Dr Maung Maung Nyo
I wish AMIM of the World
A Happy New Year together;
Let the bad events of Last Year
Stay in the historic dust bin for ever;
May Peace and Prosperity reign
In the Year 2009 just proclaimed!
Happy New Year Wish
I wish AMIM of the World
A Very Happy New Year ;
Let the bad events of Last Year
Stay in the 'Historic Dust Bin' for ever;
May Peace and Prosperity reign
In the Year 2009 just proclaimed!
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
01.01.2009 (original)
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
I have been to
I liked it really for its scenic sights
The first time I was young, in 1964
Second time I was old, 18 years ago.
(South East Asia has a long History with Yunnan that includes the
Origin of Its Peoples)
The first time I went in from
I crossed the Wanding Bridge as a delegate
Of Medical Corps visiting nearby neighbour
Chinese had willingly invited me to savour;
(The Wanding Bridge Border Post)
They wanted to show us how to live and fix
How to work and succeed like them as Communists
They all wore blue uniforms made of cotton fabrics
I was very receptive, but was not impressed with.
(Some of the Places We Have Visited)
The second time was thirty years later
It was in 1991 I went there as a writer
I was Secretary of
We roamed
This time the Chinese looked more cheerful
At least they wore different suits all colorful
We saw more departmental stores with goods
We heard life for every one had improved.
(Modern Kunming City, Yunnan, China)
True, the Chinese seemed to be happier
They wore better, they ate better
All Chinese seemed to be fitter and thicker
Some of them were trying to go to
They now know
It’s no longer the bastion of Communist revolution
Chinese are set and reputed for money making
They have chosen the path of market economy, capitalism.
(Kunming City by Night)
But, I met some old people still nostalgic about old days
They said they had enjoyed better health and happier ways
Jobs, pensions, hospital and education were more ensured
People did not need to worry for children and their future;
“But, now every thing is on line and comes like tender
Income and expenditures are not balanced and in arrears,
We have to worry every day for our present and future”
They wished Mao alive like before the Red Guards Era!
(Statue of Mao Ze Dong in Lijiang, Yunnan, China)
Tibeto-Burman, Shan-Tai and Mon-Khmer had origin
Before they traveled south wards along rivers basins
Of Maikha, Malikha, Mekong, Irrawaddy, and
Majority of peoples of
(Rivers of South East Asia Taking Origin in Tibet and Yunnan)
So, I had great interest in exploring
I enquired actively about their social customs
Their ways of life, legends, livelihoods and history
They showed us skulls and bones of human (Homo sapiens)
Man made weapons of Stone Age, Iron Age in Yunnan
They are the remnants of SEA peoples left behind as tail end!
(Cyclists in Kunming City: They are a scene morning and evening))
Roads and streets were teeming with human activities
Buses and cars were jammed with people and poultry
Livestock shared the vehicles with men and machinery;
(Burma Teak to be Loaded for Yunnan,China)
Separate lanes for bicycles formed columns of clinking chimes
Burmese goods imported ranged from teak to animals of wild
They hosted us with special dishes of monkey, snake and brine.
(Ledo's Burma-China Road at Baoshan to Kunming)
Since 1990s Yunnanese were talking about importing oil
From
Through
There they would refine it and use or sell it to earn;
They said backyard of
Their foresight was at the expense of a neighboring small nation
I remember King Sinbyushin routing many Chinese invasions.
(Burmese Dresses during Konbaung Sinbyushin's Era,
He repulsed 4 Chinese Invasions from Yunnan))
Most remarkable visit to
It was scenic and seemed like
It was the seat of Nan Chao King that invaded
During the times of Pyu and ransacked Srikestra;
(The Erhai Lake with Three Pagodas at the Background)
They burnt Halin and took away 3000 Pyu fighters
That led to disappearance of Pyu from early
Han Chinese dominates the whole of
(Dali Old City Wall and Gate,King Anawrahta had Visited in
11th Century A.D.)
