Friday, 10 April 2009
ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာခ်က္ အမွတ္ ၅/၀၉
စာအမွတ္- စကလ/လစဖ/၀၅/၀၉
ေန႕စြဲ - ၉-၄-၀၉
ကၽြႏ္ုပ္တို႔ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံတြင္ စစ္အာဏာရွင္စနစ္ အျမစ္ျပတ္ ခ်ဳပ္ၿငိမ္းေစေရး၊ စစ္မွန္ေသာ ဒီမိုကေရစီ ေပၚထြန္းလာေရး၊ မဲလိမ္၍ တဖက္သတ္ အတည္ျပဳထားေသာ ၂၀၀၈ ဖဲြ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံဥပေဒကို ဖယ္ရွားပစ္ေရး၊ တရားမဝင္ စစ္အာဏာ သိမ္း ထားသူမ်ားက တရားဝင္ အစိုးရအျဖစ္ လိမ္ညာ အတည္ျပဳမည့္ ၂၀၁၀ အတု အေယာင္ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ ကို တားဆီး တိုက္ဖ်က္ေရး ဆိုသည့္ အေၾကာင္းရင္းခံမ်ားျဖင့္ ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို႔၏ ၂၀၀၉ စုစည္းလႈပ္ရွားမႈ ေကာ္မတီကို ႏိုင္ငံေရး လိုအပ္ခ်က္ အရ ဖဲြ႔စည္းခဲ့ျခင္း ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
စစ္အုပ္စုႏွင့္ ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ရင္ဆိုင္ ေအာင္ပြဲဆင္ႏိုင္ရန္ စုစည္းညီညြတ္ေသာ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစုႀကီး တရပ္ ေပၚထြန္း လာေရး ဆိုသည့္ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ကိုလည္း ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို႔၏ ပင္မ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္အျဖစ္ ခ်မွတ္အေကာင္ အထည္ေဖၚလွ်က္ ရွိပါ သည္။
၂၀၀၉ ခုႏွစ္ ဧၿပီလ ၆ ရက္ေန႔က NCGUB, NCUB အပါအဝင္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရး အင္အားစုႀကီး ၇ ဖြဲ႔ မွ စုစည္းညီညြတ္ေသာ တပ္ေပါင္းစုႀကီး ဖြဲ႔စည္းသြားမည္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ၂၀၀၈ ဖြဲ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံဥပေဒကို ဖ်က္သိမ္းႏိုင္ေရးအတြက္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ သြားမည္ ျဖစ္သလို၊ ထိုဖဲြ႕စည္းပံုျဖင့္ ေဆာင္ရြက္မည့္ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲကိုလည္း ဆန္႔က်င္သြားမည္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာခဲ့ပါသည္။
ထိုေၾကျငာခ်က္ပါ အခ်က္မ်ားသည္ ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို႔ ၂၀၀၉ စုစည္းလႈပ္ရွားမႈ ေကာ္မတီမွ ခ်မွတ္ထားေသာ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ မ်ားႏွင့္ ထပ္တူနီးပါး တူညီမႈရွိပါသျဖင့္ ဝမ္းေျမာက္ဝမ္းသာ ေထာက္ခံ ႀကိဳဆိုပါေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရးအင္အားစုႀကီး မ်ား၏ စုစည္းညီညြတ္မႈ အေပၚ ႏွစ္ေထာင္းအားရ ျဖစ္ရပါေၾကာင္း အေလးအနက္ ေဖၚျပအပ္ပါသည္။
ထိုစုစည္းညီညြတ္ေသာ အင္အားစုမ်ား၏ စုစည္းမႈအင္အားျဖင့္ ျပည္သူ႔အေရးေတာ္ပံုႀကီးတရပ္ ဆက္လက္ဆင္ႏြဲေရး ဆိုသည့္ ဒုတိယ ေျခလွမ္းတရပ္ကိုလည္း ျပည္သူလူထုတို႔၏ အက်ိဳးစီးပြါးကို ေရွးရႈ၍ ဆက္လက္ေဖၚေဆာင္ ဦးေဆာင္မႈ ေပးပါရန္ ကိုလည္း အေလးအနက္တိုက္တြန္း ေတာင္းဆိုအပ္ပါသည္။
ဒီမိုကေရစီ က်င့္စဥ္အရ လြတ္လပ္စြာ သေဘာထားကြဲလြဲခြင့္ ရွိသည္ဟုဆိုလွ်င္ လြတ္လပ္စြာစုစည္း ညီညြတ္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ ခြင့္လည္း ရွိပါသည္။ ကၽြႏ္ုပ္တို႔ အေနျဖင့္ ထိုလႈပ္ရွားေဆာင္ရြက္မႈမ်ားတြင္ မည္သည့္ အခန္းက႑မွမဆို အေလးအနက္ ပူးေပါင္းပါဝင္ ေဆာင္ရြက္သြားမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာအပ္ပါသည္။
အလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္အဖြဲ႕
၂၀၀၉ စုစည္းလႈပ္ရွားမႈ ေကာ္မတီ
Announcement 05/09
Date April,9 ,2009
The 2009 Collective Action Committee (CAC) has been set up to end the dictatorship in Burma and to work for democracy. We reject the bogus, fraudulent 2008 referendum – held amidst one of the worst humanitarian crises the world has seen - and will work to ensure that the planned, sham 2010 election, that is merely an attempt to legitimate military control of the country, is successfully opposed.
One of our main aims at the 2009 CAC is to facilitate unity and cooperation between opposition groups working towards the same goal – the end of military rule in Burma and the restoration of democracy.
On April 6th, 2009, the NCGUB, the NCUB and other opposition groups working for democratic change in Burma, announced that they do not recognize the 2008 referendum, and that they will not participate in the bogus 2010 election.
We warmly welcome these announcements and support the stated aims. We believe that we are all working toward the same goal, and that by working together we can achieve these stated aims. We believe that by maintaining unity between opposition groups we can successfully work towards ending military rule in Burma. Together we can work towards restoring democracy in Burma.
In accordance with democratic principles, there is plenty of room for free thought, and difference of opinion. But we must remain steadfast in the ideals that unite us all and work together for a free and democratic Burma.
We at the 2009 CAC strongly believe in these principles and will work together with other opposition groups to see our mutual aims achieved.
Working Committee
2009 Collective Action Committee (BURMA)
စာအမွတ္- စကလ/လစဖ/၀၅/၀၉
ေန႕စြဲ - ၉-၄-၀၉
ကၽြႏ္ုပ္တို႔ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံတြင္ စစ္အာဏာရွင္စနစ္ အျမစ္ျပတ္ ခ်ဳပ္ၿငိမ္းေစေရး၊ စစ္မွန္ေသာ ဒီမိုကေရစီ ေပၚထြန္းလာေရး၊ မဲလိမ္၍ တဖက္သတ္ အတည္ျပဳထားေသာ ၂၀၀၈ ဖဲြ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံဥပေဒကို ဖယ္ရွားပစ္ေရး၊ တရားမဝင္ စစ္အာဏာ သိမ္း ထားသူမ်ားက တရားဝင္ အစိုးရအျဖစ္ လိမ္ညာ အတည္ျပဳမည့္ ၂၀၁၀ အတု အေယာင္ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ ကို တားဆီး တိုက္ဖ်က္ေရး ဆိုသည့္ အေၾကာင္းရင္းခံမ်ားျဖင့္ ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို႔၏ ၂၀၀၉ စုစည္းလႈပ္ရွားမႈ ေကာ္မတီကို ႏိုင္ငံေရး လိုအပ္ခ်က္ အရ ဖဲြ႔စည္းခဲ့ျခင္း ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
စစ္အုပ္စုႏွင့္ ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ရင္ဆိုင္ ေအာင္ပြဲဆင္ႏိုင္ရန္ စုစည္းညီညြတ္ေသာ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစုႀကီး တရပ္ ေပၚထြန္း လာေရး ဆိုသည့္ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ကိုလည္း ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို႔၏ ပင္မ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္အျဖစ္ ခ်မွတ္အေကာင္ အထည္ေဖၚလွ်က္ ရွိပါ သည္။
၂၀၀၉ ခုႏွစ္ ဧၿပီလ ၆ ရက္ေန႔က NCGUB, NCUB အပါအဝင္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရး အင္အားစုႀကီး ၇ ဖြဲ႔ မွ စုစည္းညီညြတ္ေသာ တပ္ေပါင္းစုႀကီး ဖြဲ႔စည္းသြားမည္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ၂၀၀၈ ဖြဲ႔စည္းပံု အေျခခံဥပေဒကို ဖ်က္သိမ္းႏိုင္ေရးအတြက္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ သြားမည္ ျဖစ္သလို၊ ထိုဖဲြ႕စည္းပံုျဖင့္ ေဆာင္ရြက္မည့္ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲကိုလည္း ဆန္႔က်င္သြားမည္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာခဲ့ပါသည္။
ထိုေၾကျငာခ်က္ပါ အခ်က္မ်ားသည္ ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို႔ ၂၀၀၉ စုစည္းလႈပ္ရွားမႈ ေကာ္မတီမွ ခ်မွတ္ထားေသာ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ မ်ားႏွင့္ ထပ္တူနီးပါး တူညီမႈရွိပါသျဖင့္ ဝမ္းေျမာက္ဝမ္းသာ ေထာက္ခံ ႀကိဳဆိုပါေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရးအင္အားစုႀကီး မ်ား၏ စုစည္းညီညြတ္မႈ အေပၚ ႏွစ္ေထာင္းအားရ ျဖစ္ရပါေၾကာင္း အေလးအနက္ ေဖၚျပအပ္ပါသည္။
ထိုစုစည္းညီညြတ္ေသာ အင္အားစုမ်ား၏ စုစည္းမႈအင္အားျဖင့္ ျပည္သူ႔အေရးေတာ္ပံုႀကီးတရပ္ ဆက္လက္ဆင္ႏြဲေရး ဆိုသည့္ ဒုတိယ ေျခလွမ္းတရပ္ကိုလည္း ျပည္သူလူထုတို႔၏ အက်ိဳးစီးပြါးကို ေရွးရႈ၍ ဆက္လက္ေဖၚေဆာင္ ဦးေဆာင္မႈ ေပးပါရန္ ကိုလည္း အေလးအနက္တိုက္တြန္း ေတာင္းဆိုအပ္ပါသည္။
ဒီမိုကေရစီ က်င့္စဥ္အရ လြတ္လပ္စြာ သေဘာထားကြဲလြဲခြင့္ ရွိသည္ဟုဆိုလွ်င္ လြတ္လပ္စြာစုစည္း ညီညြတ္ ေဆာင္ရြက္ ခြင့္လည္း ရွိပါသည္။ ကၽြႏ္ုပ္တို႔ အေနျဖင့္ ထိုလႈပ္ရွားေဆာင္ရြက္မႈမ်ားတြင္ မည္သည့္ အခန္းက႑မွမဆို အေလးအနက္ ပူးေပါင္းပါဝင္ ေဆာင္ရြက္သြားမည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာအပ္ပါသည္။
အလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္အဖြဲ႕
၂၀၀၉ စုစည္းလႈပ္ရွားမႈ ေကာ္မတီ
Announcement 05/09
Date April,9 ,2009
The 2009 Collective Action Committee (CAC) has been set up to end the dictatorship in Burma and to work for democracy. We reject the bogus, fraudulent 2008 referendum – held amidst one of the worst humanitarian crises the world has seen - and will work to ensure that the planned, sham 2010 election, that is merely an attempt to legitimate military control of the country, is successfully opposed.
