Myanmar generals face biggest protests in 20 yrs
Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:02 AM EDT (50 minutes ago)

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people joined streams of Buddhist monks on marches through Yangon on Monday in the biggest demonstration against Myanmar’s ruling generals since they crushed student-led protests 20 years ago.

“The streets are packed,” a witness said of massed opposition to the generals and 45 years of military rule that has turned the resource-rich country into one of Asia’s poorest.

Five columns of maroon-robed monks, one stretching more than one kilometer (nearly a mile), marched from the Shwedagon Pagoda, the devoutly Buddhist country’s holiest shrine, to the city centre to applause from thousands of onlookers who joined them.

“People locked arms around the monks. They were clapping and cheering,” the witness said on the sixth day of marches by monks, some of them carrying placards calling for “National Reconciliation” and “Release of Political Prisoners.”

Protests were also reported in Mandalay, where 10,000 monks marched on Saturday, in the northwestern city of Sittwe and in Bago, just north of Yangon.

In Yangon, after holding prayers at the Sule Pagoda in the main business district, the monks marched to another pagoda with tens of thousands of people trailing behind them.

For the first time, the marchers included members of parliament elected in 1990 from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) two days after a dramatic appearance of support for the monks by detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“IT’S ABOUT REFORM”

What began as anger at last month’s shock fuel price rises has become a wider movement against the generals, with one monk group calling for peaceful mass protests against the junta until its downfall.

“There’s no prospect now of the monks just deciding to abandon this. They are getting braver every day and their demands are getting greater every day, and it’s much more overtly political,” a Yangon-based diplomat said.

“It’s now about Aung San Suu Kyi, it’s about reform.

“The monks have got numbers and, if not immunity, then certainly it’s much more difficult for the government to crack down on them than ordinary civilians,” the diplomat said.

The United States, the loudest Western critic of the regime, expressed sympathy for the protesters and denounced the military.

Myanmar’s regional neighbors, long frustrated by the generals refusal to speed up reforms, looked on with worry.

“We hope that the ongoing protests will be resolved in a peaceful manner,” said the Foreign Ministry in Singapore, one of Myanmar’s biggest foreign investors.

There were no signs of trouble during Monday’s protests, but rumors of an imminent crackdown — one suggested hospitals were being emptied of non-critical patients — swirled in Yangon.

The generals are due soon to hold a quarterly summit in their new capital of Naypyidaw, carved out of the jungle. Dealing with the protests is sure to top the agenda.

The protests, which began on August 19, prompted a midnight round-up of the democracy activists who organized them. They now face up to 20 years in jail and are drawing public declarations of support from the famous.

The country’s biggest stars of the stage, screen and music, including Tun Eindra Bo — Myanmar’s equivalent of Angelina Jolie — have formed a “Sangkha Support Committee” and pledged to provide the monks with whatever assistance they need.

“The fact these celebrities are joining in is very significant,” said one Myanmar exile who listened to them giving interviews on Burmese-language foreign radio stations.

“The committee said they will move on with the struggle until the end,” the exile said.

© Reuters 2007.

Record numbers join Burmese protests

Ian MacKinnon, south-east Asia correspondent
Monday September 24, 2007
(30 minutes ago)

Guardian Unlimited

As many as 100,000 demonstrators protesting against the Burmese military regime took to the streets of Rangoon today in the biggest show of dissent in almost two decades.

Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and pink-robed nuns led the marchers, who snaked for several kilometres through the former capital, slowing traffic to a crawl and prompting the closures of shops and schools.

The monks carried flags and banners proclaiming the peaceful nature of the demonstration. Flanking them were even greater numbers of people clapping and chanting, in what many described as a carnival atmosphere.

The mood of elation in the ranks, which swelled to unprecedented numbers on the sixth straight day of marches sparked by fuel price rises, reflected surprise that the generals have shown restraint and not crushed the anti-government movement.

An estimated 3,000 students, and some monks, were killed during the last great pro-democracy uprising, in 1988, when the military cracked down brutally on demonstrators demanding that the junta step aside.

Fears that the military would exercise its authority in similar fashion kept many away from the sporadic, small-scale protests that began with the price rises on August 19.

