Newsletter for social
justice and freedom in
Readers' Front
Religious leaders urged to protect Mon Culture
Nai Tun Thein: Active for revitalization of Mon literature
Substandard road construction puts young motorcyclists at risk
Mon Youth Community's Annual
Meeting
Ambush continues despite military presence
Guerrilla supporter on the run
60th Mon National Day in the offing
AIDS to Be Third Leading Cause of Death
Attempting democracy in ethnically diverse Burma: By Nehginpao Kipgen
***********************************************
Readers' front
Dear readers,
We invite comments
and suggestions on improvements to Kaowao newsletter.
With your help, we hope that Kaowao News will
continue to grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in
Regards,
Editor
Kaowao News
[email protected],
www.kaowao.org
***************************************
Culture and Literature
Religious leaders urged to protect Mon Culture
Kaowao:
The Mon Community Organization is urging Mon Buddhist monks to hire
local Mon entertainers during village annual festivals in the area of southern
The statement circulated in the Mon language highlights the
massive influx of Burmese settlers moving into the Mon areas and expresses
concern about the rapid population transfer into Mon state. Several
villages in southern
An activist from Ye reported that the local population is
concerned that the Burmese settlers are building their own monastery between
Tong Paraen and Kawdut
villages where rural Mons have enjoyed their
traditional way of life for generations. Because of their increasing
numbers and growing influence on the locals, the Mon organization urged the
Buddhist monks to take action to curb it, said the activist.
“Besides the increase of the Burmese population (into Mon areas),
the influence of the Burmese culture will threaten the traditional Mon
community living here. The Mon organization urges the Buddhist monks to work
together to protect Mon traditional culture,” their joint statement said on
Monday.
“We understand the concerns of the local people and we need to
stand up to the threat of Burmese domination. The village headmen and
abbots have hired Burmese bands and dance troupes for entertainment during the
festivals instead of Mon groups,” said Chan Nai, a
university student from Tong Paraen community.
“They only look for a short-term interest and popularity but not for the long-term
preservation of our national heritage,” he added.
During the annual festival of Kyaikkamoh
in
The Mon Community Organization of Monland
issued a statement requesting religious leaders and festival organizers to
support Mon local bands and dance troupes in their annual festivals in the
community.
********************************************
Nai Tun Thein: Active for revitalization of Mon literature
Kaowao:
A 90-year-old Mon national leader is fighting for revitalization
of Mon culture and literature, according to a
The elected MP, Nai Tun
Thein (aka) Nai Htow Sorn
has been teaching old Mon script at the Mon Dhamma Salar located in the south of Shwedagon Pagoda twice a week
over the 3 month Buddhist Lent. Many young monks enthusiastically joined
the Mon stone inscription class organized by the
Nai Tun Thein
is a Mon scholar and has been a respected leader in the Mon national political
movement for over 5 decades. He was elected as the Chairman of the Mon
National
Democratic Front (MNDF) in 1988. In 1992, he was arrested by SLORC and
released in 1994 but has to report to the authorities regularly. Since 1998, he
has been detained off and on at the military guesthouse.
Widely respected by all Mon for his honesty, keen sense of history
and open mind, he became known for his strong advocacy of culture and
education. He loves literature and has written several books and articles for
the Mon and other nationalities.
********************************************
Substandard road construction puts young motorcyclists at risk
Kaowao:
The emergency room in Moulmien
hospital is busy these days due to an increased number of road accidents
over the dry season, according to local sources from
A nurse who works in
Nai Tun, a 27 year-old town resident
said the accidents are caused due to poor road conditions. Extensive
flooding during the raining season washes away most of the roads in
The resident say the roads are dusty with sand and strewn with
rocks that hamper the driving of motorcyclists who wind up wiping out.
The worst areas are in the
Since the
************************************************
Mon Youth Community's Annual
Meeting
Kaowao:
Sunthorn Sripanngern reports
Professor Lom
Pinkaew, a Thai historian from
Prof. Lom Pinkaew said he met with the Mon community in northern
ML Panada Diskul is great grandson of Krom Phraya Damrong Rajanuphab, a well known author of many books and a learned
historian of the past century. He described about the relationship between the
present Chakri Dynasty and the Mon as mentioned by
King Rama IV. He also spoke about his destiny to meet
the Mon people when he was studying in US where he met the Mon campaigning for
a Mon Nation, Hongsawadee, the
The professor worked for 20 months
under Mr Purachai Piemsomboon, the Interior Minister, and was concerned with
the granting of Thai citizenship to the Mon Community in Sangkhlaburi.
