Grandeur versus Horror

The Strand Hotel, Yangon, Myanmar

Monks in thousands marching in peace
During our June visit, our host had highlighted certain sights and places we should not miss. Taking the cue, we made preliminary plans for our daily itinerary. It had to be a flexible plan as we were in the middle of the monsoon season with heavy downpour daily. We went through a few of such rain storms where poorly maintained roads, choked and broken drainage and sheer mass of vehicles, caused considerable jams and havoc on the roads. One afternoon, after having lunch in the city centre, we proceeded to the Yangon Port area as we wanted to go across the wide Yangon river on a ferry. The ferry, which can take hundreds at a time, takes about 15 minutes to get over to the other side. The locals pay the equivalent of our 10 cents ( kyat in Myanmar currency) but as foreigners/tourists we paid 2 US $ each! It is the same for the top pagodas like Shwedagon and Sule. Locals enter free, we paid 5 US $ each. When I asked to whom the fees go to. I was told ....."the military".

After our river crossing, we headed across the port area for one of Yangon's most famous landmark....The STRAND hotel, located at 92 Strand Road. This is in the main commercial and diplomatic district. It is little surprise that an obligatory Yangon tradition is to have afternoon tea, a quintessential English distraction, at this opulent stop. The Strand, built in 1901 by the Sarkies brothers reminds us of our very own Raffles Hotel...gracious,elegant, with its high colonial columns, high teas and starched linen. Restored to its former glory, this Victorian-style regal gem of Yangon sits on the waterfront, displaying all the charms of the 20's and 30's in lavish fashion. No need to ask if it is 5 star quality. Those who have sampled her offerings may even give her a 6 rating!

We settled ourselves down at the Strand Cafe. Believe it or not, there were no other visitors save us. A lone musician was playing the Myanmese harp and xylophone and we tipped him generously as we were the only audience! The music was strange and haunting. It could be echoes of the past. Sitting under the archaic whirring ceiling fans and in such a redolent setting, I could never have imagined nor conjured up the images and horrors of such as we have witnessed in recent days. At least not that ....soon! What D2 and I had seen and experienced was nothing compared to what is taking place right now in Myanmar.

The tea or drink at the Strand cost 4 US $ each. A plate of noodles 9 US$. The suite is about 500 US$ ++ per night ( cheapest ). There are only 32 suites, no rooms at all. Why are there so few tourists at the Strand or even elsewhere? If you visit the Lonely Planet website or read their latest guidebook on Myanmar the answer is pretty clear. The country has been labelled as a "pariah" state by the west and Europe. No, not referring to the local people but the military regime in power. And Madam Aung San Suu Kyi made repeated calls for tourists and others not to visit Myanmar as an anti-junta stance. As a result, most westerners, Europeans and others in the Asian-Pacific region skip Burma in their travel plans. In a country where most people are poor and where even those who work for the government earn less than 1 US dollar a day, it does not come as a big surprise that life in Burma is very hard. Even well-qualified doctors in their dilapidated hospitals earn 80 US dollars a month only. Many have to moonlight to survive.

The Strand is by far the best Yangon luxury hotel offering a vintage experience.

Myanmar Update ... 3, the whole world is watching

Extreme left photo:from feedblitz com. Sr General Tan Shwe alias" the Castro of Burma" . From most net accounts he was the one who gave the order, the "OK" to shoot monks, torture monks, jail monks and other heinous crimes not just recently but eversince he and his sycophants came into power illegally.

Photo of junta soldiers: from New Paper / Reuters
Their professional soldiers do not look like this at all. These discrepit looking characters look more like an unruly mob themselves. Some wear face scarves while others do not. They are likely not recruited from Yangon but from far it, so that revenge or reprisals against their families cannot be exacted, in case they are ever identified in the unfolding aftermath.
Another point....most of these men will receive harsh punishment if the orders to shoot and wallop innocent monks are not carried out. Obviously such orders must come from the very TOP...the evil Generals themselves.

The entire world has called on India and China , 2 superpowers that have a close relationship with the evil junta to apply pressure on them to stop the killings.
There are many dictators within the ruling junta. But the MAIN ONE is Senior General Than Shwe. If you want to see how TOTALLY CORRUPT this evil man is....just go to Youtube, type his name under "Search" and you can see for yourself.
The wedding extravaganza of his daughter has been highlighted by many submitters as a TOP CASE of the very WORST CORRUPTION. It costs millions! Amid the abject poverty and misery of the people, this is too much. I have seen it all and am totally appalled and disgusted by the sheer BRAVADO of this foolish man's act.
What do I mean? Let me explain.
His position as the main evil dictator is NEVER SECURE. He relies on other ruthless cronies to spy on, check on, keep tabs on his FELLOW junta clique. You can be sure they are doing the same with him too. So, to be so bold as to openly advertise this wedding biggie makes no sense. UNLESS....he thinks or he concludes that any and all possible opposition have been accounted for in his personal agenda to secure his TOP position for 10-20 years.
That's the reason why these generals do not worry about what ASEAN, USA, EUROPE or the UN say. They can't be bothered as they are too busy enriching themselves and their families with never-ending "tatmadaw" imposed cuts, commissions, fees, etc. which normally amounts to 20% of any transaction.
Just imagine....a few cronies, corrupt, evil men bleeding their people and country dry.
Burma has more than 50 million people.
Burma also has about 1/2 a million soldiers.
But all the arms and weapons and everything else are controlled by this evil junta.
The 50 million.....they have no weapons.
That 's why since 1962, after Gen Ne Win staged the military coup, the military dictatorship has cowed the country. And the evil Generals led by Than Shwe today are not going to let go.
They know the day that happens, especially after a successful peoples' uprising, their heads may literally roll! Thus, they will stop at nothing to cling on to power....be it wholesale slaughter, inhuman torture, killing monks ( No need to ask if they are Buddhist )..etc.

