We share the events that took place in celebration of Dr Cynthia’s achievements, and we look to the future to consider the little ways that Australians can help.

Photos

To see the full album of photos from the events click on the links below:

2013 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture – 6 November at Sydney Town Hall

2013 Sydney Peace Prize Award Ceremony & Gala Dinner – 7 November at MacLaurin Hall, University of Sydney

2013 Cabramatta High Peace Day – 8 November at Cabramatta High School

Media Coverage

See photos in a Photogallery of Mae Tao Clinic taken by Fairfax photographer Brendan Esposito, published on 16 August 2013 in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today, and The Canberra Times.

Watch ‘A moment with Dr Cynthia Maung’, published on the 16th of August 2013 on the website of the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Brisbane Times, and WA Today.

Read more in a feature article “Fragile Sanctuary” written by Sharon Bradley in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend, 17 August 2013. Bradley’s article was also published in the The Age, The Canberra Times, The Brisbane Times, WA Today, The Examiner, The Scone Advocate, The Illawara Mercury and The Maitland Mercury.

Read about Dr Maung in article “Peace Prize winner fights for survival of her health clinic” by Sharon Bradley in the Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August 2013. This article was also published in The Age, The Canberra Times, WA Today, The Scone Advocate and The Examiner.

Read about Dr Maung’s announcement as this year’s Syndey Peace Prize recipient “Humanitarian Doctor to Receive 2013 Sydney Peace Prize” on New Zealand’s independent news website Scoop, 17 August 2013.

Read about the AusAID cuts in “Burmese refugees the forgotten victims of AusAID cuts” by PhD scholar Belinda Thompson, Crikey, 24 October 2013

Listen to an interview with Belinda Thompson, “AusAid cuts hurt Burmese refugees“, produced by Bridget Backhaus, The Wire (radio) 25 October 2013. Audio file.

Read about the Mae Tao Clinic in article “Medical Inspiration” written by David Hirsch, Medical Journal of Australia on 28 October 2013.

Listen to an interview with Stuart Rees on SBS Radio Burmese, produced by Terrell Oung, 2 November 2013.

Read AAP Ron Corben’s article “Aid cuts may weaken Myanmar refugee clinic“, published on 3 November 2013, at news.com.au, in The Australian, The Herald Sun, The Townsville Bulletin, The Mercury, and The Geelong Advertiser.

Read about Dr Maung’s message in ”Burma still fragile: Peace Prize winner” by APP, published on 4 November 2013, on news.com.au, SBS news, in The Australian, The Herald Sun, The Gold Coast Bulletin, The Townsville Bulletin, The Mercury, and The Geelong Advertiser.

Listen to “Karen refugee clinic pioneer wins Sydney Peace Prize“, a radio interview with Sen Lam, Asia-Pacific, Radio Australia, 5 November 2013

Listen to  ”Burmese doctor wins Sydney Peace Prize“, a radio conversation with Phillip Adams and Jane Singleton, Late Night Live, Radio National, 4 November 2013

Read “Myanmar refugee doctor wins Sydney Peace Prize“, on ABC Australian Network News and 936 ABC Hobart News, 5 November 2013

Read about the parallels between Dr Cynthia Maung and Aung San Suu Kyi in Susan Banki’s article “Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Cynthia Maung to receive honorary degrees in Sydney“, published on 7 November 2013 in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, The Brisbane Times and WA Today.

Read “Dr Cynthia in ‘shock and pain’ after losing Australian funding” on The Democratic Voice of Burma, published on 7 November 2013

Listen to “Cynthia Maung: Sydney Peace Prize Winner“, a radio conversation with Ron Sutton, SBS World News Australia Radio, 8 November 2013. Podcast here.

Read “Burma’s famous ‘refugee’ doctor wins Sydney Peace Prize” in The University of Sydney News, 8 November 2013

Read “The Student Voice: Cabramatta High School”, in Fairfield City Champion, 12 November 2013

Read “Burma’s ‘Refugee’ Doctor Wins Sydney Peace Prize” in Asian Scientist, 13 November 2013

Petition

As of January 2014, the Mae Tao Clinic that Dr Cynthia set up on the Thai Burmese border is set to lose $456,000 of AusAid funding. The small contribution by Australian people saves tens of thousands of lives, providing critical treatment to 45,000 refugees this year alone.

You can help by joining almost 2000 people who have emailed Foreign Minister, The Hon. Julie Bishop MP, asking her to continue the funding.

