Life Under Military Regime of Burma (Myanmar)

Life under the Military Regime of Burma (Myanmar)
Photographs and text by Christian Holst

Burmas military regime has been in power for almost 50 years. It is a rule of harsh physical and psychological oppression. During the student uprising in 1988, more than 3,000 demonstrators were shot dead and thousands more arrested in the streets of Rangoon. In 2007, Burmas generals brutally crushed peaceful demonstrations led by monks and students and threw thousands of demonstrators in jail. As of this moment, more than 2100 political prisoners are jailed in harsh prisons around the country. Burmas suffering was compounded in 2008 when Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta killing 140,000 and leaving more than two million people homeless and traumatized. Initially, the countrys paranoid generals responded with complete disregard for the population and made an already horrible situation worse by rejecting foreign aid for weeks. The Burmese people suffer every day under a regime that is as inept as it is repressive. The regimes faulted economic policies have resulted in double-digit inflation that devastates wages and salaries. An average Burmese lives on less than a dollar per day.
Burmese Army cadets in the central market in Pyin U Lwin, Myanmar. Pyin U Lwin is located in the Shan hills and is a former British hill station where the whole British administration would move in the summers to escape the heat in Yangon. This image was published in Time Magazine July 26, 2010 as the Asia edition cover.
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Burmese Army cadets in a photo studio May 16, 2010 in Pyin U Lwin, Myanmar. This image was published in Time Magazine July 26, 2010.
Burmese Army cadets in a small cafe May 15, 2010 in Pyin U Lwin, Myanmar. This image was published in Time Magazine July 26, 2010.
Today, minimum wage buys 8-10 times fewer basic commodities like rice, salt, sugar and cooking oil than 20 years ago. The country once dubbed The Rice Bowl of Asia can now hardly feed itself and has gone from being the richest in the region to one of the world's most impoverished nations. While the majority of the Burmese live in poverty, military leaders and their business cronies exploit the countrys riches like timber, minerals, gemstones, hydropower, oil, and gas. The worlds best jade and rubies come from mines in middle and northern Burma. Underpaid, overworked migrant workers carve
gems out of the ground while they live in shantytowns away from family. Drug abuse and HIV/AIDS is rampant in the mining camps. Access to healthcare is mostly nonexistent. The mines are state-owned, but leased out to private investors who pay vast sums of money, both over and under the table, to the Junta (Burmas military regime) for mining rights. Despite trade sanctions and a ban on Burmese gemstones many of these stones make it to western markets. The growing elite and middle class of China is creating huge demand for, especially, jade stones and jewelry. To the Chinese, jade
represents virtue, purity and prosperity a Chinese idiom is: Gold has a value, jade is invaluable. At a gem trade fair in Rangoon in spring 2010 more than 2000 foreign traders attended, and the vast majority of them came from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. More than 500 million dollars worth of mostly jade was sold in little less than two weeks. At a more recent, smaller, gem fair in Rangoon, one 33-carat ruby fetched one million US dollars: 400,000 US dollars went straight to the regime, which demands 40% of the proceeds from the most lucrative and famous mines. Recently, the Junta has started a massive
privatization of state enterprises but critics point out that the assets are being sold either to retired officers or to businessmen allied with the military, reinforcing the strength of a class of oligarchs and military cronies. The highly lucrative oil industry is to be privatized and the Junta has instructed its favorite crony, Burmas richest civilian, Tay Za, to head a new petroleum association. Tay Za is also the man behind a newly built residential area in Rangoon with condo high-rises and 22 luxurious villas with a starting price of 850,000 US dollars. So far all the villas except one have been sold most of them to army officers.
While the military has doubled in size since 1988 and currently consumes up to half the annual budget, the government spends less than $1 per citizen per year on healthcare. The patients pay for more than 90% of health expenditures which means that proper healthcare is out of reach for the vast population of the country. Government hospitals lack medicine and doctors and nurses are grossly underpaid and treat people according to the amount of lunch money the patients are able to provide. In a 2005 survey by WHO (World Health Organization), Burma had the second-poorest healthcare system in the world, only topped by Sierra Leone. Half of all Asia's malaria deaths occur here; the country has some of the worlds deadliest strains of TB; and the regime has a potentially devastating HIV epidemic on its hands. The lack of willingness to treat people or let foreign NGOs treat on a sufficient scale means that, at most, only a fifth of the people infected with HIV have access to treatment. Burmas health and education sectors are crumbling through neglect and crippled by corruption due to low salaries. The regime has built a number of universities but does not allocate enough funds to operate them. Too keep up appearances, the government provides educational degrees of dubious quality, which artificially augments the countrys educational statistics. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a Rangoon rickshaw or taxi driver to have a masters degree in philosophy or law. Burmas many ethnic minorities also struggle. Some have struck deals with the regime
A wedding picture for a Burmese couple sits at the entrance to a ball room in a hotel May 22, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The groom is a Burmese Army officer. It is said that officers have to marry university graduates if they harbor hopes of reaching high ranks in the military.
