en en en en en en en en en en en en it en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en my el my ca my my my my my my my my my my my my my en en en en en en en en en en fr en en en en en en en en en en en en en fr en en my en my my en en my en en my en en my en my en my en en my en my en en en my en en en en en en en en en en en en my en en en en my en en en en en my en en en en en en my en en en my en en en en my en en my en en my my fa my my my fi my en en my en my my en en my en en my en en my en my en my en en my en my en en en my en en en en en en en en en en en en my en en en en my en en en en en my en en en en en en my en en en my en en en en my en en my en en my my fa my my my fi my en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en es en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en fr en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en el en en en fr en en cs en en cs da en de cs en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en cs da en en en cs cs da en da da en en cs de en en en cs cs da en da cs en en cs da en en en de hu da en sv de en en pl cs cs en en cs da da en da cs en en cs da en en en cs cs cs en en de en en cs cs en en en cs sk da en da cs en en cs da en en en cs cs da en da de en en cs da en en en cs cs da en da en en en cs da en en en pl sk da en da de en en cs da en en en cs cs da en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en fr en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en fi en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en ceb en en en en en en en en en de en ceb pt en en en en en en en de en en en en en en en en en en ceb en en en en ceb en en en en en en en en en en en en fr en en en en en en de en en en en en de en pl en en en en fr en en es en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en fi en en en en fr en en en eo en en en en en en en en en de en ceb en en en en en en en en en en en en mg en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en de en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en hi en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en
Burma, America, The World, Art, Literature, Political Economy through the eyes of a Permanent Exile. "We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the oppressed. Sometimes we must interfere. . . There is so much injustice and suffering crying out for our attention . . . writers and poets, prisoners in so many lands governed by the left and by the right." Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Speech, 1986, Oslo. This entire site copyright Kyi May Kaung unless indicated otherwise.
Open message to Yangon Heritage Trust--
Did you know that SCAD Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, Georgia, USA, is known for its historic building preservation program--
Please contact them directly--share this widely.
We would like to hear about how you choose contractors and wish it to be an open and transparent process.
We would wish Burmese artists and writers are involved for obvious reasons.
There are very bad rumors about the "renovations" in Bagan and the results are visually pretty awful.  In fact too much damage has already been done.  That is why it did not get UN Heritage status.
Floral tribute for 19th July 1947,
Secretariat Building where Bogyoke Aung San and Cabinet assassinated in 1947, open for one day only--
Military blog for Burma--I know nothing about it--
Major archaeological find--S Burma--Pyu site--
Writing in Brahmi alphabet found--Brahmi was Indian precurser language of Tibeto-Burma languages.
Needs urgent protection as beads, ear plugs etc found in ancient wells have been lost--
Needs to be a designated UN heritage site.
Systematic excavation required--I wish U Aung Thaw could have been alive--
Copied and pasted from Facebook below:
အဂၤပူေတာႀကီးတန္းအတြင္း ပ်ဴေခတ္ အေဆာက္အအုံပ်က္မ်ားႏွင့္ အသံုးအေဆာင္ ပစၥည္းမ်ားေတြ႔ရွိ
ဧရာ၀တီတိုင္းေဒသႀကီး၊ အဂၤပူၿမိဳ႕နယ္ အတြင္းရွိ အဂၤပူေတာႀကီးတန္း အတြင္း လြန္ခဲ့သည့္ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၂၅၀၀ ေက်ာ္က တည္ရွိခဲ့ေသာ ပ်ဴေခတ္ဂ၀ံ ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီးဟု ယူဆရသည့္ ပ်ဴေခတ္ အေဆာက္အအုံပ်က္မ်ားႏွင့္ အသံုးအေဆာင္ ပစၥည္းမ်ား ေတြ႔ရွိထားေၾကာင္း သြားေရာက္ ေလ့လာခဲ့သည့္ သမိုင္းသုေတသီမ်ားထံမွ သိရွိရသည္။
ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီးသည္ ပုသိမ္-မံုရြာ ကားလမ္းေပၚရွိ ေတာင္ဇင္းေက်းရြာ၏ အေနာက္ဘက္ ႏွစ္မိုင္ေက်ာ္ခန္႔ ကြာေ၀းေသာ အဂၤပူေတာႀကီးတန္းအတြင္း တည္ရွိေနၿပီး ေတြ႔ရွိထားသည့္ ဘုရားေစတီႏွင့္ အေဆာက္အအုံ ပ်က္မ်ားတြင္ ဘီစီ ၃ ရာစု(ဗုဒၶေခတ္)ႏွင့္ ဘီစီ ၆ ရာစု(အေသာကေခတ္) အတြင္း သံုးစြဲခဲ့ေသာ ျဗာဟၼီ အကၡရာမ်ားႏွင့္ ပ်ဴအကၡရာမ်ား ေရးထိုးပါရွိသည့္ လက္ေရးစင္း စပါးခြံ ပ်ဴအုတ္ခ်ပ္မ်ားႏွင့္ ပ်ဴေခတ္ ေက်ာက္ဆစ္ နတ္႐ုပ္မ်ားကိုလည္း ေတြ႔ရွိထားေၾကာင္း သမိုင္းသုေတသီမ်ားထံမွ သိရသည္။
ေတြ႔ရွိထားသည့္ ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီးသည္ အ၀န္းပတ္လည္ ရွစ္မိုင္ခန္႔ရွိၿပီး ဘယ္၊ ညာ ႏွစ္ဖက္တြင္ ကာကင္းကုန္း ႏွင့္ ေမွ်ာ္ကင္းကုန္းဟု ယူဆရသည့္ ေရွးေဟာင္း ဂ၀ံေက်ာက္မ်ားျဖင့္ တည္ေဆာက္ထားသည့္ ေပႏွစ္ရာေက်ာ္စီ ရွည္လ်ားေသာ ေတာင္တန္းႀကီး ႏွစ္ခု တည္ရွိေနၿပီး ပ်ဴေခတ္၊ ပုဂံေခတ္ အုတ္စီစနစ္ (အုတ္ေဒါင္ လိုက္စီ) ႏွင့္ ပ်ဴေခတ္ စပါးခြံအုတ္ခ်ပ္မ်ား အသံုးျပဳကာ တည္ေဆာက္ထားသည့္ ေရွးေဟာင္း အုတ္ေလွကား ရွည္ႀကီးမ်ားလည္း ေတြ႔ရွိထားေၾကာင္း သြားေရာက္ ေလ့လာခဲ့သူ သမိုင္းသုေတသီ ဆရာဘုန္းတင့္ေက်ာ္က ေျပာသည္။
“ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းကုန္းနဲ႔ ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္း ကုန္းပတ္လည္မွာရွိတဲ့ အေဆာက္အအုံေတြက အုတ္ခ်ပ္ေတြမွာ ေရးထိုးပါရွိတဲ့ ေရွးေခတ္အကၡရာေတြဟာ လြန္ခဲ့တဲ့ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၂၅၀၀ ႏွင့္ ၂၃၀၀ ခန္႔က ဗုဒၶဘာသာ ယဥ္ေက်းမႈကို ျပန္ျပႏုိင္သလို ပ်ဴေခတ္၊ ပ်ဴယဥ္ေက်းမႈကို ေဖာ္ျပတဲ့ ပ်ဴၿမိဳ႕ျပတစ္ခု ျဖစ္ခဲ့မယ္ ဆိုတာကို သက္ေသခံေနပါတယ္” ဟု သြားေရာက္ ေလ့လာခဲ့သူ သမိုင္းသုေတသီ ဆရာဘုန္းတင့္ေက်ာ္က ေျပာသည္။
ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီး၏ အေရွ႕ဘက္တြင္ ကမ္းၿပိဳ ေတာရေရႊေတာင္ဦးေစတီ တည္ရွိၿပီး မူလလက္ရာကို လြန္ခဲ့ေသာ ၂၅ ႏွစ္ခန္႔က ပိႏၵဲကြင္း ဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးက ျပန္လည္ ျပဳျပင္ထားေသာ္လည္း ေစတီေတာ္ အဂၤါေထာင့္ႏွင့္ စေနေထာင့္တြင္ ပ်ဴေခတ္ ေျမထိန္းနံရံမ်ား၊ ေဖာင္းရစ္ေတာ္တြင္လည္း ေရွးေဟာင္း ပ်ဴအကၡရာပါ စပါးခြံအုတ္မ်ား ေတြ႔ရွိရၿပီး အနီးတြင္ ဂ၀ံေက်ာက္ သပိတ္ႀကီး တစ္ခုလည္း ေတြရွိထားေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
အေနာက္ဘက္တြင္ ေလသာေတာင္ ဓမၼိက ေရွးေစတီ၊ ေတာင္ဘက္တြင္ ေစာျပရြာ ေရွးေစတီကုန္းႏွင့္ အုတ္ေရကန္ႀကီး၊ ေျမာက္ဘက္ရွိ ႏွစ္က်ိပ္ရွစ္ဆူ ဘုရားမ်ားတြင္လည္း ပ်ဴေခတ္ အေထာက္အထားမ်ားစြာ ေတြ႔ရွိထားေၾကာင္း ေရာက္ရွိ ေလ့လာခဲ့သူ သမိုင္းပညာရွင္မ်ားက ဆိုသည္။
ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီး ေတြ႔ရွိထားရာႏွင့္ အနီးဆံုးေနရာတြင္ တည္ရွိေနေသာ ေတာင္ဇင္းေက်းရြာ အတြင္း၌လည္း ပ်ဴအကၡရာမ်ား ေရးထိုးထားသည့္ စပါးခြံအုတ္မ်ားကို ပ်ဴေခတ္ အုတ္စီစနစ္ျဖစ္ေသာ အျပားလိုက္ သုံးလႊာ ႀတိဂံပံု တစ္ရစ္ျဖင့္ တည္ေဆာက္ထားသည့္ ေရွးေဟာင္းေရတြင္း သုံးတြင္းရွိေနၿပီး ခိုင္ခံ့ေသာ အုတ္ခ်ပ္မ်ား၊ အုတ္စီစနစ္မ်ား ျဖစ္၍ ျပန္လည္တူးေဖာ္ကာ ရြာသားမ်ားက ယေန႔တိုင္ အသံုးျပဳလ်က္ရွိၿပီး ေရတြင္းမ်ားႏွင္႔ ပတ္၀န္းက်င္မွ ေရွးေခတ္ အသံုးအေဆာင္ မ်ိဳးစံု ရရွိေသာ္လည္း ေပ်ာက္ဆံုးပ်က္စီး ကုန္ၾကၿပီျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ေတာင္ဇင္း ေက်းရြာသားမ်ားထံမွ သိရသည္။
"အဘ ၁၅ ႏွစ္သားက ေရတြင္းကို စေဖာ္တာ၊ တြင္းထဲက ေရာင္စံုပုတီးလံုး၊ ဖန္လံုးေတြ ရေပမယ့္ ငယ္ေတာ့ မသိဘူး။ ဒီတိုင္း ေမ့ေမ့ေပ်ာက္ေပ်ာက္နဲ႔ မရွိေတာ့ဘူး၊ ေယာကၡမေတာင္ ဒီေရတြင္းထဲက ရတဲ့ သလင္းနားေတာင္းႀကီး ပန္ပန္ၿပီး ေလွ်ာက္သြားေနေသးတယ္၊ ေဆးတံတစ္ခုလည္း ရတယ္ ေပ်ာက္သြားၿပီ" ဟု အသက္ ၈၈ ႏွစ္အရြယ္ရွိ ေတာင္ဇင္းရြာသား ဦးတင္ေမာင္က ေျပာသည္။
ယခု ေတြ႔ရွိထားသည့္ ပ်ဴေခတ္ ဂ၀ံၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္း နယ္ေျမရွိ ေရွးေဟာင္း အေဆာက္အအုံမ်ား ေစတီပုထိုးမ်ားကို ဆက္လက္ ပ်က္စီးမႈမရွိေစရန္ႏွင့္ ေရွးေဟာင္း အေဆာက္အအုံမ်ားကို ဆက္လက္ ေဖာ္ထုတ္ရန္ ယဥ္ေက်းမႈနယ္ေျမ အျဖစ္ ထိန္းသိမ္းေပးရန္ လိုအပ္ေနေၾကာင္း သမိုင္သုေတသီမ်ားထံမွ သိရသည္။
“ေရွးေဟာင္းဌာနအေနနဲ႔ တူးေဖာ္ၾကည့္မွသာ ဘယ္ေနရာမွာ ဘာအၾကြင္းအက်န္ ဘယ္ေနရာမွာ ဘာအၾကြင္း အက်န္ေတြ က်န္ေသးသမွ် ရဖို႔အလားအလာ မ်ားလာမွာပါ၊ ရာဇ၀င္ေတြမွာ ရွာရတာ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ႏွစ္ေထာင္ေလာက္ ကတည္းကိုက ဒီၿမိဳ႕ႀကီးက စာရင္းမေတြ႔ေတာ့ဘူး၊ ေတာႀကီးဖံုးၿပီး တိမ္ျမဳပ္သြားတာ အရမ္းၾကာသြားတယ္” ဟု ေရွးေဟာင္း ဂ၀ံၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းရွိ က်ပ္ျပင္ေတာရ ေစတီေတာ္ကို ျပဳျပင္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ လ်က္ရွိသည့္ ဆရာေတာ္ ဦးပညာသီရိက ေျပာသည္။
ဂ၀ံၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီး၏ ေျမေပၚေတြ႔ အေထာက္အထားမ်ားႏွင့္ ေျမထဲေတြ႔ အေထာက္အထားမ်ား စံုလင္လာပါက ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းႀကီး၏ သမိုင္းေၾကာင္းကို ျပည့္စံုစြာ ေတြ႕ျမင္ရမည္ျဖစ္ၿပီး ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ သမိုင္း၊ ဗုဒၶသာသနာသမိုင္း၏ တိမ္ျမဳပ္ေနေသာ သမိုင္းမွတ္တမ္း သစ္မ်ားကို ျပန္လည္ ေဖာ္ထုတ္ေပးႏုိင္မည္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ထို႔ေၾကာင့္ တူးေဖာ္ေရး ပညာရွင္မ်ားအေနျဖင့္ ထိုၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းအား ျမန္ျမန္ တူးေဖာ္ေစလိုေၾကာင္း ေရွးေဟာင္းဂ၀ံ ၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းရွိ က်ပ္ျပင္ေတာရ ေစတီေတာ္ကို ျပဳျပင္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ေနသည့္ ဆရာေတာ္ ဦးပညာသီရိ ေျပာျပခ်က္အရ သိရသည္။
ပ်ဴယဥ္ေက်းမႈ ထြန္းကားခဲ့သည့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ အလယ္ပုိင္းရပ္၀န္းႏွင့္ ဧရာ၀တီျမစ္၀ွမ္း တစ္ေလွ်ာက္တြင္ တည္ရွိခဲ့ေသာ ဟန္လင္း၊ ဗိႆႏုိးႏွင့္ သေရေခတၱရာ ပ်ဴၿမိဳ႕ေဟာင္းတုိ႔အား ကုလသမဂၢ ပညာေရးသိပံၸႏွင္႔ ယဥ္ေက်းမႈအဖြဲ႔ (ယူနက္စကုိ)က ကမာၻ႔အေမြအႏွစ္ စာရင္း၀င္အျဖစ္ ၂၀၁၄ ခုႏွစ္ဇြန္လ ၂၂ ရက္ေန႔က ကာတာႏုိင္ငံ ဒုိဟာျမိဳ႕တြင္ ျပဳလုပ္ေသာ ၃၈ ႀကိမ္ေျမာက္ ကမာၻ႔အေမြအႏွစ္ အစည္းအေ၀းတြင္ သတ္မွတ္ ေၾကညာခဲ့သည္။
Posts on my Facebook page--
You may wonder why I post so many 1920s to 1960s dress patterns.
