Home Sweet Home!
The following essay was submitted by a resident in Yangon who wishes to remain anonymous for his safety. It refers to the recent interaction between General Min Aung Hlaing and Cardinal Bo.
I would have liked to take advantage of this Christmas day to bring you good news and a note of hope. After all, and as one of my honorable correspondents pointed out to me, Christmas is that holiday when Christians all over the world announce the advent of the "Prince of Peace". According to the Revelation of Saint John the return of the Prince is imminent: “Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to render to each according to his work” (Revelation 22: 12). The Bible even specifies that there will be signs that will multiply simultaneously in various places (wars, famines, earthquakes, persecutions, etc.).
I will not embark on a very unscientific etymological analysis of the surnames of all the potential dictators of the modern world (Putin, Maudit, Trompe, Chie and so on). My theory of knowledge would not fail to rightly point out to me that one does not build a solid argument on ad hominem attacks, and even less on hijacking surnames. Yet that is what came to mind when I learned with amazement that our local autocrat had made an appearance on December 23 in the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, accompanied by his wife, his ministers and their wives (all knaves and fools according to the unequivocal assertion of Sean Turnell, the Australian economist released on November 17 after 650 days in detention in appalling conditions). The acronym used by all Burmese to refer to the dwarf of Naypidaw (ဂျပု in Burmese) is none other than - I give you a thousand - MAL. Thousand MAL. The first letter of the third particle of its name is indeed not the letter H, but rather a modification of the letter L by an aspirated h. The return of the Prince of Peace is not yet relevant. On the other hand, that of the prince (of) EVIL is a reality that cannot be escaped.
The appearance of the senior general was followed by a speech of peace delivered by the prince in person, within the very respectable building built by the British colonists more than 100 years ago. You will find a fairly detailed account of his sermon in the December 24 edition of the Global New Light of Myanmar, along with some accompanying photos, including the hand-delivery by a completely hilarious Cardinal Charles Bo of a filthy crust in the colors of Christmas with the expression "Home Sweet Home" inscribed above what looks like an English villa planted in the middle of a garden crossed by a river spanned by a stone bridge. Home Sweet Home! Home Sweet Home! A very traditional English phrase that evokes the sweetness of the domestic hearth. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, since the military coup of February 1, 2021, more than 38,000 houses have been destroyed or burned down, leading to the widespread displacement of more than 1.1 million people. people.
Home Sweet Home!
During a homily he delivered on December 8 near Pyin-Oo-Lwin, the Cardinal said that “The people of Myanmar have been suffering from the Covid pandemic and political instability for two years, and thousands of people are homeless and seeking refuge in the camps." “In the midst of darkness and suffering, the Church is wounded, the Church is moved,” he added. The cardinal, however, did not mention the arson attacks perpetrated by the army in villages, including his own. His latest appeal came just two weeks after his home village of Mon Hla in Sagaing region came under military attack and houses were burned down, while at least three civilians, including a boy seven years old, were killed.
Home Sweet Home!
Perhaps a dash of dark black humor is to be seen in this Christmas present in the worst possible taste, marked with an Orwellian inscription in a language whose recipient does not understand a traitorous word. Would this therefore be the only means available to the jovial prelate to express the suffering of an entire people, whose only desire is to be able to profit from the sweetness of a home, a sweet home! Maybe.
During his speech, the Generalissimo said that all human beings must build the essence of Christmas with compassion [sic] so that a peaceful and prosperous society can be established within a peaceful and tranquil world. "Only when all people on the planet follow the guidance of religions will society and the country be peaceful and prosperous. The State Administration Council (the SAC, the illegal government set up by MAL ) opens the door of peace to all, while the Tatmadaw (the name of the junta) is ready to restore peace." The Chief General has asked leaders of all religions to attend the ceremony to restore perpetual peace as much as they can. "From the significant day of Christmas 2022, all should strive to bring peace and stability, security and peace to Myanmar as soon as possible in order to create the conditions for peaceful coexistence among all peoples. religion."
"War is Peace". This slogan was at the heart of the dystopia imagined by George Orwell in his novel 1984. MAL's speech perfectly illustrates Orwell's idea that the submission and control of the people must begin with the destruction of language which must be replaced by Newspeak. "It's a beautiful thing the destruction of words." What a beautiful thing is the destruction of words! This discourse fully anchors SAC propagandists in their Orwellian view of the world. From now on, all means are allowed to achieve their end: the complete submission of the Burmese people.
According to a very close friend well aware of what is said in the corridors of the Burmese church, the clergymen summoned by force to this staging of unimaginable hypocrisy were upset, revolted by this speech to vomit. So much so that they would have destroyed by fire the desk from which the Machiavellian homily of the general-in-chief was pronounced. Then the prince rushed into a limousine of his motorcade and accompanied by his henchmen and their wives joined one of his ultra-secure palaces. MAL can be proud of his achievement. He succeeded perfectly in the objective he had probably set himself: to divide the church against Cardinal Bo who has now lost all credibility with his faithful.
A year that is ending is always an opportunity to take stock. For the past two or three years, I tell myself that the one to come cannot be worse than the one that has just passed. This was without taking into account Murphy's Law, according to which everything that can go wrong will go wrong, or in a more literary version, "when misfortunes come, they do not come in solitary scouts but in battalions" (Shakespeare , Hamlet). According to this law of maximum annoyance, it is by imagining that nothing can happen to us that everything can fall on us! The worst...like the best.