Zin Linn
Asian Tribune
February 2, 2008
Burma’s military regime is practicing tyranny over all aspects of freedom in the country. Intellectual freedom is completely subdued by various suppressive laws and decrees. Even the internet is subject to scrutiny. The junta has never tolerated any democratic opinion and dissent.
The opposition party NLD criticized the ruling junta on the 60th Anniversary of Independence for deceptive practices and trickery over meetings with its detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and the junta’s Labor Minister Aung Kyi have so far held 5 meetings but they have become attempts to ward off to relieve pressure on the regime.
Military junta of Burma made no sign of cooperation with the international community in the midst of worldwide pressure for political change even following the blood-shed crackdown on 2007 September Saffron Revolution.
Despite salvos of international condemnation over the lack of improvement on human rights abuses and talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta envisaged to soften the pressure by holding another talk show. On 30 January, during a meeting with leading members of the NLD at a Rangoon state guesthouse, Aung San Suu Kyi apparently said that the junta was toying with the idea of giving false hope to the nation. The junta's supreme-commander, Senior General Than Shwe, never had any wish for meaningful dialogue with the Nobel laureate of Burma, arguing that the talks were only showcase to take in the global family after the September bloodbath.
It is noticeable that the military has been tightening the screws on its own citizens. According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), there are now at least 1864 political prisoners in Burma, although the group can not include all cases of confinement since the crackdown. AAPP-B also said that more than 700 people were arrested in connection with the September Saffron Revolution and they are still behind bars. Moreover, the group is aware of 84 people who disappeared during the protests.
In fact, Prime Minister Thein Sein has a promise to the UN Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari in early November in 2007 that no more arrests would be carried out. In addition, Thein Sein also signed the new ASEAN Charter that stipulated the “promotion and protection of human rights.” He was attending ASEAN's 40th Anniversary Summit.
According to witnesses inside Burma, the fresh arrests are still taking place despite the regime’s promises to the international community. It has stepped up scrutiny of the Internet, arresting Nay Phone Latt, a popular blogger, who criticized the repression of free expression in the military-ruled nation.
For instance, Burma's military junta has been going on filing lawsuits against political dissidents including members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and leading student-activists detained for organizing citizens against fuel price increases last year. Two of the most well-known pro-democracy leaders, Min Ko Niaing (45) and Ko Ko Gyi (46) were among those accused of making illegal statements.
According to a Rangoon analyst who wishes to remain anonymity, there has been a deadlock between the Lady and the senior general. Aung Kyi is the protégé of Than Shwe. He stands firmly on the draft constitution which was the product of the junta’s national convention, as genuine desire of the people. At the same time, Aung San Suu Kyi, the General Secretary of NLD, determinedly stands on the 1990 elections result or the mandates of the NLD representatives-elect. The military junta has claimed the representatives of its national convention as true delegates of the nation. But, the junta stubbornly refused to recognize the representatives-elect of the 1990 elections. The fact is that the junta does not want to allow the NLD delegates participating in the constitution drafting committee.
The information minister Kyaw Hsan spoke at 3rd December news conference about the start of work of the 54-member Constitution Drafting Commission, whose work represents the third stage of the ruling junta's seven-step road map to democracy. The junta has long-insisted it will make democratic reforms only according to its own plan. The road map's first stage -- the National Convention -- began in 1993 and was completed only in July 2007. Most political analysts around the world consider the charter drafting process is a sham, designed to keep the military in power.
Moreover, during the meeting with the SPDC Liaison Minister Aung Kyi, Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated her call to include representatives of ethnic groupings in the talks. She also expressed her dissatisfaction with the meetings with Aung Kyi and the lack of any time frame for the talks.
“Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” she said to central executive committee members of the NLD. After meeting with NLD CEC members, Aung San Suu Kyi had another meeting with Aung Kyi. 30-January meeting was the fifth talk between the two since Aung Kyi’s appointment as Liaison Minister in October 2007.
The NLD spokesperson, Nyan Win said about the Lady’s dissatisfaction in an interview.
"What I can say is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not satisfied with the current meetings with the military junta, especially the fact that the process is not time-bound," Nyan Win said.
The military regime continues to practice tyranny over all aspects of freedom in Burma. One remarkable event was that the EU's special envoy for Myanmar (Burma) Mr. Piero Fassino urged Burma's military regime to free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as he kicked off an Asian tour aimed at pressuring the junta for reform. Fassino, a former Italian justice minister, said he supported the junta's dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi but urged the regime to make concrete progress.
On 29 January, Mr. Fassino said that it was necessary to open real dialogue between the junta and the opposition and all different sectors of the society. Piero Fassino was appointed the EU special envoy on Myanmar (Burma) last November and said he would travel to Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Laos and Japan over the next two months in a bid to gain Asian support to press the regime for reform. The Italian diplomat also called on the regime to allow the United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to return to the military ruled country without hindrance.
While Fassino was in Bangkok, members from “Peace for Burma”, which is a coalition of Thai and Burmese civil society organizations working to promote democratic change and the protection of human rights in Burma, offered an open letter to him.
The letter says that if the Burmese junta remains intransigent and substantial progress is not made in the near future, the group has made a request to consider the proposed steps - suspending or withdrawing existing investments in the oil and gas sector in Burma; applying banking and financial sanctions targeted on Burmese generals, their family members, and close business partners; banning new investments and the import of marine products from Burma; applying diplomatic pressure to place Burma on the UN Security Council agenda; intensifying diplomatic engagement with China, India and ASEAN in order to develop a coordinated strategy towards Burma ; extending humanitarian assistance and increasing support for programmes promoting of human rights, democracy, and national reconciliation.
In addition, UN Special Envoy Mr. Ibrahim Gambari has also made recommendations, to release all political prisoners, to begin an inclusive national reconciliation process, to cooperate fully with the UN and international not governmental organizations, to cease hostilities in conflict areas, and to establish Commissions to review the constitution and alleviate poverty.
But, the junta turns a deaf ear to the UN Envoy. It’s a sign of more gloomy weather for Burma. As Aung San Suu Kyi told her NLD central executive members, people of Burma have to prepare for the worst although they may love to hope for the best.
Saturday, 2 February 2008
West beats Burma drum without purpose or strategy
LARRY JAGAN
Bangkok Post
February 2, 2008
The international community is stepping up pressure on Burma's military regime to introduce economic and political change as soon as possible. At the same time, UN envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari and the European Union are pressing Asian nations to intervene and encourage the junta to listen to the international appeals for reform.
The EU and the United States have recently renewed calls for the immediate release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon.
''I hope The Lady [Aung San Suu Kyi] can be free as soon as possible,'' EU special envoy on Burma Piero Fassino said earlier this week. ''There can be no real talks between the junta and the opposition if a key player is not free to talk to her party and the public.''
But the EU is also threatening to increase sanctions against the junta if there is no tangible progress in the next three months.
''If Mr Gambari is not allowed back into the country, or fails to achieve anything concrete when he's there, the EU will have no alternative but to consider increasing sanctions against the junta,'' Mr Fassino said.
''The West has now turned to Asia to get them out of a hole on the Burma issue,'' a senior Southeast Asian diplomat said.
''They expect us to pressure the Burmese government on their behalf, without giving us anything in return.
''Force will not achieve anything with Burma's military leaders _ they will only recede further into their shell and ignore the international appeals,'' the diplomat added. ''The West should certainly not increase sanctions at this stage, and in fact should consider easing them.''
