Saffron Monks Leader Health is in Danger.

(News Source: http://www.narinjara.com/)

Please read the news in Burmese at this link: http://www.narinjara.com/detailsbur.asp?id=1038



The health of U Inthariya the leader of the Saffron Revolution in Araken state was in Danger. U Inthariya was currently held in the Boo-thee-Daung Prison, Araken State.

According to the one of the relatives, U Inthariya was not allowed to meet by his family and it is so difficult to tell how bad is his health condition but the news leaked out from the prison said U Inthariya health condition was really bad. he was severely tortured and mentally and physically.

U Inthiriya was arrested at Myoma Monestary, Maung Taw town while he tried to escape from Sittwe(capital of Arakan State) to Bangladesh.

U Inthiriya was disrobe at Maung Taw town and then send to Sittwe Prison and then on 10 October 2007 he was sentenced(without trial) to 7.5 years jail sentence and sent to Boo-Thee-Daung Prison and his family was not allowed to meet him.

During at Sittwe prison he was tortured very badly by military Intelligence agents and now he was mentally very badly effected. This information was told by the one student leader who was release from prison recently.

U Inthiriya is 28yrs old and studying at Saik-ta-Thu-Kha monestary and he was one of the leader during the saffron revolution.

Because of the severely torture, not only his health is in danger but his mantel is also badly affected.

(မွတ္ခ်က္။ ။ နိရဥၥရာမွ သတင္းမ်ားႏွင့္ ဓါတ္ပံုမ်ားအား မည္သူမဆို လြတ္လပ္စြာအသံုးျပဳနိုင္သည္။ နိရဥၥရာ သတင္းရင္းျမစ္ကို ေဖၚျပေပးရန္ ေမတၱာရပ္ခံပါသည္။)
(You can use the news and photo freely but please mention the original source Narinjara link of the news http://www.narinjara.com/detailsbur.asp?id=1038

To be a Good Buddhist "Our Cause " Sermon (Part 2)

The Abbot ask the devotee: Isn't you devotees require to refuge to 3 jewels; Buddha, Dharma and Sangha?
(The Devotees: Yes Abbot)

The Abbot: Isn't we require to become good Buddhist?
(The Devotees: Yes Abbot)

The Abbot continue:
If we want to become a good Buddhist, we must respect and must refuge to 3 jewels; Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

But now in Burma, Buddha statue were beheaded, cut here, cut there and do all the inapproriate things that means it is disrespectful to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Not pay attention to the Dharma, Not practise as according to the Dharma, even though Buddha said "Abstain for Killing one Life, Abstain from stealing from others property but if one ignore and doing the all killing and stealing, do you think it is practising the Dharma?
(The Devotee reply. No, it is not practising.)

The Abbot coninue:
If this is happen the Buddhist religion will disappear.
Now things were happening in Burma which would lead to the disappear of Buddhist religion.
Only Buddhist religion will last long for ever if you follow the Buddha teaching(Dharma), example Buddha said abstain from killing, then don't kill anyone. Only then it is only meaningful to say "Dhammam Saranam Gacchami "( I go for refuge to the Dharma ).

Also only when you treat and talk to the Sangha(monks) with respect then it is meaningful to say "Sangham Saranam Gacchami"( I go for refuge to the Sangha ).

Now in Burma, some people are criticising and insulting the monks by saying "Fake Sangha, Sangha Pretender with the robe, Politics Sandha".
Do you agree or not(Ask to the Devotees).
Don't critise or insult the monks, if you say so then there is no more "Sangham Saranam Gacchami"

Don't accuse the monks "Fake Sangha, Politic Sangha, Sangha Pretender with the robe", if accuse so then you will become the member of "that" GANG.

Do you want to become the member of "that Gang"? (ask to Devotees)
(Devotees reply:No we don't want !!)

If you don't want to become a member of that Gang then don't criticise and insult the monks by saying "Fake Sangha, Politics Sangha, Sangha pretender with a robe"

Don't say the monks from this Monastery is this and that, the monks from that monastery is this and that.

