Crackdown Against Buddhist Monks Shakes Burmese Society

By Rory Byrne Rangoon

In the months since Burmese troops crushed anti-government demonstrations, the military government has moved to detain the Buddhist monks who led the protesters. Soldiers have closed many monasteries and placed others under armed guard. Human rights activists, diplomats and ordinary Burmese say hundreds of monks and nuns remain in detention. Yet despite the clampdown, some monks vow to take to the streets again if talks between the government and the opposition do not bring political reform. Rory Byrne has this report for VOA from Rangoon.

Buddhist monks are revered in this profoundly devout nation. They took the lead in anti-government protests in September, after authorities more than doubled the price of fuel, forcing millions deeper into poverty. And when troops crushed the demonstrations, leaving monks among the dead and wounded, many people were stunned and angry. "Don't retreat - fight back! We will sacrifice our lives at their feet," says one citizen. Oo Win Naing is a prominent opposition member living in Rangoon. He was jailed for giving rice to protesting monks.

Myanmar Cracks Down on Ethnic Minorities
 

Myanmar's army has moved reinforcements into ethnic minority areas for the probable renewal of an offensive whose past human rights violations have been far greater than those against urban protesters that riveted world attention last fall, aid and rebel groups say. The groups provide continuing reports of killings of civilians, rapes, forced labor, burning of crops and mass relocations as Myanmar troops attempt to wipe out die-hard guerrillas of the Karen National Union and other ethnic rebel forces.

While urban tensions may have eased since the crackdown on September's pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon, "nothing has changed" regarding the conflict in the east of the country also known as Burma, says Htoo Kli, who helps Karen refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the key aid agency along the frontier for more than two decades, says that in 2007 another 76,000 Karen were forced to flee their homes and at least 167 villages were destroyed. Corroborated by high-resolution commercial satellite imagery, more the 3,000 villages have been laid waste to by the army in recent years while those displaced in eastern Myanmar number at least half a million, the agency says.

Diversity and Democracy in Burma

 
The diverse ethnic groups of Burma have lived in their own respective territory for thousands of years. After Independence 8 Constitutional States, Burma Proper, Shan State, Kachin State, Chin State, Karen State, Karenni (or Kayah State) Arakan State and Mon State had been recognised, and each was named according to the majority population of the state e.g. the Burmans were the majority in Burma Proper and were never the majority in the Shan State; the Shans were the majority in the Shan State. It is incorrect to label the Burmans as the majority and all the others as minorities of Burma, especially when "majority and minorities" are the terms used for control and power of one group over the others. The military sought to make the Burmans the majority in all the eight states  hence they adopted the policy of ethnic cleansing and other human rights violations against the non-Burman nationalities. Independence from the British and the formation of the Union of Burma meant to the non-Burman nationalities that they were now equal partners and had to work for the common good of all members. But to the Burman nationalist politicians, Independence meant Power and Control over the others.  Bogyoke Aung San on the other hand, realised that the only way the Union could work was to create a genuine democracy, and by abiding to the principles of  ̏the Panglong Agreement̋. The nationalist politicians disapproved and this led to the assassination of  Bogyoke Aung San and his fellow executive members.

Than Shwe first insulted the Buddha
before he murdered the monks

'No progress' in Burma says NLD

BBC News

The Burmese opposition has said that there has been no sign of any dialogue with the military government for the past month.

National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win told the BBC he had not been allowed to speak to detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr Win said he knew nothing of any further contact between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military government. The UN has repeatedly called for talks between the government and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi.

Dialogue offer

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has made two visits to Burma since tens of thousands of people joined massive street demonstrations led by monks, in Rangoon and other cities, in an outpouring of anger at the military government. After his second visit early in November he read out a statement from Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi in which she offered to take part in a dialogue with the military. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest and this was the first time her words had been made public in years.