By Tess Bacalla
VERA Files
RANGOON, Myanmar—Let it not be said that the month of March went by without the outside world taking a moment to remember Burma’s drawn-out struggle for freedom.
March marks the commemoration of resistance movements in Burma or, as its ruling junta wants it called, Myanmar. It was on March 13, 1988 when the pro-democracy movement in this country began. On that fateful day, two students from the Rangoon Institute of Technology, Phone Maw and Soe Naing, were killed following clashes with the police at the height of the anti-government demonstrations in this former capital of Burma. That movement, which culminated in the deaths of some 3,000 people in the weeks and months that followed, successfully toppled Ne Win from power, Burma’s then dictator who ruled from 1962 to 1988.
Fast forward two decades later and Burma remains in the throes of dictatorship. The violent crackdown of the military junta on anti-government protests in 2007 led by thousand of monks was reminiscent of what happened in 1988 and was yet another evidence of a government leery of any sign of opposition or attempts to destabilize the state.
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Spot the differenc between us and Myanmar.
Hello, Ellen.
After reading through this piece – I ended up wondering which is worst: to live in a place that has been officially declared and ruled by a dictatorship, or to be in a country that is “religious,” officially declared as a “democracy” and with a “Constitution” that are nothing more than trappings, sans any real substance?
What’s the use of freedom of expression when the servant-leaders who are meant to listen to their “masters” are so callous? What’s the point of being “religious” when there is absence of “spirituality?” What’s the purpose of having a Constitution that is systematically disregarded, and once in a while, gets to be “upheld” when convenient?
The Burmese is suffering from their reality. Filipinos are suffering from the delusion [or denial] that we have a government for the people, and of the people….
Stay well and be well in God’s embrace.
An important lesson for Burmese and Filipinos:
“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Our country could be worse than Somalia, Myanmar and Haiti if we fail to kick GMA out of power after the May 2010 elections.
Walden Bello of Business Mirror wrote,
The stagnation of the Philippine economy has now lasted over 25 years. Between 1990 and 2005, the Philippines’ average annual GDP growth rate was the lowest in Southeast Asia, being lower than even that of Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Explanations rooting the country’s failure to launch in overpopulation, corruption, protectionism and noncompetitive wages are examined in this article and found grossly inadequate. The central bottleneck is the gutting of the government’s capacity to invest owing to the policy of prioritizing debt repayments and the severe loss of government’s revenues due to trade liberalization.
Click to read more http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/04232008/perspective01.html
But Burma is still struggling. Burma’s problem is not only politics but religion and other reasons. Laos and Camabodia and even Thailand also experience the same problems. Nevertheless, the Philippines is currently worse compare to the above nations.
Gloria Arroyo’s forever greed is the problem in the Philippines. Wala ng iba.
Gloria Arroyo’s forever greed is the problem in the Philippines. Wala ng iba.
Wala naman tayong magagawa dito. Lalong pinaghihirap ang taong bayan para hindi na makapag-rally at kung may mag-rally man ipapukpok mo lang sa mga pulis yan disperse na agad yan kakasuhan pa ang mahuhuli, sino pa ang gustong ma-rally.
Let’s all wish Col. Querubin a very Happy Birthday.
Don’t take a vacation in Cabo San Lucas or any place in Mexico. The drug war is there. Wait until this settles down.
Just one of the corrupt, murderous regimes being propped up by China. Gloria wants the Philippines to go the same path, that is why she is giving so many concessions.
No past RP president had ever made such many concessions than this Evil Bitch.