Insight Myanmar

Episode #381: Vicky Bowman, the former UK Ambassador to Myanmar and past director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), explains what sanctions are meant to do - prevent harm and promote reform, rather than punish - and how Myanmar’s “opaque information ecosystem” makes this challenging.

She recalls that in the early 2000s, compiling sanctions lists was difficult, with EU diplomats sometimes relying on public donati...

Episode #380: “I started meditation at a fairly young age,” begins scholar and author, Daniel Stuart. At nineteen, he traveled to India, disillusioned by the world he grew up in and searching for an alternative. What he discovered was vipassanā meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka, and for him it was “a quite revolutionary experience!” 

For Stuart, meditation was never confined to the cushion. His practice sparked questions abou...

Episode #379: “It’s a different migration story,” reflects Amy Hardingson, speaking about her enduring connection to her Burmese heritage, a thread stretching across generations. Her great-grandmother, Hilda, embodied this love, embarking on the perilous Great Trek during World War II to India in 1941. A member of the Eurasian community in Burma, Hilda fled with her three-year-old daughter and seven-month-old son (Amy's grandfather...

Episode #378: Simon Billenness, director of Campaign for a New Myanmar, draws on thirty years of advocacy to explain the mechanics and challenges of U.S. policy toward Myanmar. He begins by discussing the recent removal of sanctions on junta-linked individuals, which he believes reflects corporate lobbying rather than signaling a coherent strategy or change in overall policy. In fact, he says, that action contrasts sharply with Con...

Episode #377: “Myanmar is a source of inspiration everywhere! This is me speaking directly to friends in Myanmar, that they should understand that they are the source of inspiration, and the source of ideas and reflections, to a level that they don't recognize, because there are a lot of reflections going on in the corners of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, that are not there on media.” 

Tee is a Vietnamese activist devoted to regiona...

Episode #376: “I think it’s a big win. And also people may not like to hear this, it’s actually a win for sanctions,” says Erich Ferrari, founder of Ferrari & Associates and a leading U.S. sanctions attorney. In this episode, he explains the legal and procedural framework behind the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list and responds to criticism over his firm’s role in recent delistings of Myanmar-linked clients. 

...

Episode #375: “Don’t fall for the junta's attempt to try to propagandize!” says Derek Mitchell, former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar. In this interview, he assesses U.S. strategy under the Trump administration, focusing on recent sanctions “de-listings” that have raised concern. 

Regarding the de-listings, Mitchell believes that the they were a bureaucratic decision, not a strategic one. “It could be the left hand didn't know what...

Episode #374: “Miraculously, amazingly, the mission has continued up until now in 2025.” These words from Dr. Zaw Moe Aung, Executive Director of The Leprosy Mission Myanmar (TLMM), encapsulates the resilience of an organization founded in 1898. While still focused on leprosy, TLMM has expanded its work to extend support to all people with disabilities in the country, including the growing number of survivors injured by the scourge...

Episode #373: In this wide-ranging interview, journalist Lorcan Lovett returns to the podcast to discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s imprisonment, the fractured resistance, and Myanmar’s trajectory under military rule. He recounts his investigative work authenticating leaked prison logs from early 2024 that reveal Suu Kyi’s declining health, sparse diet, and isolation. Obtained from a group called People's Embrace—which connects with junta ...

Episode #372: “I focus on research that's mostly relevant for climate resilience, and I really look at Myanmar as the most interesting and important case.” 

Kyungmee Kim, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, explores the intersection of climate justice, extractive industries, and conflict in Myanmar. Her early work focused on community resistance to hydropower dams in ethnic minority regions lik...

Episode #371: “I remain confident in the longer term, completely, actually, that this regime is losing,” says Sean Turnell, Australian economist and former advisor to Myanmar’s civilian government, as he analyzes the recent U.S. decision to lift sanctions on several junta-linked cronies, in what his fourth appearance on this platform. While acknowledging widespread concern, he offers a measured, optimistic assessment rooted in his ...

Episode #370: "Why are [Asian women] not allowed to dream that we can open our own thing and lead our own work?" This question by human rights lawyer Emilie Palamy Pradichit slices through the silence, exposing the systemic barriers that have historically muted and marginalized Asian women in leadership. Pradichit’s journey as a young Lao refugee navigating discrimination in a low-income Parisian suburb crowded with migrants cement...

Episode #369: “I promised Aung San Suu Kyi and committed myself to work for democracy and human rights in the country as long as necessary. And still it is necessary!” So says Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway and a longtime supporter of Myanmar’s democratic struggle. In this conversation, he reflects on his decades of advocacy for Myanmar, from a surreptitious 1997 visit to Yangon where he first met Suu Kyi, to...

Episode #368: The Adhikara podcast is an important, new voice in Burmese media, aiming to build not just a movement but a resilient community against oppression. Created by Maw Nwei and Morgen after the 2021 military coup, Adhikara provides a platform for expression and education, especially around human rights. The podcast allows the creators to connect with the Burmese people without the barriers of traditional in-person training...

Episode #367: In this episode, we hear from two compelling voices grappling with the human and political costs of authoritarianism in Southeast Asia. Raoul Manuel, the youngest elected member of the Philippine Congress, describes how his work on education reform and youth rights intersects with a broader transnational resistance against repressive leadership. He draws on his experience in grassroots organizing and progressive legis...

Episode #366: Sallo Polak, founder of the Philanthropy Connections Foundation (PCF), has spent decades building a grassroots approach to humanitarian aid in Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Motivated by a lifelong desire to address global inequality—first sparked by a formative journey to India at age 18—Polak established PCF in 2011 to serve under-resourced communities through trust, dignity, and local leadership. “I always wanted...

Episode #365: “The Buddha lives and teaches for the welfare of the world, for the happiness of the world,” says Bhikkhu Bodhi. “He does live for the welfare and happiness of human beings. And so now, when we look at contemporary conditions, the question arises as Buddhists following in the footsteps of the Buddha, how do we live for the welfare and happiness of other human beings?” 

Bhikkhu Bodhi, a renowned Buddhist scholar an...

Episode #364: Ben’s simple words resonate strongly: “If I could do something small for one person, why would I not?” 

This episode brings together Ben and a Burmese student who goes by the moniker Little Activist. Together, they discuss the profound impact of individual gestures and transnational solidarity. Ben, who worked briefly in Myanmar with a UN agency, was moved by an episode that Insight Myanmar Podcast aired last year...