At present, the West's main hope of engaging the junta seems to rest on the efforts of the UN secretary-general's special adviser to Burma, the Nigerian diplomat Gambari. He made two crucial visits to Burma in 2007, the last in November. The EU in particular sees its efforts on Burma as supporting the UN's plans.
''Our strategy is to promote dialogue [in Burma] that will realise national reconciliation, dialogue that will realise democratic transition,'' said Mr Fassino. ''This goal will be achieved by discussions with the countries of Asia and the promotion of the UN's initiatives through Mr Gambari.''
But despite frequent requests to return in the past 10 weeks, Mr Gambari has been continually refused a visa.
The junta has told him they are too busy and preoccupied to see him until after Thingyan, the Buddhist New Year (Burmese Songkran) in mid-April.
Many diplomats in Rangoon fear Mr Gambari may already have made his last trip to Burma _ or if he is allowed in he will not be able to achieve anything. ''If Mr Gambari is permitted to visit Burma in the next months, it's almost certain he will not meet the top general, Than Shwe, making his mission meaningless,'' according to a Western diplomat based in Rangoon.
The junta is clearly in no mood to cooperate with the UN at present. Apart from throwing the UN resident coordinator, Charles Petrie, out of the country two months ago, the regime is playing hardball with the organisation on the ground inside Burma.
Several important UN-sponsored field visits for diplomats (whose countries fund projects) have been cancelled. A trip planned for last week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to eastern Rakhine (Arakan) state, where Burmese Muslim refugees had been repatriated after earlier fleeing to Bangladesh to escape persecution, was cancelled at the last moment _ the first time since the annual trip started more than 15 years ago.
A UNAids trip planned for later this month has also been postponed at short notice. Many UN officials who oversee programmes and projects in Burma and are based in Bangkok have been denied visas. Members of the UN's main humanitarian organisation OCHA (the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance) have been refused access to Burma for several months, ever since the crackdown on the monk-led anti-inflation protest last year.
Mr Gambari has just been in New Delhi for talks on Burma with the Indian government. He is now on his way back to New York, before heading to Beijing for further discussions with senior Chinese leaders. He had hoped to fly directly from Delhi to Beijing but the Chinese authorities postponed the trip until early February because of the Chinese New Year holiday.
But with the Gambari process almost dead, the UN will have to find another way to engage the Burmese regime.
''Clearly the junta, or particularly Than Shwe, has had enough of the UN. The only option left is for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself to visit Burma as soon as possible,'' a UN official close to Mr Gambari said.
Failing that, it is only the countries of Asia who can influence the Burmese regime.
''The nations of Asia _ China, India, Thailand and the other countries of Asean _ can play an important and strategic role,'' said Mr Fassino, the EU envoy.
''The international community must understand that we hate megaphone diplomacy and it will not encourage us to do anything,'' Maj-Gen Kyaw Win, Burma's former deputy chief of military intelligence, told the Bangkok Post several years ago when General Khin Nyunt was prime minister, before he was dismissed and put under house arrest.
The EU envoy, and for that matter the West, is engaged in megaphone diplomacy, which will only alienate the regime rather than encourage them on the path to political reform.
Bangkok Post
February 2, 2008
The international community is stepping up pressure on Burma's military regime to introduce economic and political change as soon as possible. At the same time, UN envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari and the European Union are pressing Asian nations to intervene and encourage the junta to listen to the international appeals for reform.
The EU and the United States have recently renewed calls for the immediate release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon.
''I hope The Lady [Aung San Suu Kyi] can be free as soon as possible,'' EU special envoy on Burma Piero Fassino said earlier this week. ''There can be no real talks between the junta and the opposition if a key player is not free to talk to her party and the public.''
But the EU is also threatening to increase sanctions against the junta if there is no tangible progress in the next three months.
''If Mr Gambari is not allowed back into the country, or fails to achieve anything concrete when he's there, the EU will have no alternative but to consider increasing sanctions against the junta,'' Mr Fassino said.
''The West has now turned to Asia to get them out of a hole on the Burma issue,'' a senior Southeast Asian diplomat said.
''They expect us to pressure the Burmese government on their behalf, without giving us anything in return.
''Force will not achieve anything with Burma's military leaders _ they will only recede further into their shell and ignore the international appeals,'' the diplomat added. ''The West should certainly not increase sanctions at this stage, and in fact should consider easing them.''
At present, the West's main hope of engaging the junta seems to rest on the efforts of the UN secretary-general's special adviser to Burma, the Nigerian diplomat Gambari. He made two crucial visits to Burma in 2007, the last in November. The EU in particular sees its efforts on Burma as supporting the UN's plans.
''Our strategy is to promote dialogue [in Burma] that will realise national reconciliation, dialogue that will realise democratic transition,'' said Mr Fassino. ''This goal will be achieved by discussions with the countries of Asia and the promotion of the UN's initiatives through Mr Gambari.''
But despite frequent requests to return in the past 10 weeks, Mr Gambari has been continually refused a visa.
The junta has told him they are too busy and preoccupied to see him until after Thingyan, the Buddhist New Year (Burmese Songkran) in mid-April.
Many diplomats in Rangoon fear Mr Gambari may already have made his last trip to Burma _ or if he is allowed in he will not be able to achieve anything. ''If Mr Gambari is permitted to visit Burma in the next months, it's almost certain he will not meet the top general, Than Shwe, making his mission meaningless,'' according to a Western diplomat based in Rangoon.
The junta is clearly in no mood to cooperate with the UN at present. Apart from throwing the UN resident coordinator, Charles Petrie, out of the country two months ago, the regime is playing hardball with the organisation on the ground inside Burma.
Several important UN-sponsored field visits for diplomats (whose countries fund projects) have been cancelled. A trip planned for last week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to eastern Rakhine (Arakan) state, where Burmese Muslim refugees had been repatriated after earlier fleeing to Bangladesh to escape persecution, was cancelled at the last moment _ the first time since the annual trip started more than 15 years ago.
A UNAids trip planned for later this month has also been postponed at short notice. Many UN officials who oversee programmes and projects in Burma and are based in Bangkok have been denied visas. Members of the UN's main humanitarian organisation OCHA (the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance) have been refused access to Burma for several months, ever since the crackdown on the monk-led anti-inflation protest last year.
Mr Gambari has just been in New Delhi for talks on Burma with the Indian government. He is now on his way back to New York, before heading to Beijing for further discussions with senior Chinese leaders. He had hoped to fly directly from Delhi to Beijing but the Chinese authorities postponed the trip until early February because of the Chinese New Year holiday.
But with the Gambari process almost dead, the UN will have to find another way to engage the Burmese regime.
''Clearly the junta, or particularly Than Shwe, has had enough of the UN. The only option left is for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself to visit Burma as soon as possible,'' a UN official close to Mr Gambari said.
Failing that, it is only the countries of Asia who can influence the Burmese regime.
''The nations of Asia _ China, India, Thailand and the other countries of Asean _ can play an important and strategic role,'' said Mr Fassino, the EU envoy.
''The international community must understand that we hate megaphone diplomacy and it will not encourage us to do anything,'' Maj-Gen Kyaw Win, Burma's former deputy chief of military intelligence, told the Bangkok Post several years ago when General Khin Nyunt was prime minister, before he was dismissed and put under house arrest.
