In Bed with Two Genocidal Regimes in the ASEAN Region: The Case of Singapore, the “Switzerland of Southeast Asia”
Running a government is not like running a church, as the 6th President, the late S. R. Nathan, angrily shouted at me some 30 years ago. But running a state should not mean collaborating and profiting from the genocidal regimes in the backyard.
Western Myanmar as a Genocide Triangle: Myanmar’s Military-State, Separatist Rakhine Nationalists and Rohingya Genocide Victims
The increasingly vocal demand by the separatist Arakan Army (AA) for international recognition of it as a (quasi)-state actor with which the United Nations and foreign governments should do business with, needs to be checked against the dark record of the anti-Rohingya racism and criminal responsibility of its popular base, namely Rakhine nationalists, in the slow-burning genocide of Rohingyas since the late 1970's.
ASEAN under Cambodia’s Chair-ship Needs a New Muscular Strategy To Deal with Myanmar Dictator Min Aung Hlaing
ASEAN Defence Ministries could work out a Humanitarian Task Force, with Cambodia as a natural leader. The post-civil war Cambodian leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen has decades of experience working with external actors, from UN to China. This proposal could be attractive to both China and other immediate neighbours.
The Execution of 4 Activists should Strengthen Myanmar People’s Resolve & Unite their Resistance against the Genocidal Military Junta
Their lost lives this weekend should unify us. Their barbaric executions should instil a much-needed ethos of camaraderie – which calls for basic respect, appreciation and mutual support. It is way past time that every Myanmar that wants to rid the country of the genocidal regime of Min Aung Hlaing unite. We must make sure that they did not die, in vain.
War is Not the Answer to Conflicts: Not in Ukraine Nor Elsewhere
In the FORSEA interview conducted in Kuala Lumpur on Friday 8 July, 2022, Dr Mahathir pointed out that Western powers invent “enemies”, holding up the Cold War as a concrete example.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing should drop the plan to execute 4-Myanmar activists: An Open Appeal
I am making an open appeal to your better self – both as a fellow Myanmar and a Buddhist – to reconsider your decision to proceed with the execution, by hanging, of 4 Myanmar activists who actively opposed your coup and were tried and found guilty under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act.
Extend the Spirit of Partisans to Fight New Fascisms: Homophobia, Discrimination, Exclusion and Racism
For the first time since the end of the ethnic cleanings in 1992-95, the Bosnian human rights activists decided to explore the possibility of establishing international solidarity networks, linking their local activism with those value-based – anti-Fascist and pro-democratic – activists from other parts of the world.
Democracy in France 2022: Conversation with Sorbonne Constitutional Scholar and Leftist Intellectual Marie Gren
In the fascinating 60-minutes discussion, Professor Gren touched on various aspects of contemporary democracy in France, ranging from the sordid state of the Left and its “caviar socialists” and the increasing acceptability and mainstreaming of Far Right ideologies which Le Pen personifies, to the economic hardships that inflict immense pains on the great majority of the French public.
Myanmar Mothers’ Cries Do Not Bode Well for the Nation’s Future
The musician of resistance Mun Awng reminded the viewers, “the revolution must prevail, against all odds.” Tain Sway was seen nodding her head profusely when Mun Awng spelled out the pervasive sentiment – that “it is better to die fighting for the cause than living under the boot, again”.
The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Through My Burmese Eyes
None of the leading liberal democracies of the West really honours the principles they loudly espouse such as non-violence, popular and state sovereignty, human rights, or democracy, nor do they support democratic resistance, armed or non-violent, unless such support serves their hidden interests, whether those interests are commercial or geostrategic.