Shan Herald Agency for News |
| To Hopeland and Back (Part VI) Posted: 27 Dec 2013 09:32 PM PST Today, apart from our continued discussions on the New BNI structure and functions, we were visited by two guests, who certainly wouldn't want to jeopardize their newly gained cordial relationship with the Burmese authorities by getting their identities revealed by me. Their reports to the meeting, I think, are quite illuminating. Here are the excerpts:
Another surprising revelation was that trainings are being conducted in Thailand again, after a period of moving inside the country. "Before, it was because of security we ran our trainings outside Burma. Now it's the cost. Organizing trainings inside has proved to be more expensive than organizing them outside." |
| To Hopeland and Back (Part VI) Posted: 27 Dec 2013 09:29 PM PST Day Four, Sunday, 15 December 2013 Nothing much to report except for one thing. When I opened the door of our meeting room to look for my shoes (prized at 3,000 baht or $ 100 but purchased at half the price during the New Year's clearance soles), I found they had disappeared. And I wasn't alone either. All participants with new footwears also found them missing.  6 of BNI members' Logos: Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA), Katarawaddy Times (KT), Karen Information Center (KIC) Karenni, Khonumthung News (KN) Chin, Mizzima News and Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) After a few grumbles, I succeeded in calming myself down. Well, in a city where a worker's salary is K 100,000 ($ 100) or less, that is bound to happen, I told myself. Luckily, I received a pair of old shoes from the BNI secretary which fit me. And I returned to my room much chastened. Interestingly, it coincided with reports of soaring rents in Rangoon. When I asked what the reason was, an informed source replied, "Some people are in a hurry to whitewash their black money." And why isn't the government doing something about it? "Because it'll stir a nest of hornets that can spiral out of control. It already has more than enough problems to address." |
| To Hopeland and Back (Part VI) Posted: 27 Dec 2013 08:53 PM PST Day Three, Saturday, 14 December 2013 Today we discussed the BNI's new vision (what we want it to be) and mission (what we want it to do). As to be expected, instead of going straight to the point, the process went a roundabout way, that is, by answering questions:
We also debated whether or not we should continue to use the word "ethnic" to represent the non Burmans or turn to "indigenous" instead. "We were told ethnic Burmans and Chinese should also be counted as ethnicities," said one. "But we don't want that, do we?" But later, after failure to agree upon a better word, all went back to "ethnic", although nobody seems to like it much either. 6 of BNI members' Logos: Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA), Katarawaddy Times (KT), Karen Information Center (KIC) Karenni, Khonumthung News (KN) Chin, Mizzima News and Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) Finally, the following vision and mission were spelt out: Vision The emergence of a broad and independent ethnic media network in support of the development of a federal democracy that is peaceful and just Mission The ethnic media network will focus on the following tasks:
Of course, there are further debates about membership and the new BNI structure which I don't want to bore the readers. Suffice it to say the day ended with all of the participants being friends again. |
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