Myanmar's "Enemy of the State" Speaks... Irreverent Essays and Interviews

"While the world's academics and politicians were focused on the hopes for change conjured up by the charisma and fame of Aung San Suu Kyi, Zarni presciently warned of signs of more fundamental problems with the promised ‘transition’ agenda for Myanmar. Zarni's various writings and interviews represent an unending attack on the misrepresentations of the Myanmar political, military, commercial, and monastic establishment and the misunderstandings of foreign actors who were beguiled by the promises of natural resources, trade wealth, and political change. Now, as the Myanmar Tatmadaw and the Lady have revealed their true colors, the international community has found that Zarni has had something very important to say that should have been heeded. I strongly recommend this collection of insights into a country that most scholars of the country and nearly all politicians have consistently gotten wrong over the course of the past few decades."

Professor Michael W. Charney

Chair of Southeast Asian and Military History

SOAS, University of London

"Maung Zarni speaks truth to power and his words are powerful because they come from his own lived and personal experience." 

Mairead Maguire, Northern Irish Peace Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Maung Zarni is a UK-based Burmese exile, with over 30 years of experience in human rights activism, scholarship and international politics.  Zarni has worked as a researcher in leading universities in the United States, UK, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei including National-Louis University in Chicago, Oxford, Harvard, LSE, UCL Institute of Education, Universiti Malaya, Chulalongkorn University and Universiti Brunei Darussalam.  He is an adviser to Genocide Watch, a fellow with the (Genocide) Documentation Center – Cambodia and founding General Secretary of FORSEA, a cross-border network of democrats and dissidents across Southeast Asia.  With Natalie Brinham, Zarni is co-author of Essays on Myanmar’s Genocide of Rohingyas (2019).  In 2015, he was honoured with the “Cultivation of Harmony” award by the Parliament of the World’s Religions for his anti-racist activism and scholarship.