Now that the retention of 377a is a done deal, let's not forget that there is still something unresolved at our door step.

Labels: Free Burma, myanmar

I heard about this essay written by Thant Myint-U (grandson of former UN Secretary-General U Thant) from the papers today.

With all the furore about Burma now, I think it is a timely explanation of the roots of the present problems of the country and the possible solutions ahead. It doesn't look too promising though it is not entirely hopeless. Click on the link below for the article in its entirety.

London Review of Books - What to do about Burma (by Thant Myint-U)

Labels: history, myanmar, politics

And it seems that I am not the only one with the same view on what can bring about a change in the country (as expressed in my post yesterday):


Meanwhile, monks are trying to escape Yangon (Rangoon).

Labels: Free Burma, myanmar, politics

Reuters today published a photo of Ibrahim Gambari shaking hands with Aung San Suu Kyi when he was in Myanmar for talks. He has since left and should be on the way back to the UN via Singapore.

This is the first photo of her in years. Gosh... She has aged so much. And yes, she, like the rest of the civilians and monks of Myanmar, has also suffered much.

I don't know if Gambari's visit will help much. This is a regime that is so insular that it is never bothered with what the world thinks.

I guess the only way things are going to change is (1) a new leader in the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev or FW de Klerk comes into power and start to dismantle the system, or (2) the US makes their sanctions even tougher and penalise countries and foreign companies that does business with Myanmar by imposing the same type of punitive embargoes on them, or (3) the common soldiers have enough of killing their own people and turn against the junta.

If not, things will just remain the same and go into a cycle. Uprising, brutal crackdown, repressed silence and repeat a decade or so later.

Meanwhile, Nyan Win, the junta's foreign minister (Comical Ali of Myanmar) in a typical show of delusion has accused "neo-colonialism", "political opportunist" and "powerful countries" for stirring up trouble. It's definitely not the language of people tuned into the reality of their own country and given to reason. How in the world do you negotiate and reason with such deluded thugs?

BBC News - UN envoy holds key Burmese talks

New York Times - U.N. Envoy Ends Myanmar Trip

Labels: international, myanmar, politics

At last! This is the sort of public leadership on an international stage I expect from my country's political leaders. Fuck ASEAN's policy of "non-interference in the internal affairs of one another". In this day and age, we cannot stand idly by and let such brutality go without (at the very least) an admonishment. Since we accepted them as members of ASEAN, it's time we spoke up for their citizens and take our fellow member to task.


I feel for the Burmese working in Singapore. Since they don't get much from their country's tightly controlled papers, their only recourse for information is centred on the internet. Unfortunately, internet and most telecommunications link into that country have been cut off by their government leaving them unable to talk to their families and loved ones; probably fearing the worst. Here's a video clip from the Straits Times where some of them spoke on camera with Imelda Saad at "Little Burma" (Peninsula Plaza).

Meanwhile, a Singaporean working in Yangon has been shot and injured but nevertheless managed to live to tell his story online.

Channel NewsAsia - Streets empty as Myanmar troops out in force

Democratic Voice of Burma - Security forces fire on school pupils

Straits Times - Asean voices 'revulsion' at Myanmar violence

Straits Times - Myanmar crowds taunt troops as crackdown draws outrage

Labels: asean, myanmar, politics

The latest rumour I've read is that the Junta has reportedly ordered some monk's robes from a factory, and have told army units to shave their heads. This could be a sign that they are preparing to use their old tactics of infiltrating the monks and framing them by causing violence.

Labels: myanmar, politics

I guess some people would have been wondering why I have been keeping silent on Myanmar considering the fact that I have written so much about it before.

I guess I have been waiting to see what else is going to happen before putting thoughts to keyboard. There have been so many false starts that were efficiently suppressed by the military government that any hope for change died before news grew stale.

This time round, it seems that things are going to happen in a big way. And last Saturday, I was quite moved to read that Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in tears at the front of her house where she has been kept a virtual prisoner with two other ladies and prayed with the monks who surprisingly were allowed to march pass. This was one of her rare appearances and I have just read that she has been moved to the notorious Insein prison, possibly to prevent her from giving any form of tacit encouragement.

Perhaps the economic situation has gotten so bad that the people have decided that they really have nothing more to lose except their lives.

Looking at past history, one can more or less figure out what is going to happen next - a repeat of the brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy 8888 uprising (8 August 1988). And though I wish it wouldn't be so, I guess the roads of the country will soon flow as red as the robes of the monks.

I am sure the Sangha knew what they were getting into when they started this; their own deaths must not be far from their minds. Given the odds against them and the fact that scores or even thousands of them are going to die from the possible repercussion, I guess they've decided that they have no other choice but to make this stand.

I think what bothers me the most is that our governments - the governments of ASEAN - have been mollycoddling the military regime all this while. And even to the extent of accepting the country as a member of ASEAN in 1997. Granted their purported aim is to engage the military and through that encourage change in the country. But after a decade, the only thing that has changed is that the military government has gotten richer from trade with us while the people are still impoverished and disenfranchised.

So what has ASEAN achieved from this engagement? Perhaps more trade and raw materials while looking like an ineffectual grouping that has neither bark nor bite.

Then again, I doubt if some countries of ASEAN or even China (Myanmar's closest friend) can really criticise them without looking like hypocrites.

Even though I do not agree with China's stance on the current situation, I have to agree that this is an internal matter; though not from the same perspective of China.

Change in government really has to come from within the country and the people. Though I wish it was not so and dread to think of the human cost and lives that will be lost, it is a fight that only they can wage. As we have learned from Iraq, no country can sweep in and deliver democracy to them.

The only thing our governments can do is to exert pressure on them. And if we are not willing to do that, then the least we can do is sever all relations with the junta lest we become complicit in their brutality.

I am no expert, but I think the only way they can effect change is to convince the ordinary soldiers to move over to their cause. They are the ones who follow the generals' orders and they are the ones who man the weapons. Perhaps they can be convinced that the very people they are attacking are their very own compatriots and loved ones. Maybe then they can see that the only possible end of the current state is the death of their own people and the only alternative way forward for the country is one without the generals.

But if the generals were smart, they would probably not post soldiers within their own provinces and move them far away where they have no emotional ties and will not hesitate to act with needed brutality.

Even if the military regime does buckle, things will not improve overnight. It will just be the first of many more difficult steps to bring the country forward. The first is to ensure that there will be an orderly transition of power and a way to hold all the different ethnic groups together amicably.

For a country that provided the third secretary-general of the United Nations, this is a really sad state of affairs.

Meanwhile, all we can do is watch, wait and pray as the Sangha marches with civilians while other folks form human shields around them or give them aid and water. So far, three protestors have died.

BBC News - Accounts from inside Burma

BBC News - Burma protesters defy crackdown

BBC News - In pictures: Mood darkens in Burma

BBC News - Burma protests: Readers' pictures

Wikipedia - 2007 Burmese anti-government protests

(Photos above are taken from BBC news)

Labels: myanmar, politics