As Naypyidaw takes turns playing good and bad guy roles towards the major rebel armies that have maintained uneasy truces with it since 1989, the latter are also understandably on the quiet about their future plans, according to reports coming to the border.
Map
21 October 2008
“What would you do in our place?” asked a Shan ceasefire officer rhetorically. “Lay down your cards on the table to make it easy for the generals to move against us? No, no. We simply cannot afford to play that way.”
All the groups interviewed by SHAN have conceded that junta commanders have been now and again urging them “to exchange arms for peace,” a favorite junta term for surrender. “However, we had a visit by one of the top officers from Naypyidaw lately,” said a highly placed ceasefire source who requested anonymity. “He had assured us that there would be no question of surrender in dealing with us.”
Most of the groups including the United Wa State Army (UWSA) are reportedly against the demand to give up their arms until an acceptable political settlement is reached.
On the other hand, some have expressed interest in forming political parties to contest in the 2010 elections without surrendering their arms. “That way we will no longer be fighting them from the outside but inside,” a prominent leader who is living in southern Shan State told SHAN. “It’s time we came in from the cold.”
Some groups have their own political parties, dormant since 1989:
Shan State Army (SSA) “North”- Shan State Progress Party (SSPP)
United Wa State Army (UWSA) – United Wa State Party (UWSP)
As the same time, none of the groups are sure whether their candidates would be accepted by Naypyidaw as Members of Parliament once they have been elected by their constituencies.
“We hope the military is content with what it already has: once-quarter representation in the national assembly and one-third representation in the state assemblies,” hopes one.
According to some analysts, the non-Burman ethnic parties stand a fair chance in the elections, compared to the National League for Democracy (NLD) or any proxy parties it has been urged by some supporters both at home and abroad to set up. It had won more than 80% of the seats nationwide in the 1990 elections.
Meanwhile, the groups have also been cautioned not to relax their vigilance, citing one of the groups that has recently been forcibly disarmed by the Army.
The Shan State Nationalities People’s Liberation Organization (SNPLO), also locally known as the Red PaO, that concluded a truce pact with Rangoon in 1994, was forced to surrender last August, despite assurances by junta commanders that the Burma Army entertained no such plans a month earlier.
At least the UWSA appears to be taking no chances. Since July, its squad leaders up to company commanders have been engaging in military exercises, as discovered by Brig-Gen Way Lin, Deputy Commander of the Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command on 19 October when he visited Mongphen and Mongpawk, south of the Wa capital Panghsang, according to sources in Kengtung.
www.shanland. org
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Ceasefire armies play it close to their chests-BURMA
"ငါ မုန္းတယ္"
[Ye Yint Thet Zwe]
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
ေၾကကြဲဘြယ္ အမွတ္တရ
အထိမ္းအမွတ္ ေန ့ရက္မ်ား
အႀကိမ္ႀကိမ္ အခါခါ
ငါတို ့ဦးညြတ္ရံု ဦးညြတ္ေနခဲ့ရ
အေျခအေနေတြ
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ခ်က္ ယံုၾကည္ခ်က္
အေတြးအေခၚ အသိဥာဏ္မ်ား
ေျမျမဳပ္သၿဂၤ ိဳလ္ရာ
အာဏာရွင္စနစ္ဆိုတာကိုလည္း
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
သူတပါးေျမေပၚမွာ
တရား၀င္ေနထိုင္ခြင့္ေလးတခု
ရရွိဘို ့အတြက္
ျဖဴစင္ခဲ့ေသာေစတနာ
အမွန္တရား ရိုးသားမႈမ်ားအား
ခုတံုးလုပ္ ။ လုပ္စားသြားသူမ်ားကို
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
အဲဒီလိုပဲ
တရား၀င္ေနထိုင္ခြင့္
အေျခအေနေလးတခု ရွိလာတဲ့အခါ
ကိုယ့္ႏိုင္ငံသားအခ်င္းခ်င္း
ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ကူညီရမယ့္အစား
ဇာတ္တူသားစားသူမ်ားကို
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
ငွက္ေပ်ာအူဟင္းနဲ ့
ခေယာင္းလမ္း
ေဆာင္းခ်မ္းခ်မ္းမွာ
ဆူးေတာခ်ံဳတိုး
ေတာ္လွန္ေရး ဘ၀မ်ိဳးကို ျဖတ္ေက်ာ္ခဲ့ၿပီး
တတိယႏိုင္ငံႀကီးေတြေရာက္တဲ့အခါ
အတိတ္ေမ့ ဘ၀ေမ့ အရာခပ္သိမ္းေမ့
ေတာ္လွန္ေရးကိုပါေမ့တဲ့သူေတြ
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
တိုင္းျပည္အက်ိဳးသယ္ပိုးသူ
ေတာ္လွန္ေရးအတြက္ အသက္ကိုေပးဆပ္သူ
ဘာသာလူမ်ိဳးမခြဲျခား
အားလံုးဟာငါ့အေသြးအသားမ်ားျဖစ္ၾကရဲ ့ ။
မ်က္ေစ့ကိုဖြင့္ နားကိုစြင့္
တိုက္ပြဲ၀င္ဘို ့ အသင့္ျဖစ္ေနတဲ့
ငါတို ့ရဲေဘာ္ေလးေတြရဲ ့ပူပန္မႈ
(လက္နက္ ။ က်ည္ဆန္ ။ စားနပ္ရိကၡာ )
ငါ့ကို မီးလိုကူးစက္တဲ့အခါ
ၿမိဳ ့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့့ႀကီးမ်ားေပၚက
တို ့ႏိုင္ငံသားေတြကေတာ့
ေထာက္ပံ့ေငြေၾကး လက္ေႏွးေနၾက
အာေပါက္ေအာင္ေျပာရနဲ ့
အေပ်ာ္အပါးမွာ စိတ္ပါလက္ပါ
ေငြကိုေရလိုသံုးေနသူေတြကို
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
နယ္ျခားမ်ဥ္းမ်ားအေပၚမွာ
အသက္တေခ်ာင္း ရွင္သန္ေအာင္
ႀကံဖန္ေမြးယူေနရ
ျပည္သူမ်ားရဲ ့ ဘ၀
လက္နက္ကိုင္ဆြဲ
ေတာ္လွန္ေရးဆင္ႏႊဲေနတဲ့
တပ္ဦးက ေက်ာင္းသားရဲေဘာ္မ်ားရဲ ့ ဘ၀
ႏိုင္ငံအသီးသီးမွာ
အႏွိမ္ခံ အဖိႏွိပ္ခံ
အႏုိင္က်င့္ခံ ။ ေသြးစုပ္ခံေနရတဲ့
ငါ့ ႏိုင္ငံသားေတြရဲ ့ ဘ၀
ျပားျပား၀ပ္ၿပီး
ေခါင္းမေထာင္ႏိုင္ေအာင္
ညွင္းပန္းရက္စက္ သတ္ျဖတ္
ပညာေရး စီးပြားေရး လူမႈႈေရး
အစစအရာရာ စုတ္ျပတ္
လူျဖစ္ေပမယ့္
လူ ့အခြင့္အေရးမရွိေတာ့တဲ့
ဗမာျပည္တြင္းက ျပည္သူတို ့ရဲ ့ဘ၀
ဘ၀အမ်ိဳးမ်ိဳးအဖံုဖံုတို ့ရဲ ့
မူလအစ
အာဏာရွင္စနစ္နဲ ့
အာဏာရွင္တို ့ရဲ ့ လုပ္ရပ္ေတြ
ခိုင္ခိုင္မာမာနဲ ့ ျပစ္ျပစ္ႏွစ္ႏွစ္ႀကီးကို
ငါ မုန္းတယ္ ၊
ညီမေလးေရ
အဲဒီလိုမ်ိဳး
စိတ္ဓာတ္ေတြက
ေတာင္ေလာက္ ႀကီးျမင့္ပါေပရဲ ့
ဒီမိုကေရစီ အတြက္
ေတာ္လွန္ေရး အတြက္
အမ်ိဳးသားလြတ္ေျမာက္ေရး အတြက္
ငါ့ လုပ္ရပ္ေတြက
ဇီးေစ့ေလာက္ပဲ
ခရီးေပါက္မယ္ ထင္ရဲ ့
လုပ္ခ်င္တဲ့စိတ္ေတြထက္
လုပ္ႏိုင္တဲ့ အလုပ္ေတြက
နဲေနတာကိုပဲ
စိတ္ေနာက္ ကိုယ္မပါႏိုင္
ရုပ္အေျခအေန ယိုင္ေနတဲ့
ငါ့ ကိုယ္ငါ
ေသေသခ်ာခ်ာႀကီးကို
မုန္းမိေတာ့တယ္ ။
ရာစုသစ္ႏွင့္ကၽြႏု္ပ္တို ့"
[Ye Yint Thet Zwe]
ပ်ားရည္တစက္ဟာ
အဆိပ္တခြက္ပါပဲ
ဓါးသြားကို လ်က္မိလို ့ ျပတ္က်ရတဲ့လွ်ာ
ေဟာဒီကမၻာမွာ
ဘယ္ေလာက္ေတာင္မ်ားခဲ့ၿပီလဲ ။
အသိဥာဏ္ေက်ာက္ေဆာင္
ေလာဘ ေဒါသ ေမာဟ
အေမွာင္ထု ဒီေရတိုက္စား
မ်က္မျမင္ပု႑ားေျခာက္ေယာက္ရဲ ့ အသိမ်ိဳးနဲ ့
ဘ၀ခရီးကို သြားေနခဲ့ၾက ။
အမွန္တရားသစၥာ
ရွာေဖြစိတ္ဓာတ္အင္အားနဲ ့
သံသရာခရီးကို တသြားထဲ သြားခဲ့
အျဖစ္ပ်က္မ်ိဳးစံု ေတြ ့ႀကံဳခံစား
ရာစုသစ္ထဲက
သုမနေက်ာမွာလည္း
ဒဏ္ရာေတြသာ တိုးပြားလာခဲ့ရ ။
လိုခ်င္တာေတြ မ်ားလာတဲ့အခါ
ဘာမွ မရတတ္တာ သဘာ၀မို ့
ကံကိုသာ အျပစ္ပံုခ်ထား
ေသာႏုတၱိဳမုဆိုးစကားနဲ ့
ဘ၀ဟာ ငိုခ်င္းခ်ေနရေတာ့မွာလား ။
တကယ္တမ္းစဥ္းစား
ႏွစ္ဆယ့္တစ္ရာစုထဲ
တိုး၀င္သြားတဲ့အခါ
ငါတို ့တေတြ ႀကိဳးစားေဖြရွာ
ပညာ ဆိုတဲ့အရာကသာ
ငါတို ့ရဲ ့ အနာဂတ္ကို
ေျဖာင့္ျဖဴးေစႏိုင္လိမ့္မယ္ ။
က်ိန္စာသင့္သူမ်ား
က်ိန္စာသင့္သူမ်ား
To: thet
ေ၀းကြာျခင္းရဲ့အတြင္းမွာ
အခ်ိန္အခါမဲ့ရာသီေလမ်ား
ခါးသီးစြာတိုက္ခတ္ျပီးတဲ့ေနာက္
ေရာက္လာတဲ့အလြမ္းမိုးတိမ္မ်ားက
ကိုယ့္အေပၚက်ိန္စာေတြပဲရြာခ်ေနရဲ့ ။
ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ခဲ့တယ္
တဘ၀စာပိုင္ဆိုင္ဘို ့အတြက္
ဘယ္သူသိႏုိင္မွာတဲ့လဲ
တေန ့တာကုန္ဆံုးတဲ့အခ်ိန္
အိပ္တန္းျပန္ငွက္တို ့ရဲ့
ရင္လိႈင္းခတ္သံကို
ၾကားရျပီးတဲ့ေနာက္
ပူပန္ေသာကေတြကိုလည္း
ေျဖခ်ေနရတဲ့တခဏမွာ
ရူးသြပ္စြာတပ္မက္ျငိတြယ္
က်ိန္စာေတြကိုပဲျမိဳခ်ေနမိျပန္တယ္ ။
အလြမ္းေတြရင္ႏွင့္အမွ်
ျပည့္လွ်ံက်လာတဲ့အခါ
မိုးေကာင္းကင္အျပည့္
စကားလံုးေတြအံခ်ေနမိခဲ့ ။
ေနလံုးႀကီးကတေန ့တာအတြက္
လက္ျပႏႈတ္ဆက္
လမ္းမီးတိုင္ေတြလင္းလက္လာတဲ့အခါ
တယ္လီဖုန္းရွိတဲ့အိမ္အနား
မေယာင္မလည္နဲ ့လမ္းသလားေနမယ့္
သူမကိုျမင္ေယာင္
ေသာကေတြနဲ့ပူေလာင္ေနမလား ၊
ဒီလိုနဲ ့အကြာအေ၀းအပုိင္းအျခားေတြရဲ့ၾကားမွာ
ကုိယ္တို ့ႏွစ္ဦးသားရဲ့ဘ၀မ်ား
က်ိန္စာေန ့ေတြမ်ားလာခဲ့ေပါ့ ။
ေမာင္လြမ္းမိႈင္း
Burma's resolve
http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/10/burma-cyclone-international
David Hockaday
Published 20 October 2008
3 comments Print version Listen RSS The Burmese people have shown astonishing resilience in the wake of cyclone Nargis, but the international community must do more to support them.
