Posted by Kyaw Myaing Some say that economic reform should precede political reform, others say that political reform should come first. Some say that these two important reform movements should be done at the same time, in tandem. I believe that they should be done at the same time. Why? I see Myanmar or any other country where reform needs to be undertaken as a complete whole. Just as in the human being, development should be holistic, so also in the case of a country, the reform should be holistic. There are many developing countries which are in the process of development. Myanmar is still a developing country and no matter how well endowed we may be of natural resources, if the right conditions are not there, it will be very difficult to use these natural resources for the development of the country. In the country, there is the "awkatha lawka" or the physical realm. These are the things that we can see with our eyes all around us - the lakes, rives, oceans, hills, mountains etc. All physical things fall into this Awkatha Lawka. Then we have the "thatta lawka" or the realm of beings. By this we mean all the living beings that can be seen or unseen with the human eye. Humans, animals, insects, viruses, microbes etc. Some of the viruses, microbes and germs cannot be seen with the naked eye but only with the microscope but they are all living beings nonetheless. Then according to the Buddhist belief as well as the beliefs of people from other faiths such as the Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims etc, there are beings which are in the spiritual realm. We cannot see these beings with our eyes. However their existence has been described and recorded in holy writings such as the Tripitakas, the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas and the scriptures of the Jews. According to the Buddhist Tripitakas there are 31 planes of existence. There are six planes of devas and twenty planes of Brahmas. At one time, socialist writings said that "Man Matters Most". In my view, I think Man should be humble enough and smart enough to understand the importance of all beings that exist in this universe and in other countless universes. This is the essence of the belief that ecology is important and that Man should live in harmony with the Spiritual beings. Thus I wish to propose a new saying: "all beings matter, and man should live in harmony with all beings". This being said, we now come back to what we mean by the holistic approach. This approach means that we take into consideration all factors that impact upon the development of the country. For the country to development well, we need capable leaders as well as faithful followers. We need unity and a spirit of "live and let live". All the national ethnic races should understand that "they are all in the same boat". There is a Myanmar saying: "in the same boat, on the same journey". Unless there is unity, the development process of Myanmar will not be at the optimum level. Thus we need: On top of that the development process cannot go well without efficient and capable public service personnel (civil servants as they were called during the colonial period). This falls within the domain of domestic policy. In the area of Foreign Policy, foreign policy should be in full alignment with the Agenda of the Nation. The developing state should be a full and respected member of the family of nations - which is the United Nations. Myanmar relations with all countries, especially neighbors and regional and super powers should be cordial. We need this sort of enviroment for the country to develop at its optimum potential. (to be continued)
on 9/1/2004, 5:32 pm, in reply to "Migalar Pyi"
67.83.138.244
Political Reform or Economic Reform
- good and capable leaders
- good citizens
- national unity
- good understanding among the national races
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