All you have to do is add your name and email address to the bottom of the letter on this page: http://apheda.good.do/maetaoclinic/email-the-foreign-minister-the-hon-julie-bishop-mp/

The letter reads:

Dear Ms Bishop,

I am writing to request a reversal of the government’s decision to withdraw its funding for the Mae Tao Clinic, a life-saving medical service situated on the Thai Burma border, which is led by this year’s Sydney Peace Prize recipient, Dr Cynthia Maung.

Mae Tao Clinic provides essential healthcare to thousands of displaced and vulnerable people from Burma each year. Last year,  45,000 people – mostly women and children – directly benefited  from Australian government support to Mae Tao Clinic providing life-saving maternal and child health, HIV testing, eye care and training.  The funding to support this clinic will end in December 2013.

I support a continuation of Australian aid to the Mae Tao Clinic.

The displaced and vulnerable people who rely on the clinic mostly come from the ethnic states in Eastern Burma. Despite reforms in Burma, it is not yet safe for these displaced people to return to their villages inside Burma. Accordingly, the Mae Tao Clinic will be a vital health provider for the foreseeable future.

The Australian government’s policy of preparing refugees for return to Burma is highly premature as the conditions required for an organised return are not in place. Conflict continues in Kachin and Shan states where increasing numbers of people are being displaced from their homes and communities, and preliminary ceasefire agreements in other ethnic areas are yet to lead to durable peace. There are also the problems of landmines, land disputes, and lack of services and infrastructure.

Inside Burma there is a desperate lack of access to quality and affordable health care services – particularly in the rural areas populated predominantly by ethnic people. By withdrawing funding from Mae Tao Clinic, the government is risking the health and welfare of the hundreds of thousands that depend, and will continue to depend, on its community-based health services.

I ask that the Australian government recognise the value of Dr Cynthia’s work by continuing to fund the Mae Tao Clinic so that it can continue to address the healthcare needs of the most vulnerable people from Burma.

The post Dr Cynthia Maung’s 2013 Sydney Peace Prize: Photos, Media Coverage & Making a Difference appeared first on Sydney Peace Foundation.

With AusAID withdrawing its funding from a clinic serving Burmese refugees, where will they go now to get the treatment they need? PhD scholar at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy at ANU College of Asia & the Pacific Belinda Thompson reports.

The post 2013 Laureate Dr Cythia Maung says Burmese Refugees the Forgotten Victims of AusAID Cuts appeared first on Sydney Peace Foundation.

17 August 2013, Sydney

Humanitarian doctor to receive 2013 Sydney Peace Prize

Dr Cynthia Maung, founder of the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burmese border, will be the recipient of the 2013 Sydney Peace Prize to be awarded in Sydney on 7 November.

The Sydney Peace Prize Jury’s citation reads: “Dr Maung: for her dedication to multi-ethnic democracy, human rights and the dignity of the poor and dispossessed, and for establishing health services for victims of conflict.”

Dr Maung, ethnic Karen, fled her native Burma during the pro-democracy uprising of 1988 and set up the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burmese border, where each year 700 staff treat over 150,000 people including refugees, migrant workers and orphans.

Professor Stuart Rees, Chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation said: “What Dr Cynthia has achieved against the odds really impressed the jury. Her selflessness and the notion that justice is about not financially penalising people for being sick, that healthcare shouldn’t be a commercial proposition, affected them greatly.”

Dr Maung has responded: “The prize is a way of bringing international attention to the plight of Burma. It highlights that the peace process needs to be monitored by the international community. It’s not going to be a gift.”

The Sydney Peace Prize is Australia’s only international award for peace. Sometimes perceived as controversial, previous recipients have included Professor Muhammad Yunus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Australia’s ‘Father of Reconciliation’ Patrick Dodson, Professor Noam Chomsky and last year the formidable Senator Sekai Holland

Singapore Airlines, a Partner in Peace, will fly Dr Maung to Australia in the first week of November to deliver the annual City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture and receive the Prize at an Award Ceremony and Gala Dinner.

Tickets for the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture in the Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday 6 November ($35/$25) are available via the Ticketek website, phone Ticketek on 132 849, or visit a Ticketek agency

To purchase a seat or table for the Gala Dinner and Award Ceremony at MacLaurin Hall, University of Sydney on Thursday 7 November ($375 per person) book online or contact peace.foundation@sydney.edu.au / 9351 4468

For media/event inquiries please contact: peace.foundation@sydney.edu.au / 9351 4468

The post Announcing the recipient of the 2013 Sydney Peace Prize appeared first on Sydney Peace Foundation.

In spite of the Rudd resurrection, the refugee debate in Australia is still framed in the odious game of gaining political mileage by demonstrating a certain chauvinist pride in protecting borders.