It is a given that for every force there is an equal and an opposite reaction. So when the destructive force of cyclone Nargis devastated the Ayeyarwady Delta on the night of the 2 May this year, the question arising was: "how would the country respond?"
Although the cyclone left 140,000 people dead or missing, and seriously affected 2.4 million more, the answer was quick and definitive.
Within two days, monasteries, individuals, self help groups, staff of national charities, international non–governmental organisations and United Nations agencies (many of whom had families and homes affected by this disaster) had dusted themselves off and launched an incredible aid effort. They took food and essential relief items to absolutely isolated villages, by any means possible.
Although there was a tragic lack of readiness for this cyclone – an all too frequent event in this region – and although the government request for international assistance was delayed, there was, and remains a massive humanitarian response.
This disaster has shown that when the extraordinary resilience of a local population is backed up by international support, a powerful and constructive force for good can be unleashed.
The Delta is full of stories of courage; how people climbed trees and hung on for hours despite the lashing and stinging saline rain and howling winds; how friends pulled loved ones from the swollen rivers; how people sat out the cyclone on rooftops; how people went to extraordinary lengths to find missing members of their families to reunite in the rubble.
I heard from three brothers who survived a capsized ship by treading water and floating on logs for hours. They survived for three days by eating coconuts and drinking rain water and were finally reunited at a temporary camp 14 days later.
The international community, local government and national staff of non-governmental organisations have undoubtedly played largely successful roles in the aid effort through the provision of essential humanitarian aid in the days following the cyclone – distributing much needed tarpaulins for shelter, soap and cooking utensils, mosquito nets and jerry cans for fetching water to hundreds of thousands of people. This was all carried out across a vast geographical area typified by swamps and huge interconnecting rivers.
The job of the aid workers has been made easier by the incredible spirit of the local population. It was observed as early as July that in many areas, over 75% of people affected by the cyclone had rebuilt their homes.
Despite the chaos following the immediate days after the cyclone, rice was planted and in some areas a reasonable harvest is expected. Even in some of the most heavily affected and remote locations, such as Middle Island in the Western Delta which bore the full brunt of the storm, markets are springing back up again.
Tea rooms and restaurants are full of the bustle of daily life. I even stumbled upon a landowner who had managed to rig up a satelitte TV system and was showing English Premier League football – for a price of course - to a willing and animated crowd.
There is much more to be done in Burma and the reconstruction effort will be a long, painful and difficult road not helped by the fact that the United Nations appeal stands pitifully half-empty. This means that essential recovery and reconstruction work such as re-building roads, health services and schools will not take place on the scale necessary. Access to fresh clean water in the Delta is also going to be an issue as the dry season progresses, as is the availability of food in some areas.
Humanitarians will point to the fact that in neighbouring Bangladesh a similar cyclone this year killed far fewer people because of simple preparedness initiatives supported by the government. Basic lessons from Bangladesh can be used to improve future preparation in Burma and elsewhere.
But concentrating on the terrible loss of life in Burma does a disservice to the incredible acts of heroism and tenacity of the people who actually survived that night.
The people of Burma have shown that through resolve, enterprise and bravery in the face of adversity, a constructive force for good can be achieved that runs as powerful as the force of nature that caused this devastation in the first place. It is time for the international community to recognise this and to go that next step with further support.
David Hockaday is Emergencies Adviser Burma (Myanmar) for Save the Children UK
Cotton Traders pledges to stop Burmese sourcing
http://www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081020/FREE/810209983/-1/breaking
12:03 pm, October 20, 2008
By James Chapelard
Altrincham-based retailer Cotton Traders is to stop sourcing clothing from Burma following a campaign to boycott firms which continue to trade with the country, it was reported today.
Retail Week today said that within three days of The Burma Campaign UK calling for a boycott of products bosses at Cotton Traders took a decision to stop sourcing from the country.Cotton Traders product director Paul Hawkins said: "No new styles will be placed in Burma and as such Cotton Traders has ceased to source product from Burma."
The decision was applauded by Burma Campaign UK campaigns officer Johnny Chatterton today. He warned that other retailers will be investigated because they have not said whether or not they source from Burma.
ဦးေအာင္ေရႊႏွင့္ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ရဲေဘာ္ေဟာင္းမ်ား(EMAIL BY KTZO-NLD-LA-JAPAN)
ဦးေအာင္ဆက္ပုိင္ (၂၀ ေအာက္တိုဘာ ၂၀၀၈)
စာေရးတတ္လုိ႔ေတာ့မဟုတ္ပါ။ ဆရာေတာ္မ်ား၏ အဆုံးအမႏွင့္ ဗုဒၶဘုရားရွင္ကုိ ပူေဇာ္သည့္ ဘာသာေရးဆုိင္ရာ ေဆာင္းပါးမ်ားသာ ေရးသားခဲ့ဖူးပါသည္။ ယခုလည္း မျဖစ္လုိ႔ ေရးလုိက္ရတယ္ဆုိရင္ ပုိမွန္ပါလိမ့္မယ္။ ၂၄-ဝ၉-ဝ၈ ေန႔က ေဒါက္တာလြဏ္းေဆြ ေရးသားခဲ့တဲ့ ‘အႏွစ္ႏွစ္ဆယ္ၾကာေသၿပီဆရာ’ ဆုိတဲ့ ေဆာင္းပါးကုိ ေခတ္ၿပိဳင္မွာ ဖတ္မိရင္း အမ်ားသူငါ အေတြးအျမင္မမွားၾကဖုိ႔၊ အယူအဆမလြဲၾကဖုိ႔ သိခဲ့သမွ်၊ ၾကားခဲ့သမွ် ေဖာက္သည္ခ်ရတယ္ဆုိရင္လည္း ဆုိလုိ႔ရပါတယ္။ က်ေနာ့္အေနနဲ႔ ေဒါက္တာလြဏ္းေဆြရဲ႕ ေဆာင္းပါးကို ေခ်ပါ ေရးသားတာမဟုတ္သလုိ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားရဲ႕ ေခါင္းေဆာင္မႈကုိ ကာကြယ္ေျပာဆုိလုိျခင္းလည္းမဟုတ္ပါ။ အမွန္ကုိအမွန္အတုိင္း သိျမင္ႏုိင္ၾကၿပီး ဒီမုိကေရစီေရးအတြက္ ပံ့ပုိးမႈေလးတခုျဖစ္ႏုိင္ရင္ပဲ ေက်နပ္ပါၿပီ။
ဒီေနရာမွာစၿပီးေျပာရရင္ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ရဲေဘာ္ေဟာင္းမ်ားအဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္ကုိ ၁၉၈၈ ခုႏွစ္ အေရးအခင္းကာလအတြင္းမွာပဲ တပ္မႉးေဟာင္းမ်ား (၈၅) ဦးနဲ႔ စတင္ဖြဲ႕ စည္းခဲ့ၿပီး နဝတအစုိးရေပၚေပါက္ၿပီးေနာက္ တရားဝင္ပါတီအျဖစ္ မွတ္ပုံတင္ ရပ္တည္ခဲ့တာရယ္၊ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီပါတီ စတင္ဖြဲ႕စည္းခ်ိန္မွာ ‘ေအာင္၊ စု၊ တင္’ ရယ္လုိ႔ (၃) ဖြဲ႕ စုစည္းမိၾကရာမွာ ကာကြယ္ေရးဦးစီးခ်ဳပ္ေဟာင္း ဗုိလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီး သူရတင္ဦး ဦးေဆာင္တဲ့အဖြဲ႕အျဖစ္ ရပ္တည္ပါဝင္ခဲ့တာေတြေတာ့ အမ်ားသိၿပီး ျဖစ္ၾကပါလိမ့္မယ္။
ဒီေနရာမွာ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ရဲေဘာ္ေဟာင္းမ်ားရဲ႕ အခ်င္းခ်င္းစည္းလုံးညီၫြတ္မႈ၊ တုိင္းျပည္အေပၚမွာ သစၥာရွိမႈေလးတခုကုိ ဥပမာေျပာရရင္ အေရးအခင္းကာလ အတြင္း တုိင္းျပည္ရဲ႕လုိအပ္ခ်က္အရ မျဖစ္မေနစတင္ဖြဲ႕စည္းရာမွာ အဲဒီအခ်ိန္ တေနရာနဲ႔တေနရာ သြားလာဆက္သြယ္ေရးခက္ခဲမႈေတြေၾကာင့္ ဦးေဆာင္စည္း႐ုံးသူေတြအေနနဲ႔ ပါဝင္သင့္သူေတြရဲ႕ အမည္ေတြကုိ ေဖာ္ျပ၊ သူတုိ႔ကုိယ္စား လက္မွတ္ေတြ ေရးထုိးလုိက္ရၿပီး အေရး ေပၚေၾကညာခ်က္ေတြထုတ္ၿပီး ဖြဲ႕စည္းေဆာင္ရြက္ခဲ့ရပါတယ္။