If you say so, then you will become a person whose intelligence level is lower than the animal. You will become a person whose intelligence level is lower then the animal.(Abbot repeats 2 times)

To be continue

To be a Good Buddhist "Our Cause " Sermon (Part 1)

The Abbot preaches .....

• If you TALK with good intention, if you DO with good intention and if you PLAN with good intention you will get back good results.
• if you TALK with bad intention, if you DO with bad intention and if you plan with bad intention you will only get back bad results.
• And after life you will ended in a bad place.
• This is the simplest way of explaining about the "Patthan"(Buddhist Philosophy-The Law of Causal Relation )in a layman term.

The Last thing, I want to tell all of you is .. since now these days there are so many "our causes" everywhere, we the monks, also have to tell about "Our Causes Sermon" to all of you. (Probably the abbot sarcastically mentioned this because the Junta force all kinds of media to print or to show their "our(Junta) three causes" on every news magazine, newspaper, before TV shows, even on the first page of the novel and cartoons everyday and also put on the big Signboard everywhere especially in front of US Embassy ..baydah)

The Abbot lead the Devotee: "To become a Good Buddhist"

The Devotee reply "Our Cause..Our Cause"

The Abbot: "To become a Good Buddhist"

The Devotees: "Our Cause..Our Cause" (devotees replied louder)

The Abbot: "Yes..this is Important..this is important." (said in smile)

(The Devotees chuckled with satisfaction because they understand what the Abbot means and which/what/who he is targeting.)

(to be continued)

Shooting broke out between the Junta Army and the DKBA militia

(Source: ThaMut Chan - KaoWao 19 December 2007)
(News need to Verify)

According to the news, came for the border Area, 5 soldiers from DKBA militia(Pro-Junta splinter group from KNU) were killed, shot by the Junta army group. This DKBA group arrived to KNU 6 Army Corps area for Joint offensive with Junta Army against KNU.

The shooting broke out when there was arguments between the Junta Army and DKBA.

The soldiers from DKBA 901 Infantry commanded by Yan Min, refused to follow order from the Junta Army to ambush KNU and that started the arguments and ended up Junta Army shot and killed 5 soldiers from DKBA. There was no casualties from the Junta side according to the officer from the Cease-Fire team who confirmed about the shooting broke out.

It was happened on 16 December 2007 near Tee-Ka-Htain village in the KNU 6 Army Corps command area. The DKBA soldiers were shot by the soldiers from Junta 44 Army Division.

At the time of this shooting, there were 70 soldiers from Junta Army at the scene and the DKBA 901 Infantry commander Yan Min was away at the Myaing-Gyi-Ngu Army headquarter to attend meeting.

Reddish Bloody Night Music Video, Song, Lyrics and Guiter Chords

ေသြး နီ ည

Reddish Bloody Night
Lyrics/composed by Thiri Nyunt
Copyright ©Thiri Nyunt
Lyrics translated by Bay Dah


Original Guiter Chords and Prounciation Text(english), Please click the photo on the right side.
(Courtesy of Ko Thri Nyunt )



To see the Music Video Double Click on the Play Arrow
below on the Video Box


Listen only to the Song without watching Video, Click here

ေတး စာ သား (Lyrics)

အိမ္ ေရွ ့ေျခ သံ ၾကား ယင္ (Footsteps ...From the front of a house)

အိမ္ တံ ခါး လာ ေခါက္ မယ္ (The Knocks.... would be knocked ..on the door)

ဒီ ည ၊ ည ဆိုး ရယ္ (Tonight ... is the evil night )

မုန္ တိုင္း ထန္ လြန္း တယ္ (Like a heavy .. stormy night.)

