From:
To:
Cc:
RE: [jacjapan] American Pride Monday, 4 August, 2008 22:16
"phone hlaing"
"laurayanoma"
"JACJAPAN"
.
Dear Laura,
I apologise on behalf of Mr. Hla Aye Mg for sending this mail. Sometimes
some people do the mistake unintentionally. I believe that Mr. Hla Aye Mg
make this mistake unintentionally.
We are very grateful to American citizens like you and US Government
for strong commitments and strong support to our struggle for democracy
and freedom.
With great respect.
Phone Hlaing
FWUBC-JAPAN
From: laura yanoma
Subject: RE: [jacjapan] American Pride
To: jacjapan@yahoogroup s.com
Date: Monday, 4 August, 2008, 3:44 AM
In response to the "American Pride" video on youtube:
This kind of glorification of war is deeply perverse. It is true there are
many Americans who feel that our national pride is linked to our military,
but there are also many good people who believe military should be for
defense and aid, not the pursuit of oil and wealth. Hopefully the latter group
will decide the upcoming election.
Laura Yanoma
USA and Japan
To: jacjapan@yahoogroup s.com
From: danya_thurein@ yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 10:28:20 -0700
Subject: [jacjapan] American Pride
Please watch , just click below the link.
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=EqXfm_3AWwA&feature=related
Send instant messages to your online friends
http://uk.messenger .yahoo.com
__._,_.___
Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic
RE: [jacjapan] American Pride - Yahoo! Mail 2/2 ページ
http://aa.mc571.mail.yahoo.com/mc/showMessage?fid=Inbox&sort=date&order=down&sta... 8/4/2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
APOLOGY TO MISS LAURA YANOMA
Common ground
Five days and counting until 8.08pm on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the century.
Whatever its outcome, the Beijing Olympics are destined to be as memorable as the starting time for their minutely choreographed opening. Even the least sporty couch potato must be relishing the spectacle.
Given the mammoth investment China has made in its elite athletes, it will be a surprise if this nation of 1.3 billion fails to top the medals table, beating the United States into second place for the first time. But that is not how China's success will be measured. The Olympic spirit has always been about more than a four-yearly pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit.
The run-up to the games has witnessed as many controversies as the interlocking Olympic rings. Far from advertising China's arrival as a modern state, the protests over Tibet during the torch relay, China's refusal to intervene to halt atrocities in Burma, Sudan and most recently Zimbabwe and the sudden removal from Beijing of would-be protesters, have all brought negative publicity. This was crowned last week by Amnesty International's report saying human rights had deteriorated since China was awarded the 2008 Olympics in 2001. Journalists promised free access to internet websites arrived to find restrictions still in place. Promises to tackle the dreadful pall of pollution hanging over Beijing are belatedly being met only by centrally imposed restrictions on factories and drivers, reminding the outside world of the conditions endured under normal circumstances. Hopes that technology would deter drugs cheats have been disappointed with the elimination of 17 competitors before the start, including the US relay team. Rumours persist about China's use of gene therapy and the level of corruption.
However, while those such as LibDem leader Nick Clegg and film producer Steven Spielberg are justified in seeking to use the Olympics to raise their objections to these issues, ultimately we have more to gain than lose by engaging with the Chinese than by shunning them. Despite widespread human rights abuses, China has come a long way since dissidents were met with a bullet in the head. Today, against the odds, the skies over Beijing are blue and officials have lifted some restrictions placed on journalists. The ancient Olympics were marked first and foremost by a truce. For the 17 days of the games, that should apply also to anti-China sniping. Instead, it should be an opportunity for China and the rest of the world to start understanding each other better.
12:12am today
Copyright © 2008 Newsquest (Herald & Times) Limited. All Rights Reserved
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Philippine Star - Articles - -Envoy expected to meet Myanmar democracy activists
Philippine Star - Articles - -: "YANGON (AP) -Leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party hope to meet a UN human rights investigator who was in Myanmar on Monday, days before the 20th anniversary of a failed uprising against the country's military rulers.
