by Gavin Rabinowitz/AP Writer/Amritsar
November 28, 2007
The Dalai Lama said he supported the recent pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma and condemned the crackdown on the Buddhist monks who led them, saying it reminded him of China's oppression of Tibetans.
Burma's military rulers crushed a series of pro-democracy protests in September, killing at least 15 people according to information authorities gave the UN, and detaining nearly 3,000 protesters. Monks were at the forefront of the movement. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher.
"When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten by Chinese forces," the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday.
"I am fully committed and I have full support and sympathy for the demonstrators," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters on the sidelines of the Elijah Interfaith Summit of world religious leaders in the northern Indian city of Amritsar.
The meeting, which brought together prominent Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish leaders, focused on using religion to spread peace and resolve conflict.
The Dalai Lama urged the military junta in Burma—a staunchly Buddhist country—to heed the Buddha's teachings.
"They should be Buddhists. Please act according to Buddha's message of compassion," he said.
The military has ruled Burma since 1962, crushing periodic rounds of dissent. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the democratically elected government.
The Dalai Lama has been leading a campaign for autonomy and religious freedom for Tibet, which China has ruled since its Communist-led forces invaded Tibet in 1951.
The 72-year-old Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has been based in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since he fled Tibet in the face of advancing Chinese soldiers in 1959.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Dalai Lama Condemns Burma Crackdown on Buddhist Monks
by Gavin Rabinowitz/AP Writer/Amritsar
November 28, 2007
The Dalai Lama said he supported the recent pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma and condemned the crackdown on the Buddhist monks who led them, saying it reminded him of China's oppression of Tibetans.
Burma's military rulers crushed a series of pro-democracy protests in September, killing at least 15 people according to information authorities gave the UN, and detaining nearly 3,000 protesters. Monks were at the forefront of the movement. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher.
"When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten by Chinese forces," the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday.
"I am fully committed and I have full support and sympathy for the demonstrators," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters on the sidelines of the Elijah Interfaith Summit of world religious leaders in the northern Indian city of Amritsar.
The meeting, which brought together prominent Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish leaders, focused on using religion to spread peace and resolve conflict.
The Dalai Lama urged the military junta in Burma—a staunchly Buddhist country—to heed the Buddha's teachings.
"They should be Buddhists. Please act according to Buddha's message of compassion," he said.
The military has ruled Burma since 1962, crushing periodic rounds of dissent. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the democratically elected government.
The Dalai Lama has been leading a campaign for autonomy and religious freedom for Tibet, which China has ruled since its Communist-led forces invaded Tibet in 1951.
The 72-year-old Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has been based in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since he fled Tibet in the face of advancing Chinese soldiers in 1959.
November 28, 2007
The Dalai Lama said he supported the recent pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma and condemned the crackdown on the Buddhist monks who led them, saying it reminded him of China's oppression of Tibetans.
Burma's military rulers crushed a series of pro-democracy protests in September, killing at least 15 people according to information authorities gave the UN, and detaining nearly 3,000 protesters. Monks were at the forefront of the movement. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher.
"When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten by Chinese forces," the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday.
"I am fully committed and I have full support and sympathy for the demonstrators," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters on the sidelines of the Elijah Interfaith Summit of world religious leaders in the northern Indian city of Amritsar.
The meeting, which brought together prominent Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish leaders, focused on using religion to spread peace and resolve conflict.
The Dalai Lama urged the military junta in Burma—a staunchly Buddhist country—to heed the Buddha's teachings.
"They should be Buddhists. Please act according to Buddha's message of compassion," he said.
The military has ruled Burma since 1962, crushing periodic rounds of dissent. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the democratically elected government.
The Dalai Lama has been leading a campaign for autonomy and religious freedom for Tibet, which China has ruled since its Communist-led forces invaded Tibet in 1951.
The 72-year-old Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has been based in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since he fled Tibet in the face of advancing Chinese soldiers in 1959.
Maggin Monastery Ordered to Close
Irrawaddy
by Wai Moe
November 28, 2007
A prominent monastery in Rangoon has been ordered to close within one week by the Burmese authorities, according to the 88 Generation Students group.
Nilar Thein, a spokesperson for the 88 group, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that authorities came to Maggin Monastery in Thingangyun Township in Rangoon on Tuesday afternoon and again on Wednesday morning.
“They came to the monastery again this morning [Wesnesday] around 8 a.m," she said. "The officials who came were U Kyin Khine and U Kyaw Kyaw Tun from the Ministry of Religion, along with a township State and Development Council official, U Yin Lin.”
The officials told monks in the monastery that they have to move immediately. However, the monks replied that they cannot move so quickly and asked for two weeks to move.
“The monks told them [officials] that the abbot of the monastery has been under arrest since September. Other monks at the monastery are still behind bars. The monks in the monastery now had been released from detention eariler.
The monks asked them [officials] why the authorities continuously harass them,” said Nilar Thein. No response was given.
Maggin Monastery has been raided by soldiers four times since September. The abbot, U Indaka, a former political prisoner, is still being detained at an unknown location.
In 1990, he was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment for his role in a "patam nikkujjana kamma"—the boycott of alms from members of the military regime, which followed the junta’s raids on monasteries in Mandalay. At that time, he was forced to disrobe. He was released in late 1994 and returned to the monastery as abbot.
Maggin Monastery is known as a hospice and treatment center for HIV/AIDS patients who come to Rangoon to receive medical treatment. After the monastery’s monks were arrested in raids following the September uprising, all patients were transferred to the Wai Bar Gi Infectious Diseases Hospital in North Okkalapa Township.
Commenting on the order to close the monastery, Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of a human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), noted that the junta had said that its arrests and crackdowns were over after it met with the UN Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.
“But crackdowns and arrests are going on," he said, "and these kinds of acts do not create a good environment for national reconciliation and democratic transitions. Crackdowns and arrests are not the solution.”
by Wai Moe
November 28, 2007
A prominent monastery in Rangoon has been ordered to close within one week by the Burmese authorities, according to the 88 Generation Students group.
Nilar Thein, a spokesperson for the 88 group, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that authorities came to Maggin Monastery in Thingangyun Township in Rangoon on Tuesday afternoon and again on Wednesday morning.
“They came to the monastery again this morning [Wesnesday] around 8 a.m," she said. "The officials who came were U Kyin Khine and U Kyaw Kyaw Tun from the Ministry of Religion, along with a township State and Development Council official, U Yin Lin.”
The officials told monks in the monastery that they have to move immediately. However, the monks replied that they cannot move so quickly and asked for two weeks to move.
“The monks told them [officials] that the abbot of the monastery has been under arrest since September. Other monks at the monastery are still behind bars. The monks in the monastery now had been released from detention eariler.
The monks asked them [officials] why the authorities continuously harass them,” said Nilar Thein. No response was given.
Maggin Monastery has been raided by soldiers four times since September. The abbot, U Indaka, a former political prisoner, is still being detained at an unknown location.
In 1990, he was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment for his role in a "patam nikkujjana kamma"—the boycott of alms from members of the military regime, which followed the junta’s raids on monasteries in Mandalay. At that time, he was forced to disrobe. He was released in late 1994 and returned to the monastery as abbot.
Maggin Monastery is known as a hospice and treatment center for HIV/AIDS patients who come to Rangoon to receive medical treatment. After the monastery’s monks were arrested in raids following the September uprising, all patients were transferred to the Wai Bar Gi Infectious Diseases Hospital in North Okkalapa Township.
Commenting on the order to close the monastery, Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of a human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), noted that the junta had said that its arrests and crackdowns were over after it met with the UN Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.
“But crackdowns and arrests are going on," he said, "and these kinds of acts do not create a good environment for national reconciliation and democratic transitions. Crackdowns and arrests are not the solution.”
Combat training held in monastery compound
Nov 28, 2007 (DVB)ñAuthorities in San Dway township, Arakan state, have reportedly been conducting combat training inside a monastery compound, according to a San Dway resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.
About 60 people, including government employees, manual labourers and trishaw drivers, took part in the exercise, which began ten days ago and was due to run for 30 days in total.
Police and volunteer firefighters have conducted the training, which has focused on riot control, basic combat skills and use of shields and sticks as weapons.
The training has angered local residents because it is taking place inside a local monastery in Lay Myat Hnar pagoda compound, even though monks are still living at the monastery and the grounds are in public view.
Residents have also complaining that the sessions are unnecessarily loud and are causing a disturbance in the township.
Reporting by Aye Nai
About 60 people, including government employees, manual labourers and trishaw drivers, took part in the exercise, which began ten days ago and was due to run for 30 days in total.
Police and volunteer firefighters have conducted the training, which has focused on riot control, basic combat skills and use of shields and sticks as weapons.
The training has angered local residents because it is taking place inside a local monastery in Lay Myat Hnar pagoda compound, even though monks are still living at the monastery and the grounds are in public view.
Residents have also complaining that the sessions are unnecessarily loud and are causing a disturbance in the township.
Reporting by Aye Nai
Monks refuse funeral blessing for militia leader
Nov 28, 2007 (DVB)ñLocal monks have refused to perform a funeral blessing for a notorious senior Swan Arr Shin member from Phaw Kan ward in Insein township who died recently.
Maung Maung, a senior leader of the pro-government militia Swan Arr Shin, was admitted to Insein hospital on 20 November after falling ill and diagnosed with malaria which had affected his brain.
He died at around 1.30 pm on 26 November.
Maung Maung was known for his involvement in the Burmese governmentís brutal crackdown on monks and civilians taking part in public demonstrations in September.
A senior member of Swan Arr Shin, Maung Maung was said to have been the one who passed on the orders to start beating up monks involved in the protests.
He was rewarded by the regime for his part in the crackdown with money and mobile telephones, which are difficult to get in Burma.
However, when the authorities looked for monks to perform Maung Maungís funeral blessing today, all the monks the approached refused to do so.
They eventually took his body to a monastery in Gyogone and asked the abbot there for a blessing but he also refused.
One local resident linked the timing of Maung Maungís death to his activities during the protests.
ìHe died on 26 November at around 1.30pm, the exact same time that they started to beat up protestors on 26 September,î the Insein resident said.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Maung Maung, a senior leader of the pro-government militia Swan Arr Shin, was admitted to Insein hospital on 20 November after falling ill and diagnosed with malaria which had affected his brain.
He died at around 1.30 pm on 26 November.
Maung Maung was known for his involvement in the Burmese governmentís brutal crackdown on monks and civilians taking part in public demonstrations in September.
A senior member of Swan Arr Shin, Maung Maung was said to have been the one who passed on the orders to start beating up monks involved in the protests.
He was rewarded by the regime for his part in the crackdown with money and mobile telephones, which are difficult to get in Burma.
However, when the authorities looked for monks to perform Maung Maungís funeral blessing today, all the monks the approached refused to do so.
They eventually took his body to a monastery in Gyogone and asked the abbot there for a blessing but he also refused.
One local resident linked the timing of Maung Maungís death to his activities during the protests.
ìHe died on 26 November at around 1.30pm, the exact same time that they started to beat up protestors on 26 September,î the Insein resident said.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Authorities order closure of Maggin Monastery
Mizzima News ( www.mizzima.com )
November 28, 2007 - The Burmese military junta has ordered the closure of a prominent Buddhist monastery in Rangoon by Thursday, activist sources said.
Maggin monastery, which also houses HIV patients who come from outside Rangoon for treatment, was ordered to be closed down by authorities latest by Thursday 4 p.m. (local time), according to the a Thailand based activists group, Asia-Pacific Peoples Partnership on Burma.
Khin Ohnmar, coordinator of the APPPB, in her email message to Mizzima today, said authorities in Rangoon last week ordered those living in the Maggin monastery, including monks, novices and HIV patients, to leave the precincts.
Authorities on Wednesday came again to the monastery and ordered all residents to leave the precincts saying the monastery is to be sealed off today, Ohnmar added.
"This morning around 8 a.m. (local time), the authorities came and ordered all residents to leave. The monks pleaded with the authorities to help them find another place to stay, but the authorities refused," Ohnmar said.
With HIV patients, who were taking refuge in the monastery, moving out to another place after last week's order, only a senior monk, who is the father of a detained abbot, with another monk, six novices, and two laymen who take care of errands at the monastery, are still there.
The monks and novices, desperate to find a place to move, requested the authorities to allow them to stay another two weeks while they figure out where they will move.
"The authorities agreed to put forward their appeal to their superiors," Ohnmar said.
Meanwhile, the two monks from the monastery went to five different places to find an explanation as to why the authorities wanted to seal-off the monastery as well as to appeal to relevant authorities.
The monks went to their senior monks in three monasteries including Ka-Ba-Aye Temple as well as Rangoon Division and Thingangyun Township religious administration offices.
However, all these places refused their appeal and most senior monks said they are helpless as it was the decision of the state authorities.
But senior monks from the Ka-Ba-Aye temple offered the monks a place to stay in their monastery if they wanted to and suggested they send the sic novices, who are orphans, back to their native towns, Ohnmar added.
To the surprise of the two monks, upon their arrival at the Maggin monastery, authorities came back and informed the monks that the monastery will be seal-off tomorrow.
"When the monks returned to Maggin, the authorities said they will come back by tomorrow 4 p.m. and wanted to see the monastery under lock and key," Ohnmar added.
Maggin Monastery has been raided four times since the monk-led protests in September. The abbot of the monastery, U Indaka, a former political prisoner, was arrested following the protest and is still being detained at an unknown location.
U Indaka, was arrested in 1990, and sentenced to five years in prsion when authorities conducted raids on monasteries in Mandalay after the monks declared a boycott of alms from members of the military regime. He was forcibly disrobed during his arrest. However, he returned to the monastery as an abbot after he was released in 1994.
Maggin Monastery is famous for its hospitality in sheltering HIV/AIDS patients who come to Rangoon to receive treatment. Following the arrest of monks from the monastery after the September protests, all patients were transferred to the Wai Bar Gi Infectious Diseases Hospital in North Okkalapa Township.
