‘Strong governance’ presumably meaning authoritarian rule in plan B’s book can no doubt achieve prosperity provided some competence is exhibited and corruption curtailed. Will it ‘trickle down’ to any significant degree is yet another story. It’s not like the generals are skint anyhow. The Burmese expression is – it rains where there’s plenty of water. For the people, the land may remain parched and barren. It’s the priorities, stupid.
Seems like these big international players, like john francis lee indicated, are ready and willing to do business, particularly given the economic straits that they are currently in, at the expense of their co-religionists under attack in the ethnic homelands of Burma, paying them due lip service but letting them down once again as usual. It’s all a matter of priorities.
Western govts are nothing if not consistent in what they really represent.
“If I don’t address you by your name/tittle then I do not deem you worthy of any reasonable stature.” Is an age old colonial, racist insult that can been found in any book of that era
This nomenclature game is the tips of the icebergs of the West refusal to dignify the present government in ANY way. Using Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the principal.
A moral victory to squash the last ounce of respectability of a de facto government.
Enviable or even admirable if not for the reminder of being at best a justification, at worst sanctification of this cruel ongoing useless careless policy, that harm the citizenry so much more than intended.
Thank you for sharing your comment here. Please bear with my response to what you have wrote.
You wrote,
“I believe it is simply not enough to discuss apostasy in an academic way without understanding the whole truth in Islam; the pillars of Islam; the concept of ‘ibadah’ and how all these finally relates to the Judgment Day. To discuss only specifically on apostasy is like a blind man holding an elephant’s tail and trying to describe how big the animal is.”
It seems to me that you are here assuming that the conclusion given by those faithful Muslims I have quoted in my article have no sufficient understanding of the whole truth in Islam, the pillars of Islam, and concept of ‘ibadah’, and how all these relate to the Judgment Day. If this is the case, then I think you may not have given these fellow Muslim brothers of yours the benefit of doubt. They are not, so to speak, any Muslims on the street, but faithful servants of Allah who spent their lifetime studying and teaching the way of Islam. To assume that their conclusion on apostasy is discussed (in your words) “in an academic way without understanding the whole truth in Islam, the pillars of Islam,” and etc is not only doubting their intellectual credibility but also denying their servanthood to Allah in this area which they are serving.
Perhaps, you could spare the benefit of doubt not only due to their intellectual credibility but also for their standing as faithful Muslims who no less submit to the same God and Prophets as you.
In your comment #28 & #29, I noticed that you were making a case that the reason why apostates should not declare their apostasy publicly in the present context in Malaysia (I assume you are referring to M’sian context since this article is about M’sian) is because such declaration would (in your words) “have impact on others”, loosen the community (Jamaah), and “some might get insulted”.
To address this case of yours, let me raise an illustration and then end with asking you a question.
Let’s say you live in a context where polytheism is the religion of the majority and serves as the official religion of the country. Most of the politicians and citizens of the context are polytheists. Much of the social structure is influenced by polytheism in one way or another. For that, there is a law that forbids polytheists from publicly declaring their apostasy from polytheism.
Now, let’s say you have converted to Islam, a monotheistic religion, within such context. And since the law of the land forbids apostasy from polytheism, you have no other choice but to be an apostate in silence. The only identification of your identity (i.e. your Identity Card) states that you are a polytheist. That means when you pass on, your body will be buried through a polytheistic ritual which invokes the names of various gods and supernatural beings to claim ownership of your life and spirit. Everyone you know will remember you as a polytheist who affirm polytheism all your life.
Being a good and faithful Muslim who worship and serve only one God, you are utterly dismayed by such arrangement. So you apply to officially change your religion from polytheism to Islamic monotheism. But you are being told that your application will not be entertained and processed because such public declaration would have impact on other polytheists that you are not aware of. Besides, such public declaration would loosen the polytheist community and insult other polytheists.
This is the end of my illustration.
