AN OPEN PERSONAL SUPPLICATION TO THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RULERS OF BURMA/MYANMAR

(7th modification)

!
!

(A brief information on this latest modification: In theological parts only a few additions to its predecessor are made. These additions
are underlined. Main changes take place in subjects related to the situation in Burma and in the news clippings as well. As this
Supplication is aimed also at the ordinary man on the street, I'm using red and blue colours and bold profusely. The simple reason
behind it is to more easily attract their attention to some key information in this lengthy paper. And an extra tip for those who are not
familiar with the Internet: You may access the Links given in this Supplication - in PDF - by directly clicking on them provided
of course that the computer is connected to the Internet. In order to get a full picture of the whole situation of Burma, readers of tthis
paper are advised to read the 5th and 6th modications as well. Links for these modifications are given on page 21./ 24.08.2016).
Special Note 1: I have had originally intended to release this Supplication on August 24 at about 9 -11 p.m, but then I postponed it until
today because of the big earthquake that hit the central Burma on that day at 5:04 p.m. I'm now releasing it as it exactly was on that
day (August 24) without changing any single part of it, including the date. 01.09.2016.
Special Note 2: As mentioned above, it was first released on September 1. For this current release I have slightly modified it once more
with a few more items and websites added in the non-theological parts. September 6, 2016.

________________________________________
RESPECTED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

The Myanmar Catholic Bishops and the Myanmar Council of Churches did make an Appeal to the
previous government of the country, dated September 24, 1999, under the title of
AN APPEAL TO THE STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL.
Although about 16 years have passed since this Appeal was made, the plight of the Christians in Burma
mentioned in that Appeal remains almost unchanged. (The Appeal in question is herewith attached
below.) In some cases their situation is even getting worse. For instance, there are some allegations that
local Christians were forced by government soldiers in non-Burman peoples' regions at gunpoint to
construct some Buddhist monasteries and pagodas without pay. I shall present here as a case study the
Chin Human Rights Organization's report on the situation of Chin Christians in Chin State.
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/images/uploads/Threats_to_Our_Existence.pdf
Burma

54.3m
4.6m
8.50%
In 2014, at least 20 Christians were killed in clashes with the army. There has been a rise
in nationalist religious movements in the past few years, with Buddhist nationalist groups
putting pressure on the government to adopt laws that would make life harder for
Christians, such as limiting conversions and restricting interfaith marriages.
The Guardian UK. July 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2015/jul/27/where-in-the-world-is-it-worst-place-to-be-a-christian
My simple aim of making this Supplication to you now is just to allay your fear - and certainly your
dislike as well - of the Christianity and Christians in Burma particularly. I must honestly admit here that, if
one reads what the members of this religion have been doing to each other and against countless
innocent people of other faiths around the world as well - in the very names of the biblical God and Jesus,
whom they claim to be worshipping, during the past 2,000 years of their existence, they are extremely
fearsome indeed. So the Buddhists' fear of them is fully justifiable.
However, I believe that I could assure you with certainty that at least the Christians in Burma are
absolutely harmless for you personally, for Buddhism and above all else for the security of the country
as a whole for the following simple, yet concrete reasons:
Their wealthy and powerful fellow Christians from the West are now investing billions of dollars in the
country. And several powerful institutions both state and private from these countries have also
been so generously helping you in numerous ways for decades. Nowadays, even the military establishments of a couple of the most powerful Christian nations on earth are reportedly working closely

together with the country's military.

Christians in the whole country number only about 4 million (90 % of them are non-Burman
indigeneous national races) out of the country's total population of 52 million. And as nearly all of
them are - due mainly to your oppression, neglect and discrimination against them in every possible
way barely physically surviving. For example, Chin State, which is only about 4,000 sq. km smaller
than Switzerland, had had only 1,200 km-long dry-season-only and jeepable motor car roads until
very recently. At present a few existing roads are being lengthened and expanded with the aid of
Japan. But the construction companies are from Burma and said to be owned solely by Burmese
businessmen. They bring their own construction workers from Burma and do not employ the local
people. See the following news piece:
Press Releases
October 2, 2015
Signing of Grant Agreement with Myanmar: Supporting reconstruction in floodedareas Signing
ceremony
On September 24 and October 1, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed two
grant agreements (G/As) with the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to
provide grant aid of up to a total of 3.982 billion yen. The projects under these grant aid
agreements are described below.
(2) The Project for Improvement of Road Construction and Maintenance Equipment in Kachin
State and Chin State (G/A signed October 1, total amount of aid: 2.74 billion yen [$25m].
Of approximately 159,000 kilometers of roadways in Myanmar, only about 23 percent, or
37,000 kilometers, is paved with asphalt or concrete. In its 30-Year Road Development Plan
formulated for 2001 to 2030, the Government of Myanmar has taken these circumstances into
account to further road improvements throughout the country, including road pavement
targets.
In Kachin State (area: 89,000 square kilometers, population: 1.29 million) and Chin State
(area: 36,000 square kilometers, population: 480,000), the poorest and least developed
areas in the country, torrential rains frequently cause bridge washouts and land-related
disasters such as collapsed roads and landslides, and as a result, the road infrastructure lags
behind other states and regions in the country. As the trunk roads connecting the state capitals
with regional cities have deteriorated, building road infrastructure is a priority for ensuring
local residents can access public services and for supporting economic activities with a secure
logistics network.
This project will procure new road construction equipment to build and expand 141 kilometers
of roads in Kachin State and 109 kilometers of roads in Chin State where development lags.
These improvements are expected to further the road infrastructure and stimulate economic
activities in the two states. Technical lessons will be provided at one of the Ministry of
Constructions central training centers in a transfer of technology to provide the knowledge
required for road construction and maintenance. This will improve the technical capacity for
road improvements and improve the quality of the infrastructure.
http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2015/151002_02.html
If my information is true, most of the previous rulers - and most likely the present ones as well - of the
country e.g. Members of Parliament and the leading members of the military Establishment - are
believed to have never been to Chin State before. So they did not and do not have an idea about he
poor infrastructure and poverty in it until many parts of it were badly damaged during last year's rainy
season. I'm therefore giving you a 30-minute Youtube Link here anyway so that you may get a rough

picture about what I'm talking about even before the great damages that had been caused by rains
and landslides. This youtube video film must have been taken sometime in 2014 or 2015 as it was
uploaded on the Internet in June, 2015. This travelogue deals with a journey between Kalaymyo in
Sagaing Division and Falam, a town in northern Chin State. The distance between them is about 75
miles or 100 km. It's titled Mysterious Chin State:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2bIrGNE3E .
Since a large number of you (both the previous rulers and those who have become the MPs after the
2015 election) may probably not believe in what I'm writing about here, I'm giving you two more
youtube Links below. One is titled The Monk on the Mountain (33-minute long) and the other is an
interview with a senior Burmese Buddhist monk stationed in southern Chin State.
The Monk on the Mountain, Chin State.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q00LkRfhIY
Interview with a Buddhist Monk in Chin State-2 by the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9lFQwAhP6s
Note for outsiders who are not familiar with the current situation in Burma and espcially about Chin
State: Since late July until September (2015) heavy rainfalls and flood have caused great destructions
in several parts of the country. And torrential heavy rains and landslides have totally damaged
nearly all motor car roads and several towns and villages as well in Chin State. Affected areas in it
can be seen under Flood Affected areas in Myanmar 2015 in the Internet.) Several religious and
secular emergency relief groups were formed up everywhere. One of these groups was led by a
highly revered and well-known ethnic Burman Buddhist monk, Sayadaw U Thukemingalah, Abbot
of Dae-Oo Monastery. The youtube Link below is about his sharing of his personal experience in
Magwe Division, Rakhine and Chin states during his relief work with his audience in Singapore. He
made a number of positive remarks on the Christian Chins in southern Chin State bordering the
Rakhine State in contrast to the ones he made on Buddhist Burmans in Magwe Division and Buddhist

Rakhines in Rakhine State. He attributed the positive qualities that he found among the Chins to
Christian ethics. However, I wonder if Christian ethics alone have to be given credit in this case.
(I personally, however, understand that the Buddhist Burmans and Buddhist Rakhines in question
who he compared with the Christian Chins were mainly only the flood victims who had received
his group's relief goods or a few others he came across on his journey; they may not therefore
reflect the characteristics of the Chin, Burman and Rakhine populations elsewhere in general.)
https://www.facebook.com/innpipage/videos/741217589344123/?pnref=story
An estimated 170,000 Chins alone have left the country since 20 years ago due to economic
hardship, oppression, discrimination and neglect in Chin State and also in other parts of the country.
(Here are some estimated statistics on Chins who are living now in exile either as refugees or workers
around the world: 75,000 in Malaysia; 50,000 in India; 30,000 in USA & Canada; 3,500 in
Singapore (all of them are professionals and not entered it as refugees); 3,000 in Australia and New
Zealand; 1,000 in Europe; and the rest elsewhere, etc); And I will give you two Links here: It is
about a report prepared by the Shwe Gas Movement ( www.shwe.org ) concerning the human rights
situation in Chin and Rakhine States as the result of gas extraction along the Rakhine coastal regions
under the title of SUPPLY & COMMAND http://www.shwe.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/SUPPLYANDCOMMAND.pdf
The Christians in Burma, especially the Chin Christians, are more longing to be at a place called
heaven as soon as possible, which is supposed to be the abode of the biblical God. Most of them
actually therefore prefer to spend all their waking hours singing religious songs in praise of their God
and saying prayers to him as well, instead of engaging in any political activities against you. Or in

other words, they are more obsessed with the concept of an eternal life which they believe their
God would give them when they die than with the human existence on this earth. (You will see how
Chin/Zo Christians are ecstatically and very emotionally singing songs in the few youtube Links given
below as some examples.) They all are longingly waiting for the coming-back (it's known among
Christians as the Second Coming) of a heavenly being called Jesus, who, according to the Bible, is
the son of the biblical God. He appeared in this world 2,000 years ago in Israel and was later
crucified by Roman soldiers on a wooden cross. (Nearly all serious and well-qualified secular scholars,
too, have now agreed beyond doubts that he must have been a historical person.) The Bible (New
Testament) says that he resurrected after three days and then ascended into heaven after some 40
days. He had promised then, once again according to the Bible, his believers that he would come
back to this world for the second time and that he would take their souls to what is known among the
Christians also as the Kingdom of God or simply Heaven where his father reigns.
They are belonging to several rival denominations or Churches. According to the Wikipedia there
are about 41,000 Christian denominations worldwide at the present time. Other uncountable smaller
denominations with a few thousand members each are not counted. Some 30 years ago, the US
weekly news magazine, NEWSWEEK, reported in a long article that 1,200 new Churches were
founded every week throughout the world. And the members of every denomination are so
programmed by their leaders to believe that they alone, but none of those who belong to any
other denominations, will go to heaven and that their Church alone possesses the truths of or
about God!
The following are some of the rival Churches to which the Chin communities in Chin State and its
immediate sorrounding regions (Rakhine State, Ayeyarawady, Magwe and Sagaing Divisions) in
Burma alone belong. The list below will give you a rough picture about what I'm talking about:
Anglican Church, Assemblies of God, Baptist Church, Christian Baptist Church, Christian Mission
Alliance, Christian Church of Myanmar, Christian Reformed Church, Church of Jesus Christ, Church
of Christ Jesus, Church of God, Church on the Rock, Evangelical Baptist Church, Evangelical
Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Free Church of Burma, Four Square Gospel Church, Full Gospel
Assembly, Full Gospel Church, Fundamental Baptist Church, Gospel Baptist Church, Independent
Church of Burma, Jehovahs Witnesses, Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, Reformed
Presbyterian Church, Roman Catholic Church, Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptist
Church, United Pentecostal Church, United Reform Church, United Wesleyan Church. etc., and
a number of home-grown Churches as well.
During your rule of some 70 years hundreds of thousands of Christians have become the victims of
your ruthless rule. But I have never heard of the clergymen and theologians of the various Churches
in the country and their superiors in the West ever accusing you of being Satan-incarnates. But I
have only ever heard of them threatening those poverty-stricken, hapless and starving victims of yours
with an eternal damnation at a place called Hell for committing such acts (they call them sins) as
observing a false day (either Saturday Sunday), or pre- or extra-marital sex, or eating pork, or
using contraceptive devices (condoms, anti-baby pills, etc), getting divorce, or re-marriage of
divorced persons, etc. I've never heard them similarly threatening the rich and the powerful.
And the few following facts will show you how extremely fearsome the Christians indeed are.
The Bible contains a great number of mysterious prophecies that cannot be easily deciphered by
any human beings, including those who are holding several doctorates in theologies. Nevertheless,
countless self-proclaimed biblical experts around the world have tried to decipher these prophecies
during the past 2,000 years and all of their interpretations have turned out to be totally wrong until
now. These misinterpretations have had caused sectarian rivalries and conflicts that have cost the
precious lives and undescribable suffering of hundreds of millions of innocent people.
Another major cause of the uncountable bloody and ruthless sectarian rivalries and religious wars
between rival Christian churches was the attempts made by religious leaders and theologians to

fight against what they assumed to be Satan and his followers, on behalf of the biblical God
himself. But their Satan and his followers in reality happened to be none other than those who they
themselves very often lovingly called their own beloved fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,
who belong to other rival Churches! And then when the Communists appeared in several countries a
few centuries ago, they were also once again accused of being Satan-incarnates who must be
completely wiped out of the face of the earth at all costs. However, although the communists and
communism do not exist anymore as a formidable political force since the break-up of the Soviet Union
and China's adoption of capitalism, the division among the Christians still remains as intense as ever
before. (Actually, I had even very naively expected, when communism was crumbling down and
the Berlin Wall was no more there, that there would finally be love and unity among Christians and
that they would start making a soul-searching process and that they would review thoroughly their
existing doctrines, and so on. But this kind of effort and action is nowhere to be seen yet until now!)
The only main reason that several Christians have apparently become a bit more peaceful to each
other and also towards non-Christians as well since very recently is due only to the fact that secularism
- that is, the rule of law and reason - was getting the upper hand. So, a great number of those who are
well-informed about the root causes and nature of the said sectarian conflicts and wars strongly do
believe that the blood-shedding among Christians of rival Churches may most likely still go on endlessly
until today in the very names of God and Jesus, if secularism had not yet gained the upper hand.
You may rather be surprised to learn that I also happen to be a religious Christian despite all the
negative facts that I have just mentioned above with regard to the Christians. However, exactly
because of these negative facts, I have become an independent Christian that is, without being
belonging to any single Church. The following are some additional reasons why I became just such
an independent Christian.
"

"

In my opinion the Bible is written in very simple form that anyone who can read and write can
fullly understand its contents. Therefore, although I have never studied any Christian theologies in
my entire lifetime, I strongly believe that as for my own salvation that is, the attainment of an
eternal life which is to be given by the biblical God I do not need somebody else, who himself
cannot see with his eyes the God and other heavenly beings that are described in the Bible
anyway, to interpret its contents for me with his own self-given power and right. I myself have
never therefore tried in my life to hard-sell what I think about Christianity, nor have I ever allowed
somebody else to impose his ideas on Christianity upon me. And above all else, as everybody
can freely buy the Bible in book shops there are even many organisations that distribute it
freely it, the biblical God, Jesus and heaven are nobody's personal possessions. I believe
therefore that nobody has the sole right to monopolize the interpretation of its contents with his
own self-given power and right. But, at the same time, I believe also that if anybody prefers to
voluntarily believe in and observe the interpretation of somebody else's or of a Church's, that
also should and must be absolutely his own right and business!
So far as I know the Bible vividly says that Satan and a great number of his follower-angels
were expelled from heaven because of their rebellion against the biblical God. So I cannot
understand what kind of logic should it be that that very God would give an eternal life to those
who persecuted, tortured and killed each other in his own name! And the Bible clearly also says
that the biblical God had even sent and sacrificed Jesus, his only begotten son, to this world to
save mankind from eternal damnation. So I'm not capable of understanding the logic of his
sending Jesus to this world in the first place, if he would give an eternal life anyway to those who
persecuted, tortured and murdered each other in his own name! If I understand the Bible
correctly, those who believe in him (Jesus) and thus observe his moral teachings would go into
heaven, and not those who go into heaven would believe in him and observe his moral
teachings! (Two of the greatest mysteries of all in the Judeo-Christian religions are: How could
there be a rebellion in God's own kingdom in the first place, since it's described in the Bible to
be perfect and the angels sinless; and whether heaven or God's kingdom and angels are still
existing or not. These two mysteries have discouraged a great number of people to believe
in the biblical God and his power and even his own existence. So far as I know, not a single
theologian has ever managed to convincingly clearify these questions until now.

"

"

"

"

"

However, I personally have no problems with these mysteries. My simple solution as a layman
is that since a historical person called Jesus had actually appeared on earth once means that
heaven was still existing at least 2,000 years ago and that if that Jesus would really come back
some day again to this world for the second time as he is said to have promised his followers
then, it would mean that there were no more rebellions in heaven since the expulsion of Satan
and his followers from there and that God and heavenly beings and heaven do still indeed exist
until now that is, at least until Jesus' second coming. I believe therefore that I have nothing to
lose by simply believing in his second coming.)
In my whole lifetime I may have perhaps read the Bible more than ten times from the beginning
to the end thoroughly, but I have never come across a single verse that says: You shall
persecute, torture and murder each other in our names! or You shall fight Satan and his
followers on behalf of me or us.. As a simple layman I believe that if God and Jesus themselves
want to or have to wage a war against Satan and his followers, that should and must be their own
business and that they would surely do it in their own way! I simply cannot therefore see the
logic of Christians waging wars on behalf of them since they (the Christians) first got to even know
about the existence of the said heavenly beings' and their adversaries' only through the Bible
since some 2,000 - 3,000 years go. If not because of the Bible, there are no other ways for them
to even know about the said invisible beings' existence.
Before the Christian missionaries arrived in many parts of present-day Burma, including
Chinland, in the early and late 1800s, most of those who would sooner or later become Christian
were Animist. These people then converted to Christianity of various rival Churches because they
were told about the existencce of a loving God and his son called Jesus and they were thus
promised an eternal life at their place called heaven by worshipping these deities. Before the
Chins became Christian, for instance, they believed every kind of sickness to be the work of evil
spirits. So they made various kinds of animal sacrifice to propitiate those spirits. But none of
those evil spirits (there are supposed to be more than 50 of them among the northern Chins
alone) had ever physically appeared to them in human form and oppressed or tortured or killed
them with weapons as their beloved fellow sisters and brothers in Christ have been doing to
each other for centuries or even milleniums in the very names of the deities whom they claim
to be worshipping. The worst thing that those imaginary evil spirits could then do to human
beings was the belief that they could cause all kinds of illness. Nothing more than that. And the
Chin Animists in ancient times were and still are until today (there are still a number of Animists
in some parts of Chin State itself) - not necessarily worse than those who proudly like to boast to
be moral Christians. Nor have they ever committed ruthless acts against their own fellow beings
even in the names of those imaginary evil spirits.
Now, my description of the imaginary evil spirits in a few lines above may probably shake up
one of the fundamental teachings of all Christian churches that is, every evil thought or act is
taught to be the work or temptation of Satan and his evil fallen angels. But, so far as I know,
even those who don't believe at all in any deity are also not necessarily more evil than the
Christians. So, should any evil thought or act really be the work of Satan and his followers, then
every serious Christian will have to ask himself at least these two very disturbing fundamental
questions (out of several):
1. Why do or should Satan and his followers tempt only the Christians, but not any other human
beings who profess other religions or who don't even believe in any deity, to think evil or to
commit evil acts?
2. Why haven't all the non-Christians in the world annihilated each other a long time ago in the
past, since they must have been vulnerable to Satan's and his evil followers' temptations? (I've got
my own interpretations for such questions, but since this Supplication is not a Christian theological
paper, I better should not write more than this much here. And such interpretations I keep for
myself alone, otherwise I might mislead some innocent people.)
And another fundamental teaching of a great number of those Churches, which I find very much
disturbing is about what is called the original sin. According to the Bible, God created Adam
and Eve as the first human beings and they were forbidden to eat a certain fruit in the Garden of
Eden. But as they ate it secretly anyway, they were cursed by God. With this concept a great

number of Christians are taught to feel guilty for what Adam and Eve had done. Actually, this
concept was just a creation of a mortal human being in 2 AD and it was further developed later
by some others. See the quotations below: (Source: Wikipedia under Original sin)
Original Sin [Several Churches' points of view]
The concept of original sin was first alluded to in the 2nd century by Irenaeus, Bishop of
Lyons in his controversy with certain dualist Gnostics. Other church fathers such as
Augustine also developed the doctrine,[2] seeing it as based on the New Testament
teaching of Paul the Apostle (Romans 5:1221 and 1 Corinthians 15:22) and the Old
Testament verse of Psalm 51:5.[4][5][6][7][8] Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose and
Ambrosiaster considered that humanity shares in Adam's sin, transmitted by human
generation. Augustine's formulation of original sin was popular among Protestant
reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, who equated original sin with
concupiscence, affirming that it persisted even after baptism and completely destroyed
freedom.[2] The Jansenist movement, which the Catholic Church declared to be heretical,
also maintained that original sin destroyed freedom of will.[9]
In Judaism
Jewish theologians are divided in regard to the cause of what is called "original sin".
Some teach that it was due to Adam's yielding to temptation in eating of the forbidden
fruit and has been inherited by his descendants; the majority of chazalic opinions,
however, do not hold Adam responsible for the sins of humanity,[10] teaching that, in
Genesis 8:21 and 6:5-8, God recognized that Adam did not willfully sin. However, Adam
is recognized by some[who?] as having brought death into the world by his disobedience.
Because of his sin, his descendants will live a mortal life, which will end in death of
their bodies.[11] The doctrine of "inherited sin" is not found in most of mainstream
Judaism. Although some in Orthodox Judaism place blame on Adam for overall
corruption of the world, and though there were some Jewish teachers in Talmudic
times[who?] who believed that death was a punishment brought upon humanity on
account of Adam's sin, that is not the dominant view in most of Judaism today. Modern
Judaism generally teaches that humans are born sin-free and untainted, and choose to
sin later and bring suffering to themselves.[12][13] The concept of inherited sin is also
not found in any real form in Islam.[14][15] Some interpretations of original sin are
rejected by other Christian theologies.
If I understand the four Gospels correctly, one of Jesus' main reasons for his first coming to
this world was to free the would-be worshippers of God from the rigid laws and rituals, except
the Ten Commandments, in the Old Testament and replace them with the concept of Love,
Forgiveness, Compassion and Peace or Peacefulness. So I personally am of the opinion that what
Adam and Eve had done against God's wishes also must be among the ones that Jesus had
intended to atone for. (I've got my own interpretation also for this particular topic, but since this
Supplication is not a theological paper I would not elaborate about it further. This interpretation
is for myself alone.)
" Countless theologians and religious leaders of the Christian faith have been predicting about
Jesus' imminent come-back from the time of his ascension into heaven up to the present time.
However, since almost all the Christians are still vehemently accusing each other of being
belonging to a false Church or even of being Satan-incarnates, I wonder how they would be able
to recognize him, if he really suddenly comes back somewhere in the world or on the clouds as
some of them believe. (I'm enclosing an interesting information piece below that could give you
some hints about the Roman Catholic Church's view of Jesus. It was widely distributed in Burma in
the early 1980s by the Roman Catholic Church under the heading of A TRUE LETTER OF OUR
SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST).
" So far as I personally understand the contents of the Bible, Jesus himself had, like what the Lord
Buddha had also done, apparently intended to found a peaceful, loving and compassionate

religion. (I'm quoting below two of the most important parts of the entire Bible as a means to
prove this statement.) You may probably be shocked by the first two Commandments of the Ten
Commandments, but the fundamentals of Jesus' teachings are Love, Forgiveness, Peace,
Compassion and about the existence of an eternal Life in heaven for those who believe in him
and observe his teachings that are almost identical with the teachings of the Lord Buddha's. So
far as I know, the only main differences between Buddhism and Christianity are: While Buddhists
believe in Nirvana, the Christians believe in a creator-God and an eternal Life in heaven; and
the means or rituals that are used to achieve these goals. (You may certainly be surprised if I tell
you that, although I myself am an independent Christian as I have already admitted above, I
am also a great admirer of Buddhism at the same time especially mainly for its philosophy.)
The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words:
I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery;
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on
the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or
worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children
for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but
showing love to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold
anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do
all your works, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you
shall do any work, neither you, your son or daughter, nor your manservant or
maidservant, nor your animals, nor the aliens within your gate. For in six days the
LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on
the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD
your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet your neighbours house. You shall not covet your neighbours wife, or
his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.
Source: Exodus 20:1-17 (Holy Bible: New International Version)
..........................................................
Sermon on the Mount
The Beatitudes
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside
and sat down. His disciples came to him,
2 and he began to teach them, saying
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way
they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Source: (Matthew 5:1-12) The Holy Bible: New International Version
So if those who claim to be Christian would strictly observe at least No.s 3 and 6 of the Ten
Commandments, and 6, 7, 8 and 9 from Sermon on the Mount, there would surely be fewer wars,
fewer oppressions, less hunger, less hatred, less suffering, and much less injustices in this world,
if even in case a biblical God and Jesus do not exist anywhere in the universe.
In my opinion, there are three most important fundamental questions concerning Christianity:
1. Whether a biblical God really does exist or not;
2. Whether Jesus is really the son of that biblical God or not, and;
3. Whether he (Jesus) is really powerful enough or not to change many rigid laws and rituals in the
Old Testament. The original religion that he had founded is full of good news. The most important
of them all is, as already mentioned earlier above, about the existence of an eternal Life in heaven
where he himself and his father are dwelling. If in case anyone of you care to enquire a bit more
about the good news that I'm talking about now, it would suffice to read the following four books
which are called the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and also another book called
the Book of Revelation. So as to enable you to have a brief glance at the said good news in these
books, I'm attaching two scanned pages from the Book of Matthew at the end of this Supplication.
You will see how different Jesus' original teachings in these passages are from the preachings and
practices of a great number of Christians around the world. The passages in the four Gospels are
written so simply and clearly that nobody needs the explanation of a biblical expert to
understand them.
Now, I believe that you may certainly would like to know also how I could become a religious
Christian if even theologians who are holding several doctorates in theologies themselves are still
skeptical about the basic foundation of the Christian faith that is, the very existence of a biblical
God and Jesus.
As for me personally there is one main reason why I believe in the existence and power of the
biblical God and Jesus. The reason is the existence of the Book of Revelation. For me the Book of
Revelation is one of the most important parts of the whole Bible. The Bible without this part would be
just like any other holy scriptures. And Jesus' moral teachings also would be just like the teachings of
some other great enlightened sages. Nothing more than that. So I put all my faith in the contents of
this book that is, the good news about the existence of and power of God and Jesus and an eternal
life mentioned in it. (See the few passages from it that I have selected at the end of this Supplication!
There are also of course several prophecies in it, but I do not think that I can decipher them and I
do not want to attempt to decipher them - because those prophecies are, as I have already mentioned
above, amongst the prophecies that countless self-proclaimed biblical experts or even self-proclaimed
prophets have had tried to interpret during the past two milleniums and as a result hundreds of
millions of innocent people have lost their lives for nothing. I would prefer very much therefore to wait
patiently until Jesus himself comes back and then to let him interpret these prophecies personally.)

And you may surely wonder now how I could blindly have trust in the words in the said books
mentioned above without understanding the prophecies in them. As for me personally the answer is
very simple: I simply assume that I have got a soul and as a result I try to observe the good teachings
of Jesus as I understand them and that if I really have a soul and the biblical God and Jesus also really
do exist somewhere in the universe, they may let my soul go on living eternally at their place which is
described in the Book of Revelation, since even countless Christians who persecuted and murdered
their own innocent fellow Christians in the very names of these two beings could still dare to expect
to get an eternal life. But even if in case I do not have a soul and the said two deities also do not exist,
I don't think that I would lose anything by believing in them and observing their good teachings. And,
perhaps, I may not be a perfect worshipper in their eyes, but at least until now I haven't caused any
kind of suffering to my fellow human beings nor have I ever promised someone an eternal life in
heaven nor have I ever threatened someone with eternal damnation at a place called the lake of
fire or hell nor have I ever earned even a single cent in their names.
According to several reliable statistics from various sources, half of the world's 7 billion people are
now starving or half-starving or would be starving in the near future. A report released in May 1989 in
Manila by the humanitarian organization called CHILDHOPE, for instance, there were an estimated 100
million homeless children worldwide 20 to 30 million alone in Asia who were living on the streets;
and according to the Child Protection Network Foundation, reported in The Independent (UK) newspaper
of January 20, 2015, there were about 1.2 million children living on the streets in the Philippines alone
(see attached scanned newspaper clippings for the statisics mentioned above). And the climate change
has now already become a real threat to humanity's long-term survival and there are right now more than
60 million people, according a recent UN report, either fleeing from their homelands or are displaced
within their own countries and nearly every corner of the world is getting more and more explosive with
each passing day.
So if I were anyone of them theologians and religious leaders of Christian churches, that is - instead
of endlessly keeping on debating with my other fellow Christians about which day is holier either
Saturday or Sunday (I cannot really figure out, if observing either of these two days is so crucially
important for a soul's eternal existence, what would happen to the souls of soldiers fighting in wars, or
those dying from hunger, or industrial shift-workers or crews of international airlines who have to fly
across several time zones, or those who cannot read and write or those who don't have calendars or
clocks, just to name a few) - or the sinfulness of eating pork or getting divorce or the remarriage of
divorced persons or the use of condoms and other contraceptive devices or an individual person's sexual
preferences or prostitution or the ordination of women or the Liberation Theology, etc., I would try to do
the following five things as urgently as possible.
One: I would try to immediately review the existing doctrine of my own Church thoroughly to see
if it's still in line with the present situation of this world and humanity as a whole.
Two: As the next step I would make all efforts for the reconciliation of all the rival Christians of the
world as fast as possible. It may surely sound to be so naive to plead and expect as well them
to reconciliate, if one looks at them from a realistic point of view. Sure, they may certainly never
be able to reconciliate if they would base their efforts solely on the writings of religious leaders
and theologians and their Churches' existing doctrines alone, but if they would base their efforts
solely instead on the words of Jesus that are clearly recorded in the Gospels, I can see no reasons
why they wouldn't be able to achieve this noble goal! If I understand the Bible correctly, the gist
of Jesus' teachings are: Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, Peace and Humility! Since Jesus' time
2,000 years ago, countless small, medium and great wars have been fought and still are being
fought right now throughout the world. Yet, even those uncountable formerly warring nations or
peoples could reconciliate and co-exist again in peace. So why shouldn't those who have been
preaching about peace and love all the times also be able to reconciliate and live together again
in peace? And above all else, I have never found a single verse in the entire Bible that says that
the biblical God had created this world and all the living beings in it just in order to destroy them

again someday!
Three: As soon as a reconciliation between all Christians is fully achieved, together with my
other fellow Christians in Christ, I would try to estimate when and where the Christ could come
back and then make preparations for our salvation, since he may most likely have problems taking
the souls of the endlessly quarrelling Christians back with him into his father's kingdom.
Four: I would then plead my fellow Christians to patiently wait until he comes back and when and
if he really reappears someday at somewhere, then together with them I would ask him to make
war if he has to - against his and his father's adversaries with their own heavenly beings, instead
of deploying human beings WHO CANNOT EVEN SEE THEIR OWN SOULS with their eyes not
to mention those heavenly beings and their adversaries who are mentioned in the Bible. (How can
you fight against an invisible enemy since even about his or their existence you knew only from
the Bible which is some 2-3,000 years old - and with what kind of weapon?)
Five: If in case a total reconciliation among the Christians could not be achieved for any reasons
and the time of his second coming could not be satisfactorily agreed upon, then I would at least
try to persuade my fellow Christians to form up a global commission with a number of prominent
secular legal experts as its members to thoroughly analyse the contents of the Bible from a
purely secular legal point of view in order to find out how the legal mind sees these contents.
NOW, MAY I BRING THE FOLLOWING POINTS TO YOUR ATTENTION:
ONE: WOULD YOU, RESPECTED PRESENT AND FUTURE LEADERS OF THE COUNTRY, KINDLY
THOROUGHLY ANALYSE THE REASONS, ARGUMENTS AND EXPLANATION THAT I HAVE
GIVEN ABOVE AND IF YOU ALSO AGREE WITH SOME OR ALL OF THEM, THEN MAY I
PERSONALLY SUPPLICATE YOU TO LET THE CHRISTIANS IN THE COUNTRY WORSHIP THEIR
GOD AS THEY SO WISH WITH COMPLETE FREEDOM AND IN PEACE.
TWO: Now the new NLD-led government and the military are going to hold the so-called 21st Century Panglong
Conference in one week from now on August 31. And for the preparations and realization of this conference a number
of committees and sub-committees were formed up. The defunct MPC, for instance, has been replaced with a new name
called National Reconciliation and Peace Center or NRPC - which is now chaired personally by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
herself in her capacity as State Counsellor.
But this upcoming conference and the peace-building process may most likely bring no lasting peace to the country
on the following reasons.
!

The real Union of Burma, which came into existence only through the Panglong Agreement, ceased to exist
automatically the very moment General Ne Win took political power by force on March 2, 1962. Then he had
even officially abolished the then existing 1947 State Constitution. Since then the former Union in fact existed
only in name or de facto, but not de jure! Then another Constitution was amalgamated in 1974 onesidely by
the then ruling military government under coercion and cunning tricks. (See www.chinforum.org: Suppression
of Chin National Movement for Federalism Under the Revolutionary Council and the Burma Socialist
Programme Party - 1962-1988). So, the so-called Union of Burma which continued its existence under this
new Constitution was also only in name or de facto, and not de jure. Then when the generals seized state power
once again in 1988, it nullified the 1974 Constitution and ruled the country without a written constistution with
iron fists under the names of SPDC and later SLORC (State Peace and Development Council and State Law
and Order Restoration Council respectively). Then came the 2008 Constitution once more which was
promulgated with blatten manipulations while the whole country was mourning for the death and suffering of
hundreds of thousands of people as the result of Cyclone Nargis. (According to Wikipedia 140,000 people
died, more than 2 million people homeless and the material damages were estimated at $ 10 billion. For more
information on it, please visit - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis .)

So, in short, any State Constitution created for a legally non-existent Union can never be legal at all! Besides,
when the said 1974 and 2008 Constitutions were drafted and promulgated, the masses under the control of
various non-Burman ethnic armed organizations did not have - or were given - the chance to give either their
approval or disapproval of these onesidely written constitutions. The above-mentioned factors firmly confirm
the fact that what the successive governments under the name of the Union of Burma or Republic of the
Union of Myanmar have been doing absolutely lack legitimacy. Therefore, as the present country known as

the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is existing only artificially without the free consent of its original
founding nations (the Chins, Burmans, Kachins, Shans and later the Karennis - are equal owners of the
sovereignty at the time of independence because of the Panglong Agreement), the current government that is
ruling it now also is only artificial and as a result all its activities in the name of the country could never be
legally binding or legitimate!

.............................................................
The Constitution of the Union of Burma, 24 September 1947, Effective 4 January 1948
PREAMBLE
WE, THE PEOPLE OF BURMA including the Frontier Areas and the Karenni States, Determined to establish in
strength and unity a SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENT STATE, To maintain social order on the basis of the eternal
principles of JUSTICE, LIBERTY AND EQUALITY and To guarantee and secure to all citizens JUSTICE social,
economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action;
EQUALITY of status, of opportunity and before the law, IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this Tenth day of
Thadingyut waxing, 1309 B.E. (Twentyfourth day of September, 1947 A.D.), DO HERE BY ADOPT, ENACT
AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
CHAPTER I.
Form of State.
1. Burma is a Sovereign Independent Republic to be known as "the Union of Burma."
2. The Union of Burma shall comprise the whole of Burma, including (i) All the territories that were heretofore governed by His Britannic Majesty through the Governor of Burma, and
(ii) the Karenni States.
3. The sovereignty of the Union resides in the people.
4. All powers, legislative, executive and judicial, are derivedfrom the people and are exercisable on their behalf
by, or on the authority of, the organs of the Union or of its constituent units established by this Constitution.
5. The territories that were heretofore known as the Federated Shan States and the Wa States shall form a constitu
ent unit of the Union of Burma and be hereafter known as "the Shan State."
6. The territories that were heretofore known as the Myitkyina and Bhamo Districts shall form a constituent unit o
f the Union of Burma and be hereafter known as "the Kachin State."
7. The territories that were heretofore known as the Karenni States, viz., Kantarawaddy, Bawlake and Kyebogyi,
shall form aconstituent unit of the Union of Burma and be hereafter known as "the Kayah State.
8. All powers, legislative, executive and judicial, in relation to the remaining territories of the Union of Burma
shall, subject to the provisions of [sections 180 and 181j be exer cisable only by, or on the authority of, the organs
of the Union
CHAPTER X.
Right of Secession.
201. Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Constitution or in any Act of Parliament made under section 199,
every State shall have the right to secede from the Union in accordance with the conditions hereinafter
prescribed.*
202. The right of secession shall not be exercised within ten years from the date on which this Constitution comes
into operation.
203. (1) Any State wishing to exercise the right of secession shall have a resolution to that effect passed by its State
Council. No such resolution shall be deemed to have been passed unless not less than two-thirds of the total number
of members of the State Council concerned have voted in its favour.
(2) The Head of the State concerned shall notify the Presidentof any such resolution passed by the Council and sh all send
him a copy of such resolution certified by the Chairman of the Council by which it was passed.
204. The President shall thereupon order a plebiscite to be taken for the purpose of ascertaining the will of the people
of the State concerned.
205. The President shall appoint a Plebiscite Commission consisting of an equal number of members representing the
Union and the State concerned in order to supervise the plebiscite.
206. Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, all matters relating to the exercise of the right of secession shall be
regulated by law.
* Emphasis above in red colour is my own. tzd.
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/79573/85699/F1436085708/MMR79573.pdf
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly told the ethnic leaders and the general public as well that for her
the Panglong Spirit is more important than the Panglong Agreement itself. However, the reality is that there
would never be a Panglong Spirit without the Panglong Agreement. And without the Panglong Agreement, a
country known as the Union of Burma would have never come into being. So, a future federal union that
would be built by ignoring and downplaying the realities would never last long. As simple as that!