To that end, to convey that the assessment of refugee status is not tough enough, that too many unworthy people may gain entry to this boat-people-besieged-country, the Foreign Minister Bob Carr claims that as many as 100 per cent of Iranian asylum seekers may only be “economic migrants”.

Yet, in crowded camps on the Thai Burma border, the values of refugees and their supporters suggest that if Australia wants to build a fairer society, much can be learned from refugees – people so easily stigmatised as unwanted and unworthy.

Evidence from Jim Chalmers’ recently published book Glory Daze shows Australians bemoaning their financial lot even when most enjoy the benefits from an affluent economy. On this issue there is a chasm between the values of refugees and their supporters and the priorities deemed important by politicians.

Different attitudes towards entitlement to health and education services are an indication of the width of this chasm.

Kachana, the director of the Burma Children’s Medical Fund, describes her work:

Of course we provide medical services as a right, not just because our patients are poor. We do depend on donors to finance our services but how could you talk to sick people about costs when our responsibility is to meet their needs?

In the Thai border town of Mae Sot, the Mae Tao clinic provides medical services for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrant workers. The director of the clinic, Dr Cynthia Maung, gives me her interpretation of a common good:

During the funding crisis of last year, we were $650,000 short, but we could not afford to charge patients. To combat that crisis, all the staff agreed to take a 20 per cent cut in their meager wages.

A supporting Australian doctor, Kate Bruck, explains:

That reduction was uniform because of an equity in pay policy: same wages for surgeon, nurse, social worker, fund raiser, accountant, librarian or manager of sanitation.

My interpreter and guide in the Ma Lae refugee camp was a 41-year-old Karen named Law La Say, whose salary for his job to train camp residents to be therapists for drug addicts is $250 per annum. To the question, “How do you mange to be so optimistic?”, he answered:

I survived 17 years in the jungle, always on the move from the Burmese army. There was no time to cry. Laughing expresses my feelings. This camp may seem like a prison, but we know one another, we can support one another.

Law La Say’s thoughts are echoed by Naw Nweh, a member of the camp’s Women’s Support Group:

I also lived in the jungle. This camp is better because it is our family home. We know we are refugees but we have hopes for our children, even for repatriation to Burma.

With a shy smile she adds:

But don’t believe what they tell you about the reforms in Burma. The people in charge are the same people who drove us here.

In Australia, in the controversy over the Gonski report, state premiers still calculate the difference between their political fortunes and a commitment to children’s future education. The pugnacious Premier Newman of Queensland seems to favour his short-term political interests over any long-term vision about the quality of education for all children irrespective of their parents’ means.

Karen children also want the opportunities provided by education in good schools. The Bangkok Post journalist Phil Thornton records:

On the Karen side of the border, the schools have no buildings and no desks. In small groups children cluster under the shade of a large teak tree. Their teacher explains, ‘Time is precious for our children. They are desperate to learn but our biggest problem is malaria.’   

A final contrast in values concerns food. While Australian television is saturated with programs on how to cook, how to extend knowledge of nutritious dishes, and even how to lose weight because you have eaten too much, UN reports about Burma identify problems of hunger and food security. In their report Chronic Emergency, the Back Packer Workers Team from Mae Sot concluded that hunger and malnutrition has drastic effects in eastern Burma where one in 10 children will die before age one and more than one in five before their fifth birthday.

A refugee, Naw Doo, explains that she and her two teenage children are used to going without food:

Many times we only have rice and chilli. We eat twice a day. We get sick but that’s normal for people here. Look how thin I am.

In Australia’s election campaign, reference to a common good is unlikely. We are likely to hear derision about asylum seekers, probably talk about the benefits of privatising public hospitals to make them more efficient, and attacks against trade unions for eroding individual freedom.

Ironically, several significant projects on the Thai Burma border are financed by the humanitarian arm of Australia’s trade union movement, Apheda, whose staff value the ideals of a common good. To achieve such a goal, economist Jeffrey Sachs writes that perhaps the best we can do is to appeal to enlightened self-interest because it is everyone’s interest to care for the vulnerable and for the planet.

If the impressive Dr Maung became the campaign manager for Kevin Rudd or for Tony Abbott, she would emphasise why refugees who are thankful for small mercies have so much to teach those in a lucky country who might regard refugees as a threat to their well being.

On the hustings for either party, Dr Maung might start by explaining why health care should be given according to need and not according to an ability to pay:

If you want a healthy society, all people have to be treated as equals. If people are to live and work as equals, the barriers that divide them have to be removed.

Professor Stuart Rees travelled to the Thai Burma border in mid-June on an exploratory mission for the Sydney Peace Foundation. Stuart Rees is Chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation and Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney. View his full profile here.

This article was first published by ABC’s The Drum on 3 July 2013

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