Human Rights Council investigator for Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana has asked to meet government officials, representatives of ethnic groups and political parties, a U.N. statement said.
There was no mention of a meeting with opposition leader Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.
Quintana wishes 'to engage in a constructive dialogue with the authorities to improve (the) human rights situation of people of Myanmar,' the statement said.
Quintana arrived in Myanmar on Sunday and will stay until Thursday, a day before the 20th anniversary of the 1988 uprising against the military junta. The government has already strengthened security ahead of the anniversary, fearing it could be used by pro-democracy activists to launch further protests against the junta.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi, said members of her National League for Democracy party have not been told whether they will be able to see Quintana but said they hope to press him about her access to a doctor.
'One of our concerns is to seek regular visits to Suu Kyi's personal physician,' Nyan Win said Sunday, adding that she has not seen her physician, Dr. Tin Myo Win, since early May.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement, killing as many as 3,000 people. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly"
Bankrupt Singapore politician stopped from leaving | World | Reuters
Bankrupt Singapore politician stopped from leaving | World | Reuters: "SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singapore opposition politician has been stopped from leaving the country to attend a university programme in the United States because she had failed to pay costs linked to a court case, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
Chee Siok Chin, a committee member of the Singapore Democratic Party and sister of party chief Chee Soon Juan, was stopped by the Official Assignee's office, which must give permission before a bankrupt can leave the country, the pro-government Straits Times newspaper reported.
The newspaper said the Official Assignee's office deemed the programme was of no benefit to her creditors.
Chee had enrolled for the summer programme at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law, the newspaper said.
She was declared a bankrupt last year after failing to pay legal costs linked to a 2005 court case.
Chee had challenged a move by the Singapore police to disperse a peaceful protest in August 2005. The protest, by Chee Siok Chin and three others, took place outside a public building in Singapore and called for greater transparency in state institutions.
The case was thrown out and three of the four were ordered to pay costs of about S$23,700 ($17,290), the newspaper said.
Protests in Singapore are rare and an assembly of five or more people requires a permit from the police. Singapore says it needs tough laws on assembly for the maintenance of peace and stability."
George Bush’s Iran-Contra and Thaksin’s Dodgy Export-Import Bank Loan to Burma
US twist to Thaksin court case By Peter J BrownAsian Times — The Thai Ex-Im Bank loan case, however, is notable for its international dimension, including a US government role in financing Shin Satellite’s business activities. During Thaksin’s five-year tenure, his family-owned Shin Satellite, now known as Thaicom and majority-owned by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, developed and in 2005 launched a US$350 million satellite known as iPStar, which now beams satellite broadband services throughout Southeast Asia, China and Australia.
Myanmar’s government allowed the company to run trials of IPStar’s ground stations in 2003, providing the company a live but closed environment to test the technology without heavy market scrutiny. A portion of the 2004 Thai Ex-Im Bank loan to Myanmar was allegedly used to purchase those same Shin Satellite iPStar satellite terminals and other services. Although the upcoming criminal case is expected to examine the terms of the loan and how it was allegedly devised to provide maximum benefits to Thaksin’s family-owned Shin Corp, the US State Department as well as the US Export-Import Bank will be nervously watching the proceedings. That’s because American taxpayers effectively helped to finance iPStar’s construction by a US company, Space Systems/Loral, through roughly $190 million in US Ex-Im Bank loan guarantees. (The French government, which has also recently been a strong critic of Myanmar’s regime, also provided loan guarantees for the launch services for the satellite.) At the same time the Thai Ex-Im Bank approved its controversial loan to Myanmar in 2004, the actual satellite was still sitting on the ground in the US awaiting delivery by Loral to a launch facility in South