14.01.2007
Irregularities in Burma's Education System part 2
_ By Dr. Hla Khine
Departmental & Personal Investigation
Medical Superintendent from the General Hospital in Mandalay came to investigate and I gave the incidences that happened in writing. I also admitted that I ‘on purpose’ caused him body injury. Some of the staffs who were questioned and whom I regarded as my personal friends testified against me and supported the Rector. One of my class mates was ‘amply’ rewarded for testifying against me during the investigation. He was promoted by his patron and boss the Rector. He must have basked in the limelight and ’transitional’ honour, for a time. I could have easily got a job for him like I did for the Medical College 2 Head of Department of Anatomy in East Malaysia had he showed some genuine friendship to me and like the MC2 Head of Anatomy, he would still be earning a salary in Malaysian Dollars.
Unfortunately, now he’s back in a one-room PyiDawThar Quarters and his career as an Anatomist has gone from fading twilight to total darkness. LuPaungHmarPyi AkoYey. Soon after I walked out from the Examiner’s Board Meeting I came to realize that ‘not one’ staff forming the Members of the Examiners Board stood up to support me. Not one of them looked at me even to show a spiritual support. Everyone kept his eyes down. The External Examiner from MC 2, sensing that a storm was brewing with regards to the ‘Distinction’ matter made a quick gateway back to Rangoon without being present in the Examiner’s Board Meeting to deal with some such matters. That was definitely cowardly, because he could have put in a word or two of impropriety of over-riding the result and opinion of the examiners. I felt as if I was a ‘condemned’ criminal. From then on I realized that I’m on my own – Live or Die, and that I have no ‘real’ friend. Thus the contents of the poem my dear father gave me became the guiding principle from then on. I began to ‘stand’. on my own two legs, ‘depend’ on my two hands and ‘breathe’ with my own nose.
Colleagues whom I regarded as my bosom friends before I fell out with the Rector started to shun me. Smiles disappeared from their faces. Stony expressions on their faces as they pass me by told me – ‘Hla Khine, you’re an outcast’.
The investigation committee must have found out by now what shameful and unethical mistake the Rector had done which was unbecoming of a person of his rank and the trust the government had placed in him. But ‘no’ action was taken for whatever gross impropriety he had committed. The investigation resulted in just separating the ‘warring tribes’. They sent me to where my class-mate and colleague was: to Medical College 2, Mingaladon. This was just a ‘stop-gap’ solution they have taken to diffuse the tense and hostile atmosphere that existed between the two of us. I did go there and contributed my share of the lectures assigned to me and also helped the students by giving ‘free’ extra classes.
Catch 22 –
With the help of his wife’s Godfather U San Maung, (General Ne Win’s brother-in-law) the former rector was promoted as Director General Medical Education and shifted to Rangoon. With the former rector now installed as the DGME in Rangoon, the Director thought the coast was now clear for Hla Khine to go back to ‘mother’ Department in Mandalay. Wanting to be with my young children and to manage my own clinic in Myauk Pyin (North of Mandalay Moat), I was more than happy moving back to Mandalay. But U Khin Maung Sein finding that the 2nd MB students (most of them children of ‘Big Shots’ in Rangoon) very unruly and showing disrespect during most of his lectures found the battle field in Medical College 1, LeikGone, unfriendly territory. He summoned his student, the daughter of the Minster of Health & Education and told her to arrange a meeting with her father. In tears, he beseeched to be sent back to Mandalay. On obtaining permission to do so, he added a stipulation saying that he would find it difficult for him to run the department if Hla Khine was also there. Thus by order of the Health & Education Minister, the former rector, as the DGME sent a Gazetted letter to me instructing me to report to the Rector U Hla Myint of MC1 by the 25th of July of that year. My reply to the DGME was simple but the Deputy DGME, Daw MayMayYi thought it was rude. My reply to the DGMR ran something like this:
Dear Sayagyi, If you permit me to serve in Mandalay I will do so, but if you force me to shift to Rangoon, please consider this letter as the letter of Resignation. And from that day onwards, I stopped going to my department in Mandalay.
How dare they volley me like a shuttle cock between Rangoon and Mandalay just to satisfy the whims and fancy of another man. (Another case of shameless misuse of authority and rank). These men do not realize that there would be black marks on their faces and that is how it will go down in history. After the examination, I went to see my old friend Dr Saw Alzora Loo, a very gentle and sincere friend who was attached to Health Office, Theinbyu Street. As I was chatting with him over old times at the Base Military Hospital in Maymyo, where both of us served as Interns. His Head clerk came in and I was introduced to him.
On hearing my name he said, ‘Saya, we’ve already sent a gazetted letter asking you to report to Rector U Hla Myint, MC1’.
“Yeah, I know that and I’ve already written a reply to the DGME about it’
“So have you reported to the Rector?’
“No, I have not. And I’m not moving to Rangoon”
“Saya, don’t do that, just go there and report for duty and you can put up an application for ‘leave’ and go back to Mandalay’
“Sorry, if I say’ I’m not coming’, I’m not coming. I’m not going to ‘cheat’ people, report for duty and go back to my base in Mandalay’
‘Saya, don’t do that, because they can revoke your HsaMa (Medical Registration Booklet permitting Private Practice).
I took out that small blue booklet and banged it onto Alzora’s desk and told him, “OK, here it is. Take it back’.
‘Saya, what I’m saying is that ‘they’ can take your HsaMa back as a form of punishment.’