November 28, 2007 - The Burmese military junta has ordered the closure of a prominent Buddhist monastery in Rangoon by Thursday, activist sources said.
Maggin monastery, which also houses HIV patients who come from outside Rangoon for treatment, was ordered to be closed down by authorities latest by Thursday 4 p.m. (local time), according to the a Thailand based activists group, Asia-Pacific Peoples Partnership on Burma.
Khin Ohnmar, coordinator of the APPPB, in her email message to Mizzima today, said authorities in Rangoon last week ordered those living in the Maggin monastery, including monks, novices and HIV patients, to leave the precincts.
Authorities on Wednesday came again to the monastery and ordered all residents to leave the precincts saying the monastery is to be sealed off today, Ohnmar added.
"This morning around 8 a.m. (local time), the authorities came and ordered all residents to leave. The monks pleaded with the authorities to help them find another place to stay, but the authorities refused," Ohnmar said.
With HIV patients, who were taking refuge in the monastery, moving out to another place after last week's order, only a senior monk, who is the father of a detained abbot, with another monk, six novices, and two laymen who take care of errands at the monastery, are still there.
The monks and novices, desperate to find a place to move, requested the authorities to allow them to stay another two weeks while they figure out where they will move.
"The authorities agreed to put forward their appeal to their superiors," Ohnmar said.
Meanwhile, the two monks from the monastery went to five different places to find an explanation as to why the authorities wanted to seal-off the monastery as well as to appeal to relevant authorities.
The monks went to their senior monks in three monasteries including Ka-Ba-Aye Temple as well as Rangoon Division and Thingangyun Township religious administration offices.
However, all these places refused their appeal and most senior monks said they are helpless as it was the decision of the state authorities.
But senior monks from the Ka-Ba-Aye temple offered the monks a place to stay in their monastery if they wanted to and suggested they send the sic novices, who are orphans, back to their native towns, Ohnmar added.
To the surprise of the two monks, upon their arrival at the Maggin monastery, authorities came back and informed the monks that the monastery will be seal-off tomorrow.
"When the monks returned to Maggin, the authorities said they will come back by tomorrow 4 p.m. and wanted to see the monastery under lock and key," Ohnmar added.
Maggin Monastery has been raided four times since the monk-led protests in September. The abbot of the monastery, U Indaka, a former political prisoner, was arrested following the protest and is still being detained at an unknown location.
U Indaka, was arrested in 1990, and sentenced to five years in prsion when authorities conducted raids on monasteries in Mandalay after the monks declared a boycott of alms from members of the military regime. He was forcibly disrobed during his arrest. However, he returned to the monastery as an abbot after he was released in 1994.
Maggin Monastery is famous for its hospitality in sheltering HIV/AIDS patients who come to Rangoon to receive treatment. Following the arrest of monks from the monastery after the September protests, all patients were transferred to the Wai Bar Gi Infectious Diseases Hospital in North Okkalapa Township.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Burmese Monks Urged to Boycott State-run Exams
Irrawaddy
by Yeni
November 27, 2007
Burmese monks are being urged in an anti-government pamphlet to boycott annual regime-organized examinations to show solidarity with protesting monks who were dispersed by the authorities and pro-junta thugs in the September demonstrations.
In their statement, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks called on Buddhist monks to "respect the devotion of the monks who were arrested, disappeared and died in the movement for 'patam nikkujjana kamma'—meaning a boycott of alms from members of the military regime."
The statement urged monks not to take part in the annual examinations that follow courses of study in Burmese monasteries.
In a separate statement, the underground network also called on the state-sanctioned Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, which oversees the country's clergy, to take the responsibility of finding out and making public the numbers of monks who were arrested, disappeared or died during the military government's crackdown.
According to a copy of the leaflet received as an e-mail by The Irrawaddy, the group said the boycott organized by monks and their chanting of the Metta Sutta (the Buddha's words on loving kindness) on the streets of Rangoon and other cities in September did not transgress the code of conduct for Buddhist monks.
"By not promoting violence, our action was not against the law,” the statement said. “But the junta has brutally raided about 60 monasteries by looting the possessions of monks and ruthlessly beating the monks."
The junta has announced that, as of October 5, it had detained 533 monks, of whom 398 were released after sorting out what it called “real monks” from “bogus ones.” Monks and dissidents believe, however, that many more were detained or disappeared.
Ashin Kawvida, one of the leading monks in the September protests, who subsequently sought refuge on the Thai-Burmese border, told The Irrawaddy he was concerned about the safety of many young monks who took an active role in the demonstrations and who are still in hiding.
"If an ordinary person is arrested, family members and friends can get information about what is happening to them, but that’s not the case with monks,” he said. “Many monks came from the rural areas to study at the monasteries in the cities."
In India, meanwhile, about 1,000 Buddhist monks, nuns and students are staging a demonstration against Burma’s military regime in the Buddhist holy town of Bodh Gaya, in Bihar state—where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment in the 6th century BC.
The demonstration, in which Buddhists throughout the world are being urged to unite against the junta, will last three days, accompanied by an indefinite sit-in at
the famous Bodh Gaya temple, said a Reuters report.
by Yeni
November 27, 2007
Burmese monks are being urged in an anti-government pamphlet to boycott annual regime-organized examinations to show solidarity with protesting monks who were dispersed by the authorities and pro-junta thugs in the September demonstrations.
In their statement, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks called on Buddhist monks to "respect the devotion of the monks who were arrested, disappeared and died in the movement for 'patam nikkujjana kamma'—meaning a boycott of alms from members of the military regime."
The statement urged monks not to take part in the annual examinations that follow courses of study in Burmese monasteries.
In a separate statement, the underground network also called on the state-sanctioned Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, which oversees the country's clergy, to take the responsibility of finding out and making public the numbers of monks who were arrested, disappeared or died during the military government's crackdown.
According to a copy of the leaflet received as an e-mail by The Irrawaddy, the group said the boycott organized by monks and their chanting of the Metta Sutta (the Buddha's words on loving kindness) on the streets of Rangoon and other cities in September did not transgress the code of conduct for Buddhist monks.
"By not promoting violence, our action was not against the law,” the statement said. “But the junta has brutally raided about 60 monasteries by looting the possessions of monks and ruthlessly beating the monks."
The junta has announced that, as of October 5, it had detained 533 monks, of whom 398 were released after sorting out what it called “real monks” from “bogus ones.” Monks and dissidents believe, however, that many more were detained or disappeared.
Ashin Kawvida, one of the leading monks in the September protests, who subsequently sought refuge on the Thai-Burmese border, told The Irrawaddy he was concerned about the safety of many young monks who took an active role in the demonstrations and who are still in hiding.
"If an ordinary person is arrested, family members and friends can get information about what is happening to them, but that’s not the case with monks,” he said. “Many monks came from the rural areas to study at the monasteries in the cities."
In India, meanwhile, about 1,000 Buddhist monks, nuns and students are staging a demonstration against Burma’s military regime in the Buddhist holy town of Bodh Gaya, in Bihar state—where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment in the 6th century BC.
The demonstration, in which Buddhists throughout the world are being urged to unite against the junta, will last three days, accompanied by an indefinite sit-in at
the famous Bodh Gaya temple, said a Reuters report.
Activists group urge people to revive 'Saffron Revolution'
Maung Dee
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
November 27, 2007 - As the first tentative step towards reviving the September Saffron Revolution, a new group of activists called ˆ the Generation Wave ˆ today urged all Burmese people to honor the fallen monks by pinning pieces of robes on their person.
The group, in a statement released today, urged all Burmese to honor the fallen monks during the Saffron Revolution, by putting pieces of monk's robes on their wrist or hanging it around their necks.
"We are asking for only what people can do, things that will not bring them into harm. We want them to do things that will not harm them but still show their solidarity and participation in the Saffron Revolution," Kyaw Kyaw of the Generation Wave, told Mizzima.
Generation Wave was formed following the Saffron Revolution by artists, government servants, computer experts and students, Kyaw Kyaw said.
The group said to usher in political changes in Burma, the people should continue to strive and continue the revolution instead of waiting for the international community to act.
"We cannot depend on international pressure alone. Though we welcome these pressures, we cannot have changes unless there is internal pressure that will force the ruling junta to change," Kyaw Kyaw added.
The 'Peoples Union', another group formed following the September peoples movement, said it supports the Generation Wave's statement and expressed optimism for the success of the new campaign.
"I believe this campaign will have an impact as some monks are scared after what happened to their fellow monks. They obviously think that the people are not with them, so they dare not begin a fresh movement. At this time, if the people could show their solidarity and participation, it will revive back the monks' spirit," a member of the Peoples' Union told Mizzima over telephone.
Following the September Saffron Revolution and the junta's brutal crackdown, activists have conducted anti-junta activities under the banners of secretly formed groups such as "Generation Wave', 'Peoples Union ', 'Civilian Community' and 'Freedom Fighters'.
While the groups prefer to keep a low profile, their activities including distribution of pamphlets and posters with the words that includes 'CNG' (Change New Government) have been seen in various parts of Rangoon.
"To revive the Saffron Revolution, we need to unite all groups. Not only just our group, but all groups under the banner of the religious flag, must work together," Kyaw Kyaw added.
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
November 27, 2007 - As the first tentative step towards reviving the September Saffron Revolution, a new group of activists called ˆ the Generation Wave ˆ today urged all Burmese people to honor the fallen monks by pinning pieces of robes on their person.
The group, in a statement released today, urged all Burmese to honor the fallen monks during the Saffron Revolution, by putting pieces of monk's robes on their wrist or hanging it around their necks.
"We are asking for only what people can do, things that will not bring them into harm. We want them to do things that will not harm them but still show their solidarity and participation in the Saffron Revolution," Kyaw Kyaw of the Generation Wave, told Mizzima.
Generation Wave was formed following the Saffron Revolution by artists, government servants, computer experts and students, Kyaw Kyaw said.
The group said to usher in political changes in Burma, the people should continue to strive and continue the revolution instead of waiting for the international community to act.
"We cannot depend on international pressure alone. Though we welcome these pressures, we cannot have changes unless there is internal pressure that will force the ruling junta to change," Kyaw Kyaw added.
The 'Peoples Union', another group formed following the September peoples movement, said it supports the Generation Wave's statement and expressed optimism for the success of the new campaign.
"I believe this campaign will have an impact as some monks are scared after what happened to their fellow monks. They obviously think that the people are not with them, so they dare not begin a fresh movement. At this time, if the people could show their solidarity and participation, it will revive back the monks' spirit," a member of the Peoples' Union told Mizzima over telephone.
Following the September Saffron Revolution and the junta's brutal crackdown, activists have conducted anti-junta activities under the banners of secretly formed groups such as "Generation Wave', 'Peoples Union ', 'Civilian Community' and 'Freedom Fighters'.
While the groups prefer to keep a low profile, their activities including distribution of pamphlets and posters with the words that includes 'CNG' (Change New Government) have been seen in various parts of Rangoon.
"To revive the Saffron Revolution, we need to unite all groups. Not only just our group, but all groups under the banner of the religious flag, must work together," Kyaw Kyaw added.
Monks demand inquiry into deaths and disappearances
Nov 27, 2007 (DVB)ñThe All-Burmese Monks Alliance has called for an investigation into the fate of monks who are unaccounted for since the September protests, in a statement released yesterday.
The monk group criticises the National Head Monks Association for failing to confront the ruling State Peace and Development Council over the deaths and disappearances of monks in connection with the protests.
ìThe NHMA has full responsibility to protect fellow monks from such treatment,î the statement said.
ìNHMA members, who have been voted to their positions by monks, have now failed to take responsibility in the crisis monks are facing; instead they have remained silent over the SPDC's activities.î
The statement condemned the violent response of the Burmese government to the peaceful protests in September.
The ABMA claims that the SPDC had raided over 60 monasteries and brutally beaten monks, leading to several deaths, but that the National Head Monks Association had accepted the SPDCís denials of these events.
The statement calls on the NHMA to pressure the SPDC for the immediate release of all detained monks and political prisoners, including democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to prevent further arrests of monks and civilians.
The ABMA also stressed the importance of a time-bound dialogue involving all parties and mediated by the United Nations.
The ABMA was one of the key groups involved in instigating the public protests in September, and previous statements have said the group will continue to work for political change.
The groupís leader, U Gambira, was arrested on 4 November after several weeks on the run, and a number of other ABMA leaders remain in hiding.
Reporting by DVB
The monk group criticises the National Head Monks Association for failing to confront the ruling State Peace and Development Council over the deaths and disappearances of monks in connection with the protests.
ìThe NHMA has full responsibility to protect fellow monks from such treatment,î the statement said.
ìNHMA members, who have been voted to their positions by monks, have now failed to take responsibility in the crisis monks are facing; instead they have remained silent over the SPDC's activities.î
The statement condemned the violent response of the Burmese government to the peaceful protests in September.
The ABMA claims that the SPDC had raided over 60 monasteries and brutally beaten monks, leading to several deaths, but that the National Head Monks Association had accepted the SPDCís denials of these events.
The statement calls on the NHMA to pressure the SPDC for the immediate release of all detained monks and political prisoners, including democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to prevent further arrests of monks and civilians.
The ABMA also stressed the importance of a time-bound dialogue involving all parties and mediated by the United Nations.
The ABMA was one of the key groups involved in instigating the public protests in September, and previous statements have said the group will continue to work for political change.
The groupís leader, U Gambira, was arrested on 4 November after several weeks on the run, and a number of other ABMA leaders remain in hiding.
Reporting by DVB
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monks hold sit-in protest at Bodhgaya
Htein Linn
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
November 26, 2007 - Over 100 monks from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka yesterday began a sit-in protest at Bodhgaya, a historical place of Buddhist worship, to create awareness among pilgrims of the Burmese military junta's ongoing campaign against the Buddhist religion inside the country.
Joined by the Indian-based All Burma Students League (ABSL), over 100 monks from the three countries will continue the sit-in protest for five days until November 29, a protestor said.