If she and the Burmans were sincerely and seriously willing to build a federal union that would last long, the
only right step - and there is no any other alternative should have been to hold a coference first only with
the other signatory peoples of the Panglong Agreement for they are the equal co-owners of the sovereignty
that was gained from the British at the time of independence. At this conference they must thoroughly review
what had had happened and what is still happening in the country since independence until today to find out if
a reconciliation among them is still possible or not, because the successive Burmese governments have been
abusing those non-Burman peoples' rights in every possible way in the name of the Union of Burma.

Only when and if a reconciliation between them could be achieved, it would be meaningful to convene
another conference with all other ethnic nationalities of the country to find out the most suitable models
for a future federal union.

Now, since they are going to hold this conference anyway in one week's time, let's look at what has been
happening during the last few days and right now. Apart from the lack of legitimacy, if one looks at the ways
things are prepeared and arranged (like the selection of delegates and their numbers, and the agenda. for
instance) and the wordings of those in responsibility for this conference, traces of sincerity, farsightedness and
vision are not at all to be seen until now. The following are some of the most vivid ones to substantiate this view.
!

Those in authority in the former and present governments, the military and government negotiation teams
keep on emphasizing the need to build up TRUST or MUTUAL-TRUST everytime they met with the leaders
or delegates of ethnic armed organizations. But they (the military) are blatenly enforcing their troops in
ethnic nationalities' territories and launching offensives and killing innocent civilians. So, what do they mean
by these words? And how can they expect to earn the TRUST of those non-Burman nationalities with such
upright acts?

Due perhaps partly to the failure of strategical analyses of several important factors, a few leaders or
negotiators on the part of some ethnic amed organizations lack sophistication in their approaches to the
peace-building process. So, the previous and present governments, the military and government peace
negotiators clearly noticed about these weaknesses and they are fully exploiting them to the fullest extent.
They are, for instance, putting the ethnic organizations on the defensive by talking to them down from above
and acting as if they're doing what they're doing purely out of broadmindedness and generosity or altruism!

As there are no traces of sincerity, farsightedness and vision on the part of those in authority as mentioned
above and since Aung San Suu Kyi herself has repeatedly said that she puts more value on the Panglong
Spirit than on the PanglongAgreement itself, it's already clearly foreseeable what her government and the
military are going to do with this conference. They will collect ideas and opinions from different corners of
society as a show, but at the end they will try to overwrite the original Panglong Agreement with majority
votes. In this way, they won't have difficulty getting what they want because the great majority of the chosen
delegates to the conference are ethnic Burmans from her own party and the military. And since all the NLD
party members throughout the country listen to Aung San Suu Kyi's voice alone, one can already foresee what
the outcome of the voting would be! In other words, their hiddden strategy certainly is to make the Panglong
Agreement superfluous or irrelevant with this conference. However, what they should know is that the
Panglong Agreement is a legally binding PACT, a TREATY, an ACCORD which was nade between different
independent and sovereign ethnic peoples with the British Government as witness. It is not a Gentlemen's
Agreement written on a scrap of paper which can be broken at any time by any party without any legal
consequences! According to Chapter X, 201, Section 199 of the 1947 Constitution, the Union belongs equally
to all the ethnic States which founded it by the Panglong Agreement. Or in other words, this Constitution
does not say that the Union belongs to any specific ethnic group or groups alone!
Note 1. I'm using the present tense in expressing my points immediately above, because since this Constitution
has had not yet been officially abolished by all the Panglong signatories, except by Gen. Ne Win who seized
state power unconstitutionally, it still does exist legally until today.
Note 2. The following Link is for the 11-minute speech given by Pu Ngai Sak, Chairman of the Chin League
for Democracy, on September 3 at the 21st Century Panglong Conference. Quite a number of those who
have heard all the speeches given at this conference deem it to be one of the best. It covers several major
issues that the country is confronted with.
https://www.facebook.com/ChinLeagueForDemocracy/videos/vb.267797576755613/571451113056923/?type=2&theater

On the other hand, I found out that various armed organizations have also made a number of fatal false moves as
well both strategic and tactical in their approaches to the peace-building negotiations starting from the Thein Sein

government's rule up to these days. These false moves and some misconceptions - are certainly due to the lack of
strategic thoughts on the leaderships of some of those organizations. The following are a few examples.
!

They seem to lack an overall view of the situation of the country, the government, the military, the regional
and global powers that are directly or indirectly involved in the peace process. And about their own situation
and position (their strong and weak points and that also of their adversaries) as well. This certainly is the
outcome of a failure to analyse thoroughly all the crucial factors from a strategical perspective. Some of them
may not yet even fully realize about the importance of these factors. But in fact these are so important that
they could even seal their political and national destinies forever.

The lack of unity and a coherent and realistic strategy. (It's very natural that if one cannot precisely analyse
his own and his adversary's overall situations, he would never be able to create a realistic strategy. However, a
good or realistic strategy alone is not enough for the attainment of a goal. There are also several other vital
factors and machanisms that one has to deploy as well. But I would not go into details here. And the lack of a
coherent unity is also quite understandable in this case because those armed organizations have different
histories and situations!)

The lack of systematic methods of working. Here's a very simple example. This may surely seem to be trivial
to a layman, but it could mean a great deal for an organization's image from an outside observer's view. Since
the time mentioned above (from the beginning of the peace negotiations) several statements have been released
by those ethnic organizations, including the UNFC, but there never was a contact address or a mailing address
in those statements. Usually two names were given as contact persons only with their mobile phone numbers.
And these contact persons always happened to be those in the leading positions of the organizations or the
alliance. In factr, there should be a permanent contact address or contact person(s) and such a contact address
must be staffed with qualified persons permanently. Or in other words, those in the top positions should not
serve as direct contact persons. Otherwise, an organization could very easily lose a good impression. Or it
could be very easily interpreted by outside oberserves as a poorly organized and run organization.

I would write down here a few major points for them (ethnic political parties and armed organizations) to
take into consideration in their preparations for the 21st Century Panglong Conference. They will find now
that they actually have abundance of bargaining chips with which they can negotiate with the Burmans with
full self-confidence on equal footing! This new awareness of their strong position will convince them that they
won't need to kowtow to the Burmans for even every small favour. But they will need to build up a very solid
unity among themselves, otherwise these strong bargaining chips will worth nothing. The government and
military will try to break this unity with every available method and divide them as they have so effectively
done with the eight NCA signatories and those who haven't signed it.
!

Most important all they must fully realize that they are already on equal footing with the Burmans on the few
reasons below out of a number of others - so that they need not to beg the Burmans to treat them as their
equal partners either in the conference or on the negotiating table. And they don't need to thank the Burmans
either for their broadmindedness or generosity, as a couple of the leading members of some organizations
have very naively and fawningly done on some occasions for their calling and holding of this conference. The
main reason why the Burmans are doing what they are doing is simply out of their own interests, and not out
of pure broadmindedness or generosity or altruism or vision or even compassion as they very often try to
imply. They are simply being forced to do these things by several other internal and external circumstances or pressures or players. They just don't have any other choices!

Those in power know so well since a long time ago, especially since the 1988 mass uprisings, about the great
awareness of the majority of ethnic Burmans that their own fate and that of all other non-Burman nationalities
are so closely intertwined. So they became much more sympathetic with the plight of those ethnic peoples.
The military - and now the Burmese politicians - have fully realized that they can no more underestimate
this awareness among the Burmans. In other words, the ethnic peoples must fully realize that they have got,
in fact, a very powerful ally that is, the Burmese people - on their side.

The mountainous territories that are located along the international borders and the natural resources in
these territories - are vitally important for the Burmans' own survival as well from both security and
economic points of view.

Economically (hydropower potentials, for instance) and environmentally the RIVERS, the high
MOUNTAINS and the thick FORESTS in those territories are also vital for the survival of the ethnic
Burmans. (One example is an article which appeared in Eleven Myanmar on Sept. 5, 2016, under the title of
The Thanlwin River a victim of misdirected electric power http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/opinion/5856 )

The country's economic situation has been hopelessly in shambles since a long time ago that they can no more
afford to wage a losing war against ethnic armed forces. The country's main sources of income are oil and
natural gas and forestry products, but the oil and gas prices on international market are now record low and
the forests are almost already completly depleted. So, it's in their own interest to have peace as fast as
possible - and by hook by crook!

They urgently need to ward off or at least to reduce the Chinese pressures directly or indirectly on the
planned several hydropower plants along the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State and several other projects such
as the Arakan natural gas pipelines, and so on.

The government and military want to reduce or contain the Chineses increasing influence on armed
organizations along the China-Burma boundary.

The economic onslaughts from China, Bangladesh, India, Thailand (both legal and illegal trades) along the
borders are depleting the country's resources and at the same time hindering the growth of domestic
industries. So they feel they have to address this problem as fast as possible.

They must surely be under great pressure from the West as well to settle the armed conflicts as soon as
possible. The West has great geopolitical, geostrategical and economic interests in Burma.

There certainly are quite a number of people, including the self-styled Burma experts, who may like to point
out that the military is still very strong and that it would not be possible to persuade it to fully comply with the
wishes of non-Burman nationalities. However, I personally don't believe that it's as strong as it seems to be on the
following grounds.
!

It has even become a big question mark since several years ago about the sense of a poor country like Burma
maintaining large armed forces. (According to reliable sources they number some 400,000 men) which doesn't
have external threats or enemies, while a very large portion of the population is starving or half-starving
(According to a report by the London-based research institute, Varisk Maplecraft, which appeared in Radio
Free Asia on Nov.. 22, 2015, 4 million children in Burma cannot afford to go to school and they have to work
14 hours a day and seven days a week to feed their families.) Theoretically, the only countries that could
invade Burma physically are China and India, but in reality they don't need to invade it at all because Burmas
people are already at their mercy financially and commercially since a couple of decades ago. The government
has to even borrow USD 100 million from the World Bank during this month to compensate the pay raise for
government employees, for instance (see the Mizzima article below under the title of World Bank loan not
intended for salary hike), and the peoples plight has repeatedly further been worsened yearly by great natural
catastrophes like floods in many parts of the country. The top militarymen are fully aware of such factors and
realize that the military cannot be able to exist in the present form in the long future.

And recently their image as an invincible institution had suffered two devastating blows. The first blow was
the electoral debacle of their political backbonE, the USDP in the 2015 election. And the second was that the
NLD was overwhemingly elected at almost all military bases in the 2015 general election. (The same thing
had already happened once back in the 1990 election.) Thats not really a surprise because while only those in
the upper echelon of the military (from battalion commanders upwards) are privileged, the majority of the
families of lower-ranking soldiers have to eke out for their daily survival. Everybody in the country knows
how heartbreaking their situation is. As a result their fighting spirit is very low.

Almost the entire people of the country see them as torturers, murderers, oppressors, exploiters and usurpers
of power and the country's resources during their 60 years of ruthless rule. As everybody knows so well all
the other reasons already the confiscation of more than 5 million acres of farmlands from poverty-stricken
farmers by them and their wealthy cronies since decades ago throughout the country and their secret deposits
of USD 11 billion in banks in Singapore which came out to light in September, 2013 through the World Bank
and the Asian Development Bank, for instance, are just two examples - I do not need to provide any other
evidences here anymore.

And with the other various factors already mentioned earlier above, one can conclude that the militay is not
an invincible entity. But since it's one of the most ruthless armies in world history, its destrructive potential
should never be underestimated.