One of our main aims at the 2009 CAC is to facilitate unity and cooperation between opposition groups working towards the same goal – the end of military rule in Burma and the restoration of democracy.
On April 6th, 2009, the NCGUB, the NCUB and other opposition groups working for democratic change in Burma, announced that they do not recognize the 2008 referendum, and that they will not participate in the bogus 2010 election.
We warmly welcome these announcements and support the stated aims. We believe that we are all working toward the same goal, and that by working together we can achieve these stated aims. We believe that by maintaining unity between opposition groups we can successfully work towards ending military rule in Burma. Together we can work towards restoring democracy in Burma.
In accordance with democratic principles, there is plenty of room for free thought, and difference of opinion. But we must remain steadfast in the ideals that unite us all and work together for a free and democratic Burma.
We at the 2009 CAC strongly believe in these principles and will work together with other opposition groups to see our mutual aims achieved.
Working Committee
2009 Collective Action Committee (BURMA)
Burma’s Roadmap to Nowhere
Here we go again; more talks and feel good plans that only buy more time for Than Shwe. In all reality there is no dialogue that is valid until Aung San Suu Kyi and her cabinet are included in these meetings. Inviting every nation in the world is meaningless unless the duly elected officials of Burma are there to discuss the real issues. Without the NLD leadership at the table all the talk in the world is just a lot of hot air.
For any nation to condone or except the notion the 2010 election has any validity at all is purely ludicrous. The people have spoken and no matter how many people Than Shwe and his criminal regime toss into prisons, tortures and murders, the election results will remain the same. And for any nation to consider anything less makes them a partner in Burma’s holocaust and wholesale human rights violations. It is sad enough to realize international corporations that fill store shelves in the United States of America and the free world are partners with Than Shwe.
With South Asia poised for war on many fronts it is only a matter of time before the landscape of many nations explodes into bloodshed. Unrest breeds unrest and the unchecked crimes against humanity perpetrated by Than Shwe has become a cancer to all of Asia and democracy as a whole. Even China is primed for revolution since they wandered away from the core tenets of communism in favor of fascist corporatism. Thailand has already exchanged gun fire on several borders and like the domino effect Asia will soon be engulfed in many secular wars.
Ibrahim Gambari proved beyond a shadow of a doubt the United Nations is as impotent as they are corrupt. Their inability to do anything other than deliver cereal, milk and imposed worthless sanctions makes them a non entity. It would appear the UN is nothing more than a worthless plutocracy that only buys time for the perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
88 Generations Students Group spokesperson Tun Myint Aung was quoted in an open letter to the junta by *The Irrawaddy;
“The Western democracies have placed economic and social sanctions on Burma to protest against human rights violations by the Burmese junta, so the junta should show its respect for human rights and for the Burmese people”
They also endorsed the four basic requests that would foster true reconciliation.
Release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners
The convening of parliament
Establish true political dialogue
Review the 2008 Constitution
The world should take notice that the people of Burma are still very active in their struggle for democracy. Regardless of what the junta’s propaganda machine may publish, the people of Burma still yearn for freedom and democracy.
On another note, I’ve seen the demise of Than Shwe in several dreams for what its worth. I’ve seen the two options he had to choose from. One would give his family peace whence he departed this Earth. The other choice had a much darker consequence. Now the traditional **Thingyansar predicts major change and an end to feudalism among other things as we enter the Burmese New Year. Than Shwe moved the nation’s capital into the jungle on the advice of his soothsayer. I believe it was sound advice but his soothsayer should have told him this maneuver only bought a little time. Like the ole saying goes, “you can run but you can’t hide”. Building a Pagoda was another interesting piece of Burmese tradition that bore ominous fruit for the regime. In short this tradition marks the collapse of a kingdom whence a ruler builds a Pagoda. Than Shwe’s Peace Pagoda should suffice don’t you think? It was consecrated in blood when 20 people got killed on the Ferris wheel at opening day. Is this another omen or just bad luck? Only time will tell.
The tangible aspects of his government also points to major changes within the regime regardless of his attempts to keep his generals at odds with one another. The moment he blinks an eye the war for his throne will begin. Than Shwe’s reality is death and it will be this year according to the signs. At some point his soothsayers should inform him of his options or are they waiting for his end like everyone else?
There is no question outsiders from the industrial world who’ve sided with Than Shwe will feel the wrath of the people they subjugated over the years. I’ve seen the list of name, many westerners as well as Asians. Quietly the people of Burma have been taking notes and these corporate thugs are known in many circles around the world. Some will stand trial for their participation in Than Shwe’s holocaust. Others will try to hide or face the scorn of the world. Their days are numbered as well. With millions of witnesses to the atrocities that were committed over the years, convictions will not be hard to come by. The Khmer Rouge once thought they were invincible but they were betrayed by the magic they though would protect them forever. Now they stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. Than Shwe may die but his generals will face a jury for his sins, that is a given.
Dare I mention the series of natural disasters that will plague Asia and the world? I also see disaster after disaster that will cripple the empires of greed that has engulfed the globe as well. In any event, Than Shwe’s road map will soon have obstacles from both the tangible and intangible worlds he betrayed. They will be insurmountable and will fall within the context of the dogma he perverted and blasphemed. Though I’m not a Buddhist I do enjoy reading their books and can appreciate their doctrine. I just can’t seem to find the part where it’s condoned and accepted to rape, imprison and ghoulishly torture people to death. It seems as though Than Shwe was more a conscript of Kali fore he is a Thug of the highest order. His reign of terror and bloodshed will not go unrewarded and death will not shroud him from his destiny.
* http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15449
** http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15465
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
NLD reviews finer points of Special Announcement No. 18
NLD reviews finer points of Special Announcement No. 18
by Ko Wild
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 21:47
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In a bid to explore a political strategy, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is currently reviewing the finer points expressed in its Special Announcement (18/09/08).
The NLD has said that convening Parliament, as mentioned in this statement does not imply seizing power, but amendment and approval of the Constitution.
For this process to be successful, dialogue between the two top leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr. Gen. Than Shwe should be initiated, without any preconditions, NLD CEC member, U Khin Maung Swe told Mizzima.
"If Daw Suu and Snr. Gen. Than Shwe accept the amendment of the Constitution, everything will be fine. Then we can consider other options rather than forming a committee in Parliament. In the last stage, there must be a Parliament, as we must recognize the results of the 1990 general elections. After reaching an agreement, there will be the option of forming a committee, amending the Constitution and getting it approved by the Parliament. It depends on mutual trust," he said.
In the Special Announcement No. 18, the NLD says that the 2008 Constitution was forcibly approved by the SPDC, against the will of the people. And it also urges the junta to convene Parliament at the earliest with the elected MPs, in accordance with Section 3 of the 1990 General Election Law.
This Parliament should be formed with a 'Constitution Review Committee', with representatives of the 1990 election winning parties, elected MPs, army representatives, ethnic representatives, representatives of ceasefire groups and constitutional legal experts.
U Khin Maung Swe said that NLD had first focused on transferring power from the junta just after general elections and it could accept the changing situation later.
"We initially thought the junta would really transfer all three pillars of power to the winning party, as there was no clear provision and explanation before the elections. So we thought in a normal manner. Now, we have called for convening the Parliament as recognition of the 1990 election results. However, it has nothing to do with the three pillars of power, just amendment of the Constitution, and its adoption," he said.
Meanwhile, at the last 64th Anti-Fascist Resistance Day, Snr. Gen. Than Shwe warned not to undermine the Constitution, which had already been approved by the people.
"There is provision for amendment in the 2008 Constitution. It is not undermining of the Constitution, but demanding a review, as we have the right to do so, in accordance with the law. In every country in the world, no law is perfect and needs to be amended. Calling for amending an amendable Constitution does not mean undermining it," he said.
After releasing this special announcement, the Police Chief met NLD party CEC members at the office of the Home Ministry and warned they could be prosecuted, unless they withdrew this statement. But, the NLD replied that they could not accept what he had said.
The United Nations has urged successive military regimes to recognize the 1990 general election results for over 10 years.
Copy from Mizzima.
by Ko Wild
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 21:47
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In a bid to explore a political strategy, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is currently reviewing the finer points expressed in its Special Announcement (18/09/08).
The NLD has said that convening Parliament, as mentioned in this statement does not imply seizing power, but amendment and approval of the Constitution.
For this process to be successful, dialogue between the two top leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr. Gen. Than Shwe should be initiated, without any preconditions, NLD CEC member, U Khin Maung Swe told Mizzima.
"If Daw Suu and Snr. Gen. Than Shwe accept the amendment of the Constitution, everything will be fine. Then we can consider other options rather than forming a committee in Parliament. In the last stage, there must be a Parliament, as we must recognize the results of the 1990 general elections. After reaching an agreement, there will be the option of forming a committee, amending the Constitution and getting it approved by the Parliament. It depends on mutual trust," he said.
In the Special Announcement No. 18, the NLD says that the 2008 Constitution was forcibly approved by the SPDC, against the will of the people. And it also urges the junta to convene Parliament at the earliest with the elected MPs, in accordance with Section 3 of the 1990 General Election Law.
