Rage Against the Regime
An anti-military protest on February 14th by a group of traditional boxers from Thaton, including Soe Lin Oo and Shwe War Tun.
“We don’t care about who is the government. We just want something done about the economy. We Burmese work so hard and have nothing.”
BEFORE WE BEGIN
An important disclaimer: The bulk of this article was written before the coup on February 1st. I couldn’t publish it the way it was, so I have prepared a short introduction. I have to omit a lot of things because this is a sports website and not a political one, so things like the Rohingya genocide, SPDC/SLORC rights abuse, Saffron Revolution, role of the Bamar majority and the motivations of the many Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAO’s) in the country have to be skipped over. If I was writing this anywhere else I would regret not including them. This is to preserve historical objectivity and the focus respectively for this article.
Post-independence Burma started off with a military interim administration in October 1958. A temporary government was put in place due to political instability. Although it quickly staged new elections in 1960 and handed power back to a civilian government, it only lasted for two years when the newly elected government was overthrown by its temporary predecessor in a coup d'état. It considered the newly elected government too weak and they feared for disintegration of the Union. This period of military rule from 1962 to 1988 was led by a socialist ideology. Long story short, few objected the coup initially because of how the military handled the situation back in 1960. However, because of poor management of Burma’s industrial sector (the nation favoured agriculture as a source of income), the economy suffered greatly. As a result, Burma was named a least developed country in 1987. During this 26 year period, the people suffered immensely. These details I cannot list in summarized form, nor would this be the place.
“I would like to declare from here that if the army shoots it has no tradition of shooting into the air. It would shoot straight to hit.”
Comparable in nearly every way to the current situation, nationwide protests emerged in 1988 in a growing resentment towards the military. It also marked the resignation of its military commander Ne Win in July that year. He did not leave, however, without appointing a successor to continue his efforts while he advised in the background. The protests peaked in August and the military were ordered to shoot on sight. After Ne Win's successor resigned and a new head of government was appointed, the protests and confrontations temporarily subsided. It was at this time that Aung San Suu Kyi (daughter of Major General Bogyoke Aung San; founder of Burma's armed forces) rose to prominence after a speech given at the Shwedagon Pagoda. The protests had resumed by that time and Burma's ruling party promised to hold elections. They were ordered by the opposition to resign, but did not comply. This resulted in more protests and, eventually, another coup d'état. The ruling party was replaced, martial law was imposed and protesters once again shot on sight.
The years ahead were difficult and troublesome. The ruling parties and military never allowed for general elections to be held fairly, ignoring the NLD's victory in the 1990 elections causing Aung San Suu Kyi to be placed under house arrest once again, intermittently until 2010. Together with a new 2008 constitution this military-backed government eventually initiated political, economical and administrative reforms. Taking up 25% in parliament it has the right to appoint three ministries and effectively cannot be removed as the constitution states that it needs a vote greater than 75% for it to be amended. The military had the upper hand.
Even though these reforms led to multiple victories for Suu Kyi's party the NLD, most recently in November of last year, the military again staged a coup d'état and took over the semi-civilian government because they claim its elections were fraudulent. In reality they were cornered and this is the result.
FREEDOMS AND RESTRICTIONS
Brigadier general Thura Aye Myint presents a golden belt to Wan Chai on June 10, 2001. It was the first major event featuring American and Australian kickboxers.
Despite having gone through a British occupation and a world war that saw the Japanese occupy the country, most of Burma’s infrastructure was left surprisingly intact which helped speed up a newly starting economy. Since the 1958 government was formed and the subsequent takeover in 1962, which was seen as a necessary evil, Ne Win was presented as someone who put the country back on a path of stability. The country had seen so much turmoil that the population more easily accepted whatever they could get to have some perspective. But it came at a terrible price. Western European domination and the anti-colonial mindset brought about an era of seclusion, away from foreign influence and their capitalism. The military’s constant suspicion of sedition and its persistent oppression did nobody any favours.