Well, they are useful to writers, artists, dress makers, stage and screen costume designers, and Burmese women.
They do not show too mush flesh and are cool and modest for hot weather.
Of course, if you want to go naked in Burma--that is your choice.
I myself agree with my writer cousin MS who said, as a man, "I don't like it. It leaves nothing to the imagination."
be careful in transliterating any language--these examples from Burmese--
Be careful in transliteration-- EU--written as အီးယူ "take shit"
lunar new year as luu nar (sick, invalid) new year.
go=start, said as thwa=go or teeth.
Mispronunciation is also bad--Monet (maw nay) as maw net etc.
I used to say this a lot
New post--nearly complete translation of Daw Si Si Thwe--Return of an old kawii (sage) to Burma--
Return of One Old Man to Burma
(မိုုးမခ) ဇူလိုုင္ ၂၃၊ ၂၀၁၆  Moe Makha July 23-2016
ေပါင္မုုန္႔ဆိုုင္မွာ အလုုပ္လုုပ္ရင္း ေခါင္းထဲ၀င္လာတဲ့ စာလုုံးက “က၀ိ”။ “က၀ိအိုုရဲ့ အိမ္ျပန္ခ်ိန္” ။
As I was working in the bread shop, one word that came into my head was Kawii--Old Kawii's time to return home.
(Translator's note:  Kawii can be translated as Wise Man, National Treasure. Pundit.  Sensei (Japanese) guru. Sage.
ဇူလိုုင္ ၈၊ ၉ ၊ ၁၀၊ ၁၁ ရက္ (၂၀၁၆) တြင္ ခံစားရမႈမ်ား
Journal for July 8, 9. 10. 11, 2016
It is time to go home.  Old Kawii must also be anxious to return home.
At that time, everyone gets a "gift".
အဲဒီဆုုလာဘ္က “ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ထိုုး၊ အသနားခံစာ တင္၊ ဘယ္ထဲမွ ၀င္ပါနဲ႔” တဲ့။
That gift is, "Sign an affidavit.  Beg for leniency.  Don't do any politics (join any groups)."
က်မ အေတြး၀င္လာတယ္။  I thought about it.
က၀ိအိုုရဲ့ အႏွစ္ ၂၀ ေက်ာ္ၾကာခဲ့တဲ့ ႏိုုင္ငံေရးအေတြ႔အၾကဳံေတြ၊ ကမာၻ႔ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားႏွင့္ သံတမန္မ်ားရဲ့ အေတြးအေခၚ အယူအဆ ဆက္ဆံေရးေတြ ျပန္မမွ်ေ၀ရဘူးလား။
Must I not relate the 20 year journey of Old Kawii's international experience, his interactions with world leaders, diplomats, his opinions, ideals and values?
ႏိုင္ငံေရး အေတြ႔အၾကဳံေတြ မမွ်ေ၀ရရင္ေတာင္ ဆယ္စုုႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ဖတ္လာခဲ့တဲ့ စာအုုပ္ေတြရဲ့ တစိတ္တေဒသ၊ အိမ္နားက စာၾကည့္တိုုက္မွာ ဖတ္စရာမက်န္ေတာ့ေလာက္ေအာင္ အပတ္တိုုင္း ေက်ာပိုုးအိတ္နဲ႔ သယ္ျပီး ဖတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ စာအုုပ္ေတြထဲက အေၾကာင္းေတြ၊
Even if I were not to relate his political experiences and share them with others, how about the contents of the books, or even some part of the contents of the books, carried back every week in a back pack from the local library, to such an extent that there are no more books left in the library that he has not read?
ကမာၻေက်ာ္ သခ်ာၤဂ်ာနယ္မွ “အယ္ဒီတာ” လုုပ္ရန္ အၾကိမ္ၾကိမ္ ေခၚျခင္း ခံရေလာက္ေအာင္ ဆည္းပူးခဲ့တဲ့ သခ်ာၤပညာေတြ၊  အခ်ိန္လုုျပီး ဖတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ သခ်ာၤစာအုုပ္ေတြထဲက အေၾကာင္းေတြကိုု ေက်ာင္းသားေတြ၊ လူငယ္ေတြ၊ စိတ္၀င္စားတဲ့သူေတြကိုု ျပန္ ေ၀မွ်ခြင့္ မရေတာ့ဘူးလား။
So, is he  not to share his knowledge of mathematics (in which he has a Ph.D. from Germany) with students and other young people and interested persons?
His knowledge in higher mathematics is so great he has been repeatedly asked to edit well known international mathematical articles.
(Translator's note:  Like many others, including me, Dr. Sein Win essentially gave up his chosen career, mathematics in an academic setting, to " do politics" for the good of Burma.  For those of you who do not know, he was elected in his constituency in the 1990 elections in Burma, and then had to flee to the Thai Border, where the NCGUB National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, was first set up.  It is also known colloquially as The Exile Government, but was disbanded in 2012, mainly due to loss of funding from international donors, especially Norway.  Like long time NLD National League for Democracy strategist U Win Tin, whose memoir I am translating, at the time, I felt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should not "tango with the junta" but as U WT said, "As we are on the same side, even if I do not agree, I must support her."
Now, Daw Suu also has been badly used.
Dr. Sein Win's father was U Ba Win, brother of Bogyoke Aung San, the Father of the Burmese Nation, and who died on the same day, at the same moment, 19th July 1947, of assassins' bullets.
See BBC Who Killed Aung San? documentary on Aung San on Youtube, as well as news clips of the time, for images of the 2 brothers together, at the talks in London with Clement Atlee.
U Ba Win looked remarkably like his son Dr. Sein Win.  He is the one with glasses smiling widely, happy at the success of the talks in which Atlee promised that Burma would be granted Independence.)
ဒဲဒါေတြဟာ ႏိုုင္ငံေကာင္းေအာင္ တစိတ္တပိုုင္းက ပါခဲ့တဲ့ ႏိုုင္ငံေရးအဖိုုးအိုုတေယာက္အတြက္ ဆုုလာဘ္ေတြလား။
Is signing an affidavit and pledging not to do politics a just reward for an old sage who has given his life for democracy in Burma?
သူျမတ္ႏိုုးတဲ့ သခ်ာၤသမားဘ၀ကိုု စြန္႔လႊတ္၊ မိသားစုုအေရးကိုု ပယ္ျပီး တိုုင္းျပည္အေရးကိုု သယ္၊ (၁၀၁) ႏွစ္အထိ ေနသြားခဲ့တဲ့ အေမအိုုခင္မ်ာ သားအတြက္ ဆုုေတာင္းျခင္းမွလြဲ၍ စာတေၾကာင္း၊ ဖုုန္းတေခၚမွ် မရရွသြားခဲ့ဘူး။
He had to abandon the mathematical career he loved, live far from his family of origin and work for the greater good of Burma. His dear mother who lived to be 101 was never allowed by the regime to even write one line to him, or enjoy one phone conversation, and could do nothing but pray for her son.
(Translator's note--I went to the yet lair soon or seven day feast for monks at the home of Daw Si Si Thwe and Dr. Sein Win when she passed away.  The rental unit had only one chair, on which I sat, since the monk had left already, and there was a lot of food, though no complete set of cutlery.)
ႏိုုင္ငံအတြက္ လုုပ္သက္တေလ်ာက္လုုံးမွာ ျခိဳးျခိဳးျခံျခံ ေနခဲ့တဲ့ (သမိုုင္းပစၥည္းနဲ႔ သမိုုင္း၀င္ပစၥည္းဟုု ျငင္းရေလာက္ေအာင္၊ တိုုင္းရင္းသားမ်ားက မွတ္ခ်က္ ခ်ရေလာက္ေအာင္၊ ႏိုုင္ငံျခားသားမ်ားက integrityဟုု အၾကိမ္ၾကိမ္ ေျပာရေလာက္ေအာင္) ႏိုုင္ငံေရးအဘိုုးအိုုတေယာက္ရဲ့ အိမ္ျပန္ခ်ိန္မွာ ရတဲ့ ဆုုလာဘ္က “ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ လက္မွတ္ထိုုး၊ အသနားခံစာ တင္၊ ဘယ္ထဲမွ ၀င္မပါနဲ႔၊ ေဆြမ်ဳိးေတြနဲ႔ဘဲ ေတြ႔” တဲ့လား။
Is the only reward of an old sage who has given his life for his country, lived frugally all his life, has been called a Living National Treasure by ethnic leaders, and a model of integrity by foreingers who come in touch with him, to have this sole reward of "Sign and affidavit. write a letter pleading for leniency, don't join any groups, just go see your relatives?"
ျပည္၀င္ခြင့္ေလ်ာက္ျပီး ျပန္လာတဲ့သူေတြရဲ့ နာက်င္တဲ့ မ်က္ႏွာနဲ႔ အသံေတြကိုု အခုုအခ်ိန္မွာ နားလည္ ခံစားလာရတယ္။
I understand now the (crestfallen) faces and vices of those who applied for entry visas and came back (to their countries of refuge and exile).
“သိကၡာရွိစြာ အိမ္ျပန္ႏိုုင္ေရး” ဆိုုတဲ့ စကားလုုံးကိုု စကားလုုံးရဲ့ အဓိပၺါယ္နဲ႔ မဟုုတ္ဘဲ ရင္ထဲက ခံစားခ်က္နဲ႔ သိလာတယ္။
I understand now, not just the meaning of the words, "Return home with dignity" but also at the deepest level of feeling, almost as a physical pain.
When will we be allowed to return with our full human dignity intact?
ကမာၻအႏွံ႔ ျပန္႔က်ဲေနတဲ့ က၀ိအုုိေတြ၊ တိုုင္းျပည္အတြက္ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ “ေတာ ျဖတ္၊ ေထာင္ ျဖတ္” ခဲ့ရသူေတြ၊ ေရာက္ရာေနရာေတြမွာ အေတြးေရာ အလုုပ္ေရာ ျမန္မာျပည္အတြက္ ေပးဆပ္ေနသူေတြ ဘယ္ေတာ့ “ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ ထုုိးရတဲ့ဘ၀” က လြတ္မလဲ။
When will other kawii sages, male and female, flung all over the globe,  who have given many years for freedom, crossing mountains and forests (to get to the borders), who are giving so much for Burma daily in both word and deed, be ever free of this "sign an affidavit" pseudo political culture?
(Translator's note:  People are being asked to sign before they have done anything, as a condition of "entering Burma.")
“အကူအညီလိုုပါတယ္ ဆိုုတဲ့ တုုိင္းျပည္” ကိုု ၀င္လာတဲ့ တိုုင္းတပါးသားေတြေရာ ဘယ္ေတာ့ ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ ထိုုးရတဲ့ ဘ၀က လြတ္မလဲ။ က်မအေတြးထဲမွာ ေမးခြန္းေပါင္းမ်ားစြာနဲ႔ပါ။
အိမ္ျပန္သင့္ျပီ။ အထူးဆုု မလိုုခ်င္ပါ။ “အားလုုံးအတြက္ ဂုုဏ္သိကၡာ ရွိျခင္း အျမန္ဆုုံးရခဲ့ရင္” က၀ိအိုုတေယာက္ က်န္းမာေရး ခ်ဳိ႔တဲ့ေနျပီျဖစ္တဲ့ သူ႔အကိုု (ႏိုုင္ငံအတြက္ ၅ ႏွစ္ေက်ာ္ ေထာင္ျဖတ္ခဲ့ရေသာ) ႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ခြင့္ရမွာပါ။ မိအိုုမ်ား ဖအိုုမ်ားလည္း ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ေ၀းကြာေနတဲ့ သားသမီးမ်ားႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ခြင့္ရမွာပါ။ တိုုင္းတပါးသားမ်ားလည္း ျမန္မာျပည္ရဲ့ ေႏြးေထြးမႈ၊ ယဥ္ေက်းမႈကိုု အျပည့္အ၀ ခံစားခြင့္ ရရွိမွာပါ။
စာၾကြင္း – ျပည္သူတင္ေျမွာက္ထားေသာ ျပည္သူ႔အစိုုးရကိုု ေလးစားရိုုေသေသာအားျဖင့္ တိုုင္းျပည္တာ၀န္ ထမ္းေဆာင္ျခင္းႏွင့္ ကူညီျခင္းမွ လြဲ၍ က်န္တာမလုုပ္ပါဟုု ေရးထိုုးခဲ့ျပီးပါျပီ။ (၇၊၇၊ ၂၀၁၆ work history form) ။ က်န္တဲ့ ခံ၀န္ခ်က္မ်ား ထပ္မထိုုးသင့္ေတာ့ပါ။ အိုုျခင္းကိုုလည္း အသက္အရ သုုံးႏႈံးထားပါသည္။ ဥာဏ္အားတြင္ေတာ့ သတင္းစာတြင္ ဖတ္ရေသာ “ေလ့က်င့္ထားေသာ အသက္ ၇၀ေက်ာ္၏ ဥာဏ္အားသည္ အသက္ ၂၀ ႏွင့္ အတူတူပင္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း” ၏ နမူနာျပယုုဂ္ တခုုျဖစ္ပါသည္။ အျခားျပယုုဂ္မ်ားလည္း အမ်ားၾကီး ေတြ႔ေနရပါသည္။ ေနာက္ထပ္ျပယုုဂ္တခုမွာေတာ့ ရက္ပိုုင္းအတြင္း ေတြ႔ခဲ့ရေသာ အသက္ ၉၈ ႏွစ္အရြယ္တြင္ ဟင္းခ်က္ႏိုုင္တုုန္း ျဖတ္လတ္ေနတုုန္း၊ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ေ၀းကြာေနသူမ်ားကိုု နာမည္နဲ႔တကြ ေမးႏိုုင္ေသာ မွတ္ဥာဏ္အား ေကာင္းဆဲျဖစ္ေသာ ဗိုုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ကေတာ္ ဘြားဘြား ေဒၚခင္ၾကည္၏ ညီမ အန္တီ မာ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
အမ်ားသူငါ ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ မထုုိးရမည့္ အခ်ိန္ကိုု ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ ေစာင့္စားရင္း
ဇူလိုုင္ ၂၀၊ ၂၀၁၆၊ ၉ နာရီ ၅၀ ည
Full text + English translation--The Return of one old man to Burma--by Si Si Thwe--English translation by KMKaung
(မိုုးမခ) ဇူလိုုင္ ၂၃၊ ၂၀၁၆  Moe Makha July 23-2016
ေပါင္မုုန္႔ဆိုုင္မွာ အလုုပ္လုုပ္ရင္း ေခါင္းထဲ၀င္လာတဲ့ စာလုုံးက “က၀ိ”။ “က၀ိအိုုရဲ့ အိမ္ျပန္ခ်ိန္” ။
As I was working in the bread shop, one word that came into my head was Kawii--Old Kawii's time to return home.