Chorus:
ဒီ ည ၊ ေသြး နီ ည (Tonight .... Reddish Bloody Night)
ကူ မဲ့ သူ မ ရွိ ေသာ ည ရဲ ့ အ လယ္ (When noone help, in the middle... of this night)
ညီ ေလး ... မင္း ဘယ္ မွာ လဲ (Oh Brother ..... Where are you right now...)
ဘယ္ မ်ား ေရွာင္ ပုန္း သြား သ လဲ ကြယ္ (Where are you hiding right ...now)
ညီ မ ေလး .. မင္း ဘယ္ မွာ လဲ (Oh Sister..... Where are you right now...)
ဒီ ည မွာ ေပ်ာက္ ဆံုး သြား သူ (You disappear .. on this night )
(end of Chorus)

လ မင္း ကြယ္ ေပ်ာက္ ရင္ (When the Moon disappear...)

အ ေမွာင္ ည သိပ္ သည္း မယ္ (The dark night becomes ... darker)

ဟို မိုး ေပၚ က ၾကယ္ (The stars .. high above the sky.......)

ေၾကြ လင့္ ကာ ေပ်ာက္ ကြယ္ (Fall down ... and vanished )

(Repeat Chorus:)

ohh.. oh..... oh oh oh Oh.... .oh..ohoh..oh.. ohh.. oh oh.oh..Oh... ohhh.. oh oh ...

(Repeat Chorus)

(Repeat Chorus Again)

Ohh oh..... oh oh oh Ohh.... .oh..ohoh..Oh.. Ohh.. oh oh.oh..Oh... ohhh.. oh.. ohOh..Ohh...

88 Generation Students Congress in US

88 Generations Student Congress In Chicago, USA in near Future.
[ News Source : Democratic Information Department (Did) ]

Ko Soe Moe and 88 Generation Students are organising a Congress for 88 Generation Students in Chicago, USA. The Date of the Congress is tentatively around 29 December 2007 to 30 December 2007.

Also there is going to be a 3rd Fort Wayne Congress around February 2008 at Fort Wayne City, Indiana, USA where most of the Burmese revolutionist settle down.

DID will update regarding any news/comments about this Congress on their DID Blog site

(Bay Dah will try to translate all the articles about this Congress which are going to post on the DID blog site)

Interview with Ko Kyaw Thet

Interview with Ko Kyaw Thet (Democratic Information Department)
Copyright© by Ko Si Thu
(Driving for Burma Campaign - http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/).

Please go this link to listen the interview in Burmese :
http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/2007/12/interview-with-ko-kyaw-thet-did.html


Ko Si Thu: Please Kindly introduce yourself.
Ko Kyaw Thet: Well, My name is Kyaw Thet and I am from 88 generation student movement.

Ko Sithu: Where were you working before?
Ko Kyaw Thet: During the 8888 Student upring, as a 88 generation student, I am working for the Whole Burma Student Union Headquarter.

After the cracked down of the student, I escape to Thailand and then to US since then I am settle down in US and working together with any organisation which have same vision, same objective and resolution for our country.

Ko Sithu: What do you think about this 7 Steps Road Map which was written by the Military Junta?
Ko Kyaw Thet: If you look at the The Junta policy of 7 Steps Road Map, the one step is writing of Constitution and now they are preparing to write the Constitution. The Constitutions are very important to any one country. It is the Life Line and essential requirement of the country.

But as of today, if you look at the Constitution which they(Junta) preparing to write is not reflect to the people desire nor reflect to the people life, then this Constitution will be considered as not applicable.

Beside that if that Constitution is going to be adopted by the National Congress then we have to check the delegations of the National Congress. Who are these delegations? Who they really represent? That's why for me, I will not accept the Constitution which is written by them(Military Junta).

Ko Si Thu: So who should be written the Constitution?
Ko Kyaw Thet: As for me, The constitution should be written by the Delegations who are truly elected by the people to represent the people wish and desire. Any person or any Organisation or any establishment cannot write the Constitution by themselves to satisfy their own desire and benefit.

Since the constitution have to reflect the people desire and people life, we will never accept any constitution which is written to look after the benefit of the certain group or certain organisation or certain Establishment.

The Constitution MUST be written by the delegations who are truly elected by the people to reflect their desire, their wishes and their life.

