Thant Myint, a disgraced grandson of U Thant

I have never heard of his name until he launched his not so successful book “The River of Lost Footsteps”. In fact, I didn’t even know Burma’s beloved U Thant has a grandson until then. I suspect he has ever had the first hand experiences of the struggles of Burma and the true relationships between Burmese and ethnic minorities, for his writings didn’t show he has enough knowledge to talk about Burma’s internal affairs albeit naming himself historian.

Frankly, no historians know better than ordinary Burmese about Burma. Burmese are tight lipped about their sufferings for they afraid their words might endanger their families. As a result, the so called historians had to rely only on different books published in and out of Burma. Some of these books are indeed the work of oppressive regime and includes junta’s propagandas. However, the so called experts or historians didn’t even know the facts inside the books are totally wrong and misleading and happily refer the books. It is a sad case for the experts and historians of Burma affairs. Thant Myint is one of them.

His recent words "We don't want Myanmar to be a parallel of Iraq, where we said it's good Saddam Hussein is no longer there, but then did not know how to handle the insurgency that went on after he was gone." not only angered the ethnic minorities and Burmese around the world but also leads to something ASEAN leaders could happily refer to when they want to defend their policy of not taking any action against the regime. These words have been used by Singapore Prime Minister and Singapore Foreign Minister time and time again to justify their stand of keeping Myanmar in the family ( the family of ASEAN governments, not the family of ASEAN nationals).

Below is what Foreign Minister said in a parliament.

Aung San Suu Kyi herself acknowledges the need to involve the military. Without the military, Myanmar can dissolve into civil war. The country has many ethnic groups, a number of which are still armed and can easily restart rebellions in the border regions. The last thing we want is a Yugoslavia or an Iraqi situation at our doorstep. In this regard, ASEAN shares a common position with China and India. Thant Myint-U, the grandson of the third Secretary General of the UN U Thant, who's no apologist for the regime, has wisely cautioned that "We don't want Myanmar to be a parallel of Iraq, where we said it's good Saddam Hussein is no longer there, but then did not know how to handle the insurgency that went on after he was gone."

It is a wonder how Singapore leaders accept and agree with some unknown writer’s view on Burma, especially when the writer might not ever spend even his childhood in Burma. However, just with this statement, Thant Myint has become a wise historian for ASEAN leaders. Sadly, he has become a disgrace in the eyes of millions of Burmese around the world. His grandfather would be so ashamed of him if he is still alive.

To be honest, this statement is a direct insult to ethnic minorities and Burmese alike. How could somebody living outside Burma say something he doesn’t understand? How well he knows about relations between Burmese and minorities? It is true that there are armed groups still holding their arms. But it is also true that they also want democracy, human rights, peace and stability. The rebel groups in Burma are not headed by trigger happy blood thirsty uneducated bastards. Almost all of the leaderships have substantial education before they decided to go against the junta. They all want to see their states progress. They all want to see prosperous Burma. Almost all the rebel groups including KNU have said they will drop the independence calls if they can get autonomy which we think is not unjust. Even if there are groups which haven’t done so, we can always talk. The citizens of Burma are not dumb. We have done it once in 1947. We can do it again in 2007. The only thing we need is our chance to do so. So, stop saying Burma would become a Balkan, or Iraq, or Somalia. We have the right to decide our own fate.

Allowing the citizens of Burma a chance to enjoy democracy and human rights would not lead to civil war but it would probably lead to lost opportunities to sell arms and buy rubies, jades, fish, timber and gas cheap.