(Translator's note:  Kawii can be translated as Wise Man, National Treasure. Pundit.  Sensei (Japanese) guru. Sage.
ဇူလိုုင္ ၈၊ ၉ ၊ ၁၀၊ ၁၁ ရက္ (၂၀၁၆) တြင္ ခံစားရမႈမ်ား
Journal for July 8, 9. 10. 11, 2016
It is time to go home.  Old Kawii must also be anxious to return home.
At that time, everyone gets a "gift".
အဲဒီဆုုလာဘ္က “ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ထိုုး၊ အသနားခံစာ တင္၊ ဘယ္ထဲမွ ၀င္ပါနဲ႔” တဲ့။
That gift is, "Sign an affidavit.  Beg for leniency.  Don't do any politics (join any groups)."
က်မ အေတြး၀င္လာတယ္။  I thought about it.
က၀ိအိုုရဲ့ အႏွစ္ ၂၀ ေက်ာ္ၾကာခဲ့တဲ့ ႏိုုင္ငံေရးအေတြ႔အၾကဳံေတြ၊ ကမာၻ႔ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားႏွင့္ သံတမန္မ်ားရဲ့ အေတြးအေခၚ အယူအဆ ဆက္ဆံေရးေတြ ျပန္မမွ်ေ၀ရဘူးလား။
Must I not relate the 20 year journey of Old Kawii's international experience, his interactions with world leaders, diplomats, his opinions, ideals and values?
ႏိုင္ငံေရး အေတြ႔အၾကဳံေတြ မမွ်ေ၀ရရင္ေတာင္ ဆယ္စုုႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ဖတ္လာခဲ့တဲ့ စာအုုပ္ေတြရဲ့ တစိတ္တေဒသ၊ အိမ္နားက စာၾကည့္တိုုက္မွာ ဖတ္စရာမက်န္ေတာ့ေလာက္ေအာင္ အပတ္တိုုင္း ေက်ာပိုုးအိတ္နဲ႔ သယ္ျပီး ဖတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ စာအုုပ္ေတြထဲက အေၾကာင္းေတြ၊
Even if I were not to relate his political experiences and share them with others, how about the contents of the books, or even some part of the contents of the books, carried back every week in a back pack from the local library, to such an extent that there are no more books left in the library that he has not read?
ကမာၻေက်ာ္ သခ်ာၤဂ်ာနယ္မွ “အယ္ဒီတာ” လုုပ္ရန္ အၾကိမ္ၾကိမ္ ေခၚျခင္း ခံရေလာက္ေအာင္ ဆည္းပူးခဲ့တဲ့ သခ်ာၤပညာေတြ၊  အခ်ိန္လုုျပီး ဖတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ သခ်ာၤစာအုုပ္ေတြထဲက အေၾကာင္းေတြကိုု ေက်ာင္းသားေတြ၊ လူငယ္ေတြ၊ စိတ္၀င္စားတဲ့သူေတြကိုု ျပန္ ေ၀မွ်ခြင့္ မရေတာ့ဘူးလား။
So, is he  not to share his knowledge of mathematics (in which he has a Ph.D. from Germany) with students and other young people and interested persons?
His knowledge in higher mathematics is so great he has been repeatedly asked to edit well known international mathematical articles.
(Translator's note:  Like many others, including me, Dr. Sein Win essentially gave up his chosen career, mathematics in an academic setting, to " do politics" for the good of Burma.  For those of you who do not know, he was elected in his constituency in the 1990 elections in Burma, and then had to flee to the Thai Border, where the NCGUB National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, was first set up.  It is also known colloquially as The Exile Government, but was disbanded in 2012, mainly due to loss of funding from international donors, especially Norway.  Like long time NLD National League for Democracy strategist U Win Tin, whose memoir I am translating, at the time, I felt that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should not "tango with the junta" but as U WT said, "As we are on the same side, even if I do not agree, I must support her."
Now, Daw Suu also has been badly used.
Dr. Sein Win's father was U Ba Win, brother of Bogyoke Aung San, the Father of the Burmese Nation, and who died on the same day, at the same moment, 19th July 1947, of assassins' bullets.
See BBC Who Killed Aung San? documentary on Aung San on Youtube, as well as news clips of the time, for images of the 2 brothers together, at the talks in London with Clement Atlee.
U Ba Win looked remarkably like his son Dr. Sein Win.  He is the one with glasses smiling widely, happy at the success of the talks in which Atlee promised that Burma would be granted Independence.)
ဒဲဒါေတြဟာ ႏိုုင္ငံေကာင္းေအာင္ တစိတ္တပိုုင္းက ပါခဲ့တဲ့ ႏိုုင္ငံေရးအဖိုုးအိုုတေယာက္အတြက္ ဆုုလာဘ္ေတြလား။
Is signing an affidavit and pledging not to do politics a just reward for an old sage who has given his life for democracy in Burma?
သူျမတ္ႏိုုးတဲ့ သခ်ာၤသမားဘ၀ကိုု စြန္႔လႊတ္၊ မိသားစုုအေရးကိုု ပယ္ျပီး တိုုင္းျပည္အေရးကိုု သယ္၊ (၁၀၁) ႏွစ္အထိ ေနသြားခဲ့တဲ့ အေမအိုုခင္မ်ာ သားအတြက္ ဆုုေတာင္းျခင္းမွလြဲ၍ စာတေၾကာင္း၊ ဖုုန္းတေခၚမွ် မရရွသြားခဲ့ဘူး။
He had to abandon the mathematical career he loved, live far from his family of origin and work for the greater good of Burma. His dear mother who lived to be 101 was never allowed by the regime to even write one line to him, or enjoy one phone conversation, and could do nothing but pray for her son.
(Translator's note--I went to the yet lair soon or seven day feast for monks at the home of Daw Si Si Thwe and Dr. Sein Win when she passed away.  The rental unit had only one chair, on which I sat, since the monk had left already, and there was a lot of food, though no complete set of cutlery.)
ႏိုုင္ငံအတြက္ လုုပ္သက္တေလ်ာက္လုုံးမွာ ျခိဳးျခိဳးျခံျခံ ေနခဲ့တဲ့ (သမိုုင္းပစၥည္းနဲ႔ သမိုုင္း၀င္ပစၥည္းဟုု ျငင္းရေလာက္ေအာင္၊ တိုုင္းရင္းသားမ်ားက မွတ္ခ်က္ ခ်ရေလာက္ေအာင္၊ ႏိုုင္ငံျခားသားမ်ားက integrityဟုု အၾကိမ္ၾကိမ္ ေျပာရေလာက္ေအာင္) ႏိုုင္ငံေရးအဘိုုးအိုုတေယာက္ရဲ့ အိမ္ျပန္ခ်ိန္မွာ ရတဲ့ ဆုုလာဘ္က “ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ လက္မွတ္ထိုုး၊ အသနားခံစာ တင္၊ ဘယ္ထဲမွ ၀င္မပါနဲ႔၊ ေဆြမ်ဳိးေတြနဲ႔ဘဲ ေတြ႔” တဲ့လား။
Is the only reward of an old sage who has given his life for his country, lived frugally all his life, has been called a Living National Treasure by ethnic leaders, and a model of integrity by foreingers who come in touch with him, to have this sole reward of "Sign and affidavit. write a letter pleading for leniency, don't join any groups, just go see your relatives?"
ျပည္၀င္ခြင့္ေလ်ာက္ျပီး ျပန္လာတဲ့သူေတြရဲ့ နာက်င္တဲ့ မ်က္ႏွာနဲ႔ အသံေတြကိုု အခုုအခ်ိန္မွာ နားလည္ ခံစားလာရတယ္။
I understand now the (crestfallen) faces and vices of those who applied for entry visas and came back (to their countries of refuge and exile).
“သိကၡာရွိစြာ အိမ္ျပန္ႏိုုင္ေရး” ဆိုုတဲ့ စကားလုုံးကိုု စကားလုုံးရဲ့ အဓိပၺါယ္နဲ႔ မဟုုတ္ဘဲ ရင္ထဲက ခံစားခ်က္နဲ႔ သိလာတယ္။
I understand now, not just the meaning of the words, "Return home with dignity" but also at the deepest level of feeling, almost as a physical pain.
When will we be allowed to return with our full human dignity intact?
ကမာၻအႏွံ႔ ျပန္႔က်ဲေနတဲ့ က၀ိအုုိေတြ၊ တိုုင္းျပည္အတြက္ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ “ေတာ ျဖတ္၊ ေထာင္ ျဖတ္” ခဲ့ရသူေတြ၊ ေရာက္ရာေနရာေတြမွာ အေတြးေရာ အလုုပ္ေရာ ျမန္မာျပည္အတြက္ ေပးဆပ္ေနသူေတြ ဘယ္ေတာ့ “ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ ထုုိးရတဲ့ဘ၀” က လြတ္မလဲ။
When will other kawii sages, male and female, flung all over the globe,  who have given many years for freedom, crossing mountains and forests (to get to the borders), who are giving so much for Burma daily in both word and deed, be ever free of this "sign an affidavit" pseudo political culture?
(Translator's note:  People are being asked to sign before they have done anything, as a condition of "entering Burma.")
“အကူအညီလိုုပါတယ္ ဆိုုတဲ့ တုုိင္းျပည္” ကိုု ၀င္လာတဲ့ တိုုင္းတပါးသားေတြေရာ ဘယ္ေတာ့ ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ ထိုုးရတဲ့ ဘ၀က လြတ္မလဲ။ က်မအေတြးထဲမွာ ေမးခြန္းေပါင္းမ်ားစြာနဲ႔ပါ။
အိမ္ျပန္သင့္ျပီ။ အထူးဆုု မလိုုခ်င္ပါ။ “အားလုုံးအတြက္ ဂုုဏ္သိကၡာ ရွိျခင္း အျမန္ဆုုံးရခဲ့ရင္” က၀ိအိုုတေယာက္ က်န္းမာေရး ခ်ဳိ႔တဲ့ေနျပီျဖစ္တဲ့ သူ႔အကိုု (ႏိုုင္ငံအတြက္ ၅ ႏွစ္ေက်ာ္ ေထာင္ျဖတ္ခဲ့ရေသာ) ႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ခြင့္ရမွာပါ။ မိအိုုမ်ား ဖအိုုမ်ားလည္း ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ေ၀းကြာေနတဲ့ သားသမီးမ်ားႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ခြင့္ရမွာပါ။ တိုုင္းတပါးသားမ်ားလည္း ျမန္မာျပည္ရဲ့ ေႏြးေထြးမႈ၊ ယဥ္ေက်းမႈကိုု အျပည့္အ၀ ခံစားခြင့္ ရရွိမွာပါ။
စာၾကြင္း – ျပည္သူတင္ေျမွာက္ထားေသာ ျပည္သူ႔အစိုုးရကိုု ေလးစားရိုုေသေသာအားျဖင့္ တိုုင္းျပည္တာ၀န္ ထမ္းေဆာင္ျခင္းႏွင့္ ကူညီျခင္းမွ လြဲ၍ က်န္တာမလုုပ္ပါဟုု ေရးထိုုးခဲ့ျပီးပါျပီ။ (၇၊၇၊ ၂၀၁၆ work history form) ။ က်န္တဲ့ ခံ၀န္ခ်က္မ်ား ထပ္မထိုုးသင့္ေတာ့ပါ။ အိုုျခင္းကိုုလည္း အသက္အရ သုုံးႏႈံးထားပါသည္။ ဥာဏ္အားတြင္ေတာ့ သတင္းစာတြင္ ဖတ္ရေသာ “ေလ့က်င့္ထားေသာ အသက္ ၇၀ေက်ာ္၏ ဥာဏ္အားသည္ အသက္ ၂၀ ႏွင့္ အတူတူပင္ ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း” ၏ နမူနာျပယုုဂ္ တခုုျဖစ္ပါသည္။ အျခားျပယုုဂ္မ်ားလည္း အမ်ားၾကီး ေတြ႔ေနရပါသည္။ ေနာက္ထပ္ျပယုုဂ္တခုမွာေတာ့ ရက္ပိုုင္းအတြင္း ေတြ႔ခဲ့ရေသာ အသက္ ၉၈ ႏွစ္အရြယ္တြင္ ဟင္းခ်က္ႏိုုင္တုုန္း ျဖတ္လတ္ေနတုုန္း၊ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ေ၀းကြာေနသူမ်ားကိုု နာမည္နဲ႔တကြ ေမးႏိုုင္ေသာ မွတ္ဥာဏ္အား ေကာင္းဆဲျဖစ္ေသာ ဗိုုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ကေတာ္ ဘြားဘြား ေဒၚခင္ၾကည္၏ ညီမ အန္တီ မာ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
အမ်ားသူငါ ခံ၀န္ခ်က္ မထုုိးရမည့္ အခ်ိန္ကိုု ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ ေစာင့္စားရင္း
ဇူလိုုင္ ၂၀၊ ၂၀၁၆၊ ၉ နာရီ ၅၀ ည
Kawii (old wise man's) return home by Si Si Thwe in Burmese -- PM Dr Sein Win's wife--Dr Sein Win asked to sign khan wun chett affadavit (that he won't do politics) to return to Burma.
Quote of yesterday--from 2009 NCGUB's Our Vision Our Plan--
Quote of yesterday--from NCGUB Our Vision Our Plan--
19. Federalism, States' or Ethnic Rights
These basic rights are likely to become explosive issues. CRPP mentions "a sufficient population" and the SPDC "constitution" also talks about "size of population" without mentioning the exact size of the population (when a separate state will be allowed). Leading democratic politicians have said that the Wa state, where the Wa have been given the right to bear arms and tacitly engage in opium and methamphetamine production, is likely to become a problem.
Ne Win, Aung San,  place of the fuhrer bunker in Berlin.