The EU envoy, and for that matter the West, is engaged in megaphone diplomacy, which will only alienate the regime rather than encourage them on the path to political reform.
Burma's Most Wanted
LESLIE HOOK
Wall Street Journal
February 2, 2008
Mae Sot, Thailand
'We did not reach final victory. We were defeated in the middle of our struggle," says the young Burmese monk sitting in front of me. "It will be very hard to have another demonstration."
He should know. Ashin Kovida chaired the impromptu committee that organized last year's democracy protests in Rangoon, Burma. The marches, sparked by an economic crisis, brought more than 100,000 people to the streets to demand democracy and the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ensuing crackdown left at least 31 civilians dead, and thousands more beaten or jailed.
The protest leaders -- Mr. Ashin included -- fled for their lives. Exchanging his monks' robes for civilian clothes and a crucifix necklace, Mr. Ashin hid in a shack outside Rangoon for several weeks. After he made it over the border into Mae Sot, Mr. Ashin holed up in a safe house, leaving only to be shuttled to occasional meetings or interviews. Finding a safe venue for our meeting proved a challenge. We agreed I'd wait in my hotel for a phone call from a "friend," who would tell me how to proceed. "There are many different kinds of people at your hotel," Mr. Ashin said. "Maybe not safe."
[Burma's Most Wanted]
When our agreed interview time passed, I worried if he'd been snagged by the Burmese spies trawling this town. An hour later, there was a soft knock on my door. When I opened it two men scuttled inside: Mr. Ashin, a skinny 24-year-old in flame-colored robes, and Kyaw Lin, a friend and interpreter. The monk looked horrified when I shook his hand, averting his gaze. It's only afterward that I realized this violated his vows to touch a woman.
Mr. Ashin had no special preparation to become a freedom fighter; if anything, he had a typical, impoverished Burmese childhood. Born in 1983 in a village near Ann, a town in the eastern state of Arakan, he joined a monastery at age 12. His parents were farmers, and they sent him, their second son, to become a monk at the nearest monastery so that he could get an education. He lived there until 2003, then moved to Nan Oo monastery in Rangoon to pursue further monastic studies.
Meanwhile, his country was falling into grave disrepair. Since the junta took power in 1962, the generals have stripped the country for their own personal gain through a combination of brutal oppression, continuing ethnic wars, and a massive standing army of more than 400,000 soldiers. Today it is difficult for most citizens to obtain basic food and clothing. Per capita GDP is around $300, in league with the world's poorest countries.
Political activism in this environment is difficult, at best. But monks in Burma have a tradition of being involved. Their daily alms rounds keep them in touch with citizens' lives, and their vows require them to act for the well-being of their community. In 1988, when students and citizens took to the streets to protest for democracy, the monks marched alongside them. Those demonstrations ended with the massacre of several thousand demonstrators.
But the way he tells it, Mr. Ashin's activism wasn't originally part of a national movement; rather, it evolved from a grass-roots level, organically. After several monks were beaten during a Sept. 5 protest in Pakokku, a city in central Burma, Mr. Ashin and his fellow monks were so outraged that they printed and distributed pamphlets demanding an apology from the government. Mr. Ashin says he spent Sept. 10-13 wandering the streets of Rangoon with a bag full of pamphlets, distributing them to major monasteries.
"We demanded that the government apologize [for what happened in Pakokku]," Mr. Ashin explains. "If there was no apology by Sept. 18, then the monks would take to the streets. On Sept. 18 there was no response. On Sept. 19, my colleagues and I thought we needed an organization to organize the protests and keep them on the right track."
Thus the Sangha (Monks) Representative Committee -- an organization that would soon become the nexus of the demonstrations in Rangoon -- was born. The committee was composed of 15 volunteer monks, aged 24-28, who had met each other during earlier protests in August and September. "Everyone was invited," Mr. Ashin says. "I did not even know the names of the others -- most of them used nicknames for their security."
Mr. Ashin was elected chairman, and the committee agreed to meet every morning at 9 a.m. at the East gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda -- Burma's holiest shrine and the temple from which Aung San Suu Kyi addressed her followers during the protests of 1988. Its purpose?
"The committee was there to control the demonstrations and make sure they were peaceful," he tells me. They wanted "just to help the people, and to show how much people are suffering. The monks did not have any political objectives. We want for people to have a right to fight for power . . . the monks just paved the way for them."
Unlike 1988, the monks had new tools available to help their cause. Cell phones and the Internet played a crucial role in enabling the protests, and in alerting the outside world. All of the recent arrivals I met in Mae Sot, including Mr. Ashin, said they used Gmail chat ("gtalk," they call it) to keep in touch with their friends and family inside Burma. Yahoo! is blocked inside Burma.
To avoid confrontation with the government, the organizing committee asked people not to display any signs or flags other than the "sasana," a Buddhist flag used in religious ceremonies. The committee also had a practical function: to ensure that monks, who gather alms in the morning for food, could forego that duty to walk into the city center and join the marches (some walked for hours to get there). "All classes of people joined together to prepare food," he says, adding that famous Burmese actors and models pitched in, too.
It was a grass-roots political movement from the start. Mr. Ashin says none of his colleagues were members of any political groups. No one on the committee had contact with Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy until the party asked the committee for permission to display its flag, he says.
A few days after the committee formed, representatives from the NLD and some student political groups did ask. And so the yellow phoenix -- a sign of NLD unity during 1988 -- was displayed on the streets of Rangoon once again. The committee also allowed public speeches on Sept. 25.
For the military junta, that was a step too far. That night, the first of a series of brutal midnight raids on monasteries began.
The next morning, only seven of the 15 committee members showed up at their meeting place, Mr. Ashin says. As people came out to march, they found that the military had cordoned off the areas around Shwedagon Pagoda where they usually met. Disjointed groups began to coalesce, and Mr. Ashin said he found himself in the midst of about 300 people surrounded by walls and riot police. The police tried at first to persuade the protesters to let them "take them home" -- which the protesters understood to mean arrest -- and then began forcibly arresting protesters.
Mr. Ashin remembers that as a dark afternoon. He himself received several blows to the stomach before he scaled a wall to safety. "The monks and students started throwing stones at the security forces. There was a violent mood. [People from the committee] tried to convince people to stop and not be violent."
Across the rest of Rangoon similar scenes played out. In some places soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, and day's end saw dozens dead or wounded.
On Sept. 27, the committee couldn't meet at all. Some people tried to continue the protests, but a massive security presence resulted in further violent clashes. That night, Mr. Ashin took off his robes and went into hiding.
The government didn't forget about him, though. State-run newspapers carried his photograph and labeled him a "fake monk." The junta's English mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, accused him of being responsible for 48 cartridges of TNT found buried near a residence in Rangoon. While he was in hiding in a suburb, police canvassed nearby streets, searching for him.
Contrary to the propaganda the regime conjures up, Mr. Ashin says he was completely unconnected to the Burmese governments-in-exile that has sprung up in Thailand. He left Rangoon without a backup plan, and arrived in Mae Sot with a single phone number of a man he had never met.
Mr. Ashin is clearly devastated by what he perceives as the "failure" and the "defeat" of the protests. But most of his disappointment is directed not at the lackluster efforts of the United Nations -- "people outside seem to forget about Burma," he says -- but at his fellow Burmese.