So far as I know the government and the military want to hold this conference only every six months or so. They
may have their own hidden strategy why they decided to follow this time-frame. But it could work very advantageous

for the ethnic peoples as well paradoxically! But on the other hand, I don't think they (the government and
the military) could speed up the process either for many reasons, even if they wanted to. So the ethnic peoples
should take the following few points into very serious consideration before they are either forced or persuaded to make
any legally-binding commitments with any other ethnic nationalities or to officially agree to form a federal union.
!

They should wait and see until the ending parts of the present government's legislature period to find out if
this government is shrewd and strong enough to make and effectively implement Law and Order throughout
the country.

They should wait and see whether the government is powerful enough to make all the major state institutions
strong enough so that these could fully prevent the inteference of any individuals or groups or parties in the
short, medium and long-term future for their own personal gains.

They must find out any kind of secret treaties or contracts that may surely have been made by the previous
governments and military with foreign states or commercial companies, otherwise they may find themselves
being forced to pay the debts, which had been incurred by the previous and present governments, the military
and their cronies, with the sales of their own natural resources.

They should wait and see if the government can make laws against corruption and then effectively implement
these laws throughout the whole country, because so long as corruption cannot be effectively suppressed, the
country's financial resources would be lost. According to the Transparency International, Burma was at the
147th place out of 168 countries in the world in couruption in 2015.

They should wait and see until the ending parts of the present government's term to see if Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi is still around and fully at the helm. Since the state instutiions that exist today are still very fragile, the
country could very easily collapse at any time if for any reasons she is suddenly no more around. And there's
no one else besides her who could take her place. Not only that. They would need to wait and see, should
she still be around at the ending parts of her term, how things have developed during her rule and how things
are going to develop beyond the five-year term.

And above all else, the life-and-death matter of the country's long-term destiny would be decided almost
decisively by whether she could transform during her rule the military into an institution which can be
admired, respected and loved by the entire peoples or not. And whether she can bring it under her complete
control or not. In a true democratic country there cannot be any other independent institutions which are
sharing the same degree of power with the elected government in power. When she was in the opposition
Aung Suu Kyi herself had repeatedly said that she would like to see an army which can be respected, admired
and loved by the people. This factor should even be made a precondition to join a future union, because it
would only be suicidal for non-Burman ethnic peoples to join - or to form a union - in which the military,
which refuses to reform itself completely, but claims the co-rulership side by side with the elected
government in power.

These days some ethnic political parties or armed organizations are openly talking about their willingness to live in
a federal union without securing secession right. That's one of the most tragic mistakes one can so recklessly commit.
Seventy years of history have concretely proven that clauses in a treaty or a state constitution or the words and goodwill
of some leading persons alone are no guarantees for the good behavior of any ethnic group or political party and for the
protection of the rights and interests of any union member state. Therefore, all the ethnic peoples who live together in a
federal union must have the equal right and power to control or deploy the country's armed forced to protect their own
rights and interests. Or in other words, these armed forces must equally protect the rights and interests all the member
states or ethnic groups of the union. Not a single ethnic group or groups must not have the possibility to monopolize
such forces for their own benefits at will.
The Chins, Kachins, Kayahs (Karennis) and Shans had put their trust in General Aung San's good will and the 1947
Constitution, but when he was suddenly no more there there was not even a single institution to pretect their rights and
interests.
According to the secular laws of most of the nations in this world, every marriage can be dissolved when and if the
living together of two persons becomes unbearable ormeaningless. So everybody has the right to leave his or her
marriage partner when such a situation comes. Even parents do not have the right to force their own children to live
with them forever. So also must be any union of different ethnic peoples. That's every ethnic people's birthright.
So far as I know even those who are always talking about the seccesion right in Burma are only talking about it without ever
having taken seriously the necessary steps for the securing of this right. Those who want to secure this right for their people should
therefore make serious preparations for this purpose, otherwise the Burmans won't take their words seriously because talking about it
all the times alone is far from enough!

Theoretically, the Kachins could join either India or China and the Shans either China or Thailand or Laos; the

Karennis and Karens Thailand; the Mons with Thailand; the Arakanese with Bangladesh, The Chins with either
Bangladesh or India, and the Nagas with India, and so on. Actually, ethnic nationalities in those countries enjoy more
rights than those in Burma.
But in the case of Burma there is a great advantage which very few other countries have: All the ethnic
peoples have been living peacefully side by side together for centuries. And the great majority of the ordinary
ethnic Burmans are compassionate and generous. That is a very good starting point and we should capitalize
on it. But it must be done only at the basis of people-to-people, because the main culprits of all the problems
of the country until now were and still are a minority of the political and military elites of ethnic Burmans.
______________________________________
The few following news items would, I hope, further substantiate some of the points of view of mine that were
mentioned above.

How Myanmars illicit opium economy benefits the military

By Patrick Meehan, Tuesday, 12 July 2016 - Myanmar Times
For the past 10 years drug production in Myanmar has been on the rise. The amount of land used to
grow poppy from which the opium sap used to make heroin is derived has more than doubled since
2006. According to the UN, Myanmar now accounts for more than 25 percent of the global area under
illegal poppy cultivation, making the country the second-largest producer of illegal opium in the world
after Afghanistan.
The vast majority of Myanmar opium is produced by poor farmers in highland areas of Shan State close to the
borders with China, Thailand and Laos, which have been affected by decades of conflict between ethnic armed
groups and the central government. In 2012, studies conducted by local researchers recorded opium cultivation
in 49 out of Shan States 55 townships, involving more than 200,000 households.
Drugs play an ambiguous role in Myanmars borderlands. Drug abuse has taken far more lives than armed
conflict in many communities over the past decade and the growing heroin epidemic across parts of Shan and
Kachin states is one of the main drivers of HIV/AIDS in Myanmar.
But the income opium generates for growers provides a way of staving off poverty amid rising food prices and
resulting food insecurity, heavy demands for taxation from an array of armed groups, and the continued lack
of government investment in rural services. They grow poppy because they cannot produce enough food to
feed their families throughout the year. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that almost 1 million
people in Shan State suffer severe and chronic food insecurity, equivalent to almost one in five of the
regions population. The income generated from Myanmar opium enables farmers to buy food and sometimes
also to cover the cost of rudimentary healthcare and education.
The fact that poppy can grow well even on steep, infertile land makes it particularly well-suited to the hills that
form much of Shan State, where rice yields are poor. In contrast to other cash crops suitable for upland
cultivation such as fruit trees, tea and coffee, which take years to mature, poppy fields produce opium within
four months. This makes it an ideal crop for farmers who need money urgently or have been forced to farm on
new land after being displaced by conflict...
Myanmars opium sector has long been driven by poverty, yet it is important to recognise that drug production
in the countrys borderlands is also driven by politics.
The drug trade has long been a part of the countrys war economy, financing ethnic armed groups fighting
against the central government. But over the past decade drug production has increased even as the territory
controlled by insurgent groups has receded, and poppies now bloom across regions under increasing
government control.
The drug trade can no longer be blamed solely on insurgent groups. It has also become embedded in the
strategies used by the Myanmar army to secure territorial control over a region that contains abundant natural
resources and is of huge strategic importance as an economic gateway to China.
Myanmars military government has, since the late 1980s, used the drug economy as a means to finance its
own state-building objectives, rather than launch sustained efforts to dismantle it. Taxing farmers, traders and
traffickers became a means through which army units stationed across Shan State financed themselves in
accordance with demands from central command that they live off the land, rather than rely on the central
supply system.
Even official crop destruction drives have often been used by army units to extract bribes and protection fees

from farmers, with fabricated eradication figures then submitted to superiors who have little to gain from
questioning them or exposing their inaccuracy.
The drug trade has also been used by the Tatmadaw as a way to finance a large number of local militias that
perform various security and anti-insurgency tasks. Militias have been deployed to protect development
projects across Shan State, including oil and gas pipelines and dams, and to seize land from farmers for largescale agricultural projects, especially rubber plantations.
Militias are not paid directly by the government, but in return for their services they have been granted various
business opportunities, including the right to tax poppy farmers and to refine heroin and sell drugs with
impunity.
Militias have provided the Tatmadaw with a useful layer of plausible deniability, enabling commanders to
distance themselves from the drug trade without running the risk of pushing this lucrative trade back into the
hands of insurgent groups. It is these government-backed militias who now orchestrate the drug trade across
large areas of Shan State... East Asia Forum

Patrick Meehan recently completed his PhD in the Department of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/opinion/21334-how-myanmar-s-illicit-opium-economy-benefits-the-military.html

Human Rights Situation Still Dire: UN Envoy

By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY| Saturday, July 2, 2016 |
RANGOON Rights abuses are ongoing in Burma despite the election of the countrys first
democratically-elected government in half a century, according to UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights
in Burma Yanghee Lee.
Lee ended her 12-day visit to Burma with a press conference in Rangoon, where she said there was no
difference between the human rights conditions now and under the previous quasi-civilian government.
The home ministry and the Special Branch of the police are the same people from the past government,
said the South Korean Envoy. That is why things have not changedOld habits die hard.
Lee was not just critiquing the situation based on secondhand accounts. She encountered police interference
herself.
I also continue to receive reports of monitoring and surveillance of civil society actors and human rights
defenders, she said in her statement released at the press conference. During this visit, I unfortunately was
informed that my interlocutors were photographed by security officials, and were questioned prior to and
following our meetings.
She was particularly concerned with the situation in Arakan State, where the Muslim Rohingya minority
remains marginalized and deprived of many rights...
But her concern for issues in Arakan State extended beyond just the Muslim communities...
Lee has been a controversial figure, particularly among small but vocal Burmas far-right nationalist
groups. Last year, the monk Wirathu, a leader of the Buddhist nationalist group Ma Ba Tha, called her a
bitch and a whore.

Burma Army Soldiers Confess at Court Martial to Killing Civilians

By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY| Wednesday, August 10, 2016 |
A funeral was held in early July for five civilians killed by Burma Army soldiers near Mong Yaw Village,
Lashio Township, northern Shan State. (Photo: Sai Kaung Loi Pha / Facebook)
Seven Burma Army soldiers, including four commissioned officers, accused of murdering five civilians in
Mong Yaw Village of Lashio Township in late June were brought before a court martial at North Eastern
Command headquarters in Lashio, northern Shan state on Tuesday.
At the court session, the first in this high-profile case, the four commissioned officers admitted giving the
orders to kill the villagers, while the lower-ranking soldiers admitted to carrying them out, according to a
translator employed at the hearing.

Uncharacteristically for military tribunals in Burma, where even verdicts are generally not shared with the
public, the session was open for family members of the murdered villagers to observe.
It is also rare to see commissioned officers brought before tribunals for abuses against civilians.
Sai Lao Pha, who translated into Shan for the family members in attendance, told The Irrawaddy that the
three lower-ranking soldiers told the court that, while dressed in army camouflage fatigues, they used knives
to kill the five local men.
These three soldierstwo sergeants, Sein Win Maung and Maung Ohn, and one corporal, Maung Maung
Htwestated that they had been acting under orders from superior officers. Sgt. Sein Win Maung alone
protested that this made him not guilty of murder.
The four commissioned officersone colonel, Myo Aung, two majors, Tin Myo Zaw and Aung Nay
Myo, and one captain from Military Intelligence, Lin Naing Soeconfessed to being guilty.
Twelve people from among the murdered villagers families attended the session, where they were not asked to
speak. The session lasted between 10 am and 6 pm. Although the trial will continue, no dates for future
sessions have been set.
After the bodies of the five villagers were discovered by local residents buried near their village of Mong Yaw
in Lashio Township, blame quickly fell on soldiers from the Burma Armys Light Infantry Battalion 362, who
were seen leading the villagers away for questioning on June 25. The soldiers were in the vicinity due to
reports than an ethnic rebel army was recruiting locals...
The Burma Army also stands accused by locals of shooting dead two young men riding motorbikes not far
from the village on the same day. The Burma Army have countered that they had died in the crossfire between
the Burma Army and an unspecified ethnic rebel group.
Earlier this week, authorities in Lashio Township exhumed all seven bodies in Mong Yaw Village. Township
police claimed to have opened their own murder case.
http://www.irrawaddy.com/burma/burma-army-soldiers-confess-at-court-martial-to-killing-civilians.html

Parliament Amends Union Budget Law

By TIN HTET PAING / THE IRRAWADDY| Wednesday, August 24, 2016 |
RANGOON Burmas Union Parliament passed a bill on Tuesday amending the 2016 Union Budget Law
drafted by the previous government and approved by the former legislature, trimming the estimated
expenditures of the majority of the ministries. The cut of 470 billion kyats (around US$389.8 million) from he
previously approved amount of over 20 trillion kyats, however, did not affect six ministries Defense, the
State Counselors Office, Foreign Affairs, Ethnic Affairs, Education, as well as Health and Sports...

