Myitkyina train, Burma, hit by mine, Soros meets Daw Suu, anti-Kachin genocide demonstrations world wide, Burmese govt creates anti-corruption organisation - plus some of my memories

http://www.rfa.org/burmese/ Myitkyina is in Kachin land -/ anti-Kachin genocide demonstrations in London, Bangkok, Canberra and on Chinese side of Burma-China border./ Kachin headquarters in Laiza on Burmese side was attacked by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery./ Govt. spokesperson said they "just used practice aircraft."/ On corruption, the lawyer, in black jacket said -"This is like government employees investigating themselves."/ Generation 88 U Ko Ko Gyi said, "With existing law, the maximum, even if millions were appropriated, is 7 years. With this and that, some serve only 4 years. -- as we (political prisoners were so long in prison -/ (U Win Tin for instance was in there 19 years) --/ I for one have never seen a prisoner serving a sentence for corruption in prison."/ What no one said - as we say in Burmese, The roof always leaks from the top down --/ no one mentioned the greatest thieves of all./ The 98th birthday of the late historian Col. Ba Shin, who died in 1970, was celebrated in Rangoon. I saw Col. Ba Shin when I was a child and teenager, and he was working regularly with Prof. Gordon H. Luce and famed geographer, Dr Daw Thin Kyi. To this day I regret not having gone with them on a trip to Bagan (formerly spelled Pagan)because I had to take my exams - subsequently Luce was forced by the Ne Win government to leave Burma and his property and the Home for Waifs and Strays (of course an old fashioned name) near Inya Lake was taken over. Some other time I will relate what a relative saw at the airport on the day the Luces left - oh well, it might as well be here and now./ All personal jewelry was not allowed out of Burma. Mrs Luce(Daw Tee Tee Luce)never wore nor probably had any jewelry, but the airport officials forced her to leave her wedding ring - As she had worn it so many years, she could not take it off easily. Finally with soap and a lot of tears, I am sure, she got it off and left it with the British Embassy person who came to see them off./ I feel this random or not so random act of cruelty towards an old woman who never did anyone any harm, in fact even was renowned for her social work, was a winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Prize, needs to be documented./ My beloved aunt always wanted me to "be like Daw Thin Kyi" and herself was so pleased to tell me that when the Duke of Edinburgh visited Burma, the only Burmese person he talked with at length at an official reception, which my aunt and uncle also attended, was Daw Thin Kyi./ There!/ Daw Thin Kyi, like the Luces, was similarly lovely./ I loved the way she walked on campus in her later years, supported by two students on either side, like a great she-elephant out of the Buddhist jataka (stories of the former lives of Gautama Buddha) --/ At the Luces' house, Daw Thin Kyi would be peering at aerial photos of Bagan with a viewing device, while Col. Ba Shin and Prof. Luce chatted with each other about their work. My father at the time was the first Chairman of the Burma Historical Commission. He was trying to get Saya Luce to stop making changes to his book and send it off for publication./ Informal summary, paraphrase and comments, reminiscences - Dr. Kyi May Kaung