Now here is a question that I would like to ask you: Do you think that the illustrated arrangement, that forbids you from being who you really are and how you want yourself to be identified and known, truthful and just to your Muslim identity, your Islamic belief, and your person as a whole?
If you think that such arrangement is truthful and just to you, your Islamic religion, and the Islamic way of life that you have chosen, then that means we differ over the characteristic of “truth” and “justice”.
If you think that such arrangement is not being true and just to you, your Islamic religion, and your Islamic way of life, then we agree on the characteristic of “truth” and “justice”.
Well, you did not say if you speak or read & write Thai. If you don’t then I do suggest you learn to do so. Otherwise you will be like an American from the seventies and eighties… only speak American.
To trulyunderstand a culture, I believe it is necessary to understand the language.
The bad thing about this book is the timing. It shouldn’t have come out in the same period as Job’s biography. That a mere man can trump our god king in sells volume is a farce of the highest order.
All of those Apple zealots should be issued an LM charge and put behind bars! That’s the way to do it.
Yes, “professionalism” like many terms is “loaded”.
However, you’re an academic producing papers that are supposed to be drawn as reference points in the creation and dissemination of “knowledge.”
If you use a term that then falls apart after the first, very obvious, critique and you then claim said term is very “loaded” without actually extrapolating on what that actually means in the paper that you use it in, why use it at all?
Are you being deliberately misleading or do you think you should retract the use of the term?
“without Islam and its strict guidelines, Malays would be much much worse”
Somehow I am incline to disagree. I grew up in the fifties and sixties in a “kampong” environment before all the girls were required (peer pressure, religious zealots etc) to wear the tudung (head covering) Islam was practised but not with jais etc peeping behind bushes waiting to pounce.
The Malays then placed more emphasis on “Adat” then Islamic practices. The children were well brought up. “samseng” behaviour was frowned upon and generally people get along very well. Differences were accepted not just tolerated… as Najib seems to think. One buys groceries from the “China Pek” shop and paid $1/- to pick fruits from the “Melayu” trees, with no racial overtones attached. Malay kids came to our house during “Chinese New Year” and ate without any qualms. (pork was kept away… obviously. Everyone knew to do that. No need for Jais Halal cert)
Somewhere along the way, some politicians and some Islamic zealots decide to usurp the role of “ADAT” and replaced it with “Islam” and things began to unravel. As things got worse, everything became “sensititive” and most required a strong response to “defend Malays and Islam!?
Honestly, nobody in Burma/Myanmar has ever chided me for calling the country Burma. I hear people call it either. I also call it both, usually depending upon my audience. The only people I’ve ever met who strongly insist on calling it Myanmar are foreign academics. I will say though that for Americans many more people recognize Burma than Myanmar, so it just makes life easier calling it Burma when discussing amongst Americans.
With today’s audio online technology, why not put that up again with your correct pronunciation?
In a tit-for-tat, some of “us” are surprised when locals teach students to pronounce letters of the alphabet in strange ways. For example, the letter ‘h.’ It is usually taught by Thais to be aspirated at the beginning with a “Hi!” puff of breath, but of course we know this to be incorrect. There are various samples to cite on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Dear Tim,
Thank you for your informative reply, which, I think, gets right to the point. It is no simple matter to get people to live by rules that serve the public interest effectively, and avoid the destructive conflict of unfettered private interest. Every culture has its own baggage of more-or-less effective rules, and has to struggle along different routes up the slippery slope.
One thing I hope all Farangs should do without mistake is to pronounce the name of the capital of Thailand correctly. The name “Bangkok” is made up of two words: “bang” from the noun meaning a district near water, pronounced “baang” and definitely not “bang” like something bursting, and the other part is “kok” with an unaspirated “k” referring to a kind of fruit local to the area. In Thai this is р╕Ър╕▓р╕Зр╕Бр╕нр╕Б and not р╣Бр╕Ър╕Зр╕Др╣Зр╕нр╕Б. If nothing else, I would appreciate it greatly if my dear Farang friends pronounce the name of the capital of my country correctly, and do not make a mistake that causes many Thais to follow suit.