အေရးအခင္းၿပီးတဲ့ေနာက္ နဝတအစုိးရကေန အဲဒီအဖြဲ႕အေပၚ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီအေပၚ ခ်ဳပ္ကုိင္ကန္႔သတ္အေရးယူခ်င္တဲ့အခါမွာ ပါဝင္ေနသူ တဦးခ်င္းကုိ စစ္ေထာက္လွမ္းေရးကေန အဲဒီအဖြဲ႕မွာပါဝင္ေနတာ ဟုတ္ရဲ႕လား၊ လက္မွတ္ေရးထုိးတာ အမွန္လားဆုိတာေတြကုိ ေမးျမန္းစစ္ေဆးတဲ့အခါ လက္ မွတ္မထုိးလုိက္ရသူေတြက သူတုိ႔လက္မွတ္မဟုတ္ေပမယ့္ သူတုိ႔အေနနဲ႔ သေဘာတူ တာဝန္ယူပါေၾကာင္းကုိ တုိင္းျပည္အေရးအတြက္ ေက်ေက်နပ္နပ္ႀကီး တုံ႔ျပန္ေျပာဆုိရင္း စည္းလုံးမႈ၊ သစၥာရွိမႈတုိ႔ကုိ ျပခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။
အန္အယ္လ္ဒီအေနနဲ႔ ေအာင္၊ စု၊ တင္ကေန ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးကုိ ထုတ္ပယ္ခဲ့ရတဲ့ျဖစ္စဥ္မွာလည္း အဖြဲ႕အစည္းမၿပိဳကြဲေရးအတြက္ ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးကုိ နည္းလမ္း စုံနဲ႔ ညႇိႏႈိင္းခဲ့ၿပီး မရတဲ့အဆုံး ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးရဲ႕ ေတာင္းဆုိခ်က္အရ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိ ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးအိမ္အေရာက္ သြားေရာက္ညႇိႏႈိင္းေဆြးေႏြးႏုိင္ ေရး၊ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္အဖြဲ႕မွပင္ စီစဥ္ေပးခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ေနာက္ဆုံး မေျပလည္တဲ့အျပင္ ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးကုိယ္တုိင္ ဦးေအာင္ေရႊထံ ဖုန္းဆက္သြယ္ၿပီး သူ႔အေနနဲ႔ ဝါးလုံးရွည္နဲ႔ရမ္းမွာျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္တုိ႔ပဲ သတိထားေနပါဆုိတဲ့အေၾကာင္း အသိေပးခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အဲဒီေနာက္ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီမွာ ဒီမုိကေရစီနည္းအရ မဲခြဲဆုံးျဖတ္ၾကရာမွာ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္တဖြဲ႕လုံးနဲ႔အတူ ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးအဖြဲ႕မွ ဦးၾကည္ေမာင္ပါဝင္လ်က္ ဦးေအာင္ႀကီးကုိ ဆန္႔က်င္ၿပီး လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိ ျပတ္ျပတ္သားသား ေထာက္ခံပံ့ပုိးခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။
၁၉၈၉ ခုႏွစ္ အာဇာနည္ေန႔အခမ္းအနားျဖစ္စဥ္ကုိ ျပန္သုံးသပ္ရရင္ ၁၈-၉-၈၉ ရက္ေန႔ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီဗဟုိမွာ အစည္းအေဝးလုပ္ခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္အေနနဲ႔ အာဇာနည္ေန႔အခမ္းအနားသည္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္၏ဖခင္ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္းအပါအ၀င္ အာဇာနည္ႀကီးမ်ား၏ ေန႔ထူးေန႔ျမတ္ျဖစ္သလုိ တမ်ဳိးသားလုံးနဲ႔ ပါ၀င္ပတ္သက္ေနတာလည္းျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ အဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္အေနနဲ႔ ႏုိင္ငံေရးအျမတ္ထုတ္တဲ့လုပ္ရပ္မ်ဳိး မလုပ္မိေစဖုိ႔၊ ေရွာင္ရွားဖုိ႔ အေလးထားေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ၾကတာပါ။ တဖက္ကလည္း အစုိးရအေနနဲ႔ တပ္အင္အားကုိ လုိအပ္တာထက္ အဆမတန္တုိးခ်ဲ႕ခ်ထားတဲ့အတြက္ လူထုအတြက္ ထည့္သြင္းစဥ္းစားရတာလည္း ပါ၀င္ပါတယ္။ တကယ္ေတာ့ သူတုိ႔ရဲ႕ လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္ကုိ ႏုိင္ငံေရးဆုံးျဖတ္ခ်က္တခု မွားယြင္းသြားမွာစုိးလုိ႔ တင္ျပခဲ့ၾကတာပါ။
အစည္းအေ၀းအတြင္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က “အန္ကယ္တုိ႔အေနနဲ႔ က်မေဖေဖ ထူေထာင္ခဲ့တဲ့ တပ္မေတာ္ေနာက္ကုိလုိက္မွာလား၊ ဗုိလ္ေန၀င္းရဲ႕တပ္မေတာ္ေနာက္ကုိလုိက္မွာလား” လုိ႔ ေမးျမန္းခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဒီမွာပဲ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္အဖြဲ႕ရဲ႕ အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္လည္းျဖစ္၊ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီရဲ႕ အတြင္းေရးမႉးလည္းျဖစ္တဲ့ (ကြယ္လြန္သြားၿပီျဖစ္တဲ့) ဦးခ်စ္ခုိင္ကေန “ဒါဆုိရင္ အဖြဲ႕အေနနဲ႔ေရာ မစုေနာက္ကို လုိက္ရမွာလား၊ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီေနာက္ကုိ လုိက္ရမွာလား” လုိ႔ ျပန္လွန္ေမးခြန္းထုတ္ခဲ့ဖူးပါတယ္။ ဒီလုိနဲ႔ပဲ ဆုံးျဖတ္ခ်က္ မခ်ႏုိင္ခဲ့ပါဘူး။
အဓိကေဆြးေႏြးေနၾကတာကေတာ့ အစုိးရနဲ႔ဆန္႔က်င္ၿပီး အာဇာနည္ေန႔အခမ္းအနားကုိ လူစုလူေ၀းနဲ႔ ခ်ီတက္ဖုိ႔၊ မခ်ီတက္ဖုိ႔ အေခ်အတင္ျဖစ္ေနရတာပါ။ ဒီလုိနဲ႔ပဲ ေနာက္ေန႔ အာဇာနည္ေန႔ နံနက္ (၄) နာရီခန္႔မွာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္မွ ဆုံးျဖတ္ခ်က္ေျပာင္းၿပီး ရန္ကုန္တုိင္းအတြင္း ၿမိဳ႕နယ္႐ုံးခြဲေတြကုိ ခ်ီတက္မယ့္အစီအစဥ္ ဖ်က္သိမ္းဖုိ႔ အေၾကာင္းၾကားခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ အတန္ငယ္ေနာက္က်ေနတဲ့အတြက္ တခ်ဳိ႕ၿမိဳ႕နယ္ေတြမွာ လမ္းေပၚေရာက္ႏွင့္ေနၾကၿပီး အခ်ဳိ႕ ဖမ္းဆီးထိန္းသိမ္းခံခဲ့ၾကရပါတယ္။
သမုိင္းကုိ ျပန္ေျပာင္းသုံးသပ္ရလွ်င္ အဲဒီအခ်ိန္က အန္အယ္လ္ဒီအတြင္းမွာလည္း “မတရားတဲ့အမိန္႔အာဏာဟူသမွ် တာ၀န္အရ ဖီဆန္ၾက” ဆုိတဲ့စကားက ေရပန္းစားေနသလုိ အစုိးရအေနနဲ႔လည္း ပစ္ခတ္ႏွိမ္နင္းမယ့္အေနအထား ဦးတည္ေနတဲ့အတြက္ ခ်ီတက္မႈသာျဖစ္ေပၚခဲ့ရင္ ေသြးထြက္သံယုိမႈနဲ႔အတူ ျပည္သူေတြ အသက္စေတးရမယ့္အေနအထားပါ။ ဒီလုိသာျဖစ္ေပၚခဲ့ရင္ ၁၉၉၁ မွာလည္း ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးႏုိဘယ္လ္ဆုခ်ီးျမႇင့္ႏုိင္ေရးဆုိတာလည္း အေကာင္အထည္ ေပၚလာႏုိင္မယ္မထင္ပါ။ တကယ္ေတာ့ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ေတြအေနနဲ႔ လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္အေပၚမွာေရာ၊ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီအေပၚမွာေရာ၊ တုိင္းျပည္နဲ႔လူမ်ဳိးအေပၚမွာပါ အဘက္ဘက္က အျပည့္အ၀ သစၥာ ရွိခဲ့ၾကတာပါ။
အဲဒီကေန တဆက္တည္း ေနာက္တေန႔ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိ ေနအိမ္မွာ ထိန္းသိမ္းလုိက္တဲ့ အခ်ိန္ပုိင္းေလးမွာတင္ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီ စီးအီးစီ (၄) ဦးနဲ႔ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္တုိ႔ ေနအိမ္ၿခံ၀င္းအတြင္းမွာပင္ ေတြ႕ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးခြင့္တခု ရရွိခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အဲဒီမွာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိယ္တုိင္ကပဲ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ႀကီးမ်ားကုိ ယုံၾကည္ေလးစားပါေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ သူမမရွိစဥ္ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီကုိ ဦးေဆာင္မႈေပးၿပီး ဒီမုိကေရစီရရွိေရး ဆက္လက္ေဆာင္ရြက္ႏုိင္ပါရန္ ေမတၱာရပ္ခံ အပ္ႏွင္းခဲ့ျပန္ပါတယ္။
ဒီေနရာမွာ ျဖည့္စြက္ေျပာျပလုိတာကေတာ့ အဲဒီေန႔မတုိင္ခင္ ၁၄-၇-၈၉ ေန႔ဟုမွတ္သားမိပါတယ္။ အဲဒီေန႔က ရန္ကင္းၿမိဳ႕နယ္ ေက်ာက္ကုန္းရွိ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ရဲေဘာ္ေဟာင္းမ်ားအဖြဲ႕ရဲ႕ ဗဟုိအစည္းအေ၀းကေန လက္ရွိ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီတြင္းျဖစ္ေပၚေနတဲ့ Confrontation လမ္းစဥ္အပါအ၀င္ အေၾကာင္းအမ်ဳိးမ်ဳိးေၾကာင့္ မ်ိဳးခ်စ္အဖြဲ႕အေနနဲ႔ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီမွေန၍ ႏုတ္ထြက္ရန္ ဆုံးျဖတ္ခ်က္ခ်မွတ္ထားၿပီးျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ အာဇာနည္ေန႔ ကိစၥအပါအ၀င္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ အထိန္းသိမ္းခံရမႈတုိ႔ ေပၚေပါက္ခဲ့အၿပီး မ်ဳိးခ်စ္မ်ားအေနနဲ႔ ေဘးက်ပ္နံက်ပ္ ဆုိက္ေရာက္ခဲ့ရၿပီး ျဖစ္ေပၚလာတဲ့အေျခအေနအရ က်ရာတာ၀န္ကုိ မညည္းမညဴ ဆက္ၿပီး ထမ္းခဲ့ၾကရတာပါ။
တဆက္တည္း ၁၉၉၀ ျပည့္ႏွစ္ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲနဲ႔ပတ္သက္လုိ႔လည္း ေျပာျပပါရေစ။ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္မ်ားအေနျဖင့္ အမ်ဳိးသားေခါင္းေဆာင္ဆုိတာ လုပ္ႀကံဖန္တီးယူလုိ႔ရတဲ့ အရာမဟုတ္ဘူးဆုိတာ သမုိင္းအေတြ႕အႀကံဳေတြအရ အျပည့္အ၀ နားလည္လက္ခံထားၾကပါတယ္။ တကယ္ဆုိေတာ့ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အရြယ္ဟာ ဦးေအာင္ေရႊတုိ႔အေနနဲ႔ ၾကည့္ရင္ သမီးအရြယ္ပါ။ ၁၉၈၈ ခုႏွစ္မွာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က (၄၃) ႏွစ္၊ ဦးေအာင္ေရႊက အသက္ (၇၀) အရြယ္ပါ။ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ေတြအဖုိ႔ တဖက္မွာလည္း ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္းက သူတုိ႔ရဲ႕ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ျဖစ္ခဲ့သလုိ ရဲေဘာ္ရဲဘက္ေတြဆုိလည္း မမွားႏုိင္ပါဘူး။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ဘယ္လုိအေနအထားနဲ႔ျဖစ္ျဖစ္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အေပၚမွာ အမ်ဳိးသားေခါင္းေဆာင္အျဖစ္ အျပည့္အ၀ လက္ခံထားၾကပါတယ္။
ဒီေနရာမွာ အမ်ားမသိႏုိင္ေသးတဲ့ကိစၥတရပ္ကေတာ့ ၁၉၉၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲကာလေတြအထိ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီနဲ႔ န၀တတုိ႔အေနနဲ႔ တရားမ၀င္ေတြ႕ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးမႈေတြ အမ်ားအျပားရွိခဲ့ဖူးတာပါ။ ေနာက္ဆုံးေရြးေကာက္ပြဲႏုိင္ခဲ့တဲ့အခ်ိန္မွာ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ခင္ၫြန္႔ကုိယ္တုိင္က အန္အယ္လ္ဒီေခါင္းေဆာင္ႏွစ္ဦးျဖစ္တဲ့ ဦးေအာင္ေရႊနဲ႔ ဦးခ်စ္ခုိင္တုိ႔ကုိ ေတြ႕ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးၿပီး ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲရလဒ္ကုိ စြဲကုိင္ၿပီး အန္အယ္လ္ဒီကုိ ဦးေဆာင္လ်က္ အစုိးရဖြဲ႕လွ်င္ န၀တမွ အျပည့္အ၀ေထာက္ခံရပ္တည္ေပးမွာျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း၊ ဒါေပမယ့္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိ ပါတီက ဖယ္ထုတ္ဖုိ႔နဲ႔ အစုိးရအဖြဲ႕ထဲ ဘယ္ေသာအခါမွ မပါ၀င္ေစဖုိ႔ဆုိတဲ့ ႃခြင္းခ်က္နဲ႔ ကမ္းလွမ္းခဲ့ဖူးပါတယ္။
