Insight Myanmar

Episode #396: “There is no other issue in Thailand that has this long of a history of civil society engagement like Myanmar.” With these words, Thai humanitarian worker and activist, Mic Chawaratt, discusses the decades-long relationship between Thailand and Myanmar regarding displacement, refugee management, and civil society aid.  He traces Thailand’s security-driven approach to Myanmar ref...

Episode #395: Laetitia van den Assum, a Dutch diplomat and former ambassador to Thailand, was one of nine members of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, a group set up in 2016 at Aung San Suu Kyi’s request and chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Its mandate was to improve conditions in one of Myanmar’s poorest and most divided regions. In this conversation, van den Assum refle...

Episode #394: Sandar, an ethnographer and documentary photographer, dedicated her life to understanding Myanmar’s diverse cultures. Before the coup, she conducted extensive research in ethnic territories, particularly in Kachin, documenting their struggles and traditions. However, when the military seized power, her ability to continue fieldwork was shattered. Facing restrictions and violence, she...

Episode #393: “It’s now time to be more principled and say that, ‘We would like to support democracy.’” With this statement, Audun Aagre, former head of the Norwegian Burma Committee (NBC), distills three decades of Norway’s involvement in Myanmar into a call for credibility and purpose.  Aagre’s own engagement with Myanmar began in the early 1990s, when Burmese exiles in Norway trained as jo...

Episode #392: Landmines and explosive remnants of war are taking a devastating toll on civilians, as armed groups on many sides continue to use the deadly and indiscriminate weapons. Mine Free Myanmar, a country-focused campaign of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, runs an annual art contest documenting survivors’ stories and the ever-present threat experienced by communities. The conte...

Episode #391: A key figure at Article 19 for the Asia Pacific region, Lana exposes a dilemma: the tense dynamic between an accelerating tech industry and authoritarian governments' increasing digital control. Lana's background informs her examination of how tech operations affect human rights in countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam, and China. Authorities in oppressive Asian nations are increasingly...

Episode #390: The exhibition Fragmentation , hosted earlier this year at Bangkok Art and Culture Center and co-organized by SEA Junction and A New Burma, presented haunting photographs of displaced teachers and students in Karenni State, capturing both devastation and resilience in the midst of war. Through a series of interviews, curators and participants reflected on the deeper meanings of these...

Episode #389: Mie Mie Wynn Bird, a retired U.S. Army officer and defense strategist runs leadership and capacity-building workshops for Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. In this episode, she argues that morale —and not weapons or resources—is the decisive factor in war. She is guided by this principle: “people first, mission always”: leaders must train, protect, and respect their teams while keepi...

Episode #388: “Every day in Myanmar, people are living in constant fear, fear of air strike, fear of artillery, fear of arbitrary arrest, fear of extra judicial killing. As long as the military is in power, the country will not be in peace,” says Alex, a Burmese activist-in-exile about Myanmar's brutal reality under military rule. His believes that the military’s planned, upcoming elections are in...

Episode #387: “I think vipassana has always been a response to crisis, not just a quest for spiritual purity,” says Gustaaf Houtman, anthropologist and author of Traditions of Buddhist Practice in Burma and Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics . Drawing on decades of research and immersion in the culture, Houtman connects meditation, language, politics, and cultural history, revealing a view...

Episode #386: Maw Htun, Deputy Minister for Electricity and Energy in Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG), has navigated a path defined by personal tribulation and transformation since the 2021 coup. His journey began with joining the NUG to fulfill a lifelong dream of systemic change, but was soon overshadowed by a battle with cancer. With his critical illness and having to endure a series...

Episode #385: Minna Fredriksson, human rights advisor at the Swedish development organization Diakonia, describes her humanitarian work and critiques the humanitarian aid field based on her years of work in Southeast Asia. Fredriksson managed humanitarian efforts in refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border in 2013. This was at the start of the democratic transition, and when donor governments s...

Episode #384: “As a journalist, you always hope for consequences. I mean, otherwise our reporting is meaningless,” says Bjørn Nordahl, a Norwegian investigative reporter who led a two-year probe into Telenor’s withdrawal from Myanmar. The case was especially painful because the company, once praised for driving SIM card prices down and sparking a communication revolution in 2014, ended up entangle...

