represent the voices of average public who are neither juntas pet nor blind exile media followers. If you would like to send in your contribution, kindly send them in to mmnetizens@gmail.com. It should be based on what Myanmar public is talking online rather than in op-ed style. You may send it in Burmese or English or even both. Any suggestions, comments and feedbacks are more than welcome.

First Issue of The Summarized

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