World Bank loan not intended for salary hike

By Min Min
On Wednesday, 17 August 2016

The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Finance Maung Maung Win said that US$ 60 million
from a World Bank loan of US$ 100 was not for a salary hike to government employees as the wording was
misunderstood in the communication sent to parliament by the government.
Maung Maung Win told the Union Parliament on August 16, The loan for monetary sector development
presented to parliament is absolutely not for a salary hike to government employees. The rumour that the loan
was to supplement insufficient funds to pay salaries to government employees is baseless and groundless. The
loan is not concerned with the salary of government employees.
A message dated August 5 sent by the President to the Chairman of the Union Parliament said US$ 60 million
out of total World Bank loan of US$ 100 million was for, expansion of current account expenditure in
salaries, allowances and benefits to public servants under the World Bank budget assistance programme. This
message was spread on social media and fanned rumours of an imminent salary hike for public servants.
Maung Maung Win clarified to parliament, The World Bank proposed to Ministry of Planning and Finance to
use this loan for expenditure of salaries, allowances and benefits under the current account expenditure. In this
proposal, current account spending for the expansion of the work was included and it led to misunderstanding

http://www.bbc.com/burmese/burma/2016/08/160812_energy_ministry_electricity

and was misquoted. In the last salary hike made in 2014, the state spent 261 billion kyat. The salary hike in
2015 was 834 billion kyat. The current proposed World Bank loan is just US$ 60 million and it is equivalent to
Myanmar Kyat 70 billion. Moreover it will be paid in four instalments so this loan is absolutely not connected
with the salary hike of public servants. And also Id like to clarify to parliament that this loan is not because of
insufficient government funds for salaries, he added...
http://mizzima.com/news-domestic/world-bank-loan-not-intended-salary-hike
The BBC news on the previous page is about the Ministry of Electricity and Energy's plan to import gas from
outside for electrification in the country. It's so strange for a country which exports billions of dollars worth of
gas yearly to import it from outside again. It clearly indicate the lack of systematic planning at this ministry.
There are also numerous similar incidents in other ministries.
______________________________________

Respectfully yours,

Thang Za Dal (Mr)

Grindelallee 141
20146 Hamburg
Germany
August 24, 2016.
Note 1. History of this Open Supplication: The 1st Supplication was dated July 19, 2014 and
disseminated to a number of recipients. Then it was modified for the first time in September 2014 bearing
the date of September 3, 2014. The 2nd modification then was once again done in Febuary 2015 and
dated February 7, 2015. It also was disseminated to a number of recipients. Then a 3rd modification was
made with a number of new Links and a few important corrections. It was then disseminated once again
around August 24, 2015. Then the 4th modication was made in December and dated 17th December
2015. The 5th modification was released on February 25, 2016. The 6th modification was released on
June 19, 2016. The 5th and 6th modications can be accessed at the Links below. This current sending
contains five scanned pages of news clippings and five scanned pages of biblical passages.
https://de.scribd.com/doc/316144114/An-Open-Supplication-to-the-Present-and-Future-Rulers-of-Burma

https://de.scribd.com/doc/316525112/An-Open-Supplication-to-the-Rulers-of-Burma-6th-modification
Note 2. I'm the author of a few political papers on Burma. Among them are, for instance, a 186-page
paper titled: GRAND STRATEGY FOR BURMA VIII; BURMA'S 60-YEAR OLD CIVIL WAR (1948-2008): A
BRIEF CHRONOLOGY; SOME STRATEGIC CONCEPTS FOR THE RE-BUILDING OF BURMA; and a 663page paper under the title of THE CHIN/ZO PEOPLE OF BANGLADESH, BURMA AND INDIA: AN
INTRODUCTION (XVIII), etc. The Link below is that of the 349-page excerpt;
https://de.scribd.com/doc/18092021/The-Chin-Zo-People-of-Bangladesh-Burma-and-India-An-Introduction-XVIII

Note 3. I'm pretty certain that you may surely be wondering what the biblical references in the
AN APPEAL TO THE STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL mean. Here are what these
verses say:

Hosea 2: 4. I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery.
Matthew 5:9. Bless are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Ephesians 2:14-16. 14 Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who
are God's possession to the praise of his glory. 15 For this reason, ever since I
heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.16 I have not
stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
(These verses are from The Holy Bible New International Version).
In fact, I myself am wondering if these verses, perhaps with the exception of Matthew 5:9, could be
relevant at all to the contents of this Appeal and the time and circumstances in which it was made. Hosea
in the first reference was a minor prophet of Israel around BC 800 and the person who spoke to him
should be the biblical God. And the woman was Hosea's adulterous wife and the chidren were their own
three children. Many Christian theologians and scholars imply the wife and children should symbolize his
(God) relationship with the ever disobeying Israelites (disobeying God's laws), but since you are not
Israelites anyway, I cannot see the connection between this verse and you. And the third reference is just
about the writing of Paul (or Paul the Apostle), who had lived sometime between 5 BC and 70 AD. He
was a Jew converted to Christianity and became a missionary in the Asia Minor. However, he himself was
not a disciple of Jesus. The biblical verses were his writing to the saints of Ephesus, an ancient Greek city
in present-day Turkey. Here also I cannot see the connection between these verses and you, since 99% of
you are not Christian and did not live in Asia Minor 2,000 years ago. I simply cannot figure out why the
authors of this Appeal had chosen these verses for someones who do not have any ideas at all about
Christianity! And I cannot see the reason of connecting these events that had happened in Isael 3,000
years ago and in Asia Minor 2,000 years ago respectively with what is happening now in Burma.
As for the Matthew 5:9 verse, it's alright because these were the words of Jesus recorded in the Bible.
In fact, there are enough Jesus' own words in the four Gospels that should better be relevant to the
Appeal in question. The authors of this Appeal should or could have, for instance, even quoted Matthew
5:1 to 12 as I myself have done above. What I want to say here in short is that, if they had wanted to use
biblical verses either as a means to warn you against your persecuting the Christians in the country or to
humbly plead for your mercy on behalf of them, there are ample appropriate Jesus' own teachings for
such purposes in the Gospels.
Note 4. When I observe what the majority of the previous rulers of the country had been doing for
decades with the Chin people in Chin State, for instance, I get the very strong impression that most of
them did not even know who the Chins really are, how they live, how much they have been suffering
under their decades-long rule, and how they (the Chins) worship their Deities (the biblical God and Jesus).
I'm therefore giving you now the present and future rulers - a few selected youtube Links below that
would show you some parts of their culture (original folk dances and secular songs, for instance) and how
they worship their Deities (singing Christian songs in praise of them), and also about their social activities
in Burma itself and India, and in some other countries as well where they are living mostly as workers or
refugees. (By the way, about 85% of the Chins in Burma circa 500,000 - in Chin State and another
circa 1,000,000 - elsewhere in Burma is Christian; the rest 10-15% - is shared equally by both Buddhist
and Animist. In like manner, about 99% of the Zo population of approximately 2-3 million in Assam,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura states in India is Christian.)
Note 5. Five rather unusual information pieces, which I did perchance find in the Internet very recently,
are also posted together with this Supplication in the hope that some people might be interested to find
out how two of the world's oldest civilizations see the destiny of this world and humanity and that there
are great wisdoms not only in the Judeo-Christian religions, but elsewhere as well. However, there's no
any other hidden motives behind my posting these items here.
Mayan End Age 12.21.2012 heralds a New Age of Spiritual Enlightenment
http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm
The Prophecy of The Return of a Supreme Being

http://adishakti.org/_/Prophecy_Of_The_Return_Of_A_Supreme_Being.htm
Golden Age in Hindu & Mayan Calendar - Mayan Calendar Corroborates Hindu Prophecy
http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/goldenage.htm
One Cosmic Day of Creator Brahma
http://hindureligionn.blogspot.de/2013/11/one-cosmic-day-of-creator-brahma.html
Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory - Hinduism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_interpretations_of_the_Big_Bang_theory
_______________________________________________
Note. 6. Some of the 27 Youtube Links below will show you, as I have already said above, how the Chin
Christians are more obsessed with spending all their waking hours singing religious songs in praise of
their God and saying prayers to him rather than engaging in any political activities against you.
Some Chin/Zo Folk Dances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmHKtDotnMY
1/5 of the 60th Chin National Day in Frankfurt, Germany (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL32vYA4s3w
Zo Lia Nu (My beloved Zo Sweetheart)
Composed/Sung/Edited and Produced by Cinpi (Idol) & Group
Models: Zam Bawi (girl); Khual (boy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viyDCGaVD60
A modern Zo song sung by a group of young Zo girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isQ0n2rEou4
Mizoram University Students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwD8K_RAPP0
Welcome December 2008 (Concert & Fashion Show), Yangon, Burma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c8OpR-bIqo
Sweet December 2012 (Concert & Fashion Show)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YwGTlzEJqk
64th Chin National Day in Singapore (2012) Part A-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Po90_mzAc
64th Chin National Day in Singapore (2012) Part A-2
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqMegsI_aFE
65th Chin National Day (Singapore)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ZPfk-5y_Q&spfreload=10
66th Chin National Day 2014 (celeberated in Malaysia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVZVHwrPT0
67th Chin National Day - 2015 (celeberated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CNIEGwbWrs
67th Chin National Day 2015 (Video produced by Chins in Singapore)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH1gxIFrBQM
Hinkhua Dawn Changin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQagpSsVqTA
Topa Hoih hi (God is Good)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nneRHKGHJfg
Asho (or Plains) Chin Gospel Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvV5lPTOyd0&spfreload=10
We are One (A song sung by a few young Chin/Zo Girls)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcT9_YunwXo
Zan Siangtho (Holy Night)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnR4r_W3id8
Ka Gam Uh Damsak In (Heal Our Land)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsLkH-ENBUs&feature=youtu.be
Puan Ngou Silh (Those Who Are Wearing White Gowns)
Some Chin/Zo Folk Dances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmHKtDotnMY
1/5 of the 60th Chin National Day in Frankfurt, Germany (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL32vYA4s3w
Zo Lia Nu (My beloved Zo Sweetheart)
Composed/Sung/Edited and Produced by Cinpi (Idol) & Group
Models: Zam Bawi (girl); Khual (boy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viyDCGaVD60
A modern Zo song sung by a group of young Zo girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isQ0n2rEou4
Mizoram University Students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwD8K_RAPP0
Welcome December 2008 (Concert & Fashion Show), Yangon, Burma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c8OpR-bIqo

Sweet December 2012 (Concert & Fashion Show)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YwGTlzEJqk
64th Chin National Day in Singapore (2012) Part A-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Po90_mzAc
64th Chin National Day in Singapore (2012) Part A-2
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqMegsI_aFE
65th Chin National Day (Singapore)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ZPfk-5y_Q&spfreload=10
66th Chin National Day 2014 (celeberated in Malaysia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVZVHwrPT0
67th Chin National Day - 2015 (celeberated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CNIEGwbWrs
67th Chin National Day 2015 (Video produced by Chins in Singapore)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH1gxIFrBQM
Hinkhua Dawn Changin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQagpSsVqTA
Topa Hoih hi (God is Good)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nneRHKGHJfg
Asho (or Plains) Chin Gospel Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvV5lPTOyd0&spfreload=10
We are One (A song sung by a few young Chin/Zo Girls)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcT9_YunwXo
Zan Siangtho (Holy Night)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnR4r_W3id8
Ka Gam Uh Damsak In (Heal Our Land)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsLkH-ENBUs&feature=youtu.be
Puan Ngou Silh (Those Who Are Wearing White Gowns)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxMEkFbK48o
Ngaihte Pathian Ni ropui
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjfj2uDG_zI
Fak Ru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnUzlVFuA28
Ka chawl tawk ang (I Will Put Down My Burden and Take a Rest)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x66kLtrVOjs
Khovel Ki Pak Hen (Let the whole world praise!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxMEkFbK48o
Ngaihte Pathian Ni ropui
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjfj2uDG_zI
Khuavel kipak hen Let the whole world Praise!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8pANkLbizs
Jerusalem Thar (New Jerusalem) Traditional tune ((lengkhawm zai)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTsuSQ3V1mk
Lawmna Thuruk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytgfusfq4P4
It's Well With My Soul (Hmar Choir in New Delhi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEv3bALYDpk
I did ask a number of people who are familiar with the 3-part youtubes below and the current situation in he country as
well. They told me that all the starving people in the scenes in these youtubes are from within Yangon itself, the former
capital of the country, and along the railway lines in central Burma, and some war refugees along the Burma-Thai
border.
Burma Part (1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzhVnuZDbHE
Burma Part (2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OBjmU2LUeI
Burma Part (3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLz_Ed2NNT0