America. Because of the Myanmar government’s abysmal human rights record, US companies are legally forbidden by US government trade and investment sanctions from doing with the country any business that was not established before 1997. Here is the Iran-Contra component. I’m not going to recap what happened during the Iran-Contra scandal during the 80’s, but there was one component of the scandal where Ronald Reagan and his underlings were selling/giving arms to Iran, which is and was at that time a rogue terrorist state and an enemy of the US, and there were trade and investment sanctions against Iran.This policy contradicted Reagan’s “no negotiations with terrorists” policy and it broke the law regarding trading arms with Iran. Questionable US role In this particular case, and for unknown reasons, the US State Department and the US Ex-Im Bank stood by silently as the controversial iPStar transaction with Myanmar unfolded. This is much more than an awkward omission: the iPStar project was a high-profile affair from the start. Among other things the head of the US Ex-Im Bank traveled to London in 2003 to accept an award related to the project, which Shin Satellite executives at the time promised would revolutionize the global satellite business through greater transmission efficiency. The writer should have been more clear on this. Now I am going to have to look up what happened. Powerful members of the US Congress had a heated exchange with the US Ex-IM Bank in 2002 over how the satellite project was taking shape, although not over the possibility that its mission would benefit Myanmar’s junta.Why were members upset over this? Probably has to do with money. Though it seems that Loral is a bigger contributor to the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.As the court case against Thaksin unfolds, the US Congress and even the White House, which in recent years has been strongly critical of Myanmar’s military regime, including President George W Bush’s own reference to the country as an “outpost of tyranny”, will be left to answer how this transaction apparently slipped under their radar screens. He won’t answer for his hypocrisy, because the US media won’t call him on it. Days before the Thai Supreme Court announced its decision to hear the case, the US House of Representatives voted to freeze certain junta members’ assets and ban the importation of all Myanmar-sourced jade and rubies to the US. American gem dealers had previously avoided trade sanctions by importing Myanmar gems from second countries which processed or in other ways added value to the raw stones. I have to point out that the Republicans controlled Congress back in 2002 and the Democrats control Congress now. So it isn’t surprising that there is a tougher sanctions policy. However, like I said, Loral, the manufacture of Ipstar, supports the Democrats over the Republicans. The new measures are the latest of a wide range of trade and investment sanctions imposed by the US government against Myanmar. In 2007, Bush extended for another year the trade sanctions that were first signed by president Bill Clinton in 1997. Add to that list the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, and another executive order on new investments in Myanmar signed by Bush that same year. The Bush administration’s tough message to Myanmar’s generals has been clear, while the gap dividing the US’s and Thailand’s policy towards the regime has grown ever larger. Bush has been tough against Burma. No wonder that the junta is paranoid. However, it looks like Bush has egg on his face, just like Reagan, for financing a brutal authoritarian regime, despite the rhetoric and policy. Indeed Shin Satellite and its iPStar satellite continue to make steady inroads into Myanmar. In early 2008, Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications announced that Thaicom had expanded its business ties through the signing of a pair of new capacity contracts. Thailand’s new Thaksin-aligned government, led by prime minister Samak Sundaravej, announced earlier this year that the remaining portion of the 2004 Thai Ex-Im Bank loan would be handed over to Myanmar’s generals, despite the political controversy surrounding the loan. This is one area that Thaksin, Samak and the Thai military agree on. Keep supporting the Burmese junta with money, weapons and technology. Of course, the Thai media is weak in holding the government and military accountable for these policies. The bottom line however is that Thaksin and his family are not the only ones feeling the legal heat. While the US State Department looked on, the US Ex-Im Bank wrote checks that effectively extended badly needed satellite services into Myanmar - and in apparent violation of the sanctions Washington has long imposed against the