Burmese Language
Dr Zarni: The death of intellectual sympathy
Dr Maung Zarni is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is also an activist, commentator and writer, having founded the Free Burma Coalition in the United States in 1995. He now lives and works in the United Kingdom.
He talks to DVB about the west’s relationship to Burma, delusional international relations, the state of political transition, and anger.
Francis Wade: You’re known to be one of the most outspoken critics of the Burmese government and its allies, and have accused others of tiptoeing around the condemnation it warrants. Why do you feel a need to be somewhat vitriolic?
Dr Maung Zarni: I love your characterisation of my blistering criticisms as “somewhat vitriolic” against those whose views I consider “parasitically expert” or “expertly parasitical”.
To belabour the obvious, I am incredibly angry about what has been happening to my country over the past 50 years. Burma is dying a slow death, by all indications. The more you know the angrier you get. Alas, Western minds are typically incapable of either appreciating this rage over a country’s tragedy but also comprehending any scathing criticism against the “parasitical expert” and other creatures, that make light of our Burmese hell-on-earth.
But this isn’t new. A century ago Rabindranath Tagore obviously had to deal with the same issue: “All the great nations of Europe have their victims in other parts of the world. This not only deadens their moral sympathy but also their intellectual sympathy, which is so necessary for the understanding of races which are not one’s own.”
Here I would simply add that it’s not just Europeans and other westerners who are incapable of understanding this profound rage among the Burmese, but the colonised minds among us can’t appreciate it either.
FW: You have been critical of the EU, and what you see as it’s warming ties with Naypyidaw. Can you provide some context to the EU’s apparent shift?
MZ: The most helpful way to understand the EU is to disaggregate this entity. Instead of thinking of the EU as an enlightened multi-state organisation with humanity’s interests at its organisational heart, each time I hear the word “EU” what springs to mind is not the European peoples, millions of whom are themselves working poor or un- or under-employed, but rather, the word EU conjures up sinister images of Brussels’ Eurocrats in the pockets of European or EU-based corporations and national diplomats whose primary job description is to promote their home countries’ commercial, financial, industrial and security interests in their assigned outposts.
Then there are a myriad of banks, technology exporters, energy firms, insurance companies, large consultancies, development agencies, credit raters, gas and oil extractors, per-diem and commission-hunting experts and so on, who swarm the corridors of the EU’s national capitals, such as London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, Rome, etc.
The EU shift on Burma is first and foremost commercially driven, and against the fact that Burma’s neighbours – such as the Koreans, the Thais, the Chinese, the Indian, the Singaporeans and so on – are raking it in, in resource-rich Burma. Greed-driven, the EU feels no longer justified in pretending to live its official “liberal” humanist values.
Now the European interests are in ready-set-go mode, simply waiting for the whistle. I loved it when Susan George, the head of the Transnational National Institute (TNI), bluntly and truthfully said that EU is nothing more than a mechanism for different European commercial interests, devoid of any redeeming humanistic vision.
FW: Do you feel EU policy is intended to benefit Burmese, or is there an element of self-centredness in it?
MZ: You must be kidding! There are no free lunches in international relations. The EU isn’t staffed with our parents, not even stepfathers! According to a recent BBC documentary, the EU is pushing for relaxing restrictions on blood diamond imports from places like Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Find some of the most horrendous corners of the world, and you will find EU entities cuddling up to tin-point dictators.
So, the EU policy shift and policies are about EU interests, not about my people. Of course, there might be crumbs for the locals as “donors” bring in millions in so-called humanitarian aid to lay the groundwork for their Burma and Southeast Asia-wide commercial and strategic agendas.
To be sure, there are a lot of well-meaning, in-country foreign diplomats, EU officials, development experts, etc., who would like the Burmese people to have a future. Many of them genuinely believe they are promoting public welfare. But ultimately, it is not their good intentions and self-justifications for their own policies and initiatives that count, but the overall outcome of the concrete and impersonal policies and their impact on the historical developments of Burma as a whole.
It is a cliché to repeat here but, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. It is so true when it comes to international operations in Burma. Even Asian diplomats and ASEAN entities that openly coddle the Burmese generals delude themselves into thinking what they are doing is going to help the Burmese in the long run.
FW: Which country has taken this to the farthest extent, and why?
MZ: Obviously, France (with TOTAL Oil) must top the list here, followed by Germany. One of the major pillars of the German economy is Berlin’s ability to create ‘niche markets’ around the world for German industries. Burma, with its estimated 50 million potential consumers, is no small market. For capitalists, no amount of profit is small. The Brits are not so far behind either. More than 40 percent of Britain’s GDP is in the financial sector. British financial firms have never really ceased to operate in Burma, in one disguise or another.
Even the Norwegians and Scandinavians – with an eye on energy and agricultural sectors — are not as innocent as they would like to project themselves in the popular media. As a key consulting agency which drew up the operational plan for the Asian Development Bank-funded GMS energy market creation, the NorConsult, for instance, is deeply implicated in the creation of the integrated energy market within the six-country Greater Mekong Sub-Region.
The energy sector’s projected investment/capital needs for 25 years are about US$ 550 billion. Imagine what the volume of capital (and its return) for two dozen different sectors – from government reforms, infrastructure construction, transport sector, agri-business, tourism, education upgrade, capacity building, etc. – would be.
FW: Among the calls coming from Germany is a softening of sanctions. How would this affect the government and in turn Burmese people?
MZ: At the profoundly psychological level, the immediate impact of EU’s softening of its stance towards the Burmese government would be de-legitimising and marginalising, in effect, the resistance movements, both armed and non-violent, whilst strengthening the regime’s resolve to crush any type of serious resistance, especially from the non-Bama ethnic communities such as the Kachin, the Karen, the Karenni, and the Shan.
