Harn Yawnghwe's Fruitful Burma Trip?

                                       (This article is from shanland.org the Shan Herald News Site.)

Harn Yawnghwe and Daughter at Rangoon Airport.

He regarded his 8-day visit to Burma, 20-28 October, as a fruitful eye-opener, said Harn Yawnghwe, director of Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office (EBO) and youngest son of the late first President of Burma who went into exile with his mother in 1963.

The only problem he faced was when he applied for his visa. Despite being invited by three ministers, he was technically still a persona non grata, the embassy told him. It was finally issued, only after he had put down a minister’s name as his guarantor.

If there were any more misgivings, he was discouraged from them when he arrived there.

Rohingyas, Harn Yawnghwe, and Fraudulent Claims?

(Direct translation of Aung Than Oo’s article “Human Rights and Self Interest”.)

EBO-OIC Signing in Saudi Arabia for Rohingya Claims?

The topics I’m going to write about in this article basing on my past experiences and what I could intellectually think of are the dishonest land claims of foreign-born Bengalis illegally entering Burma from the neighboring Bangladesh.

In this article I tried my best to avoid the two common prejudices of race and religion even though my aim is to prolong our race Burmese and our religion Buddhism, and at the same time I am extremely careful not to attack or insult other races and other religions.

Principally I am going to write about the so-called Rohingyas who under the cover of human-rights issues in Burma are recently and presently claiming that they are an authentic ethnic race of Burma while hiding their original Bengali roots, especially now that they are making so much noise and attracting undeserving international attentions and Arab money generously as Muslims.

Tha-din-gyut in Mawgyun & Buddhist Crocodiles

October is the Burmese month of Tha-din-gyut, the seventh month of Burmese Lunar Calendar and the end of Buddhist Lent.

During the month of Tha-din-gyut we Burmese have the Festival of Lights celebrating the return of Lord Buddha from the celestial abode (Heaven) where he had spent the Lent while teaching Dama (Buddhism) to the celestial beings including his mother who was reborn as an angel in the Tar-wa-dein-tha (Another name of Burmese Heaven).

We Buddhist Burmese traditionally have a religious festival for every month of our Lunar Calendar, mostly carried out under the patronage of a temple or pagoda. During the festivals every town and village in the Delta region of lower Burma comes out alive with the burst of colors and celebrations.

Giant Python Killed at Myit-sone Dam Site

(This article is partly from the Kachin News Group Web site.)

In the photo the dead giant snake was being lifted by a backhoe arm at Jum Bum hill in Irrawaddy Myitsone dam site, 27 miles north of Kachin capital Myitkyina, Northern Burma.

Burmese President Thein Sein’s announcement of a halt to construction of the controversial Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam was after the killing of a giant snake by Chinese workers on Sept. 22 at a road construction site at the dam in Kachin State, eyewitnesses said.

The snake was 48.5 feet long and 5 feet in circumference and it was found in a hole on Jum Bum hill while workers were digging, said eye witnesses.

It was killed when workers from the Chinese state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) struck its head with a backhoe bucket, eyewitnesses said.

CPI workers brought the dead snake to China, according to eye witnesses.

Ma Thein Shin - Chapter Two

(On 6 January 1966 General Ne Win’s Revolutionary Socialist Government stupidly prohibited the civilian populace from transporting, storing, distributing, and trading of 460 basic commodities including the staples such as rice, peanut-oil, and salt. Hta-nyet (jaggery) was one of those restricted commodities and a large scale smuggling trade of Hta-nyet had developed overnight in Middle Burma where most of it is produced.)

Year 1967 

It was dawn and still the thin mist had shrouded the early morning. I was standing at the doorway of a passenger car and looking for Nyo Nyo at her usual waiting place by U Kaung Zon’s Shop as the big train slowly entered Myo-lu-lin Station drowned in the mixture of pale darkness and bright light.

Back then I myself even didn’t notice the strong attachments started forming in my heart. Some days if I didn’t find her in that usual spot underneath the big banyan tree I always felt something missing inside of me.

She also would stand up from the seat underneath the banyan tree and look up at the train as if she was searching for me as the train came. And whenever she saw me her little round face would lighten up as if she was really happy even though she tried to hide that once she noticed I was happily looking at her too.

Yingluck (Yin Hla) Capturing Burmese Hearts and Minds?

(Direct translation of Master Sedo’s Fashion of Thai PM from Moemakha Site.)

I was thinking once Thai PM Daw Yin Hla (Ms Yingluck Shinawat) arrived in Burma as the final leg of her five ASEAN countries Tour I should write about her fashion sense.

(Translator notes: Daw Yin Hla means Lady(Daw) and Classy(Yin) and beautiful(Hla) in Burmese.)

For a man as the leader of a country he doesn’t need to worry too much about what he is wearing. Just a black jacket will do. Though he needs to buy many neckties and keep them in the drawer. But for our Daw Yin Hla she isn’t a man and thus the black jacket alone will not do for her.

Harn Yawnghwe & NCGUB: Ali Baba and Forty Thieves?

(Direct translation of Htun Aung Gyaw’s Ali Baba and Forty Thieves.)

The large-scale embezzlement of donors’ funds by the senior staff of DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) basically highlighted the fact that a major house-cleaning for our community of Burmese democracy exile activists is urgently needed.

What DVB Board had done (The removal of Executive Director Aye Chan Naing and Deputy Executive Director Khin Maung Win, and the appointment of Harn Yawnghwe as Acting Executive Director) was akin to appointing the great robber Harn Yawnghwe in the place of the petty thief Khin Maung Win so that they will keep on stealing the donor funds off DVB.

This democratic struggle for Burma is quickly becoming a great opportunity to make a lot of money for a select group of Burmese Exiles who have been making a very good living out of our revolution.

DVB: Another Donor Stooge even Stealing from Donors?

(The September-30 press statement from DVB Board for possible theft of donor funds.)

1. The Management and Board of Directors of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) have discovered that the leadership of DVB ’Inside Operations’ in Burma may have embezzled in 2010, up to Baht 9 million (1.7 million Norwegian Kroners or approximately 300,000 US Dollars) from funds allocated for journalists and operations inside Burma.

2. Preliminary investigations by the Board show that other DVB journalists working in Burma and elsewhere were not involved.

3. The Executive Director of DVB, Aye Chan Naing, and the Deputy Executive Director, Khin Maung Win, although not involved in the embezzlement, have taken full responsibility. They have stepped down from their management positions to enable external auditors to conduct an impartial investigation.