He firstly served as deputy governor of
Among others in the audience were
several Thai-Mon Generals. One of them was Gen Mana Prachakjit, former commander of 9th Division Army in
********************************
Ambush continues despite military presence
Kaowao:
Ye -- Sporadic ambush continues on the Burma Army in southern Ye despite tight military control, according to villagers
from the area.
"After the departure of guerrilla leaders Nai Hloin and Nai Bin, the attacks
ceased for sometime. But the new group led by Chan Dein
is still active and has public support because villagers are extremely unhappy
with human rights abuses by the Burmese Army," said Nay Lin Aung, a
villager from southern Ye, Mon State.
Rebel insurgents engaged Burmese government forces near Kaw
Hlaing village on October 21. No one can confirm on the current status of the
fighting or the number of casualties. All I know is that fighting took place,
said the villager.
"Even Buddhist monks are unhappy with the situation. The
ambush continues and the Mon guerrillas have public support. People are
fed up with the Burma Army because they torture civilians every day. Even
women are fined by the army for traveling to their farms without permission
letters from the authorities," said a young monk who sympathizes with Mon
guerrilla fighters.
After the New Mon State Party reached a cease-fire agreement with the military
junta in 1995, Nai Hloin
split from the party to resume fighting against the Burma Army. He, with
his brother Nai Bin, led a Mon National Warrior Army
(MNWA) of about 100 fighters in southern
The two brothers were active until early 2005 before seeking safe
haven in
********************************************
Guerrilla supporter on the run
Kaowao:
Sangkhalaburi – A villager is on the run after a Mon
guerrilla group killed Khawzar village headman in
southern Ye.
The Village Peace and Development Council Chairman of Khawzar,
Nai Chan Thein was killed
by the Mon splinter group on October 4. Since then the Burma Army has been
targeting local villagers and supporters who are suspected of being involved in
the incident. Some villagers were tortured during questioning. The
army and the police force suspected Nai Lun (not his real name) as an informer of the guerrilla
group and he was detained and tortured at the sub-town's police station for
eight days. Nai Lun
was later released on a bail of Kyat 400,000.
"The Burma Army commander Myint Swe in-charge of the area came to his
house to arrest him again. He was in Ye to repair his motor cycle then and fled
to
"Many villagers from southern Ye area came to
Southern Ye area is listed by the Burma Army as a 'black zone' and civilians
face oppression under the name of military offensive to annihilate the Mon
armed groups. Many civilians from this area fled to refugee camps near
the Thai-Burma border and into
********************************************
60th Mon National Day in the offing
Kaowao:
Organizers in Maharchai, the largest Mon migrant
community, gathered on Sunday, November 12 at its beautiful setting in
"There were about 60 people at the meeting today and we basically agreed
to form a Mon National Day working committee very soon. It was a positive
discussion where we agreed to celebrate one event in this area," said Nai Nerada, a young monk from
In
According to Pamoik Chan Mon, two meetings were held
on November 4 and 12 to prepare for the upcoming Mon National Day in
The Mon National Day is largely celebrated back home in
*****************************************************
AIDS to Be Third Leading Cause of Death
By MARIA CHENG: AP
LONDON (Nov. 27) - Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart
disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide, according to a
study published online Monday.
When global mortality projections were last calculated a decade ago,
researchers had assumed the number of AIDS cases would be declining. Instead,
it's on the rise.
Currently ranked fourth behind heart disease, stroke, and respiratory
infections, AIDS is set to become No. 3, say researchers in a new report in the
Public Library of Science's Medicine journal. It accounts for about 2.8 million
deaths every year. But the researchers estimate a total of nearly 120 million
people could die in the next 25 years.
Overall, the researchers predict that in three decades, the causes of global
mortality will be strikingly similar worldwide - apart from the prevalence of
AIDS in poorer countries. Most people will be dying at older ages of
noninfectious diseases like cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer.
The paper by Dr. Colin Mathers and Dejan Loncar of the World Health
Organization estimates that at a total of least 117 million people will die
from AIDS from 2006 to 2030. In an optimistic future projection, if new
HIV infections are curbed and access to life-prolonging antiretrovirals
is increased, 89 million people will die from the disease.
"What happens in the future depends very much on what the international
community does now," Mathers said.
These marked differences should spark changes in current approaches to
controlling AIDS now, say some experts.
"It will be increasingly hard to sustain treatment programs unless we can
turn off the tap of new HIV infections," said Dr. Richard Hays, professor
of epidemiology at
Simply focusing on treatment or politically uncontroversial prevention methods
will not suffice. "You can't put all your eggs in the abstinence
basket," said Hays. "We need a menu of strategies for real
people," he said, adding that condom distribution as
well as new methods, such as a vaccine, are needed.