Travelling to and through Burma in the 70's was allowed but usually limited to a week at most and often paired with paranoia from officials and military. Only a few hotels had a license to accept foreigners and you weren't allowed to wonder off to just any city either. A handful of major cities and sights were open to tourists, of which no more than 20.000 visited annually. This number gradually increased to 200.000 in 1995 and eventually to 5 million in 2015 as the isolationist regime had gradually let go of its grip.
The 80's saw a growing resentment in the ways of the state. As poverty increased due to a failing economy, it made the black market attractive and led the people to abandon the socialist way and to start accepting black money jobs. Many went on to smuggle goods from neighboring countries to make ends meet. In a 2017 interview former flag champion 'Thaton' Moe Kyoe admitted he had also started importing goods in 1979. Making a living from boxing was also getting more difficult because he had few opponents left to face:
"I started importing goods illegally for about 5 or 6 years. I brought in goods such as bicycle tires, car tires and cloth from Me Tha Wall, Me Tha Lay and Wem Kha gates. It took about 5 days for each round-trip. Sometimes the profits were around 5000 kyats and sometimes about 10.000kyats ($500-1000)."
It is known that Tha Mann Kyar stopped fighting in Burma and went to Thailand and Cambodia on occasion because of the unrest. At the same time,` many of the first-class boxers were on their way out and making way for a new generation.
Burmese boxing was isolated, and although some efforts were made to hold exhibitions and festivals oversees, most of them were not permitted. It's tough to say exactly why some of the excursions were cancelled but it is no secret that in those times national pride and sovereignty were the most important properties of the state. Street signs and newspaper ads "educated" the public on foreign enemy interference and to crush external destructive elements. Anyone who came in-between this heavenly unity of the military and its people was seen as the enemy. People were not allowed to discuss anything the military did or had done. They had gotten into the habit of making sure that whatever confrontation they might end up in, that the Burmese were the ones who “won”. This was also projected on sports.
Everything was confined to domestic battles and despite the situation it did flourish modestly regardless. Boxers were free to fight and the audiences free to visit them. The military (government) was always openly supportive of national sports and sports in general.
“Burmese boxing techniques were recognised as military arts during the time of Myanmar Kings. During colonial time, Burmese boxers were detained under section 109-110 and boxing knowledge was destroyed. Now during the time of this revolutionary government, the Health and Sports Committee recognise victory flag matches as a national championship. They also clarified: We love our Burmese boxing prowess, where we abandon our businesses to participate in matches. Boxing can never lie dormant. (...)”
Something that was once again covered in a SAC meeting in early March of this year (SAC = State Administration Council, the name of the current military regime). Colourful stories of local battles with regional or state champions are abundant and have great nostalgic value. Kyar Ba Nyein's initial efforts to get the sport out to the world were shot down but he was still determined to help whenever he could. For many years in the 60’s and 70’s he wrote article after article on the sport, in both Burmese and English, keeping journalists and the public up to date on its well-being and growth. As told in the story of Moe Kyoe, he and his team advanced some of the older rule-sets to be more fitting of the times, eventually ushering in a new era where fights were shorter and more explosive in nature.
“Today, the revolutionary government of Burma, which firmly believes that the health of the nation as a whole is crucial to the success of a socialist society, encourages modern sports as well as the revival of traditional sports.”
Some may have noticed a sudden uptick in event frequency immediately after the coup as the new government took office. It’s not that those wanting to hold events were exactly cheering, but purely because of the situation that presented itself the events were able to be held again. Although it’s hard to get any information at the moment amidst the murders, abductions and endless torture of the citizens in Myanmar, since February 1st I’ve counted at least 9 events since public events were banned in April last year. The only exception being the 5th Myanmar Lethwei World Championship in December. The actual number might be double or more since hardly anyone has the time or the energy to focus on lethwei.
IMPROVING VISIBILITY OF
AUTHENTIC TRADITIONAL BOXING
On March 31st CRPH announced the abolishment of the 2008 military-drafted constitution.
