Over the course of 25 years covering Myanmar and Southeast Asia as a photojournalist, Thierry Falise has come under fire from Lao militia, been hit by shrapnel covering riots in Bangkok and come face to face with a diminutive follower of the 10-year-old twins commanding God's Army who would stand on a chair to beat his wife.
LOST GENERATION: Child soldiers in drug warlord Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army being trained at their headquarters. Shan State, 1994.
Along the way he's been sentenced to 15 years in prison, covertly entered Myanmar to cover the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis and interviewed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, later publishing a biography of her.
Falise started covering Myanmar while working for the Associated Press in Paris and, since 1991, as a freelancer. He has enjoyed access to the country's ethnic militias, internally displaced persons camps, poppy fields and contested border regions, as well as "Burma proper" as he calls it _ the parts of the country accessible by visa _ to cover urban demonstrations, natural disasters or just daily life. With some five million Myanmar people living outside the country, he has also investigated the broader diaspora of migrants and refugees.
The fruits of these years of journalistic toil are collected in Burmese Shadows: Twenty-five Years Reporting on Life behind the Bamboo Curtain, a photographic book by Falise published on Sept 6. It contains many images that at the time were considerable scoops _ windows into struggles and a way of life that the rest of the world had little access to. We can see operations of the Karen National Liberation Army, the Kachin Independence Army, United Wa State Army, the Myanmar army and other factions. We see inside humanitarian groups such as the Free Burma Rangers, with which Falise has travelled extensively every year since 2000, observing as they provide emergency medical relief inside conflict zones.
Organised thematically rather than chronologically, each chapter opens with a brief introduction that provides some context; for the most part though, the 250-odd photographs are allowed to speak for themselves, with captions simply explaining subject, framework, location and year. Collectively the book forms a history of many of the problems of Myanmar over the past generation, shots of past and present struggles and indicators of the problems that lie ahead.
When Spectrum sat down with him last week to discuss the book, Falise had just had lunch with the new Belgian ambassador, briefing him on some of the problems facing Myanmar. "It's a hard thing to explain over lunch," Falise, born in Belgium's French-speaking south, said lightly.
Despite his inside knowledge of many of Myanmar's deep-rooted problems, though, he is optimistic about the future.
"It's a simplistic metaphor," he said, "but Burma [Myanmar] was like a boiling pot with the lid held down tightly by the junta. The meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein in August, 2011, lifted the lid a little."
It is a change he feels is irreversible, even by the military. "The wall of fear has crumbled."
While the mood may have lifted in parts of the country, he is quick to point out that structural reforms have yet to take place. "They have to rebuild everything _ the economy, the health system, the education system, and I think that if you don't solve the ethnic issues then the greater problems facing the country can't be solved."
There have been recent ceasefires in Karen areas, he pointed out, but a resumption of conflict with the Kachin. He called recent protests by urban monks against the Muslim Rohingya minority "pure racism" and the result of decades of government propaganda. He thinks it will take longer than a generation to build a trusting relationship, even among the accepted minorities. "There have been some agreements and concessions already but to implement them will take time."
GRISLY REMINDER: Members of the United Wa State Army, a major heroin and methamphetamine producer, display a human skull kept from their headhunting past. Shan State, 1993.
Despite the numerous atrocities committed in the past by all sides, especially the Myanmar army, he feels there is a real will among the ethnic groups and the government to move forward. A focus on tribunals or truth-finding commissions at this point, he says, might be counterproductive in terms of future peace.
And with ethnic minorities occupying 60% of the land and most of the natural resources _ which "have been looted by the cronies and the generals and the Chinese" _ a federal system that gives local people a say in policies that affect them may be the best way forward, he said.
"Burma has to invent a new model of federation based on ethnic lines, which is quite unique. They [the minorities] don't ask for total control of their resources. I think their claims are quite reasonable."
He has long had an inside eye on the course of developments. Perhaps the most unusual story of the time was that of God's Army, an offshoot of the Karen National Union. Johnny and Luther Htoo, twins younger than 10 said to possess mystical powers, commanded the Karen Christian splinter group. In 1998, Falise and a colleague were the first Western journalists to cover the story first-hand, which was the usual tragic tale of child soldiers but turned on its head; rather than being forcibly inducted into militias and spending their childhood learning combat at the mercy of commanders, here was a case of children commanding some 200 adult soldiers.
A group loosely affiliated with God's Army was later involved with guerrilla actions inside Thailand, such as the seizing of the Myanmar embassy in October, 1999, and the storming of a Ratchaburi hospital in January, 2000. God's Army was forcibly disbanded by Thai forces, the twins surrendering in 2001.
Johnny returned to Myanmar five years later and is now said to fight for the Myanmar army, while Luther was resettled in Sweden with his family.
One of three books Falise has written in French about Myanmar was a novel about God's Army, Les Petits Generaux de Yadana (The Little Generals of Yadana). He said that some of the realities of the story were so bizarre he had to leave them out of the book, such as the aforementioned acolyte dwarf who had to climb on top of a chair in order to beat his wife _ as they would never seem credible in the pages of fiction. He also said that the story shows the desperation of the Karen people at a time when the KNU was being decimated by the Myanmar army. Belief in the boys' mystical powers was a source of hope for a desperate people.
