Comments on: Green Left Weekly on Burma

By: Moe Aung

Moe Aung — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:43:09 +0000

Yes Dennis, best-selling bodice rippers or whodunnits, sex and violence in massive doses please – today’s opium of the people on top of the real stuff, religion beaten hands down where communism never succeded. No competition to consumption and instant gratification, is there? Nowhere near as famous as John Lennon, Kirsty McColl still got done, and I don’t buy the lone gunman or freak accident theories.

By: Dennis Guild

Dennis Guild — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:45:08 +0000

Hla Oo,

If your still in touch with your distant uncle thank him for my safe passage. I thought he was quite a gentleman and hope he is enjoying his retirement.

Moe Aung,

Yes, it is strange how those in power are so afraid of those who want to do good. Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi et al.
Politics…an early grave…I hope not – especially for ASSK.
In the next life I will write romance novels – perhaps it is safer!

By: Hla Oo

Hla Oo — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:14:36 +0000

Moe Aung, you’re right in the cases of other govt. departments in Burma. But for some reason, the army couldn’t put ex-armys in the engineer dominated departments like Railway, Construction, and Irrigation, where the top posts are still held by the professional civilian engineers.

But that time is ending soon as the Burmese Army now has their own University of Engineering for about ten years now. If the army is still in power for next ten more years, army engineers will take over all civilian engineering posts, eventually.

By: Moe Aung

Moe Aung — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:42:08 +0000

Hear, hear, Dennis. The more the merrier indeed sharing JL’s dream, but you know the price you are likely to pay once you become too effective to be tolerated by the establishment. Look where it got our hero, an early grave, not that he’ll ever be forgotten for singing “imagine” which happens to be one of my all time favourites.

Hla Oo, I bet your uncle would have got the top job in his department if the military hadn’t put their own in position or had he been ex-army himself.

By: Hla Oo

Hla Oo — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:22:35 +0000

“I want to catch the ferry to Mandalay”, I replied. “OK, I will authorise the tickets”, he said. As we left, I asked who he was. He said, “U Kyaw Myint, deputy minister for transport.”

The reason U Kyaw Myint was quite accessible and humble was he wasn’t from the army. He was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of Burma Railway before he became one of the deputy Ministers for Transport.

He graduated from Rangoon University (BOC College) as a mechanical engineer and was a Fulbright scholar during U Nu’s reign and I think he went to Stanford in US. He is retired now and the reason I know him well is he is one of my distant uncles.

By: Dennis Guild

Dennis Guild — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:56:43 +0000

Hi Moe,

Hot chilli indeed! I just love that Belacan. Best I had was at Katha (George Orwell’s former residence) on the Irrawaddy where the flying fishes play on that road to Mandalay. Have a Burmese mate in Cairns that makes a pretty good version.
John Lennon admitted that he was not the only dreamer…so those of us that share his dream… have to keep that dream alive… and spread the belacan…the vegemite……for all to share…and challenge the greedy…whether it is a multi – national corporation…a military regime…a democratic regime …in our continued struggle for social justice!

By: Moe Aung

Moe Aung — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:06:24 +0000

Hi Dennis, more likely hot chilli than K9 but he hardly needed to be specific. Yeah, Lennon dreamt the dream but sadly it’s likely to remain a dream. Just too much greed in this world and it’s spread like an epidemic – the virus of ‘looking after number one’. There just ain’t enough people who put people before profits.

By: Dennis Guild

Dennis Guild — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:03:07 +0000

Dear Jon,

Interesting tale. Hope the minister got over his ‘kee ben nam’ -perhaps brought on by K9 consumption.

By: Charles F.

Charles F. — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:18:19 +0000

The dog eating is in a different thread.

By: jonfernquest

jonfernquest — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:52:01 +0000

“I want to catch the ferry to Mandalay”, I replied. “OK, I will authorise the tickets”, he said. As we left, I asked who he was. He said, “U Kyaw Myint, deputy minister for transport.”

It’s weird how sometimes just as Joe tourist you brush shoulders with big wigs in Burma.

I remember going to the ministry of tourism to get a tourist visa extension for which I needed a personal interview with the minister of tourism (or maybe it was the deputy minister).

The appointment was cancelled with the excuse:

Wun-gyi wun sho-nei-de [Minister diarrhea -ing]

Did get the signature though.