military regime. This is a serious crime. This is actually more serious than the CTX and the Bangkok Film Festival scandals. Now Myanmar’s junta is likely using US-funded wireless broadband technology to perpetuate its repressive policies and harassment of pro-democracy groups. Not only does the oversight represent a shameful stain on US government accountability, it also sets back the broader cause of promoting human rights and democracy in military-run Myanmar. I wonder if the Thai press or the US press corps traveling with Bush will ask him about this.Of course not.I found this case to be highly disturbing, considering Bush’s strong stance against the Burmese regime. It won’t be getting the attention it deserves in the mainstream US press.Loral, the manufacturer of the Ipstar system, was actually investigated and fined for sharing its technology with China.—Concerning the US Export-Import Bank Component from a scathing article in the New York Times:A Guardian of Jobs or a ‘Reverse Robin Hood’?By LESLIE WAYNEPublished: September 1, 2002 IT is hard to imagine why Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire who is Thailand’s prime minister, would need a helping hand from the United States government for his family business, an Asian telecommunications giant called the Shin Corporation.The Shin business empire, which Mr. Shinawatra founded and is still majority owned by his family, spreads from India to Indochina. It is Thailand’s largest telecommunications company. But last May, to the consternation of competitors, Shin Satellite, a subsidiary, won a $160 million loan guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the United States to buy a new telecommunications satellite and strengthen its grip in Southeast Asia.For the bank, a Depression-era agency founded to promote exports, the rationale was simple. Loral Space and Communications, an American manufacturer run by Bernard L. Schwartz, a longtime Democratic Party donor, was Shin’s supplier, and commercial banks, according to the bank, would not finance the deal without the loan guarantee.Crying foul, Shin Satellite’s competitors tried to block the deal in Congress. ”How is it that billionaires like Shinawatra and Bernie Schwartz can get the U.S. taxpayers to subsidize their deals?” asked Franklin G. Polk, a lobbyist for New Skies Satellites, a rival based in the Netherlands that, like other companies, was able to get private financing, but not at the rates as low as Shin’s government-backed loans.How indeed? Basically Thaksin borrowed money from the US government to finance his satellite empire, then used Thai taxpayer money to give to Burma to buy Shin Satellite services.The Thai Export-Import Bank scam will be one of the cases that will probably put Thaksin in jail.George Bush must feel comforted knowing that the US government financed Burma’s use of American technology to hunt down and kill Burmese dissidents.
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The Hindu : Sport / Football : Myanmar puts it across Sri Lanka
HYDERABAD: Myanmar defeated Sri Lanka 3-1 in the Group ‘B’ league of the AFC Challenge Cup football tournament here on Friday.
'Don't forget people of Burma',' Burma'の人々を忘れてはいけない;
Saturday, 02 Aug 2008 19:58
International donors urged not to turn their back on people of Burma, three months after Cyclone Nargis International donors, world leaders and people across the globe have been urged not to turn their back on the people of Burma.
サイクロンのNargisの国際的な提供者の後のビルマ、3か月の人々の彼らの背部を回さないようにせき立てられる国際的な提供者は地球を渡る各国指導者そして人々ビルマの人々の彼らの背部を回さないようにせき立てられた。
The plea comes three months to the day since Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta region.
嘆願は3か月サイクロンNargisがビルマIrrawaddyのデルタの地域の陸地初認を作ったのでに日来る。
Since May 2nd up to 140,000 people have died as a result of the storm, the worst to ever hit the south-east Asian country, while a further 2.5 million people have been displaced.
5月2日以来それ以上の2.5百万人は転置されたが140,000人まで嵐、南東のアジアの国に当ること悪いのの結果として死んだ。
Save the Children is calling on international donors not to forget the Burmese people as the spotlight moves away from the country.
子供を除けばスポットライトが国から移ると同時に国際的な提供者をビルマの人々を忘れないために頼んでいる。
The charity, which has a larger humanitarian presence in Burma than any other organisation, says the Burmese people are in desperate need of international aid.
ビルマで他のどの構成もより大きい人道主義の存在がある慈善はビルマの人々が国際的な援助の絶望的な必要性にあることを言う。
A report seen by inthenews.co.uk shows more than half of families in the shattered delta region have less than one day of food left, with the situation made even direr by the impossibility of planting new crops.
inthenews.co.ukによって見られるレポートは粉砕されたデルタの地域の家族の半分新しい穀物を植える不可能性によって残される1日以下の食糧なされるよりものすごく状態を、食べなさいより多く示す。
The region's fishing industry has also been devastated, contributing to a 50 per cent rise in food prices.