NCGUB--Our Vision Our Plan-- later called Plan for Democracy and Development--finished version I handed over on 3-17-2009. I am posting it now so it can be "checked against" changes or so-called changes 2011-2016--At the time it was posted on NCGUB website, so it is already in the public domain--
1.  Burma faces three major ongoing crises:  A Political and/or a Constitutional Crisis, a Socio-Economic Crisis, and a Humanitarian Crisis.
Political developments inside Burma, including the handing down of harsh prison sentences to monks, democracy activists, and politicians as well as the continuing rejection of international demands for political reform, indicate that the Burmese generals will not be retreating from their scheme to legitimize military rule in Burma unless they face concerted action from the democracy forces at home and abroad as well as from the international community.
The Burmese generals' headstrong push to hold elections under a constitution unilaterally written without the participation of major democratic and ethnic political parties will entrench dictatorial rule by the incumbent corrupt military regime for generations.  This process needs to be stopped.
The NLD and the pro-democracy forces would like to see the return of Democracy to Burma as soon as possible.
2.  A Transitional Package for the Emergence of an Inclusive Political Process in Burma by 2010.
The leadership of the democracy movement inside the country believes that the NCGUB and the democracy movement outside the country should take a lead in creating more political space inside and strive to bring change to the country with the support of the international community.
Given this new responsibility, organizations in the democracy and ethnic movements in exile will work even more closely under common work programs and pursue common objectives. Their tasks in the next months especially before 2010 will be enormous, making preparations to improve the capacity of the movement in exile as well as inside the country, providing training programs to leaders and grassroots personnel, unifying visions of different components of the movement, projecting common objectives, and framing a working plan.
3.  A Strategic Action Plan being prepared with the help of exile politicians, legal scholars, economists, a human geographer and a civil-military relations and other Burma experts and will include:
A.  A Constitutional Framework
B.  Electoral Law and System
C.  A Transitional Economic Plan
D.  A Security Review
E.   National Reconciliation
F.   Return of Refugees and Displaced Persons in a New Administration, when
Conditions are Normalized.
4.         In Burma, the polity and the economy are closely linked to form a political economy that is highly dysfunctional
Between the first coup by the Revolutionary Council in 1962 and the beginning of the clampdown on the mass pro-democracy movement on September 18, 1988, when SLORC was formed, Burma had a socialist economic system with a one-party military government.  The Burma Socialist Program Party laid down much of the economic system that was in place in 1988 when SLORC initiated an "open economy."
Since 1988, a bizarre and even more distorted economy has appeared, with the state playing a major role and its expenditures financed by the highly destructive expedient of printing more money.  The inflation rate is currently 50% per annum, the highest in S.E.Asia.
A.      The Constitutional Framework -- Underlying Principles
& Basic Conditions
5.         Introduction
The issue of constitutional settlement lies at the heart of Burma’s national reconciliation.
Burma has amassed significant “constitution capital”, despite being without one for nearly 34 years since Independence and over sixty years of civil wars and conflict.  Despite this, constitutional advance eludes us.  This cannot be secured without addressing the fault lines through talks, and constitutional conversations or constitutional review.
The two fault lines our areas of contention where dialog is likely to fall apart is:
(i)         Federalism, endorsed by the NLD, the Ethnic Nationalities and large numbers of  pro-democracy parties and
(ii)       The role of the military in national politics.
In general, the pro-democracy groups including the Ethnic Nationalities want a decentralized federal union, civilian government and a parliamentary system with a  president, in some cases with particular reference to Ethnic and States Rights.
Key Stakeholders
NLD, UNLD, SNLD, EN Ceasefire Groups, KIO, UNA, NCGUB, NCUB, DAB, ENC, KNPP, SSA etc.
SPDC, UWSA etc.
The SPDC wants a unitary, centralized administrative state, a (military) president and a leading role for the military in parliament, the government at all levels and in the presidency and a parliament comprised of two houses at central level, but to sit jointly for a number of key state law making powers, similar to the People's Assembly of the Peoples Republic of China.
The SPDC drafted a national constitution that reflects the type of state they desire.  They plan to implement this constitution after the 2010 "elections" which they also plan to hold.
Our task is to provide a scenario whereby constitutional advance might be made, given the tight constitutional constraints circumscribed by the SPDC's draft state constitution, its seven step road map to a disciplined democracy, its tight hold on the levers of state and economic power, the incarceration of key political leaders, and the draconian laws that curtail basic freedoms, and a modus operandi of command and control and political paranoia on a grand scale.
6.      The SPDC Constitution – unresolved issues.
·                 The SPDC’s constitutional framework, contained in its seven-step roadmap, adds to neither the capital nor the advance.
·                 The SPDC’s constitutional framework does not seek to resolve competing ideas on nationhood, identity, language, political and economic systems and which moral values should be promoted or disavowed.
·                 The SPDC’s constitutional framework does not seek to resolve the constitutional fault line running through the political heart of Burma, marked by secession, federalism, and the Tatmadaw’s constitutional role in national political life.
·                 Secession is now dead - a major constitutional advance on the part of all the Ethnic Nationalities, but federalism-desired by democratic groups and Ethnic Nationalities, seen as the best approach to a multi-ethnic-diverse nation, and detested by the Tatmadaw leaders seen as the disintegration of the nation, remains unresolved.
·                 The SPDC say that the National Conventions’s constitutional principles, that mandated Rangoon as the capital, cannot be changed, but did so without comment, when they changed the country’s capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw.
·                 The draft constitution  says that it will apply as soon as approved through a referendum and the SPDC agreed with NC delegates to postpone its implementation until after the 2010 election.
·                 The SPDC’s constitutional framework, incorporating the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law (14/89), Declaration 1/1990, NC Orders, Working procedures, & Rules, Order 5/96, Seven-Step Roadmap to Disciplined Democracy, the 54 Member Technical Drafting Committee, 2008 referendum, and the planned 2010 elections fails the legitimacy tests of rightful architects, rightful process and rightful design.  This leaves the SPDC’s planned 2010 elections in “legitimacy limbo”.  Credibility however, can come through constitutional review.
7.         Calls for Constitutional Review
·                 The clarion call by all parties, except the SPDC, is and remains constitutional review.
·                 For a transition to take place that has some chance of sticking, constitutional review is essential.  It can be best approached by recalling the constitutional capital that has been amassed, scope out where the country wants to be now and in 10 to 50 years. For example, it would be good to be peaceful and prosperous and as General Than Shwe says, when referring to the constitutional referendum and the 2010 elections, for Myanmar to hold its head high in global society.
·                 In seeking constitutional review it is essential to promote just that to enable a transition.  It can include a constitutional implementing team, necessary to  implement the country’s constitution, to include sunset and sunrise clauses and the mechanisms of machinery of state, that will be needed in a new state structure.
·                 This requires an electoral law system to be established that will include amendments to the political parties’ laws, or new ones.  (See also the section on Electoral Laws.
·                 All major groups directly involved continue to call for any transition process to be inclusive, i.e. to have talks and for constitutional review.  (See attached comments)
·                 All major groups denounce secession. (See their respective draft constitutions)
·                 All major groups, except the Tatmadaw, desire a constitutional framework that incorporates a form of Federalism.
·                 It is important to understand and recognize the “legal” genesis of the SPDC’s National Convention (NC) found in Declaration 1/1990.  It is critical for three reasons:
(i)        All parties agreed to work with it, albeit reluctantly, including the NLD.
(ii)        It repeats the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law (14/89) at Chapter 2, Section 3 stating: “The Pyithu Hluttaw shall be formed with the Hluttaw representatives who have been elected according to this law from the constituencies.”
(iii)       Declaration 1/1990 further states at Section 20 that those elected in the 1990 elections have the mandate to prepare the country’s constitution, “Consequently under the present circumstances, the representatives elected by the people are those who have the responsibility to draw up the constitution of the future Democratic State.” (NC started with approximately 15 per cent of MPs, and finished with approximately 1 per cent of MPs) It further sets some limiting conditions, but these representative fundamentals remain unaltered
(iv)      NLD have said they want to convene the Parliament to have constitutional review.  Refer to Declaration 1/1990 and at least have regard to it, to launch talks re. constitutional review
8.         What the draft SPDC constitution does and does not do.
It does contain a few good points, the common law writs and such, but these are overwhelmed by its comprehensive fatal flaws.
·            These provide amnesty for any crimes committed for the current government/Tatmadaw leaders
·            gives the Tatmadaw a leading role in parliament, the executive and the presidency
·            mandates a presidential system of government
·            creates three parliamentary chambers at national level:  The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (national parliament), the Pyithu Hluttaw (people’s lower house) and the Amoytha Hluttaw (Ethnic Nationalities upper house) but it gives the Pyidaungsu  Hluttaw its own constitutional competence and legislative standing-similar to a Peoples Republic of China People’s Assembly, as well as competence to deal with deadlocked bills and so on, and it also sits as the electoral college to elect the President
·            provides for a maximum of one session per year for the parliament
·            establishes a constitutional tribunal that has the power to give opinions before the fact and review of parliamentary legislation, as of right.
·            shapes the state through the narrow prism of the SPDC’s state ideal as being led by the Tatmadaw
·            mandates a national culture
·            imports the three national causes into every area of life, including political parties
·            maintains sovereignty of the rulers
·            incorporates the Tatmadaw command and control modus operandi into the state structure
·            further entrenches the centralization of the executive to the capital (Rangoon) as well.
·            limits the functions and power of the Ethnic Nationalities in legislative bodies to a few Ethnic Nationalities specific areas
·            charts a transition from a Tatmadaw administration to a civilian administration. However there is a constitutional caveat on this, also implied in point seven of the seven-step roadmap
Most importantly, the SPDC Constitution does not --
·            include popular sovereignty
·            include the people’s aspirations, made clear in 1990 and in the National Convention and other fora
·            resolve the fundamental national political problem manifested in Federalism, and Ethnic Nationalities needs
·            allow political freedoms
·            seek to resolve the Ethnic Nationalities needs
·            seek to reconcile differences and or embrace diversity
·            recognize the state as being one of multi-ethnicity and political diversity
·            give amnesty for political actors other than the SPDC/Tatmadaw
·            provide for state and region constitutions
are, in the words of our constitutional expert, truly fatal flaws.
A true Constitution must guarantee the following Bill of Rights
9.         Human Rights
Guarantee Human Rights
Strict guarantees of human rights and respect for human dignity. A Human Rights Committee should be established. It should be responsible to the highest legislative body to prevent government from abusing power and violating citizens’ rights. A democratic Burma with its Constitution must guarantee everyone’s personal freedom.
Release all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners. All of these individuals and their family members have been treated as criminals because of their thoughts, speeches, writings etc. The state should grant Reparations. A Truth Investigative Commission could have a mandate to find facts about injustices and atrocities and determine responsibility for them, uphold justice and seek social reconciliation.
Freedom of Expression, Freedom to Assemble, Freedom to Form Groups and Freedom of Religion and Language and the Right to Own Property and Freedom from Arbitrary Confiscation, Land or Cultivators' Rights etc.. are crucial.
10.       Political/negotiation process:  Principle demands
During the build-up to the 2010 election there must be an inclusive political process.  Only then can the de facto become the de jure.  The SPDC can become truly legitimate, if it agrees to a Real Democracy.  Recently released long-time political prisoner, who was held for 19 years, U Win Tin, says the relevant slogan is -- "Suu, Hlut, Twé, Hpwè."
Suu or Aung San Suu Kyi and the political leadership; NLD, 1988 generation leaders etc. must be free.
Hlut or Hluttaw (Parliament) must meet and be functional.  (In 1998, Aung San Suu Kyi formed the CRPP (Committee to Represent Peoples Parliament) due to the SPDC's exclusionary actions.
Twé or Twé Sone Sway Nway Pwe (Political Dialogue)
Hpwè or Freedom to Organize.
11.       Basic Conditions which need to be satisfied:  Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners need to be freed and assured of their personal security and given space to carry out their political and party duties for all time.  Kangaroo courts need to stop and be under an independent judiciary system.
12.       Approach:  Openness – with media etc. and Re-structuring. Burma is now a strictly closed and oppressive system, with bloggers, citizen journalists etc. given long arbitray prison sentences in show trails.  This needs to stop and the executive and judiciary branches of government set apart from each other.  Political changes and economic changes need to proceed in tandem.
The Constitutional Framework
13.       The Burmese Democracy Movement cannot accept the SPDC Constitution.
·       Basic Human Rights are not guaranteed.
·       Principles of equality and popular sovereignty are ignored.
·       Military supremacy will be exercised.
·       The rule of law, which is a major foundation for economic development, is ignored.
·       Economics in the SPDC Constitution is "handled" in a very domineering way – that SPDC "owns all resources below and above the ground!"  This needs to be changed.
·       Existing unjust laws will remain in force and more unjust laws will emerge.
·       The Judiciary will be under the direct control of the Executive and Justice will be denied.
·       Self-rule and shared rule for the ethnic nationalities will not be a reality.
·       The Executive is the focal point of the Constitution, and the President, together with the Chief of Staff of the Defense Forces, will exercise rigid centralization.
·       Institutions that could balance the power of the Executive are absent.
·       There is no flexible amendment clause that can provide space for further constitutional evolution in accordance with the desire of all ethnic nationalities of Burma to rebuild the country as a Federal Democratic Union.
14.     Basic Principles of a Constitution:
A federal system.  Limited government, checks and balances, a government of the people, by the people, for the people.  A level playing field.  No one is above the law.  An independent judiciary.  A free press.  Reduce central control and unduly centralized management and administration.  The central government must be checked by built-in institutional balances.  An Interim Constitution should reflect these basic conditions:
·       Legislative and executive bodies should be designed based on shared responsibilities.  As the role of the Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) will be acknowledged, so also the Tatmadaw must reciprocally acknowledge the role of elected representatives of the People in making decisions.
·       The interests of ethnic nationalities, in harmony with the interest of the whole country, must be accommodated.  Fundamental rights of ethnic nationalities must be constitutionally guaranteed, at minimum, rights for protection and promotion of literature and culture, as well as non-discrimination based on ethnicity must be assured.
·       Fundamental freedoms and basic human rights of the People must be constitutionally guaranteed.
·       There must be constitutional provisions, which protect an independent judiciary and equality of all before the law, and the guarantee that the rule of law will prevail.
·       The Constitution-making process should provide an opportunity to continue the national dialogue for Transition.  There must be flexible provisions for constitutional amendments to provide space for constitutional evolution in harmony with the times and political developments.
15.       Recommendations for the International Community
The international community should encourage SPDC
To ensure an inclusive, participatory and transparent constitution-making process
To initiate a constitutional review process which has already been drafted and published, with a view to finding common ground that reflects the People's Will. Release all political prisoners (including ethnic leaders), lift restrictions on political parties (including ethnically based parties) to allow them to re-open offices and operate.
