A reply to Ohmae Kenichi from U Met

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I came to know the real meaning of this sentence after I had read a lot of
books.  The more I studied, the more I realised how much more I needed to
learn. 

I was very disapppointed when I read Dr. Kenichi Ohmae's " What I saw and
heard on Myanmar ".

If he is a businessman, I can understand why he makes this kind of comment.
But if he is a sophisticated person, he needs to collect more detailed
information from various angles before he gives his comment. Also, he needs
to study about Burma more thoroughly.

Yes, the present military goverment is actually, systematically, completely
mis-managing the county. 

We, majority of Burmese are not materialist. We have been raised under the
teaching of Buddhism which guides us not only to purify our morality but
also to recognize our freedom of thought. We are used to decide based on our
own knowledge, freely.  For us then it is very painful when we feel we are
oppressed and kept under surveillance.  That is one reason why we are
opposed to militarism. For us personal freedom is more precious than the
most expensive material goods made by man. 

The military only knows how to kill the innocent people. They have no idea
of how to manage the country to make it flourish.  We have had 35 years of
trying, frustrating experience under military rule -- that is more than
enough time in which to know their inabilities.

We do not want to construct our country based on economy foundations only.
We can see the folly of such an attempt through the examples of the crises
facing Japan, South. Korea and Southeast Asian countries these days.

Japan is woefully lacking in the social and educational fields because of
her unwise emphasis on economics only.  The younger generation of Japanese
have no concept of morality and no appreciation of the culture that is
theirs to inherit.   They are walking on the road which the old generation
created, with only economic values.

In Indonesia, totalitarianism took power 30 years ago. Economists praised
Indonesia's growth until last year. But, today, the military blames and even
kills innocent citizens who shout for lack of basic commodities.

In Thailand, beggers are a common sight on the streets of the capital. Many
of them are victims of a drastic decline in their income caused by Asian
currency and financial crises.

But, Kim Dae Jung of S. Korea and Martin Lee of Hong Kong have argued that
Asia's current economic crisis highlights the need for more democracy in the
region.  

As a conclusion, while we may appreciate your interest in our country, we
urge you to look more carefully at Burmese reality again.  Please do not try
to push Burma to take the disastrous path down which Japan and other Asian
countries walked!


U Metta

http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm