" The land of smiling people "

= Maung Than Weik =

Because of their openness, morality and helpfulness Myanmar people are renowned for their sincere smiles in many countries. Moreover, they under the teachings of their Buddhist faith have strong humanitarian spirit and sense of generosity the main driving force behind the establishment of civil society organizations or CSOs the country needs for its democratization process.

Despite having all these sincere smiles and philanthropic spirit, our people still need to change their mindsets and behavior as old thoughts, ideas and actions are no longer adaptable to our current efforts to step forward into globalization and implement democratic transition with might and main. If we all want to make our democratic reforms stronger and faster and our country become more adaptable to globalization, we all must leave behind all the old habits such as laziness, perfunctory, incompetence, corruption, bribery and selfishness and move forward with new habits including perseverance, obligation, efficiency, honesty, morality and altruism till reaching the goal. In fact, we need the forces that push our country forward and fulfill the people’s aspirations.

But this is easier said than done as in certain cases old habits die hard and some people find it difficult to adapt to the changes. And there may be some persons sticking to their old ways of short sighted worrying that changes might ruin their situation. But we all must understand that these old habits that had delayed the national economic development for a long time must be stopped at the earliest possible time. We must launch educative campaigns and awareness programs that help people discard such bad habits and thoughts and accept changes and new habits and visions that will bring benefits to the country and community. The enforcement of the rule of law is another effective means to curb all kinds of misconducts and improve public behavior.

So let us all try to replace old habits, mindsets and behaviors with new ways of thinking and working in this New Year so there will be more joy and prosperity for the land of smiling people in the coming years. Or else the land of smiles will become the land of cries.

#Themyawadydaily