Mathers and Loncar analyzed
data from more than 100 countries. The authors looked at the links between
mortality trends and income per capita, as well as factors including education
levels and tobacco use. Their research also used U.N. estimates for projected
AIDS infection rates and the World Bank's numbers for future income per capita.
Mathers and Loncar then
took all of this information and plugged it into a complex modeling equation to
predict the top future causes of death and disease.
"This is an important contribution that will help us determine the
priorities in public health," said Dr. Majid Ezzati, an associate professor of international health at
While it may be possible to avert some of the impending damage from HIV/AIDS, Mathers says that other predictions are unlikely to vary
significantly.
As populations age, he explains, they are naturally more susceptible to
illnesses like cancer and heart disease than from infectious diseases - even in
the developing world. Life expectancy is expected to increase worldwide, with
the highest projected life expectancy in 2030 to be in Japanese women, at 88.5
years.
Mathers and Loncar
speculate that by 2030, cancer deaths will jump from 7.1 million in 2002 to
11.5 million. The number of deaths from cardiovascular disease is expected to
rise from 16.7 million in 2002 to 23.3 million in 2030. Overall, they expect
non-communicable diseases to account for 70 percent of all deaths globally, up
from 59 percent in 2002.
Though economic development may bring better health care, it also has an
unfortunate side effect: more road accidents. Based on rates of increasing car
ownership, the World Bank estimates that traffic fatalities will increase
globally by 66 percent by 2020. This might be avoided, Mathers
says, if developing countries learn from the
experience of developed countries, where laws and improved safety practices
have sharply cut the numbers of road-related deaths.
Knowing the likely causes of future mortality allows policymakers to attempt to
improve the expected outcome. While Mathers and Loncar are unable to account for unforeseen events such as
the emergence of new deadly diseases or major outbreaks like a flu pandemic,
their projections may help to set the agenda of global health.
"I hope this paper inspires change," said Mathers. "And I hope our pessimistic projections turn
out to be wrong."
******************************************
Attempting democracy in ethnically diverse Burma
By Nehginpao Kipgen
Introduction
The two opposing ideologies of the de-facto military regime and their
political corrivals in exile are diametrical. The basic principles of
constitution drafted at the hiatus National Convention guarantees a decisive
role for the military as the ultimate guardian of the state, which advocates of
a federal
Democracy and
Abraham Lincoln phrased democracy as “a government of the people,
by the people, and for the people." Democracy has generally been practiced
under two systems – parliamentary and presidential. This democratic structure
itself can further be manifested in two different forms - direct and indirect
or representative democracy. Direct democracy is practicable only in an
institution where all members or citizens can present themselves in the making
of public decisions. Therefore, it is feasible in a relatively small numbers of
populations such as community organizations or other civil societies where
decisions are reached with consensus or majority votes of the people. An
example of the first direct democracy was seen in the history of ancient
In the case of
Meritocracy and
Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia, defines meritocracy
as “a system of government based on rule by ability (merit) rather than by
wealth or social position. Merit means roughly intelligence plus effort.” The
concept of meritocracy is exiguous or has no place in the psychos of the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Arbitrary rule in a monopolized way of
governance is awry. Skills and merits in the workforce are intrinsically
important for a society to grow and thrive. On the contrary, cronyism,
favoritism and nepotism dictate the modus operandi of the military bureaucratic
structure, which does harm than good for the country and its people.
Failure to encourage meritocracy means that there is a miniature
scale of many Burmese skilled workers and intellectuals living abroad will
return to their motherland. This will be a brain-drain for
Ethnicity and
Diversity of a country is its beauty to many theorists. The
positive consequence of the 1947 Panglong
Agreement was paving the way for the unionization of
Voicing for restoration of democracy; the release of Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are some of the advocacies of the
international community. It is beyond this political landscape that the ethnic
minority groups want to see – not only duties and responsibilities, but also
appropriations and constitutional rights. The idealistic concept of the Union
of Burma was initially incepted at the Panglong
conference with the notion that there is a room for every ethnic nationality in
independent
Conclusion
It is an encouraging sign that the United Nations Organization has
taken more pragmatic steps through the Security Council. The historic placement
of
(Nehginpao Kipgen
is the General Secretary of US based Kuki
International Forum and a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in
modern
********************************
KAOWAO NEWS GROUP
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Tel: + 66 341 68758, 66 7 169-0971, + 66 1 561-0860 (
Tel: + 1- 403 - 248 2027 (
Kao Wao News website: http://www.kaowao.org
Kao Wao News
archive: http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1215&lo=d&sl=0
Online
ABOUT US
Kaowao Newsgroup is committed to social justice,
peace, and democracy in
Editors, reporters, writers, and overseas volunteers are dedicated
members of the Mon activist community based in
Our motto is working together for change and lasting peace.