"We are doing it [the sit-in protest] to highlight what is going on in Burma. Than Shwe [Burma's military head of state] on one hand is acting as if he is sponsoring the Buddhist religion by appeasing the monks and abbots, but on the other hand he is also killing them," Kyaw Than, Chairman of the ABSL, who is joining the monks in the protest, told Mizzima.
As a response to the mass protest led by Buddhist monks last September, widely known as the Saffron Revolution, the Burmese military junta opened fire and killed several monks. Reportedly the junta also arrested several hundred monks and other activists and kept them at interrogation camps in Rangoon and other cities across the country.
Beside the sit-in protests, monks and student activists have also pasted posters and paintings of Burmese monks being beaten and killed during September's Saffron Revolution in Burma. The slogans include, 'Than Shwe Evil Blasphemer of SPDC', referring to the State Peace and Development Council, the name under which the Burmese junta rules the country.
According to Kyaw Than, the protest has displeased the Burmese junta as the Burmese Consulate in Kolkata has come to check on the activities and has lodged at a monastery in Bodhgaya.
"As he [the Burmese Consulate] heard of our activity, he came to Bodhgaya and lodged himself in a monastery. He also threatened Burmese monks joining in the protest and pulled down posters. But we repasted the posters," added Kyaw Than.
He added that at the end of the protest on November 29, protestors have planned to hold a protest march from the Japanese Shrine to the Mahabodhi Shrine, and the Indian minister for Bodhgaya has pledged to join the rally.
Located in India's Bihar State, Bodhgaya is held to be the site where Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha, achieved enlightenment.
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
November 26, 2007 - Over 100 monks from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka yesterday began a sit-in protest at Bodhgaya, a historical place of Buddhist worship, to create awareness among pilgrims of the Burmese military junta's ongoing campaign against the Buddhist religion inside the country.
Joined by the Indian-based All Burma Students League (ABSL), over 100 monks from the three countries will continue the sit-in protest for five days until November 29, a protestor said.
"We are doing it [the sit-in protest] to highlight what is going on in Burma. Than Shwe [Burma's military head of state] on one hand is acting as if he is sponsoring the Buddhist religion by appeasing the monks and abbots, but on the other hand he is also killing them," Kyaw Than, Chairman of the ABSL, who is joining the monks in the protest, told Mizzima.
As a response to the mass protest led by Buddhist monks last September, widely known as the Saffron Revolution, the Burmese military junta opened fire and killed several monks. Reportedly the junta also arrested several hundred monks and other activists and kept them at interrogation camps in Rangoon and other cities across the country.
Beside the sit-in protests, monks and student activists have also pasted posters and paintings of Burmese monks being beaten and killed during September's Saffron Revolution in Burma. The slogans include, 'Than Shwe Evil Blasphemer of SPDC', referring to the State Peace and Development Council, the name under which the Burmese junta rules the country.
According to Kyaw Than, the protest has displeased the Burmese junta as the Burmese Consulate in Kolkata has come to check on the activities and has lodged at a monastery in Bodhgaya.
"As he [the Burmese Consulate] heard of our activity, he came to Bodhgaya and lodged himself in a monastery. He also threatened Burmese monks joining in the protest and pulled down posters. But we repasted the posters," added Kyaw Than.
He added that at the end of the protest on November 29, protestors have planned to hold a protest march from the Japanese Shrine to the Mahabodhi Shrine, and the Indian minister for Bodhgaya has pledged to join the rally.
Located in India's Bihar State, Bodhgaya is held to be the site where Siddhartha Gotama, the Buddha, achieved enlightenment.
Monk Arrested in Police Raid
Narinjara
11/26/2007
A police force in Sittwe raided a monastery and arrested a monk on 15 November, but no information is available regarding the whereabouts of the monk after his arrest.
U Thu Min Ghala from Sittwe told Narinjara over the phone that police arrested U Than Rama during the raid, but that he did not know where authorities are detaining the monk.
U Than Rama, aged 30, was wanted by the authority for his involvement in the recent monk-led demonstrations in Sittwe.
A student from Rupa Ward said that a force of about 30 armed police raided Tayzar Rama Kaman Htan monastery on the outskirts of Sittwe at 4:30 pm on 15 November.
During the arrest, police severely beat and kicked U Than Rama and took him away to an undisclosed location.
In Sittwe, the security is still tight and government authorities are closely watching most of the monasteries. The authorities are also prohibiting monks from traveling around Arakan without official permission. #
11/26/2007
A police force in Sittwe raided a monastery and arrested a monk on 15 November, but no information is available regarding the whereabouts of the monk after his arrest.
U Thu Min Ghala from Sittwe told Narinjara over the phone that police arrested U Than Rama during the raid, but that he did not know where authorities are detaining the monk.
U Than Rama, aged 30, was wanted by the authority for his involvement in the recent monk-led demonstrations in Sittwe.
A student from Rupa Ward said that a force of about 30 armed police raided Tayzar Rama Kaman Htan monastery on the outskirts of Sittwe at 4:30 pm on 15 November.
During the arrest, police severely beat and kicked U Than Rama and took him away to an undisclosed location.
In Sittwe, the security is still tight and government authorities are closely watching most of the monasteries. The authorities are also prohibiting monks from traveling around Arakan without official permission. #
State Sangha council urged to investigate the crackdown
November 26, BBC Burmese Service
The Monks Alliance has urged Burma's State Sangha Council to investigate about the situation of the monks who were killed or detained after September protests in Burma.
The Alliance, who are believed to be an underground religious body, demands the State Sangha Council to be a responsible body.
A spokesperson of the Alliance said the official Council is formed with elected monks and it should speak out the truth.
Burmese government said no monk was killed during the crackdown and faked monks were responsible for the unrest.
The Monks Alliance has urged Burma's State Sangha Council to investigate about the situation of the monks who were killed or detained after September protests in Burma.
The Alliance, who are believed to be an underground religious body, demands the State Sangha Council to be a responsible body.
A spokesperson of the Alliance said the official Council is formed with elected monks and it should speak out the truth.
Burmese government said no monk was killed during the crackdown and faked monks were responsible for the unrest.
Where are the monks?
The junta has jailed some of Burma's Buddhist clergy, derobed others and driven many into exile.
Newsweek
Updated: 1:22 PM ET Nov 24, 2007
The 26-year-old monk was one of thousands who took to Burma's streets in late September. Like so many of them he had never imagined himself an activist—"I'm a normal monk, I'm not a political monk," he says—but he was carried away by the democratic fervor then sweeping Rangoon. On Sept. 25 he returned to his monastery late at night, climbing over the back wall since the front entrance was locked. The next night the soldiers came and took him away.
He was not the only monk to vanish, either from his monastery or dozens of others. The few foreigners who have managed to enter Burma since the junta's crackdown have all noted how empty the country's temples and monasteries seem to be. Thought to number around 400,000, Buddhist monks had been ubiquitous in Rangoon, Mandalay and other Burmese cities for centuries. "Something has happened," says Shari Villarosa, chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon. "It's frightening to think of. It's not like they all willingly left town."
In interviews, diplomats, monks and Burmese activists say that the junta has jailed those monks it sees as ringleaders and has persuaded abbots—some of them already collaborating with the regime—to get rid of dissidents. Many monks have been placed under "monastery arrest," forbidden to leave their campuses, except to collect their daily alms. Others have been forcibly derobed. And some terrified monks have fled to the countryside or to neighboring Thailand and China. "The monasteries in my neighborhood seem empty," says the 26-year-old monk, who was jailed for 19 days. "In my monastery, we used to have 100. Now we're down to about 31. I can feel the silence."
Those few monks visible at the Shwedagon temple in Rangoon, a magnificent, sprawling complex of pagodas anchored by a glittering 2,500-year-old stupa, move around cautiously, mostly alone. In Amarapura, near Mandalay, the number of monks who queue up for lunch each day at the Mahagandayon monastery—a daily ritual once mobbed by tourists—has also declined dramatically. A 27-year-old cleric there says almost 1,000 of the monastery's 1,800 inhabitants fled to their home provinces in September, although he says many have since slipped back.
The 26-year-old Rangoon monk—a tall man with an elegant shaved head and an easy smile—says soldiers treated him roughly in detention but did not beat him, although they did slap around several other monks. For the first 15 days no latrines or bathing facilities were provided. Interrogations were basic: "We were mainly asked, 'Did you participate in the protests? Why? Who is the leading monk in these protests?' " Soldiers then brought in Sangha nayakas—Buddhist officials authorized to convert monks to laypeople. The nayakas refused to recite the appropriate scripture, so the soldiers simply forced the monks to don civilian dress and pronounced them laymen. "I took my vows a long time ago," says the defiant monk, still wearing his prison-issue flip-flops. "I felt angry to be forced to change my clothes, but I was still a monk."
The government concedes that a few monks remain in detention, although it claims to have released all but about 90 of the 3,000 monks and civilians initially jailed. Outside the major cities monks are far more evident. In Sagaing, west of Mandalay, groups of them roam the lush hillside, taking tea and chatting amiably with locals. The mood at the gorgeous Kaunghmudaw pagoda is calm. "Not a surprise," says a tour guide. "Here, they're far from the action, and remember, some abbots work with the government." He mentions the pro-government Kya Khat Waing monastery in Bago, about 50 miles northeast of Rangoon, most of whose monks did not march and whose abbot urged the government to punish those who did.
That some senior monks came out against the protests isn't surprising given the fact that Buddhism eschews politics and violence. Several abbots were uncomfortable with the spectacle of monks shouting political slogans, including calls to free jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But like most Burmese, they're equally uncomfortable with the regime's actions. The junta pressured abbots not to allow monks who had marched back into their monasteries. "Of course the abbots refused. Many monks are back here again," says one monk in Amarapura.
The regime may yet pay for its actions if they radicalize a group known for its pacifism. "Yes, they're cowed, yes, they're more terrified than they were before. But they're angry," says Villarosa. Asked what help he'd like from outside powers, a young monk in Mandalay forms a trigger with his finger and makes the sound of a gun being fired. "People have nothing," he says. "They ask the government for help and get nothing. What else can we do?"
Newsweek
Updated: 1:22 PM ET Nov 24, 2007
The 26-year-old monk was one of thousands who took to Burma's streets in late September. Like so many of them he had never imagined himself an activist—"I'm a normal monk, I'm not a political monk," he says—but he was carried away by the democratic fervor then sweeping Rangoon. On Sept. 25 he returned to his monastery late at night, climbing over the back wall since the front entrance was locked. The next night the soldiers came and took him away.
He was not the only monk to vanish, either from his monastery or dozens of others. The few foreigners who have managed to enter Burma since the junta's crackdown have all noted how empty the country's temples and monasteries seem to be. Thought to number around 400,000, Buddhist monks had been ubiquitous in Rangoon, Mandalay and other Burmese cities for centuries. "Something has happened," says Shari Villarosa, chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon. "It's frightening to think of. It's not like they all willingly left town."
In interviews, diplomats, monks and Burmese activists say that the junta has jailed those monks it sees as ringleaders and has persuaded abbots—some of them already collaborating with the regime—to get rid of dissidents. Many monks have been placed under "monastery arrest," forbidden to leave their campuses, except to collect their daily alms. Others have been forcibly derobed. And some terrified monks have fled to the countryside or to neighboring Thailand and China. "The monasteries in my neighborhood seem empty," says the 26-year-old monk, who was jailed for 19 days. "In my monastery, we used to have 100. Now we're down to about 31. I can feel the silence."
Those few monks visible at the Shwedagon temple in Rangoon, a magnificent, sprawling complex of pagodas anchored by a glittering 2,500-year-old stupa, move around cautiously, mostly alone. In Amarapura, near Mandalay, the number of monks who queue up for lunch each day at the Mahagandayon monastery—a daily ritual once mobbed by tourists—has also declined dramatically. A 27-year-old cleric there says almost 1,000 of the monastery's 1,800 inhabitants fled to their home provinces in September, although he says many have since slipped back.
The 26-year-old Rangoon monk—a tall man with an elegant shaved head and an easy smile—says soldiers treated him roughly in detention but did not beat him, although they did slap around several other monks. For the first 15 days no latrines or bathing facilities were provided. Interrogations were basic: "We were mainly asked, 'Did you participate in the protests? Why? Who is the leading monk in these protests?' " Soldiers then brought in Sangha nayakas—Buddhist officials authorized to convert monks to laypeople. The nayakas refused to recite the appropriate scripture, so the soldiers simply forced the monks to don civilian dress and pronounced them laymen. "I took my vows a long time ago," says the defiant monk, still wearing his prison-issue flip-flops. "I felt angry to be forced to change my clothes, but I was still a monk."
The government concedes that a few monks remain in detention, although it claims to have released all but about 90 of the 3,000 monks and civilians initially jailed. Outside the major cities monks are far more evident. In Sagaing, west of Mandalay, groups of them roam the lush hillside, taking tea and chatting amiably with locals. The mood at the gorgeous Kaunghmudaw pagoda is calm. "Not a surprise," says a tour guide. "Here, they're far from the action, and remember, some abbots work with the government." He mentions the pro-government Kya Khat Waing monastery in Bago, about 50 miles northeast of Rangoon, most of whose monks did not march and whose abbot urged the government to punish those who did.
That some senior monks came out against the protests isn't surprising given the fact that Buddhism eschews politics and violence. Several abbots were uncomfortable with the spectacle of monks shouting political slogans, including calls to free jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But like most Burmese, they're equally uncomfortable with the regime's actions. The junta pressured abbots not to allow monks who had marched back into their monasteries. "Of course the abbots refused. Many monks are back here again," says one monk in Amarapura.
The regime may yet pay for its actions if they radicalize a group known for its pacifism. "Yes, they're cowed, yes, they're more terrified than they were before. But they're angry," says Villarosa. Asked what help he'd like from outside powers, a young monk in Mandalay forms a trigger with his finger and makes the sound of a gun being fired. "People have nothing," he says. "They ask the government for help and get nothing. What else can we do?"
