Traveler without a cause: You’ve heard about the lady, right?

To begin with, I arrived in Rangoon exactly the day when Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released. Of course I read about the elections, knew a bit the situation and - I must admit - I hoped to witness some historical events, I didn’t expect that though. And so, I decided to stay in Rangoon one more day, go see her house, and watch people’s reactions. Finally, I didn’t see the demonstrations, but I was near her house, spoke to some people, among them - at the lake by her house - to an older Burmese gentleman, who was full of hope and had the highest expectations for the future of Myanmar.

I saw groups of young Aung San Suu Kyi supporters who were afraid to talk to me, showed me her picture though to demonstrate their support. And their eyes were smiling. I’ve noticed that people were barely speaking about the situation, they were manifesting their political views by showing pictures of her to each other and by... listening to Bob Marley. No joke.

It’s a really poor development country. In the streets, in bigger cities, there are speakers that broadcast (very loud) official government announcements. You can firmly feel the tension and lack of liberty. I’ve already used this expression, however, it describes pretty well the conditions – it is an Orwellian country. Thus, you can imagine how surprised I was when I first heard – coming from an old tape recorder in a small shop – the song “Get up, stand up”. Surreal, yet moving.

And then I heard it in Yangon and Mandalay several times - in places you would never expect to listen to Bob Marley. As a ‘white face’ I was drawing attention and I didn’t want to cause any troubles to those people who were playing that song, so, I didn’t really talk to them. I saw them though and the look tells you everything. It was definitely not just a random playlist...

Later on in Mandalay I started a conversation over a cigarette (I know, it’s so bad to smoke, it’s such a good icebreaker though) with a local guy who finally asked “So, you heard about the lady, right? She’s free, you know. Big change.” He didn’t mention her name. No one did. People were too afraid that ‘someone’ could listen - which would mean problems. Did you know that the northern part of Burma is completely closed from the outside world and from what I’ve heard the military regime is having regular prison camps where people who dared to protest against the junta are being held? I didn’t know that.

Let’s hope the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi will be the first step on a (long...) road to democracy for Myanmar.