"If the MPs had been actively involved, then our demonstrations could have changed something," he says. "It is a great loss for our struggle. But they were just watching and waiting." It's also evidence of how well the junta has done its cruel job that the massive street protests did not result in mass defections from the civil service or army, and saw almost no support from politicians in power.
Four months after the demonstrations Burma has largely fallen off of the world's radar screen. The U.S. and the EU were quick to implement tighter economic sanctions on the regime after the protests, but for Burma's major trading partners, it's been business as usual. Neighboring China, Thailand and India were all reluctant to comment on the events inside Burma, and have avoided putting pressure on the regime. The U.N. Security Council issued a statement "strongly deploring" the use of violence.
The situation on the ground in Burma is every bit as dire now as it was in September, and many say it is getting even worse, as fuel and food shortages continue.
Mr. Ashin's group, the Monks' Representative Committee, reorganized in several cities inside Burma earlier this year with 50 new members. They've issued a statement pledging to protest again this month if the government doesn't take action for political reconciliation. But with leaders like Mr. Ashin out of the picture and the junta on the lookout, it's difficult for them even to meet.
Mr. Ashin says he will be relocated to the U.S. soon, where he has been granted political asylum. He wants to continue working to bring change to Burma, but isn't sure how he will do so from a distant shore. Step one will be improving his English, so that he can tell the world what is going on.
Ms. Hook is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Asia.
Wall Street Journal
February 2, 2008
Mae Sot, Thailand
'We did not reach final victory. We were defeated in the middle of our struggle," says the young Burmese monk sitting in front of me. "It will be very hard to have another demonstration."
He should know. Ashin Kovida chaired the impromptu committee that organized last year's democracy protests in Rangoon, Burma. The marches, sparked by an economic crisis, brought more than 100,000 people to the streets to demand democracy and the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ensuing crackdown left at least 31 civilians dead, and thousands more beaten or jailed.
The protest leaders -- Mr. Ashin included -- fled for their lives. Exchanging his monks' robes for civilian clothes and a crucifix necklace, Mr. Ashin hid in a shack outside Rangoon for several weeks. After he made it over the border into Mae Sot, Mr. Ashin holed up in a safe house, leaving only to be shuttled to occasional meetings or interviews. Finding a safe venue for our meeting proved a challenge. We agreed I'd wait in my hotel for a phone call from a "friend," who would tell me how to proceed. "There are many different kinds of people at your hotel," Mr. Ashin said. "Maybe not safe."
[Burma's Most Wanted]
When our agreed interview time passed, I worried if he'd been snagged by the Burmese spies trawling this town. An hour later, there was a soft knock on my door. When I opened it two men scuttled inside: Mr. Ashin, a skinny 24-year-old in flame-colored robes, and Kyaw Lin, a friend and interpreter. The monk looked horrified when I shook his hand, averting his gaze. It's only afterward that I realized this violated his vows to touch a woman.
Mr. Ashin had no special preparation to become a freedom fighter; if anything, he had a typical, impoverished Burmese childhood. Born in 1983 in a village near Ann, a town in the eastern state of Arakan, he joined a monastery at age 12. His parents were farmers, and they sent him, their second son, to become a monk at the nearest monastery so that he could get an education. He lived there until 2003, then moved to Nan Oo monastery in Rangoon to pursue further monastic studies.
Meanwhile, his country was falling into grave disrepair. Since the junta took power in 1962, the generals have stripped the country for their own personal gain through a combination of brutal oppression, continuing ethnic wars, and a massive standing army of more than 400,000 soldiers. Today it is difficult for most citizens to obtain basic food and clothing. Per capita GDP is around $300, in league with the world's poorest countries.
Political activism in this environment is difficult, at best. But monks in Burma have a tradition of being involved. Their daily alms rounds keep them in touch with citizens' lives, and their vows require them to act for the well-being of their community. In 1988, when students and citizens took to the streets to protest for democracy, the monks marched alongside them. Those demonstrations ended with the massacre of several thousand demonstrators.
But the way he tells it, Mr. Ashin's activism wasn't originally part of a national movement; rather, it evolved from a grass-roots level, organically. After several monks were beaten during a Sept. 5 protest in Pakokku, a city in central Burma, Mr. Ashin and his fellow monks were so outraged that they printed and distributed pamphlets demanding an apology from the government. Mr. Ashin says he spent Sept. 10-13 wandering the streets of Rangoon with a bag full of pamphlets, distributing them to major monasteries.
"We demanded that the government apologize [for what happened in Pakokku]," Mr. Ashin explains. "If there was no apology by Sept. 18, then the monks would take to the streets. On Sept. 18 there was no response. On Sept. 19, my colleagues and I thought we needed an organization to organize the protests and keep them on the right track."
Thus the Sangha (Monks) Representative Committee -- an organization that would soon become the nexus of the demonstrations in Rangoon -- was born. The committee was composed of 15 volunteer monks, aged 24-28, who had met each other during earlier protests in August and September. "Everyone was invited," Mr. Ashin says. "I did not even know the names of the others -- most of them used nicknames for their security."
Mr. Ashin was elected chairman, and the committee agreed to meet every morning at 9 a.m. at the East gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda -- Burma's holiest shrine and the temple from which Aung San Suu Kyi addressed her followers during the protests of 1988. Its purpose?
"The committee was there to control the demonstrations and make sure they were peaceful," he tells me. They wanted "just to help the people, and to show how much people are suffering. The monks did not have any political objectives. We want for people to have a right to fight for power . . . the monks just paved the way for them."
Unlike 1988, the monks had new tools available to help their cause. Cell phones and the Internet played a crucial role in enabling the protests, and in alerting the outside world. All of the recent arrivals I met in Mae Sot, including Mr. Ashin, said they used Gmail chat ("gtalk," they call it) to keep in touch with their friends and family inside Burma. Yahoo! is blocked inside Burma.
To avoid confrontation with the government, the organizing committee asked people not to display any signs or flags other than the "sasana," a Buddhist flag used in religious ceremonies. The committee also had a practical function: to ensure that monks, who gather alms in the morning for food, could forego that duty to walk into the city center and join the marches (some walked for hours to get there). "All classes of people joined together to prepare food," he says, adding that famous Burmese actors and models pitched in, too.
It was a grass-roots political movement from the start. Mr. Ashin says none of his colleagues were members of any political groups. No one on the committee had contact with Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy until the party asked the committee for permission to display its flag, he says.
A few days after the committee formed, representatives from the NLD and some student political groups did ask. And so the yellow phoenix -- a sign of NLD unity during 1988 -- was displayed on the streets of Rangoon once again. The committee also allowed public speeches on Sept. 25.
For the military junta, that was a step too far. That night, the first of a series of brutal midnight raids on monasteries began.
The next morning, only seven of the 15 committee members showed up at their meeting place, Mr. Ashin says. As people came out to march, they found that the military had cordoned off the areas around Shwedagon Pagoda where they usually met. Disjointed groups began to coalesce, and Mr. Ashin said he found himself in the midst of about 300 people surrounded by walls and riot police. The police tried at first to persuade the protesters to let them "take them home" -- which the protesters understood to mean arrest -- and then began forcibly arresting protesters.
Mr. Ashin remembers that as a dark afternoon. He himself received several blows to the stomach before he scaled a wall to safety. "The monks and students started throwing stones at the security forces. There was a violent mood. [People from the committee] tried to convince people to stop and not be violent."