At a more material level, the policy softening comes with gradual shifting of support priorities away from the war-torn communities in eastern Burma and the exile organisations which have played a vital role in keeping the flames of resistance alive, with many forms of interaction and support to their comrades inside the country, to the creation of local EU proxies in the name of capacity building and community development.
This is resulting in the NGO-isation of politics in Burma, sucking local human resources into the NGO sector and away from popular resistance. Already we are seeing EU-funded entities such as Myanmar Egress that have become rather influential in promoting an intellectually dishonest and empirically false view – that development in a dictatorial political economy in particular and development in general can be, and is, apolitical.
Incidentally, EU officials and national diplomats from European governments know damn well that the military government allows Egress to act as its public relations proxy. But what the public doesn’t know is that precisely because Egress is linked to the regime in power, the EU entities rush to work with it.
FW: There also appears to be greater interest in Burma from the likes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). What lies behind this?
MZ: The IMF is a banker through and through. It is also the monitor of global financial structures. Save co-operative banks and building societies, I know of no banker or financial organisation in the entire history of finance whose mission it is to promote the interests of the clients.
Out of the ashes of the World War II, the IMF was created by the United States with the purpose of building a global financial system of which the American commercial and financial interests would be the greatest beneficiaries. During the Cold War, Western powers used the IMF and the World Bank as powerful instruments in the fight against the USSR and for building ‘Pax Americana’.
The IMF’s main role in transitional economies or economies on the verge of transition (usually from variously failed leftist political economies) is, in effect, to transform these old systems into new, smoothly functioning building blocks of the global capitalist economy where local assets can be siphoned off into foreign hands. Now in the post-Cold War era, the IMF as the international lender of last resort and “development” banks such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been used to promote the ideology of market fundamentalism, which is that it is the market, not public institutions, which best promote human welfare.
The ADB, for instance, in a politically unstable place like Burma, plays the role of a de facto business guarantor for venture capitalists and other foreign firms, and in many cases serves as a multilateral interlocutor or go-between, between dodgy national governments such as Burma’s and western investors.
I would highly recommend John Perkin’s Confessions of an Economic Hitman for anyone interested in how this sinister world of international finance works.
FW: The government appears to have gone on something of a PR offensive since it came to power, enacting reforms to the media and ostensibly opening up dialogue with the opposition. What do you make of this?
MZ: The regime is definitely benefiting from the advice it has received from Burmese technocrats and politicos, as well as foreign experts and officials, and are doing an incredibly clever job of couching their political patrons and clients.
The power of the West is decidedly on the wane. Western interests, both commercial/financial and national security, are getting desperate to maintain and/or rebuild their foothold in places such as Burma where they made the mistake of privileging liberal humanism over their core economic and geostrategic interests.
This is a bad combination for the Burmese communities because outside interests, such as EU’s, know that the nature of the beast in Naypyidaw remains the same, but they will pretend things are changing for the better as a way of assuaging their own liberal guilt – assuming they feel the guilt at the subliminal level, or not.
The human mind is capable of acting in a twisted fashion. I am sure EU policy makers and strategists will find a moral discourse to justify the fact that they are embracing an essentially neo-totalitarian regime. Burma’s democratic opposition under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi seems to have lost the plot as the freshly minted regime has discovered a winning formula for itself. The real losers are the Bama public and, most especially, the non-Bama communities who live in the resource-rich, war zones of Burma.
FW: Taken in isolation, are there areas of governance that have seen legitimate improvement since last November?
MZ: I cannot think of a single area where there has been a legitimate improvement since the election charade last autumn. The whole governance structure is dysfunctional, pathological, and incapable of improving in a piece-meal fashion. Virtually all important domains of governance are in the hands of military officers or ex-military officers.
These guys are products of the military – a totalitarian institution. Let me put it in the most brutally honest fashion: the military in Burma, both as an institution and as individual officers, are an irredeemable failure; they are ideologically and intellectually un-equipped –not just insufficiently equipped – to build the country as a multiethnic nation.
FW: Fighting continues to rage in the border regions. Does the government have a ‘Final Solution’ for the ethnic minorities?
MZ: You mean as a ‘Final Solution as in Himler’s? I don’t think so. The generals who hold the real levers of power – whatever the outward form of their government – definitely display neo-fascist qualities: racist, militaristic, sexist, megalomaniac, myopically patriotic, and so on.
Naypyidaw is a tin pot dictatorship, unlike Hitler and ‘Tojo’s’ (Japanese imperial government in the 1930′s and 40′s) technologically advanced fascist regimes. Even if it wishes to implement a ‘Final Solution’ in Burma, it lacks the military capabilities to wipe out ethnic minorities. The extremely low quality and morale of the Burmese troops was one of the major factors which forced the Burmese regime to sue for a one-year temporary ceasefire with the Kachin.
The Naypyidaw government will likely seek ways to profit from the conflict politically – if not economically – especially if these smouldering conflicts can be used as a key justification for the military’s lion share of political power and financial resources. That said, I must say the Burmese generals are adept at playing the minorities off against the Bama majority, and vice versa. Even as we speak they are playing Aung San Suu Kyi and her Bama supporters off against the non-Bama resistance groups.
FW: Is the quest for autonomy still at the heart of the ethnic armies’ struggles, or has that changed over the decades?
MZ: I think the desire for ethnic equality and a life free from Bama imperialism is what has underpinned these ethnic resistance groups. Bama imperialism, both the official strain and the societal ‘disease’ is not just a perception by the minorities.
Look, I am a Bama from the heartland of Burma, and I know how ingrained this cultural imperialism is among the Bama, especially among the non-self-reflective and among the so-called educated class. The problem is real.The only non-imperialist among the Bama leaders I know who ever lived was General Aung San.
FW: Taking into account all that’s happening since last November, where do you see Burma in 10 years time?
