Interference and Denial of Language and Cultural Expression under Military Rule
By Naw Cha Mu
Burma is a country where many different ethnic nationalities live. All major ethnic groups have their own language and traditional culture, however their political and cultural rights are denied by the ruling Burmese junta. People can only celebrate cultural holidays when they are pre-approved by the junta and this does not occur often. The reality of the situation is that most ethnic cultures are being eliminated by junta and their actions.
One example of this is the attempt to eliminate ethnic languages. No ethnic languages are allowed to be taught in the school because the successive Burmese have attempted to assimilate the ethnic people to become Burman forcing the ethnic people only to learn Burmese at school. Consequently, young generations of ethnic people are growing up without knowing their own language. Regretfully, nowadays younger generation prefer to speak Burmese instead of ethnic languages because they are ashamed to speak their own language, especially in public area. They are also afraid of the criticism of speaking an ethnic language in public areas. Even within their own homes they refuse speak their mother language anymore.
In the cities some people say that they are ethnic nationalities but they can’t speak any ethnic languages. Others can speak their own language but can’t read and write it at all. By losing the ability to communication in ones mother tongue, it also affects ones cultural identification. One can ask: can you consider yourselves as an ethnic people? Let’s say that you are Karen (one of the ethnic groups from Burma) but you can’t read, speak or write your own language. This means you already lost part of your identification as Karen. As a result we can clearly see that the ethnic people in Burma gradually losing their value and identification as an ethnic person.
Many individuals suppress their language and pay the price for it.
To counter this, in summer time during the school holiday, some parents and the ethnic leaders are trying to arrange ethnic literacy trainings. The aim is to maintain ethnic languages among the younger generation. This also includes young people realizing the value of their language and their ethnic identity. Many individuals suppress their language and pay the price for it. It is important to consider what is being lost by the people when they lose their languages?
Losing your language also impacts on your culture. There is no doubt that language is part of the culture. Languages express the culture. When talking about the language, most of what you are talking about is culture. Culture also includes one’s traditional way of life and the value that ethnic people give to belonging to a minority group. Culture plays a major role in the society. Culture refer music, arts, dress, language, religious, occasion, food, traditional dance and manners. Culture is “the way of life an entire society”. When we lose our culture, the reality is that we lose all of these things.
Similarly non – Burman ethnic people also believe that culture present the way of their life and the symbol of their society. These are not little things for them to lose. The ethnic people know that through out the military’s rule they have lost some of their culture and traditional practices. The ruling junta strategically tries to oppress ethnic languages and culture in Burma; non – Burman ethnic people have no choice, and face difficulties to maintain their own language and culture.
Beside the prohibition of the ethnic language, the culture practices are also constantly being disturbed by the military junta. The military restricts ethnic people from enjoying their culture and practicing their traditions in many different ways. On the February 21st 1998 the junta ordered the Mon people to stop preparing to publicly celebrate the golden jubilee, a holiday the Mon people had been waiting for many years to come. This was a special occasion and the Mon people had prepared for nearly three months before the event. But the celebration was officially prohibited by the junta and the entire Mon population was angry. According to the junta it was unnecessary to celebrate the Mon golden jubilee because the junta had allowed the Mon people to celebrate Mon State Day (another Mon holiday). This action of the military regime showed how they are preventing ethnic people from practicing their culture. Since the military came to power, the ethnic people have also been deprived of right to enjoy freedom of expression and assembly.
Under the military ruling there is no respect for minority languages, and culture. The regime has actively attempted to marginalize the ethnic minority people in every aspect of society through militarization, intimidation tactics, and human right abuses. Firstly, the regimes try to kill the ethnic language by not giving people a chance to study them at school, even as a second language they are not allowed to studied at school. Secondly the regime employs a brutal, systematic strategy of repressing ethnic cultural practices and events.
The last tactic used by the regime is promoting inter-ethnic marriages. Children of mix marriages (ethnic people who are married to Burman) are often referred to as ethnically Burman rather than from the ethnic nationalities. The children speak Burmese as a first language and are influenced by the Burman majority culture, because they lack access to their ethnic culture. Later on they consider themselves to be Burmese. Their ethnic identity, rather than embracing all elements, has been influenced by the majority community - in all essence dominated.
Through determination and community strength, the ethnic groups have found ways to express their cultural identity. However, they face struggles to preserve the survival of their cultures. The Burmese junta should ensure the people’s right to enjoy his or her own culture, to admit and practice their own language. Additionally, the junta needs to stop oppressing ethnic people’s opportunities to study their own language and practice their culture and traditions.
The ethnic people need to work doubly harder to get the right to practice religious teaching and culture freely, the right to teach, learn and promote language freely, and the right to up hold their identity without fear and live peacefully together with others. Ethnic people need to try and keep their homes as the central source of native language learning and try to combine the learning of ethnic languages with a focus on culture. The ethnic people should preserving promoting their culture and traditional such as dressing, traditional celebrating and way of living etc… for their children and they need to encourage their children. They are responsible for the survival of and the restoration of their culture and identity, even though the regime continuously eliminate the right o ethnic people practicing their culture.
To go to the other articles published in the December 2007 BI Newsletter click on the links below:
Many individuals suppress their language and pay the price for it.