Where do we go from here? The current government in exile, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), has been working towards implementing a new constitution and has created a National Unity Government with ethnic members filling positions previously held by non-ethnics. Looking to make a Federal Army possible where EAO’s or members of the Federal Union Army/Northern Alliance are included, all involved parties are hopeful that the Tatmadaw (armed forces of Myanmar) will be eradicated within the next few years.
Lethwei has been unable to develop freely in the presence of an audience other than that of the Burmese because of the various dictatorships since 1962. But in 2011 all of that changed when Myanmar rejoined the international community after its borders were opened. The junta had partially handed over power as a result of the November 2010 elections. It was then-president Thein Sein who approached Aung San Suu Kyi.
Now the sport of Lethwei could more easily be seen by the outside world. But they still needed to kickstart its evolution, comparable to the one that the Thai’s had started decades earlier for their sport of Muay Thai. Before the coup, due to the relative stability in the country, I wondered what could be done in order to make it more accessible, profitable and enjoyable for the worldwide audiences now glued to their screens to catch a glimpse of this underdeveloped and raw combat attraction. Obviously, another hurdle has been added now so we have to wait for better times to arrive. Currently, nobody will be able to pursue any ventures listed below, but when the time is right I am of the opinion that the effort should be made. Perhaps not for international Lethwei as it has already proven somewhat successful, but at least for the national product in its raw original format.
“With the Burmese boxing situation remaining in this sad condition, the art is reportedly experiencing a gradual decline into obscurity. But interested observers believe that with sufficient and methodical management, myanma letwhei could become an extremely effective spectator sport of which Burma could be proud. Perhaps some enterprising promoter may recognize its market value. Considering the booming interest in contact sports today, myanma letwhei, once discovered, could blossom overnight into a national sport.”
People nowadays want nothing more than information with the click of a button, myself included. We enter the keywords for our search and expect nothing else than the thing we're looking for when we press enter. For the sport of traditional boxing, or Lethwei, this is not yet so easy. In fact, almost anything related to the sport prior to most of the new innovative or visionary changes made by World Lethwei Championship (WLC), excluding any new affiliates of the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation (MTLF) or newly created federations and associations around the world, is impossibly hard to get a hold of and grasp. There are few notable individuals who have made it their mission to bring reliable and interesting information about the sport to the forefront. Seemingly there are few who can.
There is a language barrier, but that shouldn't have to be a problem. Properly formulated Burmese text actually translates sufficiently through translation services nowadays. If there were any websites dedicated to bringing news or any other sort of output regarding lethwei, in Burmese or English, it would at least provide people with a steady and easy to access source of information. This is, unfortunately, also the case for Muay Thai even though they had a lengthy head-start into the evolution and promotion of their sport. It seems it is no guarantee for the creation of English language websites to cater to a non-Thai audience. Instead, the fans have found numerous other inventive ways to be involved and get excited about the sport.
A very high percentage of fans are online only through their mobile phone. Social media is by far the most popular form of communication and information sharing. This results in heavy use of Facebook's services (although, the recent coup has now pushed hundreds of thousands to the use Twitter). Bits and pieces of information ranging from personal stories, event results and historical info to current events and live streaming schedules are scattered over hundreds of groups, pages and personal accounts, half of which are inaccessible due to privacy settings. Bringing all of it together requires an immense dedication.
One solution in bringing this information together would be to create places where people can transfer it. Databases like BoxRec, Tapology, Sherdog, MT2000 and even Wikipedia make it easier to keep up with records. Creating something simple on Google, WordPress or Squarespace for mundane tasks such as event or prospect tracking or record keeping would increase visibility, and ultimately popularity, compared to the social media maze alternative. But even that can be coordinated as my friends from Myanmar Lethwei Collection (MLC) have clearly shown. Authentic journalism and reporting, original photography and video recording all blend together into an informative and accurate timeline of nearly every aspect of traditional boxing. Of course with the generous and much needed help of the many fans that flock to their pages on Facebook, YouTube and the world-wide web.