1) “I am an American,and when my country officially switches to calling the country the Union of Myanmar from Burma, then I will do the same.”
Embassy of Myanmar is recognized and officially located in the District of Columbia, USA.
2) “when Aun Sang Suu Kyi says to call it Myanmar, I will.”
Started by the Military government b/f this one adopted by UN, not dignified by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to ‘defy’ this military government.
3) “The Myanmar term is NOT neutral”
Myanmar тЙа Bamar. Myanmar is a term neither neutral nor provocative. Please do not invoke the Thais’ sentiment.
Try hard as I have had, I can not find any provision or any redemptive vaiues on behalf of the plight of the citizenry of Myanmar/Burma.
You are the quintessential rep of a country that project the righteous moral superiority yet even now without the conscience to the consequences of that very righteousness..
‘Myanmar Pye’ is Burmese speaker call the country.
Your Bravado might be enviable if not for the ongoing humanity factors within Myanmar Pye 2┬║ to USA policy.
Considering the issues raised (corruption, social issues, failure of the rule of law, etc) has Islam been a force for good or bad in Malaysia?
From my humble opinion, Malaysia as any other countries in the world is facing a sort of social dilemma. These issues of corruption, moral and ethics are always being referred as the negative impacts of developing countries. Religion was not a factor in other countries when a person commits a crime. When a 5 year old child was hit several times by vehicles passing by in a street in China, no one relates it towards religion. People are discussing the law that had loopholes that might hit back towards people who are helping the child, but don’t they have a religion? Don’t they have any beliefs? Why and how could they let the child lying around helplessly?
In England, when a 9 year old boy has become a father, or in another case of Baby P- who was ruthlessly bruised to death, people do not have any judgments or relates the act towards the perpetrator’s religion? But it is a totally different case if a case happen within a Muslim community. The reaction given and the attention are more focused on the religion itself rather than the act itself. At least that is what I feel and observed.
Can it be related with the 9/11 attacks? Yes and no. Yes in the sense that the media attention with the issues related in Islam is sensationalized and being looked in different way. As in Malaysia, any issues arise with Islam in its headline is being politicized from my point of view. Certain quarters in Malaysia especially are using Islam as their tools to gain support. Apostasy is one of the issue. That is why there are no official numbers given by the authorities. In other way around, to say no towards the issue is because Islam is considered as the fastest growing religion in the world. People becomes more interested to study Islam comparatively, not entirely because of the 9/11 itself.
I am not a genius in any field, nor a person who reads several books in a month, but sincerely I feel without Islam presence today in Malaysia and without the strict guidelines given, the Malays could be much, much, much worst.
As Thucydides is said to have pointed out, it’s only a matter of time before the same tactics used externally to control an empire come home, and the police in America are now virtually indistinguishable in their star-wars get-ups from the imperial forces abroad, they are increasing funded by Washington DC, and they are focusing on such ‘terrorists’ as environmentalists and animal rights activists, and protestors in general.
The other side of the comparison is to point out that the Royal Thai Army is really the Imperial Royal Army of the Bangkok Empire, and the Thais they routinely terrorize, torture, murder and disappear are not regarded as ‘True-Thais’… Bangkok Thailand-ruling Thais… but as imperial subjects, as America regards Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, or Venezuealans.
But you’re right. Breaking the hold of the political soldiers in Thailand would be more of a blow against empire in Thailand than in the USA, where the generals and others are still content to just follow orders.
The Myanmar term is NOT neutral, and it is a blatant lie to say it is, but it is exactly what I would expect from FT. The Thais still call it Burma when discussing the country among themselves but insist that we foreigners use the term Myanmar. I usually reply that I am American, and when my country officially switches to calling the country the Union of Myanmar from Burma, then I will do the same. I also confidentially tell my Burmese friends (who don’t mind my calling the country Burma) that when Aun Sang Suu Kyi says to call it Myanmar, I will.