Ko Sithu: Recently I heard that there are some movement of creating the Federal Government and writing of Federal Constitution outside of Burma. Do you think it is the right time to do that or it is necessary?
Ko Kyaw Thet: As my OWN personal point of view, the Federal Constitution written outside of Burma is to be considered as DRAFT. One day, when the Constitution which is real and truly reflect the people desire and wishes are written then this Federal Constitution will be submitted as a DRAFT Constitution to be study and considered.

Ko Si Thu: Thank you.
Ko Kyaw Thet: Thank you very much too

Disclaimer:
I translated the interview as best as possible to the original conversation with my best intention.... Bay Dah

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Video Teleconference on Burma

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Video Teleconference on Burma in Recognition of International Human Rights Day

Roosevelt Room
9:33 A.M. EST
MRS. BUSH: Thanks, Ambassador. Thank you, Dr. Maung, for joining us this morning.

Let me tell you who's here with us. We have Jim Jeffrey*, the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs is here by me. Next to him is Elliott Abrams, Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy; Dennis Wilder, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asian Affairs. On this side of the table, Anita McBride, who is my Chief of Staff; Ambassador Chris Hill; and Kristen Silverberg at the table with us. (Full Story)

International Human Rights Day Ceremony Held Under Junta's Microscope

Translation Courtesy by Naychiu (Link to her blog)

On December 10, A meeting to mark the International Human Rights Day was held in Kyi' Myin Taing, Yangon, at the home of U Myint Aye's, the leader of the HRDP (Human Rights Defenders and Promoters). The meeting, held from 9:00 until 10:30 am, was attended by about 100 people, the members around the country, diplomats from United State of America, some public members with interest in Human Rights as well as staff members of Sun Arr Shin (Power Rangers) - the government's public movement control officials.
(Read Full Translated Article here)

Original post in Burmese: http://www.dvb.no/burmese/news.php?id=3103

Related Article Link: We Are Burmese And We Are Proud Of It

Letter from United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar(Burma) (Click on the photo to read)

Lin Let Kyal Sin's International Human Rights Day

Arts and Literature Exhibition of International Human Rights Day in Singapore © by Lin Let Kyal Sin

(To read the original post by her in Burmese, you can visit her wonderful blog http://linletkyalsin.blogspot.com/ )

Today is the International Human Rights Day. Once I realize it is the International Human Rights Day, the thought immediately came into my mind was my Country and myBurmese People who lost their Basic Human Rights under Military Junta.

Under the limited situation and condition, everyone(OPB and all the volunteers) didn't bother about their sleepless nights and their own jobs and gaving up their personal times to make this International Human Rights Day Arts and Literature Exhibition in Singapore a success.

I went to the Exhibiton hall around 4:00pm Sunday to support the Exhibition.

In the middile of the exhibition hall was the Tree of Life .

Wishing Cards which people wrote down their desire, hope and wish for their good for the People of Burma were hanged on this Tree of Life.

The Exhibition was attended by the well known figures from all sort of life such as HE Ambassdoe from Poland, Director of Political Affairs from British Embassy, Singapore MP Ms. Irene Ng, Singapore Opposition Dr. Chee from SDP, etc.

I would like to thank to OBP for contributing Time, money and Money to make this exhibition the great success. ©Lin Let Kyal Sin

(I translate the original post with the best of my intention....... Bay Dah)

Message from 88 Generations Students

International Human Rights Day Message to All the UN member Nations and The International Organization
from
88 Generation Students Organization of Free Burma Movement.

Date: 10 December 2007

To

All the Government around the world and all the people of the whole world,

Since the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 10 December 1948, all the member nations have the full responsibility of respect and protect for the basic Human Rights.

The development of modern technology, news media and Globalisation of trading, ideas, cultural exchanges make the countries, governments and people to think and act practically and naturally beyond their geographical boundaries of their nations.

In this time of Globalisation around the world, the Military Junta from Burma(Myanmar) have been openly suppressed and practised gross violations of all the Basic Human Rights to its own people in their own country daily since 1962.

All the UN members countries shouldn't look at this situation as JUST an internal affairs and ignore our Burmese people plight, instead they should act together and get involve to ensure that the primacy of human rights and to confront human rights violations wherever they occur as a kind consideration and rightful act to the fellow human being.