Wise Owl's Perspective of how this may unfold

1 Unlike in the Philippines when people power toppled the dictator Marcos by storming Malacanang Palace in Manila, it won't happen here. The Generals are all safely hidden in their specially built enclave in the far north, near Naypyidaw. ( Anyone can see this on Youtube. There is a clear satellite footage video pictures and much like SADDAM HUSSEIN, they are protected by special storm troopers....Saddam's version of the Imperial guards ). At their finger tips and command are more than 500,000 armed military men all dependent on their system of "tatmadaw" for survival. The rank and file men are poorly paid but are allowed to take a cut on practically everything that passes through their control. And they have TOTAL CONTROL!!
All these info are not borne from my own vivid imaginations but from easily available books on Myanmar's military at any library. There are more things and worse things that I have not put here. The human rights abuses are REAL and HORRIFIC !

So 1st scenario....I predict is this.
Among the elite inner circle junta clique, some may read the current situation as pretty dangerous, reaching a point of diminishing returns. They may begin to feel insecure about their eventual safety and that of their family and ill-gotten gains( They are all FILTHY RICH ...these evil men ). In such a situation, some will make a quiet, clandestine re-location of their LOOT and BOOTY out of the country first. That may be then followed by moving out entire families to prevent them from being captured or taken hostage or as reprisals.
But they may not give in that easily until the very last moment....where like Marcos, waiting planes or helicopters, ferry them to another "rogue" country that will accept them as they have millions, if not billions of $US and large amounts of the BEST BURMA GEMS in their possession.

2nd Scenario
The majority of UN members agree to boycott the 2008 Olympics unless China puts direct pressure on the evil junta to stop their nonsense and India too follow suit.
China will not want this to happen and will exert the "right pressure".
The people and monks are emboldened and take to the streets again.
This time they may have weapons to resist the demoralised soldiers, should they reappear.
Where can the weapons come from.?.....where there's a will, there's a way.

3rd Scenario
The main dictator , Than Shwe, comes to his own conclusion that ,since he has amassed not only enough but the most of the LOOT, he decides better to be ALIVE and enjoy his loot elsewhere forever...than to test his luck and remain and he just might lose it all....his life,loot and everything else. So he flees, with his family and loot. ( Marcos also fled in the nick of time ) That will startle the other criminals and it will be one BIG, MAD RUSH out of the country.

Ps: I hope that the UN and other world agencies have the courage to label this man and the others as "terrorists". They terrorise their own people. They are actually worse than the common criminals found in the worst jails. How so? Criminals are in jail, suffering or executed.

They? They are FREE and living the HIGH life and continuing in their terror actvities daily.

Something must be done to stop such men!!!

Myanmar Update ... 2, a country is crying !

So, the killing of innocent monks, ordinary citizens of the country and even a Japanese TV journalist have started. The press reported upto 13 killed. But inside sources said more than 200 have been cruelly shot or bashed to death.

The only foreigner killed so far is Kenji Nagai from Japan,aged 50 (see Photo at top from REUTERS ). At first, the junta said that he was killed by a stray bullet in a melee when riot police, hell-bent on charging at the protesters, started firing "over their heads"( WHAT A TERRIBLE,EVIL LIE !!). Last night, I saw the actual video footage which was shown on our media network, BBC and CNN. It CLEARLY SHOWED THAT MR K NAGAI WAS SIMPLY TRYING TO RUN AWAY AND HE WAS PUSHED DOWN. WHILE HE LAY SPRAWLING ON THE GROUND ,STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE, A HELMETED SOLDIER WENT UP TO HIM, POINTED THE RIFLE AT HIS BODY AND PULLED THE TRIGGER. HIS BODY JERKED ONCE AND HE DIED INSTANTLY.

The autopsy confirmed that he was shot through his heart. This, to me, is nothing but COLD- BLOODED MURDER. He was massacred ......to scare other " hidden" reporters to back off.

There is simply NO EXCUSE for such WANTON murder by supposedly "law abiding" govt troops on innocent civilians. But we know they were targetting foreign reporters..at least make a cruel example out of one! Same tactics used by the evil regimes and terrorists elsewhere....the Taliban( Korean hostages recently), Saddam's henchmen, etc..