Lift restrictions so people can express their opinions.
End hostilities in minority areas and allow representatives to enter the process.
Amend the provisions which prevent Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from standing for election in 2010. Ensure international standards for a free and fair election.  Allow independent international observers.
Points from the CRPP
We need a new legal system that comes from the people and the Hluttaw (Parliament) now represented by the CRPP.  A Bill of Rights.  A Democratic Process of making Laws of the People, by the People, for the People.
16.       CRPP Recommendations
With regard to Parliamentary Committees, the CRPP recommends. A Scrutiny Committee (to examine) "guarantees, promises and undertakings given by" the SPDC.  The SPDC has been notorious in its manipulation of the entire process by which it has been attempting to legitimize itself.
The States/Divisions Committee needs to work on development programs.
Parliamentary sessions must be held in Rangoon, which is the natural historical, economic and political capital of Burma.  In 2005 the capital was moved. Geography and an oppressive, perverted "city planning" has made Naypyidaw an isolated, centrally controlled place where political activism is impossible.
There needs to be public education in democratic due process.
17.       Recommendations in Agricultural Rights
·            Notification No. 4/78 should be abrogated immediately and entirely.
·            On paper, the 1963 Cultivators' Rights Protection Law prohibited issuing warrants, confiscating land and farm animals etc.  This law has been repeatedly and seriously violated.  Any new government should ensure laws such as these are abided by.
·            One law provides protection for money-lenders.  As the CRPP notes, "This is not the kind of law that protects farmers' rights."
·            What is essential is legislation that will protect farmers from laws and orders which deprive them of their rights and a law which will shield them from all forms of oppression.
·            Restoration of grazing lands.
·            Rights on alluvial lands (Myay-nu-kyun) which currently are only for one year need to be much more secure.
·            Although the state is the ultimate owner of all land, farmers need the right to cultivate, transport, mill, store and sell their products freely.
·            Enact legislation so cultivators have rights to land ownership and can transfer or pawn their land.
·            Legislation to prevent the return of big land owners.  Big landowners (oligarchs) are already coming into existence again in Burma.
·            Prices, banks and markets – see the Economics section of this Plan.
·            Organize, expand and modernize the Land Records and Settlement Department, originally formed in the colonial period.
18.    Labor Laws and Rights
·            Between 1948 and 1962, there were a total of 30 different labor laws.
·            Outdated Agricultural Workers and Wages Act of 1948-49 needs to be reformed
and modernized.
·            In trying to make the Union of Burma a parliamentary democracy, there needs to be
conformity in every respect with the international community especially as an
integral part of the United Nations.
·            We must not be at odds with the ILO where labor issues are concerned.
19.       Federalism, States' or Ethnic Rights
To create unity and solidarity it is essential to adopt and practice a democratic system and multi-nationalism in accordance with the spirit of the historic Panglong Agreement.  For instance the conditions under which the Shans joined was to join under a union/federal system, to have equal rights and status, Shan States must be given unfettered self-government, to be given the right to secede at any time if so desire.
These basic rights are likely to become explosive issues.  CRPP mentions "a sufficient population" and the SPDC "constitution" also talks about "size of population" without mentioning the exact size of the population (when a separate state will be allowed).  Leading democratic politicians have said that the Wa state, where the Wa have been given the right to bear arms and tacitly engage in opium and methamphetamine production, is likely to become a problem.
On Feb 24, 1962, ethnic nationalities representatives pointed out the shortcomings of the 1947 Constitution and proposed a change to Federalism.  The army seized power under the pretext that it would lead to the Union's disintegration and that the Shan States was arranging to secede.  The military erroneously looked on itself as the savior and natural ruler of the country and their propaganda emphasized this.  In fact, what they established was a political policy based on militarism.  From 1962 to 1988 they governed the country under the cloak of socialism with a single party dictatorship.
20.       General legal recommendations
·            Legislative transparency and awareness campaigns of new (democratic) land tenure arrangements.
·            Subsequent legislation that is clear and transparently enforced through independent processes, including specialized courts.
·            Complement land title with other reforms, efficient and independent judicial systems, reformed financial laws, install bankruptcy and foreclosure laws etc.
·            Ensure formal laws are consistent with local social and cultural values.
·            Property Laws need to honor original ownership before 1962.  There has been widespread talking over of private property both by the military government and other military connected individuals, in both rural and urban areas.
B.    Electoral Law and System
21.    Genuine elections are not just a technical exercise.  They are a fundamental human
right linked to a broad array of institutions and the ability of citizens to exercise
civil and political rights.
·            Elections are the periodic test of the strength of democratic institutions.
·            Elections are a vehicle for citizens' participation in the political process.
·            Elections are part of making democracy deliver a better quality of life by linking voters' interests to the act of selecting a candidate, party or policy through public discourse.
22.       Contortions or distortions in electoral law and system to unfairly benefit certain political interests which can happen through show or sham elections, sham referendums, electoral fraud, gerrymandering (setting voting districts or borders to favor certain political parties or interests), ballot design, faulty vote counting, voter registration fraud etc.and should be eliminated.
23.       Burmese electoral laws under military regimes
First principles regarding electoral laws are that Citizens' Rights, not State or Corporate Rights should be protected.
In Burmese electoral laws under successive military regimes we find that state's rights are constantly defined, demarcated and mapped out to protect the regime's own interests at the expense of individual and group rights.
For instance, the 1975 (election) law, is clearly titled, State Protection Law, Pyithu Hlutta Law No. 3, 1975, and talks of the regime's usual obsessions about "infringement of sovereignty and security of the Union of Burma .  .  . threat to peace of the people.  .  . threat of those desiring to cause subversive acts, etc."  These kinds of "laws" and biased and paranoid language have no place in a real democracy.
Article 3 even talks of "protecting in advance!" against "threats to security" by which one presumes it means "protective custody" a.k.a. arrest and imprisonment.  The 1975 law said it could "declare a state of emergency for any territory in the country"and "may, if necessary, restrict any citizen's fundamental rights in any territory on the Union of Burma."  In reality, rights are routinely abuses everywhere in Burma and it is chilling to read it in legal language.
Such language as "necessary restriction" is used in this law and Article 11 mentions restriction of activity in designated territories, "designation of place where person – is to reside" "denial of travel" and "denial of possession of specific materials."
The 1988 New Elections Commission Law established the figurehead commission for the 1990 elections, which turned out to be free and fair, in which the NLD won.
This was in spite of the SLORC Law No. 6/88 of Sept. 30, 1988 which attempted to restrict formation of organizations and parties and asserted control by the Ministry of Home and Religious Affairs.
Years after the NLD victory and even after SLORC clearly did not transfer power, in 1996 it out put a retroactive law "safeguarding the state from the danger of subversive elements."
For its upcoming 2010 elections, the SPDC has not yet announced an electoral law, but it has already unilaterally held a referendum, days after Cyclone Nargis hit, and also "rigged" the Constitution so that Daw Suu is de-barred from standing for election.
24.  Recommended electoral law reforms
In addition to necessary constitution review and review of electoral procedures, we recommend electoral reform.  Some recommendations are:
·            Those that improve the expression of public desires in the voting process and reduce controls or restrictions biased towards reducing participation of true democratic forces and increase participation of pseudo-parties or regime-sympathetic "parties."  A number of these have already been formed.
·            Fool-proof vote counting procedures, preferably electronic, run by international agencies.  Appropriate ballot design and voting booths.  In 1990, there were reports of booths in which outsiders could observe how each individual voted because there was a gap in the curtain of about 6 inches from the floor, and the 2 ballot boxes were placed so far apart.
·            Safety of voters and election workers needs to be strongly assured.
·            Monitoring by United Nations Fair Elections Commission, International IDEA, National Democratic Institute and other volunteer international observers, entry visas for international media and right to travel all over Burma during the election.
·            Use of UN Standards for safety of citizens, coercion, scrutiny and eligibility to vote.
·            Extend and expand electorate to include political prisoners, Burmese overseas, Burmese migrant workers all adult members of all ethnic groups including the rohingya and Burmese minority groups in exile.
·            Review definitions of "refugee"  "citizen" "right of return" etc.
·            Open and transparent process throughout.
·            This time after going through another "SPDC charade" the SPDC has to honor the results if pro-democracy parties win.
·            Before the elections it has to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, assure their safety and guarantee freedom of organization, freedom of movement, and freedom of expression.
·            Before the elections, there has to be an open and inclusive constitutional review process.
C.      An Economic Plan:  Stabilization and Structural Change
25.       So far, only token “economic reforms” have taken place.  Major reforms are still needed.
Burmese economists and political leaders support free trade and an open economy.  The NLD is not advocating removing sanctions.  Free trade and sanctions are not mutually exclusive.  Sanctions have already been focused into financial sanctions.
The main economic problems (in the agricultural sector, which is predominant) are:
Monopoly of rice export by the government, non-ownership of land by farmers and annual permit required to farm, quotas demanded by government and local authorities at prices lower than market rates, lack of fertilizers and fuel and lack of a modern agricultural credit system.
The "open economy" SLORC declared in 1988 was an improvement over BSPP policies 1962-1988, but politics still conditions economics.
26.       Economic goals:  Burma should promote a healthy rural sector,  a healthy macro-economic environment and promote manufactured exports.  However rich in natural resources, the only sustainable source of exports and growth are in manufacturing.
Stabilization and structural change need to take place for true economic reforms.
Burma has a very distorted economy, with a control mentality, and many elements of the Burma Socialist Program Party policies, such as state-owned enterprises, fixed prices, planned crops, compulsory delivery quotas (until 2003), a fixed exchange rate and multiple exchange rates still in place.  State ownership in the form of military holding companies (UMEH) has been increasing, also due to arbitrary land confiscation.  This is related to asymmetrical power relations.
27.     Stabilization
The severest distortions need to be corrected and then almost simultaneously, structural reforms need to take place.
·                 It is inadvisable to merely adopt International Monetary Fund/World Bank recommendations of "freeing prices" (price liberalization) without system change.
·                 In August 2007 fuel prices were raised.  These resulted in protests and the monks marching.  The clampdown on Sept 26, 2007, led to this current round of the severest repression yet suffered.  Clearly micro-economic "reforms" such as these applied in an ad hoc way without structural reforms do not work.  There needs to be reforms, but the reforms should be of a systemic nature (macro-economic) and not piece-meal token reforms (micro-economic or cosmetic).
·                 Multiple exchange rates must be unified.  They cause corruption and constrain foreign investment.
·                 A floating (market) rate rather than a pegged one.
·                 Since 2002, income from mainly natural gas exports has changed chronic deficits in the current account of the balance of payments to consistent surpluses and comprises nearly 40% of Burma's exports by value in 2006/2007.  Gas earnings are nearly invisible in public accounts.
28.       Money and Banking
Money supply is too large, resulting in continuous hyperinflation.  An interim government or new power-sharing government needs to attend to reducing money supply (mainly the volume of paper currency, as credit is a negligible amount).  New currency notes will probably be needed.  A floating exchange rate will take care of needed devaluation and help Burma's foreign trade.
SPDC does not seem to be aware of its role in causing inflation through its increase in money supply (printing banknotes and high budget expenditures) There are moneys it spends on the repressive mechanism, for "prestige projects" and for buying support to keep itself in power. Curiously, the SPDC "constitution" has a provision that the "union shall not demonetize the currency legally in circulation."
Liberalize (and unify) the exchange rate.  Let market forces (demand and supply) set the rate.  Then the multiple exchange rates will be automatically "unified" as at any given moment there will only be one prevailing market (floating) rate. All currency exchanges need to be legalized.  It should be legal for anyone to hold foreign exchange.
Structural Change  in the Agricultural Sector
29.       In the agricultural sector planned crops and other forms of interference have returned.  Farm indebtedness is high.  There are few formal credit institutions, and severe ecological problems in the Dry Zone and the Irrawaddy Delta (even before Cyclone Nargis).  Poor roads and other infrastructure with low capital in agro-processing hamper growth.  Since the 1970s there has been depletion of mangrove forests in the Delta. There is a high percentage of broken rice grains due to outdated milling machinery.  This has affected the quality of the polished rice and the export price.Arbitrary taxes are imposed at the local level.  This takes too much from the farmer's meager resources.   They cannot invest in improving the land or buy farm machinery.  Forced (corvee) labor is oppressive.
30.       Macro-policies need to be changed.  Even higher levels of natural gas production would accomplish little without structural reforms.  In 2008 the Burmese real growth rate was zero per cent.  Income from natural gas exports seemed to mitigate this.
The Burmese economy is run as a centralized military administration with a high degree of central control. The issue of narcotics alone should make Burma a nation of concern.  Methamphetamines have joined opium, and the Wa region in eastern Burma has become the Wa Autonomous Region.
31.      Land reform
Rural land is formally owned by the state.  Individuals have 30-year inheritable use rights (usufructs) determined by village level and regional land committees.
·                 Farmers must have rights to own their land.
·                 Introduce long-term leases.
Mass landlessness is taking place due to arbitrary "rules" which give the farmer cultivation rights only.  They don't actually own the land, nor can they sell it nor use it as collateral for loans.  They can lose the land at any time due to harassment by local authorities.  These wrongs need to be righted. Burma is still a predominantly agricultural country, has not yet achieved an industrial revolution.  There is sell off of natural resources.  The degree and scope of landlessness after Cyclone Nargis in Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008 matches that during the 1930s Depression when land was lost en masse to the chettiars.
Agricultural sector reforms
·            Allow farmers to grow what they wish.  Remove planned crops, e.g. kyet su (jatropha).   Build up infrastructure.  Support with agricultural banking reforms.
32.       Banking Reforms
(i) Revitalize Commercial Banks
The establishment of trust and the application of best-practice banking regulations is important. Burma signed the Basel Accords (the international ‘standard’), but in practice bank regulation is corrupt, ad-hoc and ineffectual. Implementation is key.
The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM), which has lost credibility, must be reformed. The reformed central bank must be independent of government. There are restrictions on private banks that do nothing for prudence or efficiency, whilst inhibiting financial development. E.g. limits on branch numbers, bank products, bank deposits and loans.  These restrictions should be removed.
Burma’s financial sector should be open to internationally respected foreign banks. Applications to establish new private commercial banks should be called for. To forestall inappropriate applications to form ponzi-type schemes and to engage in money-laundering, there should be strict application of the Basel Principles.  "Fit and proper" persons should be selected to become bank owners.  Existing banks should be reviewed.
(ii) Revitalizing State-Owned Banks
The state will need to play a role in the country’s financial sector. The state can provide capital to financial institutions, which can distribute credit according to commercial criteria. Before any state-owned banks can perform such a role, any new government will need to assess  existing institutions.  Non-performing loans need to be identified and recalled. State-owned banks should be reviewed and unnecessary ones merged, sold or closed.
