These are some of the poorest people in the world. Never mind the bloody hippos, these people are entitled to electricity which brings them into the 21st century and afforda them a basic lifestyle that we in the west take for granted. If you disagree then try humping water on your back that youve raised from a well by hand and doing that for thirty years. Then come back and tell us how you got on.
The Chinese are doing the same “BOT” thing in Burma. There are building a lot of dams there, including the “suspended”(for now) Myitsone dam, that would have a serious social and environmental impact. Indiscriminate logging is another popular Chinese activity in poorer nations that causes a lot of damage, such as the recent floods in Burma. I like to call these Chinese SOEs, State Owned Businesses (the acronym sounds better!) Enough of this “One Belt One Road” plundering of natural resources in poorer countries.
Save the Irrawaddy dolphins and the giant Mekong catfish!
A few comments: a) poverty exists everywhere – no correlation nor causation in monarchy b) on a per capita basis Luxemborg ‘subsidizes’ it’s monarchy at a cost nearly $20, Norway at $10 and Thailand at $5 – who gets a better bang for every dollar spent to keep their royals aloft?
Finally will the Red Shirts , in the spirit of Thai reconciliation, respond positively and join the Crown Prince ‘bike for Dad’ to celebrate the Thai King’d 88th anniversary
The monarch is the formal head of the social system, the rule of a hierarchy of personalities rather than impersonal laws, that characterises every corrupt country on earth.
The following article on the traditional abuses in Thai universities goes much deeper than that narrow topic, getting to the fundamental cause of corruption in Thailand. Your beloved King is at the head of it. http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/5536
Cynical? Nah! Not Nich. Cautious optimism I’d say. Perhaps only San Zarni Bo can foretell. He was both right and wrong about the November 8 polls postponement.
“…after lifting or suspending their sanctions, the European Union and the United States are heavily invested in a legitimate democratic transition. Both were expected to pour in significant aid, investment and military assistance in the handover to what many observers earlier assumed would be an overwhelmingly elected NLD-led government. But as the playing field tilts in favor of the incumbent USDP, how much electoral fraud and manipulation will the West countenance in endorsing the result as sufficiently free and fair?….. Much will rely on Suu Kyi’s personal assessment of the process and result. It’s highly unlikely Suu Kyi will graciously accept an outright USDP win amid signs of systematic fraud and manipulation. It’s less clear how Suu Kyi would react to a result where the NLD outpaces the USDP but is unable to form a government because it falls short of a majority. In that scenario, the USDP could win just enough seats to form a government in league with the military’s 25 percent allotment of appointees even though the NLD wins the overall percentage vote.
Some analysts already speculate the European Union and United States would prefer the NLD accept rather than contest such a contentious result. Assumptions that the West would take its cue from Suu Kyi in determining whether the process should be deemed free and fair lag the prevailing political reality that U.S. and European interests have been well-served under Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian administration. Any major disruptions contesting the poll process or result would inevitably lure out troops and provide pretext for the military to stage a coup on the grounds that the country is not yet ready for full democracy.
Such an outcome represents the worst case scenario for the European Union and the United States, not to mention the country’s disenfranchised voters. Yet it’s unclear how the 70-year-old Suu Kyi would respond to possible Western pressure to accept a partial victory that allows the USDP to maintain power against the popular will. Some analysts believe U.S. pressure nudged Suu Kyi and the NLD to contest the 2012 by-elections and enter mainstream politics in a position of parliamentary weakness with the promise that the 2015 polls would be free and fair. Whether she is again willing to subordinate idealism for expediency will likely be the difference between order and instability in post-election Myanmar.”
Where politics means the art of compromise and a good measure of horse trading, muddling through is what politicians do best the world over.
Right now a free media is the most precious component of the reforms. Good to see positive things happening that the public can benefit from, thanks to both state players and INGOs, soft power or whatever. Good that you can at least lead the Nay Pyi Taw horse to water. It might even convince you that it’s lapping it all up.
The system works well for thousand of year doesn’t mean it suppose to work now. Furthermore, Stalin and Mao isnt exactly for republic but a monarchist in practice. You obviously never see the real poor in Thailand, go search in Thairath, you will see plenty, the most recent one is an old couple whos blind and cant really afford food on their table everyday. Is that the sort of country that deserve a praise????
There are plenty of Kings and generals among the world worst criminals. Just in case of Thailand just remember the royally-sponsored massacres in 1973, 1976,1992 and 2010. To hell with the Thai monarchy !