This Parliament should be formed with a 'Constitution Review Committee', with representatives of the 1990 election winning parties, elected MPs, army representatives, ethnic representatives, representatives of ceasefire groups and constitutional legal experts.
U Khin Maung Swe said that NLD had first focused on transferring power from the junta just after general elections and it could accept the changing situation later.
"We initially thought the junta would really transfer all three pillars of power to the winning party, as there was no clear provision and explanation before the elections. So we thought in a normal manner. Now, we have called for convening the Parliament as recognition of the 1990 election results. However, it has nothing to do with the three pillars of power, just amendment of the Constitution, and its adoption," he said.
Meanwhile, at the last 64th Anti-Fascist Resistance Day, Snr. Gen. Than Shwe warned not to undermine the Constitution, which had already been approved by the people.
"There is provision for amendment in the 2008 Constitution. It is not undermining of the Constitution, but demanding a review, as we have the right to do so, in accordance with the law. In every country in the world, no law is perfect and needs to be amended. Calling for amending an amendable Constitution does not mean undermining it," he said.
After releasing this special announcement, the Police Chief met NLD party CEC members at the office of the Home Ministry and warned they could be prosecuted, unless they withdrew this statement. But, the NLD replied that they could not accept what he had said.
The United Nations has urged successive military regimes to recognize the 1990 general election results for over 10 years.
Copy from Mizzima.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Tata Motors to Build Trucks in Burma
The company who built the world’s cheapest car, the Nano or the People’s Car, will soon be manufacturing heavy military vehicles for Burma’s killing machine. Following the axiom of economics over humanity *Tata Motor Company entered into an agreement to build a manufacturing facility in Burma by December 2009. Sadly this turn of events will have direct consequences in sales of the Nano to the free world as news of this reprehensible partnership spreads.
Sanctions imposed on the criminal regime of Burma will surely hamper sales. Norway already dumped China’s Dongfeng Motor Group for its sales of 900 trucks to Burma’s military. Other auto manufacturers will soon feel the heat as nations take a stand for humanity over profits. In the sights are other auto manufacturers such as Toyota, Mitsubishi and Suzuki just to name a few. As the world economies falter, these companies will feel the brunt of the financial collapse. This immoral alliance is destined to failure for a host of reasons. It will sever them right as well as the other corporations who’ve chosen to finance Than Shwe and his murderous regime.
The fact Tata will be building heavy trucks for the cursed Than Shwe will mark the beginning of the end for them since Than Shwe’s military dictatorship is on the verge of a coop. Resentment and betrayal are rampant within his inner circle of hand picked generals. Than Shwe’s impending death has them hovering around him like vultures. Than’s paranoia has him positioning his closest allies around him for protection from other generals who might pose a threat to his life. The fact soldiers are ill paid and left to fend for themselves whence they are injured while generals languish in the lap of luxury is a dire indicator as well.
Unwitting investors will soon find themselves in a crossfire as this volatile situation explodes into an internal struggle for power and control. Than Shwe’s paranoid fears are truly misdirected fore his fate is not in the hands of the opposition. His destiny lies in the hands of those he betrayed within his own inner circle. For those who invest in his criminal regime there is no security. As soon as pandemonium breaks out within Burma they will be the first casualty. When Than Shwe dies or is murdered blood will soon cover the ground at Naypyidaw. And there is no doubt some of the blood will be from the greedy investors.
*http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_t/Tata_Motors/20090330_heavy_trucks_unit.html
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
Copy from
Buffalohair Gazette International
http://buffalohair-jage.com/WP-BGI/2009/04/05/tata-motors-to-build-trucks-in-burma/
Sanctions imposed on the criminal regime of Burma will surely hamper sales. Norway already dumped China’s Dongfeng Motor Group for its sales of 900 trucks to Burma’s military. Other auto manufacturers will soon feel the heat as nations take a stand for humanity over profits. In the sights are other auto manufacturers such as Toyota, Mitsubishi and Suzuki just to name a few. As the world economies falter, these companies will feel the brunt of the financial collapse. This immoral alliance is destined to failure for a host of reasons. It will sever them right as well as the other corporations who’ve chosen to finance Than Shwe and his murderous regime.
The fact Tata will be building heavy trucks for the cursed Than Shwe will mark the beginning of the end for them since Than Shwe’s military dictatorship is on the verge of a coop. Resentment and betrayal are rampant within his inner circle of hand picked generals. Than Shwe’s impending death has them hovering around him like vultures. Than’s paranoia has him positioning his closest allies around him for protection from other generals who might pose a threat to his life. The fact soldiers are ill paid and left to fend for themselves whence they are injured while generals languish in the lap of luxury is a dire indicator as well.
Unwitting investors will soon find themselves in a crossfire as this volatile situation explodes into an internal struggle for power and control. Than Shwe’s paranoid fears are truly misdirected fore his fate is not in the hands of the opposition. His destiny lies in the hands of those he betrayed within his own inner circle. For those who invest in his criminal regime there is no security. As soon as pandemonium breaks out within Burma they will be the first casualty. When Than Shwe dies or is murdered blood will soon cover the ground at Naypyidaw. And there is no doubt some of the blood will be from the greedy investors.
*http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_t/Tata_Motors/20090330_heavy_trucks_unit.html
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
Copy from
Buffalohair Gazette International
http://buffalohair-jage.com/WP-BGI/2009/04/05/tata-motors-to-build-trucks-in-burma/
Chin Human Rights Organisation: Chins In Delhi Need Fair Humanitarian Support
Chin Human Rights Organisation: Chins In Delhi Need Fair Humanitarian Support
Van Biak Thang
Chinland Guardian
06 April, 2009
The Chin people stranded as refugees in India’s Delhi are in ‘extremely poor’ conditions with very limited access to humanitarian relief and in serious need of effective protection and services, a report released by Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) said today.
The report Waiting on the margins: An assessment of the situation of Chin refugees in Delhi documented the ‘vulnerable’ living conditions of the Chin refugees with limited protections available to them and also highlighted the long awaited-and-delayed process of refugee issues handled by the UNHCR in India.
Salai Bawi Lian Mang, executive director of CHRO, said: “So many Chins in Delhi live in deplorable conditions - without jobs, without basic amenities, and without access to social services. In fact, the Chins are refugees in desperate need of protection, but it takes years to gain protection by the UNHCR. Meanwhile, the Chins are living on the bare margins of society in Delhi.” The report said: “Due to long processing delays at UNHCR, it takes on average more than two years to receive refugee recognition - four times longer than mandated by UNHCR guidelines. As a result, more than half of the Chin population in Delhi have cases pending with UNHCR and are not yet recognized as refugees. Without UNHCR-recognition, Chins are not eligible for essential social services and humanitarian relief provided by UNHCR-partner organizations.”
There are, according to CHRO’s report, currently some 75,000 to 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma living on the India-Burma border in India’s north-eastern state of Mizoram and an estimated 4,200 living in Delhi, making it the largest asylum-seeking population from Burma in the second-largest metropolis of India.
Sixty-six percent of the Chin population in Delhi are, the report added, unemployed and even those employed earn only Rs. 70 (US$1.35) for 10 to 12 hours per day.
The report, while acknowledging, said of the programmes and services provided and supported by the UNHCR as ‘inadequate and ineffective’ so as to meeting the needs of Chin community. Access to such programmes is still limited to UNHCR-recognised refugees and more than half of the Chin population in Delhi are not even eligible to benefit from the programmes, it added.
CHRO urged the Indian government and the UNHCR to make sure the Chin people get unhindered access to effective protection and services including healthcare, education, accommodation and employment opportunities, and to minimize processing delays and corruption from obtaining protection. It also called for improving the current ‘inadequate’ humanitarian programs for the Chin community.
Since late 2006, the Chin people have been facing SPDC-neglected food crisis caused by a plague of rats that destroy food and crops following a once-in-fifty-year cycle of bamboo flowering phenomenon.
Due to an ongoing severe ethnic and religious persecution, and human rights abuses committed by Burma’s long-standing military regime, hundreds of thousands of Chin people have been forced to leave their homes in Chin State into neighbouring countries and beyond.
Chin Human Rights Organisation has produced a series of documentary reports including Religious Persecution: A Campaign of Ethnocide against Chin Christians in Burma in 2004, The Chin People of Burma: A Struggle for Survival in 2006, and Critical Point: Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State in 2008.
Van Biak Thang
Chinland Guardian
06 April, 2009
The Chin people stranded as refugees in India’s Delhi are in ‘extremely poor’ conditions with very limited access to humanitarian relief and in serious need of effective protection and services, a report released by Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) said today.
The report Waiting on the margins: An assessment of the situation of Chin refugees in Delhi documented the ‘vulnerable’ living conditions of the Chin refugees with limited protections available to them and also highlighted the long awaited-and-delayed process of refugee issues handled by the UNHCR in India.
Salai Bawi Lian Mang, executive director of CHRO, said: “So many Chins in Delhi live in deplorable conditions - without jobs, without basic amenities, and without access to social services. In fact, the Chins are refugees in desperate need of protection, but it takes years to gain protection by the UNHCR. Meanwhile, the Chins are living on the bare margins of society in Delhi.” The report said: “Due to long processing delays at UNHCR, it takes on average more than two years to receive refugee recognition - four times longer than mandated by UNHCR guidelines. As a result, more than half of the Chin population in Delhi have cases pending with UNHCR and are not yet recognized as refugees. Without UNHCR-recognition, Chins are not eligible for essential social services and humanitarian relief provided by UNHCR-partner organizations.”
There are, according to CHRO’s report, currently some 75,000 to 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma living on the India-Burma border in India’s north-eastern state of Mizoram and an estimated 4,200 living in Delhi, making it the largest asylum-seeking population from Burma in the second-largest metropolis of India.
Sixty-six percent of the Chin population in Delhi are, the report added, unemployed and even those employed earn only Rs. 70 (US$1.35) for 10 to 12 hours per day.
The report, while acknowledging, said of the programmes and services provided and supported by the UNHCR as ‘inadequate and ineffective’ so as to meeting the needs of Chin community. Access to such programmes is still limited to UNHCR-recognised refugees and more than half of the Chin population in Delhi are not even eligible to benefit from the programmes, it added.
CHRO urged the Indian government and the UNHCR to make sure the Chin people get unhindered access to effective protection and services including healthcare, education, accommodation and employment opportunities, and to minimize processing delays and corruption from obtaining protection. It also called for improving the current ‘inadequate’ humanitarian programs for the Chin community.
