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Concept of Good Government Free of Corruption

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The characteristics of a good government free of corruption, which we should aim for our future Secular Democratic Federal Union Burma, are ---

Political, Civil, Human Rights & Economic Reform, including though not limited to:

1. Freedom of speech.
2. Freedom of association.
3. True, full democracy.
4. Separation of Powers between Government, Judiciary, Police & Military. Independent, competitive non-government media, free from government censorship or editorial restrictions.
5. Full freedom of religious-thought, belief, expression & practice, including abolition of Government controls of religious affairs.
6. The right of self-determination.
7. The Rule of Law;
8. The presumption of innocence until proven guilty; Trial by jury of peers; The right to a fair trial with appeal rights; The right to adequate & independent legal representation
9. Non-discrimination by Governments, individuals or organizations on the basis of race, nationality, colour, religion, gender, marital status, political belief or affiliation, physical or mental disability.
10. Various Religious & Political organizations must be permitted.

The features of a bad government, we should avoid:

1. Totalitarian & Authoritarian Regimes, whether socialist, communist, fascist, autocratic nationalist, or so called limited democratic but otherwise less than fully, truly and fairly democratic.
2. Political corruption, cronyism & nepotism.
3. The abuse, misuse or denial of fundamental human, civil & political rights of all or some of the people, including minority races and religious groups.
4. Government protection of monopolistic industries or cartel or other anti-competitive practices, whether by Government or the private sector.
5. Intervention in free market economics, other than for the purposes of anti-trust, consumer protection, or public health & safety.
6. Military involvement in internal civilian affairs.
7. Government confiscation of private assets without fair market price compensation.
8. Denial of the right to private property ownership (including the full ownership rights to buy, sell, or otherwise deal with their assets) for lawful purposes.
9. Lack of translucency in government decisions.

There must be antitrust legislature to control the monopoly in each and every field.

We have to look, monitor and record at the - 

(a)     Distribution of wealth and opportunity among the different groups depending on race, religion and political alignment.

(b)     Political patronage- awarding government contracts, appointments, promotions, scholarships, land distributions, permits etc.

(c)     ’ Who get what’ policy.

(d)     Rural development. Urbanization, squatter relocation and settlements.

(e)     Basic infra-structure facilities, water, electricity, highways, telephone, multimedia facilities, railways, seaports and etc. Buddha had reminded all of us:

“The one who commits makes new, and the one who suffers is the old!”

All of us know the meaning. In the circle of life, Samsara, if someone commits something, he is triggering the start of a new circle to pay back his sin. And if someone is suffering now, we Buddhists believe that he is paying back his sins from the past.

Almost all of the Buddhists know that Siddhartha (563 to 483 BC) enlightened and became Lord Gautama Buddha only after he left his prince-hood, legally giving up the chance of becoming a king. During the struggling period of reincarnations to become Gautama Buddha, he had refused and tried to avoid becoming the ruler, or abdicate few times to search for enlightenment. Once Prince Tay Mi (future Buddha) even pretended as a deaf and dumb for the whole life, just to avoid ascending the throne. He was scared that if he became a king, he had to give judgments. And if he convicted the innocent person wrongly he would be committing a sin. So he tried his best to avoid becoming a king.

I hope we all know that if they could not even follow the Five Precepts of Buddhism, which must be followed by all the Buddhists, our moral values are very low.

These are avoiding (1) Homicide, (2) Theft, (3) Adultery, (4) Consuming liquor and intoxicants and (5) Telling lies.

To become a good Government with good and sound moral values we must rule the country with:

1.       Garu Nar          = sympathy,

2.       Myitta               = pure cool love (e.g. love between brothers, sisters and friend).

3.       Sae Ta Nar      = with good and right intention.

4.       Mu Di Tar        = Sympathetic joy. Joy because of others’ success.

5.       Theik Khar       = practice of moral uprightness.

6.       Tha Mar Di      = Integrity, fairness of mind and attitude.

7.       Thama Seitta   = Fair mindedness.

8.       Thama Thamat= fairness, justice.

9.       Thadi               = Mindfulness, attentiveness.

10.   Trustworthiness,

11.   Responsibility,

12.   Decisiveness,

13.   Honesty, Forgiveness, Sincerity, Goodwill, Harmlessness, Justice, Fairness, Considerate, Faithful,

14.   Consultation and acceptance of advice and criticism from every person.

15.   Avoidance of fear and favouritism in dealing with others,

16.   loyalty to the country and nation.

17.   Self Discipline.

18.   Commitment to serve the people.

19.   Ultimate good of brotherhood.

Good Governments must always try to clean off the following Impurities:

(1) Law Ba      = Greed.

(2) Daw Tha   = Anger.

(3) Marna       = Aggressiveness.

(4) Mar Na     = Pride.

(5) Maw Ha    = Ignorance.

(6) Alo Yamet = Excessive desires for food, pleasure and sex.

(7) And others such as: Revenge, Hatred, Deceit, Aggressiveness, Jealousy, Corruption, Favoritism, Inconsiderate etc.

Bo Aung Din 

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Comments

Feraya Nangmone said _

Thank you, I absolutely agree with you. I wonder if the Regime even knows the true meaning of the Lord Buddha's teachings?

Your Comments here_

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