The killing of Japanese Reporter, Heated Discussion about Burma Democracy and Human Rights issue at UN security council, Refugee issues, Drugs productions and smuggling, Human trafficking in Burma, Face loosing situation of ASEAN Leaders at recent ASEAN Summit were clearly showed and proved that Burma Military Junta's violation of Human Rights issues are no longer cannot consider ONLY as Burma Internal Issue anymore.

Therefore, all the International Communities should not ignore the gross violations of Human Rights in Burma.

We would like to appeal and request all the Nations, please don't waste time or reluctant to help and protect the fellow human being dignity and their Basic Human Rights, JUST for the sake of giving priority only to the profit of your country business.

Signed
88 Generation Students
email: 88gstudent@gmail.com

( Act Now !! Time is running out !! Are you waiting for the another Killing Field is going to happen again and again?? .... Bay Dah)

Interview with Former ABSDF Joint-General Secartary

Interview with Ko Thiri Nyunt © by Ko Si Thu
(Driving for Burma Campaign - http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/).

(N.B. Ko Thiri Nyunt was former ABSDF joint-general Secretary and former commander of regiment 102. Ko Si Thu had served with him in this regiment 102 for a few years.)

Please go this link to listen the interview in Burmese : http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/2007/12/interview-with-thiri-nyunt.html

Ko Si Thu(Question):
Ko Thiri, What is your view about the current Political Situation In Burma?

Ko Thiri Nyunt(Answer):

I don't want to say Big Thing about Politics. The Monks lead Saffron Revolution in September and those Student uprising in 1974, 1988, etc were happened because of people unable to stand the unfairness and suppression anymore and with their own will, own desire and initiate their own responsibilities to up rise against the Country Bad System and Bad Policies.

Burmese people are the most patient and most forgiveness people on Earth, if the government did a certain level of good thing for the country, Burmese people will not bother about the politics. Now what happen was because of too much of unfairness and too much of suppression, they (Burmese people) with their own will, they stand up against the Junta by themselves. These uprising were happened by itself, it was not because of any others influence.

As long as there are no freedom, no democracy, no justice in Burma, these kind of uprising against Military Junta will continue to happen for sure and Burmese people will stand up by themselves with their own will. As long as there are Suppression and Unfairness, the uprising will happen again and again by itself.(No need to wait for any encouragement from others)

Question:

What should we do and how do we fight in the Future to get Freedom in Burma?

Answer:

I don't want to say anything about what we should do on the interview because Enemy(Junta) will get time to prepare to counteract against these actions. I don't want to tell what we have to do, All the activist already know what to do.

But my OWN personal view and my Own believe, In 1988 we were suppressed and Junta drove(forced) us on this road of Armed Struggle. I myself participated in Armed Struggle against Junta for 5 yrs along the Border and Our Comrades are still continue Armed Struggle there.

A weapon without ammunition is not even as useful as the stick. Armed Struggling without support will difficult to succeed. Armed Struggling need weapons, ammunition, medicines, supply etc. . Last time those Leftist Revolutions were successful because it got full support by Russia and China from behind.

Since we don't have this kind of support from anywhere at this moment, we are not able to move forward yet in this moment. But I don't mean we will never win because of we can't able to move forward at this moment.

I believe, one day if we get this kind of support, we will win. I am one of the person who really hate war, there are only bad and evil things on the battlefield.

But since Junta Government don't want to walk on Peace Road and don't want to settle in peaceful way, we have no other option, we have to fight for to get the freedom in Burma, this is my own personal believe.

Question:

What do you want to say to the People in Burma?

Answer:

I want to tell to the people who are not Only inside Burma, I also like to tell to the Burmese people who are outside of Burma, I want to tell to Every Burmese people that it is the responsibility of everyone. Everyone is responsible and accountable, I am also responsible and you(Ko Si Thu) are also responsible if we love our country.