Using analogy of getting guns is as lame and denigrating as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi claiming every western government that participated in the useless careless policy against Myanmar citizenry friends of hers.
The present stronger KNU is the result of SPDC’s Khin Nyunt during the uncertain years of west’s rabid anti SPDC periods.
Unlike the unstable and blighted Eastern, Sotheastern Myanmar bordering Thailand, Kachin remain relatively uncharted and full of possibilities to benefit all citizenry.
Resenting the skewed perceptions of most westerners aside, SPDC did intended to profit themselves when opening up Kachin state. Since China is the only blatant willing customer then and deals were struck vastly in China;s favor.
We need friends of Myanmar citizenry now.
From the latest 2 examples in,Dawei and Myintsone, willing to give these anti ethnic projects up show pragmatism in this military dominated government.
The change of west policy to allow PROPER economic development, especially in the sorely needed infrastructure improvement sectors, here in Kachin State as well as everywhere in Myanmar can turn these opportunities into a win win situations for all especially the citizenry.
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Australia makes Burma move
‘Strong governance’ presumably meaning authoritarian rule in plan B’s book can no doubt achieve prosperity provided some competence is exhibited and corruption curtailed. Will it ‘trickle down’ to any significant degree is yet another story. It’s not like the generals are skint anyhow. The Burmese expression is – it rains where there’s plenty of water. For the people, the land may remain parched and barren. It’s the priorities, stupid.
Seems like these big international players, like john francis lee indicated, are ready and willing to do business, particularly given the economic straits that they are currently in, at the expense of their co-religionists under attack in the ethnic homelands of Burma, paying them due lip service but letting them down once again as usual. It’s all a matter of priorities.
Western govts are nothing if not consistent in what they really represent.
Name games and Myanmar
“A rose by any other name is still a rose”
“If I don’t address you by your name/tittle then I do not deem you worthy of any reasonable stature.” Is an age old colonial, racist insult that can been found in any book of that era
This nomenclature game is the tips of the icebergs of the West refusal to dignify the present government in ANY way. Using Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the principal.
A moral victory to squash the last ounce of respectability of a de facto government.
Enviable or even admirable if not for the reminder of being at best a justification, at worst sanctification of this cruel ongoing useless careless policy, that harm the citizenry so much more than intended.
Burma’s independence and the year ahead
Big deal, plan B. Just dropping a few names from the list.
Nothing personal, we just need to be rid of them. No institutionalised military rule.
So the vultures are swooping down to join in the feeding frenzy with the hyenas. William Hague at least is playing hard to get but not for long.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22812
Rejoice and get over your hatred for ASSK.
Name games and Myanmar
I, for one, shall never refer to it as “Myanmar Shave”.
Apostasy in Malaysia: The hidden view
Hi Namaku Muhammad #25,
Thank you for sharing your comment here. Please bear with my response to what you have wrote.
You wrote,
“I believe it is simply not enough to discuss apostasy in an academic way without understanding the whole truth in Islam; the pillars of Islam; the concept of ‘ibadah’ and how all these finally relates to the Judgment Day. To discuss only specifically on apostasy is like a blind man holding an elephant’s tail and trying to describe how big the animal is.”
It seems to me that you are here assuming that the conclusion given by those faithful Muslims I have quoted in my article have no sufficient understanding of the whole truth in Islam, the pillars of Islam, and concept of ‘ibadah’, and how all these relate to the Judgment Day. If this is the case, then I think you may not have given these fellow Muslim brothers of yours the benefit of doubt. They are not, so to speak, any Muslims on the street, but faithful servants of Allah who spent their lifetime studying and teaching the way of Islam. To assume that their conclusion on apostasy is discussed (in your words) “in an academic way without understanding the whole truth in Islam, the pillars of Islam,” and etc is not only doubting their intellectual credibility but also denying their servanthood to Allah in this area which they are serving.
