The Goodness I See in the Burmese

8/6/2019 The Goodness I See in the Burmese

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The Goodness I See In The Burmese

By Saneitha Nagani

There is in the Burmese saying that, You cut off the toe if the toe is not good; you cut off

the thumb if the thumb is not good (chema makaung che ma; letma makaung letma). Since my

writings on Burma have mostly been on the bad or exposition on the dark side of the Burmese

some might think that I am neither patriotic nor fair in my accounts on Burma. I have to emphasize

that my views on those who are in government has nothing to do with the country, Burma per se.

Burma is my country and the military government of Burma is not my government.

If consciousness on Burma never left George Orwell, even though he lived and served there in the

Indian Imperial Service for five years, how can I who was born, lived and worked there for the best

part my life lose consciousness on Burma? As Bruce Bennett said in his introduction on the book, A

Sense of Exile, it was mentioned that The state of exile, in its numerous manifestations in this

volume, may stimulate certain primal oppositions in human and cultural experience; of these, the

opposites of paradise and hell are especially prevalent. For the literature of exile often locates

itself at sites where dialectic of extreme states or feelings is played out. In more worldly, less

metaphysical terms, this dialetic may involve utopia and dystopia.

I am always mindful who I am and where I come from. As a Burmese from an ethnic background

whatever the state my country of birth is in, it is still my roots. As it is mentioned in Mangla Sutta

that, to dwell in a suitable locality is the supreme blessing (patirupa desa vaso-ca etam mangalam

uttamam). I did not have the choice but to reside in a country where I am treated well; with human

dignity and an opportunity to lead a clean life. I dont need to be like people in former socialist

countries, as mentioned by Angelo Codevilla in his book, The Character of Nations, as those people

whose motto was, They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work. He also mentioned that in

such a society people were habituated to seeking and granting favours rather than producing, and

inured to regarding positions of power as opportunities to take. As a friend of mine told me that you

dont need to be committing an act of stealing in a legal sense just because your employer did not

know about it or caught you red-handed; if you do not give your best for what you have been paid

for then you are as guilty as committing theft in the dhamma sense it is a matter between you

and your conscience.

My negative views, my criticisms on Burma are not about the country but it is rather my concerns

about the sort of people that we have in our government. Ever since General Ne Win took over

power by staging a military coup in March 1962 there has never been any effort to take the country,

politically or economically, to its rightful place in the international community of nations. Burma

then under the socialist regime and now under the military regime is as mentioned by Codevilla in

his book that, Nothing so effects economic life, civic life, or, for that matter, family and spiritual life

as whether the rulers are bound by law or rule by discretion. Since the hallmark of the politics and

economics of tyranny is cronyism, apart from enriching themselves and their cronies who are also

their partners in crime the country has been heading towards the edge of abyss. We, the people or

the victims, have been strung along on the Burmese Way to Socialism for twenty six years which

ended in the people getting poorer and the country becoming the United Nations Least Developed

Country (LDC). Now, we are on the road again; yes on the Road to Democracy seven steps in all


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but nothing so far to say that our lives have improved. But there are plenty of those who neither

have the sense of shame nor the sense of fear of being ridicule enriching themselves with the help

from their partners in crime - our neighbouring countries.

From an early age I have been taught to love my country. I have learnt from the saying passed on to

me by my ancestors that, rich or poor, my mother; right or wrong, my country (mwe-mwe tei-tei

doahmei; hma-hma hman-hman do-naingan). These kinds of patriotic sentiments are sin qua non

attributes for those who worked in professions such as diplomatic or foreign service. After all, are

they not the ones in the first line of defense when it comes to protecting the vital interests of their

country? Sir Henry Wotton, an English ambassador at the beginning of the seventeenth century may

have stretched the definition of a diplomat a bit too far when he said that, a diplomat is an honest

man sent abroad to lie for his country. On the other hand though, if we were to believe what was

leaked in the cables by Wikileaks who would say that Sir Wotton was not that far off the mark.