DON’T KNOCK MONARCHIES
Monarchies may not be perfect, but the system has worked well for thousands of years.
Show me a republic worthy of praise?
Russia and China have a terrible record of Human Rights abuse. Obama has committed more Summary Executions, using his beloved Drones, than any previous President. The USA is not even a true democracy, the candidates and eligible parties are decided and financed by “big business” The corporations are out of control, and abusing their huge power. Monsanto is a prime example,forcing improperly tested GMO products onto the market, which threaten the whole world.
A number of French Presidents had their Electoral Campaigns funded by African Dictators.
Being poor in Thailand is arguably better than being poor in the USA, where until recently 40% of the population had zero medical cover.
In my experience, there are many presidents, past and present, among the worlds worst criminals.
But why is Delhi so much worse than other Indian cities, Pratibha? At least worse than Kolkata and Mumbai. Both Indian and foreign women remark upon it.
(In Delhi there’s that weird maneuver where men somehow touch a woman’s breasts while passing her on the street. At first the victim thinks, “Did that really happen?” Until other women ask the same thing.)
Perhaps the problem can be traced to the particular cultures that coalesce in Delhi? Less social sanction? Police in Delhi are just more indifferent? Women have historically been more public in the workplace in other cities?
Thank you. I had forgotten the appalling details of the case of the three Catholics.
Aside from SBY’s blatant lack of credibility as an advocate of the abolition of the death penalty, what are the chances that he would adopt a position that might incur some criticism?
Rivalling Soeharto for the distinction of being Indonesia’s thinnest-skinned president, SBY is probably devoted now to ensuring the best political career for his son, Ibas, This chip off the old block may have thin skin himself, as he never seems to roll up his sleeves and bare his arms in public. For SBY to take a possibly unpopular stance on capital punishment would hardly help Ibas.
Let’s forget about SBY. Those Australian commentators who have written lyrically about the former president’s good intentions towards Australia tended to overlook SBY’s failure to institutionalise such intentions. He’s gone, and there’s nobody around to put those intentions into effect.
We are now living in the era of the neo-Sukarnoist Jokowi. I don’t know how many times, if ever, he has taken advice from SBY. Jokowi’s outlook on the world is after all very different from his predecessor’s.
The current obsession with Bela Negara, including its alleged objective of recruiting one hundred million Indonesians to participate holus-bolus in the defence of the realm, reminds one more of Chairman Mao and his barefoot doctors than of SBY and his impressive collection of international awards for statesmanship and wisdom.
According to the DVB report – Apart from the USDP, two smaller parties, the National Development Party, led by a former presidential adviser, Nay Zin Latt, and the Myanmar Farmers’ Development Party, also spoke in favour of postponing the vote. The NLD was the only party to oppose the move, while the remaining three parties at the UEC meeting – the Arakan National Party, National Unity Party and National Democratic Force – abstained from voting.
Well said Somsak. Russia’s Tsars also made the mistake of throwing into jail, with common criminals, anyone who critised them. The result was : a) it created a large, hardened anti-monarchist cadre, and b) it gave that cadre extremely useful, personal links to the vast criminal underworld, very useful for carrying out the detail of a revolution. Not very bright is General Prayut and his junta. A danger to the very hierarchy they seek to defend.
Dr. Farrelly has learnt a lot about Burma over the last 9 months or so. Like most educated people who know the country, he has become rather cynical about Burmese society. Congratulations!
A lot of smoke and mirrors, cloak and daggers in Nay Pyi Taw. Perception is not reality, reality is not truth and truth is not always politically correct!
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The high price of Chinese hydropower
These are some of the poorest people in the world. Never mind the bloody hippos, these people are entitled to electricity which brings them into the 21st century and afforda them a basic lifestyle that we in the west take for granted. If you disagree then try humping water on your back that youve raised from a well by hand and doing that for thirty years. Then come back and tell us how you got on.
The limits of big ‘P’ politics in Myanmar’s elections
Very interesting gerro!
The high price of Chinese hydropower
Damn.. the Chinese failed to first plant a flag and proclaim the land belongs to the CPC..
That would have made it alright.. following the Western colonial model..
