MONKS, MEDIA AND THE MILITARY: THE SAFFRON REVOLUTION
The Open Society Institute and the Asia Society
The Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021
Friday, October 5, 2007
Burma: Traumatized Nation
Aung Din
Policy Director
U.S. Campaign for Burma
1444 N Street, NW, # A2
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202) 234 8022
Fax: (202) 234 8044
www.uscampaignforburma.org
aungdin@uscampaignforburma.org
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Introduction
Thank you everybody for gathering here today. I am honored to be here with Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who have been monitoring human rights situation in Burma for more than seven years. I am also happy to learn from Ashin Cando Bhasacara, and Patrick, as well as from my colleague Nay Tin Myint, whom I haven't seen for 19 years. I appreciate Ahma Maureen Aung Thwin, Suzanne DiMaggio, the Open Society Institute and the Asia Society for holding this event at this critical time.
As we speak here today, horrible events, massive killings and massive arrests of peaceful demonstrators by the military junta already have begun and continued in my country. More than two hundred peaceful protesters, including Buddhist monks, students as young as 12 years old, and civilians, have been brutally killed and about 3,000 were arrested, by soldiers and riot police in a matter of days. The people of Burma are now in great shock and traumatized from these brutal experiences. They are now afraid of reaching the night. When the night falls, city becomes quiet, and then soldiers come in and raid houses and monasteries. They heard the sound of truck running in streets, dogs barking, soldiers shouting at those they have attacked, and arrested the whole night. They are not able to get out and help others during the curfew hours and they are even afraid of when their doors are knocked or broken by the soldiers.
Brief Situation in Burma
Let me present the current situation in Burma briefly. On August 15, the military junta suddenly increased gas prices, doubling the price of fuel and quintupling the price of compressed natural gas. This made the lives of ordinary citizens more difficult and more insecure. They could not go to school, offices or factories as they could not afford to pay for the new higher travel costs. They have not been able to purchase food and medicine for their families. Their already-difficult lives became more desperate.
The leaders of the 88-Generation Students, comprised of former student leaders who had spent over a decade in prison for their leading role in the 1988 popular democracy uprising, responsibly and quickly called on the military junta to reduce the prices and started to organize the people to walk, instead of taking buses, to make their demand more serious. A peaceful march, with about 500 people led by the student leaders, took place in Rangoon on August 19, 2007. The military junta responded by arresting key members of the 88-Generation Students, including Min Ko Naing, the second most prominent leader of Burma’s democracy movement, in the early morning of August 21, 2007 and threatened civil society not to hold any protest.
However, the arrests of student leaders did not stop the protests from continuing in the following days. Peaceful marches in the streets in various cities continued and the military junta used its militia, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), to crackdown on protesters. Peaceful protesters were brutally beaten and attacked by members of USDA and arrested. In the two weeks between August 21 and early September, the military junta arrested about 200 peaceful protesters.
The situation’s tipping point came on September 5th at Pakkoku Township in Middle Burma. Hundreds of monks came to streets, reciting Metta Sutra, which is the Buddhist teaching of loving and kindness. They felt that there is a lack of love and kindness in the country, and that's why they tried to send their enormous Metta to all the people of Burma, and believe that a peaceful solution can be reached under their Metta. However, they were wrong. They were confronted by angry soldiers and USDA members, who brutally attacked and fired several warning shots above them. Five monks were arrested, beaten and insulted by the soldiers in police lock-up. This is a huge insult in Buddhism and towards the monks, who are highly respected by the majority of the population in Burma.
Buddhist monks all over the country joined together, formed an organization called the "All Burma Monks' Alliance", and called on the military junta to fulfill four demands, which are (1) to apologize to the monks whom they have attacked and insulted, (2) to reduce the prices of fuel and basic commodities, (3) to release all detainees including Aung San Suu Kyi and (4) to engage in a meaningful political dialogue with the election winning party National League for Democracy and ethnic representatives. They asked the junta to fulfill these demands no later than September 17, 2007. On September 18, the 19th anniversary of the military junta in power, Buddhist monks began a nationwide excommunicative boycott against the junta, USDA members and their families. Buddhist monks have refused to accept donations and offerings from them, and would not attend religious and social functions conducted by them, until and unless the junta fulfills their demands.
