အသုံးပြုသူ ဆွေးနွေးချက်:Aye Lwin

Historical Reference Papers, Documents Collection

Aims and Objectives

During 41 years serving Government of the Union of Myanmar, I have in my collection reference papers, documents and photos, I consider quite a number of them to have historical importance or worthy of being considered as useful, important reference resource. Believing that such items in my collection should be shared with others, especially the younger generations who have joined the service and serving the government at this time. My friend and colleague Ko Zaw Htut, who at one time served like me in the diplomatic service and who had opted to change career to become IT specialist, informed me about the first seminar on Myanmar Wikipedia that was held in Bangkok early in October 2010. He encouraged me to contribute in Myanmar or English language, anything that I feel would contribute to the knowledge. He said I can also write my comments on contribution made by others. I thank him for the information about Myanmar Wikipedia and his encouragement for me to contribute what I believe would contribute to the knowledge. His encouragement provided me with this opportunity to share with others, items in my collections which I believe have historical importance or at least others visiting Myanmar Wikipedia site would find them as useful reference. I, in turn, would like to urge in all seriousness and invite others who may have similar items of historical importance or would be useful as reference, to contribute them at this site under this “Historical Reference Papers, Documents Collection”. Anyone who may decide to accept my encouragement and invitation to contribute at this site under this heading, I would urge them to identify themselves so that we all know who the contributor is for the reference papers, documents or photos or even their own article to share with others what they know which they believe would serve as useful knowledge and reference. Aye Lwin Director General (ASEAN) (Retd) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dated 9th October 2010.

Thanks for joining Myanmar Wikipedia, Uncle. Lionslayer ၁၀:၅၇၊ ၁၃ အောက်​တို​ဘာ​ ၂၀၁၀ (UTC)

Welcome to Myanmar Wikipedia. We are looking forward to your contributions. Thanks in advance. Zawthet ၁၅:၃၈၊ ၁၃ အောက်​တို​ဘာ​ ၂၀၁၀ (UTC)

Dear U Aye Lwin, I would like to have more valuable facts & Figure with wikify format. Please try to seek other chapters and try to contribute valuable knowledge. I couldn't agree any more with your view and expression. cheers. Wikidragon ၁၅:၃၆၊ ၁၉ အောက်​တို​ဘာ​ ၂၀၁၀ (UTC)

WE REAP WHAT WE SOW

(After my retirement from government service in December 2001 and having all the time to think I was overwhelmed by thoughts one early morning of where we are, in terms of economic development, and where other countries have reached in the region. Imbued with self-analysis I got to my computer and produced the article below which I wish to share with all. As a nation all of us are now standing at the crossroad and looking at what direction to take. Now that I have wikipedia forum to present my views, I thought it timely to share this article with you and invite constructive views and comments. I do urge all who may read my article and wish to express their views and comments to do so constructively confining purely on economic terms and without bringing in politics or blaming political personalities.

Aye Lwin 15-10-10)

WE REAP WHAT WE SOW

It is about time all of us start to learn lessons from our past deeds. Yes, what we have sown in the past – the good and the bad – that have grown are the crop we have to reap. Yes, indeed, we reap what we have sown.

When we looked at the past, at our history, it appears to me that, we tend to look for excuses for things which have not happened but we wish that it had happened. We are only too ready to blame others for our deficiencies. We are not ready to look and examine ourselves what we have done or not done.

Of course, we cannot do, or make decisions to do, things that ought to be done unless we are in a position to decide, and direct the course of history. Be that as it may, we are part of this nation just as a drop of water in the ocean is part of that vast ocean. I believe that however small, or however insignificant, our contribution may be that we are able to make, unless we make them, we have not contributed an iota of effort to make our nation strong, and to make our nation great. We have been around in the past to do something. What have we sown ourselves to make the crop that is now growing? Do we see a good, healthy, strong and productive crop?