食品価格の50%上昇に貢献する地域の漁業はまた荒廃していた。
According to Save the Children, two years ago the average cost of feeding a Burmese family was $1.15 (58p) a day, with the average daily wage standing at $1.04 (53p).
子供を除けばに従って、2年前にビルマ家族に与える平均原価は$1.15 (58p) $1.04に立っていて平均日給が、だった日(53p)。
With malnutrition a real risk, the charity is calling for money for fertilisers for crops already planted as well as direct food aid that will allow it to distribute 7,000 metric tonnes to 150,000 people over the next three months.
それが次の3か月にわたる150,000人に7,000のメートルトンを配るようにする直接食糧援助、また栄養不良によって本当の危険は既に植わる穀物の肥料のお金を、慈善求めている。
Almost nine out of every ten families affected by the cyclone were already in poverty before the storm struck, with even more children now being withdrawn from school and forced into work or becoming victims of trafficking as a result.
サイクロンによって影響された今学校から撤回され、仕事に強制されたさらに子供または売買のその結果なる犠牲者との窮乏に10家族毎にからのほぼ9つは嵐が打った前に既にあった。
"For those children who were separated from their families or even orphaned by the cyclone, the future is uncertain," Save the Children told inthenews.co.uk.
" 彼らの家族から分かれていたりまた更にサイクロンによって孤児になったそれらの子供のために、未来は不確かの"である; inthenews.co.ukを言われる子供を除けば。
"The number of children's homes and orphanages is on the rise but it is not only orphans who end up living there. Children whose parents are still alive are being sent to institutions because nobody has yet traced their parents or extended families, and those currently looking after them can't afford to continue to support them."
子供の家および児童養護施設の数は増加しているが、そこに生存を終える孤児のはだけである。 親がまだ生きている現在それらを守っている子供はだれもまだ彼らの親か親戚をたどっていないので施設、およびそれらにそれらを支え続けることをできることができない差し向けられている。
In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone Burma's junta faced widespread international condemnation for hindering aid efforts.
サイクロンのビルマの直後で会議は援助の努力を妨げるための広まった国際的な非難に直面した。
The concern led to an influential committee of MPs last month urging the UK government, which has already donated £45 million, to freeze aid to Burma unless the country's human rights record improved or proof was received of it not being diverted to the military.
改良された国の人権記録か証拠が軍隊に転換しないそれの受け取られなかったらビルマに援助を凍らせるように先月既に£45百万を寄付してしまったイギリスの政府をせき立てるMPsの影響を及ぼす委員会に導かれる心配。
But charities responded by claiming there is a "desperate" need for further aid and insisted their work was saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
しかし慈善はである"答えたそこに要求によって; desperate" それ以上の援助のために必要とし、仕事が数十万生命を救っていたことを主張した。
Save the Children says the Burmese generals have granted improved access to the delta to international relief workers and that an independent assessment of relief needs has been completed – paving the way for further international aid to arrive in the country.
子供を除けばビルマ大将が国際的な救援スタッフにデルタへの改善されたアクセスを許可したこと救助の必要性の独立した査定が完了したことを言い、-開くこと国ことをで着くそれ以上の国際的な援助のための道を。
"Save the Children has clearly demonstrated that aid given to Myanmar can be effective and make a dramatic difference, whilst still meeting international standards of accountability," a spokesperson explained.
子供を除けばミャンマーに与えられる援助が有効そして劇的な違いを生じることができることをはっきり示し間まだ責任能力の国際規格に、"合う; スポークスマンは説明した。
"If donors break their promises and fail to give generously to the survivors of the cyclone – they will be punishing the children of Myanmar for a government that they have no control over."
" 提供者がサイクロンの生存者に寛大に与える彼らの約束および失敗を壊せば-制御を有しないこと政府のためのミャンマーの子供を罰する。
While the UK has donated more to help the survivors of Cyclone Nargis than any other country, other states have been less generous.
サイクロンNargisの生存者を助けるためにイギリスが他のどの国もより多くを寄付する間、ずっと他の州はより少なく寛大である。
The US, which has a raft of restrictive sanctions over investment in Burma, has pledged $29 million (£14.6 million), while the Philippines, which has a GNI per capita 15 times smaller than the States, has pledged $20 million (£10.1 million).
