Random thoughts

R.K. Shivachandra *

Bo Bo Ooo, MP elected from Yangon's Sanchaung Township with R.K. Shivachandra at Kolkata

I happen to be almost in the sky flying from one place to another in the last two weeks. It is always been a thrilling sight to have an eye to eye interaction with the angry clouds hovering around my aircraft's window just 3000 feet above the ground. The furious Monsoon created havoc on the Earth and many places inundated with the torrential rain.

Flying is not my favourite past time and if I had to live 200 years of lifespan, I would always prefer a road travel. Nothing like travelling by train at a window side with some medium size books in hand. My itineraries include Delhi to Kathmandu than back to Imphal and suddenly packed up in a two days notice, flying to Kolkata and to Bangkok by Indigo. With a quick few appointments in Bangkok, I flew to Phuket, the beautiful seashore Thailand always boasts off.

It was two days in Phuket and I returned to Bangkok and now I am flying again to my loveliest destination in the World, Myanmar. Air Asia offers the cheapest rate of all the Airfare in the Bangkok Yangon route. It is just affordable with some Rs. 4,000 or little bit more sometimes. This is not a holiday trip but a business tour.

Kathmandu is as sleepy as it was in 2000. The Dwarika Hotel where I was accommodated was purely a heritage complex and the sky high tariff of the hotel insists me to query what lies beneath the Hotel. The Himalayan Kingdom is now giving a free passage to many Chinese businessmen and one trader opined that they cannot rely on India all the times hence the game change.

I saw many nascent Chinese businesses set up around the city. The down pour and chill Himalayan winds does not allow me to step out the hotel and two days passed off without much to do. But I never missed to have a glance of the Royal Palace and its sprawling premises of the ruling King. The rich Maharaja enjoys every facility.

The rich heritage and honour being paid to the King by his people was immense. I envy it from the corner of my heart. It is not long ago I met our Eningthou Leishemba Sanajaoba at his home, the Palace of Manipur. He was tired, dull and exhausted. The respect and love of the people seemed to have disappeared into the thin air. The big hallway of the Palace was decorated with the king size portrait of past Kings of Manipur who ruled with vigour and consequently gave the land called Manipur to the people of Manipur.

Two thrones were seen in one corner. "The thrones are the seat of God and these mighty thrones cradled down my forefathers from generation to generation while the vigour of freedom keeping alive and intact ". The Maharaja of Manipur told me. Sitting beside him I paid my best reverence to the King though I am none. He is almost a forgotten King and this tends one to ask whether Manipur was a Kingdom before. Why the people of Manipur never remember him as a King.

The dilapidated Palace tells a tale of woes but reminding the past glory of the Kings. The swords hung on the wall stood aghast but we need to remember that the glory of the Kingdom of Manipur was once defended by the blades of these mighty swords and today they are a piece of antique on a forgotten wall. The people who missed their history and who does not know how to respect their tradition can safely be concluded that they are at the threshold of a whirlwind human melting- pot. Manipuris should not be one such races.

Yangon is my favourite destination. My first appointment is with Mr. Bo Bo Ooo, MP elected from Yangon's Sanchaung Township. I met him in Kolkata some five years ago in an International Seminar. He was energetic and an active member of National league of Democracy than. Bo Bo Oo is known for his social skills and organisational capacities. He became a member of the party's disciplinary committee . Later NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi put him in charge of organising fund raising events. His other colleague told me.

We shared certain views and ideas on the Asian corridors passing through Manipur than Saigaing Division of Myanmar. He was not preparing for election than. When I contacted him after the election I am told that he is mostly in his parliament building in Naypyitaw, the country's sprawling military-designed capital. But he said he would meet me in Yangon.

It was a quiet lunch in a humble Burmese Restaurant in Yangon. He was as energetic as I saw him last. Perhaps he is one among the busiest parliamentarian as he had to go through numerous invitations, meeting requests from foreign embassies, and attending several letters from businessmen seeking appointments. No wonder because he is today the Secretary of the House's International Relations Committee. Bo Bo Oo had been a protagonist in the democratic uprising of Myanmar and he was languished in the jail at the age of 26 for twenty years.

A reluctant politician he was, hailing from a wealthy family background in Yangon. He desperately wanted to become a successful businessman. But the 88 Mass Uprising in Myanmar has changed his life forever. He said " I am in politics for the sake of Democracy and for the sake of my people and human rights" During his long incarceration, he experienced solitary confinement, hunger and illness, and saw friends die due to ill treatment. While in prison, his father passed away and his then-wife, the daughter of a top-ranking military officer, abandoned him. When he was released in 2009, he married a former political prisoner who was set free on the same day.

I felt dwarfed before him. As a sort of politician I have not been able to contribute anything for my motherland. There are also many emerging out with shining JCB as fondly being self- tagged as 'social worker' in the wildest midsummer election dream. They are busy in cleaning some dirty drainages resulted by the sheer negligence of the previous MLAs and Ministers. Manipur suffered the most but so far we have not seen a perfect politician who has ambition to serve the nation.

The sacred school of electoral politics had always been reduced to a recreation theatre for many old aged men who recently retired on superannuation from government job. People by and large accept them as a politician. Larger relative-circles speak volume while pushing away the true essence that who will do what. Some primitive and haunted warlord ghosts are still hell-bent to divide the people beyond reconciliation on emotive and thickly cosmetic racial issues.

Indonesia speaks odd 700 indigenous languages with more than 350 sub tribes but hardly have they gone back to the uniqueness of one's history. It is all gibberish...... a kind of chasing wind theory. Where is the human sense to live and let live. Where is the economy growth to live by? shall we continue to live on each other's throat. If they are so concern about their roots than they should also admit that we are from the same place and same background.

Myanmar, our immediate neighbour is not going to be the same. The old Military era has gone but Bo Bo said "There should not be revenge and need of the hour is national reconciliation". Myanmar is historically and culturally close to India, but trade between the two countries is surprisingly too low and the political ties are thin.

On the other hand the trade and economy boom in China's Yunnan province has boosted Shan States and Myanmar economy to a great deal and this is the reason why Myanmar gets closer to China. Moreover China has strategically accepts the importance of Myanmar that the backwater land is no longer an extension market of China but an unavoidable Shangri-La that links to the Bay of Bengal, an important shipping hub and source of considerable natural resources. China is especially anxious to secure access to the Bay of Bengal and create an alternative shipping route for the vast quantities of fuel required by its growth engine.

Manipur has nothing to offer to Myanmar like her counterpart in North West neighbour Yunnan. But the changing dimension of the India and China's strategic intelligence play that vying for more friendly diplomatic calibre over the land of Myanmar, has pushed India in a greater role to play on Manipur's warship that Narendra Modi came to realize only looking east would no longer serve the purpose but he needs action where Manipur will be his cockpit. We need to realize before it is too late. Otherwise we will sweep out by the ever speeding flood called globalisation.

Sorry time is running out , I am late for the flight and till then goodbye.

R.K. Shivachandra

* R.K. Shivachandra contributes regularly to e-pao.net
The writer is President, Indo Myanmar Fraternal Alliance and is also with BJP, Manipur
He can be contacted at nongpokharam(at)gmail(dot)com


This article was posted on July 12, 2016 .