Source:http://linletkyalsin.blogspot.com/
This is the translation of the Ma Linlet Kyalsin Articles about the voting experience in front of Burmese Embassy on the 27 April 2008 (sunday). you can read the original post in Burmese here: http://linletkyalsin.blogspot.com/2008/04/no.html
On the 27 April 2008, under the bright sunny day light even though it was a rest day(Sunday) for other people but for self motivated Burmese patriots it was a day of the show of the united strength of democracy loving people. Some wearing Red tee-shirt with a word “NO” printed on the front and the back and some wearing red cap were slowly gathering and filling up the narrow road leading towards the Burmese Embassy.
All these Burmese patriots line up both side of the road in orderly manner waiting for their name to be called by embassy staff to vote inside the embassy compound.
After the noon time the crowd grew up to 4000 and the queue line was almost up to the Tangling Mall traffic light which was about ½ kilometer from the Burmese embassy.
The embassy staffs were calling the voter names from 9:00am in the morning till 1:00pm in the afternoon but they stop the voting process from 1 pm to 4pm. They didn’t make any announcement; they didn’t concern anything about their fellow countrymen who were waiting patiently under the hot sun just to vote for their true feeling about the draft constitution which was written by the junta without the listening to the people voices and desire. Singapore police forces were also out in full force to check the situation between voters and embassy staff.
To see the scene of some youth from OPB (Organization of Patriotic Burmese, Singapore) distributed water among the voters make you to feel proud as a Burmese people. It showed the unity of Burmese people against the military Junta. Around 4:00pm voters were allowed to vote again but some voters who were wearing red tee-shirt with “No” word were not allowed to go inside for vote unless they took out their tee-shirts.
But some students only wearing the tee-shirt as their tops and nothing underneath it so the embassy staff finally and RELUCTANTLY allow them to wear the red tee-shirt while they voting. A moment later the in-charge of the voting came out from the office and announced that there were no more voting due the SHORTAGE of BALLOTS and they have to order again from Burmese capital and it will only continue on 28 and 29 April until late night.
When the voters asked to announce that arrangement officially by putting a notice on the Embassy wall and notice board, there were no replies from Embassy authority!!! For last three days total numbers of Burmese people who managed to vote were not even thousand and according to the one embassy staff, Embassy sent out about 15,000 invitation letters to Burmese people in Singapore to come for voting, now after not more than thousands voted, the were no more ballots!!! Did they expect that only few hundred will come and vote?
Is that means they didn’t even prepare for the ballots for 10,000 people even though they sent out 15,000 invitation letter. Did they purposely doing this as per their cunning way of doing things?????
Around 6:00pm everyone stand up and sang the National Anthem from their heart and ended their day.
The sunlight was slowly fading and the evening become darker but for the Burmese people, who were wearing Red Tee-shirt to show the feeling against the Junta, inside their heart and mind and inside their soul the patriotism, nationalism and unity will bright for eternity and even the darkest night cannot stop that brightness from their hearts.
This is the translation of the Ma Linlet Kyalsin Articles about the voting experience in front of Burmese Embassy on the 27 April 2008 (sunday). you can read the original post in Burmese here: http://linletkyalsin.blogspot.com/2008/04/no.html
On the 27 April 2008, under the bright sunny day light even though it was a rest day(Sunday) for other people but for self motivated Burmese patriots it was a day of the show of the united strength of democracy loving people. Some wearing Red tee-shirt with a word “NO” printed on the front and the back and some wearing red cap were slowly gathering and filling up the narrow road leading towards the Burmese Embassy.
All these Burmese patriots line up both side of the road in orderly manner waiting for their name to be called by embassy staff to vote inside the embassy compound.
After the noon time the crowd grew up to 4000 and the queue line was almost up to the Tangling Mall traffic light which was about ½ kilometer from the Burmese embassy.
The embassy staffs were calling the voter names from 9:00am in the morning till 1:00pm in the afternoon but they stop the voting process from 1 pm to 4pm. They didn’t make any announcement; they didn’t concern anything about their fellow countrymen who were waiting patiently under the hot sun just to vote for their true feeling about the draft constitution which was written by the junta without the listening to the people voices and desire. Singapore police forces were also out in full force to check the situation between voters and embassy staff.
To see the scene of some youth from OPB (Organization of Patriotic Burmese, Singapore) distributed water among the voters make you to feel proud as a Burmese people. It showed the unity of Burmese people against the military Junta. Around 4:00pm voters were allowed to vote again but some voters who were wearing red tee-shirt with “No” word were not allowed to go inside for vote unless they took out their tee-shirts.
But some students only wearing the tee-shirt as their tops and nothing underneath it so the embassy staff finally and RELUCTANTLY allow them to wear the red tee-shirt while they voting. A moment later the in-charge of the voting came out from the office and announced that there were no more voting due the SHORTAGE of BALLOTS and they have to order again from Burmese capital and it will only continue on 28 and 29 April until late night.
When the voters asked to announce that arrangement officially by putting a notice on the Embassy wall and notice board, there were no replies from Embassy authority!!! For last three days total numbers of Burmese people who managed to vote were not even thousand and according to the one embassy staff, Embassy sent out about 15,000 invitation letters to Burmese people in Singapore to come for voting, now after not more than thousands voted, the were no more ballots!!! Did they expect that only few hundred will come and vote?
Is that means they didn’t even prepare for the ballots for 10,000 people even though they sent out 15,000 invitation letter. Did they purposely doing this as per their cunning way of doing things?????The Burmese Buddhist Monks who were in Singapore came to support the voters, were warmly welcome and pay respect by the crowd which make the scene to reflect back the time of saffron revolution.
Around 6:00pm everyone stand up and sang the National Anthem from their heart and ended their day. The sunlight was slowly fading and the evening become darker but for the Burmese people, who were wearing Red Tee-shirt to show the feeling against the Junta, inside their heart and mind and inside their soul the patriotism, nationalism and unity will bright for eternity and even the darkest night cannot stop that brightness from their hearts.
1 comment:
Thank you Linlet and Baydah for this.
I cried because I was so angry that our people are treated like this - worse than in British and Japanese did to us.
I also cried because I was extremely proud of our fellow people in Singapore. Such courage, intelligence and dignity ! They have shown the world what true Burmese are.
We are very proud and grateful for their actions.
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