Perhaps, you could spare the benefit of doubt not only due to their intellectual credibility but also for their standing as faithful Muslims who no less submit to the same God and Prophets as you.
In your comment #28 & #29, I noticed that you were making a case that the reason why apostates should not declare their apostasy publicly in the present context in Malaysia (I assume you are referring to M’sian context since this article is about M’sian) is because such declaration would (in your words) “have impact on others”, loosen the community (Jamaah), and “some might get insulted”.
To address this case of yours, let me raise an illustration and then end with asking you a question.
Let’s say you live in a context where polytheism is the religion of the majority and serves as the official religion of the country. Most of the politicians and citizens of the context are polytheists. Much of the social structure is influenced by polytheism in one way or another. For that, there is a law that forbids polytheists from publicly declaring their apostasy from polytheism.
Now, let’s say you have converted to Islam, a monotheistic religion, within such context. And since the law of the land forbids apostasy from polytheism, you have no other choice but to be an apostate in silence. The only identification of your identity (i.e. your Identity Card) states that you are a polytheist. That means when you pass on, your body will be buried through a polytheistic ritual which invokes the names of various gods and supernatural beings to claim ownership of your life and spirit. Everyone you know will remember you as a polytheist who affirm polytheism all your life.
Being a good and faithful Muslim who worship and serve only one God, you are utterly dismayed by such arrangement. So you apply to officially change your religion from polytheism to Islamic monotheism. But you are being told that your application will not be entertained and processed because such public declaration would have impact on other polytheists that you are not aware of. Besides, such public declaration would loosen the polytheist community and insult other polytheists.
This is the end of my illustration.
Now here is a question that I would like to ask you: Do you think that the illustrated arrangement, that forbids you from being who you really are and how you want yourself to be identified and known, truthful and just to your Muslim identity, your Islamic belief, and your person as a whole?
If you think that such arrangement is truthful and just to you, your Islamic religion, and the Islamic way of life that you have chosen, then that means we differ over the characteristic of “truth” and “justice”.
If you think that such arrangement is not being true and just to you, your Islamic religion, and your Islamic way of life, then we agree on the characteristic of “truth” and “justice”.
Peace.
Dear Phayao, Thailand; Postcard from Singapore
Well, you did not say if you speak or read & write Thai. If you don’t then I do suggest you learn to do so. Otherwise you will be like an American from the seventies and eighties… only speak American.
To trulyunderstand a culture, I believe it is necessary to understand the language.
There is no question…
The bad thing about this book is the timing. It shouldn’t have come out in the same period as Job’s biography. That a mere man can trump our god king in sells volume is a farce of the highest order.
All of those Apple zealots should be issued an LM charge and put behind bars! That’s the way to do it.
Thailand’s political soldiers
Nich
Yes, “professionalism” like many terms is “loaded”.
However, you’re an academic producing papers that are supposed to be drawn as reference points in the creation and dissemination of “knowledge.”
If you use a term that then falls apart after the first, very obvious, critique and you then claim said term is very “loaded” without actually extrapolating on what that actually means in the paper that you use it in, why use it at all?
Are you being deliberately misleading or do you think you should retract the use of the term?
Apostasy in Malaysia: The hidden view
“without Islam and its strict guidelines, Malays would be much much worse”
Somehow I am incline to disagree. I grew up in the fifties and sixties in a “kampong” environment before all the girls were required (peer pressure, religious zealots etc) to wear the tudung (head covering) Islam was practised but not with jais etc peeping behind bushes waiting to pounce.