But the growing confidence of the crowds was reflected today when leading entertainers – including two of the country’s most famous, the comedian Zaganar and the film star Kyaw Thu – joined the protests.

The pair joined MPs who donated food to protesting monks gathered at the rally’s starting point, the golden-domed Shwedagon pagoda, Burma’s most sacred shrine.

Other groups of monks, accompanied by thousands of protesters, marched from other points of Rangoon in what has become a highly organised and coordinated opposition to Burma’s secretive military leaders.

As many as 20,000 people protested in the second city, Mandalay, and there were reports of other, smaller marches.

Some of the demonstrators chanted their support for the Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and pro-democracy activist who has been detained for 11 of the past 17 years after her National League for Democracy swept the polls in a 1990 general election victory.

She was seen in public for the first time in three years on Saturday when 2,000 protesting monks were allowed through barricades to pray near the home where she is under house arrest. The Lady, as she is universally known, emerged to pray with them. But yesterday and today the barriers were reinforced with four fire engines to prevent a repeat of the scene as marchers passed through the Rangoon university area, near the house.

The protests, which were sparked by a doubling of petrol and diesel prices and a five-fold increase in cooking gas, tapped a deep well of anger in a country in economic crisis. Inflation is running at about 40% and most people suffer real economic hardship.

Yet the protesters’ anger against the government appears to have become more broad-based, even though the monks have restricted their demands. They seek only a cut in fuel prices, an apology for an earlier attack on monks, and dialogue between the military and the opposition in order to promote “reconciliation”.

Britain’s ambassador in Rangoon, Mark Canning, applauded the way the Burmese military had handled the growing dissent on the streets. But he said he was fearful the demonstrations could yet end in bloodshed if the regime felt sufficiently threatened.

“So far, the military have shown commendable restraint, and long may it continue,” he said. “But there are a number of scenarios that could unfold.

“The protests could just fizzle out, though that looks less and less likely with each passing day. Or the government could try to restore its authority. But they need to be extremely careful, as harming monks would make matters much, much worse.”

The reverence in which Buddhist monks are held in a country where almost every family sends a son to the monastery may be one reason for the softly-softly approach. But Aung Niang Oo, a Burmese exile, believes neighbouring China is also playing a restraining role.

“China wants stability in Burma and believes the military is the only one to provide that,” Mr Canning said. “But if there’s an army crackdown, it would give Britain and the US the opportunity to take Burma back to the UN security council, where China would be forced to defend its neighbour.

“China doesn’t want that – not after being criticised over Darfur and in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.”

Burma’s Monks versus the Military

A. Lin Neumann
24 September 2007

Eyewitnesses in Rangoon describe a protest movement growing daily. The stakes are rising for Southeast Asia’s most authoritarian government.

Stopping traffic and streaming into the center of Burma’s largest city, red-robed monks, the religious heart of one of the world’s most repressive countries, are continuing to defy a brutal military junta, their numbers swelling daily.

On Monday, witnesses told Asia Sentinel that tens of thousands of monks could be seen in strategic areas of the city being joined by civilian supporters as the military junta’s armed forces stayed off the streets, apparently unsure how to handle the largest outburst of protest seen in the country in nearly twenty years.

“Some were carrying yellow peacock banners,” an eyewitness said, noting the presence of the flag that symbolizes the National League for Democracy, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party.

Throughout the day, a witness said, the atmosphere was lighthearted, “almost like a party,” as Rangoon’s residents seem suddenly emboldened by the bravery of the revered clergy in this overwhelmingly Buddhist nation. Earlier, the monks had withdrawn religious services from the military, refusing to accept alms from anyone connected to the junta in a virtually unprecedented boycott. Marching with empty alms bowls, the religious boycott has become a symbol of the new uprising.

In one scene near the upscale neighborhoods in the Inya Lake district, the monks marched in a phalanx 10 to 15 abreast, surrounded by middle class residents who flocked to the streets to guard them. “It took 45 minutes for the crowd to go by my vantage point,” said a woman reached by phone.

There were no authorities visible during the protest, another witness said. “People are cheering, clapping, standing outside their houses,” said the witness, who added that it was unlike anything she had seen in several years in Rangoon.

