Enn Pine, 28 and Kie Jone, 25, from Karen and Mon State, both work with a Mon Newsgroup called Kaowao located on the Thai-Burma border in the Three Pagodas Pass area in the small border town of Sangkhlaburi in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. They along with 23 other staff members comprised of experienced Mon reporters and other Mon and Karen youth together produce radio broadcasts and online news in Mon, Karen, and Burmese languages. They risk their lives crossing the Thai-Burma border to have a chance at gaining work experience and learn English in an environment totally different from the one they left behind in Burma.

Before Kaowao started the radio news service in 2008, very little news was reaching the undeveloped mountainous village communities in the eastern border areas where there are also approximately half million displaced peoples in the jungle who have no access to news about their country. In fact if it wasn’t for the Kaowao radio news service few would know about who was running in the upcoming 2010 General Election in Myanmar scheduled to take place on the 7th of November.

Enn Pine, 28, is the staff officer for Kaowao and speaks about her decision to join the newsgroup in Sangkhlaburi. “I want to help the Mon community; many young Mon people are quitting school to support their families in Myanmar,” she explains. The poor living standard in Burma where it is estimated that 32 percent live below the poverty line and the prospect of making a steady income  draw many Mon and Burmese to go to other Asian countries to improve their economic situation. Most go to Thailand and work in the 3 Ds jobs and remit their earnings back home to their home villages.

Pine holds a B. Sc with Honors in Chemistry from Moulmein University and taught mathematics to middle school students for the Mon National Schools. With a government that jails people for years for expressing their political views whether online, privately or publicly, Pine says that many people are afraid of spies and will not openly express their views to anyone. Working with Kaowao in Thailand will provide her with an opportunity to do just that and to gain work experience in areas she’s interested in. Since working with Kaowao she has had the opportunity to train as a webmaster and learn English. “After working with the Mon National School, I was given the opportunity to broaden my work experience,” she explains. A well-known Mon leader, Nai Ngwe Thein, Vice President of the Mon National Democratic Front, asked her if she wanted to study English in Yangon and offered her a scholarship. She accepted and learned English for one year then decided to work on the border after learning about the work opportunity with Kaowao Newsgroup. “In thinking about my future, I really want to improve my knowledge of society, I hope to go to Australia and study the social sciences in university,” she says smiling with sincerity, and adds, “I have many [Mon] friends there.” 

Another Kaowao staff member, Kie Jone, became involved in politics in 2003 soon after he saw Aung San Suu Kyi in Depayin after her release from 13 years of house arrest. “Her car drove right in front of me, it was really amazing . . . there were so many people and I was the only Mon,” he recalled with enthusiasm on seeing and hearing about the famous democracy icon for the first time.  That first encounter with ASSK at 18 drew him into the “underground movement” and the subsequent killings and beatings of ASSK’s supporters in Depayin marked a turning point in his life.

After learning about the political situation in his country and making friends with political activists involved in the underground movement, a grassroots community network of friends and family lead him to the border area at Three Pagodas Pass where he now works as a Burmese language news announcer.

The poor prospect of work opportunities in his native country was another impetus for him to go abroad, he left his studies after two years in university due to financial problems and in talking to this reporter expressed deep frustration on the economy and the quality of the education back home. “Education is very bad in Myanmar,” he says while shaking his head, “Nobody has general knowledge in Myanmar, I want to learn more about the world.” For those who took part in the 1988 democracy uprising, Burma is used when they speak of their country but Joan and his peers, too young to have taken part in the 1988 uprising, refer to their country as Myanmar. Sitting in the lotus position on the chair he recalls how he became involved with Kaowao and in spite of his Kachin friend being in prison for working with a media group in Mae Sot, he says defiantly, “I am not afraid, even though it’s very dangerous in my country to talk politics,” and adds, “I will be waiting for my friend at the prison entrance when he gets out of jail in two years.