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.

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.