Aung Myat Kyaw joined us as a member. Let's us remain the Symposium spirit till 15 May 2010. We will celebrate our accomplishment on the last day of this 2-month shared learning journey. How? I'll keep it confidential, but I am sure you will enjoy the moment of celebration!
Words of the day
Relegate – to send to an inferior position
Abhorrent – hateful; offensive
Pain point – driving force to do something
Carbon date – to estimate the age of an object of plant or animal original by radio carbon dating
Bequeath – to leave personal belongings by will
Resurrection – Jesus returns to life again after 3 days of his death
Precarious – can get back to the ill situation any time
Phrasal verb
Bring off – succeed
Shove off – go away
Rip off – cheat
See off – send off
Get off with – elope
Tip off – give information
Mingle with – socialize with
Quote/ Proverb
The more we learn to know, the more we come to know is we don’t know.
Haste makes waste.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
Learn to walk before you run.
Empty vessel makes more sound
A drop in the ocean
To be in love is the best way of living the life
Talk by Ko Myint Naing “Climate Change”
Kyoto protocol
– To control green house gases not more than (level as of1990 + 5%)
– Carbon trading (not counting the emission from the planes and ships)
– Maldives, Nepal
– Who is going to bare the costs
– To go green, what do you do?
What is your personal opinion on the importance of Climate Change? Do you think everyone must play their role to reduce impact on the ecological system? What actions do you take in order to protect the mother earth?
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Journal Entry_ Week 7_ Myint Naing
Thailand turmoil has started with the military coup in 2006 and ousted the former Prime Minister Thaksin who lives overseas to avoid a jail term for corruption. Many of the Reds come from Thailand's rural poor and urban working classes and support him. The Reds claim that the government came to power illegitimately in 2008. They called for the snap election. Since the nationwide protest has started in mid-March, 27 people has been killed and nearly 1,000 injured in the capital's worst political violence in almost two decades. About 70 bomb and grenade attacks have been carried out by unknown parties in Bangkok since the Reds began the street protests. It is really bad and it has heavily affected the tourism industry. The stand-off in the streets of Bangkok between the government and Red Shirt protesters is worsening and could deteriorate into an undeclared civil war. It may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources.
For the time being, the deadlock has been mounting and the future of the nation is not clear. Some prominent figure like Timor president who is the Nobel peace laureate has met with Thailand Prime Minister to mediate the talk with the Red’s shirt leaders. They are trying to defuse the tension with the peaceful way.
I don’t think it will lead to the civil war as long as the military is united and not spilt. If we look back into Thailand history, there were many military coupes. After the coup, the military held the general election and transferred the power to the elected government. Their generals were well-educated and studied in Western countries. They were straight and not biased to any particular government. Now the problems in the country are too complex to be solved by a coup.
Journal Entry_ Week7_Ah Nge Ma
Now there is violence strike in Thailand started from April 2010. And it becomes worse after the government has cracked down on the red shirt protesters. The red shirt protectors represent the group of poor, student and some from the middle class. They ask to call for the legal election for the former primer minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted by the military coup on grounds of corruption in September 2006.
In my point of view, the demand of red shirt is fair .All they want is to bring down the military government and to hold a new election that might reestablish Thaksin’s power. Tens of thousands of red shirts have been on strike making a vow not to yield until the government stood down. But their strike turned into violence when the government gravely clamp down on the political unrest. In point of fact, the government finds itself in a most awkward dilemma whatever decision they choose, either stand-down or moving forward. Eventually, the military government could find no other ways but to use the brutal clampdown as dictatorial standard, resulting in at least 25 people were killed, including five soldiers.
Both sides are highly unlikely to give in to each other. Red shirts launched more raging protests aiming at bringing the government down while the military is making their grievous efforts to suppress the uprising at a terrifying degree hoping the protests had finally come to an end. It’s high-intensity conflict which may involve armed forces at a point and lead to civil war resulting in large number of casualties.
In a related development, the National Human Rights Commission, which held a meeting with four former Thai prime ministers earlier last month to listen to their suggestions on the political upheavals, called for the government to ‘‘accept the people’s demand’’ to solve the problem.
Journal Entry_Week7_Saint
Will “Red Shirt” movement lead to Civil War?
I have been waiting for more than an hour. She usually gets online in the evenings about 8pm Singapore time which is 7pm in Bangkok. This evening, Ma Ma Nyein doesn’t seem to be at the “Cyber” as she calls it. And this is the fourth day I have been waiting online to meet her.
My ex-colleague as well as BFF (Best Friend Forever) has been working as an Electrical Engineer and part-time English tutor in Bangkok for a few months. The last time I met her on g-chat, she told me she has to spend more time and money for traveling from her house to work place as well as to the houses of her students. One day, on her way back home there was a road closure due to the shootings so she had to find a way and finally got back home very late and exhausted. Her students cancelled the tuition sessions more frequently thus she is also loosing her income. She has been directly and indirectly hit by the “red shirt” civil unrest in Bangkok. I am sure there are many more people whose work, study and daily life had been affected more severely than my friend. When I raised the question “Do you think Thailand’s red shirt issue will lead to civil war?” most of my learning partners said “No”. I incline to agree with them. There won’t be civil war in which people shoot or bomb one side to the other.
In fact, there has been a sharp decline of civil wars in the 21st Century. Yet the level of security has never been in the up trend. Terrorism has been introduced to the world after 9-11. Besides, there is a new category “civil unrests” listing the strikes and protests which often lead to riots and shooting. These trends were seen in many parts of the world. In my opinion, there is another form of civil unrest which might be oblivious since neither shooting nor bombing involving. It is a different type of battle between haves and have-nots, between elites and the ordinary people.
I think things have changed and civil wars are no exclusion to change. A new form of civil war has evolved. As we all know, the gap between the poor and the elite gets wider. If not for the quick advancement of technology and the universalized use of internet, the poor would have been suppressed harder and the gaps could have been much wider. Now the have-nots still do not have the ability to be in the group of elites but they understand human rights and fairness mainly due to massive media. They gain the knowledge to express their own views be it on the roads or through the fiber glass cables. The clashes between the haves who used to hide the information in their own hands and the have-nots who have the knowledge but no power have evolved. When the power holders try to suppress the ordinary people, a civil unrest broke out just like the red shirt issue in Bangkok. In conclusion, civil wars still exists in the world; they have just been transformed and there are people who suffer.
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