Chinese funding freed Burma to participate in Shanghai Expo

By Kong Janoi/ Shanghai

The Chinese government has subsidized the pavilions of developing countries to join the 184 Shanghai Expo.

The funding for the otherwise excluded countries comes as the expo also promises to give foreign nations and companies a chance to further develop business partnerships with China and Chinese companies.

A representative of Bangladesh Pavilion, Mohammad Abdul Halim, said they came to the expo through the expo committee arrangement.

“We did not even invest a single penny on this expo. We even get a salary from the expo committee,” he said. “We get a small building here but it is fine for us.”

According to Shanghai Expo official website the Chinese government spent US $58 billion on the Expo and related infrastructures in Shanghai.

Burma, which shares a border with China and tight economic connections, was invited to the expo this year. It is the first time isolated nations, such as Burma, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Iran, are participating in a world expo.

With the theme of the Shanghai Expo being, “A Better City, A Better Life”, these isolated nations, such as Burma, increase exposure for their culture’s heritage and relation to the economy of China.

These countries’ pavilions have not been popular amongst visitors due to the little amount invested on the pavilions and exhibitions. However some people are still coming to see these pavilions because they have had no lines in which to queue as compared to the more popular pavilions where visitors have had to wait several hours.

Inside the Burmese pavilion, a Hong Kong Tourist, Yuen man-yuk reported, “I felt strange when I saw those countries showing tourist-like attractions in the World Expo because I expected to see such hi-tech exhibitions in the Expo and other fascinating new inventions.”

The Burmese pavilion, which is part of the Joint Asia Group III, shares it’s building with Laos. The Burmese theme, entitled “Better Urbanization with Harmonized Eco-System”, is designed like a Mandalay palace inside, and features a hanging picture of Shwedagon pagoda as the background. In the pavilion local customs and culture are introduced. Additionally the pavilion hosts the sales of diamonds and other Burmese products.

However there are no Burmese staff present in the pavilion, compared to other countries have their own staffs to represent their country. Visitors have reported that due to the building’s size and little visual development, the “Better Urbanization with Harmonized Eco-System” takes five minutes visit.

The offer by China to fund Burma’s pavilion is telling, Nyo Ohn Myint, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee for the National League for Democracy Librated Area (NLDLA), believes. Nyo Ohn Myint says that China wants to influence those countries in term of economy and politics.

“China has a lot of border trade [between the] Burmese and Chinese government,” notes Myint. “They want Burmese government to be more efficient and independent economically within the Chinese scope, So they can grow a Chinese economic empire. That is why the Burma [is] invited [to] the Expo.”

Xinhua, a Chinese government controlled news agency, said that China and Burma will sign a series of agreements to boost existing bilateral trade, which reached US $264 million this year.

Burma has faced economic sanctions form the United States and other western countries since 1990 when the ruling military junta refused to acknowledge the results of national election that overwhelmingly elected the opposing party, the National League for Democracy, led by noble laureate Aung San Su Kyi.

Since, the question of sanctions has been increasingly divided, as 20 years later the Burmese military regime remains in power and the Burmese economy remains stagnant.

Myint added, “The Burmese government exports only raw material like timber and some kinds of natural resources. China wants Burma to be more open minded to deal with the world because the sanctions are part of the problem in that Burma cannot co-exist the international economic sector. But that [also makes] China [the] only door for Burmese government to deal with international communities.”

For some visitors that attend the Burmese pavilion at the world expo, the Chinese effort to support Burma’s fledgling pavilion, is an opportunity for awareness. A United States tourist, Matt Maar, said the China effort inviting isolated countries to the Expo is a sign of a new step to solve their problems.

“It is good because isolation is not going to solve the problem. They should be given a chance see and realize [what] benefit there is to open their countries. I think the move by China is on right track.”

Shanghai World Expo: A Better Life?

Sunday, 06 June 2010 14:04 Banyar Kong Janoi

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Download The Chinese government has spent nearly 60 Billion US dollars on it’s World Expo in Shanghai.

It’s on for 184 days and China is using it to show off its remarkable economic growth.

The expo also promises to give foreign nations and companies a chance to further develop business partnerships with China and Chinese companies.

Banyar Kong Janoi is at the Expo for Asia Calling.

Thousands of people are crowded in front of the gate.

Security guards are checking every person. Water and liquid are not allowed in. Notebook computers are scanned.

More than 190 countries and more than 50 international organizations have registered to make this the largest ever World Expo.

China expects almost 100 foreign leaders and millions of people from across the world to come and see the show.

Already there are long queues to get inside the pavilions.

It can take hours to get into popular ones from Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

Inside these pavilions, visitors experience the current and future urban life of the country by way of images and videos projected onto screens along the corridors.

