General Aung San's independence and China's Influence

Above poem is from one of the posts on Mayvelous blog. Well,it is not surprising that many Burmese people keep admiring General Aung San as he led Burmese army when Burma fought against fascist Japanese and British for its independence (while Thailand was free from war as far as I know). I really appreciate his ability. He had been in London in his early 30s and he met British Prime Minister for Burma's political issues. That's great.

It is a fantastic reward as Burma was free from British colony in 1948. But sometime I suspect today's situation in Burma would be a consequence of premature independence. I think Burma at that time was not ready to run on its own. Too much instability in 1950s in history. You know Hong Kong is very well. It was released from British control in 1997. Burma and Hong Kong are grossly different in terms of economic and living stardard.

Some nationalists may argue that Burma might lose its unique identity and precious culture if it is under other people's control. OK, what is today's situation? What about massive influence of China? I don't mean I don't like them. I believe all those living and settling in the Land of Burma should have an equal opportunity, regardless of skin color and ethnic origin. It's ridiculous some of my Chinese friends born in Yangon have never granted Myanmar citizens. But now they have been US citizens. They said applying for US citizenship is much easier than Myanmar citizenship.(But you may know many people who never speaks Burmese language or usual ethnic languages are living in many places in Burma, especially in Mandalay). Moreover, a strange thing is that, 2 years ago, I saw a Burmese passport holder in a house in London. He speaks Chinese and some English only.

Myanmar Passport rules and regulations I can't understand

I saw above notice on Myanmar Gov's Special Branch page
I feel one passport should be valid at least 10 years where ever the bearer lives, going abroad or staying inside Myanmar. I still don't understand the reason of this notice. Someone could explain to me, please?



Buy the way, according to my friends, many foreign immigration officers see Green Passport as the fake one. One doctor was not issued work permit in Jamaica after checking his green passport. They believed that the green one is unofficial.In the UK, a bank manager phoned Myanmar Embassy officials in order to confirm the presence of Green Passport issued by Myanmar authorities.

Dual Tax Matter

This is a letter regarding Singapore Myanmar Dual tax matter.


The following conversations are about UK citizen who was working in the USA.

Q: Hi,
I will try to be as clear as possible and hopefully someone will have an answer for me! I am a French citizen who used to leave in the UK for 9 years till Sept 04 and have moved permanently to the US. I've been renting my uk flat since oct 04 (which was my sole income for whole 2004). I know that i have to file a tax return in the uk in April, i also understand that i have to file a federal tax return in the us too.(i have no other source of income)
Could someone explain me how the us/uk dual tax treaty works?
Thanks a lot

Ans: Hi

The dual tax treaty will not apply to your particular circumstances. If you are resident in the US then you are liable to US tax on your worldwide income and gains.
You will also be liable to UK income tax on your rental income. However, you will be able to claim a credit in the US for UK tax paid.

If you moved to the US in 2004 and started letting your property in Oct 2004 then you must file your US tax return by 15 April 2005 and pay any tax due by this date.

However, your UK tax return and tax payment for the year ending 5 April 2005 is not due until 31 January 2006.

Those tax matters are really confusing. But basically tax should be considered on a particular income or business. I feel it is not fair for a Burmese national working in Singapore if he has to pay tax to both Burmese government and Singapore counterpart despite nil business in Burma.

As a UK resident, I (other Myanmar passport holders as well) have a privilege in this tax matter. I don't need to pay tax to Myanmar embassy. Many believe that it is due to Nu- Attlee Agreement.

Cow Power

Cow Power, originally uploaded by Libyan Soup.

When I was young I did really enjoy riding cow drawn cart in country side in Burma. It was fantastic. Now driving my coupe' in London is tasteless.

Cutty Sark Fire

Before fire

Cutty Sark fire2, originally uploaded by olebrat.

The famous Tea Clipper “The Cutty Sark” five hours after the fire that almost destroyed her on 21-05-07. Thanks for the picture to olebrat.
You can see my previous post. 9 days ago we visted Greenwish where Cutty Sark was there under renovation. Now it's gone.

She served in the water from 1869 to 1954 by transporting goods especially tea from China to London. After that Cutty Sark keeps serving as one of the popular torrist attractions, with 7-8 million visitors a year in Greenwish.
Many believe that it was an arson fire and police treated as "suspecious".
Fire is not uncommon in England even though lots of measures have been done.Windsor Castle fire also ripped through the Queen's official residence in 1992.

More about Cutty Sark on Wikipedia

A veiw from Greenwish

Greenwish, originally uploaded by steve_ever_green.

Today after having a buffet with a friend of mine in Greenwish while I am in London this week, I took this photo with my motorola. It was south of River Thames. You can see Canary Wharf and some business buildings. In fact River Thame is more or less the size of Hlaing River, May be smaller than that in many points. I feel Irrawaddy is a King River.

Dockland

I took this photo from Excel Exhibition Centre in Docklands.

Near London Bridge

This post does not mean anything. I took this photo a few months ago when I came out from London Bridge Tube station.

A Cracked Pot and Maggots

The cracked pot philosophy (the previous post) is great, I believe. Again, 100% of people see maggots as disgusting creatures. Now in the field of medicine, these larvae have been used to cure some sort of ulcers. A professor claimed "Maggots are the world's smallest surgeons"




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If you don't know about MRSA, Click here

Imperfections

This is from one of the forwarded emails. You may read it through.

Imperfections---

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arri ved on ly half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course , the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream
"I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?"

"That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.

Without you being just the way you are, t here would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

And send this to any or all of your Cracked Pot friends ! : )