Rice bowl of Asia(Burma)...

Rice bowl of Asia is now in a situation about which people across all over the world should be aware of. May be this is one of the reason why I am posting this blog. When I saw one program about Burma on CNN, thought of searching in detail about it in internet and other sources.

About history of Burma, you can all go thru different sites. From the golden age till the date, condition of Burmese changed a lot.

Very few places are accessible by international tourists, Govt is spending good attention for their safety.Aung San Suu Kyi has asked tourists not to visit Burma, as international tourism can be seen as a stamp of approval to the Myanmar government.

Till now people are deprived off basic human rights. They are isolated, having strict restrictions on them. Millions have been forced to flee due to military rule.Internet access is also restricted to some business groups who are having good relations with the Govt.

Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San,is the only imprisoned Nobel peace prize recipient has made significant move and emerged as a leader in military ruled Burma with a ray of hope in establishing Democracy in the country.

(Suu Kyi's father Aung San was one of the founding fathers of the Burmese nationalist movement as well as the Burmese Communist Party. Like Subhas Chandra Bose, Aung San went over to the Japanese side during their occupation of Southeast Asia, including Burma and undergone military training. In 1941, they fought alongside the Japanese who invaded Burma. The Japanese promised Aung San that if the British were defeated, they would grant Burma her freedom. When it became clear that the Japanese would not follow through with their promise, Aung San quickly negotiated an agreement with the British to help them defeat the Japanese. Aung San was able to negotiate an agreement in January 1947 with the British, under which Burma would be granted total independence from Britain. Aung San and members of his newly-formed cabinet were assasinated when an opposition group with machine guns burst into the room.)

She came back to Burma on 1988, she and like-minded colleagues founded the National League for Democracy (NLD). On May 27, 1990 in a multi-party elections, despite the SLORC(State Law and Order Restoration Council )'s severe repression against members of opposition parties (Aung San Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest) and the complete lack of freedom of expression throughout the country, Suu Kyi's NLD party swept to victory with 80-82% of the vote. Surprised and outraged, the SLORC refused to acknowledge the election results and has retained its repressive grip on power ever since.

Burma is making world headlines because of the courageous protests of hundreds of thousands of monks and civilians in at least 26 cities in Burma over the past few weeks is to get rid of current form of Govt. The NLD had little access to media and few resources compared to the SLORC-backed National Unity Party (NUP). But several organizations have come together to gather awareness about the situation there and to help NLD to form Govt, ending current military rule. Campaigns have persuaded hundreds of companies to either withdraw from Burma or to adopt policies not to source certain goods from the country. French oil giant TOTAL Oil is in business with Burma's brutal military dictatorship. Its joint venture in the Yadana gas project in southern Burma earns the military regime hundreds of millions of dollars every year.