ဗုဒၶဂါယာတြင္ ႏုိင္ငံတကာ သံဃာေတာ္ ၁ဝဝ ေက်ာ္ ထုိင္သပိတ္ ျပဳလုပ္
Mizzima
ထိန္လင္း
Monday, 26 November 2007 17:01 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
အိႏၵိယႏုိင္ငံ မဇၩိမေဒသျဖစ္သည့္ ဗုဒၶဂါယာတြင္ ေထရဝါဒ ဗုဒၶဘာသာႏုိင္ငံ ၃ ႏုိင္ငံမွ သံဃာေတာ္ အပါး ၁ဝဝ ေက်ာ္သည္ နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရမွ ဗုဒၶသာသနာေတာ္ကို ဖ်က္ဆီးေနသည့္အေၾကာင္း ဘုရားဖူးမ်ား သိရွိရန္အတြက္ ၅ ရက္ၾကာ ထိုင္သပိတ္ကို ယမန္ေန႔မွ စတင္လုိက္ၿပီ ျဖစ္သည္။
အိႏၵိယ၊ ဘဂၤလားေဒ့ရွ္၊ သီရီလကၤာမွ လာေရာက္ သီတင္းသံုးေနေသာ သံဃာေတာ္ အပါး ၁ဝဝ ေက်ာ္ႏွင့္ နယူးေဒလီ အေျခစိုက္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံလံုးဆုိင္ရာ ေက်ာင္းသားမ်ားအဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္ (ABSL) အဖဲြ႔ဝင္မ်ားသည္ ယမန္ေန႔မွ စတင္ကာ လာမည့္ ၂၉ ရက္ေန႔အထိ ၅ ရက္ၾကာ ထုိင္သပိတ္တခုကို မဇၩိမေဒသ ဗုဒၶဂါယာတြင္ ျပဳလုပ္ေနၾကျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
“ျမန္မာျပည္ထဲက ျဖစ္ေနတဲ့ အေၾကာင္းအရာေတြကို ေဖာ္ထုတ္တာပါပဲ။ ဦးသန္းေရႊက တဖက္မွာ ကုသိုလ္ေကာင္းမႈ လုပ္တာလိုလုိနဲ႔၊ သာသနာ့ ဒါယိကာလိုလိုနဲ႔ တဖက္မွာ သံဃာေတာ္ေတြကုိ သတ္တယ္၊ ဘုရား ဆင္းတုေတာ္ေတြကို ဖ်က္တယ္၊ စစ္တပ္ေတြကို ဘုရားရင္ျပင္ေတာ္မွာ တပ္စြဲထားၿပီးေတာ့ ဘုရားဖူးေတြကို မလာႏိုင္ေအာင္ လုပ္တာေတြကို က်ေနာ္တို႔ ေျပာျပေနတာပါပဲ” ဟု ABSL ဥကၠဌ ဦးေက်ာ္သန္းက မဇၩိမကို ေျပာသည္။
သည့္အျပင္ ယမန္ေန႔ကတည္းက စတင္ကာ ‘သန္းေရႊ နအဖ၏ မေကာင္းဆိုးဝါး သာသနာဖ်က္၊’ (Than Shwe - Evil Blasphemer of SPDC) ဟု စာတမ္းေရးၿပီး ရဟန္းပ်ဳိေလးကို ခ်ဳပ္ေႏွာင္ထားပုံ၊ ေရႊဝါေရာင္ လႈပ္ရွားမႈတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးကာ ႐ိုက္ႏွက္ သတ္ျဖတ္ ခံထားရသည့္ သံဃာေတာ္ ႏွစ္ပါး၏ ပံုမ်ားကုိ နအဖ စစ္ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မႉးႀကီး သန္းေရႊ၏ ဓာတ္ပံုႏွင့္အတူ ပူးတဲြ ေဖာ္ျပထားသည့္ ပိုစတာမ်ားကုိ ဗုဒၶဂါယာ ေနရာအႏွံ႔တြင္ လုိက္လံ ကပ္ထားခဲ့သည္ဟု သိရသည္။
ကာလကတၱားရွိ ျမန္မာေကာင္စစ္ဝန္ ကိုယ္တုိင္ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းတုိက္ တခုတြင္ လာေရာက္တည္းခိုကာ လႈပ္ရွားမႈကို အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ ေပးလာပံုကို ဦးေက်ာ္သန္းက ယခုလို ရွင္းျပသည္။
“က်ေနာ္တို႔ ေရာက္တယ္ၾကားေတာ့ ကာလကတၱားက ျမန္မာေကာင္စစ္ဝန္ ကိုယ္တိုင္ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္း တေက်ာင္းမွာ ေရာက္ေနတယ္။ ဗမာဘုန္းႀကီးေတြကို ေျခာက္လွန္႔ လႊတ္ေနတယ္။ သူတို႔နားနီးတဲ့ ပိုစတာေတြကို ဆြဲခြာပစ္တယ္။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ အခ်ိန္မီ ျပန္ကပ္တာေပါ့။ သူတို႔ ဆြဲခြာလို႔ မရေတာ့ပါဘူး။ က်ေနာ္တို႔က ဒီမွာရွိတဲ့ ရဲေတြကို အေၾကာင္းၾကားထားၿပီးပါၿပီ” ဟု သူက ေျပာသည္။
လာမည့္ ၂၉ ရက္ေန႔ ညေန ၆ နာရီတြင္ ဗုဒၶဂါယာအမတ္ ရာဂ်စ္မာန္ဂ်ီး ကိုယ္တိုင္ ပါဝင္မည့္ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းစြာ လမ္းေလွ်ာက္ပြဲ တခုကို ဂ်ပန္ေစတီမွ မဟာေဗာဓိ ေစတီႀကီးအထိ လမ္းေလွ်ာက္ ခ်ီတက္ပဲြ က်င္းပသြားမည္ဟုလည္း သိရသည္။
ထိန္လင္း
Monday, 26 November 2007 17:01 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
အိႏၵိယႏုိင္ငံ မဇၩိမေဒသျဖစ္သည့္ ဗုဒၶဂါယာတြင္ ေထရဝါဒ ဗုဒၶဘာသာႏုိင္ငံ ၃ ႏုိင္ငံမွ သံဃာေတာ္ အပါး ၁ဝဝ ေက်ာ္သည္ နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရမွ ဗုဒၶသာသနာေတာ္ကို ဖ်က္ဆီးေနသည့္အေၾကာင္း ဘုရားဖူးမ်ား သိရွိရန္အတြက္ ၅ ရက္ၾကာ ထိုင္သပိတ္ကို ယမန္ေန႔မွ စတင္လုိက္ၿပီ ျဖစ္သည္။
အိႏၵိယ၊ ဘဂၤလားေဒ့ရွ္၊ သီရီလကၤာမွ လာေရာက္ သီတင္းသံုးေနေသာ သံဃာေတာ္ အပါး ၁ဝဝ ေက်ာ္ႏွင့္ နယူးေဒလီ အေျခစိုက္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံလံုးဆုိင္ရာ ေက်ာင္းသားမ်ားအဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္ (ABSL) အဖဲြ႔ဝင္မ်ားသည္ ယမန္ေန႔မွ စတင္ကာ လာမည့္ ၂၉ ရက္ေန႔အထိ ၅ ရက္ၾကာ ထုိင္သပိတ္တခုကို မဇၩိမေဒသ ဗုဒၶဂါယာတြင္ ျပဳလုပ္ေနၾကျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
“ျမန္မာျပည္ထဲက ျဖစ္ေနတဲ့ အေၾကာင္းအရာေတြကို ေဖာ္ထုတ္တာပါပဲ။ ဦးသန္းေရႊက တဖက္မွာ ကုသိုလ္ေကာင္းမႈ လုပ္တာလိုလုိနဲ႔၊ သာသနာ့ ဒါယိကာလိုလိုနဲ႔ တဖက္မွာ သံဃာေတာ္ေတြကုိ သတ္တယ္၊ ဘုရား ဆင္းတုေတာ္ေတြကို ဖ်က္တယ္၊ စစ္တပ္ေတြကို ဘုရားရင္ျပင္ေတာ္မွာ တပ္စြဲထားၿပီးေတာ့ ဘုရားဖူးေတြကို မလာႏိုင္ေအာင္ လုပ္တာေတြကို က်ေနာ္တို႔ ေျပာျပေနတာပါပဲ” ဟု ABSL ဥကၠဌ ဦးေက်ာ္သန္းက မဇၩိမကို ေျပာသည္။
သည့္အျပင္ ယမန္ေန႔ကတည္းက စတင္ကာ ‘သန္းေရႊ နအဖ၏ မေကာင္းဆိုးဝါး သာသနာဖ်က္၊’ (Than Shwe - Evil Blasphemer of SPDC) ဟု စာတမ္းေရးၿပီး ရဟန္းပ်ဳိေလးကို ခ်ဳပ္ေႏွာင္ထားပုံ၊ ေရႊဝါေရာင္ လႈပ္ရွားမႈတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးကာ ႐ိုက္ႏွက္ သတ္ျဖတ္ ခံထားရသည့္ သံဃာေတာ္ ႏွစ္ပါး၏ ပံုမ်ားကုိ နအဖ စစ္ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မႉးႀကီး သန္းေရႊ၏ ဓာတ္ပံုႏွင့္အတူ ပူးတဲြ ေဖာ္ျပထားသည့္ ပိုစတာမ်ားကုိ ဗုဒၶဂါယာ ေနရာအႏွံ႔တြင္ လုိက္လံ ကပ္ထားခဲ့သည္ဟု သိရသည္။
ကာလကတၱားရွိ ျမန္မာေကာင္စစ္ဝန္ ကိုယ္တုိင္ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းတုိက္ တခုတြင္ လာေရာက္တည္းခိုကာ လႈပ္ရွားမႈကို အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ ေပးလာပံုကို ဦးေက်ာ္သန္းက ယခုလို ရွင္းျပသည္။
“က်ေနာ္တို႔ ေရာက္တယ္ၾကားေတာ့ ကာလကတၱားက ျမန္မာေကာင္စစ္ဝန္ ကိုယ္တိုင္ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္း တေက်ာင္းမွာ ေရာက္ေနတယ္။ ဗမာဘုန္းႀကီးေတြကို ေျခာက္လွန္႔ လႊတ္ေနတယ္။ သူတို႔နားနီးတဲ့ ပိုစတာေတြကို ဆြဲခြာပစ္တယ္။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ အခ်ိန္မီ ျပန္ကပ္တာေပါ့။ သူတို႔ ဆြဲခြာလို႔ မရေတာ့ပါဘူး။ က်ေနာ္တို႔က ဒီမွာရွိတဲ့ ရဲေတြကို အေၾကာင္းၾကားထားၿပီးပါၿပီ” ဟု သူက ေျပာသည္။
လာမည့္ ၂၉ ရက္ေန႔ ညေန ၆ နာရီတြင္ ဗုဒၶဂါယာအမတ္ ရာဂ်စ္မာန္ဂ်ီး ကိုယ္တိုင္ ပါဝင္မည့္ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းစြာ လမ္းေလွ်ာက္ပြဲ တခုကို ဂ်ပန္ေစတီမွ မဟာေဗာဓိ ေစတီႀကီးအထိ လမ္းေလွ်ာက္ ခ်ီတက္ပဲြ က်င္းပသြားမည္ဟုလည္း သိရသည္။
Authorities restrict full moon day celebrations
Nov 26, 2007 (DVB)ñAbout 800 people attended full moon day celebrations on Saturday at Maggin monastery in Thingangyun township, despite some restrictions imposed by the Burmese authorities.
Those who attended the full moon day celebrations, which were held from 8am to 1pm, included National League for Democracy members, veteran politicians and political activists, as well as members of the public.
However, the celebrations did face some restrictions from the authorities.
The night before the celebrations, special police force captain San Tun visited the monastery and made a list of the people who would be attending.
On the day, soldiers from battalion 66, which was involved in the crackdown on protestors in Rangoon in September, were placed around Kyaik Kasan pagoda near the monastery.
Police, fire brigade officers and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association were also providing security at the celebrations.
Those who brought offerings of food were not allowed to cook on the premises as usual but had to prepare the dishes before they came to the event.
Maggin monastery, which provides care for people with HIV and AIDS, was raided by security forces on 3 October, and was left empty and locked up.
It was re-opened the following week and some of the eight monks and lay people who were arrested in the raid were released at around the same time.
Reporting by DVB
Those who attended the full moon day celebrations, which were held from 8am to 1pm, included National League for Democracy members, veteran politicians and political activists, as well as members of the public.
However, the celebrations did face some restrictions from the authorities.
The night before the celebrations, special police force captain San Tun visited the monastery and made a list of the people who would be attending.
On the day, soldiers from battalion 66, which was involved in the crackdown on protestors in Rangoon in September, were placed around Kyaik Kasan pagoda near the monastery.
Police, fire brigade officers and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association were also providing security at the celebrations.
Those who brought offerings of food were not allowed to cook on the premises as usual but had to prepare the dishes before they came to the event.
Maggin monastery, which provides care for people with HIV and AIDS, was raided by security forces on 3 October, and was left empty and locked up.
It was re-opened the following week and some of the eight monks and lay people who were arrested in the raid were released at around the same time.
Reporting by DVB
Authorities restrict full moon day celebrations
Nov 26, 2007 (DVB)ñAbout 800 people attended full moon day celebrations on Saturday at Maggin monastery in Thingangyun township, despite some restrictions imposed by the Burmese authorities.
Those who attended the full moon day celebrations, which were held from 8am to 1pm, included National League for Democracy members, veteran politicians and political activists, as well as members of the public.
However, the celebrations did face some restrictions from the authorities.
The night before the celebrations, special police force captain San Tun visited the monastery and made a list of the people who would be attending.
On the day, soldiers from battalion 66, which was involved in the crackdown on protestors in Rangoon in September, were placed around Kyaik Kasan pagoda near the monastery.
Police, fire brigade officers and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association were also providing security at the celebrations.
Those who brought offerings of food were not allowed to cook on the premises as usual but had to prepare the dishes before they came to the event.