Creating an order and a central place for information works. Giving people access to information and data surrounding the sport of Lethwei is important for its own growth. Frustration with zero accessibility will cause the consumer to choose the easy route. And currently that route is being set by WLC and most other Lethwei organizations in the world, simply because they have the means and a much better understanding of how to quickly communicate and promote their product to a familiar audience.
A few years ago, in the first quarter of 2018, I thought Canal+ would bring about some change. Surely they had to set up a foundation for their affiliation with lethwei. Figuring out the infrastructure of investment versus return and making sure each and every relationship is healthy is top priority. But there are some ventures unexplored, even ones that require little effort in comparison. The Canal+ application is like any other; FITE, iSakura, UFC, Abema, Netflix and ONE all have a similar easy to use interface with a main purpose of streaming video to users. When asked directly, among mock replies, the common message is that copyright is preventing Canal+ from showing their traditional boxing content outside of Myanmar. But why create that barrier for yourself? They own the footage which they have copyrighted themselves. I would happily pay a decent buck through their app for events they have funded and filmed. It's a mystery to me that a fully functioning app cannot be made available to additional audiences to secure extra income. Especially when you realize that they hardly ever call upon their library of footage for rebroadcast or redistribution.
If we pretend that it is somehow inconceivable, why not look to YouTube for an opportunity? One of the few professional attempts came at the hands of "Lekkha Moun" six years ago. Some of their more popular videos are hitting 2 million views, and this is before the Dave Leduc hype train really took off. Myanmar4U, a means for MLC to upload and promote their boxing videos to a growing audience of 50,000 subscribers, is now regularly hitting half a million views despite being a relatively new media company. Lethwei is incredibly popular on this platform if done well and with effort. It would be regarded as a massive public service, a wonderfully generous gesture towards the international fans, and a great way for self-promotion if content was uploaded in a timely manner. This in turn would peak interest which could in turn be funneled towards something like a pay-per-view model either online or through the app. I have tried to voice this to Canal+ directly and to various employees but the majority of replies are ignorant in nature. It seems others are copying this behavior as SkyNet has recently decided not to air one of the Myanmar Lethwei World Championship (MLWC) events even though it had a tradition of streaming it on Facebook for free. I know I'm just being hopeful but isn't that basically how demand works? At the moment, it is a closed ecosystem. And even though demand is increasing (for how long?) they are too eager to keep things to themselves and away from as many people as possible.
If you look at how Muay Thai is being handled on YouTube for example, you'll see that a lot of the videos, which do have copyright, are uploaded by users other than the official channels. Fans are certainly very free in uploading content from the various TV channels that broadcast matches on the regular. A constant exposé encourages fans to engage by uploading training videos, music videos, highlights and in some cases even indie documentary films or interviews. I understand it's tough to discern the line between making a profit and losing it by giving the end users considerable freedom. Experimenting can do no harm but I have not seen anyone do that properly. The constraints that currently surround the sport need to be loosened for it to have space to grow, even if it may fail to do so in the end.
“An inevitable evolution of every martial art, the metamorphosis of Lethwei could also be seen to reflect the former military junta’s advancement and gradual acceptance of the ways of the outside world.”
I'll touch on the subject of regular television programming briefly as it has been excellently covered by Born Warriors. Myanmar has a few decent public stations that also broadcast freely on the internet. Channel 7, Channel 9, MNTV, MRTV-4 and MWD have all previously shown events and finding a station willing to broadcast shouldn't be a problem. A website like MyanmarTVChannels.com, which recently updated to a much fresher look and in some ways is the equivalent of ADintrend.TV, is easy to find for anyone so making it a habit to show regular programming will only embed the sport into western minds more easily. All people need is a reliable and easy to find spot to carry out routine. Finding the right businesses for funding by placing advertisements or shout-outs on these shows wouldn't be too difficult either, especially post-Covid-19.