Marchers were also joined by members of the National League for Democracy, including members of the parliament elected in 1990 in polls that were voided by the junta. Two days ago NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at the gate outside of her residence, where she is under house arrest, to greet protesting monks.

“Today we saw the most widespread demonstrations since 1988,” said Bangkok-based Burmese analyst Win Min. “Things are moving very quickly.”

Win Min characterized the current situation as a spiritual rebellion, an economic protest and a reaction to longstanding suffering. “I’m worried that they will crack down,” he said, “but for now they are taking a wait-and-see approach and won’t announce martial law due to China’s influence. The Chinese won’t say it explicitly, but they don’t want to see bloodshed as it would damage China’s interests.”

“There’s no prospect now of the monks just deciding to abandon this. They are getting braver every day and their demands are getting greater every day, and it’s much more overtly political,” a Yangon-based diplomat told Reuters.

In another sign that even people with something to lose are willing to join the protests, movie stars and celebrities are joining the movement. Tun Eindra Bo – the country’s biggest female star – has reportedly begun a “Sangkha Support Committee” to help the monks. The country’s most famous comedian, Zargana, has also joined the movement, according to Win Min – “Everyone in Burma knows him, just like Aung San Suu Kyi. This has a big impact.”

On Monday, rallies were held in several parts of the city, with a witness saying that one large group of monks appeared headed to the airport north of the former capital. Other reports described monks and supporters gathering in the center of the city.

Many of the monks, who were also joined by Buddhist nuns, began their protests, as they have each day for six days, with prayers at Shwedagon Pagoda, the country’s holiest shrine, near the center of the city. Bystanders gave the monks water as the boldness of onlookers is growing with each passing day.

Rallies were also reported in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, and in the northwestern city of Sittwe and in Bago, just north of Rangoon, according to Reuters. The Burmese exile magazine Irrawaddy, which is based in Thailand, noted the presence of protesters nationwide, claiming that 100,000 people had joined the Rangoon protests.

The magazine said monks led protests along the border with Thailand, and in townships scattered throughout the country. A monk involved in the protests told Irrawaddy that in Pakokku Township in central Burma, where the first monk-led protests began earlier this month, hundreds of monks left a group of monasteries to chant the “Metta Sutta” (the Buddha’s words on loving kindness). The same chant was heard in other protests.

With witnesses telling Asian Sentinel that a political tinge has been added to the protests, the stakes are rising along with the numbers in the streets. Under military rule since 1962, the country’s leaders have impoverished the country while keeping themselves in power. Burma has watched as Thailand and its other neighbors have prospered, while it has moved steadily backwards from the days in the 1950s when it was considered one of the region’s wealthiest and most sophisticated countries.

The State Peace and Development Council, as the junta calls itself, appears even more isolated than ever. Having moved the government in 2006 to the new capital of Naypyidaw, which means literally “abode of kings,” 220 kilometers north of Rangoon, the generals seem almost to have anticipated the need to hide from their own people.

As with the protests in 1988, the current unrest began with an economic grievance. In 1988 it was the demonetization in September 1987 of about 80 percent of the currency then in circulation. That step, reportedly taken to accommodate the belief in numerology of then-dictator Ne Win, eventually spawned a student-led movement that became one of the largest mass protests in modern Asian history.

By September 1988, virtually the entire country was shut down by hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding change. When the military reasserted itself and proclaimed the birth of the current junta on September 18, 1988, thousands of people were gunned down in the streets of Rangoon by combat-hardened soldiers from rural areas who had been informed that Rangoon was taken over by communists.

The current unrest began on August 19 as a result of fuel price increases. But with student organizations banned and campus life fragmented after 1988, this time the monks have come to the fore. As the only non-military organization with a nationwide network, the monks could prove to be formidable foes. Even in 1988, when thousands of monks were also involved, the military was careful not to kill members of the clergy, perhaps uncertain how even their own soldiers would react to orders to commit such an act against the respected clerics.

In 1988 also there were often few signs of the military on the streets – until the killing began. The night before the junta seized power that year, Rangoon was completely in the hands of protesters who were dancing in the streets, forming neighborhood defense committees and organizing the looting of abandoned government buildings, often with the help of civil servants.

But when the military decided to act, it was over in a matter of hours.

With reporting by Daniel Ten Kate