Maggin monastery, which provides care for people with HIV and AIDS, was raided by security forces on 3 October, and was left empty and locked up.
It was re-opened the following week and some of the eight monks and lay people who were arrested in the raid were released at around the same time.
Reporting by DVB
Those who attended the full moon day celebrations, which were held from 8am to 1pm, included National League for Democracy members, veteran politicians and political activists, as well as members of the public.
However, the celebrations did face some restrictions from the authorities.
The night before the celebrations, special police force captain San Tun visited the monastery and made a list of the people who would be attending.
On the day, soldiers from battalion 66, which was involved in the crackdown on protestors in Rangoon in September, were placed around Kyaik Kasan pagoda near the monastery.
Police, fire brigade officers and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association were also providing security at the celebrations.
Those who brought offerings of food were not allowed to cook on the premises as usual but had to prepare the dishes before they came to the event.
Maggin monastery, which provides care for people with HIV and AIDS, was raided by security forces on 3 October, and was left empty and locked up.
It was re-opened the following week and some of the eight monks and lay people who were arrested in the raid were released at around the same time.
Reporting by DVB
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Singapore's Burmese Buddhist Temple Closes Door To Activists
by Paul Icamina, AHN, November 23, 2007
Singapore -- The largest Burmese Buddhist temple in Singapore closed its doors Friday to activists who have been using it as a venue and even as a mailing address as they protest human rights violations and call for democracy in Myanmar.
Participants clad in red T-shirts have been holding massive prayer sessions at the temple, distributing pro-democracy leaflets, since the ruling junta in Myanmar cracked down on peaceful protesters in September, the Bangkok Post reported.
"The temple is just a place of worship," The Straits Times quoted the management committee's honorary president David Lim as saying. "Anyone can come here for prayers, but we don't want it used for political activities."
The decision was made after Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo visited the shrine, the most important for the Myanmar community that numbers 30,000 in the city-state.
"The temple should be a place of peace," Lim said, not a domain for "activists shouting slogans."
Singapore banned public protests against the Myanmar delegation that attended this week's summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Any public gathering of more than four people requires a police permit.
Singapore -- The largest Burmese Buddhist temple in Singapore closed its doors Friday to activists who have been using it as a venue and even as a mailing address as they protest human rights violations and call for democracy in Myanmar.
Participants clad in red T-shirts have been holding massive prayer sessions at the temple, distributing pro-democracy leaflets, since the ruling junta in Myanmar cracked down on peaceful protesters in September, the Bangkok Post reported.
"The temple is just a place of worship," The Straits Times quoted the management committee's honorary president David Lim as saying. "Anyone can come here for prayers, but we don't want it used for political activities."
The decision was made after Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo visited the shrine, the most important for the Myanmar community that numbers 30,000 in the city-state.
"The temple should be a place of peace," Lim said, not a domain for "activists shouting slogans."
Singapore banned public protests against the Myanmar delegation that attended this week's summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Any public gathering of more than four people requires a police permit.
Buddhist ceremony postponed in South Dagon
Nov 23, 2007 (DVB)–An annual ceremony in South Dagon township, Rangoon, has been postponed after organisers refused to pay money for troops to local authorities.
The Buddhist ceremony, which has been held around 22 to 26 November every year for the past 13 years, was to involve sermons from monks.
When the organising committee went to local temple authorities as usual to ask permission to hold the event, they were told they would have to pay 40,000 kyat towards troop mobilisations if they wanted to hold it at this time.
The organisers refused to pay the fee, arguing that they could not spare the money and that the funds they had raised were not designated for this.
They then went to the township authorities, but they too denied permission for the event to be held on the usual date.
Township authorities told the organisers to postpone the ceremony until 15-19 December due to security concerns because of the number of other events being held at the same time.
Official harassment of monks has continued since the protests in September, and monasteries have faced increased scrutiny.
On 5 November, a monk from Zantila Kamahtan monastery in South Dagon township was arrested in connection with the demonstrations, despite government claims that they had stopped arrests and monastery searched related to the protests.
Reporting by Aye Nai
The Buddhist ceremony, which has been held around 22 to 26 November every year for the past 13 years, was to involve sermons from monks.
When the organising committee went to local temple authorities as usual to ask permission to hold the event, they were told they would have to pay 40,000 kyat towards troop mobilisations if they wanted to hold it at this time.
The organisers refused to pay the fee, arguing that they could not spare the money and that the funds they had raised were not designated for this.
They then went to the township authorities, but they too denied permission for the event to be held on the usual date.
Township authorities told the organisers to postpone the ceremony until 15-19 December due to security concerns because of the number of other events being held at the same time.
Official harassment of monks has continued since the protests in September, and monasteries have faced increased scrutiny.
On 5 November, a monk from Zantila Kamahtan monastery in South Dagon township was arrested in connection with the demonstrations, despite government claims that they had stopped arrests and monastery searched related to the protests.
Reporting by Aye Nai
Monk group calls for exam boycott
Nov 23, 2007 (DVB)–The Representative Monks Association has called on student monks not to participate in their annual examinations, in a statement issued yesterday.
The examinations are organised by the state, and would usually be taken by monks studying at lecturing monasteries.
The RPA represents leaders of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance who are currently in hiding.
The statement calls on monks, students and others not to forget about the monk-led demonstrations and government crackdown in September, and urges monks and civilians to continue with the movement and not give up.
The group also says it appreciates the work of United Nations special representatives Ibrahim Gambari and Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, and of detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and world leaders.
The statement was signed by the RPA director, who is among those monks in hiding from the authorities.
There has been a positive response to the statement from monks.
U Khemar Nanda, temporary spokesperson for the All-Burmese Monks Alliance, supported the boycott.
"We absolutely encourage the boycott plan; in fact, we have been organizing the same campaign in collaboration with the young monks from [Mandalay's] old and new Masoyein monasteries,” he said.
“We monks are continuing our boycott against the government on all grounds including economic areas and in the education systems. We, the ABMA, fully support this boycott campaign."
A monk from Masoeyein [New] monastery in Mandalay said that the boycott had already taken effect.
"Before, we had about 3,000 student monks here. But now there are only about 500 left as the rest decided not to participate in the exams and have gone home," he said.
A senior monk from lecturing monastery No 1 in Pakokku, Magwe, also supported the planned action.
"There are four lecturing monasteries in this town including ours. We supported the other three monasteries’ ideas for previous protests,” said the senior monk.
“We monks live in unity and this has no political intentions. We will follow the boycott if the other monasteries agree with it."
A senior monk from lecturing-monastery No 2 in Pakokku shared this view.
"We have four lecturing-monasteries here and we will go along with the majority," he said.
In Sittwe, Arakan, a senior monk from a lecturing monastery agreed that monks there should not participate.
"Most of the monks here have already decided not to go for the exams as they were disgusted by the government’s actions in September. I personally think we should not participate in the exams either," he said.
Reporting by Aye Nai
The examinations are organised by the state, and would usually be taken by monks studying at lecturing monasteries.
The RPA represents leaders of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance who are currently in hiding.
The statement calls on monks, students and others not to forget about the monk-led demonstrations and government crackdown in September, and urges monks and civilians to continue with the movement and not give up.
The group also says it appreciates the work of United Nations special representatives Ibrahim Gambari and Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, and of detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and world leaders.
The statement was signed by the RPA director, who is among those monks in hiding from the authorities.
There has been a positive response to the statement from monks.
U Khemar Nanda, temporary spokesperson for the All-Burmese Monks Alliance, supported the boycott.
"We absolutely encourage the boycott plan; in fact, we have been organizing the same campaign in collaboration with the young monks from [Mandalay's] old and new Masoyein monasteries,” he said.
“We monks are continuing our boycott against the government on all grounds including economic areas and in the education systems. We, the ABMA, fully support this boycott campaign."
A monk from Masoeyein [New] monastery in Mandalay said that the boycott had already taken effect.
"Before, we had about 3,000 student monks here. But now there are only about 500 left as the rest decided not to participate in the exams and have gone home," he said.
A senior monk from lecturing monastery No 1 in Pakokku, Magwe, also supported the planned action.
"There are four lecturing monasteries in this town including ours. We supported the other three monasteries’ ideas for previous protests,” said the senior monk.
“We monks live in unity and this has no political intentions. We will follow the boycott if the other monasteries agree with it."
A senior monk from lecturing-monastery No 2 in Pakokku shared this view.
"We have four lecturing-monasteries here and we will go along with the majority," he said.
In Sittwe, Arakan, a senior monk from a lecturing monastery agreed that monks there should not participate.
"Most of the monks here have already decided not to go for the exams as they were disgusted by the government’s actions in September. I personally think we should not participate in the exams either," he said.
Reporting by Aye Nai
Than Shwe Finds Burma’s Fate in the Stars
Irrawaddy
by Wai Moe
November 23, 2007
Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s wife Kyaing Kyaing recently visited the celebrated Shit Myet Hna pagoda in her husband’s birthplace, Kyaukse, in central Burma, but she wasn’t just sightseeing or calling on friends and relatives.
The revered site is known as the “Eight Faces” pagoda because it faces eight points of the compass. Kyaing Kyaing is reported to have prayed symbolically there for support from all sides for her beleaguered husband and his despised regime.
Kyaing Kyaing and her husband, like many members of the ruling military, are deeply superstitious and rely on astrologers and other soothsayers to advise them.
They also indulge in yadaya, a kind of voodoo said to ward off ill-fortune, and are said to have employed its rituals in an occult bid to influence meetings between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the official appointed by Than Shwe to act as a go-between, retired general Aung Kyi.
Than Shwe reportedly even attaches significance to Aung Kyi’s name, combining as it does Aung at the start and Kyi at the end. This combination is known in Burmese as “Ket’ Kin,” meaning the state of two names being diametrically opposite to each other and thus astrologically significant.
There are others examples of ‘Ket’ Kin’ within the military junta. The names of Than Shwe, Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and the official who signs government decrees and statements, Col Thant Shin, all begin with the letter T and end with S—‘Ket’ Kin,” according to the superstitious.
Than Shwe wasn’t always so subject to superstitious belief—one source close to the family says he was no strong believer in astrology when he was regional military commander in the Irrawaddy delta.
His wife Kyaing Kyaing, originally ethnic Pa-O, has long been a strong believer in nats, or spirits, astrology and yadaya.
She is said to have been told by an astrologer in the 1980s that her husband would one day head the government. The astrologer, a monk, also offered the delighted Kyaing Kyaing the information that her husband had been a king in his past life.
After the first prediction came true, Than Shwe (not surprisingly) developed his interest in astrology and yadaya and began to seek the advice of astrologers and soothsayers—including Rangoon’s most famous fortune-teller, ET (also known as E Thi).
A Buddhist nun, Daw Dhammathi, is believed to be one of his family’s most favored astrologists, and Kyaing Kyaing is a frequent visitor to her temple compound in Rangoon’s
North Okkalapa suburb.
Than Shwe’s efforts to neutralize the powers of Suu Kyi are also said to account for his extraordinary initiative to force Burmese to grow physic nuts, which are intended to provide alternative fuel for the cash-strapped country.
Physic nuts are known as kyet suu in Burmese, a combination of words that carry the astrological meaning of Monday-Tuesday. Suu Kyi’s own name has the astrological meaning of Tuesday-Monday, and it’s said that Than Shwe’s astrologer suggested that by planting kyet suu throughout the country Suu Kyi’s powers could be neutralized.
There’s no sign of that happening yet. Astrology and yadaya obviously have their limitations.
by Wai Moe
November 23, 2007
Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s wife Kyaing Kyaing recently visited the celebrated Shit Myet Hna pagoda in her husband’s birthplace, Kyaukse, in central Burma, but she wasn’t just sightseeing or calling on friends and relatives.
The revered site is known as the “Eight Faces” pagoda because it faces eight points of the compass. Kyaing Kyaing is reported to have prayed symbolically there for support from all sides for her beleaguered husband and his despised regime.
Kyaing Kyaing and her husband, like many members of the ruling military, are deeply superstitious and rely on astrologers and other soothsayers to advise them.
They also indulge in yadaya, a kind of voodoo said to ward off ill-fortune, and are said to have employed its rituals in an occult bid to influence meetings between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the official appointed by Than Shwe to act as a go-between, retired general Aung Kyi.
Than Shwe reportedly even attaches significance to Aung Kyi’s name, combining as it does Aung at the start and Kyi at the end. This combination is known in Burmese as “Ket’ Kin,” meaning the state of two names being diametrically opposite to each other and thus astrologically significant.
There are others examples of ‘Ket’ Kin’ within the military junta. The names of Than Shwe, Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and the official who signs government decrees and statements, Col Thant Shin, all begin with the letter T and end with S—‘Ket’ Kin,” according to the superstitious.
Than Shwe wasn’t always so subject to superstitious belief—one source close to the family says he was no strong believer in astrology when he was regional military commander in the Irrawaddy delta.
His wife Kyaing Kyaing, originally ethnic Pa-O, has long been a strong believer in nats, or spirits, astrology and yadaya.
She is said to have been told by an astrologer in the 1980s that her husband would one day head the government. The astrologer, a monk, also offered the delighted Kyaing Kyaing the information that her husband had been a king in his past life.
After the first prediction came true, Than Shwe (not surprisingly) developed his interest in astrology and yadaya and began to seek the advice of astrologers and soothsayers—including Rangoon’s most famous fortune-teller, ET (also known as E Thi).
A Buddhist nun, Daw Dhammathi, is believed to be one of his family’s most favored astrologists, and Kyaing Kyaing is a frequent visitor to her temple compound in Rangoon’s
North Okkalapa suburb.
Than Shwe’s efforts to neutralize the powers of Suu Kyi are also said to account for his extraordinary initiative to force Burmese to grow physic nuts, which are intended to provide alternative fuel for the cash-strapped country.
Physic nuts are known as kyet suu in Burmese, a combination of words that carry the astrological meaning of Monday-Tuesday. Suu Kyi’s own name has the astrological meaning of Tuesday-Monday, and it’s said that Than Shwe’s astrologer suggested that by planting kyet suu throughout the country Suu Kyi’s powers could be neutralized.