Another considerable scoop for Falise was being allowed access to poppy fields controlled by the United Wa State Army in 1993, at a time when a faction of the army hoped to move on from opium and heroin production into more conventional and legal sources of revenue.
Unfortunately, the hard-liners won out and emphasis returned to the more lucrative poppy production.
UNDER WRAPS: A plastic-covered Buddha statue in a village close to a white marble quarry. Buddha images and Chinese deities are carved there or in nearby Mandalay before export to China. Mandalay Division, 2010.
Despite his numerous and often unsettling articles over the years, Falise was never blacklisted by the Myanmar government like many other journalists were. It helped, he said, that he wrote many of his articles in French, which didn't reach the eyes of public officials as readily as those written in English. And once or twice, when he did come across an embassy official who knew who he was, the official refused the visa but said he wouldn't put Falise's name on the blacklist _ perhaps as a small show of defiance against the governing junta.
In the wake of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 he assumed the guise of a mangrove specialist and was one of very few Western journalists who could visit devastated areas in the wake of the tragedy. He wrote a chronicle of the devastation called Le Chatiment des Rois (The Punishment of Kings), and said that government mistrust greatly exacerbated the disaster, at first barring international relief organisations from bringing in food, shelter, clothing and medicines that could have alleviated the suffering of hundreds of thousands.
In 1996, he interviewed opposition icon Mrs Suu Kyi, one of the brief periods when she was released from house arrest and could give speeches to crowds of thousands across the gates of her property. Material from this interview, and extensive research in 2006, led to Falise writing a biography of Mrs Suu Kyi, Le Jasmin ou la Lune (Jasmine or Moon), published in 2008.
''It surprised me too that she agreed to work with Thein Sein last year,'' he said. ''A month before she had told friends that it could never happen.''
And while there has been some criticism of Suu Kyi, he said, the fact of her involvement in elections and parliament has been a psychological boost for many of the country's citizens.
''I'm not into idolatry, the biography I wrote of her had criticisms and was, I think, a fair account. But she remains an icon for the Myanmar people, inside and outside.''
At the time, he said, it was easy to interview her, and she was honest about not knowing much about the ethnic conflicts.
EMOTIONAL ENCOUNTER: Two monks protesting for more freedom embrace. Yangon, 2007.
Although journalistic photos predominate, Burmese Shadows doesn't only capture hard news. There are chapters on Buddhism, animism, cultural festivals and the daily toil that provide a broader context, and lighter pictures that show people at their most accessible. It will provide new insights and a broader context for those who know little of the country as well as those who have lived in Myanmar or covered it extensively.
From his Bangkok base, Falise has also covered other parts of Southeast Asia such as Cambodia, southern China, Laos and the Philippines.
Reporting hasn't been an easy road. He caught malaria twice in the Myanmar jungles, covered Cyclone Nargis for two weeks with a broken arm. While shooting the May, 1992, riots in Bangkok his leg was badly injured by shrapnel.
And in 2003, while filming Hmong guerrillas in Laos, he was caught in crossfire from a Lao militia.
Unknown to him, a Lao soldier was killed by the Hmong. When he later left the jungle and ''played the lost tourist card'', he said, the lie gave him and his colleague a 24-hour window in which to tell family and friends of their whereabouts and safety.
Once they were implicated in the soldier's death, though, there was little the outside world could do to help. Falise was handed a 15-year prison sentence.
Incarceration gave him the opportunity to meet interesting characters, he said, and when he was released following five weeks of mounting international government and NGO pressure, he was almost disappointed that it came too soon for him to be able to interview his new cellmate, a drug lord.
Journalism is one of the few jobs, he said, where you can ''balance professional duty and a human need for adventure''.
It never ceases to jar him after weeks in the jungle when he walks across the border at Mae Sariang and can enter a 7-Eleven.
These days, he said, it is more of a struggle to find buyers for stories. A recent article on the Karen ceasefire was published online, and paid barely enough to cover the flight to Chiang Mai.
''But I don't complain; it gives me a chance to go. It's also a personal story. I know the people, and I think they like me to be there. It's a nice exchange. I could see how the ceasefire was working on the ground _ but I'm not going to interest a magazine in Europe about a Karen ceasefire. I don't even bother asking.''
Despite his many seminal and influential articles on atrocities in Myanmar, though, and some iconic images that have lingered in the public consciousness, Falise calls himself a ''drop in the ocean'' in terms of changing the course of history or contributing to the current political detente.
''I'm a messenger,'' he said. ''I simply report what I see.''
A selection of Falise's photos from 'Burmese Shadows' is being exhibited at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand until mid-October. The book is available at leading bookshops.
FAMILY TIES: A young child accompanies his mother while she’s training alongside other women soldiers with the United Wa State Army. Shan State, 1995.
BACK HOME: Bangkok-based photojournalist Thierry Falise.
WADING TO SAFETY: Villagers ford a river as they flee from the Myanmar army. Karen State, 2001.
FOREVER SHAKEN: Khin San Win, 28, never recovered after Cyclone Nargis killed her two sons. Abandoned by her husband, she spends days muttering incoherently. Ayeyarwady Division, 2008.
UNITED STAND: Thousands of monks take to Yangon’s streets in 2007 to demonstrate against the rising cost of living and for greater freedom.
CONSTANT VIGILANCE: The Karen National Liberation Army patrol through a rice field. Karen State, 2001.