ဒါေတြကုိ သက္ရွိထင္ရွားရွိေနေသးတဲ့ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အပါအ၀င္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြအမ်ားအျပား သိရွိၾကပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ဒီကမ္းလွမ္းခ်က္ကုိ လက္မခံပယ္ခ်ခဲ့ၿပီး ရက္ပုိင္းအတြင္းမွာပဲ ဖမ္းဆီးထိန္းသိမ္းခံခဲ့ရသူေတြရွိသလုိ အခ်ဳိ႕လဲ ေထာင္ခ်ခံခဲ့ရပါတယ္။ ဒီအခ်က္ဟာ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ေတြအေနနဲ႔ ျပည္သူလူထုအေပၚမွာေရာ၊ လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အေပၚမွာေရာ၊ ဒီမုိကေရစီက်င့္စဥ္အေပၚမွာေရာ သစၥာေဖာက္မႈေတြ ေသြဖည္မႈမရွိခဲ့ဘူးဆုိတာကုိပဲ ေျပာျပခ်င္တာပါ။
က်ေနာ့္ရည္ရြယ္ရင္းက မ်ဳိးခ်စ္မ်ားအေနနဲ႔ န၀တ(နအဖ) အေပၚ ကပ္ဖားရပ္ဖား လုပ္ေနတာမဟုတ္သလုိ လူထုနဲ႔ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီအေပၚမွာ သစၥာေစာင့္သိခဲ့တယ္။ ကုိယ္က်ဳိးမဖက္ခဲ့ဘူးဆုိတာ တင္ျပလုိတာပါ။ တနည္း လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္အေပၚမွာ အျပည့္အ၀ယုံၾကည္ေထာက္ခံမႈ ျပဳခဲ့တာပါ။
ဒီေနရာမွာ ဦးေအာင္ေရႊအေၾကာင္း တေစ့တေစာင္း တင္ျပလုိပါတယ္။ ဒီေန႔ဒီအခ်ိန္မွာ ဦးေအာင္ေရႊဟာ အသက္အားျဖင့္ (၉၀) စြန္းလာပါၿပီ။ အေရးအခင္းစတင္ခ်ိန္ (၇၀) ကေန ဒီေန႔ထိ အႏွစ္ (၂၀) ျဖတ္သန္းခဲ့ရတဲ့ အေတြ႕အႀကံဳဟာ ခါးသည္းလွပါတယ္။ အေရးအခင္းကာလအတြင္း အန္အယ္လ္ဒီအတြင္းေရးမႉးျဖစ္လာမယ့္ ဦးခ်စ္ခုိင္ကုိယ္တုိင္ တုိင္းျပည္မွာ ေဘးဒုကၡႀကံဳေနခ်ိန္ ေဘးထြက္ထုိင္ေန၍ မျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း၊ အသက္အရြယ္ရလာၿပီျဖစ္ေသာလည္း မျဖစ္မေန တုိင္းျပည္အတြက္ ၀င္ေရာက္လုပ္ကုိင္ရန္ လုိအပ္ေၾကာင္း ေျပာဆုိေဆြးေႏြးၿပီးေနာက္ အဖြဲ႕အတြင္း ပါ၀င္လာခဲ့တာပါ။
မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ေတြရဲ႕ ထူးျခားတဲ့ ၀ိေသသေတြတင္ျပရရင္ျဖင့္ လြတ္လပ္ေရးႀကိဳးပမ္းမႈ၊ အဂၤလိပ္ေခတ္၊ ႏုိင္ငံေရးတုိက္ပြဲမွသည္ လက္နက္ကုိင္ေတာ္လွန္ေရး BIA, BDA, Burma Army ေခတ္အထိ ပါ၀င္ခဲ့ၾကရၿပီး လြတ္လပ္ေရးရၿပီးေနာက္ ျပည္တြင္းေသာင္းက်န္းမႈျပႆနာေျဖရွင္းရတာနဲ႔အတူ ေနာက္ဆုံး ဦးေန၀င္းရဲ႕ တပါတီအာဏာရွင္စနစ္ကုိ ေဖာ္ေဆာင္မယ့္အခ်ိန္မွာ ျပတ္ျပတ္သားသားဆန္႔က်င္ၿပီး ထြက္လာၾကသူအမ်ားစုပါ။ ကေန႔ နအဖကုိင္စြဲထားတဲ့ ဒုိ႔တာ၀န္အေရးသုံးပါးျဖစ္တဲ့ ျပည္ေထာင္စုမၿပိဳကြဲေရး၊ တုိင္းရင္းသားစည္းလုံးညီၫြတ္မႈမၿပိဳကြဲေရး၊ အခ်ဳပ္အျခာအာဏာတည္တံ့ခုိင္ၿမဲေရးဆုိတာေတြဟာ လြတ္လပ္ေရးနဲ႔အတူ မ်ဳိးခ်စ္ေတြ ကုိယ္တုိင္ ခ်မွတ္ခဲ့တဲ့ လမ္းစဥ္ေတြပါ။ အခ်ဳပ္အျခာအာဏာဆုံး႐ႈံးျခင္း၊ လြတ္လပ္ေရးဆုံး႐ႈံးျခင္း၊ တုိင္းရင္းသားစည္းလုံးမႈ ၿပိဳကြဲျခင္းတုိ႔ရဲ႕ ခါးသည္းတဲ့အရသာေတြနဲ႔ အဲဒီကေန ျဖစ္ေပၚလာတဲ့ ေနာက္ဆက္တြဲျပႆနာေတြကုိ ကုိယ္တုိင္ကုိယ္က် ခံစားခဲ့ဖူးသူေတြပါ။ ဒီေတာ့ တုိင္းျပည္မွာ ေနာက္တႀကိမ္ျဖစ္ေပၚမွာကုိ လုံး၀မလုိလားၾကပါဘူး။
ဒါေပမယ့္ သူတုိ႔အေပၚ ေဘာင္းဘီ၀တ္၊ ေဘာင္းဘီခၽြတ္ဆုိတဲ့ အသုံးအႏႈန္းနဲ႔အတူ စြပ္စြဲမႈကုိ ခံေနၾကရပါတယ္။ ဒီမုိကေရစီအင္အားစုေတြဘက္ကေရာ နအဖဘက္ကပါ သံသယနဲ႔ စြပ္စြဲမႈကုိ အၿမဲခံေနၾကရတာပါ။ တဖက္မွာလည္း ကမာၻ႕ႏုိင္ငံေတြရဲ႕ ႏုိင္ငံအေနအထား၊ ျပည္ပအကူအညီေတြနဲ႔အတူ ေပၚေပါက္လာႏုိင္တဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္အတြက္ ဆုိးက်ဳိးေတြကုိလည္း ႀကိဳတင္သုံးသပ္မိထားၾကပါတယ္။ တဖက္ကလည္း နအဖရဲ႕ သေဘာထားကုိ သိေနၾကသလုိ ဒီမုိကေရစီစနစ္ကုိ အၾကမ္းမဖက္တဲ့နည္းနဲ႔ ေဖာ္ေဆာင္ေရးအတြက္ “ျပည္သူ႔အား” ကုိသာ ယုံၾကည္အားထားရမယ္ဆုိတာကုိလည္း စြဲကုိင္ထားၾကသူေတြပါ။ ဒီေတာ့ သူတုိ႔လုပ္ကုိင္ေနရတဲ့ ဦးေဆာင္ေနရတဲ့ လမ္းဟာ အင္မတန္က်ဥ္းေျမာင္းလွပါတယ္။ မလြယ္ကူလွပါဘူး။
တဖက္ကၾကည့္ရင္လည္း ဇရာေထာင္းေနၿပီျဖစ္တဲ့ ဘ၀ရဲ႕ ေနာက္ဆုံးအခ်ိန္ေတြကုိ သံသရာမွာ ဘ၀ကူးေစာင္းေစဖုိ႔အတြက္ ဗုဒၶအဆုံးအမနဲ႔အညီ တရားဘာ၀နာနဲ႔ ျဖတ္သန္းခ်င္တဲ့ ဆႏၵလည္း ရွိေနၾကသူေတြပါ။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ဒါေတြကုိ စြန္႔လႊတ္ထားၾကရပါတယ္။ ကုိယ္ရဲ႕ အဖုိး၊ အေဖသာဆုိရင္ဆုိတဲ့ ေမတၱာစိတ္နဲ႔ ျဖည့္စြက္နားလည္ၾကည့္ေစခ်င္ပါတယ္။ ဆုံး႐ႈံးမႈအျပည့္နဲ႔ပါ။
ဒါ့အျပင္ လူမႈေရး၊ စီးပြားေရး၊ က်န္းမာေရး စတဲ့နယ္ပယ္အသီးသီးမွာလည္း ဆုံးရႈံးေနရပါတယ္။ ေနအိမ္တယ္လီဖုန္းအျဖတ္ခံထားရတာ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာပါ။ အသက္ႀကီးသူမ်ားအတြက္ သာေရး၊ နာေရးပင္ ဆက္သြယ္ရန္ ဖုန္းမရွိပါ။ လုိအပ္ရင္ အိမ္အျပင္ထြက္ၿပီး အနီးဆုံး လမ္းေဘးဖုန္းကေန ဆက္သြယ္ၾကရပါတယ္။ ေန႔ညမေရြး ေပၚေပါက္ႏုိင္တဲ့ က်န္းမာေရး၊ နာေရး ကိစၥေတြမွာ အင္မတန္ခက္ခဲပါတယ္။ ကုသေပးမယ့္ဆရာ၀န္မရွိပါ။ ေဒါက္တာ တင္မ်ဳိး၀င္းဆုိတာလည္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အတြက္ပါ။ တကယ္ေတာ့ ေဆးခန္းသြားျပခဲ့ရင္လည္း ကုသေပးတဲ့ဆရာ၀န္တုိင္း သူတုိ႔ျပန္သြားတာနဲ႔ စစ္ေဆး ေမးျမန္းတားဆီးခံရပါတယ္။ ေနာက္ေတာ့လည္း သိရင္မကုရဲၾကေတာ့ပါ။ သူတုိ႔အိမ္ကုိ သာေရး၊ နာေရး သြားေရာက္လည္ပတ္လုိ႔မရသလုိ သူတုိ႔ကလည္း လာေရာက္လည္ပတ္လုိ႔မရပါ။ အားလုံးျဖတ္ေတာက္ခံထားရပါတယ္။ ဒါ့အျပင္ စီးပြားေရးလည္းမရွိပါ။ ရွိတာေလးနဲ႔အတူ သားသမီးေတြရဲ႕ ေထာက္ပံ့လစာေလးေတြနဲ႔ ၿခိဳးၿခံေခၽြတာ ရပ္တည္ေနရတာပါ။
ဒီအေျခအေနမွာ နအဖနဲ႔ အေပးအယူလုပ္ထားၾကတယ္လုိ႔ဆုိလာရင္ သူတုိ႔ဟာ ဘာအက်ဳိးရွိလုိ႔ ဒီလုိအဖိႏွိပ္ခံေနၾကတာလဲဆုိတာကုိေတာ့ ျပန္လွန္ေမးခြန္းထုတ္စရာ ရွိလာပါတယ္။
နအဖအေနနဲ႔ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီ႐ုံးထဲအထိ ထဲထဲ၀င္၀င္ ထုိးေဖာက္ထားႏုိင္တဲ့အတြက္ ဘာကုိမွ စိတ္မခ်ရႏုိင္လုိ႔ အသက္ႀကီးကာမွ လုံၿခံဳေရးအရ ႐ုံးအလုပ္ေတြ ကုိယ္တုိင္လုပ္ေနရပါတယ္။ စာကုိယ္တုိင္႐ုိက္ရတယ္၊ ေသြးတုိးေရာဂါ၊ က်ီးေပါင္းတက္ေရာဂါနဲ႔ အျခားေတြလည္း အရြယ္နဲ႔အမွ် ဖိစီးခံေနရတာပါ။ ဒီေန႔အေျခအေနဟာ နအဖအေနနဲ႔ ဒီမုိကေရစီအင္အားစုေတြအေပၚမွာ ဖိႏွိပ္မႈ၊ ကန္႔သတ္မႈေတြ၊ ပုိမုိလုပ္လာတာကုိ သတိထားမိၾကမွာပါ။ ျပည္တြင္းျပည္ပ အင္အားစုေတြအေနနဲ႔ ေအာင္ျမင္မႈမရေသးတာနဲ႔အမွ် အားမလုိအားမရျဖစ္ၿပီး မိမိတုိ႔အတြင္းမွာပင္ အျငင္းအခုံေတြနဲ႔အတူ လူႀကီးမ်ားကုိ ျဖဳတ္ခ်ထုတ္ပစ္ေရး လမ္းေၾကာင္းေပၚကုိ တြန္းတင္ႀကိဳးစားလာၾကတာကုိ အင္မတန္မွပင္ သတိထားဖြယ္ ေတြ႕ျမင္ၾကားေနရပါတယ္။ ေသြး႐ုိးသား႐ုိးျဖစ္စဥ္ေတြမွပင္ ဟုတ္ပါေလစလုိ႔လည္း အထူးပင္ သံသယ၀င္ေနမိပါတယ္။
ဒီေန႔ပဲ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီ လူငယ္ (၁၀၀) ေက်ာ္ ႏုတ္ထြက္စာတင္တဲ့အေၾကာင္း သတင္းၾကားလုိက္မိပါတယ္။ လူငယ္ေတြရဲ႕ တက္ႂကြတဲ့ ႏုိးၾကားတဲ့ စိတ္ဓာတ္ေတြ၊ အေတြးအေခၚအယူအဆေတြကုိ ေလးစားဂုဏ္ယူပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ မိမိတုိ႔ရဲ႕ ရည္ရြယ္ရင္း လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္ေအာင္ျမင္ေရးအတြက္ သတိႀကီးစြာထားၿပီး ေဆာင္ရြက္ၾကပါလုိ႔ပဲ တုိက္တြန္းခ်င္ပါတယ္။ မဟုတ္ရင္ေတာ့ တစိမ္းေတြ ၀မ္းသာေနၾကပါလိမ့္မယ္၊ လက္ခုပ္တီးၾကပါလိမ့္မယ္။
တကယ္ေတာ့ လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္လြတ္ေျမာက္လာတဲ့အထိ အဖြဲ႕အစည္းအတြင္းမွာ သည္းညည္းခံၿပီး ညီၫြတ္မႈကုိသာ ေရွး႐ႈသင့္ပါတယ္။ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကုိ ေလးစားၾကည္ညဳိရင္ ၎ကုိယ္တုိင္ေလးစားခဲ့ရတဲ့ အန္အယ္လ္ဒီေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားအေပၚမွာ ေလးစားၿပီး ဦးေဆာင္မႈကုိ မမွိတ္မသုန္ခံယူသင့္တယ္လုိ႔ ထင္ျမင္မိပါတယ္။
လူထုေခါင္းေဆာင္ လြတ္ေျမာက္လာတဲ့တေန႔ သူ႕ရဲ႕ေျပာၾကားခ်က္၊ ဆုံးျဖတ္ခ်က္ကုိ ေျပာင္းၿပီးခံယူသြားႏုိင္တဲ့အထိ အဖြဲ႕အစည္းရဲ႕ညီၫြတ္မႈကုိ ဆုပ္ကုိaင္ထားႏုိင္ၾကပါေစလုိ႔ ဆႏၵျပဳပါတယ္။
THE OBLIQUE ART OF REPORTING IN JAPAN
http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/the-oblique-art-of-reporting-in-japan
Japan is an odd place to be a business reporter, writes a correspondent for The Economist, as being interested in making money is considered dishonourable. News does not break here; it creeps, slinks, whispers ...
ISSUES & IDEAS Places
OH THE SHAME OF IT ALL | October 19th 2008
From ECONOMIST.COM
Japan is an odd nut for a journalist. News does not "break"; it creeps, slinks and whispers. Political changes large and small are telegraphed to the media in advance. Major business developments appear in the pages of Nikkei, Japan's financial daily, long before they are publicly announced. Recent days may have bucked the norm: Yasuo Fukuda, a former prime minister, abruptly resigned in September and Japanese banks scrambled to buy bits of distressed American investment banks. But all of this happened as sedately as ever.