If there are a lot of people who just want to look for themselves or just only interest in looking after for their own family well being and just sit down and do nothing and just watch what other people are doing, then our country will never change.

But if there are a lot of people who understand their responsibilities and accountable for the good cause of our Country, then we will win one day and our Country will become develop and better.

I don't want to say it is the responsible of the People from inside or the People from outside. It is the responsibility of everyone who love Burma and all of us are responsible for changing all the Bad things to the Good things. That's all I like to say. Thank you.

(I translate the interview as much possible as to the original interview with my best intention. If there anything is wrong interpretation, it is solely my Fault.

Ko Si Thu, Thank you very much to allow me to post this Translation on your interview with Ko Thiri Nyunt. Bay Dah)

International Human Rights Day Exhibition

Invitation of International Human Rights Day Exhibition from OBP(Overseas Burmese Patriots)

(This invitation letter was sent to me by my good friend Happy)

We warmly invite all of you who love Burma to come and visit, International Human Rights Day Exhibition in Singapore.

The are Poems, Cartoons, Articles, Wishes, Photos of Burmese people struggle for Freedom, Human Rights and Democracy.

All of them are written from the hearts of Burmese People and International Friends who love Burma.

Exhibition Place: YMCA, International House (3 minute walk from Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station Exit A), Singapore

Exhibition Date: 9 December 2007(Sunday)

Exhibition Time: 11:00am to 7:00pm

(N.B. Due to Unforeseen reason..Exhibition will only open for ONE DAY(Sunday only), instead of (3days). We apologize for the changes)

87 Burmese National Day Annirversary

Today is Burma National Day (The 10th day of the waning moon of Tazaungdine ). Burma never use Univeral calenday for National Day Date. The Date of the National Day is always according to the Burmese Calender.(Like the way, Chinese use the Luner calender for their new year)

87th Anniversary National Day Statement 04/2007
By Generation Wave Youth Movement Organization.

On this day 87 years ago (in 1920) group of young University Student successfully boycott against the Colony Education. Since then the Nationalist Movement Spirit was born in Burma. With this Nationalist Spirit, we gain our Independence. The Nationalist Spirit was well known as Fighting Peacock Spirit to honour the university student who started the boycott.

In 1962, The military junta take over Burma, 14 years after Burma Gained Independence. Since then Students , Public and Monks are uprising against the suppression of Military Junta. the most well known uprising are occurred in 1974, 1988, 1996 and 2007 Student, Public and The Monks Uprising for the Democracy, Human Rights and Freedom.

The National Day which was born from the Determination, Courage and uncorrupted mind of the University Students, it is the one of the most significant day in Burmese entire History.

Even though Burma gain Independence from the other country, we are still under the Burma Military colony . We want to encourage all of you, with this National Day Spirit, lets the whole country united and up against these Military Junta.

Our Generation Wave Youth Movement Organisation will also participate together with the general public with the "Fighting Peacock spirit" till we get rid of the Military Junta.

We encourage everyone with this "Min Ko Naing's own poem"

"Colony of Foreign country, Colony of Military

we will never allow ourselves anyone colony.

Lets raise again our Peacock Flag around ... in our University compound "

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Add on by Bay Dah)

( Olden Days during the Burmese Kingdom time, one of the Burmese symbol was " Dancing Peacock" but for The Rangoon University Student Union, instead of Dancing Peacock, the Studemt Union took the Fighting Peacock as their Symbol to represent their Fighting Spirit" .. The picture left is "Dancing Peacock "and on the rigfht is "Fighting Peacock" .. Since then Fighting Peacock Symbol represents the University Student Union and its Fighting spirit for Justice and Freedom.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Article: Please read "The Peacock and The Dragon" by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, written for the Mainichi Daily News in 1995 December 25.(Full Article ..read below)

(This is one of a year long series of letters(Letter from Burma), the Japanese translation of which appears in the Mainichi Shimbun the same day, or the previous day in some areas.)