Across the rest of Rangoon similar scenes played out. In some places soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators, and day's end saw dozens dead or wounded.
On Sept. 27, the committee couldn't meet at all. Some people tried to continue the protests, but a massive security presence resulted in further violent clashes. That night, Mr. Ashin took off his robes and went into hiding.
The government didn't forget about him, though. State-run newspapers carried his photograph and labeled him a "fake monk." The junta's English mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, accused him of being responsible for 48 cartridges of TNT found buried near a residence in Rangoon. While he was in hiding in a suburb, police canvassed nearby streets, searching for him.
Contrary to the propaganda the regime conjures up, Mr. Ashin says he was completely unconnected to the Burmese governments-in-exile that has sprung up in Thailand. He left Rangoon without a backup plan, and arrived in Mae Sot with a single phone number of a man he had never met.
Mr. Ashin is clearly devastated by what he perceives as the "failure" and the "defeat" of the protests. But most of his disappointment is directed not at the lackluster efforts of the United Nations -- "people outside seem to forget about Burma," he says -- but at his fellow Burmese.
"If the MPs had been actively involved, then our demonstrations could have changed something," he says. "It is a great loss for our struggle. But they were just watching and waiting." It's also evidence of how well the junta has done its cruel job that the massive street protests did not result in mass defections from the civil service or army, and saw almost no support from politicians in power.
Four months after the demonstrations Burma has largely fallen off of the world's radar screen. The U.S. and the EU were quick to implement tighter economic sanctions on the regime after the protests, but for Burma's major trading partners, it's been business as usual. Neighboring China, Thailand and India were all reluctant to comment on the events inside Burma, and have avoided putting pressure on the regime. The U.N. Security Council issued a statement "strongly deploring" the use of violence.
The situation on the ground in Burma is every bit as dire now as it was in September, and many say it is getting even worse, as fuel and food shortages continue.
Mr. Ashin's group, the Monks' Representative Committee, reorganized in several cities inside Burma earlier this year with 50 new members. They've issued a statement pledging to protest again this month if the government doesn't take action for political reconciliation. But with leaders like Mr. Ashin out of the picture and the junta on the lookout, it's difficult for them even to meet.
Mr. Ashin says he will be relocated to the U.S. soon, where he has been granted political asylum. He wants to continue working to bring change to Burma, but isn't sure how he will do so from a distant shore. Step one will be improving his English, so that he can tell the world what is going on.
Ms. Hook is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Asia.
Subdued but Unbowed
KYI WAI/PAKOKKU
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
February 1, 2008
Fiery Pakokku monks who were in the forefront of anti-junta demonstrations have been under constant surveillance from authorities
A 35-year-old, slender, dark man with a long face wearing a white shirt and longyi is sitting in a teashop opposite a A-Nauk Taik, a famous monastery in western Pakokku.
Many people, including the teashop owner, notice him. They know he is an undercover police officer assigned to watch the monks’ activities in A-Nauk Taik, also known as Mandalay Monastery.
Pakokku residents said that since the September monk-led protests, the authorities have assigned various officers in plain clothes to areas surrounding Buddhist monasteries, many of which are also monastic schools that train monks in the higher Buddhist scriptures.
“They don’t come out and investigate openly, but everybody knows they are watching the monasteries,” said a neighborhood resident. “The monks know it, and everybody knows it.”
The monks here are among the most committed and well-educated in the Burmese sangha (monkhood) and they enjoy the devotion and support of the local population. For that reason, perhaps, the military and district authorities have placed heavy restrictions on the monasteries, eventually winning a commitment from the monks not to engage in public demonstrations in the future. Many monasteries have less than one-half of their former numbers.
Pakokku City lies on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River about 75 miles southwest of Mandalay. It is home to the second largest population, after Mandalay, of student-monks studying Buddhist literature. Pakokku goes back to the Pagan dynasty and is known for its historical and religious heritages, including Thi-Ho-Shin Pagoda and the ancient Shwe-Gu temple. Mandalay and Mahawri Thu-Sa-Marama monasteries are famous institutions in religious training.
Four monasteries are believed to be under heavy surveillance: A-Shay-Taik (East Monastery) near State Middle School No 3, Nar-Yi-Sin A-Lel Taik (Middle Yard Monastery), Mandalay Taik and Baw-Di-Man-Dai Taik.
Many monks from the monastic schools participated in the 2007 September protests and called on other monasteries to join them.
Since then, the military authorities have assigned police, police-informers and pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members to watch the monasteries and local members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
The authorities also monitor guests visiting the monasteries, say local residents.
“They note down if someone goes in these monasteries and send an informer to follow them when they come out of the monasteries,” said a resident. “Sometimes they follow them to their guesthouse if they are foreign visitors.”
Authorities reportedly monitor and record phone conversations to and from these monasteries and they “eavesdrop whenever we talk on a telephone at the telecom exchange office,” said a monk at Mandalay Monastery. “We can’t say anything controversial.”
The phone line to the home of Pike Ko, a resident of Pakokku, has been cut off since October, following an interview he gave to an exiled radio station. Pike Ko, a member of the Magwe Division NLD branch, was detained and interrogated by local authorities from September 25 to October 23, 2007, and is still under surveillance, said a local source.
Even while under heavy surveillance, 150 Pakokku monks marched in the streets again on October 31, walking from Baw-di-Man-Dai Monastery through the city for one hour while chanting the “Metta Sutta.”
The march was a public rebuke to the authorities who violated an agreement between district officials and the monks. Both sides had agreed not to hold any kind of mass rally and to show restraint. But the authorities violated their promise by forcing people to attend a pro-junta rally, said a monk. Monks were also upset by official accusations in the state media that many of the monks in the September protests were bogus monks.
The monks decided to march again to challenge the authorities’ actions, said a leading monk who took to the streets on October 31.
In a trade-off following the October 31 demonstration, authorities agreed not to arrest the monks who participated in the march if they would not initiate any more demonstrations in Pakokku. An agreement was signed in front of local military authorities at the district administration office on November 5.
“The military authorities threatened that they would seize and manage monastic affairs if the Pakokku monks start another protest,” said a monk familiar with the compromise. “They threatened to arrest all the monks who participated in the protests. That is why the sangha agreed to no more protests in Pakokku.”
However, Pakokku monks have continued the Patta-nikujana protest, in which no alms will be accepted from members of the military and their supporters. Also, some small-scale protests continue to occur through anti-regime poster campaigns around the Sasana Biman halls.
Sangha indignation runs deep. When the division’s religious authorities donated rice and cooking oil to some monastic schools on December 1 as a peace offering, the monks refused the donations and threw the items on the road. The monks were also outraged by the news that Rangoon authorities had closed Maggin Monastery, which also served as a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients.
“These monks are unique,” said a resident living near the monasteries. “They are still maintaining a religious boycott. They don’t accept anything from the government. They threw all the donations from the district authorities onto the road. The local residents would not pick up the donations, even though many are very hungry. It was on the road untouched for a long time until some USDA members and municipal workers removed the items.”
In another move designed to weaken the sangha, authorities have restricted the travel of monks. A monk who wants to travel must file an application and get permission from the District Administration office.
Another serious blow came when the military authorities ordered classes to be closed and the student-monks to return to their homes. Many have not yet returned to the monasteries.
“In our monastery, about 740 monks were here last year before the demonstrations. Now, most of the monks have returned home and only about 220 monks are at the monastery,” said a monk at A-Lel Taik.
