Silent Burma

The people in Burma decided to shot off the TV, in a silent protest against the propaganda. In a natural parallel to the silence outcoming from Burma into the world. No news, everything is stabilised, told the junta to the UN envoy. Stabilised, maybe, even suffocated if you prefer, but normalised, not.

Also perfectly intuitive were the people, with that silence putting themselves magically in line with the world newpapers and media, who already dropped the information, or lack of it, for a stunning silence, except few natural aficionados such as BBC.

Now, I want to recall that last month a Catholic priest from France was taken hostage by I do not know which group in the Philippines. The newspapers kept reporting on him for weeks and weeks until he was freed. How come that 2000, 3000, 4000 monks do not merit the attention of one priest in the Western newspapers ?

And if the Vatican can not defend people of another religion, why the people of the same religion can not defend each other, among them ? Where are the Thailand buddhists, the Malaysian, the Chinese, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and who I forget ? Are we letting ten monks in a shy rally in downtown the burden to support alone the shame of whole emptied Monastries and Temples in another Country ?

The situation is stabilised, you tell, and stays in one corner of everybody conscience, day and night, up to the day it is solved. Happy those who can sleep. Or could they ?


PS: May I propose a future Inquirer paper (titled Asean double talk), announced as this : "Burma has become the Great Game in the scramble among Asian powers for access to its resources. The junta is playing this card to the hilt to keep power and to suppress the democracy movement in Burma. The position of Asean, of which Burma is a member, on the crackdown is the most innocuous. The hypocrisy of Asean will be examined in the next column."