______________________________________________________________
Thumbnails of Youtube Links Listed Above
(created in this form by thangzadal. Hamburg. 04.16)
_____________________________________________________________

AN APPEAL TO THE STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

(From Myanmar Catholic Bishops And The Myanmar Council Of Churches)
September 24, 1999, Yangon, Myanmar
May the Peace and Grace of Jesus Christ and God be with you!
A. The Myanmar Catholic Bishops Conference and the Myanmar Council of Churches were formed with
the objectives of all Christians in Myanmar to work for Christ's Mission.
B. The Myanmar Catholic Bishops Conference, an organization comprised of 13 Bishops, has been
working hard leading 12 Catholic regions.
C.
The Myanmar Council of Churches, a leading national Christian ministry, is comprised of 13
members of national Christian denominations that are affiliated with 9 other prominent Christian
organizations such as the Young Women Christian and the Young Men Christian Association. The leaders,
as well as the members of these organizations, under the above two major organizations are all citizens
of Myanmar.
D. Although both of the two major organizations are cooperating with other organizations around the
world, they are freely operating in their own cause.
E. The Myanmar Catholic Bishops Conference and the Myanmar Council of Churches are working for
human developments for the benefit of the mission and the country. They establish hospitals, clinics, and
schools that are basic necessities for a peaceful society; and selfless doctors and teachers are sacrificing
in the good cause. Until today, they have established such things as a hospital for leprosy, school for the
deaf, school for the blind, school for elderly care, school for orphans and are providing their best
possible care for the aban- doned and refugees.
F. They are also working with their best possible efforts for better environments, efficient transportation,
welfare and developments of the lives of young people, women, and children.
G. To be able to undertake the above mentioned mission responsibilities, the Myanmar Catholic Bishops
Conference has formed the "Peace and Justice Commission" and the Myanmar Council of Churches has
formed the "Reconciliation and Peace Commission." The basic Biblical principle of the Commission is as
follows:
H. Being faithful believers of the peaceful God, who governs with everlasting love, we believe that as we
are responsible to build and prosper the virtues that will end conflicts and promote justice and peace,
which has always been desired by the people, we will carry but this task so long as we are alive.
(Biblical References: Hosea 2:4; Matthew 5:9; Ephesians 2:14-16).
I. We would like to present the hardships and obstacles we have faced while undertaking these tasks in
recent years to the national heads. Prohibition of Christian evangelical works in some states and
townships, expulsion of mission workers, prohibition of worship services, arrests and persecutions, forced
renunciation of Christian faith, and destroying of Christian crosses have been encountered. In some states,
repairing of Christian buildings was not allowed.
Permission for building was not allowed or permission was delayed. For Christians, crosses are very
important because they are the symbols of sacrifice and service for human beings. Therefore, a place for
worship and a place for erecting Christian crosses are of prime importance.
In publication of Christian literature, some words and vocabularies were not allowed or were
restricted by the censorship board. This restriction can consequently lessen the warm relationship among
religious organizations.
Due to the above obstacles, Christians have no peace of mind.
Therefore, with the aims of building a new developed and modern country by joining hands in unity with
all ethnic nationalities and Burmese, we would like to request and present to the national leaders to solve
the above mentioned obstacles. Also, in the future, we will present the needs and difficulties to you as
necessary.
The Myanmar Catholic Bishops Conference and the Myanmar Council of Churches would also like to
state that on the basis of love and justice, we would always try to build a long lasting reconciliation and
peace. May the grace and peace of the ever-lasting God bestow upon our national leaders and our
motherland! Amen! (Source: RODODENDRON VIII No. VI Nov.-Dec. 2000.
Burma's Catholics Celebrate 500th Jubilee With Events in Rangoon.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/multimedia-burma/burmas-catholics-celebrate-500th-jubilee-events-rangoon.html

______________________________________________________________
A TRUE LETTER OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST
Consecrating the Drops of Blood which Our Lord Jesus lost on His way to Calvary.
Copy of a letter of the Oration found in the Holy Sepulche of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem
preserved in a silver box by His Holiness and by the Emperors and Empresses of the Christian Faith.
St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, with St. Matilda and St. Bridget wishing to know something of the
Passion of Jesus Christ offered fervent and special prayer, upon which there appeared to them Our
Lord Jesus Christ who spoke to them in the following manner:
I descended from Heaven to the Earth in order to convert you. In olden times people were religious
and their harvests were abundant; at present on the contrary, they are scanty. If you want to reap an
abundant harvest you must not work on Sunday for on Sunday you must go to church and pray to God
to forgive your sins. He gave you six days in which to work and one for rest and devotion and to tender
your help to the poor and assist the Church.
Those people, who brawl against my religion and cast slurs on this Sacred Letter, shall be foresaken
by me. On the contrary, those people who shall carry a copy of this letter with them shall be free from
death by drowning and from sudden death. They shall be free from all contagious diseases and lightning,
they shall not die without confession and shall be free from their enemies and from the hand of wrongful
authority, and from all their slanderers and false witnesses.
Women in peril at childbirth will, by keeping this Oration about them, immediately overcome the
difficulty. In the houses where this Oration is kept, no evil thing will ever happen and, forty days before
the dealth of a person who has this Oration about him or her.
To all those faithful who shall recite for 3 years, each day 2 Our Fathers, 2 Glorys, and 2 Hail
Marys, in honour of the drops of blood I lost, I will concede tha following 5 graces:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

The plenary indulgence and remittance of your aims.

You will be free from the pains of Purgatory.
If you should die before completing the said 3 years, for you, it will be the same as if you had
completed them.
It will be upon your death the same as if you had shed all your blood for the Holy Faith.
I will descend from Heaven to take your soul and that of your relatives until the fourth generation.

Be it known that the number of armed soldiers were 150, there who trailed me while I was bound
were 23. The excutioners of justice were 83; the blows received on my head were 150; those on my
stomach were 108; kicks on my shoulders 80; I was led bound with cords by the hair 24 times; spits in
the face were 180; I was beaten on the body 6666 times; beaten on the head 110 times. I was roughly
pushed and at 12 oclock was lifted up by the hair, pricked with thorns and pulled by the beard were 23
times; received 20 wounds on the head; thorns of marine junks 72, prick of thorns on the head 110,
mortal thorns in the forehead 3. I was afterwards flogged and dressed as a mocked king; wounds in the
body 1000. The soldiers who led me to the Calvary were 608; those who watched me were 3; and
those who mocked me were 1008; the drops of blood which I lost were 28 430.
Benedettadas- S
POPE LEO XIII
In Rome, 5 April, 1890
1st Printing 1982. 3000
2nd Printing 1982. 2000
3rd Printing 1983. 4000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CATHOLIC PRESS, KALEMYO, Burma. (Its a word-for-word reproduction from the original text done by
Thang Za Dal. Hamburg/23.05.2002.)

Remembering the Saffron Revolution

By HARN LAY| Friday, September 26, 2014 |

ANARCHISTS! TERRORISTS! SKINHEAD! (Artist: Harn Lay)

Seven years ago, Buddhist monks in Rangoon led street protests in what came to be known as the Saffron Revolution.
Burmas security forces lost all sense of Metta (loving kindness) during the revolution, which happened in August and
September 2007. Although there were reports that some soldiers had refused to open fire on or attack the monks, several
thuggish assaults did take place on monks protesting on the streets. Additionally, told by their commanding officers that
anarchists had shaved their heads and were pretending to be monks, troops marched into monasteries in the dead of
night and dragged many monks away.
This year, as the seventh anniversary of the revolution is marked, The Irrawaddy posts a cartoon by Harn Lay that we
first published in 2007.
http://www.irrawaddy.com/cartoon/remembering-saffron-revolution.html
___________________________________________________________________
Timeline of Sufferon Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Saffron_Revolution
Saffron Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron_Revolution

The Irrawaddy Magazine UN Chief Calls for Myanmar to Inve...

http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/un-chief-calls-burma-investi...

UN Chief Calls for Burma to Investigate Military Rape Claims

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY On Thursday, April 24, 2014 @ 5:06 pm

The chief of the United Nations has officially called on the Burmese government to conduct
full investigations into allegations of rape and sexual assault made against its soldiers,
according to a document made public this week.
A report to the UN Security Council from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon titled Conflictrelated Sexual Violence, addressed the issue of sexual violence in 20 countries around
the world, including Burma.
I call on the Government of Myanmar to fully investigate and respond to current and
historical human rights violations and abuses, including crimes of sexual violence, Ban
Ki-moon said in the report, which is dated March 13 but has only just been made public.
He urged the government to work to develop a comprehensive protection and service
response for survivors of sexual violence, with the UNs support.
Burmese womens organizations and campaigners, who have long called for allegations of
sexual violence by the military to be independently investigated, welcomed the secretarygenerals intervention.
The Thailand-based Womens League of Burma (WLB) in January said in a report it had
documented more than 100 cases of soldiers raping women and girlsthe majority in
war-torn Kachin and Shan statessince 2010. In a statement Thursday, the group said
that it welcomes this clear recognition of State failure to deal with past and present
military sexual violence in Burma.
WLB pointed out, however, that previous government-led investigations into military rape
have not only failed to deliver justice, but have led to further humiliation and intimidation
of rape survivors and their communities.
We are still concerned about how the government would conduct [investigations] if they
agreed to implement the UN secretary-generals recommendation, said Tin Tin Nyo,
secretary of WLB, an umbrella organization representing 13 different ethnic women
groups.
Ban Ki-moons report will be discussed at a Security Council debate on Friday on sexual
violence. The United Kingdom-based Burma Campaign group issued a statement urging
the British government to take a strong stance on the issue.
Burma Campaign UK welcomes the fact that the UN Secretary General is focusing more
on sexual violence in Burma, and has called for investigations, said Zoya Phan, the
groups campaigns manager.
However, the United Nations has made dozens of calls on the Burmese government to
hold credible investigations into human rights violations, and all have been ignored. It is
time the United Nations established its own investigation.
Campaigners say the secretary generals comments follow years of documenting the
abuses of Burma Army soldiers, and the impunity that usually follows allegations. Soldiers
accused of rape are regularly punished internally by the military rather than in the civilian
courts, if they are held to account at all.

1 von 2

08.05.14 15:21

The Irrawaddy Magazine UN Chief Calls for Myanmar to Inve...

http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/un-chief-calls-burma-investi...

WLBs report in January noted of rape allegations against the military that, Their
widespread and systematic nature indicates a structural pattern: rape is still used as an
instrument of war and oppression. It said allegations of rape by soldiers, which may
constitute war crimes, should be independently investigated.
Shortly after their report in January, presidential spokesman Ye Htut in an interview with
Reuters denied the groups allegation that the military uses rape as a weapon, and asked
for the group to share more detailed information about the allegations.
Jessica Nhkum, the joint-secretary of the Kachin Women Association Thailand, who
documents rape cases by the Burma Army, told The Irrawaddy that the problem was not
going away. In the first quarter of 2014, new allegations have continued to emerge, she
said.
Although we could not reach all areas in our war-torn Kachin State, even in the reachable
areassuch as near Myitkyina, Laiza, Mai Ja Yang and in northern Shan Statewe have
documented several cases of rape by Burmese soldiers in 2014, she said.
And with renewed fighting in Kachin State and northern Shan State breaking out during
Burmese New Year last week, activists stressed that more rape cases may soon be
reported.
Soldiers have been accused of raping girls as young as 7 in Kachin State, as in one case
from November 2013. And a 13-year-old girl in Mon State was allegedly raped by a soldier
in January 2014, just as the WLBs report documenting rape allegations was published.
The government in the past has repeatedly denied claims of rape by its troops.
In 2002, the Shan Women Action Network, a member of WLB, published a report including
such allegations, titled License to Rape. Following publication, women were allegedly
forced to sign denials refuting the facts in the report, according to WLBs Tin Tin Nyo.
We dont want the kind of reaction this time as we have examples of before, said Tin Tin
Nyo.
As for the presidents spokespersons suggestion to release information to them for
further investigation, it is impossible. We have to consider the safety of those women,
who are already being victimized.

Article printed from The Irrawaddy Magazine: http://www.irrawaddy.org

URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/un-chief-calls-burma-investigatemilitary-rape-claims.html

Copyright 2012 The Irrawaddy Magazine. All rights reserved.

2 von 2

08.05.14 15:21

Kachin teachers: chronology of an unsolved murder!

Map permission of Kachinland News!Map permission of Kachinland News!

!
!

By KACHINLAND NEWS!
26 January 2015!
Print!
Email!

