Ma Thein Shin - Chapter One

(Direct translation of late Naing Win Swe’s novel “Ma Thein Shin Si Pote Pay Bar”.)

Year 1969

It was a foggy winter morning. The big train standing in thick mist seemed to be afraid of leaving the safety of the warm Station. But it had to go. It blew a lot of smoke and reluctantly began the journey. It turned on the front spotlights but the pale beams shorn just a short distance ahead in the fog.

Gradually gaining speed the train appeared to slowly overcome its fears as if its blood were now boiling. Once the dim lights of Taung-dwin-gyi station were well behind it the train squeezed out a long blow of single horn as if it was cheering up itself to travel deep into the foggy darkness ahead.

US$, Sin$, and Burmese Kyat's History by Zaw Aung

(Direct translation of Zaw Aung’s Article from Moemakha Site.)

In 1990, one American Dollar was 30 kyats, one Singapore Dollar was 45 kyats, an average apartment was 300,000 kyats, a Toyota Hilux pickup truck was 300,000 kyats as well, the telephone connection with a handset was 300,000 kyats too, and a plate of Biriani (Dan-bouk) was just 5 kyats.

In 2007 the year of so-called Saffron Revolution, one American Dollar was 1,350 kyats, one Singapore Dollar was 900 kyats, an average apartment was 30 million kyats, a Toyota Hilux pickup truck was 30 million kyats as well, the telephone connection with a handset was 2.5 million kyats, and a plate of Biriani was 800 kyats.

To 108 War-region by Comrade Pho Than Gyaung

(Translation of CPB UG’s Pho Than Gyaung’s Article from Maya Magazine.)

Yebaw Pho Than Gyaung with Ludu Daw Ah Mar's Photo.

Since I ran away from home my sole purpose was to take to the jungle as a Communist revolutionary. But even after nearly nine long months in the jungle I was still in the Government-controlled territory.

We were then hiding in a place in Southern Shan State after leaving the Indigo Mountain region. We might have been there at least three or four months. Then one day a young comrade who was on an Underground (UG) duty arrived and told us that we would soon be taken to the Party’s stronghold.

I immediately left our hiding place with others as if my mother had called me to come back home. Me, Taw Win, the UG comrade, and the driver in a Datsun pickup.

Burma's Killer Highways: Sanctions' Assassins?

Damaged Pajero at the scene of accident.

It was on January 22 this year when Dr. Hideki Hasegawa a 40 year old Japanese national and medical professional working for a Japanese Aid Agency was killed on a notorious stretch of Rangoon-Naypyidaw Highway linking the old capital of Burma to the new capital Naypyidaw when his SUV travelling at a high speed overturned.

A Burmese official from the Railways Ministry was killed and another Japanese national was seriously injured also in the accident. Dr. Hasegawa was the driver of the Mitsubishi Pajero SUV the most popular SUV in Burma when the accident happened in the middle of the dark night.

Before that accident, the baby grandson of previous Rangoon Mayor Aung Thein Lin died in May 2010 after his parents’ car overturned on a similar stretch of same concrete highway.

Derek Mitchell's Press Release (14 September 2011)

P R E S S R E L E A S E

U . S . E M B A S S Y R A N G O O N

1 1 0 U n i v e r s i t y A v e n u e , K a m a y u t T o w n s h i p , R a n g o o n , B u r m a

 Press Statement

Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma

Ambassador Derek J. Mitchell

September 14, 2011

Minglaba. Good Morning. Let me read a brief prepared statement. I have just completed my first visit to Burma as U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator. I have spent the past five days in intensive consultations with a full spectrum of interlocutors in Nay Pyi Taw and in Rangoon to discuss the situation here and ways in which the United States can support and promote democracy, human rights, development, and national reconciliation in the country in our common interest.

Tin Aung Myint Oo & Second Maing-yang Battle (2)

Young Major Tin Aung Myint Oo, formerly the First Secretary of State Peace and Development Council and now the First Vice President of Union of Burma, was awarded the Thiha-Thura medal, the second highest medal of valor in Burma, in 1989 for his 1988 heroic role as the Deputy Battalion Commander of IB-11 defending the border town of Maing-yang from numerically superior forces of Communist Party of Burma.

(Concise translation of Chapter-2 from Thaung Wai Oo’s “Battles of Maing-yang”.)

Tin Aung Myint Oo.

But the CPB was caught short when the Army took over the Government on September 18, 1988 and brought down the nationwide disturbances under control and rapidly re-established law and order with deadly force. So they began a propaganda war on their radio.

“Democracy is brutally terminated. Pick up any weapon and fight against the military government. Follow the Chairman Mao’s teachings and grab the power by force,” broadcasted constantly by the CPB Radio.

“We shouldn’t be waiting too long. Before too late, with the forces already gathered we must attack a winnable place and take hold of it,” directed Ba Thein Tin to his Communist cadres and officers.

U Myint's Paper On Kyat Exchange Rate Issue

(Former ESCAP Economist U Myint is now Burmese President’s Chief Economic Adviser.)

National Workshop on Reforms for Economic Development of Myanmar

Myanmar International Convention Centre (MICC)

Naypyitaw, 19-21 August, 2011

Myanmar Kyat Exchange Rate Issue

I. Introduction

President's Chief Economic Adviser U Myint.