Many of The Economist's diaries relate some dashing adventure; reporting from Tokyo, by contrast, features long stretches in which nothing discernable actually happens. Scratch the placid surface, however, and the typical workweek teems with fascinating people and events. Part of what makes reporting for this newspaper special is that our coverage is driven as much by ideas as by news: we would rather find a new way to think about an issue than reveal a scoop that will probably be forgotten the next day. In a way, it turns journalism on its head.
This means that, in my work as business correspondent for Japan, most of what qualifies as "reporting" takes place over lunches and coffees, usually off-the-record (which I have followed in this diary). It seems to be the right approach for the circumstances: Japan is a great, wonderful mystery. Like life, trying to comprehend it is not the point; rather, it is the journey, not the destination, that matters.
On this particular morning, I dash off to meet the head of the Japan office of a large American private-equity fund. The conversation is an informal, off-the-record chat about trends in the market. From the firm's posh meeting room overlooking the Imperial Palace, I compliment the building, one of my favourites in Tokyo. It is a prewar four-storey building of European design, but with a modern glass office-tower elegantly built on top of it. At ground level, one has a taste of Meiji-era Japan; within modernity reigns. The melding of new and old is tastefully achieved.
In Japan, as in most of Asia, older buildings are generally demolished without a second thought, so newer, taller ones can take their space. Hong Kong is the most criminal in this regard, having demolished charming structures like the old Foreign Correspondent's Club. Singapore and Malaysia are also sinfully derelict in this crime. My Japanese host and I agree that this building's architectural coexistence is wonderful.
But I pose the question: "Why do the Japanese seem to erase the physical structures of the past rather than preserve them? Do the Japanese have a sense of nostalgia?" The West is a sentimental culture, in which one society uses previous ones as a point of reference. The West's notion of progress inherently presumes that society is always building upon the past, like layers of sedimentary rock. So the Romans looked to ancient Greece, the Renaissance states looked to ancient Rome, and so on. The pantheon and Parthenon remain potent and well-preserved symbols of their civilizations. But the Japanese, rather than pamper their patrimony, have the habit of tearing down temples, shrines or massive gates that are hundreds of years old, only to immediately construct replicas.
"The ideal form of beauty for the Japanese is the cherry blossom," says the Japanese fund manger, in perfect American-accented English. "It is temporary, impermanent. It is beautiful, but quickly disappears." I accept his polite reply, but know that there must be more to it.
The conversation eventually turns to mergers and acquisitions in Japan. The firm hopes to find successful mid-sized companies that need global scale to succeed, in order to combine them with other firms from abroad. An obstacle, I point out, are Japanese managers themselves, who are often reluctant to merge because it disrupts the corporate culture and it may be seen as a blemish on their abilities--an admission that they cannot succeed on their own. Moreover, Japanese executives do not profit from M&A transactions as do their counterparts in the West, so they lack a strong incentive to do deals.
"Are Japanese businessmen motivated by money?," I flatly ask.
"No!," my host booms, followed by a hearty laugh. "But this is changing," he says.
Japanese managers know that a company has to be profitable, but generally, being interested in earning money is considered dishonourable, he says. We agree that there is a healthy inconsistency, judging from the popularity of shops selling fancy handbags for as much as $10,000, but the general sentiment holds.
"In the past in Japan, there was a strict hierarchy of classes," he recounts. "Samurai, farmers, manufacturers and last, merchants." (In the taxonomy, he leaves out burakumin, or "untouchables," the very bottom class--so sensitive a topic that most Japanese avoid even referring to them.) "For samurai, making money was disgraceful. Even today there is a sense of shame."
I add that this explains why corporate mission statements appeal to serving society. And perhaps it helps explain why Japanese businesses earn a return-on-equity that is around half what American and European firms make. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's biggest newspaper, in January hosted a forum on whether the pursuit of profits by companies had gotten out of control. The idea of such a topic being seriously discussed in America is unfathomable.
The conversation turns to individualism, and whether such a Western notion can really take hold in Japan, where social relationships are paramount. The matter is imperative, I parry, because individualism is the cornerstone of freedom and capitalism. It is individualism that overcomes the feudal notion that who one can become depends on who is one's father. It is what enables society to grow and commercial exchanges to flourish.
The view that pursuing one's self interest could lead to a social gain--bequeathed by Adam Smith--finds little favour in Japan. Instead, the self is something that must be sacrificed for the sanctity of wider society.
Picture credit: gruntzooki/flickr
(This is an instalment of a correspondent's diary about reporting in Tokyo, published on Economist.com.)
Japanese chain finds melamine in pizza: official
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International_Business/Japanese_chain_finds_melamine_in_pizza_official/articleshow/3619536.cms
TOKYO: A Japanese restaurant chain served small amounts of the toxic chemical melamine in its pizza due to powdered milk imported from China, the hea
lth ministry said Monday.
Saizeriya detected the chemical - which is behind a global health scare that has sickened thousands of babies in China - in dough from pizzas served at branches in northern and eastern Japan on October 1 and 2.
The amount was small and should not harm diners, a ministry official said, adding that there were no reports of people falling sick.
"The ingredient was imported before the Japanese government required inspections of all milk products imported from China for melamine," he said.
Saizeriya determined that it had served melamine after the government ordered all food vendors to examine their inventories, the official said.
Japan, which imports most of its food, has been on high alert for melamine after the chemical was found in a number of products starting last month.
The bad milk scandal that has killed four infants and sickened 53,000 throughout China. The industrial chemical, normally used to make plastic, was added to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein.
Japan has also been investigating a separate case in which frozen green beans imported from China were found to have thousands of times the permissible level of pesticides, sickening at least one woman this month.
Unblocking the message
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20081021-167508/Unblocking-the-message
By Juan Mercado
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:41:00 10/21/2008
Close this Gathered in Manila for the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace, 350 leaders of the world’s major faiths tried to turn spears in Mindanao into plowshares. The human cost of conflict there is stiff. In just one day, 213 families traumatized by fighting poured into the town of Datu Piang, the International Red Cross reported. Built on marsh land, that burg already houses 24,000 evacuees. “People even shelter under stilts supporting buildings,” the Red Cross noted.
This uprooting hasn’t ceased since “rogue” commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front ran amuck. Murder, arson and use of human shields were their protest against the Supreme Court’s restraint on the Memorandum of Agreement on ancestral domain.
“Un-Islamic,” said other Muslims.
Man has the right to choose one’s faith without fear of government intervention or harm, says the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Do ASEAN countries measure up to this yardstick?
Leaf through the US State Department’s publication, “International Religious Freedom Report 2008.” It documents how countries vary.
Majority of Filipinos are Christians. Nine out of every 10 Thais are Buddhists. Most Indonesians and Malaysians are Muslims. Their constitutions, like that of Singapore and Vietnam, provide for freedom of worship.
The new Thai constitution retains the provision that the king should be Buddhist. Indonesia bans “deviant sects” like Ahmadiyya. Malaysia designates Islam as the “religion of the Federation.” It bars propagation of other faiths.
Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok and Singapore allow free worship, the report says. Not Burma, where government agents infiltrate “virtually all organizations.” The junta brutally suppressed the September 2007 Saffron Revolution: peaceful demonstrations led by Buddhist monks. Muslims are harassed.
And Laos pressures Protestants to renounce their faith on threat of arrest, eviction or “reeducation.”
Vietnam’s new laws, in contrast, ease curbs on religious freedom. Muslims go on the hajj. Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter. The number of monks, pastors and priests is increasing. Hanoi dialogues with the Vatican.
There are no forced conversions in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines or Thailand.
Adherence to Buddhism is key for promotion to senior posts in Burma. Vietnamese converts shy away from applying for new IDs. These state their religion.
“Conversions from Christianity to Islam is most typical among overseas Filipinos who worked in Islamic countries,” the report notes. “Conversion brings social and economic benefits while abroad.” Many “converts of convenience remain Muslim upon return.” They are known as “Balik-Islam.”
Malaysia brands converts as “apostates.” They’re hustled to “rehabilitation” centers for coerced religious instruction. The government bans Malay-language Christian materials in peninsular Malaysia. The Hindu community protests demolition of their temples.
Indonesia’s central government has not overturned local laws that discriminate against minorities or women’s rights. In civil registration of marriages and births or the issuance of identity cards, minorities get the short stick.
In southern Thailand, violence perpetrated by ethnic Malay Muslim Thais against ethnic Thai Buddhists sparked retaliatory killings. This overlaid political disputes with “religious and separatist overtones.” Buddhist monks sweat when walking with begging bowls through the region.
In the southern Philippines, historical disputes over ancestral domain, discrimination against Muslims, migration, kidnapping for ransom and murder by bandits, like the Abu Sayyaf, exacerbate tensions. “Mainstream Muslim leaders reject the Abu Sayyaf’s claim of religious affiliation. Many Muslims viewed Christian proselytizing as a form of … depriving Muslims of homeland and cultural identity.”
“The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) … worked through the UN system to weaken religious freedom protections,” the US Department of State report asserts. The bloc “does not recognize the right of individuals to freely change their religion.”
The OIC introduced in 1999 the concept of “defamation of Islam.” Objections led the OIC to broaden the measure to encompass respect for all religions. “But Islam remains the only specifically mentioned faith… Introduction of the defamation concept, in effect, seeks to export the blasphemy laws, found in many OIC countries, to the international level.”
This concept “attempts to limit freedom of religion,” the report states. “It restricts rights of individuals to disagree with or criticize religion, in particular Islam.”
Some use this concept to curb criticism of political structures, and restrict religious speech. Instead, this weakens religious freedom protections, including minority Muslim populations, as in China.
How does that square with “A Common Word between Us and You,” a letter that 138 Muslim scholars wrote last year? This followed up their 2006 open letter to Pope Benedict XVI. Despite differences, they said, the two “Greatest Commandments” are an area of common ground and a link between the Koran, the Torah and the New Testament. “To those who relish conflict, we say: our very eternal souls are all at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace,” they said. “Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works.”
Extremists threatened King Abudallah bin Ad Al Aziz for sponsoring the interfaith conference that produced “A Common Word.” Christian and Muslim scholars, meeting in Yale, wrote: “Dialogue is not a departure from faith. It is an essential tool in the quest for the common good.”
Is this message getting through?
Burma: UN to Keep Spotlight on Junta
http://www.unpo.org/content/view/8801/236/
Monday, 20 October 2008
UN group will remain vigilant of Burma’s movements despite their ‘electoral and constitutional’ façade.
Below is an article published by Reuters:
A U.N. group on Myanmar vowed on Saturday [18 October 2008] to keep the world spotlight on the troubled country and to press the military rulers of the former Burma to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The "Friends of the Secretary General on Myanmar" said Myanmar's junta must comply with resolutions calling for the release of political prisoners and to pursue reconciliation to end a nearly 20-year political stalemate.
The group urged Myanmar to address key issues, "especially the release of political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and the initiation of an all-inclusive dialogue between the government and the opposition," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said in a statement.
The 14-nation group, joined by top representatives of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union, met a day after the first anniversary of a crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks against the military that has ruled the country since 1962.
At least 31 people were killed and some 3,000 were arrested in the crackdown. Human rights groups say as many as 700 people remain behind bars, although the junta says all but a few dozen have been released.
"The people of Burma have not been forgotten by the international community," British Foreign Minister David Miliband told reporters after the meeting.
"It's vital that, first, we don't fall for the electoral and constitutional facade that has been erected over the last year [2008], and, secondly, the U.N. remains determined in its support for the U.N. Security Resolutions that have been passed," he said.
His criticism was aimed at a May [2008] referendum on Myanmar's army-drafted constitution -- part of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" that is meant to culminate in multi-party elections in 2010 but has been rejected by Western countries and Myanmar's democracy movement as a sham.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo told reporters the electoral plan had "no international legitimacy."
He also underscored differences between Myanmar's neighbors, who engage and trade with the junta, and Western powers that have tried to isolate and pressure the generals with trade embargoes.
"There's ... a view among a number of us that the economic agenda should not be neglected," Yeo said of economic engagement favored by Singapore and other ASEAN members.
"This is something about which there is no agreement among some countries, obviously, because there's still an embargo going on," he added.
The friends group was launched December 2007 and consists of Australia, Britain, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
Chinese oil firm accused of abuses, contamination in Myanmar
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/237895,chinese-oil-firm-accused-of-abuses-contamination-in-myanmar.html
Posted : Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:09:27 GMT
Author : DPA
Bangkok - A Chinese-led consortium with a concession for oil exploration on Myanmar's Ramree Island has left hundreds of local islanders landless and unemployed and their environment befouled, a human rights group said Tuesday. Blocking Freedom, a report compiled by the environmental and human rights group Arakan Oil Watch, said a consortium led by the China National Offshore Oil Company Ltd (CNOOC Ltd) left behind such a trail of abuses and environmental contamination on Ramree Island that outraged locals attacked their facilities last year.
The report was the first to be released on Chinese onshore oil exploration activities in Ramree Island, Myanmar's largest island, in Arakan State, now called Rakhine.
The consortium, which included the Singapore-based Golden Aaron Pte Ltd, Myanmar's Asia World Company and Asia Guiding Star and two other state-owned Chinese oil-service companies, conducted onshore exploration for oil on Ramree Island between 2006-07.
The consortium reportedly confiscated 81 hectares, and offered the local owners 40,000 kyat (31 dollars) for their land regardless of the size of their plots, said Jockai Khaing, director of Arakan Oil Watch.