The high price of Chinese hydropower
The Chinese are doing the same “BOT” thing in Burma. There are building a lot of dams there, including the “suspended”(for now) Myitsone dam, that would have a serious social and environmental impact. Indiscriminate logging is another popular Chinese activity in poorer nations that causes a lot of damage, such as the recent floods in Burma. I like to call these Chinese SOEs, State Owned Businesses (the acronym sounds better!) Enough of this “One Belt One Road” plundering of natural resources in poorer countries.
Save the Irrawaddy dolphins and the giant Mekong catfish!
Why I speak out against the Thai Monarchy
A few comments: a) poverty exists everywhere – no correlation nor causation in monarchy b) on a per capita basis Luxemborg ‘subsidizes’ it’s monarchy at a cost nearly $20, Norway at $10 and Thailand at $5 – who gets a better bang for every dollar spent to keep their royals aloft?
Finally will the Red Shirts , in the spirit of Thai reconciliation, respond positively and join the Crown Prince ‘bike for Dad’ to celebrate the Thai King’d 88th anniversary
Why I speak out against the Thai Monarchy
The monarch is the formal head of the social system, the rule of a hierarchy of personalities rather than impersonal laws, that characterises every corrupt country on earth.
The following article on the traditional abuses in Thai universities goes much deeper than that narrow topic, getting to the fundamental cause of corruption in Thailand. Your beloved King is at the head of it.
http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/5536
Searching for Singapore’s soul
Singapore is doing fine as it is. No need to rock the boat.
Ethics and elections in Myanmar
Free media and Deeeemocracy, eh!
Good on you.
To the election and beyond
Cynical? Nah! Not Nich. Cautious optimism I’d say. Perhaps only San Zarni Bo can foretell. He was both right and wrong about the November 8 polls postponement.
Strange uncharacteristic things have come to pass in still military-ruled Burma, so there’s still everything to play for within their proscribed ambit. And you can’t rule out either a NLD defeat or a partial victory. Would ASSK be content for now with the prospect of her potential election to become the powerful Speaker of the House replacing Thura Shwe Mann?
Shawn W Crispin’s recent piece in The Diplomat is worth quoting at length –
“…after lifting or suspending their sanctions, the European Union and the United States are heavily invested in a legitimate democratic transition. Both were expected to pour in significant aid, investment and military assistance in the handover to what many observers earlier assumed would be an overwhelmingly elected NLD-led government. But as the playing field tilts in favor of the incumbent USDP, how much electoral fraud and manipulation will the West countenance in endorsing the result as sufficiently free and fair?….. Much will rely on Suu Kyi’s personal assessment of the process and result. It’s highly unlikely Suu Kyi will graciously accept an outright USDP win amid signs of systematic fraud and manipulation. It’s less clear how Suu Kyi would react to a result where the NLD outpaces the USDP but is unable to form a government because it falls short of a majority. In that scenario, the USDP could win just enough seats to form a government in league with the military’s 25 percent allotment of appointees even though the NLD wins the overall percentage vote.
Some analysts already speculate the European Union and United States would prefer the NLD accept rather than contest such a contentious result. Assumptions that the West would take its cue from Suu Kyi in determining whether the process should be deemed free and fair lag the prevailing political reality that U.S. and European interests have been well-served under Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian administration. Any major disruptions contesting the poll process or result would inevitably lure out troops and provide pretext for the military to stage a coup on the grounds that the country is not yet ready for full democracy.
Such an outcome represents the worst case scenario for the European Union and the United States, not to mention the country’s disenfranchised voters. Yet it’s unclear how the 70-year-old Suu Kyi would respond to possible Western pressure to accept a partial victory that allows the USDP to maintain power against the popular will. Some analysts believe U.S. pressure nudged Suu Kyi and the NLD to contest the 2012 by-elections and enter mainstream politics in a position of parliamentary weakness with the promise that the 2015 polls would be free and fair. Whether she is again willing to subordinate idealism for expediency will likely be the difference between order and instability in post-election Myanmar.”
Where politics means the art of compromise and a good measure of horse trading, muddling through is what politicians do best the world over.
Ethics and elections in Myanmar
Right now a free media is the most precious component of the reforms. Good to see positive things happening that the public can benefit from, thanks to both state players and INGOs, soft power or whatever. Good that you can at least lead the Nay Pyi Taw horse to water. It might even convince you that it’s lapping it all up.
Why I speak out against the Thai Monarchy
The system works well for thousand of year doesn’t mean it suppose to work now. Furthermore, Stalin and Mao isnt exactly for republic but a monarchist in practice. You obviously never see the real poor in Thailand, go search in Thairath, you will see plenty, the most recent one is an old couple whos blind and cant really afford food on their table everyday. Is that the sort of country that deserve a praise????