(iii) Revitalizing Rural Credit
Ninety per cent of Burma’s farmers are without formal credit, and are forced to borrow from village moneylenders etc. who charge high interest rates and are corrupt.  Over half of all rural households are heavily in debt. MADB (Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank) needs to be restructured, recapitalized and rolled into a new umbrella institution incorporating microfinance.
Micro-finance is not sufficient.  It does not provide enough capital for broad-based development.
33.      Economic Reforms in the Natural Gas (Mining) Sectors
Income from natural gas exports has resulted in corruption, conspicuous consumption of individuals, as well as "collective consumption" at the public level and lumpiness in payment timing.
Windfall gains have been managed in other gas and oil producing countries and regions with Revenue Distribution Funds which go directly from the projects to the people, by-passing the state.
For Burma, assuming a genuinely reform-minded government, gas revenues should be channeled into a core private sector, rather than forming special funds.  There should be caps on public spending, creation of an independent oversight committee, transparency and a free press.
In gem mining the government needs to give up its monopoly of mining and its abuse of mine workers and allow the traditional small-scale miners who protected the resource and respected it to return with their "Buddhist model."  (Mogok gem mining).
There is no need to remove the JADE/Tom Lantos act of USA (sanctions against gem and jade imports to USA) as gem merchants in Burma say it has not much effect anyway – it may be used as a "prestige" or "feel-good" bargaining chip in negotiation for change.
34.       Economic Recommendations
Stabilization and structural change policies should be instituted immediately.
The population should be free to move wherever they wish and work at whatever they choose.  Labor needs to be paid a living wage or salaries and have labor unions and other protective mechanisms and legislation in place.  Farmers need to own their land, be supported by infrastructure and bank loans, proper legislation and process regarding return of confiscated land.
Free trade.  At the moment Burma has no option but export-led growth, in spite of the world economic recession.  Agricultural commodities would remain major exports while another attempt is made at an industrial revolution.  Rice acreage should be increased and self-sufficiency in edible oils encouraged.  To promote competitiveness, import duties should be reduced.
Set up a stock exchange.  Encourage domestic saving and foreign investment – not only foreign corporations investing in Burma, but also the small Burmese saver/investor allowed to invest overseas.
State (public) ownership should be minimized, especially small scale private enterprises should be encouraged and supported.
State-owned enterprises
The new style oligarchs:  UMEHL (Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited)  mainly owned by the military generals and their families, and rich private citizens, need to be regulated by anti-monopoly or anti-trust laws. Ordinary citizens should be allowed to do more.  These should be combined with anti-corruption and labor protection laws which are actually implemented.  A free press will help.
The CRPP warns these oligarchs or "comrades", also called pariah capitalists, need to be carefully watched.   Those given contracts or import/export permits have become very wealthy.  Those with projects for 5000 acres or more will have permission to carry out the projects for 30 years, and will be allowed to export half their rice produce legally.  CRPP warns that people will forge statistics.  The "comrades" will also get other special privileges and loans.  Authorities plan to allocate large tracts of land and have already assigned tens of thousands of acres in some townships.
Take legal action against the worst of predatory entrepreneurs or land grabbers. This is something a new interim government must do.  Work out deals with some in exchange for political and economic freedoms and guarantees.  The playing field should be level.
Set up Special Economic Zones
The global economy is in Recession (China included) and China is moving from export-led growth to domestic demand-led growth, what should Burma do? The answer is, Burma is not China and has no sizeable domestic market in terms of both purchasing power and population size.  It also is not yet an industrialized nation.  So it will still have to continue to rely on manufactured exports. Save what is left and rebuild natural resources, including forests, water resources and bio-diversity.  Some of this exploitation and environmental degradation may be irreversible.  It may take decades to revive the Irrawaddy Delta.
D.      Security Review
35.       Burma has no external enemies and yet has had an on-going civil war since 1947, the longest in the world.  There are white areas, gray areas and black areas based on the security level.  There is major narco-trafficking.  There are ceasefire groups and non-ceasefire groups and paramilitaries.  The large number of internally displaced and the continuous outflow of refugees into all the neighboring countries since 1962 attests to the fact that the security situation is severely eroded.  Civilian control of the military is important and needs to be instituted immediately.
36.       The CRPP Policy Vision stresses civilian control of the military.  It states that (civilian appointed) chief of armed forces "needs consideration whether the position should be on a par with the senior-most personnel in other ministries or not."  It proposes time limits on the post of Supreme Commander.  "The State Defense and Security Council is to take over for the Directorate of Military Intelligence.  .  .  .  The Defense must be of a high standard, modern, honorable and ready to protect Democracy and be at one with the People."
Since the end of World War II Burma has had no external enemies.  Despite that it has the largest army in S.E. Asia, and with money from drugs and natural gas exports, it has built up and is likely to equip it further.
37.       Size of army – reduce size of army.  The Burmese army is variously estimated as having 300 to 350,000 to 500,000 personnel (400,000 combat troops).  This is much larger than is required for Burma's external security, highlighting the obvious, that it is configured by the SPDC's need to stifle internal opposition and run a military-dominated state.  Slimming down the army will also improve the budget.   If there is significant political change, individuals may voluntarily move out of the army.
38.       The Army and its officers are above the law and have extensive economic holdings.  There is rank inflation and cronyism on a vast scale, combined with corruption due to absolute power.
39.       A positive approach will acknowledge the role of the military as an important institution of the state in nation building.  It must work in conjunction with an elected democratic government and itself acknowledge that other groups also have important roles to play.
Democratization can be done phase by phase with the cooperation of the military without damaging the stability of the country and unity of all ethnic nationalities. The Burmese military needs to understand that it can do power-sharing or give up power and return to the barracks and have a good role in society as well as avoiding a violent sunset.  The economy would also grow faster and bigger.  In Brazil the army gave up power voluntarily and has since achieved successful transition under several civilian presidents and has had high economic growth, even though the civil-military relationship fluctuated over several presidencies.  The army will not give up power in one dramatic step.  Small steps are more feasible.
Sharing of responsibilities among the elected politicians, technocrats experienced in governance and nation-building, and military leaders is the best option for national reconciliation.
40.       There needs to be a New Professional Army
Modernization of the Tatmadaw will be one of the key agendas in nation-building. Military exchange programs with other military academies and further studies for officers on defense and security in universities of developed countries will be arranged
Welfare of the disabled, retired military personnel and remaining family members of those who sacrificed their lives will be taken care of by the State.
A special commission composed of democratic watch groups, citizens' groups, NLD etc. will examine eligibility for pensions.  There needs to be a totally transparent process; anyone can attend the hearings (open door.)
Prepare to contribute forces for international peace and security, send forces to join UN Peace- Keeping Forces in accordance with the obligation Burma made at the UN.  This should be after the existing military has been re-structured and transformed into a professional army.  The curricula at the Defense Academy and Hmawbi Officers' Training should be re-tooled to reflect democratic values.  The corporate culture of the existing military has to be changed.  It would be disastrous if the present average soldiers who have been given the license to rape, loot and mistreat population were unleashed to "help in peace-keeping or disaster relief."
Upgrade skills for natural disaster relief and emergency humanitarian operations, domestically as well as internationally.
Competent, properly trained, non-lethal and non-thuggish riot control which stresses doing the least harm, preventing death and leaving escape routes open.
True volunteer recruitment rather than the forced "recruitment" (kidnappings) taking place right now.
No children in the army.  Existing or former child soldiers to be given counseling and job placement help.
Reduce the military budget and as a percentage of total budget expenditures.  Insist that all expenditures are shown in the budget.  Go through budget headings and review line by line so that each expenditure item is placed under the correct heading.  Most probably many military related items are either not shown in the budget or are disguised under other budget headings or ministries.  Total transparency is necessary.
Separation of the Police and the Army
Police should be under the Civilian Minister of Home Affairs.
Military Businesses should be truly privatized or auctioned off.
Judiciary System for Military Personnel – military courts with civilian legal oversight and open court hearings.  The importance of this cannot be overemphasized.
The composition of the National Security Council.  It must include civilian experts on the military and retired army personnel with proven track records of belief in democracy.  The NLD's U Tin Oo would be the ideal chairperson for this.  We need to cultivate more people like U Tin Oo.
The composition of the National Intelligence Agencies (Administrative Structure and role of Bureau of Military Security Affairs (MI), Special Branch (SB), should be reviewed by an independently appointed commission.
The appointment of military officers as bureaucrats in Government Ministries and State owned enterprises should be reviewed by an independently appointed commission.  Their numbers should be minimized as generally they know nothing about the businesses/departments they supposedly run.
Promotion and Appointments in the Army especially appointment of Chiefs of Staff, Regional Commanders and the rank of General and above should be set by the Union Government composed of elected civilian leaders and military professionals.
E.       National Reconciliation
41.     At present the military junta is a pariah among nations in the U.N. and the international community.  Relations may be described as ultra-nationalistic or xenophobic and paranoid on the part of the SPDC, and cautiously optimistic on the part of the international diplomatic and democratic community.  Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have always said they are willing to engage in dialog, so long as it is meaningful.
Within Burma the army is severely estranged from the rest of society, which it probably assumes to be its enemies, in the traditional Burmese way in which government is one of the main five enemies of the individual.  The people meanwhile are engaged in activism and confrontation (a small minority) and in avoidance and escape in a physical as well as a mental sense.  The Burmese diaspora consists of large numbers of Burmese overseas living as refugees, stateless persons, asylees and as legal migrants or workers.
42.     Any new interim government based on power-sharing needs to
·            Make reconciliation internationally and domestically a priority.
·            Promote an atmosphere of trust and goodwill.
·            Come to some recognition of wrongs committed and some form of closure, perhaps through Truth and Reconciliation processes.
·            Attempt to achieve closure through symbolic, ceremonial and religious events and monuments.
43.    The CRPP recommends
·            To protect the interests of those who lost their lives and their families, necessary laws must be enacted and suitable provisions made for guarantees.
·            Directives, advice, speeches, views and declarations made by Bogyoke Aung San .  .  .  must be given special attention.
·            After careful consideration of the country's economic development, progress in science and technology and human resources, a defense force appropriate in size must be established.
·            It is important to stay within budget constraints.  Everything will not be accomplished at once, but will go step by step.  Parliament will be the arbiter of the methods to be applied and the tasks to be undertaken.
·            There must be only one defense force.
·            Review officer recruitment to build up a youthful force with excellent quality, high standards – a modern and dignified officer corps.
·            Modern top quality weapons and other equipment.
·            Training.
·            Women in the armed forces.  Appropriate training, protection of women in the forces.
Human Security
Human security has many aspects such as internal security, domestic security, property security, intellectual security, food security etc.  In this Plan we focus on the main issues.
44.  Release of Political Prisoners, Return of Refugees and Displaced Persons and future security of those persons
Immediately release unconditionally all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience including Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo. Establish Rule of Law and an Independent Judiciary to guarantee Human Rights and the political participation of the People.  Rule of Law means respect for Human Rights, Separation of Powers based on an Independent Parliamentary System, Judiciary and Courts, bound by Law with recognition of separate legal systems.
Establish and enforce norms, standards and procedures required for efficient and equitable functioning of the economy. Ensure transparency of these norms, standards, and procedures. Increase terms of service and security of tenure for Government staff.
Create a professional civil service.
Provide public goods such as a good education and health care system, agricultural research pertinent to farmers. In the government budget, spend more social services, health and education, safe water supply, and sanitation. Create an environment conducive to the growth of civil society.
Ensure Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights. Ensure free availability of all official, local and international documents, free and open Internet Access.
Set up an appropriate legal framework to assure the independence of the public media. There can be no policy as process without a public which is able, free, and well-supported by Law originating from the People  participate in social change.
45.       Human security in the agricultural sector:  Growing food is life and death
The farmer is not a rice-eating robot.
One third of rural households are landless.
Citizens of Burma have no land rights.
Ownership of land is vested in the state.
Farmers are forced to grow certain crops.
F.       Return of Refugees and Displaced Persons in a New Administration, when Conditions are Normalized
46.       There are estimated to be over 703,000 refugees and displaced persons, of which about 203,000 are refugees living in mainly Thailand and Bangladesh with another 500,000 displaced persons mainly in eastern Burma.
Voluntary return and reintegration would be the best and most durable solution for this population, which has been in a state of protracted displacement. For this to happen conditions needs to be in place for a safe and dignified return and the displaced persons need assurances of their physical safety before eventually opting to return.
47.       Concept of "DDR" -- Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of the Military
A transition to democracy will involve a reduction in the nearly half a million strong Burmese army.  Both the dismissed troops as well as the country’s armed ethnic resistance groups add to the proliferation of weaponry.  Any plan for peace must include provisions for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants.
Disarmament will be crucial to maintaining internal and regional stability. Arms that are not repossessed by government or destroyed may end up fueling conflicts in neighboring states,  entering the black market, increasing weapon proliferation, general instability and organized crime and the number of dacoits (brigands).
A DDR plan must provide a structured program of education and vocational training, to facilitate ex-combatants’ socio-economical re-integration into society.
Because demobilization and reintegration is extremely resource intensive, it will be important to secure long-term commitment by the international community, both financially and politically, to a process that often takes years.  Since the arms market straddles borders, a regional approach is necessary. A successful program needs to be integrated with broader development and peace-building.
·            De-mining for safety in the affected areas.
·            A framework of international principles and humanitarian conditions that would provide the basis for return and reintegration.
·   Formation of a national DDR commission which includes all relevant parties, UN, country donors, the new government etc..
·  Development of a comprehensive, efficient and safe arms management program
The disarmament of Burma’s armed groups must be proportional, fair and transparent.
·            Information campaign on repatriation on both sides of the border; “go and see” visits and “come and tell” visits in order to promote repatriation.
·            Creation of a system of transitional assistance for the demobilized
Demobilization sites must be safe and accessible. Ex-combatants will be informed of the demobilization process, given advice and information, and receive medical screening.
Reinsertion assistance must address ex-combatants’ immediate basic needs of food, clothing, medical treatment and transportation.
·            Technical and other material assistance for the repatriation process including reinforcement of human resources, necessary infrastructure, logistics and communication.
·            Development of educational, vocational, and reconciliation programs to assist in reintegration.  Programs should provide information, counseling and referral on education, health services, and job opportunities. Capacity building activities such as courses and workshops.
·            Assistance towards a successful reintegration.  Donor mobilization to support repatriation and reintegration.  Some co-ordination and umbrella organizations already exist.
·            Special groups, such as women, children, young adults, disabled or chronically ill individuals, should be given focused support.
·            Creation of institutions to deal with land distribution and property rights for ex-combatants.  Resolution of legal issues e.g. land disputes for people returning to their communities.
·            Restorative methods and activities.
