Myanmar vs Burma

By ⋅ December 1, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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Koko Aung of the BBC’s Burmese Service helps anchor Lisa Mullins with the highly-politicized question of what the call the country visited by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week: “Burma” or “Myanmar”.

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s travels to Southeast Asia this week posed a number of challenges. Among them, whether to call the country she’s now visiting Burma, which evokes the old British Colonial days, or whether to call it Myanmar, the name the repressive government adopted in 1989. The United Nations has recognized the country as Myanmar, the US has not. Koko Aung of the BBC’s Burmese Service says the name game is a hot topic in his homeland and the country’s democracy icon has weighed in.

Koko Aung: Aun San Suu Kyi chose to call the old name, Burma, and the regime tried to change it. And if you talk to for example, a government official, particularly some high ranking official, and then you refer to the country as Burma, they will instantly take it as someone who supports the cause for democracy.

Mullins: So what name has Secretary Clinton chosen?

Hillary Clinton: Obviously, we and many other nations are quite hopeful that these flickers of progress will be ignited into a movement for change that will benefit the people of the country.

Mullins: Well, you heard it there, “the country,” which was maybe a bit of a dodge. Reports suggest we’re gonna hear more compromise and equally squishy names for he country, including “this land” and “what you call Myanmar.”

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Discussion

One comment for “Myanmar vs Burma”

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=421144 Evan Grigori Trzcinski

    U Ko Ko Aung explains well the dispute among politicized members of the Burmese diaspora. Yes, there is a debate among this minority and, yes, it is proper in their circles to use the word “Burma,” just as it is politically correct to use the colonial renderings of the names of the national races (Karenni instead of Kayin, Arakan instead of Rakhine). 

    I would like to add though that among the majority of Myanmars there is no debate about the name. Myanmar is the name of the country, and has always been so in writing and proper speech. The controversy surrounding the name is an exile thing.I would direct you to the Hobson Jobson Dictionary for more info: ”The name (Burma) is taken from Mranma, the national name of the Burmese people, which they themselves generally pronounce Bamma, unless speaking formally and empathically.” Both names have been used interchangeably throughout history, with Burma being the more colloquial name and Myanmar a more formal designation, somewhat similar to Muang Thai and Prathet Thai in Thai.”(http://www.burma-center.org/en/publications/articles/item/104-burma-or-myanmar/)