Pascal Khoo Thwe’s autobiography is a classic “truth is stranger than fiction” tale, describing how a dirt poor Burmese mountain boy improbably fell in love with the writings of James Joyce and eventually found himself studying at Cambridge University in England
Pascal Khoo Thwe ran free as a child, ran scared as an adult, and now writes forthrightly about his troubled homeland from the safety of London. His autobiography From The Land Of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, which won The Kiryama Nonfiction Prize 2002, is a remarkable story of survival. This illuminating account of life in Burma follows Pascal from a dreamy childhood in the hills, through malaria-infested guerrilla enclaves along the Thai-Burma border, finally ending up in the cloisters of Cauis College, Cambridge University, England.
Pascal now lives in exile in London, unable to return home while Burma continues to be ruled by a brutal military dictatorship. He explains how writing his memoirs has helped him come to terms with a life apart from his ethnic tribe the Padaung – famed for its so-called longneck women. “It was a therapeutic process, because I have been living in exile for many years. It helps my understanding of my own culture. I feel much more sure about what my culture is.”
From The Land Of Green Ghosts – Pascal Khoo Thwe
See all books by Pascal Khoo Thwe at
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Spanning two-and-a-half decades, Pascal opens up a world of “Nats” (spirits), ritual, tribal culture interwoven with Italian Catholicism, and rebellion, all washed down with plenty of home-made rice wine. He provides a firsthand account of the complex history, ethnic diversity, rivalries, and tensions that exist in Burma. “I’m trying to educate people about Burma, because I feel whatever the situation in Burma, you need a population that is educated about what they want for themselves and what kind of Burma they want to build for the future,” Pascal explains.
It follows him from his childhood in Burma’s Shan States, recounting a culture steeped in animist traditions and legends, and a boyhood of hunting, death-defying go-karting, and blowing up landmines with his friends for laughs. Pascal’s family are Catholics — the result of an adventurous Italian missionary — at the age of 13 he enters the local seminary to train for priesthood. He soon bores of his life being mapped out by the Church and takes his destiny in his hands heading to Mandalay to study English. Life in Mandalay was a stark contrast to his upbringing in the mountains.
“It was very shocking, because the shocks never come to you in one go. It was almost too much to absorb, ” he explains. “I really fell in love with the place after a couple of months. It was coming to know the people on the ground level that really opened my eyes. The realisation that we have similar problems and learning more about their culture and lifestyle. ”
At this point his life takes a dramatic turn. He learns that questioning the Burma Socialist Programme Party, even in lectures, results in extreme punishment. He has a chance meeting with a Cambridge Don, John Casey, who eventually helps him escape to England, and countrywide anti-government pro-democracy rallies spread like wildfire. These events politicise Pascal and he pays a heavy price. His activist girlfriend is arrested, raped and murdered by government troops, and a short time later he and some friends have to run for their lives, heading for the Karenni rebel camps on the Thai border while being hotly pursued by the Burmese army.
A political outcast himself, Pascal explains how years of dictatorial rule affected his perceptions. “For me to be associated with these illegal rebels, who were living and fighting in the jungle, was the most worrying thing for me, because I would be branded as a criminal element. ” However, the realities of living with them and understanding their decades long struggle was an illuminating experience. “When I came to know them, I found it really inspiring. Since then, I’ve really wanted to tell their story – how they lived and how they survived. ”
Pascal explains why it’s essential that home grown Asian authors help form an accurate picture of different Asian cultures that override the moves made by the regions governments to exploit and build on prejudices for their own political gains. “Part of the misunderstanding in Asia, from my own experience between Burma and Thailand, is that the Burmese always look at the Thais in a way that is exploited by the regime,” Pascal says.
“They write these most awful and despicable articles about the Thai people, in the same way that the outside media portrays Burmese people or my tribe as docile tribespeople with strange necks that are 14 inches long. That’s all they see. They never see a people with their own lifestyle and culture. ”
However, throughout his book Pascal makes use of subtle humour to underwrite events, whether it be explaining how his tribe used Catholic prayers to get rid of spirits, just in case their smaller gods didn’t work, or describing adrenaline-fuelled bullet-dodging battles with Burmese troops.
“I crawled away and tried to find a way out beneath the flying bullets and shrapnel. It was quite impossible. I thought this must be the end of me. Then a Karreni fighter appeared. He was walking in an unhurried way, carrying his medical kit and whistling the Bee Gees number ‘Staying Alive’ amid the bullets. He was obviously high on marijuana and quite without fear, ” he writes. Pascal now lives in London where he works as a human rights activist campaigning on Burma.