MZ: I don’t have a Crystal Ball. Anything is possible. If I were a non-Bama individual I would be preparing my own communities for a time when this imperialist political economy collapsed, either as a result of accelerated implosion, or of a serious external shock like regional wars over resources and proxy wars between Great Powers.
Mind you, Burma as we know it didn’t exist before 1948. It isn’t a ready-made product that was handed down through generations and centuries since Bagan. Nation-states and political systems are like organisms. The new ones are born, the old and the sick die out or splinter into smaller new ones. Burma could disappear in 2048. Even if the disintegration of Burma happens in my life time, I won’t be shedding any tears.
I would consider patriotism and nationalism pathological if it compels otherwise intelligent and decent human beings to emotionally hold on to a place which is nothing more than an open air prison, which keeps 50 million unhappy campers inside.
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I cannot comment but this interview is very sophisticated and impressive. The whole content especially the last two paragraphs hit my heart as an Arakan ethnic group of Burma.
I love this assertion: “These guys are products of the military – a totalitarian institution. Let me put it in the most brutally honest fashion. The military in Burma, both as an institution and as individual officers, are an irredeemable failure. They are ideologically and intellectually un-equipped –not just insufficiently equipped – to build the country as a multiethnic nation.”
In this world full of greed, self centred, profit seeking, disregards of others become theme of our life. Recent sorry incidence in London and the host of cities, disenchanted youths looting the capitalists private shops with tacit reasoning of unlawful acts in terms of joblessness, corruptions of politicians and corporate bosses and other social inequalities.
The nations like China, India and ASEAN nations prefer to do business and ignore the plight of people is shameful self-destructive norms. The EU is now preparing to rape the poor but naturally enriched unexploited resources.
The earthquakes, Cyclones, Mudslides and Tsunami are the nature anger at the bad behaviour of the modern civilisations.
May the god safe the poor of Burma.
Excellent interview. Thank you, Dr. Zarni and Francis Wade. I think Dr. Zarni hits just about every single nail squarely on the head in terms of the current situation in Burma.
Excellent interview. The future survival of Burma require good and talented people who can ‘think’and govern. There will always be external threats from political hegemony and commercial rivalry to exploit the rich resources.
Resource rich country needs talented professionals(like Singapore) to manage. Otherwise the country’s life blood will be sucked out into slow irrecoverable demise.
Well done Francis, and thank you Dr.Zarni for your spot-on evaluation of the EU vampires who are anxiously awaiting nightfall in Burma.
I would have addressed Francis’ question as regards the “final solution for the ethnic minorities” a bit differently.
I believe the “final solution” has been regime policy at least since Than Shwe took over. The final solution is not to exterminate the ethnic minorities, that would be too simple, too quick, & would leave too much free labour & forced tribute on the table, & would also relieve the ethnic people from their suffering, the regime’s second most important objective following greed.
No, the regime prefers to make the people suffer in myriad ways their entire lifetimes, as women are raped, men disappear, taken as porters leaving hungry families behind, children & old folks die premature deaths of diseases which are easily cured with a few tablets, parents forced to flee to the jungle to avoid military attacks on their villages watch their infants die of malnutrition while their crops rot in the fields, & the Burma army shock-troops steal or slaughter their livestock, & burn their rice-barns.
Then there is extortion. It doesn’t seem like these, the poorest of the poor in Burma would have much to give, but the Burma army commanders in the field have decades of experience, & since being dirt-poor is another form of suffering, they use extortion as a lucrative hobby.
If the soldiers encounter schools, clinics, or churches they will likely be destroyed. People earmarked to be lifelong slaves don’t need an education, churches give people hope…that won’t do, & clinics might save someone’s life…not allowed!
I believe the soldiers are still free to beat, murder, & torture anyone they feel deserves it, however the regime likely prefers simply chasing villagers into the jungle where Nature can kill them, off the books so to speak. Empty villages are also easier to loot & destroy, a favorite pastime of the Burma…
Thank you for the clear and precise analysis! It’s refreshing to read that after so many authors that float with the opportunist current.
I’m even more impressed with Maung Zarni after reading this interview.
This is a particularly important observation, and one that isn’t made enough: “The most helpful way to understand the EU is to disaggregate this entity. Instead of thinking of the EU as an enlightened multi-state organisation with humanity’s interests at its organisational heart, each time I hear the word “EU” what springs to mind is not the European peoples, millions of whom are themselves working poor or un- or under-employed, but rather, the word EU conjures up sinister images of Brussels’ Eurocrats in the pockets of European or EU-based corporations and national diplomats. Whose primary job description is to promote their home countries’ commercial, financial, industrial and security interests in their assigned outposts.”
And this observation applies not just to the EU but basically all nation states.
Congratulatious and Thanks to Dr. Zarni on your most brilliant and informed answers.
Most countries far and near does not want to see Burma and Burmrse people free and prosper because it will be too hard to compete for them.
“Dr” Zarni is good at criticizing and offering up critiques from thousands of miles away – but is gives no constructive suggestions. Saying that governments, organizations, etc are self-serving etc is pretty obvious. Who ever thought otherwise? But in this real world, what does he think should happen? It’s easy for him to sit in London and warn people of this organization or that government, but by not offering up any solutions he is more guilty than anyone of a dearth of “intellectual sympathy”. I’m sure the average $1 a day Burmese farmer or worker couldn’t care less about how the EU works or the IMF. What he needs is a job, and food to feed his family, and an opportunity for his kids to go to school. How is that going to come about Dr Zarni? Through more opinion pieces in London?
Dear Garrett,
As an ethnic reading your comment make me feel sad as I am one of the ethnics. What you said is really true. But, we are not able to do anything about it. We are politically and in many ways manipulated under the regime. While they are calling for democracy and lying to international community, they are looting and doing every bad they can in the ethnic regions. The notion of pluralism is not there is Burma. I do not know until when this war will go on! How many families will be left homeless and the young will again left out with no education and no future. This is all only happening in ethnic regions.
