Wai Yan Hpone

I used to be proud of being a Bamar, or Burman. In the early days of my life, I was overwhelmed with pride for our rich culture, civilization and centuries-long history. We Bamar are a people who founded three great empires and produced warrior kings who were feared by our neighbors. In the view of the average Bamar, we are superior to any ethnic group politically, economically or culturally, and other minority groups have always looked up to us with fear and envy. But once I began to explore beyond my childhood knowledge, I had to unlearn much of it. At that point, the pride I had always taken in my Burman-ness began to disintegrate, replaced by guilt and shame. I feel guilty and ashamed of my race because of its centuries-long oppression of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic minorities. Even though I am not directly liable for the wrongdoings of my fellow Bamar past and present, I feel I have a share in that responsibility. And the thought that justice for those transgressions has...

  THE closer the train drew to the city, the more jittery I became. The sun was about to set beyond the low-lying plains across the Yangon River by the time the helmsmen had slowed the train down with a long blast of the horn. I was slightly swaying along with the train. I was excited to see faces and scenes I had not seen for some time. The thought only made my heart beat faster.  I had been assigned to work in my organisation’s Pyinmana branch for three months, the first time I had ever been away from Yangon for that long. While in Pyinmana, thoughts of my hometown rarely popped into my mind.  I had never thought of Yangon as a great place to live, even though it had been my home since birth. But on that evening, as I got closer to the city, I couldn’t help stretching my head through the window and excitedly looking forward to taking in the cityscape   –   the main railroad station with its floral-motif towers, and Traders Hotel and Sakura Tower rising up agai...

IN Myanmar, religion does not operate in isolation. It is layered, syncretic, and deeply embedded in both personal life and public ritual. While Theravāda Buddhism is the dominant religious tradition — practiced by the majority of the population — it coexists with an enduring system of spirit worship centered around beings known as nats . The veneration of nats represents a convergence of indigenous animistic beliefs, pre-Buddhist traditions, and Buddhist cosmology. Though often categorized as “spirits,” nats are more than that: they are figures—once human—who suffered tragic, untimely, or violent deaths and who are now believed to occupy a liminal space between the human and divine. These spirits are not worshipped in pursuit of liberation from saṃsāra, as with the Buddhas or arahants, but rather propitiated for worldly concerns — protection, healing, business success, or fertility. Their role in Myanmar society reveals a distinctive form of religious accommodation, where ritual, my...

Golden crows were crying loud When my dear guest called me out, Crossing mounds to reach my house. Smiled, but it seemed to pretend, Bringing nothing in the hands, And left something in return. Couldn't notice or prevent Something you left in my heart. Is that so called attachment? Rush out to gate when dogs bark, Wishing my guest in the dark. Found none but my broken heart.   #WaiYanHponePoetry

I WAS woken by the morning sunlight pouring through the glass and curtains of my hotel room window. From my third-floor room I could see a busy main road with a heavy flow of self-styled jeeps, rickshaw tricycles and pedestrians. Far to the east, below the rising sun, was a green mountain ridge. This busy main road passes over the Angono River. Above the water was a replica of a house, suspended by ropes from poles erected on the river. The previous night I enjoyed its beauty – the light inside the house pierced its papier-mâché walls and gleamed on the water reflecting the house. A piece of installation art! I was visiting a town called Angono, some 30 kilometres to the east of the Philippine capital Manila, to participate in conference and workshop on public art “as a step towards a creative city development”. This was part of the 6th Neo-Angono Public Art Festival, organised by Neo-Angono, a local movement and organisation founded by artists, and sponsored by the Japan Foundation. ...