May 8th, 2009 :posted by steve.UK Burmese society
My uncle arrived in the UK 40 years ago. Apparently, 90% of his class mates left Burma during U Ne Win’s era. Most moved to the US. Some to Australia. Some came to the UK. At that time, Burmese doctors were able to work straight away in British hospitals. No need to sit exam. But later it changed. Burmese graduates after 1970s (I can’t remember the exact year) need to take the GMC (General medical council) exam for registration, according to my father.
Obviously, the population of migrant Burmese doctors grew gradually during the last decades. But a sharp rise occurred during 1995 -2005. I thought once they finished medical school in Yangon, all of them fled to Heathrow airport desperately. London witnessed loads of oriental looking young graduates preparing exam and applying for jobs.
2006-2007 was the turning point for many oversea doctors. As a result of thousands of international migrant graduates, even native British graduates were unable to secure their jobs. (Britain employment system is based on human right, that is what I was told. Once short-listed, the interview panel only considers the candidate’s skill and experience, nothing concern with race, religion, skin colour, nationality ) . The government has no power to change that employment law which is based on human right . So the immigration rules had to be changed. Consequently, those from Indian subcontinent and from Burma had to move to somewhere else, such as Australia and New Zealand. Now, many of my friends have been working in Queensland and New South Wales since then.
However, these days, we can still see at least 1 or 2 Burmese doctors working in NHS hospitals across the UK. In some infirmaries, up to 5 -6 people gather.
When we check on other groups of Burmese immigrants, again, thousands have been living, some settling in British isle. Lately I learnt on the blogs and facebook that young people celebrated Burmese new year and water festival in London. It was amazing. Last week, “Buddha’s day” show was also held in west London Ealing area. I have never seen such a well organized Burmese occasion before. (some photos here)
I feel Burmese people are getting more organized these days compared with previous times. What happened before was that there were several groups , mainly based on the political point of view. Some people were reluctant to go to Buddhist monastery where the anti-government activists are dominant, with the thought that someone would be closet informer and might face a big problem when they go back to Burma.
Now the atmosphere looks relaxed. No need to worry too much. Apparently, Burmese government does not bother too much. Well, the new strategy of Naypyidaw authorities is that they pick up only leaders or outstanding activists, instead of random arrests. From the Burmese student’s point of view, again, they do not need to care too much for some reason. There are some options to stay away from the control of Burmese generals. Forget about ordinary people. British government has been kind enough to grant son of former Burmese police general San Thein (ရဲခ်ဳပ္စံသိန္း) as political asylum a few years ago, according to my sources. Everybody knows San Thein was a high ranking military officer.
Of course, many students in west London seek asylum. One of the predisposing factors would be recent restriction of student visa extension. According to the home office website, the show money is around £7,000 per annum. As a blogger, if you check on the Burmese blogs, you can see anti- government slogans on some blogs . That means logically that the blog owner does not need to care about Burmese government. He/she could have been a British subject or could be a successful asylum seeker. I learnt a lot of such stories from my business parter who has been living in West London area.