The most outstanding and remarkable points and/or advice I very much strongly agree with Dr Zarni:
“If I were a non-Bama individual I would be preparing my own communities for a time when this imperialist political economy collapsed, either as a result of accelerated implosion, or of a serious external shock like regional wars over resources and proxy wars between Great Powers.
Mind you, Burma as we know it didn’t exist before 1948. It isn’t a ready-made product that was handed down through generations and centuries since Bagan. Nation-states and political systems are like organisms. The new ones are born, the old and the sick die out or splinter into smaller new ones. Burma could disappear in 2048. Even if the disintegration of Burma happens in my life time, I won’t be shedding any tears.”
Dear Pan Lawng Pan,
One of the saddest aspects of what I wrote is that many Burmese, & most of the world have no idea to what extent the atrocities have continued over the past several decades.
I lived with a Karen refugee family for several months in a jungle village along the Thai-Burma border & learned first-hand how the consecutive regimes have each intensified the persecution & extortion in Eastern Burma.
The family I lived with runs a home for sick/disabled Burmese refugees, refugee orphans, & elderly refugees who have lost their families. During my stay I heard horror stories from all around the ethnic homelands dating all the way back to pre-WW2.
I am still haunted by the sobs of the orphaned children crying in the middle of the night for their parents.
It was sad that each generation had known ethnic persecution, been subjected to forced labour or Burma army extortion, lost their homes to government confiscation, lost family members while fleeing Burma army attacks, and seen terrible social injustice.
There were poignant tearful moments just walking through the village with my friends as a particular flower or tree, or even the squeal of a pig would remind someone of the family farm which was left behind or burned down during government attacks.
I am sorry to have saddened you, but it is important for the Burmese people, and the world to hear the details of the ethnic persecution which so many Burmese citizens and (as pointed out in this article) foreign investors prefer to ignore.
I don’t even ask readers to believe what I have written, only to use it as the basis for their own inquiries, heaven knows there are more than too many accounts to be studied.
To learn more about Burmese ethnic minority refugee issues visit: http://WWW.TBBC.org
To save Burmese ethnic minority lives with your charitable donations contact:
http://www.partnersworld.org/
http://www.freeburmarangers.org
It’s a good interview but I am fed up with Zarni who likes using jargons and making all his interviews and articles look impressive. Why he can’t say simply? Although he doesn’t mind his own country disappears in his own lifetime, everybody loves their country and will keep loving and it should not be denounce as pathological patriotism or nationalism. The Americans love their country, the Brits love their country and the Chinese and the Indians are same to their countries. Why should not the Burmese love their lovely country? When the foreigners are selfish and work for the interests of their country, the Burmese people should also be selfish and protect the interests of their country. That selfishness is in other words called ‘patriotism and nationalism’.
“Steve”
Which part of this article did you not understand? If you think I am using specialist vocabularies wait until you see an average specialist article. If you use ‘jargon’ to refer some words incomprehensible then I am sorry that they went above your head. Usually I aim for the lowest denominator. Despite my simple, but not simplistic view that nationalism/patriotism is pathological (or disease-like, if it helps you) if it is nothing more than an attachment to a prison-like place – which Burma or Myanmar has become. Which Burmese do you have in mind? Do you think the Kachin, the Karen, the Shan, the Arakanese, the Mon, the Karenni, the Chin, etc. – and all the 130+ ethnic groups – have the kind of Bama patriotism you have in mind? Put it mildly, have you ever thought that they might not appreciate the fact that the Bama generals born and bred in the Dry Zone and in the Delta would claim lands, control sources, rape their women, slaughter their children, and destroy their homes? Do you think these non-Bama people who live in resource-rich and strategic territories like to be bullied and subjugated so that the Bama generals can promote interests in the name of Bama ethnic patriotism. By the sound of it it doesn’t look like 1). you understand my article – this one or others 2). you can be pursuaded to entertain others’ viewpoints. Never mind. I am using your Burmese patriotism, if that is what it is, to further drive home my point: nationalism/patriotism is nothing more than a form of disease, sickness, mental health issue in a Burmese gulag – (look it up here! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag ) A final note: I have long stopped feeling a need to make myself impressive. I may have felt it when I was a student and a young professional. I am 2 years shy of 50, and left graduate school 14 years ago. I am just responding to my conscience.
This so-called Union of Burma, as a failed state, can collapse anytime as a result of its internal conflict, or as Dr Zarni put it “as a result of accelerated implosion, or of a serious external shock like regional wars over resources and proxy wars between Great Powers.”
Burma/Myanmar might have a new name in the future.
Fantastic!I totally agree with Steve’ comment.It is absolutely true for everybody. Killing, raping and human-right abusing were widely commited by the ethnic people too. Hope both of Zarni’ eyes can see very well.
Ah Maw Says:
I was born in Burma and educated there. Ah Maw was one of my Karen maids as we all in family respect Karen because they are simple and sincere. My KG and primary teachers were Karen before Ne Win took over Burma in 1962. I left Burma in late 1970 and am now working in oversea.
My main point in here is that there is no integration and disintegration of Burma after Bama(U Saw) killing General Aung San. I obtained some information below when I was in the primary school. I am not Karen and Christian.
(1)From Tin Aung Hla and Garrette, I begin to realize more that Bama army soldiers receive thura or theha or Maha(national hero titles) because of killing the less sophisticated ethnic armies who demand for Pinglong agreement(PA) or for their right of own land(Karen).