1.         There has been a consistent and sharp appreciation of the kyat dollar exchange rate for the past few months. This has caused problems. The extent of the kyat exchange rate appreciation and its impact on costs and returns in some key sectors of the Myanmar economy are presented in a paper prepared by U Set Aung, a member of the President's Economic Advisory Team. These matters are therefore not discussed here. Instead, three issues have been taken up in this paper. They are:

2.         First, to explain why a currency’s exchange rate can rapidly appreciate and how this causes problems;

3.         Second, to suggest measures that are to be undertaken immediately to deal with the kyat exchange rate appreciation problem presently facing Myanmar, in order to restore business and investor confidence in the exchange rate, and to prevent the situation from getting out of hand; and

4.         Third, the current kyat exchange rate problem presents a good opportunity to initiate the process of reform of the exchange rate regime in Myanmar. The objective of the reform is to establish a foreign exchange market in Myanmar that meets international standards and where the exchange rate is relatively stable, is market-determined, and becomes a useful tool of macroeconomic management for the Central Bank of Myanmar. A suggestion on how to start this reform process is briefly presented in this paper.

U Myint Persuading ASSK To Become A Moderate?

(This is a leaked 2009 cable of Rangoon US Embassy from WIKILEAKS.)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000674

U Myint and ASSK at Recent Government Economic Forum.

SUBJECT: BURMA: ECONOMIST SHARES VIEWS ON ASSK, ECONOMIC

PRIORITIES FOR DIALOGUE

Classified By: Economic Officer Marc Porter for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

Summary

-------

¶1.  (C)  U Myint, a prominent Burmese economist, is

cautiously seeking a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) and

plans to advise she shift her focus from politics to

socio-economic themes.  U Myint sees economic development as

the greatest challenge facing Burma and an issue on which

ASSK can have a beneficial impact without being perceived by

the generals as a threat.  Moreover, U Myint believes that

given the state of the economy and ASSK's lack of experience

running a government, the military will need to retain some

control over society until institutions are rebuilt.  We

comment that in the Burma environment, economic issues are

intensely political.  We also note the military's

unimpressive track record on governance.  End Summary.

Burmese Exiles: Credible Agents for Change in Burma?

(This is a leaked 2009 cable of Bangkok US Embassy from WIKILEAKS.)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 07 BANGKOK 001348

SUBJECT: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE BURMESE EXILE COMMUNITY IN THAILAND

Classified By: Ambassador Eric G. John, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).

-------

SUMMARY

-------

¶1. (C) Thailand's Burmese exile community, based in Chiang

Mai and Mae Sot, has undergone drastic changes in recent

years.   Younger members are taking on more grassroots

endeavors aimed at addressing the immediate needs of Burmese

inside Burma and Thailand.  Several prominent exiles have

broken away from traditional political advocacy work and now

focus their energies on crafting grounded, thoughtful

analysis of the current situation in Burma and new options to

facilitate change. The result is that these new leaders often

bump heads with long-standing opposition forces like Maung

Maung and the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB),

whose two-plus decade efforts focus on international

lobbying, fund-raising, and drafting position papers of

questionable use, even as they lose touch with the reality of

changing dynamics inside and outside Burma.  At present, it

is unclear whether the principal leaders of the exile

community in Thailand can act as credible agents for change

in Burma.  End Summary.

Tin Aung Myint Oo & Second Maing-yang Battle (1)

Young Major Tin Aung Myint Oo, formerly the First Secretary of State Peace and Development Council and now the First Vice President of Union of Burma, was awarded the Thiha-Thura medal, the second highest medal of valor in Burma, in 1989 for his 1988 heroic role as the Deputy Battalion Commander of IB-11 defending the border town of Maing-yang from numerically superior forces of Communist Party of Burma.

(Concise translation of Chapter-2 from Thaung Wai Oo’s “Battles of Maing-yang”.)

First Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo.

It was the third week of September 1988, and the place was Maing-shu the little town between   Salween River and Nangh-pan Stream in Southern Shan Sate. I had just become the battalion commander of IB-6 (Infantry Battalion – 6) in July that year. 

Unfortunately the country was in turmoil just after the 8-8-88 Uprising when I got my battalion CO promotion. Even though our battalion then was serving in Maing-shu the Battalion HQ was in Rangoon’s Shwe Pyi Thar.

So we really had to worry for our families back in Rangoon where law and order had completely broken down after the sudden fall of General Ne Win’s BSPP Government and the brutal mob anarchy had been going on for weeks and weeks now.

Wardog Block of Insein Prison (1)

(Direct translation of web article “Wardog Block (a) Hongkong” by Ye Min Tun.)

If I had to write about my life I couldn’t leave out the Wardog Block (Sit-khway Daik) in Insein Prison. Wardog Block is the punishment cells inside the notorious gaol. The prisoners called the notorious block Hongkong. Some even died in Hongkong. 

During the Superintendent Sein Htay’s reign, according to the spoken history of Insein Prison, he himself bashed some inmates to death there.

The Wardog Block was just next to the Special Block where NLD Vice Chairman General Tin Oo, famous student leader Min Ko Naing, and late North Korean Assassin Kang Min-chul were kept. It was on the right side of the roadway to main workshops.

The Wardog compound had its own small gate. Inside, just behind the block of cages for the prison war-dogs and on the left side of the open space for the war-dog training ground, was the ten cells block of punishment jail. So it was called the Wardog Block. The whole Wardog compound was between the main wall and the inner wall of the double-walled Insein Prison on the outskirt of Rangoon.