| The time is right for UN intervention or guidance
Htet Aung Kyaw
Sep 24, 2007 (DVB)—The protests prompted by the military’s August-19 fuel price hikes have spread across the country and today’s 100,000-strong demonstration was the largest in Burma since the 1988 uprising.
But two questions remain: How are the protestors going to attain their goals and exactly what are they?
In the early afternoon of September 5 in Pakokku, about 600 kilometres northwest of Rangoon, about 500 monks marched through the streets waving banners, condemning the price hikes and chanting metta.
One hour later, they were stopped by police but they broke through the blockade, emboldened by the cheers of more than 1000 civilians. Unfortunately, their victory was short lived.
“The soldiers shot out while the government-appointed a senior monk to try to arrest us,” 27-year-old monk U Pinnya Saka told DVB by telephone after being arrested by the police.
“First, the soldiers hand-cuffed me and tied me to an electricity pole and beat my head with the butts of their guns,” he said.
The next day, angry young monks took a group of 20 government officials hostage inside their monastery and burnt four of their cars. Later the same evening, the young monks vandalised a house belonging to a Union Solidarity and Development Association leader.
The Pakokku incident marked the first time since the recent wave of protests started that soldiers and monks had clashed despite the prior arrests of more than 200 activists and the leaders of the 88 Generation Students group.
Bashing monks is a dangerous move for the military junta as more than 85 percent of Burma’s 50 million people are Buddhists and Pakokku is close to Mandalay, the religious heart of the country and home to more than 300,000 monks. Monks played an important role in the 1988 uprising and the fight against colonial rule and they have issued several ‘patamnik kujjana kamma’ or boycotts of the government in the past.
No one doubts that Burma’s monks have the courage and bravery to continue their protests against military oppression. But what exactly is their goal? An apology for the Pakokku crackdown or the downfall of the military?
If we look back at what happened in the 1990’s when monks in Mandalay launched a patamnik kujjana kamma seeking a government apology, we can see that the military refused to comply and they jailed many of the monks involved. Analysts have said that the reason the campaign was unsuccessful was that too few civilians were involved and the protest was not against military rule itself.
But this time, things are slightly different, as illustrated by a recent speech made by a monk protesting near Rangoon’s Sule pagoda: “We are marching for the relief of poverty and the hardships of the people. We are all in the same boat.”
“Burma is backwards in every way. The military regime is responsible for all of that so we want a more responsible government.”
It would appear that regime change, rather than an apology is what the monks are fighting for and they have skillfully taken charge of the recent wave of unrest initially led by the 88 Generation Students group.
Given the monks’ aims and the fact that the protests appear to be approaching critical mass, time is running out for the State Peace and Development Council and the international community to find a solution to the current crisis. Politicians, MPs and the UN need to find a way to bring the military to the negotiating table before the bloodshed of the 1988 uprising is repeated.
UN intervention or help is needed and at the very least the UN’s special envoy Ibrahim Gambari needs to go to Rangoon to address the situation rather than waiting until October as has been suggested.
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