At that point, thousands of monks gathered at important Pagodas in various cities, and vowed to take excommunicative boycott against the junta. The junta tried to blocked access to the Pagodas and used its civilian militias to attack the monks. Then monks marched in the cities, reciting Metta Sutra, peacefully and with discipline. In Rangoon, monks gathered at the country’s most famous Buddhist shrine, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, prayed in front of the Pagoda, and then marched toward Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon. First, the monks asked people not to join in the protests, and therefore, students and people only marched single file on both sides of the columns of monks, chaining their hands together to protect the monks. After a week in which their demands went unanswered monks encouraged all the people to join the protest. Hundreds of thousands of students and people joined tens of thousands of monks in peaceful marches in every major city in Burma, Rangoon, Mandalay, Mon Ywar, Bago, Sagaing, Pakkoku, Sittwe, Myitkyina, Mogok, Kyauk Padaung, and many other cities throughout Burma.
The military junta increased security forces in Rangoon and many other cities and imposed a curfew order on the night of September 25, and also banned the gathering, and assembly of more than five persons. Rangoon and Mandalay were also put under the authority of Divisional Commanders. This was effectively imposing martial law.
On September 26, 2007, in defiance against the threat, hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters, under the leadership of monks, came into the streets. Several confrontations between security forces and protesters took place at many locations, nearby Shwe Dagon Pagoda, in Bahan Township, in Tamwe Township, at Shwe Gone Daing, nearby Sule Pagoda and in front of the Rangoon City Hall. Security forces threw tear gas canisters and smoke bombs to disperse the crowd and fired several rounds, in the air and at the crowd. According to various eye-witness accounts and the leader of the All Burma Monks' Alliance, five monks and two civilians were killed on Sept 26. Some of them were beaten to death and the rest were killed by gun-shots.
Major crackdown against the monks began at midnight of September 26 and early morning of September 27. Security forces raided Buddhist monasteries in Rangoon, and Myitkyina, Moe Nyin and Bhamo Townships in Kachin State. In Rangoon, several monasteries in South Okkalapa, North Okkalapa, Tamwe, Yankin, Thingangyun, Bahan, and Insein were raided by the troops at midnight and early morning. Let me share with you an example of how they had raided the monasteries.
Ngwe Kyar Yan Monastery is a famous Buddhist teaching center, located in South Okkalapa Township, which is my hometown in Rangoon, with about 350 monks. These monks took part in the peaceful protests; as they did in the 1988 popular uprising. Therefore, this monastery was a major target of the SPDC. Early in the morning of Sept, 27, several hundred soldiers came with over 20 trucks and attacked the monastery. They brutally attacked the monks, arrested over 200 monks and left before dawn. When people from the neighborhood came to see the monastery in the morning, when curfew order was over, they amazingly saw blood spattering all over the monastery and about 50 monks left behind traumatized and badly beaten. They were told by the remaining monks that several monks were beaten to death by the soldiers. While the people were treating the injured monks, the military troops came back again and dragged away the rest of the monks. The people had to disperse from the monastery as the soldiers threatened to shoot, but they regrouped later with a large number of people, blocked the way of the military troops and demanded the release of the monks. The situation was tense, soldiers fired at the crowd and people threw stones at them. After a two hours stand-off, additional soldiers came in and they fired at the crowd. At least 8 people were killed and their bodies were taken away by the troops.
More than 50 monasteries in Rangoon and many other cities were raided by the military troops in a similar fashion as I mentioned above and the monasteries are all empty now. More than one thousand monks were brought into detention centers. Other monks are also being kept in detention in their monastery campuses, as their monasteries are surrounded by the military troops and their entrances are blocked by barricades.
On Sept 27, 2007, Rangoon became a battle field, between armed and blood-thirsty soldiers and un-armed protesters. The news of brutal attack and raids on monasteries spread all over the city and many people came out into street filled with enormous anger. They were confronted by security forces in various places. The troops fired at crowds with their automatic weapons at Pansodan Street, at Shwe Gone Daing, in front of Sule Pagoda, nearby Shwe Dagon Pagoda, in Sanchaung Township, Ahlone Township, nearby Kyaikkasan Pagoda, in Thingangyun Township, China Town, Pazundaung Township, and at the junction of 38th Street and Mahabandoola Street. Various sources said that at least nearly 100 protesters were killed in these incidents and several hundreds were arrested. At 2:30 PM, the military troops tried to disperse protesters, who were staging a protest in front of State High School No. (3), Tamwe Township. As their examination had just finished, students, teachers and their parents who came out from the school became the victims of a brutal killing rampage. Military trucks, fully loaded with soldiers, ran into the crowd and many were killed by being run over by the trucks. Soldiers also shot at the crowd and according to several eye witness accounts, between 50 and 100, including students, teachers and parents, were killed. Soldiers left the scene and then came back again a half an hour later to pick up the bodies.
