Navigating the Legal Pathways Down Under
Insight Myanmar30 Jan 2024

Navigating the Legal Pathways Down Under

Episode #215: Ko Ko Aung's life journey is a testament to resilience and purpose amidst Myanmar's political unrest.

He was raised in a middle-class family in southern Myanmar, yet unlike his two brothers, Ko Ko Aung chose to focus on academics rather than the family business, making ngapi. He went to study law in Australia, aiming to aid his homeland's transition to democracy.


Upon graduation, Ko Ko Aung specialized in immigration law, unknowingly preparing for the post-2021 coup crisis that saw countless Burmese seek asylum. He found himself confronting an Australian system that often rejected Burmese visa applicants without proper review, contrasting starkly with the more positive treatment of refugees from Hong Kong, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. He labored pro bono, developing guides to navigate Australian immigration bureaucracy, yet faced a daunting rejection rate for Burmese applicants.


Despite the grim scenario, Ko Ko Aung remained hopeful, spotlighting options like the Protection Visa and the Skilled Refugee Visa Program. These alternatives gave a glimmer of hope for Burmese refugees, with the latter allowing community sponsorship. He also expresses the need for the Burmese community in Australia to do more outreach to educate people, including immigration officials, about what is happening in Myanmar


“During these difficult times, because we come from a Buddhist country, the teaching of the Dhamma, we cannot be we cannot forget about that. Meditation and our Buddhist teachings have been helping me a lot going through this,” he says in closing. “During these tough times, being mindful will help a lot in terms of getting through these tough times.”

Episoder(517)

Revisiting the Burma Spring

Revisiting the Burma Spring

For her first post-coup documentary, Padauk: Myanmar Spring, Jeanne Hallacy’s team employed a technique called “in-depth personal storytelling,” and the results were simply stunning. It allows the vi...

26 Jan 202256min

Portrait of an Activist

Portrait of an Activist

Little T’s ongoing nightmare started, as it did for so many Burmese people, with the violent coup launched last year by the military. Soon, the first peaceful mass protests hit the streets. Besides or...

22 Jan 20221h 48min

Sitagu Sayadaw, The Coup, and Burmese Buddhism

Sitagu Sayadaw, The Coup, and Burmese Buddhism

“My own feelings would be that it would be good for Sitagu Sayadaw to leave the country and then speak out [against the military]. If he speaks out now, he would probably be arrested immediately.”Thus...

16 Jan 20222h 28min

The Fabric of Change: Feminism, Art, and Revolution

The Fabric of Change: Feminism, Art, and Revolution

When Chuu Wai Nyein was just eighteen years old, she was with her sister at a Mandalay teashop. As they were leaving, a man sexually assaulted her sister. The event deeply traumatized them, and Chuu w...

11 Jan 20221h 32min

Artists Against Tyranny, Part 2

Artists Against Tyranny, Part 2

The situation in Myanmar continues to be intolerable. Day by day innocent civilians are being killed, maimed, starved, and forced from their homes, and the military continues their campaign of terror....

4 Jan 20221h 49min

The Revolution's Roving Eye

The Revolution's Roving Eye

Moe, a photojournalist, has long chronicled the inhumane injustices that the Tatmadaw had committed in his country. From the jade mines of Kachin to the Rohingya camps in Rakhine, he had seen first-ha...

26 Des 20211h 40min

Artists Against Tyranny

Artists Against Tyranny

As many already know, the situation in Myanmar continues to be intolerable. Day by day innocent civilians are being killed, maimed, starved, and forced from their homes, and the military continues the...

10 Des 20212h

The Story of Magway

The Story of Magway

“It's really sad that our young people had dreams, but after the military coup, every dream of theirs has been destroyed.” So starts the interview with May, who tells us why she became a revolutionary...

29 Nov 20211h 50min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
i-retten
stopp-verden
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-gukild-johaug
nokon-ma-ga
fotballpodden-2
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-ness
aftenbla-bla
hanna-de-heldige
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-utenrikskomiteen-med-bogen-og-grasvik