I just want to address some of the points brought up by Jimi in his post.
I have known Dr. Gyi since the early nineties when he began helping me organize my research into Burmese martial arts. I began training in 1999 directly in Burma and have been there almost every year at various intervals since which is almost 10 years. I began training with Dr. Gyi on and off since the mid nineties.
I have interviewed, trained with and photographed a staggering amount of masters within Burma as well as many diverse systems that i could find.
One needs to understand a bit about Burma and martial arts to understand that the government read: military since the country is a military dictatorship exerts enormous control over the martial arts as well as extreme control over any gathering including lethwae bare knuckle events which I have covered extensively over the years.
My search was always for the oldest remaining masters and systems and I found many within Burma. I have traveled to the extreme north, extreme south and all points in between often defying the military authorities and more than often being harassed, had guns pointed in my face, interrogated, and had innocent people who had nothing to do with anything being followed and harassed after I left.
I have made enormous efforts to always come forward to the military and authorities to explain my efforts with an eye toward a fair evaluation of each situation and often to listen to them ad nauseum as they explained "their position as the only position there is".
The Burmese comprise 68 per cent of the 42 million population, while eight major ethnic groups, and 135 subgroups form much of the rest. I found martial arts are usually some part of each ethnic group which makes for a staggering amount of discovery still untouched and not documented in entirety even by the burmese.
Several researchers as one from Japan and another from France have been doing stand out work but so far there has been limited amount of this type of work in english.
When I looked at the footage of saya jon collins with the burmese group and the comment".Yes my Instructor has visited Myanmar in 1997 regardless of Myanmars government political issues, it was a Thaing/Bando issue to organize the Thaing/Bando systems outside of Old Burma, not a politic issue." I am sure to say it was a political issue if they were organizing anything without government approval. How can they organize something very few have seen even in burma in their entirety. Sorry if i vehemently disagree here.
There is so much diversity how could one see all of that in that tape or even with those masters. The international organizations there are government run, sitting in a room with them is not very inspiring or educational for the most part. I feel any involvement with these groups dont benefit the greater good of the great martial arts masters or Burma itself and amounts to collusion with a military dictatorship which is beyond despicable. And yes I witnessed monks being shot dead on the street way before it became a known practice in the last few years, thrown into the back of truck and carted away as blood seeped out onto the street as it raced away then put under a military curfew by armed kids with M-16s.
The government controls martial arts patterning itself on China and its reinvention and control of martial arts through wu shu, and the repatterning and reinvention of things like the shaolin temple. Burma has created a new template of martial arts and have sought to control and "register" as many martial artist masters as they could.
After filming the kachin exhibition in Myitkhina in the north of burma, i was forced as part of my contract to finally sit down with the miltiary officials in charge of martial arts in burma. I was tracked until i showed up in Yangon for my meeting days later. Having been versed by a high level master in the north, who was worried about me , he awarded me a high ranking burmese martial arts uniform after training and exchanging information. His teacher was one of the high level military men and obviously his immediate intercession halted what could be a very unpleasant situation for me. I am forever indebted to him for his training, honesty and friendship that has withstood the test of time.
When i showed up the training compound, I was asked a million questions about who i was and what i was doing. Specifically they took extreme exception to me interviewing and training with the "old masters" and i stated that was my purpose to document as many of the authentic surviving systems as i did in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand previously. I did it free of any political agenda and worked for cultural preservation. I made it clear as i had under military mandate shared the footage when I had to in an effort to spare my hosts any severe repercussions.
I was told this was unacceptable that if i wanted information, training or interviews I would now be allowed to do this with them and them only(read; being monitored and controlled). They offered me a special training/research visa to come back and to be trained by them and certified by them to teach abroad. They said anyone teaching outside of burma namely dr. gyi and others were frauds and liars.
I asked them to demonstrate why they were frauds and liars since what they were doing was destroying any remnant of the ancient arts that remained and was rewriting things through the military and physical education departments to create a national martial art with a common curriculum to be taught throughout burma through selected masters. I showed footage of obvious burmese "masters" who obviously made up their own systems since they told me they did off it of sound principles and deep understanding yet it passed their criteria when others who were much older did not.
