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  1. #1
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    Obituary: Sam Kalayanee

    Obituary: Sam Kalayanee
    YENI and JEANNE HALLACY
    Saturday, September 4, 2010


    One of the last photographs of Sam, taken in February.

    (Courtesy Sam Kalayanee Facebook)

    In 1988, when thousands of young Burmese student activists arrived at the Thai-Burmese border, many enthusiastic supporters of Burma's democracy movement came to the border to share their lives with the “Student Army,” also known as the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), that was born in the terrain controlled by several ethnic armed groups. Sam Sittipong Kalayanee was one of them.

    As a former Thai student activist, he supported the struggle for democracy and justice in his neighboring country, and as a photographer, he recorded it for history.

    Soon he found himself making the documentary “Barefoot Student Army” (1992) along with two young Melbourne filmmakers who spent a year living among the students and recording their struggle, later producing a stirring short documentary about the human rights abuses on women in Burma in Caught in the Crossfire (1995).

    He also produced a documentary about forced labor in Burma, “Road to Nowhere” (1999); a documentary examining the plight of Burmese refugees and displaced persons titled “Living on The Line (2004); a film about child soldiers, “The Invisible Soldiers” (2009); and a documentary about anti-personnel landmines, “Burma's Hidden Killers” (2009).

    Most recently Sam co-produced an Oscar-nominated documentary film directed by Anders Østergaard which followed the September 2007 uprising against the Burmese military regime, “Burma VJ” (2009).

    From activist to humanitarian worker to documentary filmmaker, Sam was always passionate about his livelihoods. In 1993, his pioneering vision led to him founding Images Asia –among the first NGOs dedicated to visual documentation of the humanitarian plight of ethnic minorities and democracy activists from Burma.

    Images Asia is an alternative media production group involved in documentation, film, video and multi-media productions; and it maintains a library of video footage and photographs from not only Burma, but also throughout Southeast Asia.

    In its early years, Images Asia was one of the staple locations where journalists, visiting scholars and international relief agencies could turn for compelling visual material, testimonies and evidence of the ongoing political crisis affecting both Burma and Thailand.

    Known to many as “P’ Sam,” he had a profound understanding of the importance of such imagery –and he and his organization set out to recreate it as history. Tens of thousands of photographs, video clips, interviews with refugees and members of the ABSDF student army and ethnic leaders are part of this remarkable repository of Burma’s contemporary political history.

    Yet Sam’s definition of “the border” was not defined by the more narrow scope of access from Thailand. He traveled to remote areas inside Shan State, Kachin State and Burma’s western border including Nagaland as a seeker of truth, as an eyewitness and a tireless advocate for the millions of ethnic people in Burma devastated by militarization, displacement and conflict. Ethnic leaders from the Shan, Karen, Kachin and Mon knew of his dedication to document and disseminate information about their plight. The Burmese student movement viewed him as their “Ako”—their elder brother.

    Recently, Sam foraged through his archive of old slides and black and white photos to post an amazing array of photographs of the ABSDF’s seminal beginnings—a snapshot of history spanning 20 years. The response to these images on Facebook was overwhelming—as leaders who remain in Thailand and others who are now abroad perhaps silently shed tears as they viewed photos of young idealists intent on changing military dictatorship in Burma and quickly returning home. “The intention of posting these photos is to share the hardship in the past of the students and bravery of young hearts that sacrificed their lives for the the country,” Sam wrote on his Facebook.

    Sam was unquestionably one of very few Thai experts on Burma’s complex ethnic strife, human rights abuses and culture. What made his knowledge more special was the generous way he shared it with those who seriously sought insight.

    Many journalists turned to Sam for his incisive analysis based on experiential knowledge.If a newcomer approached asking for a crash course on the Burma border, an irascible smile would sneak across his face under his John Lennon-rimmed glasses, and he might pause to wipe off some dust or sweat from his brow with the tail of the ever-present checkered krama tossed around his neck. But for those who sought to grasp some piece of the harsh reality for the millions who suffered in Burma, Sam would offer contacts, assistance and guidance.

    Andrew Marshall, a British author and journalist based in Southeast Asia who writes for TIME magazine and other leading publications worldwide, noted: “He was one of a kind—a passionate and engaged journalist, an esteemed and generous colleague, a free spirit, and a valued friend to many.”