15倍GNIが州より小さい一人につきあるビルマで投資上の制限する認可のいかだがある米国はフィリピンは$20,000,000を誓約したが、$29,000,000を(£14.6百万)誓約した(£10.1百万)。
Japan meanwhile, which gave $500 million (£252.5 million) to the Boxing Day 2004 Asian tsunami appeal, has donated just $11 million (£5.6 million), despite the impact of Cyclone Nargis being compared to the destruction suffered by any one individual country in the tsunami.
その間クリスマスの贈物日2004のアジア人の津波の懇願に$500,000,000を(£252.5百万)与えた日本は津波のあらゆる1つの個々の国によって苦しむ破壊と比較されるサイクロンNargisの影響にもかかわらずちょうど$11,000,000を(£5.6百万)、寄付してしまった。
Cyclone Nargis was not the first time the notoriously secret Burmese junta had been thrust on to the global news agenda in the past 12 months.
悪名高く秘密のビルマの会議が過去の12か月の全体的なニュースの議題に押し出された時最初にサイクロンNargisはなかった。
Last autumn a wave of popular protests were witnessed in the country's largest cities in the greatest challenge to military rule since the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.
昨秋普及した抗議の波は1988年に民主化のデモンストレーションの押しつぶすこと以来の軍事政権への最も大きい挑戦の国の大都市で目撃された。
The protests, which were led by Buddhist monks, were sparked by a 500 per cent increase in the price of natural gas, announced by the government in August last year.
僧侶によって導かれた抗議は8月の政府が去年発表した天燃ガスの価格の500%増加によってスパークした。
Support for the junta, which assumed power in 1962, is now at an all-time low following its limited response to the cyclone.
1962年に力を仮定した会議のためのサポートはサイクロンへの限られた応答に続く最低記録に今ある。
But regional experts have told inthenews.co.uk it could take decades for any challenge to the senior generals to materialise.
しかし地方専門家は年長大将に具体化するためにあらゆる挑戦のための十年かかることができるinthenews.co.ukを言った。
In its annual human rights report, the FCO noted the junta's persistent violations were at the heart of the country's political, economic and social problems.
年次人権では、FCO注意した耐久性がある違反が政治国の中心にあった会議の経済的なおよび社会問題に報告しなさい。
"The Burmese regime may continue to be indifferent to the suffering of the Burmese people, but the UK, and the world, remain concerned," the report stated.
" ビルマの政体はビルマの人々の苦労、イギリスに無関心であり続けるかもしれが世界は、心配しているの"残る; レポートは示した。
© 2008 www.InTheNews.co.uk .
No Deal Is Better Than A Bad Deal But All Is Not Lost After Doha (from Sunday Herald)
EVERYONE IN our inter-connected world lost out in Geneva last week when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks finally collapsed, but the deal on the table was neither in the interests of the developing world nor in the interests of Scotland's farmers. Better no deal (yet) than this bad one.
China's Olympic Hopes Take A Beating, Earthquake, Tibetan Riots, Foreign Criticism Have Dampened China's Olympic Spirit, Image - CBS News
Earthquake, Tibetan Riots, Foreign Criticism Have Dampened China's Olympic Spirit, Image
Putting Compassion into Action
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By KYAW ZWA MOE Irrawaddy-JULY, 2008 - VOLUME 16 NO.7
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Do Burmese people really understand the meaning of compassion? Not according to a prominent Buddhist monk who has taken a leading role in Cyclone Nargis relief effortsMAE SOT, Thailand — “HOW did you feel when you heard that people were homeless, that monks had lost their monasteries and had nowhere to stay? Over 130,000 people were killed and 2.4 million suffered badly. How did you feel?”
The monk who asked these questions paused and looked at his audience of around 3,000 people at the Tawya Burmese monastery in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, opposite Myawaddy.
A patient is comforted by Sitagu Sayadaw in a clinic in the Irrawaddy delta.