Since late 2006, the Chin people have been facing SPDC-neglected food crisis caused by a plague of rats that destroy food and crops following a once-in-fifty-year cycle of bamboo flowering phenomenon.
Due to an ongoing severe ethnic and religious persecution, and human rights abuses committed by Burma’s long-standing military regime, hundreds of thousands of Chin people have been forced to leave their homes in Chin State into neighbouring countries and beyond.
Chin Human Rights Organisation has produced a series of documentary reports including Religious Persecution: A Campaign of Ethnocide against Chin Christians in Burma in 2004, The Chin People of Burma: A Struggle for Survival in 2006, and Critical Point: Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State in 2008.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Poem 1
Publish at Scribd or explore others:
Saturday, 4 April 2009
‘Resistance Day’ demonstration, 27/3/2009, UK: A few thoughts for consideration about 2010 elections
By Christopher Dowling
It has been a little while since I attended a pro-democracy demonstration for
Burma and I was glad to be able to support this event organised by Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) held outside the Burmese embassy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on the 27th March 2009.
The UK based event was synchronised with activities inside Burma, drawing together the Burmese Diaspora democracy movements to those that are struggling inside Burma, an important connection to always maintain. Inside Burma the BDC commemorated Resistance Day by distributing pamphlets and postcards calling for all Burmese people to work in order to restore democracy and to free all political prisoners. They also sent an open letter to Burmese soldiers calling for them to stand with the people if they are genuinely patriotic. The postcards had on them portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi, Khun Htun Oo, Myo Yan Naung Thein, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kyawe and Aung Than. The synchronising of activities inside and outside of Burma sends an incredibly strong message to the people inside Burma and to the world, and it is also a sign of how the Burmese democracy movement is developing and expanding within an increasingly globalising world. At the UK Resistance Day demonstration it was good to see some familiar faces standing together: Dr Win Naing (Chairman of the National League for Democracy Liberated Area – UK branch), Myo Thein (Director of Burma Democratic Concern), Nurul Islam (President of the Rohingya Organisation in the UK), Thant Zin Htike (Unit 2 Victory) Zin Zin Myo Thant (BDC Campaigner Officer) amongst various others from Burman and ethnic minority groups.
The resistance day that is being remembered refers to the start of General Aung San’s resistance to the WWII Imperial Japanese forces in Burma, actions that led to Burma’s eventual independence. The focus of the UK demonstration was to highlight that the political figures who conclusively won the only general election that has been held for many decades, i.e. the 1990 election, should have a say in Burma’s imminent constitutional and overall development, representing as they do the voice of the Burmese people. The imminent development in question and a crucial rallying cry for the pro-democracy movement at the moment is to reject or significantly revise the constitution of the junta’s sham 2010 election and thus reject the sham 2010 election. Sham because the result is already constitutionally predetermined to strongly favour the military establishment no matter how Burmese people vote. The appearance of elections is a very striking gesture for the junta to present to the world and they hope to use this gesture to gain a lot for themselves as the world reshuffles its geopolitical agendas in the wake of the global financial crisis and the beginning of the Obama administration. However, what the Burmese democracy movement is trying to point out is that it is just a gesture with no substance, the problems that the SPDC present to the Burmese people, to the development of ASEAN and to the stability of the broader region in relation to Chinese, Indian, Thai etc interests is still largely unchanged by the 2010 election. Furthermore, before the 2010 elections take place represents a good opportunity to improve the situation in Burma through confronting the junta about revising the constitution. Since these elections represent a greater degree of international legitimacy that the junta craves, they also represent an opportunity to pressure the junta to make these elections more genuine. The demonstration in front of the FCO, part of the Europe-wide day of action for Burma was also highlighting about the sham nature of the 2010 elections and was calling for governments within the EU to strengthen sanctions on Burma. On this front I think the democracy movement is feeling a bit more pessimistic because the Obama administration seems to be in the process of revising its current policy towards Burma and we have yet to see what will come of this. More about this below but it may be that we are looking at the prospect of a post sanctions policy of some sort from Obama’s administration. Whatever happens the Burmese people have already shown that they can adapt quickly to new situations, whether this is internationalising their cause (not unlike the Dalai Lama), quickly harnessing new technology like in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, or taking every opportunity that is presented to them to improve the lives of Burmese people inside Burma. Obama may yet provide many opportunities if the US is to play a larger role in Southeast Asia once again, just when the junta has again shown it’s true colours to the international community through it’s reaction to Cyclone Nargis.
It has taken the SPDC military junta more then sixteen years to complete their constitution, whereas General Aung San, it is instructive to note, managed to complete an earlier Burmese constitution in roughly three to four months under much more trying conditions during WWII. Where there was a will, developments followed swiftly. General Aung San is remembered on Resistance Day by the democracy movement for a number of reasons. Not only did he liberate Burma from the British and the Japanese, he created the modern Burmese army which has developed into that which is now ruling Burma and, importantly for the democracy movement, he had very definite views as to what role the army should play in politics, i.e. that the army should stay in the barracks. Thus the democracy movement like to remind the SPDC of where they came from and the advice of the general who brought them to prominence while commemorating Resistance Day, not least through evoking that general’s daughter, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her call for a second independence struggle.
This military constitution leading towards an imitation democracy was ratified without most Burmese people having read it and the referendum for which was held a mere week after Cyclone Nargis, Burma’s worst recorded natural disaster killing up to c.146, 000 people, displacing millions, and to which the military were very slow to offer humanitarian help. They withheld aid from those who were in immediate desperate need while insisting to continue with a constitutional referendum that took several years to reach. It seems most peculiar for the ruling junta to try to declare that it is looking after the people’s constitutional welfare while simultaneously causing a second tragedy of untold death and suffering through their withholding of aid, on top of the horrendous tragedy of Cyclone Nargis itself. It is the opinion of many Burmese people that the SPDC used the devastation of Cyclone Nargis to weaken the ethnic minorities that were in the areas affected, in particular the predominantly Christian ethnic Karen. The SPDC is currently negotiating a peace treaty with the Karen KNLA (the armed wing of the KNU), which has the distinction of having been engaged in the world’s longest running civil war with the Burmese army. The KNLA’s position is further weakened because Thailand has closed down important Thai based Karen support networks, while simultaneously mediating the peace treaty between the SPDC and the KNLA; thus making Thailand’s contribution to peace in Burma something that has a sting in its tail. While the prospect of cessation of war, especially such a long fought one, is always good in that it means loss of life and destruction will lessen and peaceful reconciliation can begin, if the Karen have been forced into a capitulation because of a natural disaster used against them and they are still refused a legitimate voice in the up and coming parliament, how can the potential peace last? And very recently the KNU has demanded that the international community take a role in rescuing Burma, once again another effort to internationalise Burma’s problems.
“Saw David Takapaw, vice-president of the Karen National Union (KNU), which is waging the world's longest running civil war against the Burmese regime, on Thursday said the international community’s concerted and timely action against the junta is needed in order to address the political deadlock inside the country.”
According to official Burmese news sources, the military constitution apparently achieved an incredible approval rating from more then 92% of the Burmese population, even though it excludes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, allows the Senior General to directly appoint 25% of the parliament with military personnel, requires the newly appointed civilian president to have military experience and gives this president the power to dissolve parliament whenever ‘necessary’. The Burmese people apparently wanted to give legitimate constitutional power to a military junta that was simultaneously withholding humanitarian aid from them. I think that instead of this military propaganda, the real referendum regarding the Burmese people’s desires for their constitution and their future were expressed during the September 2007 Saffron Revolution. It was expressed loud and clear for the world to hear and it was not a call for imitation democracy but real democracy. Therefore, standing on the shoulders of this people’s referendum in September 2007, there was a call on Resistance Day 27/3/2009 to transform the current military constitution into a genuinely inclusive one, to include all major political groups in Burma to better ensure the future prospect of stability within the Burmese state.
Proximity to the new emerging Asian economic centres of power and the current global financial crisis may work to the juntas favour at the moment but it also must be kept in mind that any success that they achieve will probably further expose weaknesses within the Burmese military’s fickle political structure. The military will need to evolve, that is, it will need to develop a more stable political culture to ensure it can benefit from regional developments and for this it will increasingly need the participation of the Burmese people. Sitting between India and China gives Burma a renewed geo-political significance but also places Burma under a more scrutinising international eye. Burma offers China a land-route connection to the trading networks of the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, without exposing Chinese interests to the more precarious and longer route through the straits of Malacca, Indonesia. The EU is a large trading partner with China and so the EU may end up gaining their future Chinese goods through Burma, which is to say the EU has a voice that China may listen to concerning Burma. The Burmese military and people seem, however, not to be so happy about an increased Chinese presence within Burma. There are accounts of xenophobic reactions to an increasing Chinese presence in Burma, which again will place more pressure on the fickle political structure within the military, especially on generals who are increasingly relying upon Chinese trade to build up their personal fortunes.
