Note: Because of potential Burmese government reaction, the identity of the student profiled in this story will not be revealed.
International politics is a topic that is repeatedly at the forefront of campus discourse. From the quagmire of Iraq to the economic juggernaut of China, campus wide debate rages on the proper way to respond to pressing issues. However, most students do not feel the direct effects of foreign state policies located oceans away.
Mr. Zeal is not one of those students.
Mr. Zeal, an international student from Burma - also known as Myanmar - has observed from afar the chaos that has engulfed his country.
“I was actually in California when the first protest happened, which was in the last week in August,” Mr. Zeal said. “The prices were doubled. The people could not go to work or school because the busses stopped. The government tried to put it down a little bit, but the prices stayed the same. So they took to the street.”
In late September, over 100,000 people – 20,000 of them monks - marched in the streets of Yangon. The Burmese military junta responded with brutal force - arresting, beating, and killing many of the protesting monks.
As residents of Yangon, Mr. Zeal’s family found themselves at the epicenter of the protest.
“There were so many protesters, tens of thousands, that just went past our house,” he said. “I am sure my parents were very scared. Looking at 10,000 people going past your house, that’s kind of scary. But that day nothing happened.”
Mr. Zeal noted the protests had affected almost everyone in his country.
“My parents have been more business minded rather than politically motivated because they think simple like most of the Burmese people,” he said. “As long as they can provide funds for me and my brothers, their life is happy.”
“Burmese people are very tolerating,” he added. “Maybe it’s because they aren’t educated or given options to see that [living under a dictatorship] is not the only way to live. They just take it as it is and don’t complain. If the prices go up, they try to keep up with it. When there is a sudden blow up of price and they can no longer try, then there are outbursts.”
Mr. Zeal noted the Burmese school systems, which were dismissed for a month during the high point of the demonstrations, lacked the necessary curricular structure for well-educated students.
“Our local education system is pretty messed up,” he said. “We memorize things, and just recite things that were memorized on a test. It’s very uncritical thinking. Everything is under government censorship. Everything about democracy or new ideas might not be included in the text.”
Censorship extends to almost every aspect of communication in Burma. Because of this, Mr. Zeal has to be very careful about what he talks about with his family when he calls home.
“We couldn’t really say anything on the phone,” he said. “Whenever a third party can listen in, we don’t talk about political things. They censor almost anything that’s going to arouse people’s mind.”
Although none of them have been affected by government censorship, the fears Mr. Zeal holds for action against his family is very real.
“I talked to a friend online who is in Thailand right now,” Mr. Zeal said, “and she told me that some of her friends have been refrained from their houses because they were doing some anti-government activity in Burma. They were afraid of getting caught and ran away.”
Mr. Zeal feels it is his responsibility as a student with a direct connection to an important international political question to educate his fellow Wabash men on what is happening in his country. After sending out links to news articles discussing the plight of the Burmese, he received a few nasty responses from Wabash students.
“I try to be informative,” he said, “but I might be biased a little bit because it is what is happening to my country. The personal email to me was directed to people who were supportive of my country’s cause, so that frustrated me. The content [of the email] was ‘stop pretending’. I thought maybe the other people could do that, but I couldn’t because I am a Burmese.”
“It was only one or two emails that said that,” he added. “There were so many people who were supportive of our cause, and I am really glad that I know that there are some people who care about this.”
Some of the most supportive included the brothers of Kappa Sigma, the fraternity of which Mr. Zeal is a pledge. The brothers adopted a fundraising and awareness campaign for the pro-democracy and humanitarian movements in Burma as their community service project.
“We were talking about fundraising to help the needy people right now - the people who are suffering,” he said. “We were thinking of a way to help the people in my country and increase the awareness of what’s happening in my country around campus as well.”
In spite of living under a military junta for his entire life and the current political turmoil that currently defines his country to the international community, Mr. Zeal is determined to go back to Burma to exact positive change, but not necessarily in the political sphere.
“I’ll probably get my MBA, and then I’ll go back to my country,” he said. “That’s my plan right now, because I just want to take care of my family and try to make positive changes in non-political ways. I don’t want to go to jail for that. I’ll do what I can to improve the situation there.”
To Mr. Zeal, the best way to improve the Burmese people’s situation is in fact the most important facet of the institution he now attends.
“I guess the best way is to educate the people,” he said.