THE PEOPLE OF 2004
covering burma and southeast asia
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THE PEOPLE OF 2004


By The Irrawaddy DECEMBER, 2004 - VOLUME 12 NO.11


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(Page 8 of 25)

Khit San’s editor, Kyaw Win, published under a license obtained from the Department of Parliamentary Affairs in Rangoon.

 

Public Figure________________________________

Dagon Taya

 

Even at the age of 85, and despite being branded as a political rowdy by a government newspaper, the writer and peace activist Dagon Taya says he’d like to play a mediation role in efforts to achieve national reconciliation in Burma.

 

Dagon TayaIn a rare comment on Burma’s political crisis, Dagon Taya, a close friend of national hero Aung San and a leader of the independence movement, told the Burmese service of the Washington-based Radio Free Asia that an attitude of forgiveness and a renunciation of revenge were the keys to reconciliation.

 

“The country now stands at the critical junction,” he has said. “We have to choose either a path of peace or a harsh road. I always call for peace.”

 

Dagon Taya’s response to the “political rowdy” jibe was to say that the newspaper had misconstrued him. Such misunderstanding occurred in Burma because there was no genuine dialogue and communication between the contending parties, he said.

 

Dagon Taya also called for the participation of all public figures in the task of facilitating the national reconciliation process. A few public figures later added their names to his appeal.

 

Although he takes a lead in calling for national reconciliation, the prospect of ending Burma’s polarized political conflict still seems dim, as his famous poem Mara (Illusory Distraction) echoes: “In search of white among the white, in search of black among the black, it is very difficult to find the real things, trying to get the truth out of the false things.



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