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March 3rd, 2008

Myanmar: Blogger Introduces an Online Myanmar Literature Resource

yangonthu · 07:40 · East Asia

lingua → pt · mk · ar · zht · zhs · jp · es · sq

Nyi Lynn Seck blogs about discovering an online library resource on Myanmar Literature. The resource is from University of Washington and it has several hard to find works on Myanmar History, Culture, Archeology and Literature. LINK

University of Washington Library Myanmar Literature

Books such as

Ramayana in Burmese Literature and Arts,
The General Condition of the People of British Burma at the time of the Deposition of King Thibaw,
Myanmar and Historical Writing, and more can be found on the website.

Nyi Lynn Seck has step by step instructions on how to download from the University of Washington's site.

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October 2nd, 2007

Myanmar: List of Detainees and Letter From A 88 Generation Worker

yangonthu · 10:07 · East Asia

lingua → mg · fr · de · es

Blogger Niknayman has a list of names and affiliations of over 300 monks and civilians who have been arrested by the Myanmar Military Regime. Many are from the National League of Democracy, the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Newspapers across Asia are putting the number of detained people at 1500. Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norwegian organization reports that the number of arrested is much higher at over 2000. Death toll is rumoured to be in the hundreds, though the Myanmar Junta refuses to confirm the official number.

Democratic Voice of Burma is quoting this announcement from Ko Sein Lin, a 1988 Generation worker. In 1988, there was a similar protest against the Myanmar Junta, led mostly by the students. These protests were brutally crushed by the Junta and over 3000 people were thought to have been killed and many more tortured.

Ko Sein Lin urges the rest of the workers to join in the protest against the Myanmar Junta:

Only the citizens of Myanmar should be the Mother and the Father of the country. (The Myanmar Junta has repeatedly tried to brainwash the citizens by trying to elevate the army's status as that of being the parents of the country.)

During the “Sangha's heroic act of peaceful defiance against the Junta”:

1) Many monks, students and civilians have been ruthlessly killed, beaten and tortured by the evil Junta, in a bid to crackdown on the protests. We workers from the 1988 generation vehemently oppose these acts of violence.

2) We urge the workers in the government sector and also those in the public companies to look upon the flag of the Sangha (monks) and to be united as one and we also urge the founders and CEOs of the public and private companies to support the workers' unity.

3) We, 88 Generation workers would like to announce that we will unite with the citizens of Myanmar, in protest against the evil Myanmar Junta and will join in the fight against the military regime, until they are wiped out.

The citizens of Myanmar should study the legendary history of Myanmar (where we have been victorious) and be prepared to fight as one, even if there were to be bloodshed. [author's note: this sentence was especially difficult to translate as it was a Myanmar idiom that does not exist in English but yours truly has tried her best to convey the meaning behind it]

We would like to request that all workers cease work and to join in the protest against the evil Junta.

-Workers from the 88 Generation

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October 1st, 2007

Myanmar: Soldiers Trying to Reduce Monk's Influence

yangonthu · 10:04 · East Asia

lingua → fr · pt · mg · es · bn · zht · zhs · jp

The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a non-profit news organization and one of the few places where the news from Myanmar still trickling in has posted a report in Burmese on soldiers trying to get the monks to give up their religious life.

Some 300 monks who were arrested a few days ago were delivered to a garage just out side of Insein GTI College. The soldiers are reported to be trying to force the monks to ” give up the secular life, to disrobe - become a layperson and no longer honour the ethics of being a monk.”

It is considered to be a sin to just give up being monkhood without valid reasons. The soldiers are trying to significantly lower their influence on people down, to shame them.

DVB also mentioned that soldiers ordered the “most senior monk in Insein” to come over and read pali scriptures that will begin the process of “shaming the monks” to make monks change into laypersons. However, the monks, who are supposed to repeat the pali scriptures read by the senior monks, refused to repeat them and after a while, the senior monk said that he can't convert them into laypersons and that it just won't happen and refused and supposedly left.

There are reports that the soldiers are also beating the monks in Insein. When a plumber came to fix the water pipes in the place, a monk looked up to see him and a soldier is said to have hit him with his belt.

There was also a report that when the army truck with these monks passed by cars on the street, one driver made the mistake of honking (probably in fear) and the soldiers stopped the truck and arrested the driver who honked.

There are also reports that a monk with wounds on his feet was brought to the general hospital and the soldiers ordered the doctors to not treat the monk until he converted back to a layperson. The monk then replied that he will not revert to become a layperson and preferred to die from his wounds.

Apparently, the hospital staff had to get the permission of the Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Mya Oo to be able to finally treat the monk.

Witnesses report that soldiers have surrounded the entrances and exits of the general hospital and are interrogating everyone who is visiting.

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September 30th, 2007

Myanmar: “Oh yeah, everything is fine”

yangonthu · 03:45 · East Asia

lingua → es · jp · bn · pt

Burmese news blog MoeMaKa Media reported on this video footage of Singapore's Straits Times interviewing some Myanmar citizens and others traveling between Yangon and Singapore.

The video footage shows a Myanmar citizen welcoming his family's arrival in Singapore and proclaiming their happiness at being in a stable Singapore, and then shows another Myanmar national exclaiming that even though there are curfews set, they were doing OK and things weren't that bad. “Overall quite ok lah,” claimed one man. “Oh, yeah, everything is fine… The airport, the security and erm, things are functioning fine.. all normal,” said one man who appears to be an airline pilot (not a Myanmar national).

After the above comments, you can see the Straits Times reporter saying “talking to some people who were just in Yangon a few hours ago, it seems like the situation is not as bad as what we see on media reports. Other than a curfew, people were free to move around and it was business as usual at the airport.”

Then the Myanmar nationals leaving for Yangon are interviewed. Both women interviewed seem to think that things are not so serious and that they were going to be in safe areas. “Situation is not quite too bad lah.” said one young Myanmar woman.

The reporter then asks: “What are you expecting to see when you get out of the airport?” The young woman then replies: “I think everything is going to be OK.”

MoeMaKa Media has reported this reaction to the video:

“All over the world, Myanmar nationals and others have been showing support for the peaceful protests in Myanmar and the military junta's violent reactions towards it. (Such as the protests in front of Myanmar embassy in Thailand)

Myanmar nationals living in Singapore also showed solidarity and support for those back home by holding prayer sessions at the Burmese monasteries here. However, while everyone is worried about the situation in Burma, the above video from The Straits Times show Myanmar nationals happily stating that they are happy to be in Singapore and how things are “not so bad” back there besides the curfews and how everything seems to be calm, while smiling at the cameras.”

MoeMaKa reports that a Myanmar blogger situated in Singapore sent him photos comparing the real situation in Myanmar and the Myanmar nationals arriving from Yangon and going back to Yangon making light of the situation.

MoeMaKa states that that blogger also posed the question of how Myanmar Nationals living here in Singapore are going to protect and upkeep the nationalism, language (culture) and religion of Myanmar and that it was high time for Myanmar nationals living in Singapore to answer this question in a clear manner.

(I think that the blogger is trying to say that Myanmar nationals all need to unite in solidarity and be clear on the kind of statements they want to make to the world at this difficult time)

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