Annan Report Released

Yesterday a commission led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan released an important report regarding the future of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. It recognizes the many root causes of conflict there.

At the top of the report’s pile of recommendations is a call for reviewing the country’s 1982 Citizenship Law. That law as currently interpreted is partly responsible for more than one million Muslims in Rakhine State being stateless. The law’s critics say it defines citizenship along ethnic lines.

Many other factors beyond the citizenship law explain why so few Muslims (only 13,000, according to the report) in that area have been recognized as full citizens or naturalized. Yet if tweaks to the law increased that number by even a modest amount, it would send an important signal that the future there won’t be dominated by extremists.

Asking for that signal might be asking too much. Moderates on Rakhine State issues are a rare and endangered species. As one veteran UN official told me over lunch recently, “there’s no nuance there.” Surely the Annan Commission heard that opinion expressed often. Just the same, I’d like to believe its report can be a tool for tolerance.

H1N1 on the Brain

For the past couple weeks Yangon has had flu on the brain. Influenza virus always peaks during rainy season in SE Asia.

Mixed in with regular flu this year have come many cases of H1N1, otherwise known as swine flu. This strain, like seasonal flu, can lead to serious health problems for some people.

Health officials have tried to calm the public through awareness campaigns, but the memory of the 2009 global H1N1 pandemic remains fairly fresh. Also, rumor control becomes more difficult in the Facebook era. Pharmacies are sold out of everything flu-related.

I wasn’t surprised to find a mask-clad man when I answered the doorbell the other day. Slowly it dawned on me that he was the same guy who shows up once a month to hand-deliver the bill from the internet service provider (mail delivery isn’t too reliable here). Sometimes, as a token of gratitude for using its services, he also hands me a small gift from the company: a package of candles at light festival time, or stickers around Valentine’s Day. Today, along with the invoice, he presented me with two masks.