The release from house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese democracy leader (November 2010), the release of some Burmese political prisoners by the government (October 2011), the nominal ceasefire agreement between the Karen National Union and the Burmese military (January 2012), Suu Kyi’s win of a seat in the Parliament (April 2012), and Barack Obama’s historical visit to Myanmar, right after his re-election to Presidency of the USA (November 2012), has positively raised Myanmar’s profile in the eyes of the international community.
But Myanmar still has a long way to go before its people are really free and, maybe even longer before the leaders of the former military junta are brought to justice for the atrocities they have committed against their own people and the minority groups they have embattled for decades. One of these groups, the Karen, has been in conflict with the Burmese government since 1942, aiming for an independent state until 1976, when its demands changed to requesting greater autonomy under a federal system of government.
Their dream is that one day, Kawthoolei, their traditional homeland (corresponding to present-day Kayin State, a mountainous area in the east of Myanmar, on the border with Thailand’s Mae Hong Son, Tak and Kanchanaburi provinces), will be given the right to self-determination. “Kawthoolei” literally means “the land without evil” and, in his book, Evil in the Land Without, Colin Cotterill plays with that meaning in the hope of raising public awareness to the evil the Karen have suffered at the hands of a ruthless Burmese army.
For decades, the Burmese waged a war of terror and intimidation on the civilian Karen population, raping, pillaging and burning their villages in the hope of discouraging the Karen fighters. The scenes in Sylvester Stallone’s last installment of Rambo (2008) gave us just a glimpse, even if it was fictional, of what the Karen have had to suffer for so long. With a “Live for nothing, die for everything” mentality, the Karen fighters still hope for a chance to free their seven million people from the chains of the Burmese oppression.
Colin Cotterill opens Evil in the Land Without (Asia Books, 2003) with a note left by the Burmese army on the hut of a Karen village: “You are to leave this place. If you are found here when we return in seven days, you will be considered enemies of the state and destroyed.” Thus, six-year-old Sherri, her family and the rest of the villagers abandon their houses and go in search of a new home. But they are intercepted by a Burmese patrol and “when the bloodletting was over, only five villagers remained alive.” Sherri was one of them. But for her, death would have been a fairer fate.
Fast-forward more than two decades into the year 2000 and the reader is introduced to John Jessel, an English detective who works for the Child Protection Unit in Surrey. Overweight and with a serious drinking problem, Jessel’s mission in life is to rid the world of paedophiles. After bringing down a “pederast ring” he is targeted by a mysterious adversary who signs his threat letters as “The Paw.” Soon enough the threats become reality and the people Jessel cares for most find their end at the hand of a ruthless assassin. No one around him is safe anymore and John’s only hope at catching the murderer is to dig deep in the history of his own family and find the secrets his Hungarian-born mother and his estranged father brought with them to their graves.
The narrative of Evil in the Land Without takes the readers on a rollercoaster of a journey from Burma to England and from Kenya to Thailand where John Jessel is welcomed with more bodies at the hand of The Paw. In the meantime, Dr. Shirley Heigh returns to Burma as a US citizen but she is none other than “little Sherri.” Her mission is revenge and when Jessel crosses pathways with her, they join forces to bring down the evil in “the land without evil.”
Things get complicated when the British Secret Service gets involved and the identity of a Burmese diplomat is proven to be related to the disappearance of Jessel’s father. For the detective’s sister and nephew time is ticking but upon his return from Thailand, Jessel cracks the case after finding out more secrets about his father and mother.
The underlying message of Colin Cotterill’s Evil in the Land Without is a cry of anger against all the hurt that children suffer worldwide. All major characters in his novel still have skeletons in the closet from their childhood. From child sex slaves in Burma to abused children in Kenya, from murdered children in communist Hungary to neglected and abandoned English kids, the author raises difficult issues in the format of an excellent mystery novel.
It is not a coincidence as London-born Colin Cotterill has been involved with child protection, prostitution and pornography NGOs in Southeast Asia for many years. His first novel, The Night Bastard (2000), was inspired by his work with trafficked children.
Colin Cotterill is also the award-winning author of the Dr. Siri mystery series set in PRD Laos which until now comprised eight novels. More recently, Cotterill has published a new series of crime novels set in southern Thailand where he resides. “Dr. Jimm Juree series” started with Killed at the Whim of a Hat (2011) and was followed by Grandad, There’s a Head on the Beach (2012). The author is also an excellent cartoonist with many contributions in the Thai mass media. Find out more about his work on his official website.
Photography by Regin Reyno
Initially published in “Bangkok Trader” (Vol.7, No.2, January 2013)
