Comments

Thialand is now up there with Saudi Arabia and Iran in my book.

Lèse majesté and the Rule of Law are diametrically opposed concepts. The very idea that it is unacceptable to criticise one’s rulers is not compatible with this or with civil democracy. As much as we might like Thailand, let’s not forget that jailing a man for expressing an opinion is abominable, and that the Thai royal family are fallible mortals at best – not divine entities, no matter their accomplishments.

It would be interesting to know what he actually said in his book. Thailand seems to have got the world’s press censoring itself on this issue, we in the developed world sometimes think that we can export democracy and freedom of speech to other countries but here we have a third-world country exporting its censorship to us. Thailand’s lese-majeste laws don’t stipulate that the offending remarks have to be false in order to be punishable, so it would also be interesting to know if Mr. Nicolaides’s remarks are true, or likely to be true.

I only just heard about this story from the BBC News Website, and was looking around for more details. I’m shocked that there doesn’t seem to be much of an active campaign to have anything done about it. The British press have their faults (more than I could easily count), but they wouldn’t let a story like this gather dust if it involved a Briton. Have no Aussie MPs spoken up about it?

If there is a campaign to support Harry, please publicise it!

Malk – UK.

I note that the Thai court gave Harry three years because of the seriousness of his crime! Down from six because he confessed.
Another cause for bad karma? And not on Harry’s part.

Unprepared, unsupported, unco-ordinated and above all untimely uprisings cannot succeed, although extreme repression and desperate poverty will lead to unrest that often reaches a boiling point and explodes, ready or not on the part of the opposition. That’s wherein the gap between leadership and the mass of the populace lies. The NLD was never prepared for this kind of eventuality albeit it was itself born out of a major uprising.

Yes, ASSK and Burma makes a favourite point scoring issue for the western leaders and a convenient cover to hide their hideous acts elsewhere. Everybody needs to work together for a united front if they are serious about real change in Burma. I see no alternative or Burma’s hell on earth will never come to an end.

One of the most interesting articles for me was”Manau Festival More Than Cultural Identity and Dignity”. First, I would like to know more about the suspicion that Chinese Kachins were manipulating the Manau. How exactly?

Beyond current politics, I find the interplay between role of migration as part of Kachin identity and the role of the Manau in asserting ties to specific locations especially interesting. I wonder if the author would expand more on that idea.

“Moe Aung”:

Most points in your post i absolutely agree with.
One major point is that China is a very strong deterrent. I do try to understand the fix China is in, somewhat. China can’t of course afford animosities with Burma, in the global race for resources, China needs a friendly government in Burma, and of course it could not possibly afford the West – its global competitor – waging a war, and snapping up Burmese resources in at China’s doorstep. That politics – the west does rarely get involved in wars where there is no benefit for the west.

I do not believe in boycotting Burma. As long as there is China, no boycott will be successful, and the West simply could not afford to also boycott China.

There is no other choice than direct investment, even though this is ugly in many ways. Also, a bit of the money earned through tourism and direct investment does go to the people. A small percentage, but some.

I have no solution for Burma, i don’t think that there is a realistic solution, especially in the short term. I wish it would be different. There is only a multilayered approach of the different schools of thought, and that includes “constructive engagement”.

I wish we could see a united front against the junta, but so far, i have very little hope that anything is coming up. The last uprising was brutally crushed.
When i was still around the borders, i have seen so much mistrust between the minorities, and between the minorities and ethnic Burmans. So many accusations of spies (not unfounded, unfortunately) in each others camp, and a vastly superior Burmese military.

And of course the Burma “issue” is so easy politics, everybody can identify him- or herself with it, western governments can score brownie points when doing some politically correct statement on injustice in Burma, and can obfuscate its own bit of dirt in other parts of the world.
So has everybody applauded the Bush’s strong statements at the time of Nargis, yet few have actually thought that such statements may have been a hindrance in ongoing negotiations to allow Aid organizations in, especially when at the time US naval vessels were just off shore from Burma, fueling the junta’s paranoia of foreign invasions.

What to do?

Loosen up Joy and read carefully. I said “acknowledged scholar of Thailand”, which is not the same as “Thai”. All of the items you raise have been raised elsewhere at NM and higher up this thread. I was merely bringing my comment back to the topic of this long thread.

Mary, fighting here is not a habit, it’s a necessity once you’ve run out of options and nowhere to flee to. Just can’t fish without a gun in your hand any more, mind.

Nick, I agree the presence of foreign fighters only plays into the hands of the generals, grist to their propaganda mill. You are also right about the Wa negotiating from a position of strength, and yes, the DKBA split from the KNLA was an accident waiting to happen, an unsurprising subtext to the same kind of negligence/ injustice in the broader national context.

What you said about Burmese soldiers applies equally to ordinary German and Japanese soldiers caught up in the War, I’d allow even the professional soldiers of the western powers fighting foreign wars today as of yore. Remember Hitler was a lovely uncle by all accounts.

Waiting for another quite generous 20 years of more of the same, hoping the generals are on the road to Damascus given more ‘constructive engagement’ sounds more of a forlorn hope than “organised effort”. There will be no peace so long as the generals rule the country, for fighting to subjugate, oppress and exploit is what they do. Disarm, surrender and submit is their undestanding of negotiation. Charles F. is right in this. A long record of failed or meaningless peace parleys stands testament to this.

Charles, I’d say your foreign fighters keep a low profile, best heard and not seen. Don’t willingly take on the role of the bogeyman, best not to brag about it anyway. I’m sure the Karen leadership has wised up to the counterproductive effect it has vs. the benefit.

Humanitarian aid and organisations, on the other hand, must keep up the pressure and keep a high profile. They are more effective than state players as deterrants against oppression and as practical material help, at the same time providing states an indirect channel of assistance without becoming an accessory to the junta’s misrule by direct investment. More than enough of that from the neighbours, thank you.

There appears to be no danger of a’ De Klerk’ in the foreseeable future. No ‘Umkhonto we Sizwe’ with the NLD, not that ASSK, ‘our Mandela’, would agree to one such unlike her father, nor that the NLD, bound and gagged even without aspiring to armed struggle, would have been allowed one. The junta knows China is the deterrant against western invasion, their ace insurance policy.

I agree broadly with Freebird170 and Totila. The regime can only be brought down by the people. Nobody’s perfect, and even if ‘all chiefs and no Indians’ applies to the Burmese more than any other nation on earth, they must try and unite. Both violent and non-violent strategies need to be employed. Each has an essential role to play, seperately and in concert . They are by no means mutually exclusive except perhaps to some dovish liberals of which unfortunately our sainted ASSK seems to be one. Yes, an “organised effort” please, a new united front of all the peoples. Call it wishful thinking, doomsayers may well be proved wrong.