"An estimated 500 to 1,000 local oil drillers were put out business," said Jockai.
He said angry local residents attacked the CNOOC drilling site in Renandaung village in August 2007, and looted drilling equipment and supplies.
Police arrested two shop owners who purchased some of the stolen loot, and the investigation into the incident has forced 70 islanders to flee to Thailand and Malaysia, the report said.
Ramree is known to be rich in oil reserves, employing about 5,000 primitive drillers who have traditionally used the commodity to supplement their incomes from rice farming and fishing.
Hundreds of drillers have been put out of work by the consortium's activities in Renandaung and Kyaukphyu districts, according to Arakan Oil Watch.
"The consortium brought in 200 Chinese workers and 3,000 Burmese but only employed three Arakanese, and these were employed only because some Burmese workers ran away," said Jockai.
Besides depriving local residents of work and their lands, the CNOOC consortium has also polluted rice fields and rivers on the island, notching up a litany of abuses that could make a "worst practices" list for multinational corporations, the report said.
"Corporations and their supporting governments engaged in the oil and gas sector in Burma must ensure they follow international standards on local people's rights, and ensure environmental and revenue transparency," Jockai told a press conference in Bangkok.
The report on Ramree is even more disturbing given the predominance of Chinese oil firms in Myanmar's oil and gas industry.
Chinese firms currently have 16 oil and gas blocks in Myanmar and are now ranked as the largest investors in the sector.
US and European oil firms have in recent years been prevented from investing in Myanmar's petroleum sector by economic sanctions on the pariah regime, although France's Total and the US's Chevron still hold concessions won before the sanctions were imposed.
Myanmar earned an estimated 2.7 billion dollars in gas exports to Thailand last year, primarily from gas reserves partially operated by Total and Chevron. Natural gas accounts for almost 45 per cent of the country's export revenues.
Copyright, respective author or news agency
Youth activists urge boycott of 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development ( GFMD) in Manila
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/10/20/08/youth-activists-urge-boycott-2nd-gfmd-manila
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/20/2008 8:40 PM
Filipino youth activists picketed different embassies of some developing countries on Monday urging them to boycott the 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which will be held October 27-30 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
Led by Anakbayan and the League of Filipino Students (LFS), the youth activists carried streamers stating their opposition to the GFMD, forced migration, and the failure of the government to create decent jobs in the country. They held protests at the embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, and Malaysia.
"The GFMD really means Gloria, George Bush and Globalization Forcing Migrants to Death. The meeting will uphold more anti-migrant policies and will exploit further the desperation of poor Filipinos and other peoples of the third world in order to benefit the first world nations," said Ken Ramos, national chairperson of Anakbayan.
Ramos claimed that Arroyo does not have the right to showcase its overseas migration policies as dozens of migrants monthly allegedly return home in coffins.
LFS national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo, for his part, described the GFMD as a "cover-up" of the true state of migration and poverty in the third world and a "conspiracy" of first world states to exploit further the desperation of the poor people.
"This talk about migration and development is a cover-up of the fact that people is being forced to migrate because of desperation. Migration is brought about precisely by the lack of development in the third world and the lack of jobs at home. This meeting should not be allowed to cover-up the crime, committed by governments and states adherent to globalization, of breaking up families and forcing massive migration because of failure to address poverty and joblessness," said Crisostomo.
The groups promised to "rock" the GFMD with militant protest actions and rallies.
Anakbayan and LFS will also be part of a meeting of Asian youth leaders to be held in the Philippines ahead of the GFMD.
The general conference of the Asian Students Association on October 25 to 27 is expected to gather young leaders from New Zealand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Japan, Palestine, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and many others against the GFMD.
The groups will also support the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR), a gathering of migrants of various nationalities around the world on October 28-30 in Manila.
The IAMR, led by the International Migrants Alliance and Migrante International, with the cooperation and support of Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, IBON Foundation, Bayan Philippines, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, and Caram Asia, is a parallel event to the GFMD.
as of 10/20/2008 8:40 PM
Humour magazine censored, publishing deferred-MIZZIMA
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1161-humour-magazine-censored-publishing-deferred.html
by Nem Davies
Monday, 20 October 2008 20:31
New Delhi – A monthly humour magazine was forced to postpone publishing of its October issue after the censor board cut over 23 per cent of its contents.
The Rangoon based humour magazine 'Pyaw Pyaw Shwin Shwin' had to defer the publishing date of this month's issue as the board censored six forms of a total of 26 forms submitted for clearance.
"They cannot publish in time as the censorship on this month's issue is too heavy. Most of the censored sections are from poems and stories. They are likely to suspend publishing for about two months," a person close to the magazine said. But the magazine refused to release any news regarding the cuts for fear of further action against them.
The censor board, popularly known as 'Literary Kempetai' named after the atrocities committed by the Japanese military intelligence during the Japanese occupation in Burma, did not give any reason for the censorship. But media circles speculated that the authorities censored it as they did not understand what the poems meant. So they simply said that it was not in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the censor board.
"The poems usually use cryptic language so the authorities did not know exactly what they meant. They censored these manuscripts arbitrarily," a veteran magazine editor said.
Similarly many poems from this month's issue of 'Kalyar', 'Cherry', 'Myanmar Thit', 'Mahaythi' and other magazines were also censored so only a few poems appeared in these magazines.
"Many poems were censored this month. Only four poems appeared in this month's issue of 'Kalyar', only five poems were passed by the censor board out of a total of 11 submitted by 'Mahaythi', only two poems appeared in 'Myanmarthit'. Earlier at least seven poems used to appear in these monthly magazines," a writer from one of the magazines said.
In July this year, editor U Htay Aung of 'Cherry' magazine, was forced to resign from his post by the authorities after 'Depayinga' a poem written by Khin Maung Than appeared in the magazine. After this the censor board has imposed tighter restrictions on these magazines.
"A lot of censorship made the magazine difficult to publish and they lost their market as a consequence. The market is shrinking for them now," a veteran magazine editor said.
Keep Asia high on foreign policy list
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081021/OPINION12/810210318/1002/OPINION
Lee Hamilton
Posted: October 21, 2008
A few years back, Foreign Policy magazine asked more than 1,000 international relations experts what would be the most important region strategically for the U.S. in 2025. The answer? Asia, responded more than 60 percent.
Only when there are crises -- North Korea's nuclear test, the Saffron Revolution in Myanmar (Burma), or civil unrest in Tibet -- does Asia grab headlines. This will have to change. Though the U.S. remains the pre-eminent military power, America's relative power has declined, while the power of China and other Asian nations has grown. The painful economic adjustments we face reflect the shift of the center of global affairs from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Asian economies produce 30 percent of global exports and have a large share of the world's savings and a two-way trade with the U.S. that is more than $1 trillion.
The region has half the world's population and six of the world's 10 largest countries. India and China are rising powers with nuclear arsenals, modernizing militaries, booming economies and growing footprints in Africa and Latin America. It is home to some of America's strongest allies in the postwar era, like Japan, South Korea and Australia. The recent U.S.-India nuclear agreement is the keystone of improved U.S.-Indian relations.
Managing the U.S.-China relationship is the most important and most challenging task in Asia. To the dismay of some of its neighbors, China's growth continues at a blistering pace. Taiwan remains the most dangerous potential flashpoint in the region. The U.S. has agreed to sell Taiwan $6.4 billion in arms, eliciting strong disapproval from China, including the cancellation of military and diplomatic meetings in protest.
Despite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we cannot continue to shortchange Asia when it comes to diplomacy. What should the U.S. do? Watch our rhetoric. We should not define Asian countries as threats or competitors for geopolitical supremacy.
To maintain peace and stability, a web of Asian multilateral organizations has developed. Some of these groups include the U.S.; others exclude it. These all present opportunities for the United States to engage Asia and its sub-regions; to address issues, such as climate change and economic stability. And advancing human rights will not be possible without developing a regional consensus. U.S. participation can help facilitate the construction of a broader and more cohesive Asian community.
We must also work harder to maintain and strengthen our bilateral relations. Ties between Washington and Seoul have soured, with a stagnant free-trade agreement and public demonstrations in Korea against the importation of U.S. beef. In the Six Party talks, Japan often feels out of the loop. On North Korea's nuclear program, we must remain patient and engaged. Progress is halting and frustrating as we engage in a step-by-step process toward its denuclearization.
There are other issues: counter-terrorism, cooperation on energy security, the Doha Round of trade negotiations -- as the financial crisis has revealed for all, the U.S. is tied to Asia in fundamental ways. Meeting the region's economic challenges and building on gains in human rights are opportunities to advance collective interests.
In 2001, many analysts said we were entering the "Asian Century." That remains to be seen, but we ignore the trend lines at our own peril.
Hamilton is the director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. He served as a U.S. representative from Indiana from 1965 to 1999.
The factory farm tigers being turned into wine
Doomed: One of the tigers at Xiongsen animal park being turned into wine
by DANNY PENMAN
Last updated at 08:46 12 March 2007
Comments (23) Add to My Stories Cruel almost beyond belief, this Chinese farm breeds hundreds of tigers in rows of battery cages ... so they can be killed and turned into wine... King, the Siberian tiger, stares at me through the bars of his cage. His two beautiful, graceful companions pace back and forth across their tiny compound. They look crushingly bored. The most exciting thing they can do is paw mournfully at the dirty pools of rainwater on the floor of their cage.
More here:
• Purrfect: Rare tiger born in captivity
Although the Xiongsen tiger park, near Guilin in south-east China, appears to be a depressingly typical Third World zoo, with a theme park restaurant and open areas where tigers roam, it actually hides a far more sinister secret: it's a factory farm breeding tigers to be eaten and to be made into wine.
In row upon row of sheds, hundreds of tigers are incarcerated in battery-like cages which they never leave until they are slaughtered.
Visitors to the park can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of the big cat. Visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of wine made from Siberian tiger bones.
A waitress at the farm's restaurant tells me proudly: 'The tiger meat is produced here. It's our business. When Government officials come here, we kill a tiger for them so they have fresh meat. Other visitors are given meat from tigers killed in fights. We now have 140 tigers in the freezer.
"We also sell lion meat, bear's paw, crocodile and snake. The bear's paw has to be ordered in advance as it takes a long time to cook."
Hundreds of tigers are incarcerated in battery-like cages
The waitress clearly does not care that she is selling meat and wine from endangered species. She is not worried that selling them is against Chinese and international law, and helps to fuel the poaching that is driving tigers to extinction.
Tigers and other endangered species are being reared on an industrial scale throughout China, despite international treaties forbidding this. The Mail discovered three factory farms breeding tigers in China. The Guilin farm alone has 1,300 tigers, including the incredibly rare and elusive Siberian sub-species.
It rears and slaughters Bengal, South China and White tigers. More than 300 African lions and 400 Asiatic black bears are also reared here for food and traditional Chinese medicines.
The Chinese authorities claim that farms like the one at Guilin are a vital part of the country's conservation efforts, and that they will one day release these endangered creatures back into the wild.
But my visit to the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village shows their real intention could not be more different. For the fact is that these animals could never survive in the wild.
Having spent their lives in tiny, battery-style units, they cannot hunt and would be dead within days of being released. Each shed at the tiger farm - and I saw at least 100 - houses between three and five tigers in a space no larger than a typical family living room. In relative terms, they have about as much space as a battery hen.
The animals have all been bred on the farm. The cubs are taken from their mothers at three months and put in a kindergarten. I saw around 30 tiger cubs in this creche, where they stay until they are old enough to be transferred to the battery units.
Many of the youngsters kept leaping at the fencing. The younger ones simply wanted to play like kittens. The older cubs were already showing signs of stress.
Tigers are naturally solitary creatures that roam over dozens of square miles, so it's hardly surprising that life in the cages drives them insane. I saw numerous examples of stress-related repetitive behaviour.
The mature animals paced back and forth across their cages for hours on end - three steps forward, three steps back. Some hurled themselves at the bars of their prison cells, while others simply stared into space.
Over-crowding drives the creatures to attack each other, often resulting in death. Officially it is only the tigers killed in such fights that can be eaten or turned into wine. But it is clear that many of them die as a result of a bullet to the head.
They are not the only animals killed. For entertainment, visitors to the animal park can watch the 'live killing exhibition', a sick spectacle in which animals are 'hunted' and torn to pieces by tigers while onlookers cheer.
I watched in horror as a young cow was stalked and caught by a tiger. Its screams filled the air as it struggled.
A wild tiger would dispatch its prey within moments, but these tigers' natural killing skills have been blunted by years of captivity. The tiger tried to kill - tearing, biting at the cow's body in a pathetic-looking frenzy - but it simply didn't know how. Eventually, the keepers stepped in and put the cow out of its misery.
Virtually all the tigers from the Guilin farm end up at a winery 100 miles to the north, their carcasses dumped in huge vats of rice wine and left to rot for up to nine years.
The Chinese believe that the tiger's strength passes into the wine as its body decomposes. They also believe that it is a powerful medicine that wards off arthritis, strengthens bones and acts as a general tonic.
Smelling like a mixture of methylated spirits, antiseptic and congealed meat, it is difficult to believe that anyone would willingly drink it, and yet people pay up to £100 a pint for it.
The Guilin farm also has its own small winery and acts as a distribution centre across China. The distribution manager showed me around with a Chinese tourist.