Number of Death and Arrest
So far, the military junta has claimed that they have killed nine protesters. However, the actual number of deaths is much more than they have claimed. We believe that more than 200 protesters, including monks, and students were killed by the Burmese military junta in a matter of days. One of the fatalities is Japanese reporter Mr. Kenji Nagai. Sources from Rangoon General Hospital said that they received about 100 dead bodies on September 26 alone. They were also instructed by the junta's Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint not to send ambulances to incidents without permission from the military junta. According to some sources, the junta is using a crematorium at Yay Way Cemetery, on the outskirts of Rangoon, to destroy the dead bodies. Soldiers also threw dead bodies into the rivers.
We also believe that more than three thousand protesters, most of them monks, have been arrested and put in windowless warehouses inside the campus of the Government Technological Institute (GTI) in Insein Township, near the notorious Insein Prison. Several hundred more are being detained at various detention centers in many other cities. Number of arrest will be increased dramatically as the soldiers are now searching house by house, apartment by apartment, with photos in hands to arrest those they suspect. According to the National League for Democracy party, over 190 members of the NLD, including three leaders from NLD Headquarters and several dozen Members of Parliament-elect were arrested. Monks in detention have been forcibly disrobed by the soldiers, but they still refuse to accept food provided by their jailors. At least four monks died in detention due to the severe injuries they have sustained from being attacked by soldiers.
What's Next?
The military junta claimed that the situation in Burma has returned to normal. It is true that over 20,000 soldiers roam the streets of Rangoon. Their brutal and merciless actions and massive arrests have made it too difficult for people to stage protests in the streets. But this is not the end of story. People of Burma have stopped protests for the time being, while they transform the protest into another style. They will treat their wounded colleagues, they will search for missing members of their families, they will regroup and they will come back again with stronger force. I believe the military junta will not be able to kill the spirit of the Saffron Revolution. Democracy will prevail in Burma.
I was a student leader in 1988. Working together with other student leaders, we organized a nationwide popular uprising in Burma in August 1988, calling on the military junta to bring about political reform. The 1988 popular democracy uprising was ended with bloodshed, after the junta killed thousands of peaceful demonstrators in the streets in cold blood. We found surprisingly that the international community did not pay attention to Burma at that time and the international community failed to stop the violence in Burma. Therefore, the military junta was able to get away with crimes against humanity. We do not want the international community to fail again this time. The international community must hold the military junta of Burma accountable for these crimes against humanity and must take effective and collective action. The international community should not let this murderous regime get away with their serial killings.
Speaking with One Voice, Taking Collective and Effective Action NOW
The people of Burma have already proved with their blood that they sincerely want democracy and human rights by peaceful means. They are not asking the junta to move away from power at once. All they are asking is to engage in a meaningful political dialogue with the democracy movement and ethnic representatives. They are being killed, arrested and their families are being destroyed by the junta for such a moderate demand. Therefore, we hope that the international community will step in to stop the killings in Burma and to realize the political dialogue between the military junta, the election winning party National League for Democracy, and ethnic representatives. We are asking now for collective and effective action from the UN Security Council, a binding resolution, instructing the military junta of Burma to stop killing and arresting protesters, to treat all detainees humanely and provide them proper medical care, release all political detainees including Aung San Suu Kyi, and engage in a meaningful political dialogue with democracy forces and ethnic minority leaders for the sake of national reconciliation and a transition to democracy and civilian rule. We also want the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against the military junta, which include an arms embargo, a travel ban of the top generals and their family members, and a ban on investment, and threaten the junta with stronger sanctions if it fails to fulfill the instructions of the Security Council.
We know that there is a possibility of strong rejection from China and Russia to adopt such a resolution. China has been comprehensively and profoundly interfering in the internal affairs of
Burma for two decades, providing more than a billion dollars in weapons to the generals whom the Burmese people, writ large, have tried every way they can to get rid of. Further, the Chinese have repeatedly provided cash infusions to the same killers of monks, rapists of young girls, and
destroyers of 3000 villages. The blood of this past week is on China's hands and they better start to clean it up NOW!! Any claim from the Chinese about not interfering in the internal affairs
of its neighbor should provoke derisive laughter, because that statement is patently false.
We all know that China and Russia might still exercise their veto powers to kill such a resolution. However, we, the people of Burma really want the United States, in consultation with the United Kingdom, France and other like-minded members, to table the resolution at the UN Security Council as soon as possible. As the people of Burma courageously challenge the brutal junta, we want the US and democratic countries to challenge China and Russia at the Security Council. We might fail, but, we will surely win.
Thank you,
Aung Din
Policy Director
U.S. Campaign for Burma
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