Myanmar’s (Burma) ruling military junta made a sudden decision Thursday to change the country’s flag, national anthem and official name. Burma will have general elections in two weeks, country’s first election in 20 years. There was also an order that the old flags must be burnt, giving rise to a speculation that the ruling junta has done all this at the behest of astrologers.
The Reuters reports: “The country’s new name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, instead of the Union of Myanmar. The military, which has ruled since a 1962 coup, changed the country’s name in English from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, a year after widespread protests against military rule were crushed, and a year before the last election.
“That election was won by the party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi but the military ignored the result. Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention.”… More here…
“The fate of the long-detained Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tends to overshadow any talk of change, and the country’s highest court agreed to hear a final appeal to release her, according to press reports. The generals who run the country annulled the results of the last election, in 1990, when her party triumphed.
“Despite the hearing, scheduled for next Friday, speculation on her release has focused on Nov. 13, when her latest term of house arrest is set to expire and the elections will be over. Her absence from the Nov. 7 elections is just one point that Tomás Ojea Quintana, the United Nations human rights envoy for Myanmar, cited in casting doubt on the vote.’… More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.