Environmental protection is a common theme.

Hi-tech wind power and solar energy models are being promoted. Riding bicycles instead of driving cars is encouraged.

Sailee from Hong Kong has come here to explore new innovation.

“Learn the culture of other countries and also hi-tech. But also some kind of Chinese people and other foreigners”

The African live show is amusing many vistors.

Three black singers in full song interact with the audience.

Many developing countries are taking part in this year’s expo.

Mohammad Abdul Halim is a Bangladesh Pavilion representative.

“We have gained experience visiting different pavilions that how development their economy, history, culture, and even manufacture capacity. Then We can compare with our capacity. We have an opportunity to do how to develop farther in the capacity of Bangladesh so this is the best forum.”

He said the Expo is a symbol of China’s global influence.

“I think it is one of the greatest opportunity for China to show case this power because you know. China is fast forward country. It is going to dominate the world in term of economy. You know China is the pick of economic development: resource mobilization is highest pick so China is showing how powerful the country is economically, technologically, culture heritage all the things."

Halim see China as a role model for Bangladesh and another developing countries.

“Because of China develop in the fastest rate. They are using their resources in the greater way. They are very much environment conscious also. So Bangladesh as a developing country should fellow China on their development activities.”

The Expos theme song ‘a better city a better life’ can be hear throughout the park.

Shanghai resident Li Ping is happy with the rapid development taking place in her city.

“The situation now is far much better than before and definitely this slogan “better city better life” will be realized in the future since the world exposition brings with it advanced knowledge from the developed countries which will facilitate the realization of this version.”

But for some people the Expo has made their life harder.

Over ten thousands families were relocated to other areas to build the Expo.

Even though many of them received compensation, they are still struggling to find somewhere to live due to the soaring property prices.

Standing out side the Expo gates 70 year old, Xie Jing-hu says he has not seen change for the better.

He is a factory worker who rents a small flat with his wife.

“World exposition is organized by the government who takes responsibility for our ordinary people. We expect an improvement of life. It is every one’s wish but now we face housing problem that we wish to be resolved. It seems to us that the government begins paying attention to this problem gradually; however we understand that this problem can only be solved slowly.”

Essay on Man's invention

Man’s invention makes contribution to a wonderful place to live on the earth in term of new technology development. However, there is also a great danger of the earth which has been affected by human activity. Thus, protecting the nature of the earth is more important than taking advantage of natural environment to build a better place to live.

Some people believe that human creativity make a comfortable living because they can easily access to homes, cars, holidays and schools than the Stone Age people. In the past, people did not even have proper shelters to protect themselves from the strong weather but now they have everything they need. For example, in winter, people have winter clothes and heater. In summer, they install air-conditioning in their building. Transportation and communication are very convenient nowadays. In the past, people was using horse and traveled by foot from one place to another which consumed longer time but now because of new technology development, people even can travel to the moon. Also it only takes few hours from Asia to America. The form of communication was totally changed. During the monarchic era around 16^th century, people set a fire to signal a warming or to communicate between their troops. Now people can use phone, SMS, and Skape to communicate more accurately and efficiently. It can communicate instantly and it can even see face to face by video call or video chat. Consequently the world becomes a village. That’s why human activity is making a perfect world.

Even though the new invention of technology makes the world like the heaven, it destroys the natural environment on the earth. For instance, Air-conditioning produce cool and comfortable temperature inside building but at the same time it produces carbon dioxide which pollutes the environment. There are hundreds of thousands of air-conditioning producing carbon dioxide every day. Also greenhouse gases, cars and factories pollution which cause global warming today. When our earth is warming, the ice cap in the North Pole melts down so there is flooding in many countries like Philippine. The earthquake, volcano, and Tsunami are occurring as a result of destroying the nature of environment. Therefore, human activity is harming the environment.

Likewise, human activity cannot make a better place to live if their activities are harming or destroying the environment because without a better environment human cannot survive. The association between human and earth is like an egg and a hen. If there are no eggs, it cannot make a hen and if there are no hens, it cannot make an egg. Thus, In order to make a better place people have to make sure that they are not destroying the environment. Hence, people should not blind their eyes in the short term luxurious life. They also have to anticipate and take actions for long term consequence of the impact.

In conclusion, the correlation between new technology development and natural protection are always challenging to get a great solution. They both are controversial to mankind. I strongly believe that there is a way to make a better place without damaging our natural environment.

First experienced in Hong Kong Baptist University

As I was strolling along a floor, I saw a sign written “Room 704”. I thought for a while and plunged in an electronic key and opened the door. I saw a middle age couple in the room. I tried to communicate with them but I did not understand what they were speaking. However with a gesture, I assumed that they wanted me to wait for awhile.