(2)The murderer, U Saw was advised by some UK that killing G Aung San could avoid obligation to PA. Then, U Saw could divide and rule Burma but UK governor could not prevent his student, U Saw to be hanged(UK news). In recent news from UK, the killing machine guns were from one UK army major. However, U Nu, Ne Win, Saw Maung, Khin Nyunt, Than Shwe, Thein Sein(dirty six) continues to keep U Saw’s concept(divide and rule). They all are success to kill ethnic population from 45% to 30% now. The majority of population in Burma is Bama from now and then. To be effective in killing, they reward Bama soldiers for right of rape and etc. Than Shwe(hidden fox) makes rush implement of 2008-hidden fox constitution(just after Nargis cyclone) for their legality for rape and etc. Than Shwe dirty groups said Nargis cyclone was for punishing Burmese due to lack of obedience to him so he got all votes. The dirty six ask the all school teachers to teach that they kill ethnic to save Burma potential disintegration. They never say what the real content of the PA is(i.e. setting federal government for equal ethnic right). Instead, they set union of Burma. They forget about the G Aung San words and speech that…
. They forget about the G Aung San words and speech that if Bama gets one dollar, each ethnic must get one dollar. Instead, the Bama soldiers can rape ethnics.
UK news said G Aung San (Bama army) is responsible for killing Karen just before Burma independence. DASSK denies it and calls for second Pinglong for further agreement. Karen does not sign PA so U Nu signed the right of legal killing all ethnics by Ne Win Bama army. One UK Law Graduate, Karen hero was killed by Ne Win army. Ne Win is the pioneer to make Burma, the poorest country in the world.
(3)The majority of ethnics live in villages and mountainous(malaria) regions and Most Bama lives in all cities. Ethnics are discriminated so I never hear about their languages in school teaching.
(4) Thatt-Ma-Daw(Bama army) should be called Tat(killing)-Da(yes)-Thaw(Clever). Than shwe copies it from his brother, mainland China because Chairman Mao Zedong killed his own peoples to reach first in world recorded book for his political achievement. Chinese leader Jiang Zemin killed Falun Gong’s religious believers in 1999 due to their meditation and qigong Buddhist exercise (reason-about 70 millions believers in China – more than communist party members in China). Than shwe killed Japanese reporter.
(5)Thimothy said China, India and ASEAN suck Burmese natural resources with cheap price. Does T Htut say Singapore is very smart to be beginner to help late Ne Win until now(see Trader hotel history in Rangoon and Singapore banks for Burmese crony)?. In return, Singapore accepts Burmese talents for working visa. Than Shwe modified Singapore’s election model for his Burmese second election. China’s missiles are aiming its own Chinese, Taiwanese. And ask economic sanction on Taiwanese for terrorist act. Mainland China leaders are very jealous upon Taiwanese long democracy and less corruption than mainland. US still helps Taiwanese by selling expansive outdated weapon. In return, China helps Than Shwe. China asks…
In return, Than Shwe and China give business to Russian. General Shwe Man and Tay Za (crony) allow North Korean to open restaurant in Burma. In return, North Korean can build bunkers for Than Shwe. Ne Win shake hands with Indonesian leader Suharto(corrupted, undemocratic, genocide) who also hit Communist China with Ne Win. Suharto was admired by US, UK and Australia. Now, one said Than Shwe is copying Indonesian former weak leader Habibi(like thein sein), chosen by late Suharto. Malaysia is trying to jail its oppositional leader for sodomy case. Corrupted former Thailand leader Thaksin shinawatra helped Khin Nyunt’s son for business in the exchange of sending Burmese political refugees to the hands of Bama army so he and his beautiful sister ever win the elections. Thaksin also created the cheap refugee labor in Thai-Burmese border areas. Thailand former leader, Abhisit builds dam and special economic zones for Burma.
(6) Sean and Dr Zarni told about EU and fear of disintegration of Burma. French leader Sarkozy is short so he needs money for his country for creating more beautiful tall naked model girls in the respect of next election. Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden are now hungry for business so they are pending for war crime investigation on Bama generals. French, South Korean and Bama generals are making huge profit in Bama’s gas and mining.
(7)For Synetha, Garette is asking donation(real action) for ethnics and political refuges. Do USA and EU think aid to Garette is helping ethnic terrorist action? However, there are less bomb blasting in Burma cities and DASSK have to keep peaceful demand for democracy. Japan is considering to aid Bama government now after second election.
(8)My first option is that do not trust the all politicians except DASSK and people power from good citizens around the world. US and EU governments let China to have small Burma and they himself to have big middle east for energy(not my words but very critical). China and Russian…
China and Russian agree Libya eruption, not Syria one. They are bargaining each other for energy and their people’s votes. Their leaders are well educated so they can say black is white and white is black. Bama rulers are copying them.
Ask UN to set requirement of distribution of movies relating to Bama army killing fields and “Lady movie” around the world. Let the good citizens make their own judgment to get people power, especially in China, India and Russian. Mc Donald, Kentucky, all supermarkets, all taxi, Buses and Goggles, Ali ba ba, Yutube, all computer games must bear the poster about the Bama army killing fields and Lady Movie. Apple, Nokia, HTC and Samsung mobile will distribute our movies. Garette will get adequate fund from donation to help poor Burmese. China and Russian have no right to use their reputable veto cards for freedom of speech and just news media without interfering Burma internal affair because they might be fear of people power.
