I have to say I was disgusted by his piece in NST today. Disgusted.
Before that, related breaking news via Malaysiakini:
Southeast Asian leaders have called off a briefing by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on the situation in Burma after the junta objected, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told AFP Monday.
“It has been cancelled because I think Myanmar feels that they deal with the UN and it is their own domestic matter. This evening, Myanmar objected and we base our decisions on consensus.”
“If they want any briefing, Myanmar will do the briefing,” Syed Hamid said.
:| Yes, I’m sure those generals will be all “Yar… we would like to brief you… that we are umm… are horrible monsters..”
You can’t even have a stupid briefing because of the generals? I really hate to sound vulgar, but next you’ll be sucking their…
Anyway. Back to Wan Hamidi. Oh his piece made my blood boil.
It was very strongly advocating non-interference in Burma, and I can’t help but feel that he might feel differently if he was taken out of comfy KL and put in Yangoon (though perhaps he might have been able to make good friends with some generals, what with his NST training).
I’ll respond to a number of quotes:
SHOULD Asean pretend to be a human rights champion or focus on helping its poorer members to develop themselves to close the gap between the rich and the destitute?
The question for those who believe that democracy and human rights can be imposed from outside is whether they care about the livelihood of the very people they are supposed to rescue from the dominance of the military dictatorship.
Friend, what livelihood is there to speak of when you’re being beaten, raped and tortured?
Do you seriously think it’s only ‘trouble-maker’ monks who have some insatiable mat rempit itch to take to the streets that face the monstrous brutality of the Burmese regime.
Do you think people like you and me in Burma would have hunky dory lives if only those pesky Westerners just stopped muttering about ‘human rights’ and ‘democracy?’
Livelihood is probably something Burmese worry about in between hiding from soldiers.
More on this later.
Let’s look at some of his comparisons.
The fact remains that pre-Asean Cambodia was locked in a terrible communist experiment that cost some one million lives, and other communist countries as well as military-ruled Myanmar remained poor under Stalinist-style governments.
Now that communism is nothing but a name to many, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are among the countries in Asean that are developing rapidly under a more open economic system. While democracy is fledgling, it provides the opportunity for the people to engage in economic activities.
Don’t get it, do you?
If we don’t do anything about Burma now, it will become Cambodia. Or Rwanda.
Don’t be ignorant. Look at the histories of countries that fell into genocide. Don’t you see the remarkable similarities? Dictatorship, no free media, lots of rhetoric about Western imperialists.
It’s almost as if you are extolling the fact that Asean can indeed help Burma like it helped Cambodia - after it failed to prevent the brutal murder of millions.
People planning to have that kind of blood on their hands shouldn’t try and salve their conscience by planning for some miracle economic recovery that probably would’ve taken place with or without godforsaken Asean.
Yet the usual suspects, the environmentalists, are more interested in saving the flora and fauna of Laos, condemning the dam projects as threats to the environment.
In your quest for economic growth, would you volunteer a dam built over your house, or an incinerator next door? If not, then stfu.
But Laos is luckier than Myanmar as there seems to be no Western-educated opposition leader fighting its one-party system. So the United States, European Union and human rights organisations are not interested in demanding sanctions against Laos.
Wow. I guess it takes guts to spit in the face of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Well, I guess you must be glad that she’s been under house arrest and denied her rights and the ability to defend the tortured for decades.
And yes, there’s a lot more cases the West should be speaking up for that it isn’t. But to say that this hypocrisy totally renders their support for other cases invalid is… how shall i say… stupid.
I mean really, I think this obsession with colonials is something the older generation can’t tear of.
Yes, I was never colonised (was Wan Hamidi?) but I dare to state objectively, that BN colonialism is no better than British colonialism.
So stop trying to heal your stupid injured pride and ’stand up’ to the big, bad, West.
You really want to be better than the West? Then start practising principles. Show compassion and rationality consistently, and where it matters most.
If not you’re just some stupid David-wannabe who likes to tease Goliath behind his back but refuses to do actually face him.
Myanmar is still the target despite other Asean member countries having their own share of allegedly undemocratic practices.
Yeah. Like Malaysia.
But to be distracted by a political issue that could thwart any progress made in the economic sector, especially efforts to empower some 500 million people in the region to be more independent in terms of making money and owning property, is a crime against a large number of people in Southeast Asia who want to get out of poverty.
Talking democracy and human rights should not be just about organising street demonstrations; it is about the freedom to exercise one’s rights, including doing business, making money, buying and selling property, investing in ventures, as well as ensuring there is food on the table for the family.
You know, believe it or not, I’m reaaaallllly not one usually given to calling people capitalist pigs. I want to get rich like everyone else after all.
But seriously. This is too much.
Don’t assume that all people are that selfish.
The Islamic concept of haram comes in very useful here.
So what if I can buy and sell property (my God, he dares to talk about property. Any idea how much the generals own versus how much the Burmese own?) or invest in ventures, if this comes at the cost of my brothers and sisters across the street who are beaten night and day.
You think the rest of us can eat in peace hearing the screams of our neighbours?
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Do something about Burma.
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In a previous job, I met a number of Burmese refugees.
I’ll never forget the stories they told me of what they had to run away from.
The beatings. The torture…
Tags: International by Nathaniel Tan
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