    There are unique individuals whose path in life is guided by passion, convictions and a definite sense of the mosaic of our shared and fleeting humanity. Sam Sittipong Kalayanee, or “P’ Sam”, as he was affectionately known was such a person. He was on a path guided by compassion. He held a compass that pointed in one direction only: the truth.

    irrawaddy.org



    In Burma or Myanmar today, children are press-ganged by both government and armed resistance groups. Many children also volunteer in search of physical or economic security, or for cultural or ethnicity reasons. But the single major cause of children volunteering armed opposition groups is their own experience of ill-treatment, including torture, by government armed forces, death of family members and destruction of homes.



    IMAGES ASIA : A Documentary of an investigation into forced labour in Burma "Road to Nowhere" is produced by Images Asia, to encourage knowledge and understanding of the situation of human rights abuses inside Burma.



    Landmines Crisis in the Golden Land.


    Most recently Sam co-produced an Oscar-nominated documentary film directed by Anders Østergaard which followed the September 2007 uprising against the Burmese military regime, “Burma VJ” (2009).

    https://teakdoor.com/the-multimedia-f...ilmmaking.html ('Burma VJs: Reporting From a Closed Country' -- Filmmaking at Its Incendiary Best)

  2. #2
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    klongmaster's Avatar
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    so how did he die?...

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by klongmaster
    so how did he die?...
    Not important just accept it..he's dead!

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Bold Rodney
    Not important just accept it..he's dead!
    No. After such a long obit I feel we should at least know how he died...was he killed? die in jail? have some illness?... he certainly looked too your to die of old age...

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat
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    One of the best friend of Burma passed away. May he rest in peace and we will never forget him.

    His last words on his Facebook page on August 6.

    Commemoration to ’8888. Re-commemoration to fallen comrades and don’t forget to take care the casualties of war.

    Sam Kalayanee passed away

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by klongmaster View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by The Bold Rodney
    Not important just accept it..he's dead!
    No. After such a long obit I feel we should at least know how he died...was he killed? die in jail? have some illness?... he certainly looked too your to die of old age...
    Ok, you have a valid point and my personal theory is.... he died of "over exposure" to something or other.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mid
    One of the best friend of Burma passed away.
    Yep you told us that already in your OP...
    How about answering my question instead of just repeating yourself Mid...


    Quote Originally Posted by klongmaster
    so how did he die?...

  8. #8
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    passed away would indicate peaceful circumstances no ?

    also there is no mention of passed away in the OP .

  9. #9
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    You continue to evade the question Mid...do you not know or are you being deliberately obtuse?

    Quote Originally Posted by klongmaster
    so how did he die?...

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat Fondles's Avatar
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    If Sam was in Samui im guessing it was a motorbike related death.

  11. #11
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    ‘We owe him a great debt’
    MAUNG TOO
    6 September 2010


    Sam Kalayanee, who died on 3 Sept 2010
    (Photo taken from Sam Kalayanee Support Group on Facebook)

    Burmese activists and journalists have been among the many paying tribute to Sam Kalayanee, the founder of Images Asia who passed away on Saturday.

    The 50-year-old Thai national and founder of Images Asia was described by Nang Hseng Noung, the head of the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), as “one of the first Thai people to support the democracy movement in Burma”.

    His focus on Burma spanned more than two decades, triggered by the student uprising of 1988, and took him deep inside the country to document the plight of ethnic minorities, as well as pro-democracy activists.

    “Sam’s definition of ‘the border’ was not defined by the more narrow scope of access from Thailand. He travelled to remote areas inside Shan state, Kachin state and Burma’s western border including Nagaland as a seeker of truth, as an eyewitness and a tireless advocate for the millions of ethnic people in Burma devastated by militarization, displacement and conflict,” said Yeni and Jeanne Hallacy, writing in The Irrawaddy magazine.

    Khin Maung Win, deputy director of DVB who worked with Sam for more than 20 years, said: “Sam Kalayanee was the first Thai student to meet and help the Burmese students who fled to the border with Thailand [after the 1988 uprising].

    “Burmese democracy groups in exile, including the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front [ABSDF] owed him much. He helped with everything for the Burma VJ shooting in Thailand. His contribution and help for the Burma democracy movement should be written down in history.”

    His battle with lung cancer came to an end on 3 September at around 4pm.

    He is survived by his wife and daughter.

    dvb.no

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    “The Hidden Impact of Burma’s Arbitrary and Corrupt Taxation"


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