While I was waiting for my room to be ready, a man about 18 years old was walking towards me. He had short black hair and black eyes in the medium height. I assumed that the way he dressed make him look like a local in Hong Kong. He did not smile at me as he was gazing me and he voiced in Chinese.

“I don’t understand,” I told him.

“Oh you are international student,” he said “where are you from?”

“I am from Burma,” I replied but he seemed that he had no idea where Burma was. Then he began to introduce himself.

“My name is Kawai. I am a hall tutor in this floor. If you need some help please let me know.”

“Thank you Kawai. My name is xxx. Nice to meet you,” I responded.

My room was ready as I saw a signal from the couple so I took my belongings and entered the room. The room was cozy and well furnished for three people so the furniture are divided into three such as beds, kneels, and study tables sticking with a letter named A B C. Mine is the letter C so every things sticking with the letter C belonged to me. The bunk beds were decorated for two. Another bed was designed at a high position so the lower part could place a study table and kneel for a person. The room was really small to compare where I used to live in Thailand and Burma. I used to stay alone twice as bigger than as this room when I attended the meeting in Indonesia. Nevertheless, I realized that I was in Hong Kong and it was different to other places. People were struggling to get a place to live even worse than my room.

After I took a shower, I was thirsty. I could not see any water in a refrigerator so I went down to the lobby to buy a bottle of water. I inserted HK$ 5 coin into a retailer machine but it did not drop any bottle of water for me and it jammed. I called security for help but he can do nothing and requested me to drop a slip about the incident to a responsible person.

On the next morning, I gathered in the student residential hall’s canteen and had breakfast with other two Burmese students who were going to study at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) the same as me. We were asked to meet a staff in the University International Office but we did not know how to get there. Luckily, a roommate of a Burmese student offered to guide us to go to the International Office so the problem was solved. On the way, we passed by a Chinese Medicine Building and Jockey Club building. The buildings were about 18 floors and had multiple rooms inside. In front of the Chinese Medicine building, there was a backyard which was grown some blossomed and greenish grasses. Next to the backyard, there was a small hill which hided the buildings from the southeast area. As we were talking and walking, we reached the international office. The office was not so far from the student residential hall. It was about 10 minutes walk. We entered into a lift and the student who guided us pressed a number 8. As we were walking toward the office, a young woman in mid 20s with fair complexion came out and greeted to us. She had read our name and tried to pronounce in Chinese accent.

“How is your flight?” she warmed us with lightly conversation.

“It was great”

Their team came out from their office to say hello to us. Their warmly welcome make us enjoyable in Hong Kong. I felt as I met old friends or family members when I met them. Our journey in studying began in Hong Kong. We are making new friends and adopting new lifestyle.

IT 1580

I enrolled the course named IT 1580. It was useful for our daily life internet knowlage.

This post is for my class assignment.

Burma Military Regime Aimed to End Gambling in Society

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Banyar Kong Janoi

The Burmese regimes slogan is "the land of gold" it implies that no one is struggling in Burma.

The military-government controls every aspect of people’s lives in the country.

All major enterprises are state-own. To do business in Burma you need to have connects to the ruling generals.

The State also tries to control freedom of expression and social morals.

Last month, the regime began a crack down on gambling.

From inside Burma King Kong Janoi reports.

People are crowed in a coffee shop watching the Thai Stock market on satellite TV.

Their interest is not in the performance of the stock market, but in the random, final two digits of the share price.

It’s called to two digits lottery and the winner numbers are calculated in the last minute before the stock market closes. This happens twice a day.

Among them is 30 year old Nai Shwe Htay.

"The reason why I gamble is I am not happy with my low income. I am impatient and want a big amount of money at once. I want to get married soon and I need money for my wedding. Also if I get a large amount of money I can start my own business.”

Each month he gambles 24 US dollars in the hope of winning about 1000 US dollar but so far he has never won.

Gambling is epidemic among Burma's poor, people from the villagers travel to cities just to gamble.

Some go to the temple asking the monk what number will come up next.

If they run out of money the gamble their house, land and businesses.

Layi Mon has watched her neighbors ruined by gambling.

"She ended up committing suicide after she lost everything through gambling and couldn’t pay her debts. And another one her life was destroyed. She had to sell all properties in order to pay off her debt. Now she runs a small roadside shop selling food to survive.”

To address the problem the Burmese military has launched a crack-down on gambling.

The gambling law of 1986 aims to improve Burmese society.

Police have been told to arrest people found gambling. The maximum sentence is two years in Jail.

A public information campaign is also running. There are billboards and signs across the country saying ‘Work with us to wipe out gambling’.

But gambler Non Tama says the authorities and particularly the police are part of the problem.