Most Pakokku monks have totally rejected the authority of the abbot of Kya-Khat-Wine Monastery in Pegu, who spoke out against a sangha protest and encouraged authorities to crackdown on protesting monks. Pakokku monks say he has committed “a colossal religious offense” called “the third Parajica.” A third Parajica means a monk has been rejected and can never return to the sangha.
A leading monk in Pakokku told The Irrawaddy that fellow monks in other locations must be bold and keep the monk-led protests alive in the country.
For now, he said, “We have struggled as much as we can.” But he added, “We still keep up the alms boycott.”
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org
February 1, 2008
Young monks offer prayers during a devotional service, a daily practice in all monasteries [Photo Courtesy: AP]
Fiery Pakokku monks who were in the forefront of anti-junta demonstrations have been under constant surveillance from authorities
A 35-year-old, slender, dark man with a long face wearing a white shirt and longyi is sitting in a teashop opposite a A-Nauk Taik, a famous monastery in western Pakokku.
Many people, including the teashop owner, notice him. They know he is an undercover police officer assigned to watch the monks’ activities in A-Nauk Taik, also known as Mandalay Monastery.
Pakokku residents said that since the September monk-led protests, the authorities have assigned various officers in plain clothes to areas surrounding Buddhist monasteries, many of which are also monastic schools that train monks in the higher Buddhist scriptures.
“They don’t come out and investigate openly, but everybody knows they are watching the monasteries,” said a neighborhood resident. “The monks know it, and everybody knows it.”
The monks here are among the most committed and well-educated in the Burmese sangha (monkhood) and they enjoy the devotion and support of the local population. For that reason, perhaps, the military and district authorities have placed heavy restrictions on the monasteries, eventually winning a commitment from the monks not to engage in public demonstrations in the future. Many monasteries have less than one-half of their former numbers.
Pakokku City lies on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River about 75 miles southwest of Mandalay. It is home to the second largest population, after Mandalay, of student-monks studying Buddhist literature. Pakokku goes back to the Pagan dynasty and is known for its historical and religious heritages, including Thi-Ho-Shin Pagoda and the ancient Shwe-Gu temple. Mandalay and Mahawri Thu-Sa-Marama monasteries are famous institutions in religious training.
Four monasteries are believed to be under heavy surveillance: A-Shay-Taik (East Monastery) near State Middle School No 3, Nar-Yi-Sin A-Lel Taik (Middle Yard Monastery), Mandalay Taik and Baw-Di-Man-Dai Taik.
Many monks from the monastic schools participated in the 2007 September protests and called on other monasteries to join them.
Since then, the military authorities have assigned police, police-informers and pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) members to watch the monasteries and local members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
The authorities also monitor guests visiting the monasteries, say local residents.
“They note down if someone goes in these monasteries and send an informer to follow them when they come out of the monasteries,” said a resident. “Sometimes they follow them to their guesthouse if they are foreign visitors.”
Authorities reportedly monitor and record phone conversations to and from these monasteries and they “eavesdrop whenever we talk on a telephone at the telecom exchange office,” said a monk at Mandalay Monastery. “We can’t say anything controversial.”
The phone line to the home of Pike Ko, a resident of Pakokku, has been cut off since October, following an interview he gave to an exiled radio station. Pike Ko, a member of the Magwe Division NLD branch, was detained and interrogated by local authorities from September 25 to October 23, 2007, and is still under surveillance, said a local source.
Even while under heavy surveillance, 150 Pakokku monks marched in the streets again on October 31, walking from Baw-di-Man-Dai Monastery through the city for one hour while chanting the “Metta Sutta.”
The march was a public rebuke to the authorities who violated an agreement between district officials and the monks. Both sides had agreed not to hold any kind of mass rally and to show restraint. But the authorities violated their promise by forcing people to attend a pro-junta rally, said a monk. Monks were also upset by official accusations in the state media that many of the monks in the September protests were bogus monks.
The monks decided to march again to challenge the authorities’ actions, said a leading monk who took to the streets on October 31.
In a trade-off following the October 31 demonstration, authorities agreed not to arrest the monks who participated in the march if they would not initiate any more demonstrations in Pakokku. An agreement was signed in front of local military authorities at the district administration office on November 5.
“The military authorities threatened that they would seize and manage monastic affairs if the Pakokku monks start another protest,” said a monk familiar with the compromise. “They threatened to arrest all the monks who participated in the protests. That is why the sangha agreed to no more protests in Pakokku.”
However, Pakokku monks have continued the Patta-nikujana protest, in which no alms will be accepted from members of the military and their supporters. Also, some small-scale protests continue to occur through anti-regime poster campaigns around the Sasana Biman halls.
Sangha indignation runs deep. When the division’s religious authorities donated rice and cooking oil to some monastic schools on December 1 as a peace offering, the monks refused the donations and threw the items on the road. The monks were also outraged by the news that Rangoon authorities had closed Maggin Monastery, which also served as a hospice for HIV/AIDS patients.
“These monks are unique,” said a resident living near the monasteries. “They are still maintaining a religious boycott. They don’t accept anything from the government. They threw all the donations from the district authorities onto the road. The local residents would not pick up the donations, even though many are very hungry. It was on the road untouched for a long time until some USDA members and municipal workers removed the items.”
In another move designed to weaken the sangha, authorities have restricted the travel of monks. A monk who wants to travel must file an application and get permission from the District Administration office.
Another serious blow came when the military authorities ordered classes to be closed and the student-monks to return to their homes. Many have not yet returned to the monasteries.
“In our monastery, about 740 monks were here last year before the demonstrations. Now, most of the monks have returned home and only about 220 monks are at the monastery,” said a monk at A-Lel Taik.
Most Pakokku monks have totally rejected the authority of the abbot of Kya-Khat-Wine Monastery in Pegu, who spoke out against a sangha protest and encouraged authorities to crackdown on protesting monks. Pakokku monks say he has committed “a colossal religious offense” called “the third Parajica.” A third Parajica means a monk has been rejected and can never return to the sangha.
A leading monk in Pakokku told The Irrawaddy that fellow monks in other locations must be bold and keep the monk-led protests alive in the country.
For now, he said, “We have struggled as much as we can.” But he added, “We still keep up the alms boycott.”
Laura Bush pushes Security Council on Myanmar
AFP-Yahoo News
February 1, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AFP) - US First Lady Laura Bush has pressed Panama, which holds the UN Security Council's rotating presidency, to help keep pressure on Myanmar's junta, the White House said Friday.
Bush, in New York for a heart disease awareness event on Thursday, met with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, who was receptive to her message, spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.
"Mrs Bush took the opportunity to remind and reinforce the importance for the UN Security Council to keep pressure on the military junta in Burma," said Fratto.
"President Torrijos said that he would of course want to keep the pressure on Burma to make the democratic changes that we all have been calling for," the spokesman said.
In mid-January, the UN Security Council bemoaned the slow progress in initiating democratic reforms in Myanmar, where the junta in September crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.
February 1, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AFP) - US First Lady Laura Bush has pressed Panama, which holds the UN Security Council's rotating presidency, to help keep pressure on Myanmar's junta, the White House said Friday.
Bush, in New York for a heart disease awareness event on Thursday, met with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, who was receptive to her message, spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.