A man repairs the roof of a monastery October 3, 2007 in Yangon, Myanmar.
Burmese men sit at a street side tea shop April 21, 2009 in Yangon, Myanmar.
in exchange for access to valuable resources and safety, but many others live in neglect and poverty and some have been locked tight in a deadly war for survival with the regime for decades. Burmese of all ethnicities flee the country for survival, in the hope of a safer and more prosperous future. Surviving in Burma can be so difficult that even working and living on a Thai dumpsite is a viable alternative. Thailand alone is believed to be home to up to two million Burmese migrants and refugees; Bangladesh, already a poor country struggling to feed its own, has up to a quarter of a million Burmese. Inside Burma, 500,000 Burmese are internally displaced. Most of
them are in the Karen State - a Burmese ethnic minority that resides along the Thai/ Burmese border - where villages are torched and thousands of villagers are on the run from fighting between Christian Karen, government troops, and a rivaling Karen faction. The generals seem to think that an oppressed, sick, and uneducated citizenry poses less threat to their power. Some maintain that the generals behavior is due to their commitment to keep Burma united. Others say that the iron-fisted rule only proves their commitment to stay rich and in power. No matter what the explanation, the Junta seems
incapable of going beyond harsh military rule when attempting to govern Burmas diverse, multiethnic society. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 7, 2010, yet it looks like they will only perpetuate military rule under a facade of legislative formality. The regimes constitution allows the military to hold 25 percent of the seats in the new parliament and to control an appointed body with veto power over all parliamentary decisions. Opposition leader and Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won the 1990 elections and has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 21
years, has been barred from the elections and her party disbanded. But despite the obviously flawed election laws some Burmese have decided to participate hoping that their presence in parliament can help steer Burma slowly towards real democratic reforms. Christian Holst has been working on Burmarelated issues since 2006. Part of this work has been made possible with the support of The Art Works Projects, a non-profit organization, whose mission is to use design and the arts to raise awareness of and educate the public about significant human rights and environmental issues. The Art Works
Projects and Christian Holst are collaborating on a campaign on human rights issues in Burma and more specifically to shed light on the Juntas lucrative control of the gemstone industry. http://www.artworksprojects.org/
Young women enter a pickup truck after working as "fashion models" in a night club in Yangon's downtown red light and entertainment district May 12, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The "fashion show" is a Burmese euphemism for what is in effect a hostess and prostitution setup. The girls will perform a catwalk-like show and customers can buy overpriced garlands to give to the girl. If enough garlands are being given the girl will join the customer at his table. If so inclined, the customer will then negotiate a price with the woman for sexual services.
Workers in a supermarket in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. This market serves primarily the military elite and government officials. The everyday Burmese citizen cannot afford the items in this market. The military regime built Naypyitaw as its new capital and moved there in 2005.
Passengers and vendors wait of a ferry to depart to Bogalay in the delta May 21, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT Burmese men play soccer in the streets during a rain shower June 6, 2010 in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. Burmese people pray in the Shwedagon Pagoda February 1, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT A man, most likely of Indian decent, holds a flower bouquet May 24, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. There is still a sizable Indian population in Yangon due to the British colonial period from 1824 - 1948. Burmese youth pass time April 12, 2007 in at Kandawgyi Lake in Yangon, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT A monkey chained to a tree touches its head October 9, 2007 in Botataung Township in Yangon, Myanmar. A couple walks on Strand Road February 9, 2009 in downtown Yangon, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT A young girl in a massage parlour which doubles as a brothel June 3, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. Two Burmese boys take refuge from the rain in front of sacks of charcoal. Burmese day laborers who have been carrying the charcoal from a boat to a truck waiting on land take a rest in the background October 8, 2007 in Dala Township on the Yangon River across from downtown Yangon, Myanmar.
GEMS
A potential buyer inspects a ruby at a gem stone fair August 20, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The price tag is a minimum price - all lots are sold via either closed bidding or in an open auction - so prices often end up many times higher. The minimum price for this stone was 150,000 USD - it sold for one million dollars. This particular stone comes from a mine where the junta receives 40% of all profits.
Potential buyers inspect jade at a gem stone fair August 23, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The price tag scribbled on the jade stone is a minimum price - all lots are sold via either closed bidding or in an open auction - so prices often end up many times higher.
LEFT TO RIGHT Two young Burmese women tend to a small booth showcasing jade at a gem stone fair August 20, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. A workshop making jade cuttings and jade jewellery in Bogyoke Market June 1, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT Potential buyers inspect jade at a gem stone fair August 22, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The price tag is a minimum price - all lots are sold via either closed bidding or in an open auction - so prices often end up many times higher. Chinese buyers and Burmese sellers trade jade in a jade market March 31, 2007 in Mandalay, Myanmar.