"They always claim when they arrest people for gambling that they are doing their duty and helping society but in fact they are just looking for money. You can easily bribe them and get off all charges. It’s no big deal. So gambling is actually on the increase.”

Asia Calling tried to get a response from the Burmese police about these allegations.

We rang seven different police stations from the headquarters to local posts and no one was willing to talk.

In 2007 Transparency International named Burma as one of the most corrupted countries in the world.

Due to corruption and mismanagement of the country’s economy unemployment is very high.

The average annual income is less than 400 US dollars.

Hundreds of Thousands of people leave the country every year in order to find jobs in neighbor countries like Thailand.

In coffee shop in the Karen State, unemployed men are trying to guess the next number.

They write down digits and try to logically work it out.

Gambler Nai Mon says the government needs to address the root causes of the gambling problem.

"If people had jobs they wouldn’t gamble so much. I would be busy with my job and wouldn’t have time to gamble. If the government wants to stop the practice they need to improve the economy and focus on creating jobs and spreading the wealth around and improving the living standards of the general population.”

The Burmese military government decline to talk to Asia Calling.

However a lawyer who wants to be unnamed from Burma says this is the law that is good for society.

"When the people gamble, it can destroy public morality because after they lost every thing, they could become thieves and robbers so this law have to introduce to society."

Burma’s Armed Ethnic Groups to Step up Resistance

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Burma's armed ethnic groups and ceasefire groups are vowing to unite to fight against government forces in the lead up to next year’s election.

According to Burma’s new constitution, all ceasefire groups must operate under the command of the military government.

However, most ceasefire groups have rejected the offer to work as government border patrol units and say they will maintain their army to protect their own people.

As Banyar Kong Janoi reports The New Mon State party and other ethnic groups say they will not accept any policy that doesn’t benefit their people.

Mon villagers dressed in their ethnic colors of red and white gather to celebrate their 62nd revolutionary day.

People sing the Mon National song.

This is the anniversary of the Mon uprising for self-determination against the Burmese government.

Mi Layi Mon says the dream of an independent Mon state is being kept alive by her generation.

“The rights of our people are in the hands of our youth because the youth play a very important role and they are very active in the political movement. So in the future the youth like us will promote ideology and education and we will get what we want."

The New Mon State Party fought an armed struggle for independence against the Burmese junta for over five decades.

But in 1995 it accepted a ceasefire agreement offered by the military regime.

Mon Sone, a resident in Karen State, says signing the ceasefire agreement was the right thing to do at the time.

"We do not blame the NMSP for signing that deal because war is not going to achieve our goal. Fighting will only destroy our people and send us further into poverty. During the conflict years we couldn’t maintain our culture, language or religion because we were on the run all the time. So the idea is we that we would try to achieve our political goals through negotiation.”

But he says the military regime has not kept up their side of the deal.

Now under the country’s new constitution the military regime is demanding all ceasefire groups must operate under the command of the military government.

They want the Mon armed wing to act as a border patrol. Mon Sone says they will never do this.

"The New Mon State Party has been fighting for the rights of the Mon people for long time. We honour and respect what they have done but if they accept the juntas offer and start working for them their honour will disappear right a way. So we very proud that they rejected this offer.”

One of ceasefire group, the Kachin Independence Organization, is preparing to fight if the junta puts pressure on them to become a border guard force.

But the New Mon State Party says they are committed to resolving the stand-off in a peaceful way.

Nai Hong Sa Boung Khine is a NMSP spokesperson.

"For us, we will still maintain ceasefire agreement but if the regime demand more pressure more on us we will have to consider in another way. So far, we would love to solve it politically through negotiation not by fighting with armed.”

The government is by stepping up confrontation against opposition groups.

The government's latest offensive against the Karen National Union, which began in June, has resulted in nearly 5000 Karen fleeing across the border into Thailand.

The conflict between the Burmese government and the KNU, which has stretched over 60 years, is thought to be one of the world's longest running.

Mahn Nyien Maung is a central committee member of Karen National Union armed force.

"If the regime is committed to building peace to avoid civil war them we will go into negotiations with them. But they are not thinking about returning Burma to the democratic path or about the rights of ethnic groups they are only thinking about how long they will be in power for.”

The military government is promising that elections will take place next year. If they go ahead they will be the first democratic vote since 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi won that election but was never allowed to rule. The extension of her house arrest this month means she will be unable to contest next year’s vote.

Political science student Chan Jit in the Mon state says there are two ways to change in Burma a people’s uprising for a slow transitional change.

"For instance, say, if American stops its sanctions and begins doing Business with Burmese people and Burmese government and then the middle class would become larger by then. This evolution would mean the military has to give up their power slowly.”