Myanmar Spring Chronicle – March 24 Scenes
MoeMaKa, March 25 2023
Myanmar’s political events & Sentiments of People
When we read the daily news, listen to it, and watch the television news, we see the news of killings by weapons, deaths by explosions, casualties by airstrikes and bombardments, destroying property, burning houses, arresting, and imprisoning, which are the news that we are constantly experiencing.
In the past 2 years, we all know and needn’t for any explanation that armed attacks have occurred and spread on a large scale from the political problems that started with the military coup.
What the main cause is, who the main culprit is and which organization is the main culprit are so obvious that it is no need for further explanation. It can be different depending on the point of view and support position. Leaving this point, I would like to present the thought I started thinking about today.
When we hear, see and read the news about the above events, the thought of when these events will end and how they will end always appears in my mind as those are what happens in the country where we live. When I think about the meaning of the word “our country” by chance, I end up analyzing whether one loves this as a country or what one actually loves.
Rather than loving the non-material term “country” for one who grew up in country called Myanmar and in Myanmar’s society, it may be that the love for the community where he was born and grew up, his family, relatives, friends, school where he learned, classmates, teachers, those who recognize and love him, those who he loves and appreciates, foods places, culture, and habits, may be confusingly defined as love for the country.
It may be a misconception to love the term “country” that has no shape and does not know who belongs to it. Sometimes, those who would sacrifice their lives for the country may be patriotism because of their obsessions for political power and political position.In politics and power, there are a lot of blended talks, confusion and misconceptions. It is one part to stand for one side or a group that you believe in, and if that is not the case, I think that the words “country”, “race”, and “religion” are usually words under the influence of misconceptions and deceitful organizations. These are not the main things I want to talk about, so I will leave it at that, and what I want to talk about today is that the killings that are happening in many regions of Myanmar, the brutal killings of unarmed civilians, whether in combat or not, the alleged killings, the killings of minor innocent children, women and the elderly who are not involved in armed conflict are happening in a village or another village or a city or another city almost every day. It is about how you feel and pass through when you hear it. Among the measures to prevent something, to do something to prevent such killings from happening again, to help the people, families, and survivors of such political misfortunes, to make the perpetrators be appropriately punished and held accountable, what kind of response measures have you taken?
What kind of actions are taken to take revenge, to help the organizations that are attacking the perpetrators, to participate in the attack in person, to provide financial support, to encourage them psychologically, and to spread propaganda with correct or incorrect information in order to weaken the perpetrators?
Or, people grow accustomed to seeing and hearing more than the aforementioned emotions, believing that tragedies cannot be prevented, and they feel like something they can’t do. One would therefore likely strive to avoid this kind of fate so that his family does not experience it by putting his livelihood and family issues first and putting everything else on the side.
There is correct information about the events of the killings, as well as information that is hidden from the public, information that is mixed with propaganda, accusations, and lies. You will also see that there are covering up of crimes, staying silent to avoid attention, and threatening not to speak up.
When I hear about these occurrences, I sigh, consider the best way to stop it from occurring again, and consider what the possibility was if it wasn’t a crime with obvious photos and video evident. While trying to find, watch and listen to an event, similar events continue to occur, and new events cover the events before it. Thus, the above-mentioned human rights violations, war crimes, mass killings, and abuses have only become figures, and attempts to bring out the truth about the quality and accountability of the event have not appeared, and they have only reached the tally list.
I wonder if new incidents will stop just by recording and tallying the crimes. The fact that it needs to be recorded is an undisputed point. However, we need to think about what can be done to prevent such bad events from happening again. It is true that there is a need to have records that are important for accountability and restoration of justice in a time of transition. However, on the other hand, there are many groups that will record and monitor the past 2 years, but I have come to think that there are few organizations and individuals who are thinking and working to stop the recent events.
Incidents of people being accused of taking part in the armed conflict and punished even though they did not choose to, as well as losing their homes, possessions, and food, occur almost daily for those who live in the villages and towns of the armed conflict areas. I also wonder if the people who have influence over these events, and those who are driving the events to a certain extent, have sympathy for the lives of those who have experienced this, or do they only see them as pawns that fall into a political process. In other words, there is doubt whether they are honest in terms of politics and trust.
This is what I thought when I was reading and listening to the news and events in the past 2 years. After feeling the place of those who are at the center of these events, I have been wondering for a long time whether I should lighten up the feeling or speed up the feeling and join the wave of reactions, unsure whether the path is correct or not.