The people of Kachin State and across Burma were shocked by the brutal murder of two young
schoolteachers in a church compound in Muse last week. Several domestic and international
agencies, as well as embassies, have voiced outrage over the incident, as much evidence is
pointing towards soldiers from the Burmese army as culprits.!

The local government has formed a tribunal to investigate the case, and no charges have as yet
been leveled.!

Police officers from Muse, high-ranking officers from Lashio and state capital Taunggyi, and Shan
States Kachin Affairs Minister have been tasked with investigating the case. According to
Kachinland News, local sources claim that those assigned to investigate the case are conducting
their duties amid fear of reprisals.!

The following is a chronology laid out by Kachinland News, a media partner of DVB. It is based on
local sources from the village where the murders, and possibly rapes, of Maran Lu Ra (20) and
Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin (21), took place.!
!

7 am, 19 Jan 2015: About 40 Burmese army soldiers from 503rd LIB, under Kyaukme-based 1st
Military Operations Command, led by Maj. Aung Soe Myint, arrived in Kawnghka village, located
between Nam Tau and Mung Paw in Muse Township, from Mongkoe area on 19 Jan at around 7
am.!

19 Jan: Maj. Aung Soe Myint and about 20 soldiers quartered in three civilian homes and villagers
were commanded to provide quarters for them. 20 other soldiers [were] positioned in groups
around the village to guard against intruders.!

6 pm, 19 Jan: The two teachers went to a birthday party for the child of a 10-house headman in the
evening. The headmans house is located about 190 yards from the church compound where the
teachers live.!

9 pm, 19 Jan: The two teachers went to a bench latrine in the backyard of the headmans house
and saw some Burmese soldiers standing on sentry duty. They went back inside the headmans
house and told the hosts about their encounter with Burmese soldiers.!

10 pm, 19 Jan: The two teachers returned to their home at about 10 pm with some villagers. A local
source said those soldiers followed the two teachers to their home in the church compound.!
Related Stories!

What does Burmas hesitant peace process mean for its child soldiers? (Photo: Child Soldiers
International) Child soldiers and Burmas long road to reform!
Timber talks: Burma and China discuss logging!
Thousands turn out for Kachin schoolteachers funeral!

1 am, 20 Jan: Three villagers from a nearby house went to look at the teachers house as they
heard crying and groaning sounds. The three villagers found the door locked and didnt hear any
sound when they knocked the door. So they returned to their house.!

4 am, 20 Jan: Two four-wheeled cars departed from the Burmese army camp on 20 Jan at around
4 am. One more truck departed at around 7 am.!

7 am, 20 Jan: One student went to the teachers house and called their names, but there was no
reply.!

8:30 am, 20 Jan: Another neighbour pushed the door and found the bodies of the two teachers.
More villagers came to the crime scene.!

9 am, 20 Jan: Witnesses found that both teachers were stabbed several times with a kitchen knife
and badly beaten on their heads. Villagers found one wooden stick used for a fireplace and several
footprints [resembling] army combat boots.!

20 Jan: Some villagers were stopped by Burmese army soldiers and asked to delete pictures taken
at the crime scene.!

20 Jan: About 200 more Burmese army troops arrived in Kawnghka village and surrounded the
entire village.!

!
!
!
This article was originally published in Kachinland News on 25 January 2014.!
!
________________________________________________________!

!
More!
!
12 of 2,271!
!
WG: FBR: Burma Army rapes and kills two Kachin girls and attacks multiple villages in Kachin
State!
Jan 23 (7 days ago)!
!
!
!
to Shan-EUgroup!

!
FBR <mailadmin@freeburmarangers.org> schrieb am 19:31 Donnerstag, 22.Januar 2015:!
!
!
!
!
Free Burma Rangers!
www.freeburmarangers.org!
!
!
FBR - Love one another!
!
!
Burma Army rapes and kills two Kachin girls and attacks multiple villages in Kachin State!
Kachin State, Burma!
22 Jan 2015!

!
warning; one graphic but blurred photo!
!
Dear friends,!
!

We have tragic information to pass on. Two Kachin girls were raped and killed on 19 January 2015
by troops of the Burma Army. The girls were named Maran Lu Ra, age 20, and Tangbau Hkawn
Nan Tsin, age 21. They were from Myitkyina and sent by the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) as
volunteer missionaries to teach about Gods love to the people in Northern Burma along the Shweli
River and the Kachin State-Shan State border. The KBC church sends volunteers two by two every
year into areas of need such as this area. The rape occurred in the KBC church compound in
Kawng Hka Village, Nam Tao Township, Muse District, Northern Shan State. On the night of 19
January, Burma Army troops came into the church ground where the girls were sleeping and raped
and then beat them to death.!

Kachin girls raped by Burma Army, 19 Jan 2015 (photo KBC)!

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MATTHEW 23:1
SevenWoes

foolsl Which is greater: the gold. or

lhe te_mple thar makes the gold
Q Q Then Jesussaid to the crowds
sacred?.18You also say, 'II anyone
Lt)
and to his disciples: :"The
swears by the altar, it. means nothing:
teachersoi the law and the Pharisees but if.anyone swears by the gift on
ii,
sit in Moses'seat.3So
you must obey
he is bound by his oath. tsYou blind
them and do everythin!they tell you.
menl Which is greater: the gift, or the
But do not do what thev do. for thev
altar thar. makes the gift sacred?
"thev
do not Dractbe what
oreacti.
2oTherefore, he who swiars by the
rThev tie up heaw loads'and out
altar swears by it and by everythinq
them' on men s shriulders,but rlrev
on it. 3lAnd he who swears bv thi
t h e m s e l v eas r e n o t w i l l i n p t o l i f t i
lemple.sw-earsby ir and by thti one
finger to move them.
who dwells in it. zzAnd he who
s"Everything they do is done for
swears by heaven swears by God's
men ro see:They make their phylacthrone and by the one who si'tson it.
teriesowide and the tasselsof iheir
23"Woe to you, teachers of the law
prayer shawls JonE;st6uu 1ou" ,n"
and Pharisees, you hypocritesl you
placeof honour atlanques and rhe
$ve a tenth oJ your spices-mint, dill
most important seats in the synand cummin. But you have neglected
-of
agogues:.7they
love ro.be greeredin
the more important matters
the
the market-piaces
and to have men
law-justice, mercv and faithfuln ess.
'R-abbi'
call them
You should have practised the:latter,
8"But you are not to be called
without negiectini the former. 24You
. 'Rabbi',
for you have onlv one Master
blind gr:,ides! You strain out a gnar
' and you are all brothers.-sAnddo not
out swailow a camel.
'father',
call anyone on earth
25"Woe to vou, teaihers of the law
for you
have one Father,and he is in heaven.
and Pharisees. you hypocrites! You
'teacher',
10Norare you.to be called
clean the ourside of thd tup and dish,
for you have one Teacher, the
but inside thev are fuLl of-ereed
and
-Phanseer
Christ.b1lThegreatestamonsvou will
self-indulgenc-e. z68lind
be your servan-t.r2Forwhoeier exalts
First clean the inside of the cup and
himself will be humbled. and
dish, and then the outside als; will
whoever humbles himself wili be
De clean.
exalted.
27"Woe to you, teachels of the law
13"Woeto vou, teachersof the law
and Pharisees, vou hvpocrites! You
"
and Pharisees,vou hvpocritesl You
are like whitewashed iombs. which
shur the hnedom of heavenin men s
look beautiful on the outside .but on
faces.You j,ourselvesdo nor enter, the inside are full of dead men's
nor will vou let those enter who are
bones and evervthine
unc]ean. 281n
"on
trylng Io.c
the same way,
tHe outside you
1s"Woe to you, teachers of the law
appear to Deoole as righteous but on
and Pharisees, vou hvoocritesl You
thd, inside',yori are full of hypocrisy
travel over land and-iea to win a
ano wlcKedness.
ze"Woeto you, teachersof ihe iaw
single convert. and when he becomes
one, you malce him twice as much a
and Pharisees.vou hvoociitdbl
-oroohets You
"nn

nf l'.1)

r6"Woeto vou, biind zuides!You

'If
say, anyone swearsby-the temple,
it means nothing; but i{ anyone
swearsbl the goid of the templ6.he
is bound by his oath.' I'You blind

build tombs foi the

and
decoratethe gravesof ihe'righteous.
30Andyou say,'l[ -e had live-din the
davsof our forefathers,
we would not
have taken part with them in shedding the biood of the prophets.3rSo

05 Thal is. boxes containing Scripture verses. which were wom

o10 Or Messioh
and arms

on

the forehead

c13Somemanuscnpts
you
lo.',Woelo you.teochers
of theLowondphorisees.
vouhvDocritesl
,;::::JlO,"Xt houses
ond for o showmoke len9thvprayers.'fhereforey'ouwill be puntuhed

t0L2

thatyou
you restifvaBainstyourselves
are the descendantsof those who
murdered the prophets. 32Fill up,
then, lhe measureof the sin of vour
forelathersl
33"Yousnakes!Youbroodof vioers!
'conHow will vou escape beins
d e m n e dt o ' h e l l ? u T h e r e f o r JI a m
sendinqvou orooheisand wise men
and te;chers.So;1eoI them vou wiil
kill and crucify; othersyou iaill flog
in your synagoguesand pursue lrom
lown to town.35Andso uoon vou will
come all the rishteous blbod ihat has
been shed on earth. from the blood
of rishteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariahson of Berakiah,whom you
murdered benveen the temple ind
the altar.36ltell vou the truth. all this
will comeupon tlis -lerusalem.
seneration.
37"O Ierusalem.
vou
who kill the oroohers.and .stonethose
sent to you. hor,rioften I have ionged
to gatheryour childrentogether,as a
hei gath6rs her ihicks "under her
wings. but you were not 'rwilling.
ral-o-ok,your- house is left to you
desolate.3eForI tell vou. vou will not
see me asain until iou siv. 'Blessed
is he whd comesin'the nime of the
Lord.'d"
*_
Signsof the End of the Age
! / Jesusleft the rempleand was
Z.r't walkine awav
when his dis-him
ciDles came ip to
to call his
atiention to its buiidines. 2"Do vou
seeall thesethines?" he-asked-"Iiell
vou the truth. noi one stone here will
be left on another:every one wili be
throwndown."
3As lesus was sittins on the Mount
o[ Olives,the disciolSscame to him
privately. "Tell us,"-the-r,
said, "when
will this haopen. arrd what will be
the sign of 1,bur coming and.of the
end of the aee?"
rfesus ani,vered: 'Watch out that
no-one deceivesyou. sFor many will
'I
comein my name,claiming, am the
Christ.'oand will deceivemanv. 6You
will hear of wars and rumdurs of
wars, but see io it that you are not
alarmed. Such things must happen,
rr39Psalm118:26

05 Or Messiohialsoin ve

VISIONS OF GOD, JESUS AND HEAVEN

Revelation 1
Johns Vision of Christ
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are
ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10 On the Lords Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11 which said: Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus,
Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden
lampstands,
13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to
his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.
15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing
waters.
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged
sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said:
Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys
of death and Hades.
19 Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands
is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven
churches.
The Throne in Heaven
Revelation 4
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had
first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take
place after this. 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with
someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow
that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other
thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of
gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In
front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits [a] of God. 6 Also in front
of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the
throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first
living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth
was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes

all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,[b]
who was, and is, and is to come.
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who
lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and
worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.
Revelation 20:6
6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has
no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand
years.
Revelation 21
A New Heaven and a New Earth
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed
away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out
of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying, Look! Gods dwelling place is now among the people, and he will
dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death[b] or mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Revelation 21:10-27
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a
most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at
the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were
inscribed 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the
west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve
names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates
and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city
with his rod, 12,000 stadia.4 Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its
wall, 144 cubits5 by jhuman measurement, which is also kan angels measurement. 18 The wall was
built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the
city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third
agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth
beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21And the
twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city
was pure gold, like transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its
lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth swill bring their
glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by dayand there will be no night there. 26 They
will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it,
nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the
Lambs book of life.
Revelation 22
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the
throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the
river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the
leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne
of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face,
and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light
of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever
and ever. 6 The angel said to me, These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who
inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. 7
Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this
scroll. 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them,
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to
me, Dont do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who
keep the words of this scroll. Worship God! 10 Then he told me, Do not seal up the words of the
prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do
wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let
the holy person continue to be holy. 12 Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I
will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they
may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the
dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and
everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this
testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.
17 The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one who hears say, Come! Let the one who
is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. 18 I warn everyone
who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add
to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this
scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy
City, which are described in this scroll. 20 He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming
soon.Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with Gods people. Amen.
New International Version (NIV)