The Malays then placed more emphasis on “Adat” then Islamic practices. The children were well brought up. “samseng” behaviour was frowned upon and generally people get along very well. Differences were accepted not just tolerated… as Najib seems to think. One buys groceries from the “China Pek” shop and paid $1/- to pick fruits from the “Melayu” trees, with no racial overtones attached. Malay kids came to our house during “Chinese New Year” and ate without any qualms. (pork was kept away… obviously. Everyone knew to do that. No need for Jais Halal cert)
Somewhere along the way, some politicians and some Islamic zealots decide to usurp the role of “ADAT” and replaced it with “Islam” and things began to unravel. As things got worse, everything became “sensititive” and most required a strong response to “defend Malays and Islam!?
What gives? How can one say this is better?
Name games and Myanmar
Honestly, nobody in Burma/Myanmar has ever chided me for calling the country Burma. I hear people call it either. I also call it both, usually depending upon my audience. The only people I’ve ever met who strongly insist on calling it Myanmar are foreign academics. I will say though that for Americans many more people recognize Burma than Myanmar, so it just makes life easier calling it Burma when discussing amongst Americans.
New Mandala: cowardly, stupid and lacking in wisdom
With today’s audio online technology, why not put that up again with your correct pronunciation?
In a tit-for-tat, some of “us” are surprised when locals teach students to pronounce letters of the alphabet in strange ways. For example, the letter ‘h.’ It is usually taught by Thais to be aspirated at the beginning with a “Hi!” puff of breath, but of course we know this to be incorrect. There are various samples to cite on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Land and conflict in Cambodia
Dear Tim,
Thank you for your informative reply, which, I think, gets right to the point. It is no simple matter to get people to live by rules that serve the public interest effectively, and avoid the destructive conflict of unfettered private interest. Every culture has its own baggage of more-or-less effective rules, and has to struggle along different routes up the slippery slope.
Name games and Myanmar
Arthurson,
Myanmar call Thailand and Thai people “Yodayar” among themselves, reference to Ayuthaya, but don’t really use it when talking to foreigners.
New Mandala: cowardly, stupid and lacking in wisdom
One thing I hope all Farangs should do without mistake is to pronounce the name of the capital of Thailand correctly. The name “Bangkok” is made up of two words: “bang” from the noun meaning a district near water, pronounced “baang” and definitely not “bang” like something bursting, and the other part is “kok” with an unaspirated “k” referring to a kind of fruit local to the area. In Thai this is р╕Ър╕▓р╕Зр╕Бр╕нр╕Б and not р╣Бр╕Ър╕Зр╕Др╣Зр╕нр╕Б. If nothing else, I would appreciate it greatly if my dear Farang friends pronounce the name of the capital of my country correctly, and do not make a mistake that causes many Thais to follow suit.
Name games and Myanmar
Arthurson #1
Your slip is showing.
1) “I am an American,and when my country officially switches to calling the country the Union of Myanmar from Burma, then I will do the same.”
Embassy of Myanmar is recognized and officially located in the District of Columbia, USA.
2) “when Aun Sang Suu Kyi says to call it Myanmar, I will.”
Started by the Military government b/f this one adopted by UN, not dignified by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to ‘defy’ this military government.
3) “The Myanmar term is NOT neutral”
Myanmar тЙа Bamar. Myanmar is a term neither neutral nor provocative. Please do not invoke the Thais’ sentiment.
Try hard as I have had, I can not find any provision or any redemptive vaiues on behalf of the plight of the citizenry of Myanmar/Burma.
You are the quintessential rep of a country that project the righteous moral superiority yet even now without the conscience to the consequences of that very righteousness..
‘Myanmar Pye’ is Burmese speaker call the country.
Your Bravado might be enviable if not for the ongoing humanity factors within Myanmar Pye 2┬║ to USA policy.
Apostasy in Malaysia: The hidden view
Mr Lopez,
Considering the issues raised (corruption, social issues, failure of the rule of law, etc) has Islam been a force for good or bad in Malaysia?