He continued: “If you felt concerned and afraid for them, that’s good. It means you have compassion.”
But before anyone could take too much satisfaction in that thought, he added: “That’s good, but it’s not good enough.”
The speaker was Dr Ashin Nyanissara—better known as Sitagu Sayadaw [abbot]—one of Burma’s most respected monks. He was in Mae Sot in late June to give a dhamma talk on compassion—and to ask the local Burmese community, estimated to be tens of thousands strong, to support relief efforts in the Irrawaddy delta, where millions still struggle in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
Since the cyclone struck on May 2-3, Sitagu Sayadaw has been rallying his followers to come to the assistance of their compatriots in the delta and the former capital, Rangoon, which also suffered substantial damage.
His message was simple: Compassion is important, but it doesn’t amount to much unless it is accompanied by action.
“If you lack compassion, you will be an irresponsible person,” the 71-year-old abbot told his attentive audience, who were seated both inside the monastery’s main building and outside on the ground.
“But compassion in mind and in words alone won’t help the refugees in the cyclone-affected area,” he added. “Such compassion won’t bring food to people in need.”
Back in Burma, he has been busy practicing what he preaches. Soon after the cyclone hit, the Sitagu International Buddhist Missionary Center, founded by the abbot in 1980, began transporting relief supplies to affected towns and villages in the Irrawaddy delta by road and on boats.
“We visited villages from Bogalay to Amar. Then we crossed the river to Ka Don Ka Ni,” he said during an interview, pointing to a map of the area in a back issue of The Irrawaddy. “After that we went back to Bogalay, visiting villages on the other side of the river.”
What he witnessed in the disaster area affected him profoundly and moved him to take further action. “When I saw my own people and monks suffering terribly, I felt like my heart was being stabbed by hundreds of needles,” he said.
Less than a week after the disaster, the Sitagu International Buddhist Missionary Center established emergency relief centers and clinics in Ka Don Ka Ni, Amar, Set San and Kunthi Chaung, which were among the worst-hit villages in the delta.
Over the following month, it also donated aid to 1,344 monasteries in the region. Each monastery received metal sheets for repairing roofs and between 100,000 and 1 million kyat (US $85-850) in cash, according to a detailed list of expenditures compiled by the missionary center.
The center also donated cash and various necessities, including food, medicine, clothing, mosquito nets and cooking utensils, to refugees in 900 villages in six townships. More than 300 trucks were used to distribute the supplies.
With funds supplied by domestic and international donors, the center also provided $150,000 in cash and medical equipment—from operation beds to ultrasound and ECG machines—to three government hospitals.
One local NGO worker returning from Bogalay attested to the help that refugees had received from Sitagu Sayadaw and to their respect for the abbot. He also contrasted the commitment of the missionary monks with the contribution of others who have taken part in the relief effort.
“Volunteers can rarely be seen two months after the cyclone,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The only force left is the monks.”
Although the authorities have forced many refugees to leave the monasteries that provided them with food and shelter in the weeks after the cyclone, the monks have continued to play a major role in distributing aid.Unlike other volunteers, who are often barred from entering the disaster zone, monks, especially respected ones like Sitagu Sayadaw, are still free to travel to the area to carry out relief work.
Monks distribute food to refugees in a monastery in the cyclone-affected area.
A number of other prominent monks, including Mizzima Gon Yi Sayadaw and Dhamma Sedi Sayadaw from Mandalay Division and Shwe Nyawa Sayadaw from Rangoon, have also been active in aiding cyclone refugees. They have not only received donations, but have also delivered aid directly to those most in need.
A senior monk from Shwe Nyawa Monastery said that a group of monks, physicians and volunteers from his monastery has been traveling around Laputta Township in a two-tiered ship outfitted with medical equipment and supplies. Their mission, he said, is to assist sick and injured cyclone victims and perform religious rites for the deceased.
Private donors have given generously to these projects, which have reached many refugees who have yet to receive any aid from the government or international relief agencies. Indeed, many people prefer to make their donations through monasteries, which command greater trust and respect than official institutions. This has been especially true since September 2007, when monks led protests against the ruling regime on behalf of ordinary people suffering from deepening economic hardship.
