<div dir="ltr"><div class=""> <h2 class=""> Ethnic-language signs’ vandalism rankles </h2><a href="http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/21036-ethnic-language-signs-vandalism-rankles.html?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=" title="Print" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.mmtimes.com/media/system/images/printButton.png" alt="Print"></a> <dl class=""><dt class=""><br></dt><dd class=""> By Thu Thu Aung | Friday, 24 June 2016 </dd></dl> <div class=""> <div class=""> <div class=""><a class=""><div style="width:90px;height:25px" class=""><span></span></div></a></div> <a class=""><span></span></a><a href="http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/21036-ethnic-language-signs-vandalism-rankles.html#" title="View more services" target="_blank" class="">3</a> </div> </div> <p><strong>The
deletion of ethnic-language words on Shan State signposts has stirred
up a row on social media. It is not clear who is responsible for
effacing the words, or other vandalism to the township signage that
listed the town name in both Myanmar language and Shan language, as well
as in some cases a third local ethnic language.</strong></p> <p><strong><span class="" style="display:inline-block;line-height:0.5;vertical-align:top;background-color:rgb(229,231,233);text-align:left;width:500px;margin:0px"><img src="http://www.mmtimes.com/images/mte/2016/di318/4-signage_supplied.jpg" alt="A pre-vandalism sign is written in three languages. Photo: Supplied / Facebook" title="Ethnic-language signs’ vandalism rankles" style="margin: 0px;" border="0" height="350" width="500"><span class="" style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:9pt;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;padding:4px 8px;margin:0px">A pre-vandalism sign is written in three languages. Photo: Supplied / Facebook</span></span></strong></p> <p>Signs
were modified in at least five townships, according to posts on social
media, including Lechar/Laihka, Kyaingtong/Kengtung, Kunhein and
Tachileik.</p> <p>Outrage swiftly erupted on Facebook. Social media
poster Sai Lat Mike said, “Can a Shan-language township signboard harm
the Union?”</p> <p>The dual-language signage was one of the government’s
100-days projects. Previously the signs were only in Myanmar language,
which not all local residents can read.</p> <p>Sai Hseng, of the Shan
Youth Network (Namtu), said after the June 20 incident, “We heard that
Shan language words had been deleted from a bilingual [Myanmar and Shan]
signboard recently. I want to see the Shan language on township
signboards in our state.”</p> <p>To many ethnic Shan who expected
changes under the new government, the act seemed like a throwback to the
days of the military regime, which had repressed ethnic languages and
cultures.</p> <p>A cloth covering one bilingual sign in Tachileik township was partially destroyed by fire on June 18.</p> <p>Local
officials denied any knowledge of the signage changes. “That wasn’t a
Shan State project. It was a Municipal Development Committee minister’s
project. I don’t know the situation,” said a spokesperson for Shan State
Chief Minister U Lin Htut.</p> <p><em>The Myanmar Times</em> was unable to contact the state municipal minister named Sai Sun Hseng yesterday.</p> <p>The
Pyithu Hluttaw MP for Tachileik, U Htay Win, said, “This could affect
ethnic relationships. I don’t want this problem to get bigger. I
understand the Shan State government will discuss it at the next hluttaw
meeting.”</p> <p>Sai La Aung said on Facebook, “We have the right to access our own language. Stop Bamarisation.”</p> <p><a class="" href="http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/in-depth/18955-lessons-learned-on-minority-languages.html">“Bamarisation” of ethnic minority groups</a>
under the military regime threatened the existence of ethnic traditions
and languages, with forced assimilation a long-held grievance among
Myanmar’s ethnic minority population that has led to conflict.</p> <p>“Myanmar
still has quite a long way to go to rectify discrimination [against
minority languages],” said Marie Lall, a professor of education and
South Asian studies at UCL Institute of Education in London, at a
conference in March on ethnic language policy in Myanmar.</p> <br></div><a href="http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/21036-ethnic-language-signs-vandalism-rankles.html">http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/21036-ethnic-language-signs-vandalism-rankles.html</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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