Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Which side is Ma Theingi on?

Maybe on the fence like so many faceless Burmese has fearfully done for many, many, long years now!

Just think about the ethnic girls as young as seven are raped by the Burmese soldiers while some of unemployed girls went for prostitution though various factors are contributed from moral characters to the junta’s blind eyes on the industry. Further, the junta promoted sex industry by allowing more night clubs in cities across the country and the scandals of high ranking junta’s officials with the sluts from show business are widely known.

It is unbelieveable that no one in this debate replies about the release of political prisoners and Suu Kyi for genuine dialogue.

Some people claim that civil society needs to be strengthened and living standard, as Val mentioned, needs to be promoted first. As long as the economy is in the hands of the junta, majority of people will not be able to build up a strong society. We support the US targeted sanctions significantly from 2007 after the bloody crackdowns in September. Do you still want to say that the businessman like Tayza, blacklisted by the US is an ordinary citizen of Burma?

What about diplomatic option? While the regional countries’ constructive engagement did not work for the last twenty years, thousands of people have been wiped out in their own land, villages relocated or destroyed, innocent civilians were brutally killed and young girls are raped and burnt alive or mutilated to death.

Should we still wait for another twenty years of diplomatic solution when one or two of ethnic minorites would have been entirely wiped off by the junta by that time?

I agree with Mr Tonkin, Dr Win Aung and Ma Thanegi — it’s obvious that sanctions have done more harm than good.

Incidentally I have met Ma Thanegi as well, John. Her preferred spelling of her last name is ‘Thanegi’ but if you were to transliterate it using the system you’re using it would be ‘Theingi,’ (as mayburma wrote) not Theingyi.

You can see from Yeyint’s comments the problems you are up against. His underlying assumption is that if you disagree with sanctions against Myanmar, you might well be in the pay of the generals. It is a good stick to beat anyone who is against sanctions. Frankly, I have never come across a single scholar or foreign journalist who is pro-junta, not a single one. But Yeyint clearly sees it important to perpetuate the myth of apologists and collaborators. It is the mentality of : “You are either with us or against us”. You are either pro-sanctions and anti-regime, or anti-sanctions and pro-regime.

He is right on one point, though, which is that the generals have in the past used lobbying firms in the US – nowhere else – to seek support for their policies. This would not be the first time that governments have done so.

Derek

Because there is no peace, no stability, no freedom, and no fairness to the minorities in our beloved Burma. Even the Burmese pride from extreme nationalism brought about by Ne Win’s coup earlier had already evaporated since the late seventies.

If there is such a group, they would mainly be the people who have economic advantages over the impoverished majority because of their close relationship with the ruling generals. Their percentage would be so low one can count with one’s fingers.

But, I do sympathize with Ma Theingi for her genuine opposition to the economic and trade sanctions against Burma. The sanctions not only hurt the ruling generals but it also hurt ordinary working Burmese. Maybe more to the people than the generals as the generals have money from the drug and gas sales, while people has no other alternatives to earn a living than work in the sanction-effected industries.

One particularly sad case against the sanctions is what happened to the textile industry after the sanctions. Many small and median sized cloth making shops employing hundreds of thousands of Burmese women and girls all over Rangoon are now long closed because of US and European sanctions.

Many of these decent working girls are now being forced into sex trade and many eventually end up in the neighboring countries’s sex industry. It is a real sad story repeatedly playing all over the country again and again, mainly because of the sanctions.

But, there must be a strong reason why Daw Su did take that hard line stance against the generals from the beginning. They even tried to kill her once. Please don’t forget Depayin massacre?

Also the massive exile group of 88 generation students, who witnessed or even personally experienced the army’s extreme brutalities, are now a major force in Burmese politics and they are the ones behind all the negative actions of western democracies against the Burmese generals.

With Daw Su’s incredibly long suffering on their side their group exile presence, even outside of Burma, is collectively more powerful than even U Nu when he unsuccessfully tried to topple Ne Win’s Socialist government.

The current sanctions will not go away until all the wrongs committed by the Burmese army against Daw Su and these students and the country as a whole are right again. Meanwhile, the poor Burmese will be plodding along, kept on going with their enormous suffering under a brutal military dictatorship.

Glad to know that you are interested in Burma’s crisis. Just want to remind you that try to explore all the sources as much as you can. There are both pro-junta and anti-junta media you could find different views and bias. And watch out some people who voice for junta as the Burmese junta usually hires advocacy firms and individuals e.g. some scholars and journalists for counter-arguing the issues like ’sanctions’. The junta is good in bribing and buying international megaphones for justifying their brutality.

Best,
Yeyint

Derek Tonkin
Chairman Network Myanmar

A.H.Jeff Hemmings