However, most of all I think the SPDC is hoping to gain from the fallout of the current global financial crisis and realignment of US foreign policy under Obama and Clinton. The fear generated by this global financial crisis has offered Obama the opportunity to renegotiate US foreign policy with just about everyone that was off of Bush’s list, whether Iran and Syria or Cuba, and so, it seems from Clinton’s Asia tour comments, with the Union of Myanmar as well. The effect of placing Afghanistan and Pakistan at the centre stage of US foreign policy will also dramatically impact upon how the US views Burma. The AfPak initiative is trying to bring more stability to the region and Obama is calling for political and as well as military efforts to be made region wide. Obama does not use language like ‘War on Terror’ and ‘Islamofascist’ and is e.g. trying to negotiate with moderate Taliban groups, i.e. all options are on the table. India and the US have finally agreed to trade nuclear technology, throwing the NPT treaty out the window, which is currently being revived with Russia at the moment probably because of the effect of US/India actions. The US clearly wants to be a greater part of South and Southeast Asia again, although hopefully not following the Vietnam War model. There has been a recent report that the Obama administration “wants to forge a common strategy with Asia to coax military-run Myanmar out of isolation, a senior official said Wednesday, suggesting six-way talks with North Korea (to end it’s nuclear program) could be a model”, thus with ASEAN, China, India, Japan. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hNFsFTOzY4WNkOA3rcRkDIHJVN3Q
The Asian strategy is different from that of the US and EU, which uses sanctions. So, it would seem that the ground is being prepared to lift sanctions at some point in the future and that this will represent US re-entering Southeast Asia to a greater degree. Burma may be the opportunity that the US wish to use to re-enter Southeast Asia so they will want to make a real impact in order to maintain their renewed post Guantanamo Bay international reputation, and they know there is a democracy movement that wishes to breath freer air in Burma. India has allowed Sri Lanka to pursue its war with the Tamil Tigers to its bloody conclusion without causing the Sri Lankans any extra international pressure, even offering commando training to the Sri Lankan army according to the Guardian. India would seem to be trying to gain favour and strengthen the countries on its periphery, what during the British colonial age was called the Great Game, and which is what in the above weblink article is probably referred to when the Obama administration declares that “nations with sway over the junta should avoid "recreating a mini version of the Great Game."”. Taking all this in mind, it is with curiosity that I discover that Robert Blake, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, is visiting Burma and has upped diplomatic relations between the US and the Union of Myanmar. What did he learn from the recent Sri Lankan experience that he wants to apply to Burma or for that matter to US involvement in Southeast Asia? Watch this space…
If the US is trying to re-enter Southeast Asia, the status of Burma will be a real concern, as it is for ASEAN, and Obama’s route into ASEAN looks like it will travel through Indonesia. It was the only, but largest of, ASEAN country that Hillary Clinton visited on her Asia tour and it holds a special place for Obama because he went to school there for four years, he has a personal connection to the country which Indonesia seems to be proud of. It also has the experience of transforming from a military dictatorship to a democracy, experience that a reforming Burmese military will most likely trust. Being a largely Muslim country and seeing that Obama made an explicit call to the Muslim world, it means that if Indonesia does play a larger role in connection with reforming Burma, the current Burmese Rohingya issue may act as a lightening rod bringing world attention to how the Burmese military state will need to reform to become more democratic. The Rohingya issue may also bring about a means through which Indonesia can comment upon what is happening in Burma, perhaps. In this respect it is heartening to see Nurul Islam speak on behalf of the Rohingya outside the Burmese Embassy for this year’s Resistance Day, standing with the National League for Democracy, Burma Democratic Concern, and Unit 2 Victory.
Creating regional financial stability within ASEAN has never been more important with the current global financial crisis upon us and in 2015 ASEAN is set to negotiate creating a stronger regional economic community, following the example of the European Union that led to the creation of the Eurozone. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office are very interested in this development indeed according to their website.
"The UK is watching with interest the developments that are already underway for ASEAN to develop into an economic community by 2015. ASEAN is at an important juncture and I hope that the new Charter will be a good basis for further ASEAN integration.”
I think that the SPDC also has its eye on this 2015 economic goal and that that is why it stopped at nothing, not even Cyclone Nargis, to get an imitation democracy in place so that it can benefit financially from this new proposed Southeast Asian economic community. This means, however, that once/if the credit crunch subsides before 2015 and the fear driving the current global effort to fix the world economy has reached safer and saner ground, there can be renewed efforts from US, China, India, UK, ASEAN etc to withhold the full financial benefits of the 2015 ASEAN economic community from Burma until it lives up to its promise of guaranteeing democracy to the Burmese people. The opportunities that the global financial crisis may create to increase links between Burma and ASEAN and with the international community, in addition to the increased links that were established through the disaster relief for Cyclone Nargis, may force the SPDC to reform even further. This reform may happen more quickly still if Burmese discontent peacefully boils over again in 2010 or leading up to 2015 like it did in 2007 and in 1988 and as ever, the world is ever watching.
There is another reason that was mentioned as I was walking from the Burmese Embassy to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about how Burma has become more significant. The Burmese military may have been able to influence the Chinese government through their disaster (mis)management, i.e. comparing the response of the Chinese government to the Sichuan Earthquake disaster with that of the Burmese junta to Cyclone Nargis. These two horrendous disasters happened very close to one another, with the Sichuan Earthquake following Cyclone Nargis. The Chinese government responded to the Sichuan Earthquake in a very different manner to how it usually responds to natural disasters within China. Usually, the Chinese government acts very much like the Burmese junta in not allowing foreign NGO assistance and not allowing international media coverage of a Chinese disaster relief operation. This pattern changed totally with the response to the Sichuan earthquake. The Chinese government dramatically opened up to foreign assistance and foreign media coverage, it let the world in, in a way it had never done before. I think this had something to do with the fact that not only was this disaster so terrible that it was of international concern, not just Chinese, but also because the Chinese government did not wish to be compared in any way with the Burmese junta’s response to Cyclone Nargis. Any comparison to the shameful response of the Burmese junta to the desperate needs of the Burmese people, especially leading up to China’s big coming out party to the world at the Beijing Olympics, would have ruined China’s international reputation. If the Burmese junta influenced the Chinese government to be much more open and transparent in relation to disaster relief then they normally would because of the shamefulness of Than Shwe’s actions, then maybe it is in the interests of the Hu Jintao to make sure Burma dose not embarrass China in the future by supporting a more acceptable and stable Burmese government. An additional reverse argument is that Than Shwe’s shameful behaviour presented an opportunity to the Chinese government to be even more open and transparent to the world, demonstrating an example of when the international community was wholeheartedly supporting the Chinese people in a time of great need, and that having experienced the benefit of this Hu Jintao may wish to encourage Burma to be more open and transparent.
Continuing our discussions, we looked at some of the differences between Burma in 1988 and 2007-09. During the 8-8-88 demonstrations, the world found out about the killing of c.3000 pro-democracy demonstrators after the event. The world media would never again have the excuse of not having heard of or knowing where Burma was after such a harsh response by the Burmese military. By the 2007 Saffron Revolution, the internet was established and it was possible to see technology such as YouTube used to promote democracy. The Burmese people were able to tell the world as and before events happened. It was amazing and heartening to see the internet used for such egalitarian purposes. There was another difference that I thought was striking. In 1988 most Burmese still lived in Burma. By 2007 it was possible to speak of large Burmese Diaspora communities around the world, in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, France etc. I could not help but think that while the World Wide Web had been put to amazing use by the Burmese people to inform the world about what was happening in Burma, the Burmese people themselves acted in tandem with the internet forming a human network around the world. This is a significant development, I think. The Burmese people have become much more internationalised and just by keeping in contact with relatives in Burma, they are breaking Burma’s isolation from the world and breaking down the wall of silence that the military rely upon to continue the abuse of their own people. This development alone must mean that the SPDC must reform in some way to take account of this Burmese Diaspora. Thus on all fronts, whether through ASEAN’s regional development and consolidation between the major emerging economic centres of China and India and through international disaster relief efforts, as well as through the movement of Burma’s own peoples around the world, Burma is slowing opening up to the world. I brought up the point that the Burmese people were internationalising themselves at a Burma discussion panel held by the BBC World Service and UK parliamentarians within the Houses of Parliament, Portcullis House, January 2008. I was answering a statement proposing that the military junta was the only effective institution to negotiate with in Burma and that the military was producing more cadets out of their military academies then the beleaguered democracy movement was producing activists. My contention was that we have to take into account the increasing Burmese Diaspora who are educating and training themselves to be the next generation’s professionals within Burma, balancing out the military academy’s achievements. When I retold this story to those at the Resistance Day demonstration they countered my argument as follows. While there may indeed be more formally accredited military cadets then there are formally declared democracy activists inside Burma, the direct experience that most Burmese people go through to organise resistance and for their own everyday existence within the difficult conditions of Burma, as well as creating networks of mutual support for each other, are worth a million lesser quality certificates from a military educational institution that relies more upon loyalty to Than Shwe then it does upon finding effective answers to Burma’s problems. The Burmese people may be learning within a severe school of bitter experience but their experience of what it takes to survive and organise themselves, especially in a way that informs the whole world, is a skill that no academy can offer a degree certificate for. The Burmese Diaspora can play an important role in supporting them. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the UN Secretary General U Thant and many Burmese Buddhist monks are the forerunners of this Burmese Diaspora because they have been able to gain the benefit of a more open education, a wide range of professional training and a global perspective of Burma, and they have struggled hard to improve life in Burma. While Than Shwe tries to ignore and sideline Daw Suu, and the military tried to refuse an official Burmese recognition of U Thant’s achievements, they may find it more difficult still to keep quiet the thousands of Burmese who have now lived and worked outside Burma. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s efforts to improve Burmese society and to start a second struggle for independence may be multiplied by many thousands and tens of thousands as the Burmese Diaspora returns to Burma, and because of the global financial crisis many of this Burmese Diaspora are indeed just now returning home. By 2010 they will have joined those that are angry in Burma about how the junta reacted to Cyclone Nargis and the Saffron Revolution will still be fresh in all their minds. Than Shwe is very aware of this new and increasing demographic within Burmese society and has made recent public statements in order to discourage Burmese people from being influenced by ‘foreign’ ideas. I believe this is precisely because such a large proportion of Burmese people have now seen Burma from the outside. However, while Than Shwe may try to contain this new demographic by comparing the outside world to an abstract mode of thinking to be rejected, it is less easy to take away the effect of Burmese people’s direct experience of viewing Burma from the outside and from seeing what it is like to live in other countries for other peoples. To what degree will this Burmese Diaspora follow in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s footsteps and try to support the Burmese people in Burma and help make Burma a better country for everyone? I like to think this Burmese Diaspora, which will include people that will become military figures and civilian professionals, will act in such a way as to resolve the differences between the military establishment and the Burmese people and build upon the foundations of hard work that the Burmese people within Burma have planted into Burmese soil.
These were just a few thoughts after joining the Resistance Day demonstration 27/3/2009.
Copy from,
http://ashin-mettacara.com/burma/articles/432-resistance-day-demonstration-2732009-uk-a-few-thoughts-for-consideration-about-2010-elections
It has been a little while since I attended a pro-democracy demonstration for
Burma and I was glad to be able to support this event organised by Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) held outside the Burmese embassy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on the 27th March 2009.
