The Lady and the Boat Rides [in Burma/Myanmar]
POETRY FORMAT, 15 Feb 2016
Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service
Brother, be kind, she is in a bind.
Nazi Aye Maung has gagged her from ever mentioning “the word Rohingya from your mouth” unless she is prepared to lose Rakhine support in Arakan.
Against her presidential ambitions,
Myanmar generals have unleashed Ma Ba Tha, i.e., Association for the Protection of Myanmar Race and Buddhist Religion.
Experts say the Silence of the Lady is owing to the election maths
Her soul isn’t really dead, yet.
You need to learn that in politics, pragmatism is the name of the game.
Idealism and principles are bad for your ambitions.
So, it’s not fair you accuse her of being morally lame.
Be kind, brother.
You are right.
She is no longer in an electoral bind
Yes, her party won the landslide.
But the time is not ripe for her to get the Rohingya genocide right.
Let her repeat Myanmar’s Sovereign Lie on BBC or CNN:
“We want the world to know there is no ethnic cleansing in our country of Myanmar.”
Just as the old Germans feared the Jews – 0.76 percent of the Third Reich –
We the Myanmar Buddhists too fear the Muslims today.
That makes it alright, right?
But, but – don’t you worry.
She is the Mother of the Nation.
She IS going to make everything alright.
Yes, President Suu Kyi will get everything right.
Even the genocide.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh …..
Don’t you dare exaggerating the Rohingya’s plight.
Brother, you need to be patient.
Mother is engaged in horse-trading.
All you do is BLAME, BLAME and BLAME!
Patience is virtue. It’s only a genocide.
So, the Rohingya, sit tight. Stay alive during your boat rides.
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Dr. Maung Zarni is a Burmese activist blogger, Associate Fellow at the University of Malaya, a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, founder and director of the Free Burma Coalition (1995-2004), a visiting fellow (2011-13) at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, London School of Economics, and a nonresident scholar with the Sleuk Rith Institute in Cambodia. His forthcoming book on Burma will be published by Yale University Press. He was educated in the US where he lived and worked for 17 years.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 15 Feb 2016.
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