I did train with them, listen to their history, spend time with alot of their high level masters. The teachers had much to give and they did their best to explain. It was a matter of survival for them and they were navigating it as best they could.
Now the main aim of the military and the government, to back up this discussion, is to destroy all distinct ethnic culture and diversity and create a singular monopolized burmese population --thus all distinction of martial arts must go with it.
Indigenous old masters were working opposite of them because they were preserving the older arts and not propagating the new programs and thus any old person who left burma years prior and did partake of this was an enemy of the "new martial arts regime".
Now many old masters took part, some in their late eighties, so they would continue to teach their systems but would also partake and learn the new formats. They would wear the compulsory white and red uniforms and be given appropriate rank. Asked if the government, military or physical education departments did anything for them and the survival of their martial arts--all said they did nothing but ask them to do command performances and follow the program. Nothing else was offered to them.
So if you want to comment about what is currently going on in burma in terms of thiang and lethwae then you need to understand what the military is doing. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. The military said if i remained with them i would be the highest ranked foreigner and I could maintain control of thiang in the US for them. So an egotist or fool who wants to do that can go over and do that, I am sure they are looking for a gullible fool to join them in their insanity and pass the kool aid to foreign soil for them.
Dr. Gyi's father was head of physical education in a long ago regime and those people are considered the old ways and thus their teaching and ideology to be eradicated. Dr. Gyi being of that line and of that time is also on that list. Dr. Gyi learned the indigenous systems as well his father did his best to document and also progress the systems for future survival. So dr. gyi obviously did add and progress the systems but they remain as was said of sound authentic principles. Dr. Gyi's father in my opinion was looking a bit to the west to order and maintain the old while bringing in aspects of the new. So in order to do that you must have sound understanding and training in the ancient systems. What is current ring muay thai,? The ancient indigenous martial fighting system mixed with westernized principles of rules, gloves, rounds, refs, judging, etc. The west in burma is considered the enemy of the goverments ideology, so they try to steer away from it and use china as a model for their progress. Lethwae has made limited westernized modifications over the last decades including at least one ref, a ring, and some more safety rules. In recent years, they attempted an amateur type of lethwae like san da but it hasnt thus far gone over well( with the audience 3/4 empty usually for it).
Now understand also some systems have enormous chinese influence, others more india, tibetan, mongolian, there is a wild mix there. There were enormous battles with thais and you can see the influence of both on one another. The beauty of the northern lanna systems of thailand certainly benefiting from those battle exchanges. Is there someone who has documented all these diverse systems in burma to say what is true and what is not? I met many of the experts in Burma and many had not documented or even seen various ethnic martial arts or systems as of yet.
My point being even in the footage i see coming from france and "international thaing organization", they have certainly gained access to alot of masters, footage and training but at what expense? I filmed many of the same masters under different context and yes it was hell to find them and document them but I am getting the picture in a different way than them. I dont believe in the government, the phys ed or military departments and I wont work in collusion with them. But I must understand their work and trajectory. I must sometimes ride side by side with them even though i maintain my stance and my opinions which i have voiced to them endlessly.
They now allow me to do my work with a minimal of interference after all these years and often invite me to events and fights. One needs to work with them at times and often to listen to their side of things to get a rounded picture.
I constantly read, see footage and hear opinions of people travel to Burma for a week, a month, six months but they dont seem to grasp the gravity of the entire picture. In the last ten years this has been very clear as I see these old masters die off one by one and the power and ideology of the government slowly overtake and overwrite all that has come before it. Its the same thing that happened to thailand in the last decades, but in less harsh manner, and in the name of the physical education department who is working to preserve cultural heritage, etc. In time, people will not what's what anymore unless people speak out and at least show what is going on.
I hope this will help to allow people to understand and absorb some of the information people gather in a clearer context.
