“I am not like you” says journalist in powerful, moving reply to Thein Sein’s top economic adviser

Nay Htun Naing profile photo on Facebook. FACEBOOK/NAY HTUN NAING

When U Myint, President Thein Sein’s senior economic adviser, read journalist Nay Htun Naing the riot act in an Open Letter to Eleven Media on April 4, he may have thought that the 29-year-old reporter would walk away with his tail between his legs.

After all, he lampooned Nay Htun Naing’s English, his understanding of economics, and characterized his article, which was more or less about the poor state of the economy, as a “jihad” against the government.

Coming from someone who advises the most powerful man in the country, it was humbling.

But it was something else entirely to Nay Htun Naing.

The journalist posted his response to U Myint on Eleven Media’s website on Wednesday, and it’s absolutely devastating. What quickly becomes clear is that the rift between the two is about something much bigger than an opinion on the economy.

It’s about haves and have nots, military rule and Myanmar’s lost generation.

“We were unfortunate to miss the good education system that you enjoyed,” he writes near the beginning, setting a tone for the letter and emphasizing the gap between the 77-year-old economist and the 29-year-old.

That gap is exactly why he felt U Myint’s letter so insulting, as the next several paragraphs, which we will quote in full and unedited, painfully emphasize.

“We grew up in the broken education system and under the oppressions of sixty years of dictatorship.You learned at the University of Yangon. You got the chance to learn about English, Politics and Economy very well. You achieved Master’s degree from Cornell University in the United States. You also got Ph.D. from Berkeley University in California.

“I am not like you. I was educated under an education system where we had to memorize everything, where a degree was given for a total of thirty days attendance (only ten days tuitions for a semester and a total of three semesters to get a degree) and where we learned about economy from a correspondent course.

“Moreover, we are not from popular elite families like you. We had to struggle to educate ourselves.

“My father was a former military personnel (not an officer) and my mother was dependent. One of the typical families struggling under the oppressive authoritarian regime.

“My parents afforded only for my basic education. I had to find part-time jobs when I reached 10 and 11 grades only to support myself to continue my education. By then, our highest hope was to attend a correspondent course to continue our education. Only then, we can work and learn at the same time.

“A monthly salary was needed to support my family. Until now, I am the one supporting my family.

“It is not only me who have been through such situation. Tens of millions of Myanmar young people went through similar conditions. There were no support from the government’s education system. Many could not afford private tuitions and depended on charity schools. It was different in your time. I believe you know what cause it. I feel that your letter was not just addressed to me but to the tens of millions of younger people in the country. It was a suppression on the youths and a reflection of your ego implying not to criticize if we are not well-educated like you.

“You did not explain the reason why were not well-educated. We are not well-educated because the education system was thoroughly destroyed. Even though we were not educated in universities in western countries, we are trying to educate the younger generation. We ourselves are also trying to become well-educated.

“The result of U Ne Win, U Than Shwe and U Khin Nyunt’s systematic destruction of the country’s education system is the loss of the futures millions of people. I am not saying that because of hatred. I am merely point that a change is needed.”

He then transitions to talk about his own education and one of his friends, which is also worth quoting in full.

“Even though we grew up in the oppressive education system, we did not stop. We tried. I started working a monthly-paid job at the age of 17—as a seller in a bookshop. I chose journalism as my career when I reached 19. I started as a junior reporter at Eleven Media Group. Now I am 29 and I have working experience of ten years. At this point, I want to mention about a young editor from our English version department, Zayyar Nanda. He is now 21. (He is one of the editors who checked the translation of my article. To my knowledge, the translation did not differ from the original as you have pointed out. I will talk about this more at a later time.)

“The editor, Zayyar Nanda, fled to the border after the Saffron Revolution. He did not pass the matriculation exam. He faced difficulties to attend state schools when he got back to Myanmar. However, his self-studies highly improved his English language skills. His average IELTS score was 8. When he was 18, one of his opinion articles, written in English, was published on The Nation newspaper in Thailand for the first time.

“Even though he was award a scholarship for his efforts, he could continue learning as the program later stopped. What I want to say is although the authoritarian regime and bad system had oppressed the people there are many who are trying to make their way to success. Not all are dumb as you seemed to imply.

“Although the education system was destroyed, there are many things we could do. We learned from books. Since the schools are not helpful, we depended heavily on self-study. As of now, there are millions of those young people in our country.

“The results of the hard work can be seen in my articles.We are not descendants from elite class. We did not applied for scholarship by working closely with opportunists while we could. We refused the opportunities they had offered.”

There is much, much more. Read the full letter here.
 

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