The UK based event was synchronised with activities inside Burma, drawing together the Burmese Diaspora democracy movements to those that are struggling inside Burma, an important connection to always maintain. Inside Burma the BDC commemorated Resistance Day by distributing pamphlets and postcards calling for all Burmese people to work in order to restore democracy and to free all political prisoners. They also sent an open letter to Burmese soldiers calling for them to stand with the people if they are genuinely patriotic. The postcards had on them portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi, Khun Htun Oo, Myo Yan Naung Thein, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kyawe and Aung Than. The synchronising of activities inside and outside of Burma sends an incredibly strong message to the people inside Burma and to the world, and it is also a sign of how the Burmese democracy movement is developing and expanding within an increasingly globalising world. At the UK Resistance Day demonstration it was good to see some familiar faces standing together: Dr Win Naing (Chairman of the National League for Democracy Liberated Area – UK branch), Myo Thein (Director of Burma Democratic Concern), Nurul Islam (President of the Rohingya Organisation in the UK), Thant Zin Htike (Unit 2 Victory) Zin Zin Myo Thant (BDC Campaigner Officer) amongst various others from Burman and ethnic minority groups.
The resistance day that is being remembered refers to the start of General Aung San’s resistance to the WWII Imperial Japanese forces in Burma, actions that led to Burma’s eventual independence. The focus of the UK demonstration was to highlight that the political figures who conclusively won the only general election that has been held for many decades, i.e. the 1990 election, should have a say in Burma’s imminent constitutional and overall development, representing as they do the voice of the Burmese people. The imminent development in question and a crucial rallying cry for the pro-democracy movement at the moment is to reject or significantly revise the constitution of the junta’s sham 2010 election and thus reject the sham 2010 election. Sham because the result is already constitutionally predetermined to strongly favour the military establishment no matter how Burmese people vote. The appearance of elections is a very striking gesture for the junta to present to the world and they hope to use this gesture to gain a lot for themselves as the world reshuffles its geopolitical agendas in the wake of the global financial crisis and the beginning of the Obama administration. However, what the Burmese democracy movement is trying to point out is that it is just a gesture with no substance, the problems that the SPDC present to the Burmese people, to the development of ASEAN and to the stability of the broader region in relation to Chinese, Indian, Thai etc interests is still largely unchanged by the 2010 election. Furthermore, before the 2010 elections take place represents a good opportunity to improve the situation in Burma through confronting the junta about revising the constitution. Since these elections represent a greater degree of international legitimacy that the junta craves, they also represent an opportunity to pressure the junta to make these elections more genuine. The demonstration in front of the FCO, part of the Europe-wide day of action for Burma was also highlighting about the sham nature of the 2010 elections and was calling for governments within the EU to strengthen sanctions on Burma. On this front I think the democracy movement is feeling a bit more pessimistic because the Obama administration seems to be in the process of revising its current policy towards Burma and we have yet to see what will come of this. More about this below but it may be that we are looking at the prospect of a post sanctions policy of some sort from Obama’s administration. Whatever happens the Burmese people have already shown that they can adapt quickly to new situations, whether this is internationalising their cause (not unlike the Dalai Lama), quickly harnessing new technology like in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, or taking every opportunity that is presented to them to improve the lives of Burmese people inside Burma. Obama may yet provide many opportunities if the US is to play a larger role in Southeast Asia once again, just when the junta has again shown it’s true colours to the international community through it’s reaction to Cyclone Nargis.
It has taken the SPDC military junta more then sixteen years to complete their constitution, whereas General Aung San, it is instructive to note, managed to complete an earlier Burmese constitution in roughly three to four months under much more trying conditions during WWII. Where there was a will, developments followed swiftly. General Aung San is remembered on Resistance Day by the democracy movement for a number of reasons. Not only did he liberate Burma from the British and the Japanese, he created the modern Burmese army which has developed into that which is now ruling Burma and, importantly for the democracy movement, he had very definite views as to what role the army should play in politics, i.e. that the army should stay in the barracks. Thus the democracy movement like to remind the SPDC of where they came from and the advice of the general who brought them to prominence while commemorating Resistance Day, not least through evoking that general’s daughter, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her call for a second independence struggle.
This military constitution leading towards an imitation democracy was ratified without most Burmese people having read it and the referendum for which was held a mere week after Cyclone Nargis, Burma’s worst recorded natural disaster killing up to c.146, 000 people, displacing millions, and to which the military were very slow to offer humanitarian help. They withheld aid from those who were in immediate desperate need while insisting to continue with a constitutional referendum that took several years to reach. It seems most peculiar for the ruling junta to try to declare that it is looking after the people’s constitutional welfare while simultaneously causing a second tragedy of untold death and suffering through their withholding of aid, on top of the horrendous tragedy of Cyclone Nargis itself. It is the opinion of many Burmese people that the SPDC used the devastation of Cyclone Nargis to weaken the ethnic minorities that were in the areas affected, in particular the predominantly Christian ethnic Karen. The SPDC is currently negotiating a peace treaty with the Karen KNLA (the armed wing of the KNU), which has the distinction of having been engaged in the world’s longest running civil war with the Burmese army. The KNLA’s position is further weakened because Thailand has closed down important Thai based Karen support networks, while simultaneously mediating the peace treaty between the SPDC and the KNLA; thus making Thailand’s contribution to peace in Burma something that has a sting in its tail. While the prospect of cessation of war, especially such a long fought one, is always good in that it means loss of life and destruction will lessen and peaceful reconciliation can begin, if the Karen have been forced into a capitulation because of a natural disaster used against them and they are still refused a legitimate voice in the up and coming parliament, how can the potential peace last? And very recently the KNU has demanded that the international community take a role in rescuing Burma, once again another effort to internationalise Burma’s problems.
“Saw David Takapaw, vice-president of the Karen National Union (KNU), which is waging the world's longest running civil war against the Burmese regime, on Thursday said the international community’s concerted and timely action against the junta is needed in order to address the political deadlock inside the country.”
According to official Burmese news sources, the military constitution apparently achieved an incredible approval rating from more then 92% of the Burmese population, even though it excludes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, allows the Senior General to directly appoint 25% of the parliament with military personnel, requires the newly appointed civilian president to have military experience and gives this president the power to dissolve parliament whenever ‘necessary’. The Burmese people apparently wanted to give legitimate constitutional power to a military junta that was simultaneously withholding humanitarian aid from them. I think that instead of this military propaganda, the real referendum regarding the Burmese people’s desires for their constitution and their future were expressed during the September 2007 Saffron Revolution. It was expressed loud and clear for the world to hear and it was not a call for imitation democracy but real democracy. Therefore, standing on the shoulders of this people’s referendum in September 2007, there was a call on Resistance Day 27/3/2009 to transform the current military constitution into a genuinely inclusive one, to include all major political groups in Burma to better ensure the future prospect of stability within the Burmese state.
Proximity to the new emerging Asian economic centres of power and the current global financial crisis may work to the juntas favour at the moment but it also must be kept in mind that any success that they achieve will probably further expose weaknesses within the Burmese military’s fickle political structure. The military will need to evolve, that is, it will need to develop a more stable political culture to ensure it can benefit from regional developments and for this it will increasingly need the participation of the Burmese people. Sitting between India and China gives Burma a renewed geo-political significance but also places Burma under a more scrutinising international eye. Burma offers China a land-route connection to the trading networks of the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, without exposing Chinese interests to the more precarious and longer route through the straits of Malacca, Indonesia. The EU is a large trading partner with China and so the EU may end up gaining their future Chinese goods through Burma, which is to say the EU has a voice that China may listen to concerning Burma. The Burmese military and people seem, however, not to be so happy about an increased Chinese presence within Burma. There are accounts of xenophobic reactions to an increasing Chinese presence in Burma, which again will place more pressure on the fickle political structure within the military, especially on generals who are increasingly relying upon Chinese trade to build up their personal fortunes.
However, most of all I think the SPDC is hoping to gain from the fallout of the current global financial crisis and realignment of US foreign policy under Obama and Clinton. The fear generated by this global financial crisis has offered Obama the opportunity to renegotiate US foreign policy with just about everyone that was off of Bush’s list, whether Iran and Syria or Cuba, and so, it seems from Clinton’s Asia tour comments, with the Union of Myanmar as well. The effect of placing Afghanistan and Pakistan at the centre stage of US foreign policy will also dramatically impact upon how the US views Burma. The AfPak initiative is trying to bring more stability to the region and Obama is calling for political and as well as military efforts to be made region wide. Obama does not use language like ‘War on Terror’ and ‘Islamofascist’ and is e.g. trying to negotiate with moderate Taliban groups, i.e. all options are on the table. India and the US have finally agreed to trade nuclear technology, throwing the NPT treaty out the window, which is currently being revived with Russia at the moment probably because of the effect of US/India actions. The US clearly wants to be a greater part of South and Southeast Asia again, although hopefully not following the Vietnam War model. There has been a recent report that the Obama administration “wants to forge a common strategy with Asia to coax military-run Myanmar out of isolation, a senior official said Wednesday, suggesting six-way talks with North Korea (to end it’s nuclear program) could be a model”, thus with ASEAN, China, India, Japan. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hNFsFTOzY4WNkOA3rcRkDIHJVN3Q
The Asian strategy is different from that of the US and EU, which uses sanctions. So, it would seem that the ground is being prepared to lift sanctions at some point in the future and that this will represent US re-entering Southeast Asia to a greater degree. Burma may be the opportunity that the US wish to use to re-enter Southeast Asia so they will want to make a real impact in order to maintain their renewed post Guantanamo Bay international reputation, and they know there is a democracy movement that wishes to breath freer air in Burma. India has allowed Sri Lanka to pursue its war with the Tamil Tigers to its bloody conclusion without causing the Sri Lankans any extra international pressure, even offering commando training to the Sri Lankan army according to the Guardian. India would seem to be trying to gain favour and strengthen the countries on its periphery, what during the British colonial age was called the Great Game, and which is what in the above weblink article is probably referred to when the Obama administration declares that “nations with sway over the junta should avoid "recreating a mini version of the Great Game."”. Taking all this in mind, it is with curiosity that I discover that Robert Blake, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, is visiting Burma and has upped diplomatic relations between the US and the Union of Myanmar. What did he learn from the recent Sri Lankan experience that he wants to apply to Burma or for that matter to US involvement in Southeast Asia? Watch this space…
If the US is trying to re-enter Southeast Asia, the status of Burma will be a real concern, as it is for ASEAN, and Obama’s route into ASEAN looks like it will travel through Indonesia. It was the only, but largest of, ASEAN country that Hillary Clinton visited on her Asia tour and it holds a special place for Obama because he went to school there for four years, he has a personal connection to the country which Indonesia seems to be proud of. It also has the experience of transforming from a military dictatorship to a democracy, experience that a reforming Burmese military will most likely trust. Being a largely Muslim country and seeing that Obama made an explicit call to the Muslim world, it means that if Indonesia does play a larger role in connection with reforming Burma, the current Burmese Rohingya issue may act as a lightening rod bringing world attention to how the Burmese military state will need to reform to become more democratic. The Rohingya issue may also bring about a means through which Indonesia can comment upon what is happening in Burma, perhaps. In this respect it is heartening to see Nurul Islam speak on behalf of the Rohingya outside the Burmese Embassy for this year’s Resistance Day, standing with the National League for Democracy, Burma Democratic Concern, and Unit 2 Victory.