Why I speak out against the Thai Monarchy
There are plenty of Kings and generals among the world worst criminals. Just in case of Thailand just remember the royally-sponsored massacres in 1973, 1976,1992 and 2010. To hell with the Thai monarchy !
Why I speak out against the Thai Monarchy
DON’T KNOCK MONARCHIES
Monarchies may not be perfect, but the system has worked well for thousands of years.
Show me a republic worthy of praise?
Russia and China have a terrible record of Human Rights abuse. Obama has committed more Summary Executions, using his beloved Drones, than any previous President. The USA is not even a true democracy, the candidates and eligible parties are decided and financed by “big business” The corporations are out of control, and abusing their huge power. Monsanto is a prime example,forcing improperly tested GMO products onto the market, which threaten the whole world.
A number of French Presidents had their Electoral Campaigns funded by African Dictators.
Being poor in Thailand is arguably better than being poor in the USA, where until recently 40% of the population had zero medical cover.
In my experience, there are many presidents, past and present, among the worlds worst criminals.
Treading the night in Thailand
But why is Delhi so much worse than other Indian cities, Pratibha? At least worse than Kolkata and Mumbai. Both Indian and foreign women remark upon it.
(In Delhi there’s that weird maneuver where men somehow touch a woman’s breasts while passing her on the street. At first the victim thinks, “Did that really happen?” Until other women ask the same thing.)
Perhaps the problem can be traced to the particular cultures that coalesce in Delhi? Less social sanction? Police in Delhi are just more indifferent? Women have historically been more public in the workplace in other cities?
Why we still need SBY
Thank you. I had forgotten the appalling details of the case of the three Catholics.
Aside from SBY’s blatant lack of credibility as an advocate of the abolition of the death penalty, what are the chances that he would adopt a position that might incur some criticism?
Rivalling Soeharto for the distinction of being Indonesia’s thinnest-skinned president, SBY is probably devoted now to ensuring the best political career for his son, Ibas, This chip off the old block may have thin skin himself, as he never seems to roll up his sleeves and bare his arms in public. For SBY to take a possibly unpopular stance on capital punishment would hardly help Ibas.
Let’s forget about SBY. Those Australian commentators who have written lyrically about the former president’s good intentions towards Australia tended to overlook SBY’s failure to institutionalise such intentions. He’s gone, and there’s nobody around to put those intentions into effect.
We are now living in the era of the neo-Sukarnoist Jokowi. I don’t know how many times, if ever, he has taken advice from SBY. Jokowi’s outlook on the world is after all very different from his predecessor’s.
The current obsession with Bela Negara, including its alleged objective of recruiting one hundred million Indonesians to participate holus-bolus in the defence of the realm, reminds one more of Chairman Mao and his barefoot doctors than of SBY and his impressive collection of international awards for statesmanship and wisdom.
NLD needs to lift the standard
Thank you both for your replies!
Astrology, prediction and postponement
According to the DVB report – Apart from the USDP, two smaller parties, the National Development Party, led by a former presidential adviser, Nay Zin Latt, and the Myanmar Farmers’ Development Party, also spoke in favour of postponing the vote. The NLD was the only party to oppose the move, while the remaining three parties at the UEC meeting – the Arakan National Party, National Unity Party and National Democratic Force – abstained from voting.
Why I speak out against the Thai Monarchy
Well said Somsak. Russia’s Tsars also made the mistake of throwing into jail, with common criminals, anyone who critised them. The result was : a) it created a large, hardened anti-monarchist cadre, and b) it gave that cadre extremely useful, personal links to the vast criminal underworld, very useful for carrying out the detail of a revolution. Not very bright is General Prayut and his junta. A danger to the very hierarchy they seek to defend.
To the election and beyond
Dr. Farrelly has learnt a lot about Burma over the last 9 months or so. Like most educated people who know the country, he has become rather cynical about Burmese society. Congratulations!
A lot of smoke and mirrors, cloak and daggers in Nay Pyi Taw. Perception is not reality, reality is not truth and truth is not always politically correct!
Astrology, prediction and postponement
From Myanmar’s superstitious cosmological perspective, Nov 8 election is over because of the yesterday event. (Kyein-kyay)
Therefore, the election to be held on 8 Nov will be a new one and therefore a new result.
San Zarni Bo was correct in a way.