Support Burmese Monks Defiance of Dictators

Posted on 20 Sep 2007 by Tlaventure

Now is the best time for the military dictators of Burma to change course and transform the army that was born from the people and for the people to really serve the people as our respected and beloved father of independence, the fallen General Aung San said, “not to persecute them.”

Now is the time for the current junta leaders of Burma (Myanmar) General Than Shwe and top echelons of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to cleanse their hands of the evil they have done and change to democracy.

They have jailed recently students demonstrating peacefully, They have hit monks peacefully demonstrating and insulted them by stopping them from demonstrations, tying their hands to poles and hitting them and slapping them in the faces, beating them and hitting them with gun butts. These they have done to the Buddhist monks who are revered by the people. They have used thugs to hit these revered monks.

What has happened to our beloved mother country Burma in the hands of Dictators Gen. Ne Win starting in 1962 to the present junta leader Than Shwe.

The pompous, opulent wedding ceremony of Than Shwe's daughter to a son of a crony with good relations to the military chiefs showed to the world how Burma's military tops can spend lavishly at their children's weddings while the rest of the people suffer and die in poverty.

This is also the time to address national reconciliation. The junta has been using the divide and rule policy on the ethnic minorities and waging civil war on those ethnic groups including civilian population cawing whole village population to leave their homes and run away into neighboring countries. The military is jailing people peacefully demonstrating for democracy. Now they have gone one step further. They are doing it to the monks.

Besides they are trying to bring the nation to shame and tatters. The culprit is the junta. They will have to go. They must change to democracy.

Tops leaders of the junta please heed the advice of the people.

Tun Tun
St. Paul
Democratic Veteran of the Burma Army

Burma junta faces monks' challenge

Monks have been protesting in Burma, adding to the rare public defiance seen in recent weeks. The BBC's Andrew Harding has just returned from the country and explains why the monks' involvement will make the military government nervous.

Buddhist monks are revered in Burma's devout society

In a crowded monastery dormitory on the outskirts of Rangoon, a 17-year-old monk flexed his arm muscles in a somewhat incongruous show of strength. "I'm ready to fight," he said with a grin. "We all are."

It was 1100 local time, and the young monk and his friends had just returned from their regular morning tour of the neighbourhood, collecting donations of food in their black alms bowls.

A sudden rainstorm had drenched many of them on their rounds, and a row of soaking brown, orange and maroon robes were hanging out to dry on a broad wooden balcony.

"We are organising," whispered another young monk, between mouthfuls of rice, as he sat on a mat in the dark dining room.

"We are planning more protests. People are angry about what has happened to our country, and about the way these thugs attacked us."

So far the government has done nothing to ease the situation. All they do is try to oppress protests... rather than come up with solutions to solve problems for the poor U Win Naing Democracy activist

On the wet street outside, a quiet crowd had gathered to wait for leftovers from the monastery.

Before long, ragged children and barefooted men were jostling for scraps.

In a country with alarmingly high childhood malnutrition rates - where a growing number of families are reduced to one meal a day - the monks are acutely aware of the suffering around them.

It is that suffering, along with resentment about the beating of individual monks by the authorities in earlier protests, which appears to have triggered this week's sustained campaign of street demonstrations.

Monks in Rangoon and across the country have marched in a direct and humiliating challenge to Burma's military authorities.

The monks' involvement has breathed new life into a campaign which began last month as a response to an abrupt fuel price rise, and which had been faltering following the arrest of more than 100 activists.

Unstable time

What no-one knows yet is how much of a threat the monks now pose to a military government which has held power in Burma since 1962.

Could this be the start of what a United Nations official here, speaking on condition of anonymity, described as "a perfect storm" or will it simply fizzle out in the months ahead?

Burma's military rulers want to avoid confrontation with the clergy

"The monks have the potential to add an exponential factor," said the UN official.

"We are looking at the emergence of trends that could make this impossible for [the generals] to handle. It's got the makings of a major disaster."

"It is an unstable time," agreed the veteran democracy activist U Win Naing.

"Unless the government is willing to compromise... then there could be chaos. So far the government has done nothing to ease the situation. All they do is try to oppress protests... rather than come up with solutions to solve problems for the poor."