We also visited Tali or Dali
It was an old historic city
We saw old city wall and gate
It was ruled by U Ti Phwa the Great;
(Pu Tou Island in the Centre of the Erhai Lake, surrounded by Many
Villages whose Sons Migrated to USA Via Burma)
King Anawrahta visited U Ti Phwa in Dali
He asked for the Buddha’s tooth relic or copy
He was unable to take the relic successfully
(Bridges and Pavilions in the Erhai Lake)
There is a story I was told to remember
20 people from
All belonged to a family in the village near
They worked hard, some became doctors
They prospered and migrated to
They are now sponsoring their villagers' visa.
(The Stone Forest in Yunnan)
We visited a natural wonder called the
We had to drive 3 to 4 hours from
The 120 Kilometer long road was smooth and safe
On the way we stopped at different roadside places;
(Stone Forest Teeming With Tourists)
Many houses displayed dried ducks and sausages
We also noticed bundles of corns and chili in laces
Our guides said we could buy them for memory
This was one way to help the Chinese economy.
(Panoramic View of the Stone Forest)
Many looked like tall columns or spikes pointing out
From the centre of earth as though directed to the sky
It was like lances and needles ready to fire at any time;
For an average man it must be the work of the angels
In reality, it was nature that made it admirable
It was originally a place of shallow sea with rock bed
When water receded it left behind eroded rocks rugged.
(Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution 1966-1976)
One thing that struck me was the
They were simple, stolid, friendly and helpful
They offered us sweets and cigarettes as a rule
I said cigarette smoking is dangerous to their health too;
(Monument of Cultural Revolution at Stone Drum Village, Yunnan)
But,
What can you do if the State is doing foolhardy?
People were afraid to talk about Mao Ze Dong
Cultural Revolution had frightened them all along
It was excessive and uncontrollable there upon
So people became very vulnerable and forlorn;
(Deng Xiao-Ping, Paramount Leader,Who Finished the Cultural
Revolution, Brought China Back to Order and Economic Development)
Our Interpreter Professor said, “It was despicable”
He himself was sent by Red Guards to the stables
He had to sweep stallions’ shits, scraps and unusable
He was often at breaking point saved only by his scruples.
(People Protest Against General Ne Win and BSPP in August 1988)
Cultural Revolution also almost destroyed
Many leaders of CPB were summarily executed there
Their Pegu Yoma Headquarters was literally littered at
So were above ground Communists by propaganda fads;
(People Protest against U Ne Win and His Party in August 1988)
U Ne Win had benefited much from Red Guards’ errors
Only Deng Xiao-Ping had the means to extinguish theirs.
Villains of Burma; I U Ne Win, II General Saw Maung, III U Sein Lwin)
I sometimes wonder what the world would be like
If there were no cultural revolution and nothing to fight
Would
Would U Ne Win have scapegoat for abusing our rights?
(Heroes of Burma; the Only Hope for the Burmese)
However, we must fight on for our lives
For our children rights and their future life;
We cannot be satisfied with what we get as best
Because it’s our historic duty to fight for the rest!
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
30.12.2008
I’m fond of flowers and gardens
I used to value and visit them
Especially while I was in
It refreshed my mind to withstand
Worries and woes weighing wild
A fragrant flower makes me smile.
(Gorgeous Flowers, Chelsea Flower Show, London)
I remember Khin Hnin Yu’s words
“A lover of flowers has kind heart,
He would not kill a mocking bird”
It’s a useful maxim for many of us;
(Fascinating Flowers, Chelsea Flower Show, London)
The late Khin Hnin Yu was the author
Of ‘Man who blooms the flowers’
(Pan Mya Ko Pyint Ze Thu) in
She won national literary prizes in
(Sloane Square, Chelsea, London)
So, I felt more than happy
When Betty Paddon invited me
To visit Chelsea Flower Show
It's an annual event of yore.