(9) Second option:
Now, Than Shwe is killing more ethnics again after his election for the reason of asking their arm surrender. Prime Minister Khin Nyunt is imprisoned so Than Shwe has right to announce ceasefire agreement is invalid. After death of G Aung San, the dirty six can interpret Pinglong agreement what they wish(valid or invalid). However, ethnics have no right to interpret PA. In this opportunity, ethnics will cultivate more opium for buying arm and weapon. Cultivation of opium was initiated by Khin Nyunt when Bama generals were poor. US and EU have right to shot Than Shwe resident and his bunkers with their missile because importing opium to US and EU secretly is like September 11. US and EU are not necessary to care about the veto cards from China and Russia in this situation. It is the threat to their national security. DASSK must agree to give permission for shooting Than Shwe because China is the first to recognize DASSK land slide victory in 1990. It is still valid according to the Law as…
It is still valid according to the Law as China never cancels this recognition. In this situation, the veto cards from China and Russian are invalid. If US and EU are waiting China reply, DASSK quickly offers China to take Wa State for 10-100 years occupation. It is like Hong Kong ruled by British colony in the famous reputable British opium war(no pain, no gain). In return, ask China to accept Than Shwe groups as refugees if China requests for leniency for Than Shwe. Than Shwe dirty groups must lives in the China jungles, like ethnics’ life. After returning of Wa State to Burma, Wa State is prosperous for windows and doors for Burma country rehabilitation(like Hong Kong for China). At the same time, offer US, EU and Japan investment banks to come into Burma for making profits by their printing dollars to manipulate world economy, including giant China. Accordingly, DASSK must be next Burma president or prime minister after than sein. It is win-win approach and opium war.
(10)Third option:
Bama Information minister cried when DASSK told about the war crime and Dayapin incident(trying to kill DASSK). That minister said what he did was just obeying order to prevent Burmese disintegration. DASSK, the heir of late General Aung San has right to declare that the first Pinglong agreement after Bama killing G Aung San is invalid. No Bama rulers honor the PA. So, all ethnics have right to choose what they wish. However, most ethnics agree DASSK to be their representative now and agree second Pinglong initiated by DASSK. It is necessary for peaceful union of Burma as well as neighbors. Then, all ethnics can ask UN that Bama army invades their mother lands or countries respectively. DASSK can ask UN for Than Sein’s neglecting his own peoples and let them die in Nargis cyclone(2008) when Thein Sein recently first declares that Burma is very poor. Refusal for foreign aid at that time is serious crime against his own people. Those are the evidences especially for Germany,…
Those are the evidences especially for Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden. China has many natural disasters from now and then and China accepts foreign aid. UN will take action on Than Shwe’s current and previous war and Nargis crimes and will ask Nato to shot Than Shwe if Than Shwe continue to kill own civilians and ethnics again. Than Shwe knows very well about Bosnia-ethnic cleansing war and Libya democratic eruption. Than Shwe also knows clearly that the NATO and US missile want to test their weapon how accurate it is. Then, DASSK ask her people to do peaceful demonstration without working for Than Shwe government. Peoples do not need to go to work while waiting for war crime investigation.
(11)Summary
Sean, Maple Zaw(non-Bama) and Dr Zarni(all Bama) should not worry about integration or disintegration of Burma which is never existed after death of G Aung San. You and I, all are cheated by Bama rulers for worrying potential disintegration. I request Dr Zarni to write simple English because Burmese students(poor education) have not enough dictionary and time. I write this comment before steve appearance. Now, it is time for ethnic wishes because of invalid of PA. Bama must be humble like General Aung San to establish second Pinglong to fight Than shwe colony. Without ethnics small gun, brave hearts(thura) and co-operation, Bama and DASSK cannot be free from Than shwe(all Bama eruptions are failed). Than Shwe is now asking tempo(like time in 1988 incident for his survival) and making use of DASSK(giving position, like president adviser, U myint). Than shwe is now teaching DASSK the effectiveness of divide and rule and how to keep Bama domination and discrimination(keeping the lowest ethnic population). Among my 3 options, second one is the quickest and effective. I am pretty sure that WA ethnics love China than Bama now. DASSK must accept my main point there is no integration and disintegration of Burma. Bravely declare the above for ethnic’s wishes and your…
Bravely declare the above for ethnic’s wishes and your own Bama freedom. Please, show late General Aung San is the real ethnics’ Bama live-long friend without just making use of simple ethnic’s value or all will adhere to China. China is now leaning Confucius teaching again seriously instead of late Chairman Mao. We all must have good deal with our close giant neighbor. I wish Sinyetha will get relief for a while and Garrette should continue to wait donation.
Thank you DASSK and good citizens around the world.
Zarni: Don’t be touchy, dude. If you don’t like me to use the word ‘jargon’, I would rather use the word ‘big word’. Most of the news blogs and papers in English aim to accommodate the readers of all backgrounds and abilities, the writer should avoid using ‘big words’ and be economy with words to deliver the message effectively. Even the Oxbridge scholars or Harvard dons write and speak simple English. Of course, they know the rules! It is hilarious that you thought I could not understand your ‘ridiculous usage of uncommon vocabularies’. I am telling you for the sake of your fellow Burmese audience! Most of them are poorly educated, aren’t they?
But, I do understand their unfortunate circumstances under decade-long military dictatorship and am truly sympathetic to these ‘unhappy campers’. I know that the Burmese are naturally talented and brilliant people but who unfortunately lost their futures for decades. Anyway, I just want to have a say about ‘nationalism’ which is different from ‘patriotism’ but definitely not ‘nationalism/patriotism’.
You said ‘nationalism’ is nothing more than a disease for the Burmese since their country is nothing more than an open air prison. So, it is like one should leave his/her home when its conditions are no longer good enough – the leaking roof, filthy kitchen and bath with full of cockroaches, broken windows and hardly any furniture in the entire property? Don’t you think such a shelter should be mended and fixed that it could become a much more nicer place to live? Or, one should leave his/her ruined home and look for a luxurious mansion?
Of course, you like a better house. You don’t really have ‘home’. Have you ever thought to live somewhere near your home, Burma, even if you could not live within the country, rather than living in the the US and the UK? Enjoy the plums, mate!
Symond wrote: “I totally agree with Steve’ comment.It is absolutely true for everybody. Killing, raping and human-right abusing were widely commited by the ethnic people too.”
