To Prof; Donald Seekins, Meio Univ.

[yu148683@xxxxxxxx]

Reply-To: MYINT SHWE <yu148683@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: To Prof; Donald Seekins, Meio Univ. Okinawa

                                                        7th. August 1997
Dear Sir,

Thank you for this  piece of your writng regarding some Japanese
impressions on DASSK. I explained your wrting to my wife and daughter. 
All my family remember you very well as the one very kind and
generous to them when they met you in Rangoon two years ago.

Since from the begining, we noticed that some Japanese are unsympathetic
to Burmese democracy movement. Usually, such people are, as you told, old
die hards still breathing in the Japanese society. They are what you
called movers and shakers of the Janaese society , or what I prefered to
call in one of my previous letters to you, king makers in Japan.  
( In this respect it is bad a fact that Japanese are the longest living
people, I mean their life expectancy, in the world ! )  Currently,
I noticed, some Japanese academics, part of the media and even
Japanese parliamentarians began to share this apathy !!

I would also like to supplement to your explanation regarding the notion
of the oriental people regarding Cobra, or more generally, snakes. Hindu
India and some Indianized southeast Asian cultures worship snakes
apparently because they are afraid of them as very dangerous reptiles.
Indians use to give milk to snakes, probably not out of love to it but out
of fear.  

SLORC media called  DASSK a female cobra because she is very dangerous to
them, i.e, her co existence together with them in the same Burmese polity
is very dangerous to their survival and continued existence. That explains
why they remain so obstinate in refusing to talk to her ( in dialogue ).
They determined not to give her a single semblance of political
recognition as long as they can resist the Western pressure.  

They know that, she can be used for their immidiate interest if
they can reconcile with her, even on non principle terms, I would say, by
making her just a figurehead for an office term of four years, like in The
Philippine. They can use her to solicit fabulous Western aid and
donations, like what Ramos and Hunsan have done in the past in Philippine
and in Cambodia, picking up carrot rather than enduring whips ( stick ). 

But SLORC also knows that it is against its long term, ultimate,
interest. Because it is very dangerous to play a game with a snake. 
Because they already have gone too far against the country, passing 
" Point of No Return " in 1988. Since then, as you know, Burma is a place
where any single spark can start a prarie fire.  

They do not want to give her a slightest semblance of their recognition
of her existence, more correctly, she as an element of politics in the
same polity.  They have made a mistsake when they were only two years
old in 1990, i.e, an election, the only mistake, so far, on their part.
They havn't had recovered from the wound of this mistake yet. So they
treat her exactly as they have treated their other enemies, Burma's
various armed rebels past and present, using Four Cuts Method; cut
information, cut assistence, cut popular support and finally, and if
applicable to DASSK's case, cut throat. 

In the meantime SLORC media, the NLM, i.e, The New Lies of Myanmar, called
her West Mawdaw Gyi, Female Cobra etc. But we Burmese do not take it very
seriously. Because we know that she is stinging them and that they are
suffering from her stingings. A piece of Mao Ze Dong Thought is
relevant to quote here. He said that if your enemy is stigamatizing you in
great anger; be pleased with that. It is a good case. Because you are
doing right in your own interest. You are disadvantaging / hurting him.
But if your enemy is praising you and patting your back, watch out!, your
are serving his interest. You are in his service with or without your
knowledge. However,in the final analysis, and to be fair, name callings
are done by both sides in the Burmese episode. It only conveys how do you
setimentally and negatively feel toward the other side  rather than how
much damage you could done toward the other side.              

But I would like to point out here what SLORC has been hitting below the
belt in DASSK's case. SLORC is officially calling her ( Daw Suu ) Kyi
instead of ( Daw ) Aung San Suu Kyi. It is a name changing different from
name callings by NLM's SLORC slaried columnists. The SLORC Secretary One,
Lt.Gen Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw are delibaretly calling
her ( Daw ) Suu Kyi in both in the national and international public. They 
seemed they want to separate her from her father, Gen. Aung San,
by omitting Aung San part of her name, seemingly foosihly trying to break
his kinship with her ! But her name was given by both her parents since
long time, 50 years ago. Her name is her INALIENABLE RIGHT. Nobody can
take away, either by a slorc or whoever. It does not matter whether she be 
an angel or a devil or a cobra as they accused. But her name must be the same 
as she was named by her parents. Nobody can add or substract someoneelse's
name to suit his particular need. Such an unwarrented gesture is
quite rediculous in both respects, ethical and commonsense. 

SLORC is doing it delibaretly as a tactical gesture of their psychological
warfare against the people especially the younger generations who are 
increasingly apoliticised in this SLORC era. But on their side, Ohn
Gyaw was quite indignant to what Mediline Albright has called  Burma as
Burma insted of Myanmar as they want it to be called. He officially
complained it both in UNGA and in the last ARF forum.   

The amount of injustice done or been doing by SLORC to the country and
people of Burma is immense. At one point, we even become students of
" JUNTA PSYCHOLOGY " by studying SLORC's aggresive and inconsistant
behaviour.   

I wish you and your wife good health and a joyous summer in Okinawa.       
By the way, at this hour, in BKK,  I imagine, our mutual friends, Ken and
Visakha Kawasaki, might be very busy arranging for tomorrow morning
demonstration in front of the Burmese embassy. 


Metta,

Myint Shwe
Toronto