There’s no sign of that happening yet. Astrology and yadaya obviously have their limitations.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Apocalypse Naypyidaw!
Irrawaddy
by Yeni and Aung Zaw
November 22, 2007
After living for decades under a military-ruled Burma and witnessing the junta’s bloody crackdown on monks and innocent people on the streets in September, many Burmese have begun calling for, not diplomacy, but air strikes and international intervention.
No, it’s not a joke. And it’s not just the exiled Burmese who are saying this—it’s those inside Burma as well.
Here are some of the excerpts from Burmese people who broached the subject with The Irrawaddy during and after the September crackdown.
U Pinyazawta, a leading monk from the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks, told The Irrawaddy by phone from his hiding place in Burma: “We need a foreign army to protect us,” he said, referring particularly to UN troops.
Some Burmese were even more straightforward.
“We need air strikes,” said a prominent editor and CEO of a successful privately-run publication in Burma.
He claimed many Burmese would welcome military intervention. “This is our hope,” he said. “The regime is unyielding. We have to teach them a lesson or two.”
However, it is commonly understood that most foreign observers and policy makers who are involved in Burma would simply shake their heads at the proposal.
The desire for a forceful regime change in Burma is nothing new. During the invasion of Iraq, American diplomats and US embassy staff in Burma are believed to have received a number of letters asking: “When are you coming to Burma?”
In September 2003, in a lively talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok, Ross Dunkley, editor of the semi-official newspaper, Myanmar Times confirmed that all the Burmese people he had met—whether they were taxi drivers or office workers—wanted to see an invasion. “They all want George W Bush and the UN to come into Myanmar [Burma] with a whole lot of guns and airplanes and jets and solve the problem. They believe that’s possible,” said Dunkley.
Indeed, if diplomacy and sanctions are doomed to failure, the best solution ordinary Burmese folk can think of is humanitarian intervention and air strikes.
Instead of smart sanctions, they say, “smart missiles” are the readymade solution to Burma’s ills—and as quickly as possible!
The image of Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his cadres being pounded by F-16 fighter jets in their ivory tower in Naypyidaw is perhaps a wishful fantasy widely shared among ordinary Burmese who have lived under the military government since 1962.
A Rangoon-based journalist said that he admired how the US taught Libya's Muammar el-Qaddafi a lesson he would never forget when they launched air raids on Tripoli in 1986, killing dozens of civilians, including Qaddafi's adopted daughter.
“Now Than Shwe’s compound in Naypyidaw is just a sitting target—if we hit him, there will be little collateral damage," said the journalist, angered after seeing Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan lecturing UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on early November.
It’s therefore ironic that, in 2005, Than Shwe relocated the capital to Naypyidaw, near Pyinmana in central Burma. Analysts at that time said that it was because of advice from a soothsayer coupled with his fears of foreign invasion.
Nowadays, Than Shwe’s new house in new capital can be viewed clearly on Google Earth.
In February 2006, a “Top Secret” document obtained by The Irrawaddy revealed that Burma’s military leaders were fearful of a possible attack or invasion by the US, and were closely monitoring Thailand, which is one of the US’s most important allies in the region.
The document indicates that junta leader Than Shwe warned that the country must be guarded against a plan of destruction drawn up by the US Central Intelligence Agency. It did not say what that plan was.
The government document also revealed that if the US bombs Rangoon, or second city Mandalay: “We have to make sure to kill all NLD members.” The NLD, winners of the 1990 elections, would otherwise be used as US stooges, the document suggests.
However, Aung Naing Oo, a political analyst in Thailand, said that dialogue is the best solution; not an air strike.
“There are options,” the exiled Burmese analyst said. "Diplomacy and dialogue are the best answer to our problems.”
The other options, Aung Naing Oo said, include a fully-fledged engagement with the regime, dropping all sanctions and pressure.
And if these measures still didn’t yield any results?
“Humanitarian intervention and air strike,” he said.
Aung Naing Oo considers humanitarian intervention to be the last option on the table. “It would only take a small budget to take down Than Shwe.”
Firing missiles in from the US fleet in the Indian Ocean toward the dictator’s compound in Naypyidaw could break down many obstacles, he concluded. “And might open the doors that are currently closed to the reconciliation process in Burma.”
Several Burmese living inside Burma would unquestionably concur. And Burma analysts often conclude that military intervention or air strikes would be economical compared to the deep Western pockets that would be needed to fund Burma’s democracy movement.
On October 3, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman wrote in the New York Daily News: “The Bush administration should also actively investigate how else our military and intelligence capabilities can be used to put additional stress on the regime.”
He continued: “The junta has tried to cut off the ability of peaceful demonstrators to communicate to the outside world through the Internet and cell phone networks; we should be examining how the junta's ability to command and control its forces throughout the country might itself be disrupted.”
So far, the attack on Burma’s brutal regime takes place only on Hollywood’s silver screen. Two years ago, Hollywood movie “Stealth” was launched worldwide but banned in Burma. Why? The film included an air strike on terrorists in Rangoon.
Diplomacy will continue, as will mind-numbing debate on sanctions and constructive engagement. But the Burmese people, who have suffered long enough under the regime, now want those “smart missiles.”
Additional reporting from stringers in Burma
by Yeni and Aung Zaw
November 22, 2007
After living for decades under a military-ruled Burma and witnessing the junta’s bloody crackdown on monks and innocent people on the streets in September, many Burmese have begun calling for, not diplomacy, but air strikes and international intervention.
No, it’s not a joke. And it’s not just the exiled Burmese who are saying this—it’s those inside Burma as well.
Here are some of the excerpts from Burmese people who broached the subject with The Irrawaddy during and after the September crackdown.
U Pinyazawta, a leading monk from the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks, told The Irrawaddy by phone from his hiding place in Burma: “We need a foreign army to protect us,” he said, referring particularly to UN troops.
Some Burmese were even more straightforward.
“We need air strikes,” said a prominent editor and CEO of a successful privately-run publication in Burma.
He claimed many Burmese would welcome military intervention. “This is our hope,” he said. “The regime is unyielding. We have to teach them a lesson or two.”
However, it is commonly understood that most foreign observers and policy makers who are involved in Burma would simply shake their heads at the proposal.
The desire for a forceful regime change in Burma is nothing new. During the invasion of Iraq, American diplomats and US embassy staff in Burma are believed to have received a number of letters asking: “When are you coming to Burma?”
In September 2003, in a lively talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok, Ross Dunkley, editor of the semi-official newspaper, Myanmar Times confirmed that all the Burmese people he had met—whether they were taxi drivers or office workers—wanted to see an invasion. “They all want George W Bush and the UN to come into Myanmar [Burma] with a whole lot of guns and airplanes and jets and solve the problem. They believe that’s possible,” said Dunkley.
Indeed, if diplomacy and sanctions are doomed to failure, the best solution ordinary Burmese folk can think of is humanitarian intervention and air strikes.
Instead of smart sanctions, they say, “smart missiles” are the readymade solution to Burma’s ills—and as quickly as possible!
The image of Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his cadres being pounded by F-16 fighter jets in their ivory tower in Naypyidaw is perhaps a wishful fantasy widely shared among ordinary Burmese who have lived under the military government since 1962.
A Rangoon-based journalist said that he admired how the US taught Libya's Muammar el-Qaddafi a lesson he would never forget when they launched air raids on Tripoli in 1986, killing dozens of civilians, including Qaddafi's adopted daughter.
“Now Than Shwe’s compound in Naypyidaw is just a sitting target—if we hit him, there will be little collateral damage," said the journalist, angered after seeing Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan lecturing UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on early November.
It’s therefore ironic that, in 2005, Than Shwe relocated the capital to Naypyidaw, near Pyinmana in central Burma. Analysts at that time said that it was because of advice from a soothsayer coupled with his fears of foreign invasion.
Nowadays, Than Shwe’s new house in new capital can be viewed clearly on Google Earth.
In February 2006, a “Top Secret” document obtained by The Irrawaddy revealed that Burma’s military leaders were fearful of a possible attack or invasion by the US, and were closely monitoring Thailand, which is one of the US’s most important allies in the region.
The document indicates that junta leader Than Shwe warned that the country must be guarded against a plan of destruction drawn up by the US Central Intelligence Agency. It did not say what that plan was.
The government document also revealed that if the US bombs Rangoon, or second city Mandalay: “We have to make sure to kill all NLD members.” The NLD, winners of the 1990 elections, would otherwise be used as US stooges, the document suggests.
However, Aung Naing Oo, a political analyst in Thailand, said that dialogue is the best solution; not an air strike.
“There are options,” the exiled Burmese analyst said. "Diplomacy and dialogue are the best answer to our problems.”
The other options, Aung Naing Oo said, include a fully-fledged engagement with the regime, dropping all sanctions and pressure.
And if these measures still didn’t yield any results?
“Humanitarian intervention and air strike,” he said.
Aung Naing Oo considers humanitarian intervention to be the last option on the table. “It would only take a small budget to take down Than Shwe.”
Firing missiles in from the US fleet in the Indian Ocean toward the dictator’s compound in Naypyidaw could break down many obstacles, he concluded. “And might open the doors that are currently closed to the reconciliation process in Burma.”
Several Burmese living inside Burma would unquestionably concur. And Burma analysts often conclude that military intervention or air strikes would be economical compared to the deep Western pockets that would be needed to fund Burma’s democracy movement.
On October 3, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman wrote in the New York Daily News: “The Bush administration should also actively investigate how else our military and intelligence capabilities can be used to put additional stress on the regime.”
He continued: “The junta has tried to cut off the ability of peaceful demonstrators to communicate to the outside world through the Internet and cell phone networks; we should be examining how the junta's ability to command and control its forces throughout the country might itself be disrupted.”
So far, the attack on Burma’s brutal regime takes place only on Hollywood’s silver screen. Two years ago, Hollywood movie “Stealth” was launched worldwide but banned in Burma. Why? The film included an air strike on terrorists in Rangoon.
Diplomacy will continue, as will mind-numbing debate on sanctions and constructive engagement. But the Burmese people, who have suffered long enough under the regime, now want those “smart missiles.”