(Sloane Square Tube Station, London)
Betty and Percy met me at the Sloane Square Station
We walked for about ten minutes chatting and sunning
It was May with the sun and scenes scented with spring
The flower show was held in a big open ground gleaming;
(Conifer Courtyard, Chelsea Flower Show, London)
With all flowers bright and beautiful, gardens gay and gleeful
Men and women without weeping children enjoying in full
I for one gazed at the gigantic view and multitudes of people
It was like walking in a wonder land replete with all things colourful.
(Pond Installation, Chelsea Flower Show,London)
Betty was delighted that I enjoyed the show
She was amazed that I liked fragrant flowers more
She promised to take me to the
I was fortunate to have met such a friend as gold.
(Kew Gardens, Green House and Beds of Beautiful Flowers)
She was a best friend of Ms Dorothy Woodman
Renowned journalist who wrote ‘The Making of Burma’ then
She was invited by General Ne Win to see
Many of his party cadres answered about the country and party;
(General Ne Win, 1911-2002, After Retirement, Died ignominiously))
She writes it was an amalgam of Burmese folklore, Buddhism and Marxism
That New Statesman Journal was photocopied and distributed in millions
We knew
It was made by U Ne Win to plunder the State for his sake and nepotism!
(Kew Gardens, the Chinese Pagoda)
The
It was a wow wonderland 300 acres wide in capable hand
There are all kinds of plants, flowers, shrubs, bushes and grass
I was struck by the vastness of varied gardens and big houses of glass
They said there were 600 kinds of grass and many tropical trees
I saw toddy and coconut palms bearing fruits as in hot country ;
(Tropical Giant Lotus in the Pond, Kew Gardens)
I also saw tropical fruits like mango, mangosteen, prune and pomegranate
What struck me most was the tall Chinese pagoda that stood great
It was in the centre of background for my photographs I usually take
I used to take many Burmese friends to it to enjoy the tropical shades
They were fascinated by tropical plants, ‘green houses’ and Chinese Pagoda
I was satisfied that I had served my country men and women with pleasure.
(Chinese Pagoda in the Kew Gardens)
Needless to say I have visited ‘The Garden of England’ several times
It’s
(Sunken Garden, Kent, England))
I went there by train, by bus and in friends’ autocars
Betty and Percy took me in their car and let me ride a steam train
Major Babtock took me by coach from London House to
(Steam Train, Relic of Industrial Revolution, Kent)
I was awed by the Dover Cliffs
That was white, high and stiff
Julius Caesar could not land here
He landed north one thousand meters afar.
(Dover's White Cliffs)
I remember Dr Tin Win FRCS from
I met him at the
He told Professor Ba Than of a scrotal swelling
It was the size of a cricket ball on comparison
He worked in
He invited me to visit him in his station.
(Charles Dickens Museum)
I read it in Charles Dickens’ novel and saw his movies
We visited the
I have read his novels since joining the university;
(Portrait of Charles Dickens)
David Copperfield, Great Expectation, Ivory Child
His novels remind poverty and child labor in his time
They are relevant when thinking about children of the world
There are children starving and working in Asia and
(Map of Kent)
There was a house showing the relics of Sir Winston Churchill
He may be a great Englishman fighting the WW II to victory
But, he was against
He said
(Kent View of Chartwell Churchill House)
It was true as civil war broke out soon after independence
Britons were involved in assassination of Aung San and lieutenants
I always remember there are good and bad Britons for our country
Churchill for 3 generations was bad; Luce, Furnivall, Bowden saintly.
(Sir Winston Churchill, Grandson of Sir Randolph Churchill
Who Annexed Burma to British Empire in 1886)
It saw the Norman Conquest of the country
William the Conqueror defeated them decisively
Once he was enthroned, he acted magnanimously
Kent was granted semi-autonomy as border country;
It was separated from
Arch Bishop of Canterbury is the Head of Anglican Clergy
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are still famous and enjoyable.
(Canterbury Town)
South East of England is replete with history
Battle of Hastings was fought in this territory
I watched its replay as it led to William victory
It took place in the 11th Century AD
22 years after King Anawrahta ruled Pagan country
Why was
(Statue of William the Conqueror in Normandy, France)
Dr Maung Maung Nyo
27.12.2008