I didn’t agree with most of Steve’s comments, but I don’t see a connection between what Steve wrote & what Symond wrote.
To infer that the ethnic armed factions were/are/could ever be on a par with the Burma army is far from the truth.
In Nazi Germany under Hitler, & Iraq under Hussein, their decisions to commit ethnic/racial persecution & atrocities became domestic policies which started with their rise to power, & ended with their removal from power.
In Burma, Burman mistreatment & domination of ethnic minorities goes back much farther than WW2, & has been standard domestic policy of each successive regime since Burma’s independence.
War is hell, especially when the heavily armed aggressors attack unarmed villages fulfilling the prime regime directive of making ethnic minorities suffer, & if possible drawing the ethnic forces into battles where they can be overwhelmed with superior firepower & human wave tactics. The rank & file Burma army soldiers apparently love their jobs so much, they work for hardly any pay & whatever they can loot or extort from ethnic minority civilians.
Considering the endless impetus such as women gang-raped & murdered while their families are forced to watch, toddlers hung upside-down from trees for target practice, elderly folks unable to flee thrown into burning huts, destruction of crops & food supplies leading to widespread malnutrition, chronic disease & high infant mortality rates, I will not attempt to say that atrocities have NEVER been committed by ethnic minority soldiers, but if so they likely involved captured enemy soldiers, NOT civilians.
Due to their own handiwork destroying crops, Burma army prisoners may have been executed because there was simply nothing to feed them & execution was deemed more humane than forced starvation.
“Steve” -
You concerned about my fellow countrymen and -women, whom I lived for the first 24 years of my life, and for whose freedoms I have fought, in whatever little ways I as a single citizen is capable (or incapable) of doing?
A country is not a house; nor a nation a family, nor a government head of the household. Those were “pre-modern” 15th century Hindu-derived Burmese political ideas, the tyrants in uniform love perpetuating them, of course with themselves as “all-knowing-fathers”.
If I want to target the Bama or other non-native Englishers from amongst the Burmese I would have not bothered to communicate in English, a simple point which escapes you.
I chose to communicate in English because I want to disrupt and disturb the pathetic Orientalist “expert” talks. Most of you pricks don’t speak any Burmese, never lived there for any appreciable length of time, or set foot in war zones, and yet arrogant enough to play Burma-savers. If you want to discharge your White Man’s Burden try some else, where the natives don’t talk back.
In fact, Orientalism isn’t actually simply about your skin as it is NOT encoded in one’s DNA, but acquired in the Ivory Tower, e.g., places you singled out as “intellectual” standard bearers and academic rule-makers” – the Ivy League and Oxbridge. Oxbridge-trained men manned the British Empire and Ivy Leaguers man US empire. They are Establishment agencies which I view critically: in my field, where I studied – Wisconsin – is THE BEST. Period. I move in circles where every other person is either Ivy League or Oxbridge, and including the American mother of my daughter, and spent more than enough time in these institutions to feel in awe of either the individuals or the institutions, intellectually.
Not interest in wasting time, in the definitional hair-splitting of nationalism-patriotism. If interested, you are welcome to audit my course on nationalism next year.
You are a little…
What is the point of carrying on living a nationwide LIE? I am not a part of any lie. I would happily be certified as a national traitor by such stupid, sick chavinist mob, which dehumanizes themselves through racism, chauvinism, ethno-patriotism, and so on. I oppose ethno-imperialisms in all their manisfestations, be they practised by my own kind or others. One of my heroes Orwell turned his back against the British Imperialist Rule in Burma (and British Raj as a whole); for he figured out that the White Man’s Burden of his days was nothing more than a system of loot, theft and robbery, and that the smokescreen was the “civilizing mission”. Rabindranath Tagore, another anti-nationalist hero of mine, figured out this humbug about “civilization” – and “nations” about a decade earlier than Orwell . Tagore gave the imperialist West an intellectual thrashing it deserved. I am just trying to follow the footsteps of these giants of the past, “Eastern” or Western”, who valued their human core above anything else, and reject systems of loot, robbery and rape set up in the name of nationalism and patriotism.
Tagore wrote the memorable and verifiably factual statement that “civilizations are built on human corpses.”
That’s why, Tagore, in my estimation, is eternally superior, spiritually and intellectually, to the overly quoted and over-rated Gandhi (of Non-Violence) who was a racist towards the West when he mused, “(a western civilization) would be a good idea” implying that the Indic civiliation he had in mind was a good reality”.
I’d rather die “uncivilized” and denounced by “patriots” and “nationalists” of Burma or Myanmar than embraced or praised by them.
I rest my case here.
Hello Steve,
If you do not understand about someone’s heart and soul, you shouldn’t abuse them blindly. Dr Zarni is a Burmese from our motherland “BURMA”. I believe him from my heart that he loves his motherland much much more than you do!!! Therefore, please do not underestimate all the Burmese people around the world, whichever they are, whatever they are, however they are, wherever they are living, studying or working, they love their motherland called “Burma” more than you do. Do not insult any Burmese people anymore. He is clever enough and study enough to go around the world and so do other a lot of Burmese are touring,studying,working or living around the world like any other nationalities around the world. So you do not need to show off your sympathy to my people if you don’t feel for them from your heart.
Yours Sincerely,
Sandy Thin Mar Oo (Oxford)
I have observed comments on Dr.Zarni’s various articles and interviews. What is so annoying to see is comments of some readers, who cannot make sound arguments against his view, but attack his profession, language skill, where he lives, what he eats and so on. That is ridiculous!
The nation state is a recent invention, and in this relatively short history nations have come and gone. Nationalism is most often used by elites to drive their follow citizens to slaughter, usually generating a profit at the same. Nationalism is not a problem only for people from Burma (and by no means is it because of the state of the “object” of their nationalist feeling) but is a problem across the globe. If there was no nationalism the world would be a much less violent place to live.