48.    Recommendations for Human Security
·            Immediately cease violations of housing, land, and property, arbitrary confiscation of land, labor, and property and forcible eviction and displacement of individuals
·            Ensure legal framework to return farmers to their arbitrarily confiscated land.
·            Ensure housing, land, and property rights (customary law) are addressed consistently with international human rights law.  Protect equal rights of marginalized landless groups, ethnic minorities, women and children.
·            Ratify international human rights treaties. Embed these standards into national legislation and implement them.
·            Enshrine the United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution (The Pinheiro Principles) in national legislation. Create legal and other mechanisms guaranteeing the rights of displaced persons to voluntarily return safely and with dignity.
·            Establish a national land research centre to develop a comprehensive land policy in consultation with farmers, ethnic communities and scholars, to address land tenure systems.  To adjudicate among the many conflicting claims on land, create a system of compensation or/and re-establishment on land.  Land policy needs to be transparent and based on clearly-defined principles and guidelines.
·            Legislate land and property ownership rights for security of tenure, assurance that a farmer's improvements on land will not be lost, cost of capital improvements can be recovered when land is sold, and land can be used to secure loans.
·            Create clear, precise legislation for land ownership, land use, land transfer, and enforcement of legal claims to land in dispute. Full community participation in the settlement of land issues is crucial.
·            Consider rights to water to prevent over-exploitation from small-scale borehole or river extraction.
Restitution
49.       Land needs to be returned to the rightful owners.  As the rightful owners are now landless in cities, in neighboring countries or dead, with fragmented families, especially after Cyclone Nargis, how do we bring them back?  Who or which international organization will help in this?  In the past, the International Organization for Migration has been accused of Human Rights violations by Human Rights Watch.  In Thailand and India, UNHCR papers afford little protection and migrant laborers, though now "legalized" suffer severe and strenuous work conditions, have restricted freedom of movement and are often restricted to the industrial area (Maha Chai), fishery or agricultural areas.  Abuse at employers' hands is severe and widespread.  Many are overworked, not paid enough and not given enough private time (reportedly, only half a day per week.)
In the advent they can't go home yet, or it would be unsafe to do so, or they don't want to, it is not right that they be forced to go back.  Refugees in border camps have been in limbo for over 20 years.  This needs to be combined with states' and ethnic rights in Burma.
There are also the internally displaced, some orphaned, estimated at 1 million in 2001, now likely to be more.  How can the fact of their displacement be addressed and they be given their own place back?
50.       Health and Education
Both the Burmese health and education sectors have been declining since 1962 and the beginning of military central control in Burma and combined with the central control mentality of the military are now in a deplorable state.  There is a virtual two track system in both sectors in which specialized and expensive, sometimes private health care or education, or the possibility of health care and education overseas is available for the power holders, while everyone else gets an equal amount of non-care or non-education.
·            There needs to be universal health care (as in China, barefoot doctors etc) and basic 5-10 years of education for everyone.
·            We do not have time or space in this report to spell out all the health and education sector reforms that are necessary for a functioning democracy in this Plan.
·            Even without system or regime change, health and education sector reforms can be carried out.  However it is unlikely they will be carried out so long as the power relationships are asymmetrical and there is no freedom of expression, accountability, Rights and transparency.
·            Burma's political culture needs a drastic change and this can be best carried out in the education sector.
Conclusions
51.       We in the Burmese Democracy Movement, including the National League for Democracy, have a truly Democratic Vision and Plan, have always had one, and if a power-sharing arrangement can be negotiated, we also know how to proceed at once.  Burma specialists, exiles and the NLD and others inside have been working on these ideas consistently since as early as 1993.
The de facto territorial integrity of a poor, weak and divided nation should not be taken for granted.  Civil wars might reappear (they are re-merging).  Regional security and stability, the regional environment and well-being is being compromised.  Only guaranteed Human Rights, Ethnic Rights, Rule of Law and sustained economic growth can put an end to the zero or negative sum mentality that poisons possibilities of compromise and co-operation.  Such development includes political change and would require internal reforms as well as external support.
Any gain for the democracy forces does not necessarily mean a loss for the Burmese military.  All parties need to see that if the entire economy grows, even with (limited) power sharing, the net gain could be much more than it is now.  Both sides need to abandon the military model or paradigm of win-loss and move towards negotiation and power sharing which would be mutually beneficial.  This could be a win-win situation for both sides.
Power sharing is possible.  It is not a zero sum game but can be a growing economic pie.  Everyone is likely to do better in a developing political economy.
We hope this Strategic Action Plan will be of use in negotiations for the Freedom of Burma and the Burmese People asit moves to a democratic system and a market economy.
Posted by Kyi May at 8:50 PM No comments:
Newer Posts Older Posts Home
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Burma Aung San Suu Kyi Rohingya Kyi May Kaung Obama Chinese copper mine genocide India George R.R. Martin Kanlaon poetry white phosphorus Thein Sein so-called reforms Arakan Black Rice Rangoon crackdown Ai Wei Wei K.M. Kaung human rights China Wolf art copper mine democracy monks writing Burmese Cambodia Dr Maung Zarni Min Ko Naing Myanmar USA VOA anti-Muslim violence human rights abuses junta novella political prisoners power transition AAPPB Buddhism Charles Dickens Gordon H. Luce Human Rights Watch Kachin Kachin genocide Letpadaung Taung Rwanda Saffron Revolution fantasy literature phony reforms reforms sanctions Aida Argo BP Gaza Generation 88 Graham Greene International Gallerie Iraq Israel Maung Zarni Muslim My Personal Artist Rangoon University S. Africa She-Monkey goes West Song of Ice and Fire Thailand The Next Big Thing U Win Tin UN US-Burma Policy Verdi conflict diversity education fiction food gun control movie noir sci fi writer writers 1982 law 2007 A Time to Betray Academy of American Poets Afghanistan Air Bagan Amadeus America Anna Karenina Anthropologist Bagan Berlin Bina Sarkar Ellias Burmese junta Burmese poetry DC Darfur Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Egypt Franz Kline George Orwell George R R Martin George Soros Harry Crews Hutu James Joyce Joseph Anton KNU Kachin Independence Army Kachin War Kaman Khin Ohmar Ko Ko Thett Kyi M. Kaung Lincoln Little Dorrit Mandalay Mar Mar Aye Mayor of the Roses Michelle Obama Min Wae Aung Mrs Clinton Mun Awng Nazi Nehru New York Times Nora Rowley Pakistan Petraeus President Thein Sein Pyu RFA Sandy Hook School shootings Singapore Thein Sein fraud Tolstoy Tomas Ojea Quintana Tony Kushner Tutsi U Gambira U Kaung W Burma Wall Street Journal William Carlos Williams Prize artist audio books burned burns censorship crime novel crony development ethnic strife firebombs flowers fracking generals human trafficking installations internet land grabs love poems movies murder music opera orchids painting plane crash poem protests publishing rockets satellite images self-publishing twitter war words 1984 1988 2004 2008 Constitution 2011 8-8-88 A Christmas Carol A Feast for Crows A Feast of Snakes A canticle for St. Leibowitz AIDS AIDS awareness ASEAN ASEM ASI Aaron Brown Afghanistan. Kevin Powers Al Jazeera Al Quaeda Alexander the Great Algeria Alina Cho All Burma Students Democratic Front (North) Alley Theater. American Sniper American foreign policy Andrew Lam Angeld in America Angelina Jolie Anne Hathaway Anthropologie Apartheid Arafat Archbishop Desmond Tutu Ashin Gambira Ashley Fontaine Audible.com August Wilson Aun Aung Naing Oo Aung San Aunty A. Australia Australian National University Ayuthia Azar Nafisi BBC TV host BBC4 Bacolod Bagan Air Bakersfield Bali Bangalore Ben Affleck Bengali Benghazi attack Bette Middler Bill Gates Bishop Desmond Tutu Bollywood Border Minister Brahmi Brahmins British royals Broadcasting Board of Governors Broadwell Bruce Chatwin Bur Burma Historical Commission Burma Partnership Burma. China Burmese academy awards Burmese delegate Burmese pop Burmese singer CIA Factbook CNN Cairo Cambodian Catholicism Chiangmai Chin China-based hackers Chines workers Chinese activist Chinese imports to USA Chinese one child policy Chinese zodiac Chris Kyle Chronicle of Philanthropy Civil War Co. Ba Shin Coco Chanel Colin Firth Cristine Lagarde Critical Path Crosslands DKBA DVT Damini Daniel Day Lewis David Austin Roses David Ensor David Hammons Daw Tee Tee Luce Daw Than E Fend (Aunty Dora) Daw Thin Kyi Death Railway Death be not Proud Diane Rehm Dictator Watch Doha Dr Dr Ma Thida Dr. Ho. Literary Traveler Dr. Wakar ud Din Dublin Dune Dupont Elizabeth Barrett Browning F. Murray Abraham FBI genocide tip line Faiz Ahmad faiz Faiz Ahmed Faiz - International Gallerie Fang Xianghai Fantin Latour First dog Bo Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Fulbright Gandhi Generation 1988 Getty Images Goebbels Grendel Grit Lit Gulf oil spill H. Masud Taj HRDP Hamas Harman Tarnower Heho Herculaneum Hillary Clinton Himal Hirschorn Hirshhorn Museum Hla Shwe Hollywood Homebody Kabul Howard Goldblatt Huong Hurricane Sandy IFC IMF Ian Buruma Indian gang rape victim Infosys IngSoc Inquiry Commission International Criminal Court International Day of Protest International Gallerie - poetry Iran hostage rescue Irrawaddy Magazine Isreal Italy Jamaica James Byrne James M. Cain James O'Brien Jason Mraz Jean Harris Jenalyn Jim McNalis John Donne John Gardner John Key John Pruden John Swifton John Williams Jonathan Yardley Judge Woolsey's decision Julia June Jura K. M. Kaung KIA Kaladan Project Kashmir Kathryn Jensen. Kaung Kawhmu Township Kaythwe Keanu Reeves Ken Kesey Khalil Gibran Khin Maung Aye Khin Nyunt Kirov Ballet Ko Nyo Ko Pyone Cho Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda Kyaukhpyu Kyaukpadaung Lady Shri Ram College Laiza Land of Green Ghosts Laura Bush Laurie Maund Lebanon Les Mix LetpadanTang Loh Longwood Gardens Lord of the Rings Louise Gluck MI6 Magsaysay Prize Manti Teo Marcia Clark Marianne Villanueva Mark Bojanowski Marlene Dietrich Marley's ghost Marshalsea Marshalsea Prison Martin Luther Matt Damon Maung Za Maureen Aung Thwin Medicins Sans Frontieres Metropolitan Opera Mexico Michael Jackson Michael Morpango Minitru Mizzima Mo Yan Monkey Monument Books Monument Books and Toys Mossad Mumbai Mutt Mya Aye NPR NRA Nalanda Naomi Lazard National Geographic Navy Seal Nay Hpone Latt Ne Win New Dehli rape victim New Year resolutions New Year's resolution New York New Zealand Newtown Nicholas Asfouri Nobel Laureate Norwegian Burma Council O J Simspn O'Brien One Flew over the cuckoo's Nest Orhan Pamuk Oscar Pistoriuus Oscar night Oscars Oslo PR Pagan Pallava Pascal Khoo Thwe Peace Mural Pegu Club Penguin Pertraeus Peter Jackson Peter Shaffer Philadelphia Placido Domingo Pompeii Potemkin Politics Pragmatism Pranburi President Obama Prince Jackson Proect Guttenberg Promised Land R K Nara yan Rangoon. Reith Lectures Reza Reza Khalili Riva Robert Karniol Roland Watson Rudyard Kipling Russia Russian oligarch Ruth Thaler-Carter Saatchi on line Sai Win Kyaw Saideh Pakravan Salmon Rushdie Sandy Hook Sangha Metta Sao nai Kham Sashi Tharoor Saung Oo Hlaing Scallion Shoot Scarsdale Scott Schuman Scrooge Secret Service Shaman Shan Shan States Sho Nyo Tun Thein Shwe Gas Shwe Htee Sir Thomas More SkyeNet TV Song of Fire and Ice Soros Southern Writers Sri Lankan cuisine Staten Island Stephen Daedelas Steven Spielberg Straits Times Sue Menger Suez Canal Sultan of Brunei Susan Rice Sydney University Szechwan earthquake Tay Za Tee Tee Luce Thai The Blue Angel The Child The Dalai Lama The Dog Fighter The Hobbit The King's Speech The Promised Land The Prophet The Sartorialist The Yellow Birds Thierry Falise Thit Poke Pin tree Tibet Tolkien Tom Gjelton Toni Morrison Tony Hoagland Travels with My Aunt Triumphal March Trocks Turks UN Human Rights Rapporteur UNICEF US Army US Emabssy US economy University of Brunei Usha Narayan VOA. President Obama Vietnam Voice of America W. S. Merwin War Horse War and Peace Western Burma White House Winston Smith Wolf Blitzer Year of Snake a abstract expressionism adverbs air crash aircraft carrier airport all male alleged rape ancient times anti-AIDS awareness apologies appoms arrests in Burma arts arts cv assassination asylum atrocities attacks auction awards. ballet behavior black list blade runner blog statistics blogger blogs blood clot bombers book cataloging books bookshelf box office breakthrough bride sourcing brush stroke brutal crackdown bunker bureaucracy burned areas burning bus business calligraphy calmpdoown cancer cataloging cave ceasefire cemetery cerebral malaria change children children of political prisoners clampdowm clampdown climate change clothes cock fighting collages colonial era colonialism concentration camp concert conservation content mills copyright corndogs corpse craft of writing crakdown crash creative writing critique groups crony businessmen cure cybersecurity cymbidium daily life deadly debtors' prison deep burns design dinosaur footprints disease resistance divorce dog hair dog pee doubts drinking drugs economics economy educational exchanges elections embroidery endorsement epiphany ethnic card ethnic cleansing ethnic conflict extreme risk eye witness fake book reviews fake pills fashion father fire fire bomb fire bombs fiscal cliff followers forestry reform frangipani free lance writer freedom friends funny transliteration future gang rape gardeing garden deisg gems ghosts great powers ground war guerilla marketing gun controls guns helicopter gunships. ceasefire history hoax home homeland homosexuality hostages human rights treaty illustration images iman impersonating importance of poetry incendiary insurance international condemnation jet fighters. Kachin journeys khon kiwi knitting - Aung San Suu Kyi labor unions lambast land-grabbing lethal injection liar light bulb moment literary novels litmus test logo longyi looters machetes magazine malaria manslaughter manton de Manila masks mass shootings memoir microfinance middle finger minorities misrule monks. demonstrations mother movie theaters mural music video neligence new heroes nominees nor'easter novel nuclear obit oil opportunity cost organizing one's life orphans outsourcing palanquin photojournalism pimp pipeline platform play plays plotting a novel politics popcorn population density porn pornography praise prank call prescription drugs present presentations price gouging priests prison memoir prisoners private school propaganda prostitution protestors proverbs rabbit confit racial racism rain rape raped of children rare earth reforms. ethnic strife refugee refugees refugees. reincarnation resistance retirement community right roman noir romance novelist rose ruins said sailing season satire save scenery screen printing sculpture security clearance sedan chair segregation self censorship self editing self immolations self publishing severe organ failure sex ed shawl shooter shotgun significant events silence silk slaves social networks social work socially engages Buddhism spam spy chief stage plays stress success sudden realization sunrise superagent survivor system teachers teak tech issues tensions tenured professor text the USA. skin color the city the individual the lady the novel the right not to conform the structure of a play timber totalitarianism trains transliteration travel tsunami tweet tycoons unemplyment university villages violence vital signs walmart wat weedy garden witch women zero growth
Blog Archive
►  2017 (24)
►  January (24)
▼  2016 (902)
►  December (143)
►  November (163)
►  October (230)
►  September (81)
►  August (85)
▼  July (62)
Open message to Yangon Heritage Trust--
Floral tribute for 19th July 1947,
Secretariat Building where Bogyoke Aung San and Ca...