From my humble opinion, Malaysia as any other countries in the world is facing a sort of social dilemma. These issues of corruption, moral and ethics are always being referred as the negative impacts of developing countries. Religion was not a factor in other countries when a person commits a crime. When a 5 year old child was hit several times by vehicles passing by in a street in China, no one relates it towards religion. People are discussing the law that had loopholes that might hit back towards people who are helping the child, but don’t they have a religion? Don’t they have any beliefs? Why and how could they let the child lying around helplessly?
In England, when a 9 year old boy has become a father, or in another case of Baby P- who was ruthlessly bruised to death, people do not have any judgments or relates the act towards the perpetrator’s religion? But it is a totally different case if a case happen within a Muslim community. The reaction given and the attention are more focused on the religion itself rather than the act itself. At least that is what I feel and observed.
Can it be related with the 9/11 attacks? Yes and no. Yes in the sense that the media attention with the issues related in Islam is sensationalized and being looked in different way. As in Malaysia, any issues arise with Islam in its headline is being politicized from my point of view. Certain quarters in Malaysia especially are using Islam as their tools to gain support. Apostasy is one of the issue. That is why there are no official numbers given by the authorities. In other way around, to say no towards the issue is because Islam is considered as the fastest growing religion in the world. People becomes more interested to study Islam comparatively, not entirely because of the 9/11 itself.
I am not a genius in any field, nor a person who reads several books in a month, but sincerely I feel without Islam presence today in Malaysia and without the strict guidelines given, the Malays could be much, much, much worst.
Thailand’s political soldiers
As Thucydides is said to have pointed out, it’s only a matter of time before the same tactics used externally to control an empire come home, and the police in America are now virtually indistinguishable in their star-wars get-ups from the imperial forces abroad, they are increasing funded by Washington DC, and they are focusing on such ‘terrorists’ as environmentalists and animal rights activists, and protestors in general.
The other side of the comparison is to point out that the Royal Thai Army is really the Imperial Royal Army of the Bangkok Empire, and the Thais they routinely terrorize, torture, murder and disappear are not regarded as ‘True-Thais’… Bangkok Thailand-ruling Thais… but as imperial subjects, as America regards Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, or Venezuealans.
But you’re right. Breaking the hold of the political soldiers in Thailand would be more of a blow against empire in Thailand than in the USA, where the generals and others are still content to just follow orders.
Name games and Myanmar
The Myanmar term is NOT neutral, and it is a blatant lie to say it is, but it is exactly what I would expect from FT. The Thais still call it Burma when discussing the country among themselves but insist that we foreigners use the term Myanmar. I usually reply that I am American, and when my country officially switches to calling the country the Union of Myanmar from Burma, then I will do the same. I also confidentially tell my Burmese friends (who don’t mind my calling the country Burma) that when Aun Sang Suu Kyi says to call it Myanmar, I will.
10 January: War and Manau
aiontay
Using analogy of getting guns is as lame and denigrating as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi claiming every western government that participated in the useless careless policy against Myanmar citizenry friends of hers.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6363-suu-kyi-calls-british-fm-good-friend.html
The present stronger KNU is the result of SPDC’s Khin Nyunt during the uncertain years of west’s rabid anti SPDC periods.
Unlike the unstable and blighted Eastern, Sotheastern Myanmar bordering Thailand, Kachin remain relatively uncharted and full of possibilities to benefit all citizenry.
Resenting the skewed perceptions of most westerners aside, SPDC did intended to profit themselves when opening up Kachin state. Since China is the only blatant willing customer then and deals were struck vastly in China;s favor.
We need friends of Myanmar citizenry now.
From the latest 2 examples in,Dawei and Myintsone, willing to give these anti ethnic projects up show pragmatism in this military dominated government.
The change of west policy to allow PROPER economic development, especially in the sorely needed infrastructure improvement sectors, here in Kachin State as well as everywhere in Myanmar can turn these opportunities into a win win situations for all especially the citizenry.
There is no question…
No reference at all to WikiLeaks, and no attempt to address any of the questions and issues raised by the cables.