Norman Hla says:
I totally agree with Garrette reply against to Symond’s comment on 5th Sept 2001.
Symond says:
Fantastic!I totally agree with Steve’ comment.It is absolutely true for everybody. Killing, raping and human-right abusing were widely commited by the ethnic people too. Hope both of Zarni’ eyes can see very well.
My comment is that;
It is very difficult to understand Dr Zarni’s writing for some laymans. I believe that Dr Zarni has full of knowledge in his professional fields and he loves his country and his own people. Many want to read his comment, advice, opinion and solution(me too). Dr Zarni is using a lot of high flow ( parasite , DNA and etc). In about nationalism, patriotism, every race has their own value, belief and culture. It should be based on moral or ethical thoughts and practices(good and bad and right and wrong). Justice and no harm to others should be included. In the Burma issue, there is no point to discuss about the nationalism, patriotism. There is a war for long decade-60years(ethnics and bama war, bama rulers and own bama war). Can you all say use of 2 nuclear bombs to Japan’s peoples by USA is justified or not( instead of one bomb)? Did USA and allies want to use Nuclear bomb on Germany peoples in world war 2(lucky)?.Why? Who did it(bad thing) first? In all battle fields, killing each others is for survival apart from wining war. Steve is writing about the Nationalism /patriotism when dr Zarni’s main point is to blame about the bad or immoral intellectualism of foreign countries(EU) in Burmese issue(no foreign leader real actions). It is sad there is a communication problem.
I can use high flow like that it should be “symbiosis association” among bama and all ethnics. Learn the game theory to win dirty, coward Than Sein.DASSK needs own people(ATP-adenosine triphosphate) for her goal as there is no foreign leaders’ real action except Garrette&Burmese Zarni(please,do better and better). BYE
Steve,
Don’t mind me I get into between you and Zarni debate. I read your comments and think that you are chaseing your own tail. You started promoting patriotism and finally you trashing it. What is it your point? If you are in real debate, you flunk it big time, Bro. In modern time, I believe exactly the same as you believe in. Humanism is the new politic of the world. Racism, Facism, Imperialism or even some form of Democracy will be faded away in modern time. Most of Zarni speechs are the truth. I say that because, I was born and race in Burma until 1989. I don’t really know who the Bama is? Is it the child of 3 parents such as Pyu, Mon and Hindu culture? Or Bama was born out of hatread of Ah Yee Gyi monks (Nesty religion)? All those history facts are share only within Bama people. I want to be proud of my identity, but how can I be while history and recent situations, all are but shamefull. Should not we treat our ethnic cousin with dignity and respect? Ofcourse we should. We should treat them with respect and share the world. After all we are all humanbeing. In the end, I think you know quite well about Burma, but not well enough as a Burmese man. If I am in Oxbridge or any other smart arse school, I would not even be quilified for janitor job, forget about studying and teaching there. I discuss to you as a common bloke. I hope you understand my English.
Dear all commentators,
Regardless how you categorize Burma’s political scenarios, I would say the root cause of Burma’s political problem is due to predominance of the ethnic Burmar in Tatmadaw so I would propose Tatmadaw structure must be reformed to Federal Tatmadaw structure, compose of the ethnic military battalions for its own states, and Chief of Staff of Burma Federal Tatmadaw should have fixed term in power by rotation of each major ethnic general. So far no one is proposing reforming of Tatmadaw. Why?
The new government have no power at the movement. The state chief minister is still under division or state military commander.
The UN and EU fat cat bureaucrats have no clue how to solve complicated Burma’s political problem so they rather follow the path, which make them less busy. Learn from Dr.Zarni, learn from the people who want a genuine free and fair change in Burma.
For those genuinely want to make change, please push for Tatmadaw reforming this time please.
Thank you.
Hkun Htoi
Kachin State
Wow!
I spent a lot of time reading this interview and comments. I even read Norman Hla’s comment entirely.
I felt like I was in a hearing room with some comedians.
Anyway, it was worth spending it.
Dr. Zani and his FBC once succeeded in forcing PEPSI out of Burma in 1996 and thus started the almost total withdrawal of West’s Direct Investment from Burma. Horrible sanctions had begun mainly thanks to him and ASSK.
He and other Burmese exiles and ASSK had basically coerced the US, UK, and EU to go on the confrontational almost military way against Burmese Generals for last 20 years.
One thing they completely forgot about was the crucial geopolitical position Burma has occupied (on the Indian Ocean) between India and China the two biggest nations population-wise on earth.
By forcing Burma, unintentionally of course, into China’s tight embrace the US-led West has basically self-defeated their own grand strategy of containing the Chinese Dragon by controlling the Pacific ocean and basically blockading China’s Eastern Coast.(Japan had once done in the Second World War and the Allied supplied China through Burma.)
The only condition for China to become a superpower large enough to challenge United States is the direct access to Indian Ocean. (Like US has direct access to both Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.)
Having complete control of Burma as a satellite state China would eventually fulfill her historical dream of successfully challenging the West.
Now China almost has a direct access to Indian Ocean and thus the energy supply through Burma which could never have happened if sanctions were not imposed.
It is not commercial interests the West’s main reason for re-engaging with Burma. It is the strategic interest of US-led West to contain China.
That West’s re-engagement policy has already split the Burmese Exiles into two main groups. Opportunists like Dr. Zaw OO and Harn Yawnghwe on one side, and the others bitterly left standing on the outer i.e. Dr. Zar Ni and the likes without access to the millions of Euros from EU.
IMHO our Burma is just a bloody pawn in this global game of geopolitics between the Western Democracies and the…
I totally agree what Ko Hla OO said on the 3rd of Nov. Good on you, you are absolutely right.