Episode #383: The 4th International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) was hosted at hosted by Chiang Mai University. This major event brought together many scholars and experts to discuss Myanmar’s ongoing challenges, including the 2021 coup, conflicts, peace efforts, and human rights issues. Hosting over 800 participants over its three day event, it was one of the largest events dedicat...

Episode #382: Zack Tu Nan, a queer, ethnic Zaiwa activist and student living in the Netherlands, reflects on his journey through marginalization, faith, identity, and exile. Born in 1994 in—literally—a rice field in Kachin State while his parents fled military violence, Zack grew up in a remote village run by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), where he enjoyed a rich, traditional Zaiwa upbringing...

Episode #381: Vicky Bowman, the former UK Ambassador to Myanmar and past director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), explains what sanctions are meant to do - prevent harm and promote reform, rather than punish - and how Myanmar’s “opaque information ecosystem” makes this challenging. She recalls that in the early 2000s, compiling sanctions lists was difficult, with EU diplomat...

Episode #380: “I started meditation at a fairly young age,” begins scholar and author, Daniel Stuart. At nineteen, he traveled to India, disillusioned by the world he grew up in and searching for an alternative. What he discovered was vipassanā meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka, and for him it was “a quite revolutionary experience!”  For Stuart, meditation was never confined to the cushion....

Episode #379: “It’s a different migration story,” reflects Amy Hardingson, speaking about her enduring connection to her Burmese heritage, a thread stretching across generations. Her great-grandmother, Hilda, embodied this love, embarking on the perilous Great Trek during World War II to India in 1941. A member of the Eurasian community in Burma, Hilda fled with her three-year-old daughter and sev...

Episode #378: Simon Billenness, director of Campaign for a New Myanmar, draws on thirty years of advocacy to explain the mechanics and challenges of U.S. policy toward Myanmar. He begins by discussing the recent removal of sanctions on junta-linked individuals, which he believes reflects corporate lobbying rather than signaling a coherent strategy or change in overall policy. In fact, he says, tha...

Episode #377: “Myanmar is a source of inspiration everywhere! This is me speaking directly to friends in Myanmar, that they should understand that they are the source of inspiration, and the source of ideas and reflections, to a level that they don't recognize, because there are a lot of reflections going on in the corners of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, that are not there on media.”  Tee is a Vi...

Episode #376: “I think it’s a big win. And also people may not like to hear this, it’s actually a win for sanctions,” says Erich Ferrari, founder of Ferrari & Associates and a leading U.S. sanctions attorney. In this episode, he explains the legal and procedural framework behind the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list and responds to criticism over his firm’s role in recent delistin...

Episode #375: “Don’t fall for the junta's attempt to try to propagandize!” says Derek Mitchell, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar. In this interview, he assesses U.S. strategy under the Trump administration, focusing on recent sanctions “de-listings” that have raised concern.  Regarding the de-listings, Mitchell believes that the they were a bureaucratic decision, not a strategic one. “It cou...

Episode #374: “Miraculously, amazingly, the mission has continued up until now in 2025.” These words from Dr. Zaw Moe Aung, Executive Director of The Leprosy Mission Myanmar (TLMM), encapsulates the resilience of an organization founded in 1898. While still focused on leprosy, TLMM has expanded its work to extend support to all people with disabilities in the country, including the growing number...

Episode #373: In this wide-ranging interview, journalist Lorcan Lovett returns to the podcast to discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s imprisonment, the fractured resistance, and Myanmar’s trajectory under military rule. He recounts his investigative work authenticating leaked prison logs from early 2024 that reveal Suu Kyi’s declining health, sparse diet, and isolation. Obtained from a group called People's...

Episode #372: “I focus on research that's mostly relevant for climate resilience, and I really look at Myanmar as the most interesting and important case.”  Kyungmee Kim, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, explores the intersection of climate justice, extractive industries, and conflict in Myanmar. Her early work focused on community resistance to hydropower...