A small dingy office acts as the nerve centre of the warehouse. On the wall were charts showing that day's deliveries of tiger wine across China. Six crates were sent to Wuhan and another to Tianjing. Six crates of 'powdered bear' were sent to Shanghai. Numerous other cities and countless deliveries were also listed.
We were led into the warehouse, where I was hit with the disgusting and potent aroma of tiger wine. I was led past countless crates containing the foul-smelling brew. In the corner of the warehouse was a huge brown earthenware vat. It must have held at least 50 gallons, and its contents were probably worth around £12,000.
"We have three ages of wine," said the manager. "Three, six or nine-years old. It helps with arthritis and strengthens old people's bones."
She slid aside the lid of the earthenware vat to reveal a reddish-brown liquid with an overpowering smell of meths. A piece of string was pulled out of the vat. Attached to the end was a tiger's rib cage. Small slivers of dark red flesh could still be seen clinging to the bone, even though it had probably been in the vat for at least three years.
The manager then filled up an old plastic water bottle with a pint of wine and handed it to my fellow tourist. He paid £30 for it.
Whatever westerners think of tiger wine, the Chinese regard it as a potent drink with almost magical qualities. In the past, a Chinese doctor may have prescribed small quantities of wine for a short period of time.
But in recent years, big companies have moved into the market and industrialised all parts of the industry. Now the wine is becoming an essential drink for China's corrupt bureaucrats and the nation's nouveaux riches.
Conservationists say tiger farming is not only barbaric, it could lead to the animal's extinction in the wild.
"It is stimulating demand for meat and wine, and this will inevitably lead to more poaching," says Grace Gabriel, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"It costs £5,000 to raise a tiger from a cub to maturity in one of these farms, while it costs no more than £20 in India to poach one. On the market, a dead tiger can fetch £20,000.
"With such a huge margin, it is inevitable that more people will poach wild tigers if demand increases," she adds. "There are only a few thousand tigers left in the wild, and the last thing they need is increased demand for their body parts."
If present trends continue, tigers could be extinct in the wild within a decade. Three subspecies have already vanished. Chinese tigers are down to a pitiful 20 animals in the wild and are "functionally extinct".
There are only about 450 Siberian tigers left in Russia's Far East. The remaining 3-4,000 are sparsely scattered across India, Nepal and South-East Asia.
The trouble is that, as tigers become rarer in the wild, their 'street value' increases, which in turn encourages even more poaching.
Tigers have already become extinct in India's most famous reserve at Sariska. Numbers have plunged in several other reserves, too.
Most of these tigers will have been sold to traders in China. The Chinese authorities do virtually nothing to clamp down on this illegal trade, and many corrupt bureaucrats and police earn substantial sums from it.
And demand is continuing to increase as ever more bizarre uses for tigers are promoted. Tiger whiskers are used to 'cure' laziness and protect against bullets. Their brains, when mixed with oil and rubbed on the skin, are promoted as a cure for acne. Penises are used as aphrodisiacs, while hearts apparently impart courage, cunning and strength.
Tiger farmers also have their eyes on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. They hope that a huge influx of tourists will lead to increased demand for tiger wine.
Although it is illegal to trade internationally in such tiger products as wine, the Chinese are lobbying hard to get the law relaxed. This June, the Chinese Government is expected to press the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow the trade in 'medicines' such as wine produced from farmed tigers.
If agreed, it will lead to a massive increase in tiger farming and tens of thousands of these noble beasts will spend their lives in battery cages.
If the Chinese get their way, then it will almost certainly drive the tigers over the cliff into extinction.
It is almost too late to save this magnificent creature - but not quite.
• For more information about the trade in endangered species see www.ifaw.org
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Tiger Farming
http://www.ofcats.com/2008/10/tiger-farming.html
It's a practice more barbaric than anything else that involves animals. And it involves not just tigers. Lions, crocodiles, bears and other carnivores too are bred in captivity, in other words 'farmed' for use of their body parts for a variety of purposes. Tiger skins serve as rugs, clothes; their bones and teeth are crushed and powdered and used in oriental medicines, their brain, heart, meat, claws, whiskers - in short every part of their body is used to serve an array of ridiculous purposes. And it's one of the biggest threats to tigers worldwide.
A shady and lucrative business, tiger farming enjoys backing of corrupt officials and poaching enterprises in China and southeast Asia. In places like Burma and Thailand tiger parts are openly available for sale in urban markets. In zoos and captive centers across China thousands of tigers are kept in miserable conditions in small enclosures and slaughtered daily to feed the huge market that revolves around exotic animal parts.
Proponents of this lucrative business claim that since captive tigers serve the purpose, tiger farming actually 'protects' wild tigers by sparing them from poachers. This, however, is not true. Tiger farming continues to fuel the market for the oriental medicines that make use of tiger parts, thus hurting the cause of tigers. Plus, poachers still go after wild tigers since they are cheaper to obtain. A poached tiger in India is worth two and a half million Indian Rupees, roughly fifty thousand US Dollars - enough to sustain a family for their lifetime in that developing nation.
Recently, in a significant move towards conservation of tigers, CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, has issued a notification to stop tiger farming in member countries. A decision welcomed by conservationists around the world, this will serve to curb the cruel practice. However, it remains to be seen as to how effectively it will be implemented by the Chinese government which has so far been reluctant to act against openly operating tiger farms. At the same time it will also temporarily increase the demand for wild tigers greatly and necessitate greater vigil in reserves and forests against poachers. Still, one thing is for sure. If the tiger is to survive anywhere in the wild, the use of its parts in any form or place has to be abolished permanently.
To read an article from 2007 that provides a close perspective on this horrible practice click here.
Iceland, IMF `Very Close' to Deal; Japan May Help (Update4)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=ajuVPdrOmSr0
By Tasneem Brogger
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Iceland's government is ``very close'' to a rescue deal with the International Monetary Fund that may also include financial help from Nordic neighbors and Japan, Industry Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson said.
The fund is preparing a plan to present to the government, which is also seeking a loan from Russia, Skarphedinsson said in a telephone interview from Reykjavik yesterday. The Financial Times and New York Times reported that the rescue will amount to $6 billion.
Iceland needs aid from the IMF and Nordic countries after the collapse of its banking system froze its foreign-exchange market, making it hard for importers to finance purchases. Glitnir Bank hf, Landsbanki Islands hf and Kaupthing Bank hf imploded with debts of $61 billion, or as much as 12 times the size of the economy.
``It's clear from our diplomatic contacts that if and when an agreement is made between the IMF and Iceland, then our neighbors would be quite willing to sail in their wake,'' Skarphedinsson said. ``We in fact have confirmation of what I would label quite generous lending facilities.''
Norway, Sweden and Denmark would probably follow any accord with the IMF, with Japan also a candidate to provide the Atlantic island with aid, he said.
``We are part of the Nordic family,'' Skarphedinsson said. ``It's really stating the obvious to say that definitely the Nordic countries would be among those that would seek to assist us through this crisis, when and if we go to the IMF.''
Nordic Family
The central banks of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in May provided Iceland with a euro swap facility worth a total of 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion). The central bank of Iceland has so far drawn on 400 million euros of that.
Skarphedinsson declined to comment on the Financial Times report that said $1 billion will come from the IMF and the remainder from Nordic governments and Japan. The New York Times said Russia will make a contribution.
The chief press officer at Sweden's central bank, Britta von Schoultz, declined to comment. Norges Bank head of communications said she wasn't ``aware of'' any agreement with Iceland linked to a possible IMF deal. Calls made to Danish central bank spokeswoman Louise Buchter weren't immediately returned.
`Good Neighbor'
Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg said his government was in discussions with Iceland.
``We will try to be a good neighbor,'' he told reporters in Berlin yesterday. ``But eventually this is up to Iceland because they have to get into an IMF program, and that is an essential part of them re-establishing themselves.''
Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said at a news conference today that he hadn't heard whether the IMF or Iceland asked his government for aid. Nakagawa told his Group of Seven counterparts in Washington this month that Japan is ready to contribute to the IMF's emergency lending program.
``Japan wants to show its initiative in the global response to growing financial risks,'' said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.
Iceland's opposition leader Steingrimur Sigfusson criticized the government's handling of the crisis, calling for better economic management.
``We know what to do if we have an earthquake or a natural catastrophe, we put up a control center, much the same as a country does if it has a war on its hands,'' Sigfusson said. ``But the government hasn't done this so the management has been too weak.''
3 Cents
Bonds of Iceland's three biggest banks are on sale for as little as 3 cents on the dollar after the government began a restructuring that may leave debt investors with nothing, according to broker KNG Securities LLP.
The three lenders have together amassed debt equivalent to about 12 times the size of the economy, according to Bloomberg data. The government has yet to provide a clear plan on how that debt will be repaid since taking control of the banks. Glitnir and Kaupthing have already missed making bond payments.
The failure of banks on the island, with a population of only 320,000, is affecting investors and depositors across the globe. Kaupthing is poised to become the first European bank to default in Japan's samurai bond market after investors said the Icelandic lender missed a coupon payment. Kaupthing now has a seven-day grace period to honor the obligations.
``The samurai bond default is raising concerns among Japanese banks about whether more will arise and where they might arise,'' said Dai-Ichi Life's Kumano. That said, he added, ``I'm not sure how much this funding to Iceland would reduce the chances of more defaults.''
Shrinking Economy
Iceland's economy may contract as much as 10 percent, according to Lars Christensen, chief analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. The central bank on Oct. 15 cut the benchmark interest rate by an unprecedented 3.5 percentage points to 12 percent, indicating policy makers have given up trying to control inflation. Prices may surge as much as 75 percent in coming months, Christensen estimates.
A nation that was ranked the fifth-richest in the world per capita in the United Nations 2007/2008 Human Development Index is now facing shortages of imports including food and clothing. The central bank on Oct. 10 called on commercial lenders to prioritize foreign-currency transactions to cover payment for essential imports such as food, fuel and medicine.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tasneem Brogger in Copenhagen at tbrogger@bloomberg.net;
Last Updated: October 21, 2008 02:47 EDT
Japan lower house votes to extend Afghan mission
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso (C) reviews the Air Self-Defenese Force at Hyakuri Base in Omitama, northeast of Tokyo, on October 19. Japan's lower house of parliament voted Tuesday to extend a controversial naval mission backing US-led operations in Afghanistan.
(AFP/JiJi Press)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081021/wl_asia_afp/japanpoliticsmilitaryafghanistan_081021061355
Tue Oct 21, 2:13 am ET AFP/JiJi Press – Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso (C) reviews the Air Self-Defenese Force at Hyakuri Base in Omitama, … TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's lower house of parliament voted Tuesday to extend a controversial naval mission backing US-led operations in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Taro Aso has vowed to keep Japan in the US-led "war on terror," saying that the officially pacifist country must play a larger role in ensuring global security.
The government-controlled lower house voted largely along party lines to continue for another year the mission providing fuel and other logistical support to US-led forces. The mission was due to expire in January.
The bill now goes to the opposition-controlled upper house, which is expected to reject it. But the more powerful lower house can then override the upper chamber.
The opposition, arguing that Japan should not take part in "American wars," last year forced a temporary halt to the naval mission by refusing to vote on it.
But it has agreed to go ahead this time and vote down the bill -- in effect allowing the mission to be extended -- as it presses Aso to call early elections.
Yutaka Banno, a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said that Aso must now call snap polls after achieving part of his agenda.
"Prime Minister Aso must dissolve the lower house as soon as possible and ask where the public mandate lies," Banno said.
The opposition submitted an alternative bill under which Japan would provide drinking water to Afghanistan instead of fuel oil to the coalition forces.
But it was voted down by the ruling parties and other opposition parties.
Japan is already one of the largest donors to Afghanistan, pledging 1.24 billion dollars since the fall of the Taliban.
A poll released Monday by the Mainichi Shimbun daily showed that the public was closely divided on whether to extend the naval mission.
Shia Sunni Dialog in Pakistan: Why and How
http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/
By Abdul Malik Mujahid
When in a Karachi Shia masjid a suicide bomber killed worshipers on a recent Friday, the first people who rushed to the rescue were worshipers from the nearby Sunni mosque in the Sindh Madrasah. They tried to save lives and comfort the injured before the police and others could arrive. I came to know about this because a Shia writer wrote about it in the Pakistani daily newspaper Dawn. Shias have similarly come forward to help their Sunni neighbors in crises. It has been reported that Shia and Sunni both regularly participate in each other’s funeral prayers.
May Allah bless those hearts moved by the needs of others. People like these are the true faithful whose actions reflect their character. These are the silent majority of Pakistanis who need to work with each other to isolate the terrorists amongst them and the extremists who support them.
This silent majority must come together through dialog to defeat the terrorists who have been responsible for killing as many as 4,000 Pakistanis in the past 15 years through their sectarian violence.
Seven reasons why a dialog between Shia and Sunni is needed:
* Theological differences between Shia and Sunni are old and are better left for Allah to judge, as He knows best and has said that He is the final judge of religious disagreements (Quran 16:12). The killing of Shias or Sunnis will not resolve these disputes.
* The principle of “no compulsion in matters of faith” (Quran 2:256) is not just limited to Muslim-non-Muslim relations. It applies to Muslim interpretations of Islam as well. This instruction of God serves as a guideline for the Muslim community to not impose one's interpretation on others. That is why throughout history, not only have Hanafis and Shafis worked with each other despite differences, but Shias and Sunnis have lived and worked side by side with each other as well.