In our recent visit there, in June, I noticed there were very few westerners there. Most probably heeded the call by Aung San Suu Kyi not to visit Burma as a protest of sorts to the regime. D2 and I went for a simple reason. We have not been to Myanmar before and we wanted to see for ourselves how we may help the poor, the orphans, the down and out. What we SAW shocked us! What we DISCOVERED we could not believe easily! There are far too many things that are repressive, negative and plain wrong in this once mighty nation.

Let me give some examples here.

1. Look closely at the photos here. They are scenes of public roads. From the 20 minute ride it took us from the new Airport to our residence, we did not see a single motor-cycle or scooter on any road. WHY? Before I give you the most UNBELIEVABLE yet TRUTHFUL answer, just ask yourself where in ASEAN can you find a similar situation? No motorcycles in the country...except for the junta's own police and military use. WHERE? NONE!

Here in Myanmar, these vehicles have been banned because the ruling Generals are afraid they may easily be assassinated by bike-riding assasins!!! So fearing for their own safety, they outlawed motorcycles. That was the explanation given to me over there. But I believe it is also quite likely the regime is fattening their own pockets. Most services and businesses are heavily dominated by so called govt-linked companies versus privately run types. These military controlled businesses are everywhere and in every thing imaginable. The local term is the............TATMADAW. So, Tatmadaw- controlled vans, taxis,buses, lorries, etc. ply the roads.

Diesel and petrol is one item controlled and monopolised by the military. The people are already so poor and brutally oppressed. Yet, they raised the fuel price by 500 %.

Just stop and think for a moment. If our own petrol prices were to increase, without justification, by the same measure (and you know the Generals and their cronies are laughing all the way to the bank ) what would you do? What would I do?

2. Yangon ( Rangoon ) has always been the capital of Myanmar. Size-wise, location-wise, and other strategic considerations makes it the ideal site as the nations's capital for as long as we have all come to know. But sometime recently, the ruling junta, in order to prolong and extend their illegal and evil rule, consulted their inner circle's top fortune-teller. This same soothsayer impressed upon the generals that for their own survival, they must shift the capital to................

NAYPYIDAW, an inaccesible, dead place, up in the north, far away from all the hustle and bustle of Yangon which is the business,political,economic,commerce,transportation and communications centre of the country. Apparently, the ruling generals agreed and were convinced. They issued orders even to the foreign embassies to relocate there!!!

As far as I know, none has OBEYED this IDIOTIC , RUDE, MINDLESS order!

Even the US embassy, the largest one of all, is still being built in Yangon. We passed by several times there.

Myanmar Update ... 1, blood will soon be shed !

Photos:

1. Orphans we visited 2. Peaceful street scene. 3. Novice monks on alms round

The expected crackdown by the ruling junta has started. Apparently, the regime had used the so -called riot police to fire tear gas and even shot at the protesters. Latest news reports confirmed that at least 4 monks have been killed and hundreds more were brutally beaten up and arrested. The next scenario may even be worse. According to former '88 activists now in exile and other news reports on the internet..........


if the regime decides to use the military, especially the previous battalion that spearheaded the crackdown on the 1988 uprising , then things would be most ominous for the protesters.


This regime has been known to use various devious, evil tactics to provide themselves an excuse to crack down on the monks. How so? In the past, they ordered hundreds of their soldiers to shave off their hair, adorned them with monk's garb, infiltrated these fake monks into the ranks of the protesters with orders that they use violence to create trouble. That gave them the EXCUSE needed to use "live bullets" on the protesters ! More than 3000 were killed in 1988. ( As I've said, all this information I've gleaned from the net. ) Latest news reports leaked from within stated that orders have been issued along similar lines. The regime has ordered hundreds of saffron robes from a factory, for the chosen unit which has been recalled from the on-going battles with the minority rebel groups, in the jungle areas to the north.
So, history may be replicated here.

My observation and experience is that the Burmese people are generally a most peace-loving people. People I met were friendly, cheerful despite living under one of the worst corrupt rulers in the world. Myanmar has just been ranked as the 2nd most CORRUPT country in the world by Transparency International this week.

But the spirit of the people are truly admirable! I salute them!


For over 4 decades, they have been living under a totalitarian regime. While the generals and their cronies live in luxurious homes and enjoy the high life.....the rest of the huge population are mired in poverty and a never-ending struggle to simply survive from day to day.

MYANMAR ( Burma )

I have been watching the news and the current development in Myanmar with great concern. The street protests which started about a week ago in several cities across this tightly-controlled nation have now spiralled into mega-protests involving more than a 100,000 people. Led by the country's revered Buddhist monks, the huge movement is the biggest world news at the moment. A short while ago, US President George Bush expressed his anger and outrage at the UN 62nd General Assembly against the ruling military junta. Many other world leaders did the same. But ASEAN seems pretty muted.

The situation is approaching critical point...for the regime as well as the protesters.

My wife and I spent a week there in June this year.

The Shwedagon temple is the single most revered landmark in all of Myanmar.

It is now sealed off by the military to prevent the monks and protesters from using it as a focal point in their struggle for democracy.

The other picture is the entrance of the Singapore Embassy. Further down this stretch of road is

the villa where Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is kept under house detention and where she appeared at her main gate to acknowledge the monks a few days ago.