We have vision now. We want our nation to develop. We want our economy to be strong. We want our people to have opportunities to earn income; to have sufficient income to feed the family; to educate their children to learn, to be able to afford to use facilities at the hospitals and clinics to maintain our health; to have leisure time to enjoy life to reinvigorate and renew our strength to do more and more to make our country stronger and greater. If these are the things we want now we should have done what we need to do to make things happen as we wish now.

Did we have those visions way back in the past/? Have we sown anything that we believe would make things happen what we envision now?

This article is written with the intention not to blame anyone. What has happened has happened. We cannot undo the past. It would be our own folly if we spend our time unproductively "crying over spilt milk", so to speak. No! Let us only look at the past to learn lessons to guide us what we should be doing now, to learn lessons and correct our mind-set to move our nation forward, to make our nation competitive and at least, to begin with, to be at par with nations in the region, as our first step as we move along the path of growth and progress to become a fully developed nation and leave behind the developing woes we all experience as we try to develop.

And for that we certainly need to change our mind-set. We cannot continue to think as we do in the past. This is where lessons from the past come into play. The lessons we learn from our past mistakes will guide us to change our mind-set to arrive at decisions not to make the same mistakes again and again. At the same time we need to know, also, what others had done and succeeded to move forward substantially more than what we were able to do.

Let us look back at our country. Burma then and Myanmar now, way back in the late 50s and early 60s where were we then? We were one of the most developed country in the region. Our airport was the largest then. Our neighbours in the region came to this country to learn from us and to buy commodities from us. Rangoon University was one of the top learning institution. The World Bank Annual Report rated Burma, together with Sri Lanka and the Philippines as having the most potential for early industrialization and progress.

What happened after that is history. We need to look at that history. We need to know where we stood then and where we are now. We must try and understand impartially what we did and what we did not do to get us to where we are now. We need to know, also, why our neighbours gradually surpassed us. What did they do as compared to what we did at the time they were following a certain course of development efforts. We need to look at the progress made by others. How did Singapore with a population not even the size of Yangon and without natural resources to boast about like we do, make its economy grow and achieved not only Newly Industrialized Country (NIC) status but attained a living standard far surpassing others in the region. They must have done things right. They must have looked at their own situation, their own conditions and their own status and evidently assessed them, more or less, correctly and arrived at decisions and implemented them to move the country forward to where they are now.

Look at Malaysia. That country had the benefit of having far-sighted pragmatic leader continuously for many, may years in the person of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. His far-sightedness led him to expound a vision not only for Malaysia but initiated a process in member countries of ASEAN to have an ASEAN Vision 2020. This process began as Myanmar and Laos joined AEAN in July of 1997. Malaysian senior officials in ASEAN discussions took the lead in developing the ASEAN Vision 2020.

Then again, Thailand --- That country went through political upheavals but had the advantage of unifying symbol in the person of the King – King Phumibol Adualdej. Thailand also had the advantage of being the only country which had not been colonized except for a period when Myanmar Kings invaded. That too is history just as other countries in the region which came under colonial rule is history. We must not forget history but again in looking back to the past we should not dwell on it in such a way as it becomes an impediment for progress and development.

Despite the fact that Thailand had not be colonized, it was not as developed as Myanmar was (Burma, then) and the Thais and those from the region do come to Myanmar to shop at our department store called Rowe & Co., Teejoomal etc. The Mingladon airport at the outskirt of Yangon was a noteworthy airport in Southeast Asia with foreign airlines such as Pan American Airways, British Airways, among others using it for their schedule flights to Asia. Don Muang Airport, Bangkok, then was a much smaller airport, somewhat comparable to one of our district airport.

Now, things have changed. Developments have taken place in the region, far, far greater than what little developments have taken place in Myanmar.

We need to realize where we are. We need to know what we can do and the extent that we can do with the capacity we have now. We certainly must look into how that capacity can be developed and what others have done to enhance their own capacity and developed much, much more than we have been able to.

