It is sad

It is regrettable that in our Myanmar, a group of people killed our monks. This kind of event happened in British colonial era. Last year, it came back again while Burma is governed by own people. In fact, the state man is 100% pure Burmese and he is a Buddhist as well. Definitely something went wrong in Myanmar.



The following is the related article published on Irishtimes.com

One year on in Burma

Thu, Oct 02, 2008

INTERNATIONAL commemorations marking last year’s brutal suppression of the popular revolt against Burma’s generals in recent days have had to acknowledge the disappointing progress made since then in putting pressure on them to relax their military rule. Precious little has been achieved through United Nations and regional diplomacy or by economic sanctions. The regime remains firmly in control of Burma and has even been given some political leeway by certain external powers.

Last year’s events were the most important eruption of street protests against the regime since the ill-fated democracy uprising of 1988. They were originally provoked in mid-August by sudden increases in government-controlled prices of diesel fuel and compressed natural gas. At the beginning of September members of the security forces attacked a demonstration involving Buddhist monks, provoking a much broader nationwide protest movement over the following three weeks, in which the clergy took a leading part. As it developed calls were made for political and economic reform, culminating in demands that the regime be overthrown and democracy restored. Huge demonstrations raised such hopes.

It was not to be. On September 26th soldiers and police opened fire on a large demonstration in Rangoon and went on to raid monasteries, arrest demonstrators and put down public protests with tear gas, baton charges and lethal force. At least 31 people died and over 3,000 were arrested, most of whom are still in jail. Within a few days the population was cowed and in fearful retreat. This rapid collapse of this popular movement shows it was more spontaneous than centrally directed. Unfortunately there was not time to develop a more long-lasting and organised leadership, and it looks as though the military is fully back in control.

Four strands of external pressure have been applied to Burma since then. United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has visited the country a number of times, but has made little progress on political prisoners or human rights, including release of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Neighbouring Asian states initially held out the promise of engaging the regime in political dialogue, but have not followed it up. Economic sanctions from the US and the EU are ineffective. This policy vacuum has given India, Russia and China – all with special interests in Burma’s energy resources – an opening to encourage the regime’s highly disputed plans to hold controlled elections in 2010. It is a bleak and depressing picture.

© 2008 The Irish Times

Corruption: Burma, Iraq, PNG and the UK

According to the news, Papua New Guinea will remain one of the most corrupt pacific countries. In east Asia, Burma and in middle east, Iraq are at the bottom of the list of most corrupted countries.

Malaysia’s score in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has not improved this year. The country’s ranking declined to 47 out of 180 countries in 2008, compared to 36 out of 91 countries in 2001 and 43 out of 179 countries in 2007. Source. Thailand has risen from 84th to 80th in the rankings. Source

The UK had dropped from a score of 8.4 out of 10 to 7.7 out of 10 in the last 12 months - the first time it has ever fallen below 8. That means the score put the UK joint 16th on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), alongside Ireland but one place above the USA. Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand were judged to have the lowest levels of corruption on a score of 9.3, followed by Singapore on 9.2 and Finland and Switzerland on 9.0. Somalia was bottom of the list with a score of 1.0, with Burma and Iraq on 1.3, Haiti on 1.4 and Afghanistan on 1.5. (Source).

Full result is here.

As far as I remember, in Burma (Myanmar), teachers corrupt. Students have to give bribes in the name of gift to pass exam or to secure a high mark. Doctors corrupt. Most give more medical attention on paid patients. Judges corrupt for less or heavier sentences. Income tax officers corrupt for less taxation. Immigration officers corrupt. I saw some Chinese with Myanmar passport in London. They never speak Burmese. Civil servants corrupt by saying their salary is quite low. Bribery is everywhere at hospital gates, at the check-points at border areas, On the streets when traffic police stopped the cars. At the offices.

At the same time, partiality is very common in employments, company permits, export and import permits and many thousands of partiality going on.

The worst thing is people in Burma are no longer aware that they have been corrupting. They think that it is a usual thing they are doing.