ABOVE Gem traders inspect gemstones at a tea shop in Bogyoke Market June 3, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. A jewelry piece with Burmese jade and Burmese Ruby is displayed by a shop assistant April 28, 2010 in Mae Sot, Thailand. RIGHT Tables full of potential buyers follow the announcements of winning bidders on the last day of a gem stone fair August 23, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar.
HEALTH CARE
A visibly emotionally and mentally unstable man strips off his clothes and lies naked on a pedestrian overpass May 19, 2010 in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. The lack of health care for the Burmese people leaves those mentally ill with no place to go for treatment or care. There is only one hospital for the mentally ill; but like all the other hospitals, payment is needed to be admitted, which makes treatment and care out of reach for the majority of the Burmese.
LEPROSY
LEFT TO RIGHT Two male leprosy patients have an early dinner June 5, 2010 in a leprosy colony two hours outside of Yangon, Myanmar. The patients in this colony, app. 60 of them, receive the equivalent of 20 cents per day from the regime. This is supposed to cover medicine, food and all other necessities but it barely covers 1/7 of the price of rice for one day. Myanmar (Burma), once dubbed the Rice Bowl of Asia, can now barely feed itself and has gone from one of the regions richest countries to one of the worlds poorest. A woman shows pictures of her daughter whom she hasn't seen for 12 years June 5, 2010 in a leprosy colony two hours outside of Yangon, Myanmar. The daughter has sent her the pictures.
LEFT TO RIGHT A male patient works on replacing the drains for the roofs June 5, 2010 in a leprosy colony two hours outside of Yangon, Myanmar. A newly arrived male patient June 5, 2010 in a leprosy colony two hours outside of Yangon, Myanmar. This man lived as a homeless man somewhere in Yangon when another patient from the colony found him and brought him to the colony's health center.
HIV
LEFT TO RIGHT A 19 years old Burmese woman with TB and HIV/AIDS lies on the backseat of a taxi on her way to a hospital August 22, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The unidentified woman was allegedly raped by an army officer, and as a result, contracted HIV. She lived with her little sister and grandmother. When the grandmother learned of her disease, she asked her to move out due to the general lack of knowledge about HIV and the stigma connected to the disease. The young girl died ten days later at the hospital. A patient waits for a nurse to check his health status and administer TB medicine June 11, 2010 in an HIV shelter in Yangon, Myanmar. This shelter is run by the NLD in response to the lack of help from the regime. As the military has doubled in size since 1988 and currently consumes up to half the annual budget, the government spends less than $1 per citizen per year on health care.
LEFT TO RIGHT A young unidentified Burmese woman with TB and HIV/AIDS is carried down the stairs to taxi waiting to take her way to a hospital August 22, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. A male nurse patient sits in a taxi waiting to go to the hospital as he is severely sick June 11, 2010 in an HIV shelter in Yangon, Myanmar.
Burmese migrant parents tend to their prematurely born babies in the Mae Tao Clinic April 28, 2010 in Mae Sot, Thailand.
CONSTRUCTION
YANGON
A painting in a showroom shows how an almost finished residential area will perhaps look once finished May 12, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The project is owned by super tycoon Tayza. Myanmar (Burma) is one of Asia's poorest countries with a huge gap between the majority of its people and the tiny elite of high ranking army officers and their cronies.
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Workers bathe after finishing work on a residential building project May 12, 2010 in Yangon, Myanmar. The project, named Minhdama, is owned by super tycoon Tay Za.
Construction workers work on a new highway between the old capital of Yangon and the new one, named Naypyitaw, May 13, 2010 between Yangon, and Naypyitaw, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT Construction workers take a break from building a road May 14, 2010 in the new Yatanarpon Cyber City, Myanmar. Construction workers build a road May 14, 2010 in the new Yatanarpon Cyber City, Myanmar.
LEFT TO RIGHT The new parliament May 13, 2010 in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. The military regime built Naypyitaw as its new capital and moved there in 2005. The restaurant at Mount Pleasant is supposedly the regime's top general Than Shwe's favorite May 13, 2010 in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. The military regime built Naypyitaw as its new capital and moved there in 2005.
BAGAN
A view of Bagan from Burmese tycoon Tay Za's "Bagan Viewing Tower" May 17, 2010 in Bagan, Myanmar. Tay Za is closely connected to the Junta and initially made his fortune on illegal logging. Since then, he has had a hand in everything in Burma which is profitable. In Bagan, Tay Za has built a luxury tourist resort and a tall viewing tower which critics say is architecturally out of place. The day this photograph was taken, no tourists had visited the tower at all. It is said that in order to be allowed to build the tower and the nearby luxury resort Aureum Tay Za had to soothe the generals who wanted him to build a replica of a Mandalay-styled palace as well. The palace is even more out of place amongst the old temples of Bagan.
NAYPYITAW
The generals built a replica of the country's most sacred pagoda Shwedagon in its new capital May 13, 2010 in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. The military regime built Naypyitaw as its new capital and moved there in 2005.
BURMESE MIGRANT WORKERS

