Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Burma

Visit: ko-htike.blogspot.com

I've always had a heart for Burma. (Yes, it's Burma. Just because a slew of goons hijacks a country's name against the will of its people and calls it 'Myanmar,' doesn't make it 'Myanmar'). I've never been. I used to live in Southeast Asia as a small child, so maybe images from the media and movies like Beyond Rangoon touch my subconscious in a way.

I first heard of the democracy movement's primary leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the '90s, and she completely grabbed me. The beautiful academic is such a peaceful, steadfast leader, and that spoke deeply to me. Often the first thing she would do after being released from her many house arrests was to address the massive crowd waiting outside her home.


Not minutes after tasting freedom, in front of the very junta thugs who kept her prisoner, the Nobel laureate would raise her voice for democracy even louder than before, the very crime that incarcerated her to begin with. Her courage prompted me to buy then then-new book about her and Burma's struggle, The Voice of Hope. Amazing. My Aung San Suu Kyi fandom was sealed. If ever there was a people who badly want freedom, it is the Burmese.

The latest uprising last week was last week, was peaceful and primarily led by monks. I heard the news bits in the mainstream media that I expected to hear: People uprise, protest in the streets; military dictatorship using brutal means to put the kibash on matters, killing dozens in the process. Ect.

But I discovered this blog Friday by a young man who, apparently, is living in the thick of things. He was posting real-time updates on protests, body counts, stories from people caught in gunfire, the latest PR tricks the dictatorship was using through its state-run media ... even a photo of a student protester's brains on the sidewalk that had been beaten to death by military.


I happen to catch the blog on my mobile while waiting for a high school football game to start Saturday afternoon. There I was, in the sleepy, peaceful Texas town of Balch Springs, reading about a struggle that, by the grace of God, I've never known. The juxtaposition of the football field in front of me and the bloody streets on the other side of the globe, existing at the exact same time, struck me between the eyes. I couldn't stop thinking about this young man and his passionate pleas for global attention all day.

So please, take a read of his blog, especially those dated from last Thursday to this past weekend. Please educate yourself on the matter, and begin praying for people power in Burma.

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