Additional reporting from stringers in Burma
ၿမ့ဳိနယ္အခ်ဳိ့ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ား ေအာင္ျမင္စြာ က်င္းပၿပီးစီး
မဇၩိမသတင္းဌာန
Thursday, 22 November 2007 15:32 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလအတြင္း ျပဳလုပ္ေလ့ရွိေသာ ဘာသာေရး အခမ္းအနား တခုျဖစ္သည့္ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ားကို ၿမ့ဳိနယ္အခ်ဳိ့တြင္ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ကင္းစြာ က်င္းပႏုိင္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္း စံုစမ္းသိရွိရသည္။
စက္တင္ဘာလအတြင္းက သံဃာထု ဦးေဆာင္သည့္ ေရႊဝါေရာင္ လႈပ္ရွားမႈအၿပီး ၿမ့ဳိနယ္ အမ်ားအျပားရွိ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္း တုိက္မ်ားတြင္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ ဝင္ေရာက္စီးနင္းျခင္း၊ သံဃာမ်ားကို ဖမ္းဆီးျခင္း၊ လံုျခံဳေရး တင္းက်ပ္ျခင္းႏွင့္ စာသင္တုိက္မ်ားရွိ စာသင္သား ရဟန္းပ်ဳိမ်ားကို ေနရပ္ရင္းသို႔ ျပန္လည္ ႂကြခ်ီခုိင္းျခင္းမ်ား စဥ္ဆက္မျပတ္ ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့ေသာ္လည္း ယခုလအတြင္း က်င္းပေလ့ရွိသည့္ တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ားကိုမူ ၿမ့ဳိနယ္အခ်ဳိ့တြင္ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ ကင္းစြာ က်င္းပႏုိင္ခဲ့သည္ဟု သိရသည္။
“ေလာေလာဆယ္ ကထိန္ကေတာ့ အဆင္ေျပသြားပါၿပီ။ လံုျခံဳေရး တင္းက်ပ္တာကေတာ့ သိပ္မရွိပါဘူး။ ရွင္ျပဳ ရဟန္းခံကေတာ့ ရာသီခ်ိန္ မဟုတ္တဲ့အတြက္ေၾကာင့္ မရွိပါဘူး” ဟု ရန္ကုန္တုိင္း ေျမာက္ဥကၠလာပ ၿမ့ဳိနယ္ရွိ ရန္ကုန္ေက်ာင္းတုိက္မွ သံဃာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ဆိုသည္။
“ဒီမွာေတာ့ ဘာမွ (လံုျခံဳေရး) မရွိပါဘူး။ ကတိန္ေတြဘာေတြကေတာ့ ၿပီးသြားပါၿပီ။ ... ရဟန္းဝတ္ခြင့္ကေတာ့ ပိတ္တာ ဒီမွာ မရွိပါဘူး” ဟု ရန္ကုန္ရွိ မဂၤလာ သိပၸံေက်ာင္းတုိက္မွ ဆရာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
မေကြးတုိင္း ပခုကၠဴၿမ့ဳိရွိ စာသင္တိုက္ႀကီး ၄ ခုအနက္ အေရွ့တိုက္တြင္ ၿမ့ဳိမေစ်း ေစ်းသူေစ်းသားမ်ား၏ ေကာင္းမႈျဖင့္ စုေပါင္းဘံုကထိန္၊ ေဗာဓိမ႑ိဳင္ေက်ာင္းတြင္ အၿငိမ္းစား ေက်ာင္းအုပ္ဆရာ တဦး၏ ကထိန္ပဲြတို႔ က်င္းပ ၿပီးစီးခဲ့ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ အလယ္တုိက္တြင္ ဆရာဝန္တဦး၏ ေကာင္းမႈျဖင့္ မၾကာမီ ကထိန္ပဲြ ျပဳလုပ္မည္ျဖစ္ကာ အေနာက္တိုက္တြင္လည္း ကုန္သည္ ပဲြစားႀကီးမ်ားအသင္းမွ စုေပါင္း ဘံုကထိန္က်င္းပရန္ လ်ာထားရာတြင္ ယခုထိ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ ကင္းစင္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
“ပခုကၠဴမွာေတာ့ အလွဴအတန္း ပိတ္ပင္တာကေတာ့ မရွိေသးပါဘူး။ ဖုန္းေတြက ပ်က္လိုက္ ေကာင္းလိုက္ပါပဲ။ တျခားေတာ့ မထူးေသးပါဘူး” ဟု စာသင္ေက်ာင္းတုိက္ တခုမွ ေက်ာင္းထိုင္ ဆရာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ဆုိသည္။
သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ ေအာက္တိုဘာလ ၃၁ ရက္တြင္ ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့သည့္ သံဃာလႈပ္ရွားမႈတြင္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ဟု ယူဆေသာ အလယ္တုိက္မွ ဦးဇင္းတပါးကို ပခုကၠဴတြင္ ေနထုိင္ခြင့္ မရွိဘဲ ေနရပ္ေဒသသို႔ ေဒသ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ မၾကာေသးခင္က အတင္းအက်ပ္ ျပန္ႂကြခုိင္းေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ မိုးကုတ္မွ ပခုကၠဴသို႔ လာေရာက္ကာ စာဝါလိုက္ေနေသာ သံဃာတပါးကိုလည္း ဆႏၵျပပဲြမ်ားတြင္ ပါဝင္ျခင္း မရွိရဟူသည့္ ခံဝန္ခ်က္ကို လက္မွတ္ ထုိးခုိင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
အလားတူပင္ မေကြးတုိင္း ေခ်ာက္ၿမ့ဳိတြင္ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ားကို အေႏွာင့္အယွက္မရွိ က်င္းပႏုိင္ၾကေသာ္လည္း အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားသည္ ေက်ာင္းတိုက္မ်ားအၾကား လႉဖြယ္ဝတၳဳမ်ား ကပ္လႉကာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားကုိ လိုက္လံ စည္း႐ံုးေနသည္ဟု သိရသည္။
“ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းေတြမွာ ပတၱနိကုဇၨန ကံေဆာင္တာကတမ်ဳိး၊ တခ်ဳိ႔ဘုန္းႀကီးေတြကလည္း အာဏာပိုင္ေတြနဲ႔ ရင္ႏွီးကၽြမ္းဝင္ ေနတာကတမ်ဳိး၊ ဆိုေတာ့ အုပ္စု နဲနဲကြဲတာေပါ့။ သံဃာေတြက မ်ားေသာအားျဖင့္ ညီၫြတ္ပါတယ္။ သို႔ေပမယ့္လည္း တဘက္ကလည္း ညီၫြတ္ေနတဲ့အထဲ စည္းရုံးေရးေတြ ရွိတာေပါ့” ဟု ေခ်ာက္ၿမ့ဳိ ေက်ာင္းတုိက္တခုမွ ဦးဇင္းတပါးက မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
အဆိုပါ ဦးဇင္းက ဆက္လက္၍ “လာဘ္လာဘနဲ႔ စည္းရုံးတာ၊ ဘြဲ႔တံဆိပ္နဲ႔ စည္း႐ုံးတာ၊ ဒီလိုစည္း႐ုံးမူေတြ အမ်ဳိးမ်ဳိးေပါ့ေလ။ ရဟန္းသံဃာေတြက မ်ားေသာအားျဖင့္ ပုထုဇဥ္ေတြဆိုေတာ့ လာဘ္လာဘေတြကို မေရွာင္ကြင္းႏိုင္တဲ့ ကိုယ္ေတာ္ေတြ၊ ရွိတဲ့ကိုယ္ေတာ္ေတြ ရွိတာေပါ့။ မ်ားေသာအားျဖင့္ ေရွာင္ကြန္းတာ မ်ားပါတယ္။ သံဃာကံနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ရင္ အမ်ားဆႏၵနဲ႔ လိုက္ေလ်ာညီေထြစြာ ေနၾကထုိင္ၾကတာ မ်ားပါတယ္” ဟု မိန္႔ဆိုသည္။
Thursday, 22 November 2007 15:32 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလအတြင္း ျပဳလုပ္ေလ့ရွိေသာ ဘာသာေရး အခမ္းအနား တခုျဖစ္သည့္ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ားကို ၿမ့ဳိနယ္အခ်ဳိ့တြင္ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ကင္းစြာ က်င္းပႏုိင္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္း စံုစမ္းသိရွိရသည္။
စက္တင္ဘာလအတြင္းက သံဃာထု ဦးေဆာင္သည့္ ေရႊဝါေရာင္ လႈပ္ရွားမႈအၿပီး ၿမ့ဳိနယ္ အမ်ားအျပားရွိ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္း တုိက္မ်ားတြင္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ ဝင္ေရာက္စီးနင္းျခင္း၊ သံဃာမ်ားကို ဖမ္းဆီးျခင္း၊ လံုျခံဳေရး တင္းက်ပ္ျခင္းႏွင့္ စာသင္တုိက္မ်ားရွိ စာသင္သား ရဟန္းပ်ဳိမ်ားကို ေနရပ္ရင္းသို႔ ျပန္လည္ ႂကြခ်ီခုိင္းျခင္းမ်ား စဥ္ဆက္မျပတ္ ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့ေသာ္လည္း ယခုလအတြင္း က်င္းပေလ့ရွိသည့္ တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ားကိုမူ ၿမ့ဳိနယ္အခ်ဳိ့တြင္ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ ကင္းစြာ က်င္းပႏုိင္ခဲ့သည္ဟု သိရသည္။
“ေလာေလာဆယ္ ကထိန္ကေတာ့ အဆင္ေျပသြားပါၿပီ။ လံုျခံဳေရး တင္းက်ပ္တာကေတာ့ သိပ္မရွိပါဘူး။ ရွင္ျပဳ ရဟန္းခံကေတာ့ ရာသီခ်ိန္ မဟုတ္တဲ့အတြက္ေၾကာင့္ မရွိပါဘူး” ဟု ရန္ကုန္တုိင္း ေျမာက္ဥကၠလာပ ၿမ့ဳိနယ္ရွိ ရန္ကုန္ေက်ာင္းတုိက္မွ သံဃာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ဆိုသည္။
“ဒီမွာေတာ့ ဘာမွ (လံုျခံဳေရး) မရွိပါဘူး။ ကတိန္ေတြဘာေတြကေတာ့ ၿပီးသြားပါၿပီ။ ... ရဟန္းဝတ္ခြင့္ကေတာ့ ပိတ္တာ ဒီမွာ မရွိပါဘူး” ဟု ရန္ကုန္ရွိ မဂၤလာ သိပၸံေက်ာင္းတုိက္မွ ဆရာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
မေကြးတုိင္း ပခုကၠဴၿမ့ဳိရွိ စာသင္တိုက္ႀကီး ၄ ခုအနက္ အေရွ့တိုက္တြင္ ၿမ့ဳိမေစ်း ေစ်းသူေစ်းသားမ်ား၏ ေကာင္းမႈျဖင့္ စုေပါင္းဘံုကထိန္၊ ေဗာဓိမ႑ိဳင္ေက်ာင္းတြင္ အၿငိမ္းစား ေက်ာင္းအုပ္ဆရာ တဦး၏ ကထိန္ပဲြတို႔ က်င္းပ ၿပီးစီးခဲ့ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ အလယ္တုိက္တြင္ ဆရာဝန္တဦး၏ ေကာင္းမႈျဖင့္ မၾကာမီ ကထိန္ပဲြ ျပဳလုပ္မည္ျဖစ္ကာ အေနာက္တိုက္တြင္လည္း ကုန္သည္ ပဲြစားႀကီးမ်ားအသင္းမွ စုေပါင္း ဘံုကထိန္က်င္းပရန္ လ်ာထားရာတြင္ ယခုထိ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ ကင္းစင္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
“ပခုကၠဴမွာေတာ့ အလွဴအတန္း ပိတ္ပင္တာကေတာ့ မရွိေသးပါဘူး။ ဖုန္းေတြက ပ်က္လိုက္ ေကာင္းလိုက္ပါပဲ။ တျခားေတာ့ မထူးေသးပါဘူး” ဟု စာသင္ေက်ာင္းတုိက္ တခုမွ ေက်ာင္းထိုင္ ဆရာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ဆုိသည္။
သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ ေအာက္တိုဘာလ ၃၁ ရက္တြင္ ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့သည့္ သံဃာလႈပ္ရွားမႈတြင္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ဟု ယူဆေသာ အလယ္တုိက္မွ ဦးဇင္းတပါးကို ပခုကၠဴတြင္ ေနထုိင္ခြင့္ မရွိဘဲ ေနရပ္ေဒသသို႔ ေဒသ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ မၾကာေသးခင္က အတင္းအက်ပ္ ျပန္ႂကြခုိင္းေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ မိုးကုတ္မွ ပခုကၠဴသို႔ လာေရာက္ကာ စာဝါလိုက္ေနေသာ သံဃာတပါးကိုလည္း ဆႏၵျပပဲြမ်ားတြင္ ပါဝင္ျခင္း မရွိရဟူသည့္ ခံဝန္ခ်က္ကို လက္မွတ္ ထုိးခုိင္းခဲ့ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
အလားတူပင္ မေကြးတုိင္း ေခ်ာက္ၿမ့ဳိတြင္ ကထိန္ပဲြမ်ားကို အေႏွာင့္အယွက္မရွိ က်င္းပႏုိင္ၾကေသာ္လည္း အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားသည္ ေက်ာင္းတိုက္မ်ားအၾကား လႉဖြယ္ဝတၳဳမ်ား ကပ္လႉကာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားကုိ လိုက္လံ စည္း႐ံုးေနသည္ဟု သိရသည္။
“ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းေတြမွာ ပတၱနိကုဇၨန ကံေဆာင္တာကတမ်ဳိး၊ တခ်ဳိ႔ဘုန္းႀကီးေတြကလည္း အာဏာပိုင္ေတြနဲ႔ ရင္ႏွီးကၽြမ္းဝင္ ေနတာကတမ်ဳိး၊ ဆိုေတာ့ အုပ္စု နဲနဲကြဲတာေပါ့။ သံဃာေတြက မ်ားေသာအားျဖင့္ ညီၫြတ္ပါတယ္။ သို႔ေပမယ့္လည္း တဘက္ကလည္း ညီၫြတ္ေနတဲ့အထဲ စည္းရုံးေရးေတြ ရွိတာေပါ့” ဟု ေခ်ာက္ၿမ့ဳိ ေက်ာင္းတုိက္တခုမွ ဦးဇင္းတပါးက မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
အဆိုပါ ဦးဇင္းက ဆက္လက္၍ “လာဘ္လာဘနဲ႔ စည္းရုံးတာ၊ ဘြဲ႔တံဆိပ္နဲ႔ စည္း႐ုံးတာ၊ ဒီလိုစည္း႐ုံးမူေတြ အမ်ဳိးမ်ဳိးေပါ့ေလ။ ရဟန္းသံဃာေတြက မ်ားေသာအားျဖင့္ ပုထုဇဥ္ေတြဆိုေတာ့ လာဘ္လာဘေတြကို မေရွာင္ကြင္းႏိုင္တဲ့ ကိုယ္ေတာ္ေတြ၊ ရွိတဲ့ကိုယ္ေတာ္ေတြ ရွိတာေပါ့။ မ်ားေသာအားျဖင့္ ေရွာင္ကြန္းတာ မ်ားပါတယ္။ သံဃာကံနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ရင္ အမ်ားဆႏၵနဲ႔ လိုက္ေလ်ာညီေထြစြာ ေနၾကထုိင္ၾကတာ မ်ားပါတယ္” ဟု မိန္႔ဆိုသည္။
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
ကထိန္သကၤန္း ကပ္လႉရန္ ျမင္းျခံ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ား လုပ္ေဆာင္ေန
မဇၩိမသတင္းဌာန
Monday, 19 November 2007 18:12 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအလယ္ပိုင္း မႏၱေလးတုိင္း ျမင္းၿခံၿမ့ဳိတြင္ တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလ ကထိန္ပဲြ က်င္းပရန္ ကထိန္သကၤန္း မရရွိေသးသည့္ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းတိုက္မ်ားကို မယက ၿမ့ဳိနယ္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ ဦးေဆာင္၍ ကထိန္က်င္းပရန္ အတြက္ ႀကိဳးပမ္းေနေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလတုိင္းတြင္ ျမန္မာ ဗုဒၶဘာသာဝင္မ်ားမွ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းမ်ားသို႔ သြားေရာက္ကာ ကထိန္သကၤန္းႏွင့္ လႉဖြယ္ပစၥည္းမ်ားကို သြားေရာက္ လႉတန္းၿပီး ကထိန္ပဲြ က်င္းပေလ့ ရွိရာတြင္ ယခုႏွစ္၌ ကထိန္ပြဲအတြက္ လႉဖြယ္ပစၥည္း မရရွိေသးသည့္ ေက်ာင္းတုိက္မ်ားသို႔ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက လိုက္လံေမးျမန္း၍ အလႉအတန္းျပဳရန္ စီစဥ္ေနျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
“ဦးဇင္တို႔ ေက်ာင္းကေတာ့ ပုဂၢလိက ကထိန္ ရၿပီးသြားၿပီ။ မရေသးတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းေတြကိုေတာ့ မယက က စာရင္း လိုက္ေတာင္းေနတယ္ ၾကားတယ္။ မရေသးတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းေတြကေတာ့ သူတို႔ရဲ့ အလႉအတန္းကို လက္ခံမယ္ ထင္ပါတယ္” ဟု ျမင္းၿခံၿမ့ဳိရွိ ကိုးေဆာင္တိုက္မွ သံဃာေတာ္တပါးက မဇၩိမကို မိန႔္ၾကားသည္။
