The Politics of Hope

By Saneitha Nagani When I think about hope that particular joke always came to my mind; Pray a lot and youll have hope in your heart, bathe a lot and youll have soap in your arse. But for the people of Burma, they are never going to give up hope. Even though they were told time and again that there are no political prisoners in Burma they still hope that among those released from prisons dotted across the country there will be some political prisoners among those released. When the military regime denied time and again that there are no political prisoners in Burma and yet among those who were being amnestied are political prisoners is that not something like the prince in the story asking for something that is not there or that does not exist like the mashihmoke (the snack of nothingness) but because of his powers his wish was never denied. When a people who has not much for a start, hope seems to be the something that they would neither neither let go nor gave it up that easily. If one ever studied Patthan then one would know the power of the mind. According to ahdhipati pyitsayaw when the mind is set on one thing and one thing only it gains power that nothing could stop it. The Burmese people desire to be free themselves of dictatorship of any kind then there is nothing to stop them from achieving it. The Arab Spring and the people, whether they are Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan or Syrian, their desire to be rid of despotic leaders are so strong that not only live rounds of bullets but even the tanks cannot stop them from protesting. While the United Nations and some members states in the Security Council may be paralyzed by their own self-interest and their so called Responsibility to Protect is just that some international bureaucrats pipe dream- the people in the Arab world are not deterred by their regimes brutal tactics of cracking down on dissent. Some in Libya took up arms and they are on the verge of putting Muammar Gaddafi and his regime into the dustbin of history. Emma Larkin in her book, Everything is Broken, mentioned that, There are no happy endings for military rulers in Burma. The country history is littered with untimely demises and surprise betrayals. Once dead and gone, the hapless leaders are often erased from the history books. Their photographs and portraits disappear and their names are expunged from the public record. How could anyone disapproved Buddhas teaching of the law of kamma? When the cetana or volitional action- the states of consciousness in the minds of the general in the military regime, are such as those based on unwholesome consciousness (or akusala), such as committing heinous crimes like killing the monks and others, it is only a matter of time for their kamma to ripen thus leading to their resultants (or vipaka). Than Shwe and his gang of thugs together with their families would not have peaceful death and that is certain. Everything in life is dependent on time and it is time alone that will decide our fate. As a Buddhist I do not look at or see this life as an isolated one. To me, it is a speck in the spectrum of life, death, rebirth and death running in a vicious cycle of samsara. However, I do not take kamma as a passive thing but as something with conscious effort you can change it to be either good or bad. It is all in our mind. For a Christian he or she will say, It is according to Gods will, for a Muslim he or she will say, If it is Gods will or InshaAllah in Arabic and for a Buddhist, maybe it is my kuthokan or kamma.

Daw Suu in her interview with Alan Clements mentioned her understanding of kamma when asked whether it is true in Buddhism that the universe does not take sides, but is always right because of the law of cause and effect. She said, Yes. In Buddhism, as you know, we believe that you will pay for all the bad things that you have done, and that you will reap the rewards of all the good that youve done. And I think because of that, a lot of Buddhists think that because the authorities are cruel and unjust, you dont have to do anything at all, they will get their own deserts. I dont accept that. I dont think that one should just sit back and expect kamma to catch up with everybody else. But I do think there is this underlying belief, not just among Christians or Buddhists, but among peoples all over the world, that in the end, right will prevail the light will have to come. When I say this, I dont mean that everybody holds it, but that the majority of people do. We have hope in our hearts for years now. We also have firm believe that one day we will enjoy freedom as a basic right of any human being. One day we will have a constitution that protect our liberties, an independent judiciary, civilian supremacy over the military, a free Parliament and a vigorous civil society which are the underpinnings of liberal democracy and not just free and fair elections. We have known for a fact that free and fair an election may be but that alone does not guarantee a free and liberal society. Under the current quasi civilian Thein Seins government apart from tailor-made Constitution that will fit only the military like the uniform and the elections that was conducted under dubious circumstances the political situation in Burma is lacking of the so-called deeper structures of democracy. To be regarded as a real democratic society our citizens would have to be treated with dignity, disputes like those in the ethnic minorities regions should be resolved by peaceful means, to cooperate with other nations and adhere to our international obligations if we have entered into agreements with other countries. At the moment, the political situation in Burma is something opposite of what was mentioned in Bob Dylans song, We need the weatherman to tell us which way the wind is blowing. (Dylan sang that, You dont need the weatherman to tell you which way the wind is blowing.) When President Thein Sein in his letter to the Parliament informing the Parliamentarians about his decision to suspend the construction of the dam in Myitsone area he mentioned that, Our government, being elected by the people, has to take great consideration of public opinion. Great! If it was true what he said about public opinion. We have to be very careful about this whole change of heart all of a sudden. We could be getting ourselves caught in his rhetoric. This reminded me of the story my father told me. It goes like this; one day a man borrowed a large pot from his neighbour. On returning the pot he puts a small pot inside and when the owner of the pot asked him how come there was a small pot inside. He told him that the owners pot must have been pregnant when he borrowed it and it gave birth to a small one when he had it. The owner was pleased and did not question the absurdity at all. Then his neighbour borrowed his big pot again and he willingly let him. Time passed and the neighbour had not returned his pot. When asked, his neighbour told him that his pot must have been sick when he borrowed and then it died so he buried it. The owner of the pot was furious. How could that be possible and then by agreeing to the previous absurdity he found himself bound by his own logic. We have to be careful that we are not caught in Thein Seins absurdity. END