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SLORC's Moral dilemma (r)



Dear Lucy,


>I am writing a paper for an anthropology degree, and am looking for
>information/examples of how the SLORC (or SPDC as they now are) exploit
>and manipulate religion (Buddhism) and traditional cultural values to
>legitimise and justify their policies.



I have been to Burma four times during the past two years and I wish I could
provide some concrete answers to your questions.  I could offer a lot of
opinions, but I'm not certain if it's subjective examples you're looking for.

However, there is one thing that a very good Burmese friend of mine told me
that may be of value to your project.  He told me that the government
constantly lets the people know that the reason things are not so "good"
these days and the reason that so many people are suffering has nothing to
do with the government at all, but rather that these misfortunes are due to
the fact that the Burmese people must not have lived very good lives in
their past lives, and it is therefore their own fault!

Good luck with your paper.

Steve