THE PEACOCK AND THE DRAGON© Mainichi Daily News/Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Letter from Burma (No. 5)

(originally written in EnglishBy Aung San Suu Kyi)

For Mainichi Daily News

Monday, December 25, 1995

The 10th day of the waning moon of Tazaungdine marks National Day in Burma. It is the anniversary of the boycott against the 1920 Rangoon University Act which was seen by the Burmese as a move to restrict higher education to a privileged few. This boycott, which was initiated by university students, gained widespread support and could be said to have been the first step in the movement for an independent Burma. National Day is thus a symbol of the intimate and indissoluble link between political and intellectual freedom and of the vital role that students have played in the the politics of Burma.

This year the 75th anniversary of National Day fell on Nov. 16. A committee headed by elder politicians and prominent men of letters was formed to plan the commemoration ceremony. It was decided that the celebrations should be on a modest scale in keeping with our financial resources and the economic situation of the country. The program was very simple; some speeches, the presentation of prizes to those who had taken part in the essay competitions organized by the National League for Democracy, and the playing of songs dating back to the days of the independence struggle. There was also a small exhibition of photographs, old books and magazines.

An unseasonable rain had been falling for several days before the 16th but on the morning of National Day itself the weather turned out to be fine and dry. Many of the guests came clad in pinni, a hand-woven cotton cloth that ranges in color from a flaxen beige through varying shades of apricot and orange to burnt umber. During the independence struggle pinni had acquired the same significance in Burma as khaddi in India, a symbol of patriotism and a practical sign of support for native goods. Since 1988 it has also become the symbol of the movement for democracy. A pinni jacket worn with a white collarless shirt and a Kachin sarong (a tartan pattern in purple, black and green) is the unofficial uniform for democracy men. The dress for democracy women is a pinni aingyi (Burmese style blouse) with a traditional hand-woven sarong. During my campaign trip to the state of Kachin in 1989 I once drove through an area considered unsafe because it was within a zone where insurgents were known to be active. For mile upon mile men clad in pinni jackets on which gleamed the brave red badge of the National League for Democracy stood on guard duty along the route, entirely unarmed. It was a proud and joyous sight.

The sight on the 75th anniversary of National Day too was a proud and joyous one. The guests were not all clad in pinni but there was about them a brightness that was pleasing to both the eye and the heart. The younger people were full of quiet enthusiasm and the older ones seemed rejuvenated. A well-known student politician of the 1930s who had become notorious in his mature years for the shapeless shirt, shabby denim trousers, scuffed shoes (gum boots during the monsoons) and battered hat in which he would tramp around town was suddenly transformed into a dapper gentleman in full Burmese national costume. All who knew him were stunned by the sudden picture of elegance he represented and our photographer hastened to record such an extraordinary vision.

The large bamboo and thatch pavilion that had been put up to receive the thousand guests was decorated with white banners on which were printed the green figure of a dancing peacock. As a backdrop to the stage too there was a large dancing peacock, delicately executed on a white disc. This is the symbol of the students who had first awoken the political consciousness of the people of Burma. This is a symbol of a national movement that had culminated triumphantly with the independence of the country.

The orchestra had arrived a little late as there had been an attempt to try to persuade the musicians not to perform at our celebration. But there spirits had not been dampened. They stayed on after the end of the official ceremony to play and sing nationalist songs from the old days. The most popular of these was Nagani. Red Dragon Nagani was the name of a book club founded by a group of young politicians in 1937 with the intentions of making works on politics, economics, history and literature accessible to the people of Burma. The name of the club became closely identified with patriotism and a song was written about the prosperity that would come to the country through the power of the Red Dragon. Nagani was sung by a young man with a strong, beautiful voice and we all joined in the chorus while some of the guests went up on the stage and performed Burmese dances. But beneath the light-hearted merriment ran a current of serious intent. Our national movement remains unfinished. We have still to achieve the prosperity promised by the dragon. The time is not yet for the triumphant dance of the peacock.

Ko Si Thu's Driving for Burma Campaign

Ko Si Thu Statement about the Trip:

"My plan is flexible. If you live close to my route and want to organize a rally or something, please let me know in advance. I will try to accomodate."