Like many of those in the generation of my parents, struggled and survived through the War,

struggle for independence and then again living through endless wars against ethnic insurgency,

Chinese communists incursions into Burma using Burma Communist Party (BCP) as their proxy, most

of my relatives sacrificed their lives for their country. Like her father, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi even

though she may not accept that she is making great sacrifices but rather it is the choice she made by

herself there are people like them, convicted as ever to free the people of Burma out of this man

made misery of which they are subjected to under the military rule. This is the kind of compassion

for others that I see as the goodness in the people of whom they are also Burmese.

Sir James George Scott, also known as U Shwe Yoe by his pen-name, described the national character

of the Burmese as, The Burmese are probably the most engaging race in the East. The Japanese are

the nearest to them. But where the Burma is open and frank, and withal courteous, the Japanese

carries his politeness beyond the bounds of simplicity. Among other things he mentioned there is

something which is of worth noting, such as, The (Burmese) race is probably the most light-hearted

in existence, but in improvidence one can only compare them to a tribe of Sheridans and

Goldsmiths. The love of laughter is born with them, and remains with them to the shadow of the

lych-gate, but they are lamentably wanting in self-control, sometimes passing into wild outbursts of

brutality. They have a most extraordinary keen sense of humour, and yet they are credulous as the

marines or Judaeus Apella, and as superstitious as Louis XI. They are keen judges of character, as

many a nickname given to their rulers, native and British, can testify, but they will allow themselves

to be imposed upon by any glib or solemn charlatan with charms and philtres and runes.

Would anyone be surprised when the trio, Than Shwe, Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt, were known by

their nicknames among the people as Yoke-hsoe, Poke-thoe, and Doke-htoe meaning the Ugly

(Maung Aye), the Brute (Than Shwe) and Pain in the Arse (Khin Nyunt probably because of thestyle he has when he walks). In another incident when the comedianZaganar(another nickname for

forceps because he is a dentist by his profession) was asked to promote Tourist Myanmar Year.

He refused because he knew he would be in trouble if he did; but he was persuaded to help by the

authorities and so he did. He took a number of boxes made out of toddy palm leaves which in

Burmese is known as phar which unfortunately is the word for or euphemism for a prostitute. He

put them under the big advertisement board of Tourist Myanmar Year. He got into trouble.


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Who would have thought that, before finding out that he was a prolific contributor to extremist

blogs and had ties to right-wing populists, Anders Breivik ,the Norwegian who admitted to have

committedthe horrifying massacre on the Norwegian island of Utya, would be the kind of evil

person in a country like Norway. No wonder Saya U Kyaw Htuts said in his book that, accordingly to

Abhidhamma there are no such thing as a permanent evil or permanent good person.

According to theAbhidhamma, cetasikas or mental factors is like the dye that colours the waterwhich is citta- the mind or citta in itself is colourless but the mental factors depending on their

characters good, bad or neutral colours the mind and the act that followed determined as good,

bad or benign. If I were to takeAbhidhamma -the system that articulates simultaneously as a

philosophy, a psychology, and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for

liberation as a guide to understand why people do what they do or what drove them to do evil

things, one must have to dig deeper into the mental factors (cetasikas) which accompanied the

operations of the mind (citta).To put the teachings of the Buddha in a nutshell it is simply, Not to do

evil, to cultivate good, to purify ones mind, this is the teaching of the Buddhas ( from

Dhammapada verse 183).

The goodness I seek and I found in people is neither in their wealth nor in their high or low status insociety but rather in their compassion for fellow living beings (not just humans). The kind of

compassion of which I would hold up as a model is the kind where a Tibetan monk being tortured by

his Chinese torturers tried very hard not to lose his cool and compassion and nurtured hatred for his

torturer. That was his greatest fear, he said after he survived his ordeal and lived to tell his tale. If

Metta Sutta were to be our guide for an ethical living it must be in accord with, Let none deceive

another, nor despise any person in any place. Let him not wish any harm to another out of anger or

Ill-will. Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, in a similar way let

him gain a boundless heart towards all beings. (Na pro param nikubbetha natimannetha katthani

na kinci; byarosana patigha-sanna nannan-annassa dukkham iccheya; Mata yatha niyam puttam

ayusa ekaputtam annurakkhe manasam bhavaye aprimanam.) There are many in Burma who are

like Daw Suu full of compassion for their people. I wonder why the soldiers or the generals cannot be

like them. After all, they too are Burmese, arent they? END

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The Goodness I See in the Burmese