Burmese migrant workers sort through garbage from a truck February 13, 2010 on a garbage site in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand. It is believed that approximately two million Burmese of all ethnicities live in Thailand. More than 100.000 migrant workers form a substantial community in the border town of Mae Sot in the east of the country. On a garbage site on the outskirts of the town a few hundred of them try to make a living out of sorting the garbage and reselling scrap. Escaping nearcertain poverty in Burma, the migrants work in hard and underpaid jobs in Thailand and are frequently harrased by police and subject to pay bribes in unauthorized raids by local police. Many chose to endure it because the pay is often three times higher than for similar jobs at home.
LEFT TO RIGHT Children of Burmese migrant workers walk through the garbage February 13, 2010 on a garbage site in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand. A Burmese migrant worker prepare dinner while her children sit in the family's hut in the background March 21, 2010 on a garbage site in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand.
LEFT TO RIGHT Two young Burmese migrant workers sleep February 14, 2010 on a garbage site in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand. Children of Burmese migrant workers relax outside a hut February 14, 2010 on a garbage site in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand.
Burmese migrants at work in a shipyard September 17, 2010 in Ranong, Thailand.
Burmese fishermen from Mon State relax on their fishing boat near a dry dock September 16, 2010 in Ranong, Thailand. The boat is owned by a Thai, but Burmese fishermen are often employed by Thais who do not have to pay them as much as they would have to pay Thais.
LEFT TO RIGHT A Burmese migrant woman takes a bath in a river while a horse grazes on a hill September 16, 2010 nearby the wooden barracks in which she lives in Ranong, Thailand. Burmese migrants cross a river between Burma(Myanmar) and Thailand February 10, 2010 an hour's drive from Mae Sot, Thailand.
LEFT TO RIGHT A Burmese man holds a baby while a woman holds another baby inside the house behind him September 15, 2010 in a migrant workers area in Ranong, Thailand. A 32-year-old HIV infected mother of two sits in a wooden shack September 17, 2010 in Ranong, Thailand.
The one-a-half-year old son of an illegal Burmese migrant worker couple lies in a coffin as cremation starts April 29, 2010 in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot, Thailand. The boy had died of tuberculosis the day before but only the mother, a few friends and volunteers from a funeral service for the poor attended the service. The father was absent since the family had just spent 370 USD to get him smuggled from the border town to Bangkok where jobs are easier to be found. They could not afford to bring him back for the funeral.
Contacts
Reportage by Getty Images New York 75 Varick Street 5th Floor New York, NY 10013 USA Annick Shen annick.shen@gettyimages.com + 01 (646) 613.4248 Christina Cahill christina.cahill@gettyimages.com +01 (646) 613.4187
Getty Images London 101 Bayham Street London, NW1 0AG United Kingdom Patrick di Nola patrick.dinola@gettyimages.com +44 (0) 207 428 5256
The full set of 216 images is available via your local Getty Images office.
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Life Under Military Regime of Burma (Myanmar)

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Life under the Military Regime of Burma (Myanmar)

Photographs and text by Christian Holst

A man repairs the roof of a monastery October 3, 2007 in Yangon, Myanmar.

BURMESE MIGRANT WORKERS

Burmese migrants at work in a shipyard September 17, 2010 in Ranong, Thailand.

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