Times & Lives©

May all the people on earth be happy, healthy and prosperous in 2016.

Here's the link you can kill time with, if you have nothing to do: http://myanmafreedomdaily.blogspot.com/?view=magazine

Rangoon University Convocation Hall in 2013. One of the most important landmarks of the University of Rangoon, Convocation Hall signifies as the birthplace of free thoughts and ideas. Photo by Winston Win. 

EVER THINK OF DONATING PART OF YOUR LIVER TO A LIVER PATIENT? IT'S SCARY -- EVEN TO THINK -- BUT PERHAPS THE BRAVEST DECISION YOU'LL EVER MAKE IN YOUR LIFE. YOU THINK YOUR ACTION MIGHT SAVE ONE LIFE, BUT ACTUALLY YOU'RE SAVING MANY LIVES. IN BUDDHISM -- or any other religions -- donating an organ to someone who needs it most is incomparable act of merit-making and saving-life. No act is more so selfless than giving one or more of your working organs to save life of a fellow human being. But before you become a liver donor, you have to go through a series of blood tests and screening. You need to meet the following requirements. You are: Aged between 18 and 55; Have a minimum body weight of 50 kg;  Have the same blood group as the recipient or blood group O; Have to do a number of blood tests and screening of your liver; Are are generally healthy with no health issues. If you passed all the basic requirements, you are pretty much sure to become a liver don...

THE MOST FREQUENT QUESTION I GET FROM FOREIGNERS THESE DAYS IS: CAN AUNG SAN SUU KYI RULE? NO DOUBT THE NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE AND THE OPPOSITION LEADER HAS UNPARALLELED SKILLS. SHE HAS NUMEROUS GLOBAL ACCOLADES, INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL SUPPORTS. BUT THE RECENT ELECTION WIN OF HER PARTY, THE NLD, CALLS FOR A NEW LEVEL OF QUALIFICATIONS TO BE ABLE TO LEAD AN ELECTED CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT, LAST SEEN IN BURMA SINCE 1962. IT'S A JOB most demanding of an activist-turned-politician. The job requires not only leading a civilian government but also cleaning up the mess former military governments left to rot in the country for several decades. Aung San Suu Kyi seemed to realize even before the Nov 8 polls, winning elections is one thing and leading a government is another. Hence, she drew a clear line between politicians and technocrats, separating their careers in a way that best suits the situation. After the elections, she told her elected representatives "not to fancy the p...

THE OPPOSITION PARTY, NLD, WON A LANDSLIDE VICTORY IN PARLIAMENTARY POLLS HELD ON NOV. 8. THE CHARISMATIC PARTY LEADER, AUNG SAN SUU KYI, SAYS THE WINNER IS NOT THE NLD; THE REAL WINNER IS THE PEOPLE. WHAT THIS ELECTION WIN MEANS FOR THE NLD AND THE PEOPLE? I WAS NERVOUS and sleepless throughout the night waiting for the day's break of Nov 8. It was probably the longest, self-imposed vigilante in my life and I didn't feel bad a bit. I knew I wasn't alone.  Burma's first most important general elections since 1990 were held on that day. It's important in many ways: free and semi-fair and inclusive. But the fact that the electoral processes were organized under a  controversial constitution -- and the  opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) ignored all improbabilities and took part in it without much scrutiny -- was the salient point, making it one of the most important elections in quarter of a century of this country's turbulent  re...