Myanmar as it is

By Mike Jendrzejczyk, Human Rights Watch
Human rights abuses in Burma are widespread and systematic. The govermenment imposes severe restrictions on basic civil and political rights. There is no freedom of press. Democracy activists are often arrested. Owning a fax machine without permission can get you thrown into prison.

Burma's ethnic minorities suffer the most brutal treatment. Hundreds of thousands have been forcibly dislocated from their homes by the Burmese army, women raped. Civilians are forced to build railways and roads, and the army conscripts child soldiers. Poverty is acute. The World Bank has criticised Burma for spending a disproportionate share of its resources on the military rather than meeting human needs.

Mike Jendrzejczyk died shortly after contributing this article.

I wonder why he died or what he died of?
C'mon - jailed for having a fax machine? I am bringing my cell phone there - I'd probably be mutilated to death? Well, OK, maybe at the time when the phrase was written, it was that bad but now with a little bit of improvement, I'd probably be jailed for two days for carrying a cell phone. But again, cell phones don't work there. Neither do web based emails. I guess I can still log on to my company e-mail since it is not web-based or is it? But that is if I could get the internet. I read that there are e-mail services provided at some grand hotels but they ARE e-mail services where people help you to send an e-mail using whatever government provided email address that are given to them and are tracked. Hell, here I come......

Or maybe not.....my Visa hasn't been approved even though it's been sent to the embassy since Monday. But looking at it positively, they've been calling me almost every day to ask for details and more details, short of asking the company for a letter stating that I've been working here for the past 5 years and have no intention of leaving the company to work in Myanmar. What are they thinking? That's I'd leave my job to go help build railway tracks or tar the roads in Myanmar? Gawd - that job sounds like a heavenly job.....where should I send my application form to?

Or maybe....they've been digging information about me and found out about this blog and now with this posting, they'd think that I am one of the Karen activists in Myanmar hiding in Malaysia just so I could blog about Myanmar to the whole world. Haa.....I better stop here till my Visa gets approved.