Despite the growing willingness of people to contribute to social projects, Sitagu Sayadaw said that most Burmese still lack an adequate understanding of the meaning of compassion.
As the abbot explained in an interview with The Irrawaddy, most Burmese are more interested in religious merit than social merit. This, he said, reflected the beliefs of Theravada Buddhism, which traditionally emphasizes the importance of meditation as a means of acquiring merit. Mahayana Buddhism, on the other hand, focuses on serving others as a part of spiritual practice, he said.
“Meditating in a room with the doors shut won’t help the [cyclone] victims suffering over there. But most Burmese who traditionally believe in Theravada don’t appreciate the need for compassionate action,” he said. “That is why I am talking about it to people everyday. It is essential to make social merit stronger.”
Sitagu Sayadaw said that the government was not alone in responding too slowly to the suffering caused by the cyclone: The whole country failed to put its compassion into action. “We can’t blame the government alone,” he said.
This assessment may seem surprising given the role of volunteers and private donors in the relief effort. But these people represented only a small fraction of the country’s population, the abbot said, adding that the country’s people failed to mobilize on the scale that the disaster required.
Although Burmese privately profess the need for compassion, the society as a whole has never evolved a mechanism to prevent unnecessary suffering, he said.
“When we talk about underdeveloped countries, we mean that they are underdeveloped materially, spiritually and intellectually,” the abbot said. “Such countries suffer a lot when disasters strike. In fact, our whole country and its whole system are underdeveloped.”
The key to developing the country, he said, is to build what he called a “compassionate common platform.” To do this, each person must learn to think beyond narrow self-interest and recognize that the needs of others are equally important.
“Look at the word ‘success.’ If you take out ‘u’ [you], there can be no ‘success,’” he explained. “But most Burmese think, ‘I can do everything myself. I don’t need you.’”
This is true both in the lives of individuals and in the histories of nations, he said. “The suffering in Burma, the killing in Iraq and Afghanistan, the killing fields in Cambodia—all of these have come from selfishness. All man-made disasters are driven by that selfishness.
“People need to think about what others need and what they can do for them. Only then can they work together for the common good.”
The abbot criticized his fellow Burmese for their lack of teamwork, which he said showed they could not see beyond their own needs. “Teamwork is not traditionally valued in Burma. This is why the country is always facing collapse,” he said.
“Burmese people worship heroes,” he said, pointing to the country’s historical reliance on charismatic figures as sources of national unity. “When King Anawrahta (1044-77) was gone, his empire collapsed.
After King Alaungpaya (1760-64) died, the same thing happened again,” he said, noting example after example of the same pattern in Burmese history.
The democratic opposition is also in danger of falling victim to this trap, he added. “Look at the National League for Democracy. Without Aung San Suu Kyi, it could just disappear.”
Sitagu Sayadaw hands out instant noodless to cyclone refugees in the Irrawaddy delta.
Instead of leading the country towards democracy, the leaders of the movement have succumbed to the Burmese propensity to go their own way rather than compromise, he said.
“The pro-democracy movement has disintegrated into thousands of small groups since 1988, because pro-democracy groups have not been able to find a common ground. That is one of the fundamental reasons we Burmese are suffering today.”
By teaching people to see the bigger picture, religious leaders can repair some of the damage done by the blind pursuit of self-interest. But they can only achieve this if they reach out from their churches, temples and mosques to work together for the sake of the people, the monk said.
In Burma, a further obstacle to this vision of a social movement guided by religious principles is the ruling regime’s distrust of any form of organized activism. But Sitagu Sayadaw remained cautiously hopeful.
“If the government understands that religious leaders are working for the welfare of the country, it will allow them to work together. But if they think those religious groups will attack or criticize the government, it will not.
“And then we will never have harmony,” he said. Irrawaddy correspondents Aung Thet Wine and Kyi Wai contributed to this article from Rangoon.http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 13185&page=3------------ -
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