Creating regional financial stability within ASEAN has never been more important with the current global financial crisis upon us and in 2015 ASEAN is set to negotiate creating a stronger regional economic community, following the example of the European Union that led to the creation of the Eurozone. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office are very interested in this development indeed according to their website.
"The UK is watching with interest the developments that are already underway for ASEAN to develop into an economic community by 2015. ASEAN is at an important juncture and I hope that the new Charter will be a good basis for further ASEAN integration.”
I think that the SPDC also has its eye on this 2015 economic goal and that that is why it stopped at nothing, not even Cyclone Nargis, to get an imitation democracy in place so that it can benefit financially from this new proposed Southeast Asian economic community. This means, however, that once/if the credit crunch subsides before 2015 and the fear driving the current global effort to fix the world economy has reached safer and saner ground, there can be renewed efforts from US, China, India, UK, ASEAN etc to withhold the full financial benefits of the 2015 ASEAN economic community from Burma until it lives up to its promise of guaranteeing democracy to the Burmese people. The opportunities that the global financial crisis may create to increase links between Burma and ASEAN and with the international community, in addition to the increased links that were established through the disaster relief for Cyclone Nargis, may force the SPDC to reform even further. This reform may happen more quickly still if Burmese discontent peacefully boils over again in 2010 or leading up to 2015 like it did in 2007 and in 1988 and as ever, the world is ever watching.
There is another reason that was mentioned as I was walking from the Burmese Embassy to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about how Burma has become more significant. The Burmese military may have been able to influence the Chinese government through their disaster (mis)management, i.e. comparing the response of the Chinese government to the Sichuan Earthquake disaster with that of the Burmese junta to Cyclone Nargis. These two horrendous disasters happened very close to one another, with the Sichuan Earthquake following Cyclone Nargis. The Chinese government responded to the Sichuan Earthquake in a very different manner to how it usually responds to natural disasters within China. Usually, the Chinese government acts very much like the Burmese junta in not allowing foreign NGO assistance and not allowing international media coverage of a Chinese disaster relief operation. This pattern changed totally with the response to the Sichuan earthquake. The Chinese government dramatically opened up to foreign assistance and foreign media coverage, it let the world in, in a way it had never done before. I think this had something to do with the fact that not only was this disaster so terrible that it was of international concern, not just Chinese, but also because the Chinese government did not wish to be compared in any way with the Burmese junta’s response to Cyclone Nargis. Any comparison to the shameful response of the Burmese junta to the desperate needs of the Burmese people, especially leading up to China’s big coming out party to the world at the Beijing Olympics, would have ruined China’s international reputation. If the Burmese junta influenced the Chinese government to be much more open and transparent in relation to disaster relief then they normally would because of the shamefulness of Than Shwe’s actions, then maybe it is in the interests of the Hu Jintao to make sure Burma dose not embarrass China in the future by supporting a more acceptable and stable Burmese government. An additional reverse argument is that Than Shwe’s shameful behaviour presented an opportunity to the Chinese government to be even more open and transparent to the world, demonstrating an example of when the international community was wholeheartedly supporting the Chinese people in a time of great need, and that having experienced the benefit of this Hu Jintao may wish to encourage Burma to be more open and transparent.
Continuing our discussions, we looked at some of the differences between Burma in 1988 and 2007-09. During the 8-8-88 demonstrations, the world found out about the killing of c.3000 pro-democracy demonstrators after the event. The world media would never again have the excuse of not having heard of or knowing where Burma was after such a harsh response by the Burmese military. By the 2007 Saffron Revolution, the internet was established and it was possible to see technology such as YouTube used to promote democracy. The Burmese people were able to tell the world as and before events happened. It was amazing and heartening to see the internet used for such egalitarian purposes. There was another difference that I thought was striking. In 1988 most Burmese still lived in Burma. By 2007 it was possible to speak of large Burmese Diaspora communities around the world, in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, France etc. I could not help but think that while the World Wide Web had been put to amazing use by the Burmese people to inform the world about what was happening in Burma, the Burmese people themselves acted in tandem with the internet forming a human network around the world. This is a significant development, I think. The Burmese people have become much more internationalised and just by keeping in contact with relatives in Burma, they are breaking Burma’s isolation from the world and breaking down the wall of silence that the military rely upon to continue the abuse of their own people. This development alone must mean that the SPDC must reform in some way to take account of this Burmese Diaspora. Thus on all fronts, whether through ASEAN’s regional development and consolidation between the major emerging economic centres of China and India and through international disaster relief efforts, as well as through the movement of Burma’s own peoples around the world, Burma is slowing opening up to the world. I brought up the point that the Burmese people were internationalising themselves at a Burma discussion panel held by the BBC World Service and UK parliamentarians within the Houses of Parliament, Portcullis House, January 2008. I was answering a statement proposing that the military junta was the only effective institution to negotiate with in Burma and that the military was producing more cadets out of their military academies then the beleaguered democracy movement was producing activists. My contention was that we have to take into account the increasing Burmese Diaspora who are educating and training themselves to be the next generation’s professionals within Burma, balancing out the military academy’s achievements. When I retold this story to those at the Resistance Day demonstration they countered my argument as follows. While there may indeed be more formally accredited military cadets then there are formally declared democracy activists inside Burma, the direct experience that most Burmese people go through to organise resistance and for their own everyday existence within the difficult conditions of Burma, as well as creating networks of mutual support for each other, are worth a million lesser quality certificates from a military educational institution that relies more upon loyalty to Than Shwe then it does upon finding effective answers to Burma’s problems. The Burmese people may be learning within a severe school of bitter experience but their experience of what it takes to survive and organise themselves, especially in a way that informs the whole world, is a skill that no academy can offer a degree certificate for. The Burmese Diaspora can play an important role in supporting them. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the UN Secretary General U Thant and many Burmese Buddhist monks are the forerunners of this Burmese Diaspora because they have been able to gain the benefit of a more open education, a wide range of professional training and a global perspective of Burma, and they have struggled hard to improve life in Burma. While Than Shwe tries to ignore and sideline Daw Suu, and the military tried to refuse an official Burmese recognition of U Thant’s achievements, they may find it more difficult still to keep quiet the thousands of Burmese who have now lived and worked outside Burma. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s efforts to improve Burmese society and to start a second struggle for independence may be multiplied by many thousands and tens of thousands as the Burmese Diaspora returns to Burma, and because of the global financial crisis many of this Burmese Diaspora are indeed just now returning home. By 2010 they will have joined those that are angry in Burma about how the junta reacted to Cyclone Nargis and the Saffron Revolution will still be fresh in all their minds. Than Shwe is very aware of this new and increasing demographic within Burmese society and has made recent public statements in order to discourage Burmese people from being influenced by ‘foreign’ ideas. I believe this is precisely because such a large proportion of Burmese people have now seen Burma from the outside. However, while Than Shwe may try to contain this new demographic by comparing the outside world to an abstract mode of thinking to be rejected, it is less easy to take away the effect of Burmese people’s direct experience of viewing Burma from the outside and from seeing what it is like to live in other countries for other peoples. To what degree will this Burmese Diaspora follow in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s footsteps and try to support the Burmese people in Burma and help make Burma a better country for everyone? I like to think this Burmese Diaspora, which will include people that will become military figures and civilian professionals, will act in such a way as to resolve the differences between the military establishment and the Burmese people and build upon the foundations of hard work that the Burmese people within Burma have planted into Burmese soil.
These were just a few thoughts after joining the Resistance Day demonstration 27/3/2009.
Copy from,
http://ashin-mettacara.com/burma/articles/432-resistance-day-demonstration-2732009-uk-a-few-thoughts-for-consideration-about-2010-elections
Friday, 3 April 2009
The Fighting Peacock has Awakened
The government of Burma has pulled all the stops as they accelerate their campaign of arrests and imprisonments of all opposition before the proposed 2010 election. The reality is Than Shwe does not have enough prison space even with the 6,000+ prisoners he recently released. Millions of Burmese people had enough of his tyranny. The nations is in an uproar as well as growing numbers of military and government officials, including his inner circle. Though he’s started up another radio station to feed more propaganda to the masses, their ears have already grown deaf to his constant lies.
With the population of Burma touched one way or another by death of loved ones it is hard for him to make new lies about how good things are or will be. His last act of extortion, the constitutional referendum, was a total bomb since his charade only fooled the outside world. His goons used various forms of extortion to force people to vote YES. Starvation and death after Cyclone Nargis was the reward for voting NO on the referendum. The cyclone also afforded him the excuse needed so he could exclude villages and regions from critical aid. Most aid was given to those who voted YES and their villages were used for photo ops to prove to the world he cared for his people, the ultimate lie.
Innumerable accounts of black market sales of donated goods fill the desks of journalists around the world. Pictures courageously taken out of the country verified his antics. Cash was his G*D send as he pocketed most of it for the construction costs of his jungle capital and his cyber city. The Peace Pagoda was only frosting on the cake as he lavished himself with a replica Pagoda. With 3.5 billion dollars stashed away for a rainy day he is still petitioning countries for loot to fill is coffers. Some international corporation still line his pockets and it is appropriate they will soon face a similar fate as he for their total disregard for humanity. It was reprehensible to learn that these foreign corporations used slave labor and also killed innocent people. They know who they are and there are volumes of testimony and photographs that clearly identify corporations and individuals. Eye witnesses have flocked to the borders and other nations to tell their stories. And it is only a matter of time before they have to answer for their conduct.
Paranoia and fear has made cause for his regime to recruit businessmen to work on behalf of the junta as spies and operatives. Many merchants fear for their lives if they don’t participate since unscrupulous businessmen eager to collect a bounty will inform on them. Some taxi operators have been targeted and identified as snitches by sympathetic soldiers and government officials. They identified them to prodemocracy groups around the country. The growing number of freedom fighters and pro democracy organizations are springing up in cities and villages. The fighting peacock is truly awakening within Burma.