"Mrs Bush took the opportunity to remind and reinforce the importance for the UN Security Council to keep pressure on the military junta in Burma," said Fratto.
"President Torrijos said that he would of course want to keep the pressure on Burma to make the democratic changes that we all have been calling for," the spokesman said.
In mid-January, the UN Security Council bemoaned the slow progress in initiating democratic reforms in Myanmar, where the junta in September crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.
US envoy wants int'l pressure on Myanmar
GRANT PECK
Associated Press Writer
February 1, 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand - Fresh international pressure is necessary to push Myanmar's military rulers toward reform because the momentum for change after last year's demonstrations has been lost, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said Friday.
The appeal by Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, followed signs that the ruling junta was again stepping up repression of dissidents.
It also came after Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday she was dissatisfied with the progress of her reconciliation talks with the junta, and cautioned the public to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Myanmar's crisis attracted world attention when Buddhist monks last September began leading anti-government protests, the biggest in two decades. At least 30 people are believed to have been killed when the government suppressed the demonstrations, and thousands detained, though most have since been released.
Under pressure from U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the junta appointed a "Minister for Relations" to talk with Suu Kyi, but their few meetings have borne no results, and junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe has made no further moves toward reconciliation.
"I think everybody hoped that there was genuine will on the part of Than Shwe and his senior generals to begin a real dialogue, and what is increasingly evident is that they have no intention whatsoever in engaging in a genuine dialogue," Villarosa said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Bangkok.
Earlier this week, lawyers working with the pro-democracy movement said that about two dozen members of the 88 Generation Students group, whose small protests against a fuel price hike mushroomed into last September's massive demonstrations, would face trial. They are charged with making illegal statements and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Last week, human rights group Amnesty International said the ruling military had continued to arrest political activists, despite its promise to the United Nations that it would halt arrests following September's demonstrations.
Amnesty International said 1,850 political prisoners were behind bars, including 96 imprisoned since early November when the government told the world body it had stopped all arrests.
Villarosa said it was crucial for Myanmar's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with its giant neighbors China and India, to push the junta to open up to dialogue and reconciliation with its opponents. The U.N. also needs to be involved, she said.
Associated Press Writer
February 1, 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand - Fresh international pressure is necessary to push Myanmar's military rulers toward reform because the momentum for change after last year's demonstrations has been lost, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said Friday.
The appeal by Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, followed signs that the ruling junta was again stepping up repression of dissidents.
It also came after Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday she was dissatisfied with the progress of her reconciliation talks with the junta, and cautioned the public to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Myanmar's crisis attracted world attention when Buddhist monks last September began leading anti-government protests, the biggest in two decades. At least 30 people are believed to have been killed when the government suppressed the demonstrations, and thousands detained, though most have since been released.
Under pressure from U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the junta appointed a "Minister for Relations" to talk with Suu Kyi, but their few meetings have borne no results, and junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe has made no further moves toward reconciliation.
"I think everybody hoped that there was genuine will on the part of Than Shwe and his senior generals to begin a real dialogue, and what is increasingly evident is that they have no intention whatsoever in engaging in a genuine dialogue," Villarosa said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Bangkok.
Earlier this week, lawyers working with the pro-democracy movement said that about two dozen members of the 88 Generation Students group, whose small protests against a fuel price hike mushroomed into last September's massive demonstrations, would face trial. They are charged with making illegal statements and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Last week, human rights group Amnesty International said the ruling military had continued to arrest political activists, despite its promise to the United Nations that it would halt arrests following September's demonstrations.
Amnesty International said 1,850 political prisoners were behind bars, including 96 imprisoned since early November when the government told the world body it had stopped all arrests.
Villarosa said it was crucial for Myanmar's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with its giant neighbors China and India, to push the junta to open up to dialogue and reconciliation with its opponents. The U.N. also needs to be involved, she said.
Burmese Monks Without Shelter
Narinjara News
February 1, 2008
Dhaka: Many Burmese monks who've recently arrived in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka from Burma to apply for refugee status with the UNHCR are facing trouble with finding shelter.
Monk U Payna Dissa said, “There is no accommodation for monks in Dhaka. We have difficulties staying in Dhaka when we come here to apply for refugee status at the UNHCR."
In Dhaka, there are a few Buddhist monasteries, but the Buddhist monks are unable to stay there because they do not have valid travel documents. The monasteries in Dhaka also worry that Bangladesh authorities might take action against them if the undocumented monks take shelter there.
Many monks in Burma have recently come to Bangladesh to escape arrest by the Burmese military authorities after the monk-led protests last fall.
Some Burmese refugees requested that the UNHCR office in Dhaka set up a room for the Burmese monks to stay in when they come to Dhaka to seek asylum, but the request was denied.
In Dhaka, there are a few offices belonging to democratic activists working for the Burmese democracy movement, and all offices are now crowded with many Burmese people who have fled Burma seeking safety after the Saffron Revolution.
The director of Narinjara News also reports that the Narinjara office will have to move to another location at the beginning of March as their landlord has refused to continue renting to them after so many people have had to come and stay there.
Other Burmese democratic activists in Dhaka are facing similar problems as Burmese people come to them for shelter.
U Payna Dissa has made a plea through Narinjara to democratic activists in exile, including monk organizations abroad, to consider how they can help the Burmese monks in Dhaka in finding shelter.
February 1, 2008
Dhaka: Many Burmese monks who've recently arrived in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka from Burma to apply for refugee status with the UNHCR are facing trouble with finding shelter.
Monk U Payna Dissa said, “There is no accommodation for monks in Dhaka. We have difficulties staying in Dhaka when we come here to apply for refugee status at the UNHCR."
In Dhaka, there are a few Buddhist monasteries, but the Buddhist monks are unable to stay there because they do not have valid travel documents. The monasteries in Dhaka also worry that Bangladesh authorities might take action against them if the undocumented monks take shelter there.
Many monks in Burma have recently come to Bangladesh to escape arrest by the Burmese military authorities after the monk-led protests last fall.
Some Burmese refugees requested that the UNHCR office in Dhaka set up a room for the Burmese monks to stay in when they come to Dhaka to seek asylum, but the request was denied.
In Dhaka, there are a few offices belonging to democratic activists working for the Burmese democracy movement, and all offices are now crowded with many Burmese people who have fled Burma seeking safety after the Saffron Revolution.
The director of Narinjara News also reports that the Narinjara office will have to move to another location at the beginning of March as their landlord has refused to continue renting to them after so many people have had to come and stay there.
Other Burmese democratic activists in Dhaka are facing similar problems as Burmese people come to them for shelter.
U Payna Dissa has made a plea through Narinjara to democratic activists in exile, including monk organizations abroad, to consider how they can help the Burmese monks in Dhaka in finding shelter.
Is Taunggok Following The Starlings' Theory ?
By Goldie Shwe
In Burma, where the only authority comes from the gun-toting junta and their cronies, it is unsurprising that most people just mind their own business and get on with their daily struggle to live. It is unwise to be conspicuous under the eyes of the junta gunmen and assorted thugs, unless you relish imprisonment under the slightest pretext.
So how on earth have the people of Taunggok, about 50 miles north of Thandwe (Ngapali) managed not only to make faces at the all-powerful junta gunmen but also to play cat and mouse with them?