Much now depends on how the military handles these protests - how much tact the generals can muster.

"Are we seeing just a blip," asked the UN official, "or will this force the authorities to define a hardline stance?"

'Born afraid'

The authorities have shown no qualms about beating and arresting opposition activists in recent weeks.

But Burma's monks occupy a revered place in a profoundly devout society, and so, while some of their protests have been answered with tear gas and arrests, the authorities have generally allowed the monks to march without major interference - merely watched and filmed by plain-clothed police.

Protests in August were forcibly broken up by security forces

A glance at the front pages of the government-run newspaper, "The New Light of Myanmar", gives an indication of how sensitive the authorities are becoming to this issue.

"Lt Gen Myint Swe and party presented offerings including robes..." runs the main article, above another column claiming that "protests are no longer fashionable".

An accompanying photograph shows the general on his knees in front of a senior monk, in a public display of reverence.

For years the military has assiduously cultivated ties with the senior clergy, often spending huge sums on building or renovating temples.

Those ties may yet pay off. The government is also helped by the memory of the bloodshed which ended the last significant protests in 1988, when some 3,000 people were killed when the authorities launched a crackdown.

At another monastery in Rangoon, I asked an older, bespectacled monk if he believed the talk from his younger colleagues about a long "fight".

He shook his head. "Here in Burma," he said, "we are born afraid."

On Myanmar, UN's Gambari's On the Run, While Khalilzad of U.S. Calls the Regime a Scam

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- At the Security Council on Thursday, the UN's Ibrahim Gambari spoke of Myanmar and then ran right by the press, while U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad flared rare invective about Burma and the regime's "scam" convention. Looming over each was not only Aung San Suu Kyi, but also Laura Bush, who recently called Ban Ki-moon on the topic. Amb. Khalilzad reference "the First Lady" before deploying his statement at the Security Council stakeout, while the call made Ban Ki-moon announce that Gambari will "soon" go to Myanmar. But when on Thursday Inner City Press asked Gambari, fleeing the Council, when he will go, Gambari said he didn't know.

Inner City Press asked if he would speak to all reporters, and on camera? Gambari said he'd done so recently. But much has since changed. "What about the monks?" Inner City Press asked, as Gambari headed up the stairs. Others suggested that "What about Jim Carrey?" is what Inner City Press should have shouted. Ban's spokesperson on September 20 said that "Mr. Gambari has been very willing to come and talk. He talked to you the other day and he has been very willing to be available on that subject." But his dash past reporters and the UN TV camera told a different story.

Amb. Khalilzad at the stakeout, Ibrahim Gambari not shown

In front of these cameras, video here, Amb. Khalilzad said

We have urged Mr. Gambari and he plans to visit Burma as soon as possible. It is our expectation that when he returns he will re-engage in a meeting with the Security Council. The situation in Burma poses a threat to regional peace and stability. Therefore, it's appropriate for the Council to be engaged on this very important issue. I would be happy to take your questions.

Inner City Press: Mr. Ambassador, when he goes there, what would you have him say? One, when is going to go, and two, what message should you deliver on Aung San Suu Kyi and on the treatment of the opposition, and these monks? What substantively?

Ambassador Khalilzad: First, of course, we want him to go as soon as possible. His visit there requires the cooperation of the regime and we urge the regime to cooperate with him. Second is that of course, one of the key elements of the mission to Burma is the political track, and particularly within that track the release of political prisoners, the treatment of ethnic minorities, a process that can allow for political participation and determination by the people of Burma, their political future. Their recent convention has been a sham. You saw how not only the convention was not representative, but it has coincided with increased oppression of the people. So, I assured Mr. Gambari he can count on our support. We urge him to go as soon as possible, we urge the Government of Burma to cooperate with him, and we have said that we want him to come back to the Council after his visit and report so that we can take appropriate decisions.

We'll see.

* * *

Public Joins Monks in Myanmar Protest

Thursday September 20, 2007 7:46 PM

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Nearly 1,000 Buddhist monks, joined by thousands of their countrymen, marched in Myanmar's largest city Thursday in the biggest challenge in at least a decade to the iron-fisted junta, a show of strength rare under military rule.