Even with all the evidence against him and his regime they nation only wants true reconciliation. In spite of all the blood that has been spilled the people would settle for the release of their voted in officials such as Aung San Suu Kyi. The release of political prisoners would begin the healing process. An open dialogue and peaceful transfer of power would save the criminals of Burma the painful retribution they would face. International corporations would not have to worry about their dark secrets. The realities of the one invincible Khmer Rouge and the trials they are facing should be a grim reminder to Than Shwe and his allies.
Everything always comes full circle and no one is safe from the laws of retribution. And someday soon their day will come. Sadly for Than Shwe he will fulfill Burmese tradition as his empire crumbles in the shadow of the Pagoda he built. It is already known he will die this year. The only question is if it will be of natural causes or by the hand of man. His astrologers, fearful of telling him the truth, continue to cater to his vanity. Personally, I see cancer consuming his body. Only time will tell for the end is near.
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
http://buffalohair.wordpress.com/
photayoke
Publish at Scribd or explore others:
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Clearnce about KyaKhatWai Sayadaw response on Bago NLD
Burma Democratic Concern had interviewed with Bago NLD inside Burma,regarding the comment of KyaKhatWai Sayadaw.Please listen to the Audio.
Subscribe Free for future posts Add this player to my Page
Subscribe Free for future posts Add this player to my Page
The 2009 TIME 100 Finalists
ကမၻာ့ၾသဇာႀကီးသူ ၁၀၀ တြင္ ေဒၚစု ထိပ္ပုိင္းမွ ပါ၀င္
Tuesday, 31 March 2009 ဧရာဝတီကမၻာေက်ာ္ Time မဂၢဇင္းႀကီး၏ အင္တာနက္ စာမ်က္ႏွာတြင္ ယခုႏွစ္အတြက္ ကမၻာ့ၾသဇာ အႀကီးဆုံး ပုဂၢဳိလ္ ၁ဝဝ ကုိ ဆႏၵမဲေပး ေရြးခ်ယ္မႈ ျပဳလုပ္လ်က္ရိွရာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္း စုၾကည္ က နံပါတ္ ၂၅ ေနရာတြင္ ေရာက္ရိွေနသည္။
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္သည္ ယခု သတင္းေရးေနသည့္ အခ်ိန္တြင္ ဆႏၵမဲေပါင္း သုံးသိန္း သုံးေထာင္ေက်ာ္ ရရိွေနသည္။
ေဒၚစုသည္ မဲေပါင္း သုံးသိန္း သုံးေသာင္းေက်ာ္ ရရိွသည့္ အေမရိကန္ သမၼတ ဘားရက္အုိဘားမား (နံပါတ္ ၁၆) ႏွင့္ မ်ားစြာ ေဝးကြာျခင္းမရိွဘဲ မေလးရွားႏုိင္ငံ အတုိက္အခံ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ အန္နဝါ အီဗရာဟင္ (နံပါတ္ ၂၆) ထက္ အနည္းငယ္ အသာရေနသည္။
တျခား ၾသဇာရိွ အမ်ဳိးသမီးမ်ား အျဖစ္ အေမရိကန္ ျပည္ေထာင္စုမွ ေအာက္လႊတ္ေတာ္ ဥကၠဌ နန္စီပလုိစီ (နံပါတ္ ၂၇)၊ ႏုိင္ငံျခားေရးဝန္ႀကီး ဟီလာရီ ကလင္တန္ (နံပါတ္ ၃၆) တုိ႔ကုိ ကမၻာတလႊားမွ စာဖတ္သူမ်ားက ေရြးခ်ယ္ထားေၾကာင္း ေတြ႔ရသည္။
“၂ဝဝ၇ ခုႏွစ္ စစ္အစုိးရ ဆန္႔က်င္ေရး ဆႏၵျပပဲြမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္သည္ ယခင္ကထက္ ေထာက္ခံမႈ ပုိမုိ ရရိွခ့ဲသည္” ဟု Time မဂၢဇင္းက ေဖာ္ျပထားသည္။
ေဒၚစုႏွင့္ပတ္သက္၍ မဂၢဇင္းက ေဖာ္ျပရာတြင္ “ထင္ရွားသည့္ ျမန္မာ့ ဒီမုိကေရစီ အေရး ေဆာင္ရြက္ေနသူျဖစ္သည္၊ သူ၏ ဦးေဆာင္ လႈပ္ရွားမႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ၿပီးခ့ဲသည့္ အႏွစ္ ၂ဝ အတြင္း အမ်ားအားျဖင့္ အက်ယ္ခ်ဳပ္ ခ်ခံေနရသည္၊ ႏုိင္ငံအတြင္း လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး ခ်ဳိးေဖာက္မႈမ်ားကုိ အေရးယူေပးရန္ ကုလသမဂၢကုိ တြန္းအား ေပးလ်က္ရိွသည္” ဟု ဆုိသည္။
၂ဝဝ၄ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ Time မဂၢဇင္းက အင္တာနက္မွတဆင့္ အာရွသူရဲေကာင္း အျဖစ္ေရြးခ်ယ္သည့္ သေဘာထား ေကာက္ယူမႈ တခု ျပဳလုပ္ရာ စာဖတ္ပရိသတ္ ၄ဝ.၄ ရာခုိင္ႏႈန္းက ေဒၚစုကုိ ေရြးခ်ယ္ခ့ဲၾကသည္။
လူမႈဆက္သြယ္ေရး အင္တာနက္ ဘေလာ့ဂ္မ်ားတြင္လည္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္၏ ပရိသတ္ အမ်ားအျပားကုိ ေတြ႔ႏုိင္သည္။ ကမၻာေက်ာ္ facebook အင္တာနက္ စာမ်က္ႏွာတြင္ အသင္းဝင္ သုံးေသာင္းေက်ာ္မွာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အား ေထာက္ခံသူမ်ား ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ေဖာ္ျပထားၾကသည္။
“မိတ္ေဆြသစ္ေတြ ရဖုိ႔၊ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ ျမန္မာျပည္ အေျခအေနေတြကုိ လူအမ်ားႀကီး သိသြားေအာင္ လုပ္ဖုိ႔ဆုိရင္ Facebook ကေန လုပ္ေဆာင္သြားရင္ အင္မတန္ ေကာင္းပါတယ္” ဟု ျမန္မာျပည္ အေရး ေဆာင္ရြက္ေနသူ ဇုိယာဖန္းက ယခုလဆန္းပုိင္းတြင္ ထုတ္ျပန္သည့္ ေၾကညာခ်က္ တေစာင္တြင္ ေျပာၾကားလုိက္သည္။
“ကမၻာက ေဒၚစုကုိ ေမ့သြားေအာင္လုိ႔ စစ္အစုိးရက ေဒၚစုကုိ ဖမ္းထားတာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ သူတုိ႔ လုပ္ရပ္ေတြ မေအာင္ျမင္ဘူး ဆုိတာ အင္တာနက္ စာမ်က္ႏွာေတြက တဆင့္ လုပ္ႏုိင္ပါတယ္” ဟု ဇုိယာဖန္းက ဆုိသည္။
ျမန္မာ့ျပည္သူ႔ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိ ဤေနရာ တြင္မဲေပးနိုင္ပါသည္။
သမၼတအိုဘားမား G-20 ညီလာခံတက္ရန္ လန္ဒန္ေရာက္ရွိ
01 April 2009
ကမၻာ့စီးပြားေရး အက်ပ္အတည္းကိစၥ ေဆြးေႏြးၾကမယ့္ G-20 စီးပြားေရးအင္အားႀကီး ႏုိင္ငံ ၂၀ ထိပ္သီးစည္းေ၀းပြဲ တက္ေရာက္ဖို႔ အေမရိကန္သမၼတ ဘရက္ခ္ အုိဘားမား (Barack Obama) လန္ဒန္ကို ေရာက္ရွိလာပါၿပီ။
 |
ကမၻာ့စီးပြားေရး အက်ပ္အတည္းကိစၥ ေဆြးေႏြးၾကမယ့္ G-20 စီးပြားေရးအင္အားႀကီး ႏုိင္ငံ ၂၀ ထိပ္သီးစည္းေ၀းပြဲ တက္ေရာက္ဖို႔ အေမရိကန္သမၼတ ဘရက္ခ္ အုိဘားမား (Barack Obama) လန္ဒန္ကို ေရာက္ရွိလာပါၿပီ။
ၾကာသပေတးေန႔ ထိပ္သီးစည္းေ၀းပြဲ မတုိင္ခင္ သမၼတအိုဘားမားဟာ ႐ုရွားသမၼတ ဒီမီထရီ မက္ဗီဒက္ဗ္ (Dmitri Medvedev)၊ တ႐ုတ္သမၼတ ဟူဂ်င္ေတာင္း (Hu Jintao) တုိ႔နဲ႔ ပထမဆုံးအႀကိမ္ ေတြ႕ဆုံပါလိမ့္မယ္။
ကမၻာ့စီးပြားေရး ျပန္လည္ဦးေမာ့လာေရး အေမရိကန္နဲ႔ ၿဗိတိန္ႏုိင္ငံတုိ႔က ေငြအႀကီးအက်ယ္ သုံးစြဲေစလုိၾကၿပီး ျပင္သစ္နဲ႔ တျခား အီးယူႏုိင္ငံေတြကေတာ့ ကမၻာ့ေငြေၾကးစနစ္ စည္းမ်ဥ္းတင္းက်ပ္ေရးကုိ ဦးစားေပးသင့္တယ္လို႔ ဆုိၾကပါတယ္။
G-20 ထိပ္သီးစည္းေ၀းပြဲကေန ဘဏ္အရာရွိႀကီးမ်ားရဲ႕ လစာကို အသစ္တဖန္ ကန္႔သတ္မယ္၊ ကမၻာ့ေငြေၾကး အက်ပ္အတည္း ျဖစ္ပြားေစတဲ့ သူတုိ႔ရဲ႕ မေတာ္မတရား လုပ္ေဆာင္ေနမႈမ်ား တားဆီးေရးအတြက္ ျဖစ္တယ္လုိ႔ ၿဗိတိသွ်၀န္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ေဂၚဒြန္ ဘေရာင္း (Gordon Brown) က လန္ဒန္ၿမိဳ႕မွာ အဂၤါေန႔က ေျပာၾကားပါတယ္။
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