While most people are too frightened to even look straight into the eyes of the daughter or son of the nasty 'militocracy' shopping in a big super store, Taunggok openly challenges the thugs over unbelievable stupidity in so badly mis-managing the country. It expressed the displeasure of the corrupt officials' mis-management and the force labour. While most cities and towns in Burma are still nursing the wounds inflicted by junta during the last September protest, people of Taunggok managed to plan and gathered around for fresh and renewed demonstrations. When this was forced to abandon, they started the poster war.
Where do they get the courage from? How do they manage to display this never-say-die attitudes? The answer is quite simple. They just stick to basics and apply their animal instincts in dealing with the predators of the obscenely powerful junta. The severely repressed residents of Taunggok have worked out that when you are so far from the top of the feeding chain, you must be united to survive against the shamelessly violent enemies - the junta.
Recently, researchers have discovered how vast flocks of starlings stay together when under attack by predators, never leaving any of their number isolated and vulnerable. Each starling constantly tracks seven others as they fly, to be instantly responsive to changes of direction. Cohesion may be threatened under attack, but the flock can regroup very quickly ready for the next threat.
Taunggok is doing exactly just that with the people united. Just like the starlings, they look out for each other and stick together. It is not easy to stick up a poster in the middle of the town, infested by patrolling security gunmen, without a team to support and watch out for you.
When there is a petition, everyone wants to sign and there is no hesitation to show unity and solidarity, either in print or in person. When it was agreed that it was time to demonstrate, they managed to form a group of about 200, again in the town centre. When two youths decided to go out on their own to shout out democracy slogans, many people watched them anxiously to report the situation and just like the starlings, they regrouped again very quickly.
This apparently simple starling-like behaviour has been puzzling and confusing for mono-dimensional junta. Why don't they disperse or be disloyal to each other as in some of the larger towns and cities? Why? Because the people of Taunggok have the firm belief that the only way to improve their lives is to win democratic freedoms. And for this, they understand that they have to be united, and behave as a close knit community, so that corrupt 'local authorities' cannot threaten or frighten them. Just as the starlings know their predators, the brave people of Taunggok know theirs is the junta and its cronies and corrupt followers, who can snatch them anytime to gain favour with the murdering 'authorities'. Like the starlings, they will not leave a member isolated and vulnerable.
Taunggok was seized by security troops on 17 January but people are still planning to demonstrate as soon as they have a chance. It means that the junta has to deploy many of its soldier-thugs, probably more than the population of the town itself. If every town in Burma follows the example of the courage of Taunggok, using and applying the same simply method - Starlings' Theory : keeping track of your own kind, to protect each other -what kind of effect and benefit the country will get ?
a) The people will feel the strength which comes from unity. Knowing that your life is more secure in the hands of your fellows will begin to increase resolve and strength.
b) The Junta would be faced with a physically and mentally tiring task. They may have the second biggest army (first if you count the newly recruited baby soldiers) in Asia but there is at least 50 Burmese people to every soldier/thug.
Public ridicule an extension of the internet campaign is what the junta should attract. The ridiculous strutting soldier/thugs, whose only military 'honours' have been 'won' in abusing, violating and killing their own people, have to be seen by the Burmese for what they are.
Taunggok has proved that unity and solidarity is strength. It is equally important to recognise and identify the enemy quickly so that you can deal with them. These simple and crucial lessons from the 'Starlings' Theory' appear to be working very well with people of Taunggok and so it could across Burma.
By Goldie Shwe
(You are very welcome to republish this article. If you can translate it, please do so and pass it on. To read more about how starling birds work please click here and here. )
In Burma, where the only authority comes from the gun-toting junta and their cronies, it is unsurprising that most people just mind their own business and get on with their daily struggle to live. It is unwise to be conspicuous under the eyes of the junta gunmen and assorted thugs, unless you relish imprisonment under the slightest pretext.
So how on earth have the people of Taunggok, about 50 miles north of Thandwe (Ngapali) managed not only to make faces at the all-powerful junta gunmen but also to play cat and mouse with them?
While most people are too frightened to even look straight into the eyes of the daughter or son of the nasty 'militocracy' shopping in a big super store, Taunggok openly challenges the thugs over unbelievable stupidity in so badly mis-managing the country. It expressed the displeasure of the corrupt officials' mis-management and the force labour. While most cities and towns in Burma are still nursing the wounds inflicted by junta during the last September protest, people of Taunggok managed to plan and gathered around for fresh and renewed demonstrations. When this was forced to abandon, they started the poster war.
Where do they get the courage from? How do they manage to display this never-say-die attitudes? The answer is quite simple. They just stick to basics and apply their animal instincts in dealing with the predators of the obscenely powerful junta. The severely repressed residents of Taunggok have worked out that when you are so far from the top of the feeding chain, you must be united to survive against the shamelessly violent enemies - the junta.
Recently, researchers have discovered how vast flocks of starlings stay together when under attack by predators, never leaving any of their number isolated and vulnerable. Each starling constantly tracks seven others as they fly, to be instantly responsive to changes of direction. Cohesion may be threatened under attack, but the flock can regroup very quickly ready for the next threat.
Taunggok is doing exactly just that with the people united. Just like the starlings, they look out for each other and stick together. It is not easy to stick up a poster in the middle of the town, infested by patrolling security gunmen, without a team to support and watch out for you.
When there is a petition, everyone wants to sign and there is no hesitation to show unity and solidarity, either in print or in person. When it was agreed that it was time to demonstrate, they managed to form a group of about 200, again in the town centre. When two youths decided to go out on their own to shout out democracy slogans, many people watched them anxiously to report the situation and just like the starlings, they regrouped again very quickly.
This apparently simple starling-like behaviour has been puzzling and confusing for mono-dimensional junta. Why don't they disperse or be disloyal to each other as in some of the larger towns and cities? Why? Because the people of Taunggok have the firm belief that the only way to improve their lives is to win democratic freedoms. And for this, they understand that they have to be united, and behave as a close knit community, so that corrupt 'local authorities' cannot threaten or frighten them. Just as the starlings know their predators, the brave people of Taunggok know theirs is the junta and its cronies and corrupt followers, who can snatch them anytime to gain favour with the murdering 'authorities'. Like the starlings, they will not leave a member isolated and vulnerable.
Taunggok was seized by security troops on 17 January but people are still planning to demonstrate as soon as they have a chance. It means that the junta has to deploy many of its soldier-thugs, probably more than the population of the town itself. If every town in Burma follows the example of the courage of Taunggok, using and applying the same simply method - Starlings' Theory : keeping track of your own kind, to protect each other -what kind of effect and benefit the country will get ?
a) The people will feel the strength which comes from unity. Knowing that your life is more secure in the hands of your fellows will begin to increase resolve and strength.
b) The Junta would be faced with a physically and mentally tiring task. They may have the second biggest army (first if you count the newly recruited baby soldiers) in Asia but there is at least 50 Burmese people to every soldier/thug.
Public ridicule an extension of the internet campaign is what the junta should attract. The ridiculous strutting soldier/thugs, whose only military 'honours' have been 'won' in abusing, violating and killing their own people, have to be seen by the Burmese for what they are.
Taunggok has proved that unity and solidarity is strength. It is equally important to recognise and identify the enemy quickly so that you can deal with them. These simple and crucial lessons from the 'Starlings' Theory' appear to be working very well with people of Taunggok and so it could across Burma.
By Goldie Shwe
(You are very welcome to republish this article. If you can translate it, please do so and pass it on. To read more about how starling birds work please click here and here. )
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