In one word we need to "buck up". let's appraise ourselves and let's take steps in the right direction. Let us do what we can, and more, for our children, and children's children, to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

And for that, let us now sow the right seed by analyzing our conceptions and misconceptions, and nurture it with the best possible nutrients through acquiring knowledge to help us make the right decisions, for the shoots, the plants, the trees, the flowers and the fruits to blossom forth in the land that is fertile for growth of thinking minds free of prejudices and imbued with the spirit of 'myitta' (loving kindness) and 'cetana' (volition to help others with purity of heart) --- the basis of a 'caring and sharing' society, we and other ASEAN countries had envisioned our societies to develop by the year 2020.

Let us sow, so that what we reap will leave a legacy to ensure that the generations to come will enjoy the fruits of our labour.

Aye Lwin Director-General (ASEAN) (Retd) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

July 2003.

Civil Society, Civil Governance, Government and the People

(As we stand as a nation at the crossroad looking at what direction to take, I wish to share with you another article I wrote, which I hope will help you to ponder over and to decide which direction to take to contribute to economic development, peace and prosperity.)

Civil Society, Civil Governance, Government and the People

It is about time that the Government and the people that it governs, learn to appreciate and understand the correct meaning of what it entails when we say civil society and civil governance.

Civil society and civil governance are generally misunderstood by governments in the region just as the people themselves do not understand the responsibilities they need to assume in the make-up of the civil society in a country, and performing and assisting the task of governance where governments and the peoples they govern have to play their respective parts.

Another misunderstood term is people’s power. This has been taken generally in the negative sense in that people’s power is equated with power to disrupt government’s activities or stand against a government. Such irresponsible behavior do exist, and that is simply because the people themselves do not appreciate what people’s power should mean, and what that entails, in terms of responsibilities that they have to assume.

In a sense common words understand by all, more or less correctly, are the words ‘development’, ‘progress’. ‘peace’, ‘stability’ and ‘prosperity’. What the government and the people do not appreciate or understand is the true sense of these words that would bring about ‘development’, ‘progress’, ‘peace’, ‘stability’ and ‘prosperity’ to them.

Governments have the responsibility to organize in an orderly fashion to bring about and achieve the objectives of ‘development’, ‘progress’, ‘peace’, ‘stability’ and prosperity’ and take the lead in implementing to achieve these objectives.

Governing arm of governments are civil services of the countries. While decision-makers make decisions required for carrying out activities concerned with development of countries it is the governing arm of the governments, that is, civil services which carry out the implementation process. In a sense to the people those implementing the decisions of the government – the officials in the service of the governments are seen, in a general sense, as government. In a sense they are the government

The momentum and the rate of ‘development’, ‘progress’, ‘peace’, ‘stability’ and ‘prosperity’ can be enhanced in great measures only through people’s participation and that, too, willingly and not because they are told to, forced to or instructed to do so. That willingness will manifest itself when people understand and appreciate what a government is organizing and implementing and where and in what way people can contribute to assist government’s efforts and in which area people’s participation is needed. That can come about only with interaction in the correct manner between the government and the people that would bring about the willingness and that constructive result.

However, the term ‘civil society’ for instance is equated by governments as people’s power and generally taken to mean people manifesting its power to oppose a government or undertaking anti-government’s activities. What is not really appreciated is that we need ‘people’s power’ to contribute to the constructive activities a government is undertaking. What the people need to appreciate also is that ‘people’s power’ in a responsible society is to contribute to the constructive activities of a government and not to manifest this irresponsibly in aiming at going against a government or doing destructive things that would not fulfill the objectives of ‘development’, ‘progress’, ‘peace’, ‘stability’ and ‘prosperity’.

Then again, governments which should serve to regulate and issues rules and regulations need to appreciate that they are responsible also to make ‘people’s power’ to be constructive by not going against the wishes of the majority and to provide the correct incentives for this ‘ people’s power’ to develop along the right, constructive path. This can only be achieved by listening and appreciating the point of views presented by the people. Listening but not brushing off what has been presented.

The proper understanding of the term ‘civil society’ and the ‘people’s power’ by the government and the people would provide the necessary incentives for development in the direction to ensure ‘peace’, ‘stability’, ‘progress’ and ‘prosperity’.

U Aye Lwin Director-General (ASEAN) (Retired) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

11 August 2003.