Military blog for Burma--I know nothing about it--...
Major archaeological find--S Burma--Pyu site--
Posts on my Facebook page--
be careful in transliterating any language--these ...
New post--nearly complete translation of Daw Si Si...
Full text + English translation--The Return of one...
Kawii (old wise man's) return home by Si Si Thwe i...
Quote of yesterday--from 2009 NCGUB's Our Vision O...
NCGUB--Our Vision Our Plan-- later called Plan for...
NCGUB--Our Vision Our Plan from 2009--Economics Po...
New book on Burma--2015--
Ne Win: A Political Biography, by Robert Taylor--...
Szechwan Dan Dan Noodles--maybe what Mao ate--
Also based on a real life story--A man was not kil...
Stories from the Burma-Thai Border--based on real ...
Please do buy this and review it on line--it is a ...
My novella The Rider of Crocodiles--by Kyi May Kau...
Jeff Bezos passes Warren Buffett to become third r...
See No Evil by former CIA operative Robert Baer--2...
From Robert Baer wiki--See No Evil--
Setting up the human origins exhibit at the Museum...
Burmese history time line--
Downton Abbey TV series episodes--
Book review--Kin Oung--Who really killed Aung San?...
Kyi May Kaung--articles and poetry in Foreign Poli...
Stories by K. M.Kaung
Stories from Kyi May Kaung
Burmese genocide of Rohingya--a subset of Burmese ...
Institutionalized violence, RFK, Bill Moyers, Wali...
Printed fabrics--my design.
My booth at Craft Fair--2015--KMKaung
Poem for the day--from Palestinian-born poet Mahmo...
Michael Dorris--Native American writer
Native American writers--
Native-American writers--
App that transforms your photos to paintings in di...
"new democratic Aung San Suu Kyi/NLD facade govern...
Fighting in Hsipaw Shan States, Burma-- this is "d...
Burma--from 2009, but now all our fears are realiz...
Re posting--Director (movies) Win Pe interviews Dr...
John Lennon's Imagine
In Burmese--elephant poachers--
Found poem--one elephant poacher caught, 3 on the ...
Obit of Kengtung (Shan) (Burma) royalty--
Quote--from Harriet Jacobs--Life of a Slave Girl--...
The Dictator gynecologist-- a poem
Burmese Brutality Gallery--
The Buddhist doctrine of Impermanence or Anicca fr...
All 66 of the books I have reviewed on Amazon--
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin--
My collection of 3 novellas--Home is Where? By K M...
Novella by K M Kaung--Black Rice--
Novella by K.M.Kaung, The Rider of Crocodiles
Clovis stone age tool kit on review at CU Boulder-...
A highly positive review of my novella The Lovers,...
Daw Aung San Suu Kyo becoming the fall gal of the ...
►  June (11)
►  April (27)
►  March (35)
►  February (22)
►  January (34)
►  2015 (377)
►  December (17)
►  November (23)
►  October (29)
►  September (44)
►  August (26)
►  July (36)
►  June (39)
►  May (53)
►  April (33)
►  March (23)
►  February (37)
►  January (17)
►  2014 (543)
►  December (21)
►  November (37)
►  October (34)
►  September (52)
►  August (28)
►  July (34)
►  June (53)
►  May (61)
►  April (47)
►  March (51)
►  February (57)
►  January (68)
►  2013 (805)
►  December (52)
►  November (40)
►  October (59)
►  September (49)
►  August (46)
►  July (36)
►  June (56)
►  May (83)
►  April (77)
►  March (117)
►  February (104)
►  January (86)
►  2012 (911)
►  December (95)
►  November (173)
►  October (240)
►  September (78)
►  August (18)
►  July (41)
►  June (78)
►  May (71)
►  April (37)
►  March (21)
►  February (38)
►  January (21)
►  2011 (444)
►  December (21)
►  November (19)
►  October (14)
►  September (32)
►  August (45)
►  July (33)
►  June (39)
►  May (59)
►  April (57)
►  March (47)
►  February (32)
►  January (46)
►  2010 (642)
►  December (66)
►  November (38)
►  October (44)
►  September (22)
►  August (58)
►  July (72)
►  June (38)
►  May (62)
►  April (87)
►  March (29)
►  February (57)
►  January (69)
►  2009 (628)
►  December (53)
►  November (66)
►  October (40)
►  September (50)
►  August (40)
►  July (46)
►  June (45)
►  May (54)
►  April (99)
►  March (71)
►  February (23)
►  January (41)
►  2008 (585)
►  December (51)
►  November (24)
►  October (63)
►  September (56)
►  August (50)
►  July (22)
►  June (47)
►  May (94)
►  April (40)
►  March (36)
►  February (31)
►  January (71)
►  2007 (368)
►  December (66)
►  November (78)
►  October (81)
►  September (47)
►  August (33)
►  July (6)
►  June (17)
►  May (13)
►  April (11)
►  March (10)
►  February (3)
►  January (3)
►  2006 (11)
►  December (4)
►  November (3)
►  October (4)
Of Cabbages and Kings
Abby's blog on Cambodia
Abstract art.com archive
Aegis Trust - preventing war crimes
Agent Query
Algonkian Writers Conferences
All about birds - Cornell Ornithology Lab
All Burma Students I.T. Union
Allen Say's books for children
American Buddhist
American Meadows plants and seeds
American Society of Appraisers (Art etc)
American University Student Campaign for Burma
Angkor Silk Farm - Siem Reap
Antique roses
Arif Iqball - Travel and Photography
Arizona Beetles and Bugs, Birds site
Art of Patience Free Burma
art- photo site - beautiful
Artisans at Rocky Hill
Ashin Kovida -- Buddhist blog
Ashin Sopaka -- Burmese activist monk
Ashok Banker -- Indian writer
Asia Pacific Forum
Asia Pacific site
Asian American Poetry
Asian Review of Books on the Web
Aung Din's blog
Australian Aboriginal Painters
Balinese -- betutu recipes
Bayinnaung -- 16th century Burmese king and history -- paper by T. Kaung
Bent on Books - blog of literary agent Jenny Bent
Best American Poetry - Blog
Best Friend - Burmese Monks of Saffron Revolution
Betty Pomarede
Betty Pomarede -- artist
Black Woman Writing --
Bob Hudson on Bagan (Pagan) -- old city
Book promo blog
BookLit -- free reviews
Brecks plants
Buddha Charithaya -- Buddha's Life Story
Buddhist Peace Fellowship (Socially Engaged Buddhism)
Buffalo Bayou Arts Alliance - Facebook page
Burma Blog -- Englishdeyeanews
Burma Blog -- Richard Bacon
Burma Economic Watch
Burma myanmar genocide
Burma News International
Burma News Network
Burma Newsladder
Burma Partnership (AAPPB)
Burma Sitmone (War Hater)
Burma's nuclear ambitions - Robert Kelly report 2010
Burma's origins - Pyu homeland
Burma: An Electronic Scrapbook
Burmese Bloggers w/o Borders
Burmese Flowers
Burmese photographer Ye Lwin Oo
Burmese Rebel blog - non-fiction - unrelated to my novel of same name
Business and Human Rights
Cambodia -- Galen Frysinger photos
Cambodia journal -- Travis Welch
Canadian Friends of Burma
Capital Fashionista
Carl Parkes -- Frisco Dude
CCTV - China Central TV from PRC and Conroy, TX.
Chapati Mystery -- Pakistani American Blog
Chicago Indie Bookstores
Committee to Protect Bloggers
Concrete Bride/Writers Ink
Dairy of a Garden --
Dark Little Poet TX
David Austen roses
David Kilgour- Canadian MP -- site -- Burma interest
DC Moore Gallery NY
Deb Sews -- Kona Bay Asian fabric retailer
Democracy Now
Desert gardening SW roses
Dia Art Foundation
Digital Flower Pictures
Dissident Voice
Down with Tyranny
Dragonfly Restaurant, Ubud, Bali
Driving for Burma
Duotrope fiction submissions free page
Enchanting Eden -- travel blog
Enigma Images (Burma)
Enigma Images --free Burmese political prisoners
fabrics - upholstery
Fictionary -- writing related - author interviews etc
Flemings Flowers - hardy hibiscus
Foodie P - Real Mexican Food
Frameworks -- poetry etc
Free Muse - Shoot the Singer
Freedom Now
Galen Frysinger travel blog
Galley Cat - publishing and writing
Gardener Flower Arranger
George Orwell Collection -- Brown Univ.
Glass -- A Journal of Poetry
Golden Triangle Art -- Burmese & Thai artists
Google Art Project - all the world's great art museums
Google News
Graham Baird Images Burma
Haiti disaster pics
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation
Hildie block writer's blog - one year workshop
Houston Arts Week
Houston gardener
Houston Writers Guild - formerly Fort Bend Writers Group
How to Cite APA style Yahoo search
http://dassk.org/
http://dassk.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=a86b6e86c9b8e8b3394ed45b6ccead48&
http://howardzinn.org/
http://jegsburma.blogspot.com/2009/06/kachin-student-in-coma-after-brutal.html
http://sarahbrowning.blogspot.com/
http://www.asianfortunenews.com/
http://www.borderlinecollective.org/about-borderline/
http://www.chomsky.info/
http://www.eethelbertmiller.com/
http://www.enigmaimages.net/
http://www.fpif.org/
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
http://www.mizzima.com
http://www.opendemocracy.net/
http://www.rebound88.net/
I write like - fun page
I Write Like site -- test a sample of your writing.
Index on Censorship
Indian jewelry
International Campaign for Freedom- Burma-Aung San Suu Kyi
International Scholarships and Financial Aid positions
Irrawaddy Magazine focussed on Burma and SE Asia
James O'Gara Photography
jean pierre blanchard - artist performer
Jebsen Center for Counter Terrorism Studies
JoAnne Growney Poetry with Math Blog
John Shors - novelist - stories set in Asia
Jotman -- Burma Blog --
JUSMAGTHAI - US military HQ in Bangkok, Thailand
Kaungkin or Sky - on line Burmese ezine or lit mag
Ken Follet's free master class in how to write an international thriller
Knockout roses -- floribunda
Kristoffer Anderias Ghavidel - music- Iran
Kyi Kaung Red Room Blog
KyiMayKaungBurmese - my work in Burmese
LA Writers Group
Lace by the Yard
Legal Nomads Blog
Liberal Conspiracy
Linh Dinh - poet political commentator
Literary Rejections on Display
London Book Fair
London Review of Books
Lotusland, Santa Barbara CA
Lunn Studios Sculpture and Fabrics
Mandala Desa in Bali
Maverick Press -- socially conscious publishers
MD Writers Association
Mr Smith World Photography
Mr. Balance -- Burmese Blog
Mrs-O.org -- blog follows Michelle O's fashions
Museum of American Poetics
Myanmar News Blog
New Pages dot Com - small mags to submit to
New Zero Art Gallery, Rangoon, Burma
Nimrod International Journal
Non-conformist blog
Not on Our Watch -- George Clooney, Brad Pitt et al
NY Burma Round Table
On the Road -- in Iran etc
Our Shared World
Padauk Pan -- DC based Burma Activist Group
Panties for Peace
Patty McPhee, poetry and sculpture
Peajaypee Blog
Pemmican - on line magazine of political poetry
Pen On Fire
Photo journalist/Bali etc
Plant Talk -- Valerie Easton
Poetry and Poets in Rags
Poetry Foundation
Political Sci Fi book list
Poltics and Style
Pulitzer International Center for Crisis Reporting
Quill and Quire
Rants and Ramblings -- Rachelle Gardner
Razzle Dazzle -- a travel site
Readers Views -
Reporters Without Borders -- Handbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents
Resist Inc.
Robert Bateman - environmental artist
Robert Kushner - artist - flowers
Robert Lang's Origami Art
Saatchi Magazine on line
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra free listening gallery
Sandra Buckland's Sculptural Knit Dresses
Sein Lin Singapore Burmese
Silk Felt Soil design blog
Soe Photography Site
Sophie Lwin/Sophie's Choices
Split this Rock - Poetry for Change
Spring Hill Nursery
Star Hagenbring wearable art
State Department Travel Warning guide site
Stephen Soldz -- Psychoanalysts Oppose War
Steve on Burma-Thai Border
Stickwork - Patrick Doherty - scupture - gardens
Stratfor.com - A Strategic Forum
Sunday Times Literary Awards list
Suriya Gallery or Pansuriya Gallery
Thai recipes
Thailand Burma Border Consortium
The Best Friend -- Burmese Monks of Saffron Revolution site
The Economist - magazine's blogs
The Rejector - lit agent's letter opener
The Sartorialist
The Spoof -- satire site
Tidewater Gardener
To Hell with Publishing - uber independent publisher
Tom Parry on developing world
Top Tropicals - Thai & FA based botanicals
Transborder Disaster Management Group
Travel Photographer Blog
Tricycle - American Buddhist Magazine
Tropical Plants
Ty Ty Nurseries -- lilies, rain lilies etc
U.S. Embassy, Rangoon, Burma
Uganda blog
US Botanic Garden
VOA Burmese news magazine -- video
Vyala Art Site
Wang Ping -- Poet
What to pay writers -- rates
Wild River Review Blog
Women in Visual and Literary Arts
world famous gardens
Writers League of Texas
Writing groups --
Writing rates -- what to pay and ask for
Writing World.com - ms formatting etc
xeriscape - low water cold hardy plants + iris
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains some copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000107----000-.html. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Free Feed Counter
Free Web Counters
Picture Window template. Powered by Blogger.