[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

SLORC'S PROPAGANDA-GANG AT WORK (fw (r)



Subject: Re: SLORC'S PROPAGANDA-GANG AT WORK (fwd)

uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:


No, Omar Farouk is not a "Burma-born expatriate who
migrated Australia in the 60s; is reportedly been writing pro-SLORC
propaganda around print journals for some time"; 

Omar, a Burmese Muslim whose grandfather founded the famous Smart and 
Mokherdum bookshop in Rangoon and whose family has lived in Burma for 
centuries, was declared a foreigner by the military government in the 
1960s, and subsequently left the country for Thailand, where he lived 
until only a few years ago. He used to be an outspoken critic of the 
government in Rangoon, including the SLORC, and even named his first-
born daughter Anna Suu Kyi. Then, he married an Australian diplomat and 
moved to New Delhi and Canberra, where he apparently changed his mind 
about most things in life. Exactly what happened to him is something we, 
his old friends in Bangkok, are still trying to figure out. From having 
been a gentle, polite friend he has become extremely aggressive and 
frequently lashes out against his old friends, and I have become a 
favourite target of his diatribes.

Bertil Lintner
Bangkok


> From: Dr U Ne Oo <uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: SLORC'S PROPAGANDA-GANG AT WORK (fwd)
> 
> /* Posted 22 May 10:30pm 1997 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
> /* -------------" SLORC propaganda-gang at work "---------------- */
> 
> SLORC'S PROPAGANDA-GANG AT WORK
> -------------------------------
> I have noticed two letters published in the Bangkok Post recently:
> Omar Farouk (Canberra) of 10/5/97 and the reply to that letter by
> Janathan Nations on 13/5/97. I have made inquiries about Omar Farouk
> to my contacts in Canberra. Mr Farouk is a Burma-born expatriate who
> migrated Australia in the 60s; is reportedly been writing pro-SLORC
> propaganda around print journals for some times, I am told. It appears
> that his collaboration with the Burmese Embassy is more than the reason
> of "Old man wanted to get Burma visit visa". Let's us all keep aware of
> that.
> 
> Throughout the years, and as of today, the Thai print media - Bangkok Post
> and the Nations news papers and also Thailand Times - have contributed
> many articles to our movement for democracy. We are in no doubt of these
> Thai print media's pro-democracy stand: Editors as well as the
> staff-reporters write 'just-as-the-way-we-like-it'. As for the letters,
> anybody can write what they like: either pro-SLORC or pro-democracy.
> 
> These two recent letters printed in Bangkok Post appears to be from the
> pro-SLORC camp. It appears that since the SLORC cannot get a proper column
> in anyway at the Thai print media, its propaganda men resorted to writing
> their own letters-in-debate to get their views printed (How clever are
> they all!!). Post Editor probably knows it, and the informed readers won't
> be fooled by it and we are certainly 'amused' by it.  --- U Ne Oo.
> 
> *****************************************************************
> 
> BURMESE CAN FIGHT THEIR OWN BATTLES
> 10.5.97/BANGKOK POST
> 
> On the eve of independence half a century ago, Burmese
> nationalist leader Gen Aung San bluntly asserted that "reliance
> on alien support could only make Burma a prostitute nation".
> Prophetic words, indeed.
> 
> The general must be turning in his grave today. Little did Aung
> San know that his daughter, Suu Kyi, would grow up to become the
> nation's "chief procurer". Using seductive words like "democracy
> and human rights", she has compromised the country's neutrality
> by soliciting the West to meddle in Burma's internal affairs.
> 
> If Suu Kyi is so popular in Burma, as Western governments would
> like us to believe, shouldn't she be relying on the masses for
> support "a la Algeria"? After all, without any foreign
> assistance, the Burmese toppled the almost-totalitarian socialist
> dictatorship of Gen Ne Win in 1988 and won economic freedom. I
> believe the West should stop treating the Burmese like children
> for they can fight their own battles, thank you very much.
> 
> While Burma today is not a democracy, the road the country is
> travelling gives much hope for the future. The ruling State Law
> and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), which is a caretaker
> government, has chosen, correctly so, to place economics higher
> on the agenda than immediate political freedom. See the results
> of the opposite in the former Soviet Union.
> 
> Suu Kyi should know better than to beg the West to impose trade
> sanctions on Burma for the proud Burmese, like teak trees, do not
> bend with the wind.
> 
> Meanwhile, its pathetic to see the Karen rebels, who first took
> up arms against the democratically elected government of U Nu in
> 1949, today being treated as heroes. In fact, they are cowards
> who hide behind women and children. Civil wars are a nasty
> business, and the rebellion in Burma is no exception. If ethnic
> minorities are persecuted in Burma, then Suu Kyi, who is
> half-Karen, would not be where she is today.
> 
> Omar Farouk
> Canberra
> 
> *****************************************************************
> 
> SHINY NEW SUIT
> 13.5.97/BANGKOK POST
> 
> I had an amusing time reading Omar Farouk's letter from Ganberra
> (May 10) explaining to the world at large that Burma can fight
> her own battles, thank you very much.
> 
> Omar is obviously not a student of  Burma's history. He should
> remember  that before the British occupation of j that region,
> there was no single country of "Burma". More importantly when the
> British finally did grant independence to the real estate now
> known as Burma, they did not turn over the entire region to the
> ethnic Burmans. This was the Burmans' own idea; none of the other
> ethnic states agreed with their Burman neighbour's grandiose
> military annexations. Hence, the decades of 4 what Omar would
> have us believe is a "civil war". I invite Omar and others to
> read the historic British document for themselves if they have
> any remaining doubts.
> 
> No doubt it is much easier to want to call Burma's conflict a
> civil war, otherwise how could one refer to the Karen and Shan
> and other ethnic peoples as "rebels"? In fact, the ethnic Burmans
> have been pursuing the violent subjugation of their neighbouring
> states since 1949, and they have been pursuing it in the same
> unlawful manner that today's illegitimate Slorc dictatorship is.
> 
> But perhaps life in Canberra has become too comfortable for Omar,
> and he no longer remembers the treachery and religious
> persecution  that prompted him and other members of his family to
> flee Burma some approximately 30 years ago. Omar's new suit of
> clothes is ill-fitting in the extreme. How regret table. How sad.
> 
> Jonathan Nations
> 
> *****************************************************************
> 
>