* When human beings sit down and talk to each other, they learn to respect each other.
* Dialog allows parties to understand each other better by allowing participants to acquire direct knowledge about beliefs instead of relying on propaganda and stereotypical images. (Quran 49:6-12)
* It is Haram to kill a human being. Killing a human being is like killing the whole of humanity. By talking to each other, Shias and Sunnis will be able to save lives, which is like saving the whole of humanity. (Quran 5:32)
* Revenge is not justice. Killing in revenge is unjust, inhuman, and un-Islamic. Retribution through the state, which the Quran sanctions via capital punishment does not amount to individuals taking the law in their hands or killing an innocent person in revenge. The call for, "an eye for an eye," does not mean an innocent eye for an innocent eye; it means the eye of the perpetrator for the eye of the victim.
* Even if some Shias and Sunnis consider each other enemies, the Quran asks us to be just even toward one's enemy "O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.bold.gifaling, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to Piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that you do." [Quran 5:8]
Some considerations for dialog:
The Shia community is a large community in Pakistan and that there are many differences between one Shia group and another. This is why it is important that dialog between Sunnis and Shias becomes a movement and a process throughout society instead of everyone waiting for one high powered dialog to yield some results at the leadership level. Here are some preliminary thoughts on how a dialog between Shias and Sunnis can be beneficial for each party.
Goals of dialog
Although I consider dialog a process that is beneficial to society, it is necessary that everyone involved recognize some of its tangible benefits. The following are a set of achievable goals for Shia-Sunni dialog.
* Developing an agenda of common concerns
* Identifying issues of conflict
* Issuing joint Fatwas against the killings
* Isolating extremists on each side
* Preventing a potential conflict or mediating an existing conflict
* Clearing up stereotypes about each other
* Setting up joint task forces to deal with outstanding issues
Who should participate in the dialog
* Imams and caretakers of Masjids
* Students of Madrassas
* University students
* National level religious leadership
* Shia and Sunni media persons
* Shia and Sunni businesspersons
Mechanism of dialog
Dialog is a process that should occur at all levels of society. In the 1960s in Pakistan, when Shia- Sunni fights were far less significant, city officers used to convene joint meetings of Shia and Sunni leaders to chalk out Muharram plans so no confusion would result in rioting. These government-arranged dialogs helped keep conflicts at a minimum. Considering the current level of mistrust, it will be beneficial if civil society takes initiatives for dialog at all levels of society.
* Private Dialog: Host roundtable discussions initially at the top leadership level that should later expand to include
* thers working on different committees.
* Public Dialog: Shia and Sunni both use public forums and media to speak to each other's audiences
* Visiting each other’s Masjids to enhance confidence and to demonstrate that they are not supportive of the extremists who isolate each other.
* Shia-Sunni Dinners: Masjids and social associations should invite Shia and Sunni friends to eat with each other publicly.
Publicity of dialog
Publicity of the dialog will generate hope and confidence in it and will empower those in dialog vis-a-vis the extremists.
* Media should facilitate self-criticism and introspection by the religious leadership
* Those leaders who participate in dialog should be recognized through interviews, reports, and documentaries
* Investigative reports should be aired and published about the truth behind sectarian propaganda
* It is important for society to honor those Shia and Sunni leaders who take initiative and demonstrate leadership in participating in dialog. Sunnis, being members of the majority community, have the higher level of responsibility towards initiating and participating in dialog
Sponsors of Dialog
Funding always facilitates the beginning of a process in civil society. Every task requires time and money. While participating organizations and individuals can take care of their own costs, it would be very rewarding if some individuals and businesses came forward with funds to sponsor and host these dialogs. Pak-Americans can start a dialog in North America where there is no conflict in the Shia-Sunni community and take it to Pakistan by sponsoring the first meeting of such a nature.
Beyond Dialog
Considering that Shias and Sunnis live side by side throughout Pakistan, they are not un-known to each other, and considering that most of them have nothing to do with the current extremism which is responsible for the killings and violence, it is important for the moderate majority to come up with a few initiatives which are beneficial for Shia- Sunni harmony. These could be communicated in the print form or in any other media. They should discuss the following themes and/or use the methods outlined here:
* Khutba points which can help harmony
* What type of talk can hurt at personal level
* What is common between Shias and Sunnis
* Common Hadith between Shias and Sunnis
* What is hate speech
* Islamic teachings of tolerance
* A Shia-Sunni security force, jointly safeguarding each other’s houses of worship will be a significant blow to the extremist agenda.
Conclusion
Shia-Sunni sectarian terrorism is part of the undeclared civil war Pakistan is going through. The secthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.bold.gifarian violence declined after the establishment of a religious opposition group (MMA) that included Shias along with Sunnis, but the violence has recently restarted after the terrible incidents in Quetta. If a dialog was in place, that terrorism would have failed to restart sectarian violence.
The Quran, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, the Kaba and the five pillars of Islam are common to Shias and Sunnis. That is why no one in Islamic history has stopped Shias from performing Hajj, although the Kaba has always been in the control of Sunnis. Even today, when those currently in charge of the Kaba are part of a predominantly Salafi establishment, which maintains extremely negative views of Shias, Shias like other Muslims are free to perform Hajj. Shias on the other hand, since the 1979 Iranian revolution, are ordered by Imam Khumaini to pray behind these same Salafi imams instead of praying separately.
This mutual recognition gives us hope that a dialog can bear fruit of peace and harmony between both the communities.
http://www.yespakistan.com/security/shia-sunni-dialog.asp
Posted by Abdul at 08:43 0 comments
India targeting China’s oil supplies
http://blog.ira-401k-realestate.com/2008/10/20/india-targeting-chinas-oil-supplies/
Chinese army officers at Nathula Pass, a section of the border between India and China
The Strait of Malacca, where the Indian Ocean joins the Pacific, is seen as China’s Achilles’ heel. These shipping lanes, vital for Beijing’s energy supplies, could be the setting for any future confrontation between India and China.
Military planners in India are eyeing a crucial junction of the world which serves as the conduit for 80 per cent of China’s imported oil.
By David Blair in New Delhi
Last Updated: 7:23PM BST 22 Sep 2008
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India ‘must not show weakness to China’
The two giant powers are long-standing rivals who share a disputed 2,100-mile border and are waging a diplomatic struggle for influence in Asia. They fought a border war in 1962, which ended in victory for China and left Beijing in control of 16,500 square miles of territory claimed by India.
Both countries are increasing their defence budgets, with India’s military spending rising by an average of 18 per cent in each of the past three years and now exceeding £15 billion.
If these tensions were ever to boil over into war, India would probably exploit a crucial advantage. Its navy, which eventually plans to deploy three aircraft carriers and two nuclear-powered attack submarines, would probably seek to close the Strait of Malacca to Chinese shipping through an increased presence. By cutting off the supply of oil, this could cripple China and prove the decisive move in any conflict.
“The most likely flashpoint would be along the border, but ultimately the decision in any war would be on the ocean,” said Sheru Thapliyal, a retired Indian general in New Delhi who once commanded a division on the frontier with China.
“The Indian Ocean is where we could use our advantage to the maximum. If you want to choke China, the only way you can choke China is by using naval power.”
With China’s key vulnerability in mind, India has constructed a naval base within striking distance of the Strait of Malacca at Port Blair on the Andaman Islands. China has countered by installing military facilities of its own, complete with electronic monitoring and eavesdropping devices, on the nearby Coco Islands. These specks of land belong to Burma, a long-standing ally of China.
Beijing is now taking other steps to address what President Hu Jintao has called the country’s “Malacca dilemma”. With hugely ambitious infrastructure projects, China hopes to bypass the Strait of Malacca and eventually end its dependence on this vulnerable waterway for energy supplies.
On India’s western flank, China is helping to build a new port in the Pakistani town of Gwadar. Thrust together by their shared rivalry with India, Pakistan and China are old allies.
Gwadar could eventually provide a base for Chinese warships. Or it may be used as the starting point for a pipeline travelling through Pakistan and carrying oil and gas into China itself. If so, Beijing could import energy from the Middle East using this route, bypassing the Strait of Malacca.
The same rationale may explain China’s actions on India’s eastern flank. A new port and pipeline terminal are being constructed at Kyauk Phyu on Burma’s island of Ramree. This will be the starting point for a 900-mile pipeline, able to carry oil directly to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southern China.
“They know that we could attempt to choke them completely and that’s why they want these ports,” said Vijay Kapoor, a retired general in New Delhi and former commandant of the Indian Army War College. “Their aim in all of this is to prevent us from being able to choke them.”
China’s moves are being closely watched in India, where the military establishment fears that Beijing’s plans in Pakistan and Burma amount to a deliberate strategy of “encirclement”. If China’s navy acquires permanent bases in the Indian Ocean, tension will grow.
But Indian diplomats tend to believe these fears are exaggerated. They believe that China is motivated by nothing more than securing its economic boom and taking normal precautions against unforeseeable events.
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India-Pakistan on trade highway to peace
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=India-Pakistan+on+trade+highway+to+peace&artid=/iRG1ujzpz4=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=&SEO=LoC,%20border,%20Kashmir,%20Pakistan,%20India
A scene from the road to the LoC, near Baramulla, J&K. (Photo: AP)IANS First Published : 21 Oct 2008 04:16:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 21 Oct 2008 04:28:27 PM ISTMUZAFFARABAD / SALAMABAD / RANGAR: Bridging a six-decade divide, India and Pakistan Tuesday moved ahead on the road to peace as the first trade convoys trundled across the Line of Control (LoC) that separates the two Kashmirs to the sound of drumbeats and loud cheers.
As cross-LoC trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawlakote routes began for the first time since 1948, when commercial ties snapped following the India-Pakistan war a year after the bloody partition of the subcontinent, excitement ran high on both sides.
Old timers recalled with nostalgia the era long gone when trade flowed freely and the young looked forward to the beginning of a new era of peace.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir, hundreds of waving and cheering people lined up along the 180-km road to Srinagar that crosses the border at Chakothi as the caravan of 14 trucks began their historic journey.
As the first trucks carrying rice, garlic, spices, dry fruit, onions and the famous Peshawri shoes left for Indian Kashmir, a similar convoy from Srinagar carrying goodies like carpets, apples, walnuts and papier mache items left the Salamabad trade facilitation centre.
Both the countries have allowed trade in 21 items that are produced or prepared locally.
"We hope this route will once again bring prosperity to the people of both sides," said Sardar Anis Ali Khan, a trader based in Muzaffarabad.
The move to open the traditional trade route along the Jhelum was decided upon last month when Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met in New York.
According to the agreed formula, Pakistani trucks will travel 20 km inside Indian Kashmir from where Indian trucks will carry the goods to Srinagar and other parts. Likewise, Indian trucks will come 20 km inside Pakistan administered Kashmir and unload goods to be carried by Pakistani trucks to different destinations.
Officials here said truck drivers had been issued special permits to cross the LoC. "Every time, they will be issued single entry permit by both sides," an official at the Muzaffarabad "immigration" office told IANS.
The bureaucratic details did not dim truck driver Asif Hussain's enthusiasm. "Though I won't be able to go to Srinagar and meet people there, at least I'll be able to breathe in the air of (Indian) Kashmir," he said emotionally.
"What wrong have we done? Why are we being punished for the last 60 years?" The people of the two Kashmirs, he said, wanted to live peacefully. "Our two generations have been destroyed."
The sentiment found echo across the divide.
At the Salamabad centre, hundreds of people dressed in their brightest armed with drums and other musical instruments turned up to watch Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra flag off the first convoy of 14 trucks.
Emotions ran high as schoolchildren lined along the route sang "Rab ne Yeh din deklayu. Pardesiya to hun gar ayoo (God has made this possible for us. Oh you who lived in wilderness and exile, you are welcome home once again)".
"I haven't been able to sleep the entire night as I waited for the first light to see the beginning of a new dawn in valley's trade history," said Mehboob Ahmad, a truck driver who with 13 others was getting ready to go to Chakothi.
"Both India and Pakistan must stick to this great CBM (confidence building measure) so that the walls of hatred between the two countries are brought down and a new chapter is written in the history of Kashmir... Trade through the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road must continue unfettered for borders to become irrelevant," added Gulam Rasool Bhat, president of the north Kashmir fruit growers association, who came to see his goods being sent to Muzaffarabad.
In Rangar, about 250 km from the winter capital Jammu, similar scenes were played out.
While Governor Vohra was in Salamabad in north Kashmir, his adviser H.H. Tyabji did the honours in Rangar and kick off trade between Poonch and Rawlakote -- only 30 km from each other.
Instead of 14 trucks, however, only three trucks carrying fruits and vegetables crossed the LoC to enter Pakistan administered Kashmir. Pakistan would begin trade on the route Wednesday, officials said.
"We were asked by the Pakistani side to delay the opening of Poonch route as arrangements were not in place on their side, but we wanted it to start on this date as elections are going to keep state machinery busy," Ram Sahai, president of Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told IANS.
"Today, we are just sending fruits and vegetables as gifts for our brethren on the other side of the LoC," he added.
A small beginning for officials, a giant leap for Kashmiris and the often fraught India-Pakistan relationship.
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