‘Ya, I know, there it is. Even before they take it back I’m giving it to you’
‘’Haar, it’s difficult to talk to you, saya’
‘Where is the difficulty, I’m making things easy for you, there is the HsaMa. Now, you don’t need to send a letter stating you have revoked it’.
“No, but there have been cases (and he mentioned 3 or 4 names) where when they put up the ‘appeals’ they got the HsaMa back’
‘Don’t misunderstand me, I’m Hla Khine, I don’t make any appeals to anybody’
The Head clerk looked bewildered and left Alzora’s room with confusion written on his face. So my intention of looking up an old friend resulted not only in ‘chucking’ away the HsaMa and my GP practice but also happened to have ‘sacked’ myself from my job in MC Mandalay.
Before I went back to Mandalay, my old friend from Mandalay who owned about 4 GMC trucks and who was engaged in Transportation business came to see me looking restless and worried. His wife, an old TB patient had Haemoptesis and had to be hospitalized. He requested me to drive back his GMC truck to Mandalay. That evening he took me to the Strand Road back lanes where his truck was loaded or ‘overloaded’ with all types of goods - drums of cooking oil, bags of rice and dried fish, salt, bags of kalapare, etc. etc. The goods overflowed or over-covered the roof of his truck which was pressed down with water-proof tarpaulin and ropes. I have driven jeeps and salon cars but not trucks, and definitely not trucks that were overloaded that high. But the goods have already been loaded and because of the state of emergency with his wife’s condition, there was no way of backing out. He introduced me to his ‘spare’ driver (we call SpareYar) and told him that I would be driving the truck back to Mandalay and to help me with whatever I needed. That young guy in faded and frayed jeans looked ‘funnily’ at me. I could make out that with my taikpone jacket, pasoe longyi and golf hat, I didn’t look like I could drive a truck or even drive a car.
‘Saya, kar maung tat thalaa? Can you drive?”
‘Maung tat par dere. Yes, I can.”
‘Can you also drive trucks?’
‘I am not used to driving trucks.’
‘Will it be alright for you now to drive the truck?’
‘That’ll be fine.”
With a ‘huge’ look of scepticism he went about to prepare
for us to leave. But as luck would have it, I’m not used to the petrol pedal of
the truck. I’m only used to the pedal of the saloon or jeep where a slight
pressure on the petrol pedal would rev up the engine noisily much to the
resentment of everyone. But I did not realize that with the truck, I need to sit
‘at the edge’ of the seat and press way down in order to elicit any response.
Thus just to start the car, it took me 5-6 attempts just to make me familiar
with the response of the petrol pedal. By this time, the SpareYar guy was
getting jittery and showed lack of confidence in my driving skill. Had we have a
HandPhone at that period, he would have gone to the back of the truck out of my
sight to call up his boss to say ‘No dice’. He just got down from the truck and
stood there watching as to how I would start the engine. OK, after some aborted
hiccups, the engine started and I became aware of its level of sensitivity. So
he got onto the truck and we were about to move off. And the unexpected thing
happened. After I’ve engaged the gear and let go the clutch, the yet unfamiliar
pressure on the petrol pedal caused the engine to go sputter, sputter and the
engine went dead with a jolt. By now my friend was visibly getting fed up and
bored with me. He purposely jumped down from the truck and landed on the ground
with both his feet as an expression of exasperation.
Ignoring
all his displays of exasperation I started the engine again and drilled myself
mentally the steps I should take to make the truck roll. This time it went off
well and we started to move. The spare driver jumped onto the narrow landing
outside the door and did not make any move to get in and take the seat. By which
he meant he would jump off and abandon me and the truck should the driving go
awry. Thus, with him standing on the landing, we drove on until we reached
Hmorbi when he came in to take the seat beside me. I found out that it irritated
him no end each time I stooped at the edge of the road to let the opposite truck
manoeuvre and drive past us.
Thus with distrust and frequent uncalled-for advice on his part, we eventually reached Mandalay. My forearm muscles were aching by the unusual exercise of turning the heavy steering wheel. I drove the truck just once but Deputy Minister of Education; U Kyaw Khin thought that I have become a professional truck driver after I resigned myself from the Service. My former Head of Department of Anatomy in Mandalay, Professor U Myint Thein realizing that I have stopped going to work suggested that I go and see my former Professor of Medicine, Dr Daw MyintMyintKhin who had recently returned from Malaysia where she was invited to be the Examiner for the Final Year Graduating Examination. She was helpful and gave me the name and address of the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in the National University of Malaysia, UKM. She also volunteered to act as my referee. Seeing my postgraduate degree and the period of experience as an Anatomist, the job offer was sent immediately. But the stipulation was that I should take up this offer within six months. I made preparations and went down to Rangoon to apply for a passport. The prerequisite was that I should get the Education Clearance. I went to the DGME’s office to get it and on meeting DGME’s assistant, he told me that since I had with uncontrolled malice banged his shoulders many times till he fell on his bum on many occasions, the former rector, as Director General now, was ‘not likely’ to put his signature on my Education Clearance form that easily. In fact, he could, with spite, shove it into the bottom-most drawer of his desk and forget about it as if turning the screw one revolution at a time, just to repay me for his frequent falls on his buttocks.
So, Catch 22 situation: No Education Clearance, no Passport.
(to read part 1) (to continue next week)
.
Your Comments here_ can use win-Burmese fonts; but not symbols (:/\<>!|{]~#$)
Quote of the year:
Last week's English article
.