Ko Si Thu from Canada is driving through the USA from the East Coast to the West Coast to make American people and the people around the world to be aware of Democracy Movement in Burma.

He designed his car specially for Free Burma campaign so that everyone will aware of Free Burma campaign without saying a single word.
He started his camapign on 1 December 2007. If you want to follow Ko Sithu campaign daily you can visit his blog site: http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/

If you want to support him and want to send well wishes to him here is his email address:

drivingforburma@gmail.com

Here are Ko Si Thu own words about how he got the inspiration.

"I would like to tell you about this blog and why I am doing this. One day, I was driving to work and I saw the whole bus cover with advertising pictures. I saw these buses, trucks and cars before so many times. But this time I saw people were watching at it. Then, I got the idea that I can promote my country this way. I can let the other people be aware of what is going on in my mother land. So, I have decided to start."

WELL DONE KO SI THU!!!!. WE ALL ARE BEHIND YOU. SAFE JOURNEY.FREE BURMA

What the People Want .. is... the Real One

©Original Burmese poem Author Chan Mya Way


"What the People Want ...is .. the Real One"

Fake Medicine, Fake Doctor, Fake Stamp, everything is Faked, Fake Juice Drink...even fake Chinese Salt(Aginomoto -MSG monosodium glutamate) .. sometimes Fake Gold, Fake Money .. Fake Love
.................................................................

Fake..Fake...Fake
"What ever Fake" which are created by the Crooks and the Conmen are never good for your own sake.

If you close your eyes and blindly believe and trust these "Fakes"..your life and your future are at dangerous Stake.

Now look at all the fakes which are... Up to Date ...

Fake Congress, Fake Support Rally, Fake Meeting, Fake Reconciliations ..Fake Democracy, Fake Release, fake this, fake that ...... Oh so many... Fakes..
The World Greatest Conman Satan Junta Than Shwe and his followers thugs and cronies .... create all these fakes in daily Alarming Rate.

Do the slogan .. "look for the good things and prepare for the worst thing" .. as it states

For our country Peace and Freedom sake .. Oh People of Burma.. Lets participate..

Oh Peace loving People of Burma .. Open your eyes, your ears and your intelligence.. for not to make a single mistake

For the Final Freedom Revolution Stakes .. do your best for what is necessary for the Country Fate

"Do freedom movement while you are preparing and Prepare while you are doing the freedom movement" .. it will make our People Great

Only then you will become Ready and Prepared People Revolutionist mate ... and will achieve what the people really want which are not fakes...

What the People want is..Real Reconciliations, Real Meeting, Real Freedom and Real Democracy and Real Human Rights.. THE REAL ONE...

(I translate and interpret this poem with my best intention ...Bay Dah)

Operation "Termination of three sons"

Operation Code of Recent Military Junta suppression of Saffron revolution was Operation "Terminiation of Three Sons" (In Burmese.. "Thar Thone Thar Shin Lin Yae") . The Operation name was given and advised to carry out by the infamous "Kyat Khat Wyne" monastery head monk.

The direct meaning of "Thar Thone Thar Shin Lin Yae" is..

Thar = Son

Thone= Three

Thar = Classifier noun(eg. Three dogs = in burmese, we say "khwayThone kaung" - kaung is classifier noun, khway = dogs, thone = three)

Shin Lin Yae = termination or getting rid

The infamous Kyat Khat Wyne monk advised the junta to get rid of "Thar Thone Thar"(three sons)

Phayar Thar = sons of Buddha(in Burma sometimes we mentioned the monks as Buddha's sons.) = monks

Kyaung Thar = sons of school = Students

Sis Thar = sons of war = soldier

So the Operation Termination of Three sons = Getting rid of Monks, Students and Soldiers

Why soldiers? .. Because they are "witness" .... according to that infamous monk, first getting rid of monks and students by ordered the soldiers to kill them, then getting rid of the "WITNESS" by Killing the soldiers who shot monks and students.

In a cartoon the General is thinking of.. " Operation Terminations of Three Sons".. mean they already killed monks and students and now it is the soldiers to be killed.