Myanmar Christians

The recent development in Myanmar where the Buddhist monks hit the streets peaked my interest about the country. Knowing that our media is "filtered" most of the time, hit the internet and focused on christians in Myanmar.

Taken from Christianity Today (www.christianitytoday.com):

"A group of Chin and Kachin activists met with U.S. officials in Washington in February. Their reports included the rape of Chin and Kachin Christians, forced shutdown of churches, and the taking of children from their Christian parents, placing them in Buddhist monasteries to become novice monks under the false pretense of ensuring a good education. Also, government soldiers are driving thousands of minority Christians from their villages. Those hiding from their own government are called Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)."

and the most interesting part is this:

"Despite persecution, the church is growing approximately 5 percent a year among Protestants and independents."

There are many other articles online which many of you can refer to. Just to list three:

1. persecution.org - Excellant overview of current political and religious status
2. biblesociety.org - pretty old article but a good short history in Chriatianity in Myanmar
3. wikipedia - a worldview of Myanmar and it's current policies

If I remember correctly, Malaysia was one of the STRONGEST ADVOCATES to allow Myanmar's entry to the ASEAN in 1997.

Since the military junta came to power in 1962, there were strings of reported incidents of political abuses, anti democratic movement, racial segregation, horrible human rights record, second largest opium producer in the world! (read Golden Triangle), and... and... and... in the recent TI Transparency Perception Index ranked as the most corrupted country in the world.
I'm listing this not as a basis to "judge" the country (I'm juz a helpless fry...) but my question is
Why did we turn a blind eye and admit Burma into ASEAN?. Were there any indicators that the country's policies will change? It denounced the results of a free election in 1990 and the military continued holding power to this day?

Under the guise of "non-interferance" we freely advocate the entry of this nation to be in the same league as us. Maybe could it be the following reasons:

1. Money. Money. Money. (Myanmar has quite a huge reserve of oil and gas)
2. Or is it the case of realization that, there are similarities????... how can we question the speck in the eye of a neighbor but a plank in the own eye?

I admit that in reality and economic wise, these burmese people are suffering much more than us over here, but based on principles are there similarities? Rather than listing down the similarities and be categorized as a "political blog" you do your own thinking la.

Until then do spare sometime to pray for the Christians over in Myanmar and for us as a nation...

Shalom...

How to Sleep with a blocked nose...

I discovered something new today! and you should try this when it happens to you. :P. GOt up about 430am this morning with my nose kinda blocked with mucus. Blowed as hard as I can but whe lie down it keeps blocking... and I was darn sleepy.

So juz flashed in my mind why not juz let gravity "unblock" the nose. So this is what i did:

The art of unblocking the nose

I actually thought of juz sitting up and let it out, but once i lean my head against the wall I literally doze of for a few minutes, till my head lost it's balance and I nearly drop off... haha.... and guess what... the nose cleared!... woohooooo...

Anyone done or experienced this before? If not I would like to patent this cure... muahaha

VIEWERS DISCRETION ADVISED -18SG -

Got a forwarded email from my friend today. Courtesy of Mr. Au Kenn of Ismeca. Reminded me of the first time I ate this stuff in Philippines. Basically the MMUCF graduates of 2002 (abt 20 of us if i can recall) organized a Mission Trip to Philippines. We covered quite a number of places from Manila - La Union - Vigan - Baguio and some places in between. We had excellant hosts too who brought us round and one of them actually gave us one of this local delicacy... called "balut". We heard abt it before we came... but the horrors of horrors is when u actually see it and supposed to eat it... :P

Anyway most of the guys chicken out at first, and shockingly it was the girls that ate first. I have to admit I was the 2nd last guy that ate it... and man... that'll be the first and last time I'll ever eat or go near that "thing".

Balut Peeling

The first thing is u drink the "juice" in the egg. Then you're supposed to eat the "stuff" mixed with some salt and vineger. As in drinking the juice wasn't bad enough, wait till you eat it. The first thing is you fell the feathers and the bones... and *cannot describe some more*... I just literally swallowed it and drank gallons of water after that. This is one of the times I can see guys squirm!.

Balut unveiled!

Anyway it was an interesting experience and as Jack Rogan says... "and obviously fear is not a factor to you!"

Happy Belated Merdeka...

Malaysia has reached it's 50th year of independance. A huge milestone for an asian nation. It should be one of the grand mummy's of the SEA nations. But... personally i believe she is still looking for her identity. Conflicting statements from politicians regarding Malaysia's religious status, controversies regarding the federal constitution, blogs that highlights corruption at high levels... where does this leave us? Where does this leave young Malaysians like us, brought up and bred in Malaysia and can hardly speak a word of chinese (I know it's only me... :P)?... Lived in a kampung, with malay neighbors left and right, playing and fighting together.

Merdeka Vintage Cars Convoy at HSBC Melaka

What should our response be? Is it to live in Malaysia with a sense of hope that things would turn around? or living with a sense of cynicism and suspicion?. Talking with many young Malaysians, many of us are divided into 2 camps, some has become critical of goverment policies and cynical to every move the leaders make, and the other camp just couldn't be bothered and display a lacksidal attitude towards anything that happens in the country. Preferring to indulge in apathy and just concentrating on building careers and making money. Very few young people actually are optimistic and remain positive of the changes in the country. Maybe all these are reflected in the higher migratory rate recorded recently...

It's easy to pick on policies, circumstances, situations, bad experiences. Personally and through stories related by friends, relatives and other religious bodies we can see instances of negative/discriminatory actions but I'm always reminded, if there is no battle how can we have victory? If there is no iron to sharpen us, how can we grow and mature? iron sharpens iron, sparks fly!. Or could it be that we're unsure of our identity? of God's plans and purposes for us in this nation? Questions that we can only answer ourselves.

Merdeka Vintage Cars Convoy at HSBC Melaka

Maybe I can be labeled as naive. But i do hope that I would not turn into a cynical and critical Malaysian. Maybe there would be a time that I would migrate out, but maybe not. Whatever it is I'm still a Malaysian.

Enough rambling...

.S H A L O M.

Addendum: Remembered somewhere back in August '98, 1 Malay, 1 Indian and 2 Chinese (one of them me... :P) were on their kapchai's singing the Sudirman's "Tanggal 31..." Merdeka song on top of our lungs, while roaming the streets of Melaka... talk abt Mat Rempit's these days.... those were the days... :D