Authorities normally quick to crack down hard on dissent left the marchers alone, apparently wary of stirring up further problems. The monks said they would march again next week.

Processions of monks converged from various monasteries around Yangon in the early afternoon at the golden hilltop Shwedagon pagoda, the country's most revered shrine. They prayed there before embarking on a more than three-hour march through Yangon in steady rain, gathering supporters as they went.

Monks at the head of the procession carried religious flags and an upside-down alms bowl, a symbol of protest.

Some monks are refusing alms from the military and their families - a religious boycott deeply embarrassing to the junta. In the Myanmar language, the term for ``boycott'' comes from the words for holding an alms bowl upside down.

As the monks marched calmly through the streets, some onlookers offered refreshments while others kept the streets clean by picking up water bottles.

The government appeared to be handling the situation gingerly, aware that any action seen as mistreating the monks could ignite public outrage. They are aware that restraining monks poses a dilemma, because monks are highly respected in predominant Buddhist Myanmar, and abusing them in any manner could cause public outrage.

The government was handling the situation gingerly, aware that restraining or abusing monks who are highly respected in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar could cause public outrage.

A member of one of the junta's neighborhood councils said it had been given instructions by authorities not to interfere with the protesting monks.

``We've been instructed to be patient and to even protect the monks,'' said the official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to release information.

No uniformed security personnel were in sight, although dozens in plainclothes stood by without interfering. Car and motorbikes carrying junta supporters - present at most previous protests - were also absent.

Rumors that a state of emergency had been declared were denied by a government spokesman.

``You can see the government handling the situation peacefully,'' the Information Ministry's Ye Htut said in an e-mail.

``Anti-government groups want to see the state of emergency because their objective is to exploit and provoke the Sangha (monks), students, workers and innocent people,'' and to provoke riots and anarchy, he said. ``So they use rumors to destabilize the situation.''

While many bystanders clasped their hands together in a traditional gesture of respect as the procession passed, others joined in to march with the monks.

Witnesses said the number of marchers swelled to as many as 5,000 by the end, many of them linking arms in a human chain to protect the monks from outside agitators.

It was the third straight day that monks have marched in Yangon. Their activities have given new life to a protest movement that began a month ago after a huge government-ordered increase in fuel prices.

The protests express long pent-up opposition to the repressive regime and have become the most sustained challenge to the junta since a wave of student demonstrations that were forcibly suppressed in December 1996.

The demonstrations had been faltering, with about 200 protesters being detained, before the monks entered the fray.

Monks angered over being manhandled at a Sept. 5 demonstration in Pakokku in north central Myanmar had threatened to take to the streets unless the junta apologized. The regime remained silent, so they launched protests around the country on Tuesday that have been steadily growing.

Monks may now be assuming the vanguard because top pro-democracy activists were rounded up soon after the start of the demonstrations, said Debbie Stothard of Altsean-Burma, a Bangkok, Thailand-based coalition of non-governmental groups working for human rights and democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

``In these situations, the monks have sought to protect the civilian population by taking sole responsibility for these protests,'' she said by e-mail. ``Despite this, if the monks are violently attacked en masse, it will be inevitable that the rest of the population will weigh in.''

The monks and their followers in Yangon stopped briefly in front of the U.S. Embassy. Washington is a top critic of the junta.

Speaking to the crowd, an unidentified monk said people's lives were getting worse because the government was ``unjust and selfish.''

``We will stage our marches every sabbath day,'' said another monk who sat on a huge ornamental chair. The next Buddhist sabbath falls on Sept. 26.

As the monks marched, they chanted sermons, avoiding explicit anti-government gestures. But their message of protest was unmistakable to fellow citizens as monks normally leave their monasteries only for morning rounds with bowls seeking alms.

Unconfirmed reports said monks staged protests in several other cities Thursday, including Pakokku and Monywa in north central Myanmar.

Monks have historically been at the forefront of protests in the country, first against British colonialism and later against military dictatorship. They played a prominent part in a failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising that sought an end to military rule, imposed since 1962.

The junta's crackdown on the protesters has drawn increasing criticism from world leaders, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Bush. They have called for the government to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under house arrest for more than 11 of the past 18 years.