Something that may aid any of these ideas is a monthly investment system like that of Patreon. Some of the most popular pages dedicated to traditional boxing, now or in the past, have exceeded half a million likes/follows. If we take it to the extreme and assume every single person can be persuaded to donate anywhere from 10 to 100 Kyats, it would roughly yield between USD $3,500 and $35,000 per month. That's just under a single dollar per year for each participant in the case of 100 Kyats. Of course the extremes will not be met so a calculation would need to be made on what a more realistic number would be.
At the same time people will write about what they find interesting, as long as the subject of interest is available to them and has enough channels to connect to for information. Fitting the bill is again WLC. They are visible on the world stage, engage with fans, and those who wish to write about the promotion or any specific boxer will have no hard time finding an employee able and willing to help setting up an interview or providing background information, which helps promotion of their product via third party media outlets (barring the initial shilling initiated in part by WLC). Acceleration of breaking news also comes from athletes being much more open and available for comment, something they too realised by the apparent creation of a dozen Twitter accounts on behalf of those athletes. Perhaps something that is missing from the authentic lethwei perspective are the presence of spokesmen who advocate for the sport publicly.
Recently the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation (MTLF) had two incidents where they condemned "illegal" events and exhibitions in Thailand and Taiwan respectively. WLC 12 and 14 were held without properly notifying the Federation and getting the required permissions, while a friendly exhibition at a fair in Taiwan was belittled for being inappropriate and not according to standard. MTLF operates for a (until recently) confined sport -- the rules that were laid out apply to a single household so to speak, traditional boxing in Myanmar. But as soon as you walk out the door, into Thailand, Japan, America and Taiwan for example these standards may be insufficient. The consumers in these countries probably do not care whether they are watching "legal" or "illegal" Lethwei. Lethwei in Britain is not a full copy of the original and neither is Lethwei in the United States, yet they have been seen as very successful regardless.
Do we need to let go of this ideal image of pure Lethwei to ensure growth? MTLF does not have jurisdiction elsewhere, and constantly chasing wrongdoers and publicly condemning them is not going to do any good. I am as much of a fan of the authentic ways as anyone, but perhaps it is better to let the sport grow and put time and effort into it when it is better embedded around the world. Let people wear shoes if they must and let them make mistakes, maybe it will be easier to point them towards a more global standard after the fact? I am no expert in getting a sport out of the trenches. It's doing well as a spin-off, but the original is left behind.
August, 2009. One of the many promotional efforts carried out by U Win Zin Oo and U Soe Than Win.
There is real fear of the new brand of lethwei overshadowing the traditional ways. A stubborn sport in a country that is inherently stubborn may be destined to a future void of grandeur and popularity. It will never go away as it has seen near insurmountable setbacks in the past, but if lethwei was more willing to promote itself and able to offer up both the authentic and the visionary branches of the sport, which one would get the most attention? Although the majority of people can stomach the traditional rules and the addition of children’s fights, there is a substantial percentage that would prefer to only stick to the fights in which judges rule the contest and where the timeout plays a part no longer. Certainly the traditional boxing ways have a long way to go before they'd even catch up to a promotion like WLC.
The most recent developments in England, America and Poland where different striking arts share the ring give me mixed feelings. On one hand, you may not want to take a deep dive and go all out like Japan and Taiwan have done, so you embed a few Lethwei fights on a Muay Thai or MMA heavy card. If that's the case I really hope most of these federations (whether associated with MTLF or not) will move on to host standalone events eventually. I feel like the sport would otherwise become a tourist attraction like those in olden day travelling carnivals.
As the NUG presents its roadmap towards eradication of the military dictatorship, nullification of the 2008 constitution, building the Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar and fulfilling the wish of the people to create their government — so too does Lethwei need a clear roadmap to ensure proper growth for the sport to remain relevant. It will otherwise be nothing more than artificial selection where the good parts are taken to create something more suitable and the source is left behind to be slowly forgotten.