03.12.2006

Letter to editor

Universities in Ruins
Dear editor,

What are we going to do? Let me think about what should we do and how our effort will affect Burmese junta. To stop them selling our precious and one of the monuments for Burma, the Rangoon University, we should use our all our energy. Otherwise we will be in deep trouble.

 Actually I am 18 years old and I want to be an engineer since I was young. I never try to become a doctor what my parents want me to be. Actually I love Rangoon Institute of Technology and my mum graduated her degree from Rangoon Institute of Technology, RIT. I love it so much and whenever I pass by it, I was gazing at it all the time. But I lost the chance to study at RIT because when I passed my matriculation examination RIT was closed down already. That's why I am now studying in Singapore as a foreign student.

 Sometimes I am looked down by Singaporeans. I do not care, but the worst thing and the thing I regret myself all the time is that I cannot spend my time in RIT. I know I can get very good education in Singapore, but then I am still missing and regretting about losing chance to get to RIT.

 It is not a very surprising thing; I was born in 1988, and1988 was the very special year for students and we can never forget about the day we called it four eights. I think I was too young at that time, like 5months old. But my grandma told me about what happened in 1988 and how people suffered and how people were struggling and how hard their lives were and so on.

I also love the Rangoon Arts & Sciences University (RASU), Innya lake and Ah-di-pa-di Road. I have never studied there, but now the government never upgrades these estates and they never maintain the things in university campuses which were established in British colonial era. I think actually we should thank British government; even as colonial masters of our country they had done everything for our public in their time. Even though they were colonialists, they were not too bad like our recent military government. But then you know now if we go around RASU and RIT, there are piles of rubbish near the theatres, classrooms and all the University student hostels like Yamanya or Ava and so on. When I see that kind of scenes I am really upset.

 And I want to go back a bit about losing my chance to study at RIT. Now if we try to stop them I think we may not be too late. We should try something. Something is better than nothing always. Actually I am too young to understand about the politics and I do not understand politics very well. I just love my country, language, my culture and my tradition. I love everything concerns with Burma. I do not want to break up my country. That's all my idea. I want to get peace and human rights. As long as we can do good things and love our country and we should think about how to improve our country and how to make it to become a developed country, and the most important thing is how to draw the rule and regulations of country in systematic and democratic ways.

Win Lei`

Comments:

Feraya said _

Dear Win Lei,

I loved reading your letter and your compassionate and wise attitude.  I wish you every happiness and success in your life.

Yelthway said _

It's great article to show that the Burmese youth are interested in politics.

Wendy said _

You're doing a fantastic letter and some of the elder people twenty years older than you who encountered and passed through the duration of uprising should realized and shame themselves because they always stay away from the real situation and just mess up with  selfishness. I do appreciate and thanks your good job as we always need to find out, even though we are in the middle of the situation, what we can do for tomorrow for our country and keep our soul and mind to love our culture and tradition wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

U Phoe Too said _

Hi Win Lei, your article is really touching my heart and felt shame to be an old and undutiful ex-RIT student. Your parent may be my class-mate or same batch around there. Nobody can deny that, as a historical school of RIT which produced variety of capable students all the way. But I felt that, today most of the old RIT alumni forgot their root and enjoy with the artificial democracy in Singapore. The worst part is that, some of the alumni became opportunist and made enemy to those who were helping and struggling toward democracy in Burma.
Since you are studying in Singapore, may I advise you that you should send your article to RIT alumni Singapore; Cheer with your patriotism.

TN said _

It's really regrettable to see the education of Burma under the military regime was ignored ever since they came to power.

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