အာဏာပိုင္မ်ား၏ လႉဒါန္းမႈကို ပတၱနိကုဇၨန ကံေဆာင္ျခင္း ရွိ၊ မရွိႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး “ဦးဇင္းတို႔ ျမင္းၿခံကေတာ့ ကံေဆာင္တာ မရွိခဲ့ဘူး။ ကံေဆာင္တယ္ဆိုတာ ဝိနည္းစည္းကမ္းအရ သံဃသမဂၢီျဖစ္မွ ကံေျမာက္တယ္။ သံဃသမဂၢီ မျဖစ္ရင္ မေျမာက္ဘူး။ သံဃာအားလံုး သေဘာတူမွ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ကံေျမာက္တယ္။ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအရေတာ့ ဦးဇင္းတို႔ နားမလည္ပါဘူး” ဟု အဆိုပါ ဦးဇင္းက ဆက္လက္ မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ စက္တင္ဘာလအတြင္းက ေ႐ႊဝါေရာင္ ေတာ္္လွန္ေရး ျမစ္ဖ်ားခံရာ မေကြးတုိင္း ပခုကၠဴၿမ့ဳိတြင္မူ အေရွ့တိုက္၌ ၿမ့ဳိမေစ်း ေစ်းသူေစ်းသားမ်ားမွ စုေပါင္း၍ ယခုလ ၈ ရက္ေန႔တြင္ ကထိန္ပြဲ က်င္းပခဲ့ၿပီး အေနာက္တိုက္တြင္လည္း ကုန္သည္ ပြဲစားႀကီးမ်ားအသင္းမွ ကထိန္ပြဲ က်င္းပသြားမည္ ျဖစ္ကာ အလယ္တိုက္တြင္ ဆရာဝန္တဦးမွ ကထိန္ခင္းမည္ဟု သိရသည္။ သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ပခုကၠဴတြင္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ ကထိန္ခင္းရန္ ကမ္းလွမ္းေသာ စာသင္တိုက္ႀကီးမ်ား မရွိေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ႏွစ္စဥ္ က်င္းပေလ့ရွိသည့္ အေရွ့တိုက္အနီး ေဖာင္ေတာ္ဦး ျမတ္စြာဘုရားပြဲေတာ္ က်င္းပခြင့္ကို အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက ပိတ္ပင္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ၿမ့ဳိတြင္းသို႔ ေဖာင္ေတာ္ဦး ျမတ္စြာဘုရား ေဒသစာရီ ႂကြခ်ီမႈကိုလည္း တားျမစ္ခဲ့သျဖင့္ ႏွစ္စဥ္ဆုိသလို အစဥ္အလာ ရွိသည့္အတုိင္း အပူေဇာ္ခံ မႂကြရေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
မႏၱေလးတိုင္း ေက်ာက္ပန္းေတာင္းၿမ့ဳိ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းမ်ားတြင္ ၿမ့ဳိခံလူထုက ရပ္ကြက္အလိုက္ စုေပါင္း၍ ကထိန္မရရွိေသာ ေက်ာင္းမ်ားကို စုေပါင္းကထိန္ ခင္းၾကသည္ဟု ေဒသခံမ်ားက ဆိုသည္။
“ဦးဇင္းတို႔ ေက်ာင္းကေတာ့ လဆန္း ၈ ရက္ေန႔က ကထိန္ရၿပီးသြားၿပီ။ မရေသးတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းေတြကိုေတာ့ ရပ္ကြက္အလိုက္ စုေပါင္းၿပီး ကထိန္ခင္းၾကတယ္” ဟု ေက်ာက္ပန္းေတာင္ၿမ့ဳိမွ ေက်ာင္းထိုင္ ဆရာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ကံေဆာင္မႈႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ ဆရာေတာ္က “ဒီကိစၥကေတာ့ သံဃာငယ္ေတြ လုပ္ထားတဲ့ ကိစၥပဲ။ ဦးဇင္းအေနနဲ႔ ေထြေထြထူးထူး ေျပာစရာ မရွိေတာ့ပါဘူး” ဟု ဆက္လက္ မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
Monday, 19 November 2007 18:12 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအလယ္ပိုင္း မႏၱေလးတုိင္း ျမင္းၿခံၿမ့ဳိတြင္ တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလ ကထိန္ပဲြ က်င္းပရန္ ကထိန္သကၤန္း မရရွိေသးသည့္ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းတိုက္မ်ားကို မယက ၿမ့ဳိနယ္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ ဦးေဆာင္၍ ကထိန္က်င္းပရန္ အတြက္ ႀကိဳးပမ္းေနေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
တန္ေဆာင္မုန္းလတုိင္းတြင္ ျမန္မာ ဗုဒၶဘာသာဝင္မ်ားမွ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းမ်ားသို႔ သြားေရာက္ကာ ကထိန္သကၤန္းႏွင့္ လႉဖြယ္ပစၥည္းမ်ားကို သြားေရာက္ လႉတန္းၿပီး ကထိန္ပဲြ က်င္းပေလ့ ရွိရာတြင္ ယခုႏွစ္၌ ကထိန္ပြဲအတြက္ လႉဖြယ္ပစၥည္း မရရွိေသးသည့္ ေက်ာင္းတုိက္မ်ားသို႔ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက လိုက္လံေမးျမန္း၍ အလႉအတန္းျပဳရန္ စီစဥ္ေနျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
“ဦးဇင္တို႔ ေက်ာင္းကေတာ့ ပုဂၢလိက ကထိန္ ရၿပီးသြားၿပီ။ မရေသးတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းေတြကိုေတာ့ မယက က စာရင္း လိုက္ေတာင္းေနတယ္ ၾကားတယ္။ မရေသးတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းေတြကေတာ့ သူတို႔ရဲ့ အလႉအတန္းကို လက္ခံမယ္ ထင္ပါတယ္” ဟု ျမင္းၿခံၿမ့ဳိရွိ ကိုးေဆာင္တိုက္မွ သံဃာေတာ္တပါးက မဇၩိမကို မိန႔္ၾကားသည္။
အာဏာပိုင္မ်ား၏ လႉဒါန္းမႈကို ပတၱနိကုဇၨန ကံေဆာင္ျခင္း ရွိ၊ မရွိႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး “ဦးဇင္းတို႔ ျမင္းၿခံကေတာ့ ကံေဆာင္တာ မရွိခဲ့ဘူး။ ကံေဆာင္တယ္ဆိုတာ ဝိနည္းစည္းကမ္းအရ သံဃသမဂၢီျဖစ္မွ ကံေျမာက္တယ္။ သံဃသမဂၢီ မျဖစ္ရင္ မေျမာက္ဘူး။ သံဃာအားလံုး သေဘာတူမွ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ကံေျမာက္တယ္။ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအရေတာ့ ဦးဇင္းတို႔ နားမလည္ပါဘူး” ဟု အဆိုပါ ဦးဇင္းက ဆက္လက္ မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ စက္တင္ဘာလအတြင္းက ေ႐ႊဝါေရာင္ ေတာ္္လွန္ေရး ျမစ္ဖ်ားခံရာ မေကြးတုိင္း ပခုကၠဴၿမ့ဳိတြင္မူ အေရွ့တိုက္၌ ၿမ့ဳိမေစ်း ေစ်းသူေစ်းသားမ်ားမွ စုေပါင္း၍ ယခုလ ၈ ရက္ေန႔တြင္ ကထိန္ပြဲ က်င္းပခဲ့ၿပီး အေနာက္တိုက္တြင္လည္း ကုန္သည္ ပြဲစားႀကီးမ်ားအသင္းမွ ကထိန္ပြဲ က်င္းပသြားမည္ ျဖစ္ကာ အလယ္တိုက္တြင္ ဆရာဝန္တဦးမွ ကထိန္ခင္းမည္ဟု သိရသည္။ သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ပခုကၠဴတြင္ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ ကထိန္ခင္းရန္ ကမ္းလွမ္းေသာ စာသင္တိုက္ႀကီးမ်ား မရွိေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ႏွစ္စဥ္ က်င္းပေလ့ရွိသည့္ အေရွ့တိုက္အနီး ေဖာင္ေတာ္ဦး ျမတ္စြာဘုရားပြဲေတာ္ က်င္းပခြင့္ကို အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက ပိတ္ပင္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္းႏွင့္ ၿမ့ဳိတြင္းသို႔ ေဖာင္ေတာ္ဦး ျမတ္စြာဘုရား ေဒသစာရီ ႂကြခ်ီမႈကိုလည္း တားျမစ္ခဲ့သျဖင့္ ႏွစ္စဥ္ဆုိသလို အစဥ္အလာ ရွိသည့္အတုိင္း အပူေဇာ္ခံ မႂကြရေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
မႏၱေလးတိုင္း ေက်ာက္ပန္းေတာင္းၿမ့ဳိ ဘုန္းႀကီးေက်ာင္းမ်ားတြင္ ၿမ့ဳိခံလူထုက ရပ္ကြက္အလိုက္ စုေပါင္း၍ ကထိန္မရရွိေသာ ေက်ာင္းမ်ားကို စုေပါင္းကထိန္ ခင္းၾကသည္ဟု ေဒသခံမ်ားက ဆိုသည္။
“ဦးဇင္းတို႔ ေက်ာင္းကေတာ့ လဆန္း ၈ ရက္ေန႔က ကထိန္ရၿပီးသြားၿပီ။ မရေသးတဲ့ ေက်ာင္းေတြကိုေတာ့ ရပ္ကြက္အလိုက္ စုေပါင္းၿပီး ကထိန္ခင္းၾကတယ္” ဟု ေက်ာက္ပန္းေတာင္ၿမ့ဳိမွ ေက်ာင္းထိုင္ ဆရာေတာ္တပါးက မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ကံေဆာင္မႈႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ ဆရာေတာ္က “ဒီကိစၥကေတာ့ သံဃာငယ္ေတြ လုပ္ထားတဲ့ ကိစၥပဲ။ ဦးဇင္းအေနနဲ႔ ေထြေထြထူးထူး ေျပာစရာ မရွိေတာ့ပါဘူး” ဟု ဆက္လက္ မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
Monks not allowed entry to Rangoon without recommendations
Mon 19 Nov 2007
IMNA
Monks from the rural countryside in Burma have been banned from entering Rangoon unless they have recommendations.
Monks will be allowed to enter Rangoon for just medical treatment if they can show recommendations from the hospital at train and bus termini.
A monk who recently returned from Rangoon said the authorities are allowing monks to enter Rangoon if they have recommendations from doctors, the name of the monastery where they intend to stay, and also credentials from the monks of the monastery where they want to put up.
If the recommendations are incomplete, the authorities are not permitting monks to enter Rangoon. They are being sent back in the bus they came.
About 50 Monks from Arakan State were turned back after the authorities checked their recommendations at Rangoon station, said a monk who recently returned from Rangoon.
The monk said that the authorities are investigating monks at tea shops. They are being polite to monks and are also offering them coffee during questioning.
The monks do not dare to go to Rangoon because they are apprehensive of not getting permission from the authorities. That is the reason monks from Mon State rarely go to Rangoon for religious education these days.
Most residents and monks in Mon State who do not have relatives in Rangoon used to go to Rangoon for treatment and stayed at the monasteries.
IMNA
Monks from the rural countryside in Burma have been banned from entering Rangoon unless they have recommendations.
Monks will be allowed to enter Rangoon for just medical treatment if they can show recommendations from the hospital at train and bus termini.
A monk who recently returned from Rangoon said the authorities are allowing monks to enter Rangoon if they have recommendations from doctors, the name of the monastery where they intend to stay, and also credentials from the monks of the monastery where they want to put up.
If the recommendations are incomplete, the authorities are not permitting monks to enter Rangoon. They are being sent back in the bus they came.
About 50 Monks from Arakan State were turned back after the authorities checked their recommendations at Rangoon station, said a monk who recently returned from Rangoon.
The monk said that the authorities are investigating monks at tea shops. They are being polite to monks and are also offering them coffee during questioning.
The monks do not dare to go to Rangoon because they are apprehensive of not getting permission from the authorities. That is the reason monks from Mon State rarely go to Rangoon for religious education these days.
Most residents and monks in Mon State who do not have relatives in Rangoon used to go to Rangoon for treatment and stayed at the monasteries.
A Struggle for Authority - Interview with Gustaaf Houtman
Irrawaddy
by Gustaaf Houtman
November 1, 2007
Anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman's research into the origins of the Burmese military reveals that the generals' claim to legitimacy is based on false documents. Aung San, the father of the nation, saw the Sangha as having a key role in guiding the nation. The current struggle between the Sangha and the military is a fight the junta is likely to lose. Some of his publications are available at http://ghoutman.googlepages.com, His email is ghoutman@gmail.com.
Question: You say the military rulers have no legitimate title to govern Burma—why?
Answer: Every government, to rule effectively, needs a minimum of goodwill and cooperation from the population it aspires to rule. The various military regimes of Burma over the last half a century have squandered any goodwill they earned by persisting in attempting to legitimize themselves—not by means of elections—but by sheer force and by projecting the "desire of the people" framed within a hollow account of the role of the army as central to Burma’s history.
The army is caught up in a network of lies of their own making. They tolerate no dissent and have silenced intellectual life. Instead of holding them to account, it is disappointing to see how inaccuracies are being perpetuated as history, sometimes even by reputable, well-meaning academics.
Q: Why is Aung San so important to the Burmese people?
A: Aung San is a hero-martyr widely revered in Burma as particularly astute and effective in wrestling national independence from the British and from the Japanese. The nation celebrates episodes in his life through national holidays and his image used to be on every banknote. Even today, six decades after his assassination, we see Aung San’s image carried by protestors. Because his personality is of such mythical proportions, the army turned him into a myth of their own in order to justify military rule.
Q: In your book Mental Culture you say Aung San's legacy was manipulated by the army and challenged by his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi.
A: Yes, I argued that Aung San’s popular legacy was a unifying factor for successive political parties and governments right from immediately before national independence in 1948 until 1990, when the rumour spread that Aung San’s image on a new banknote had been doctored to look like Aung San Suu Kyi’s. Because his personality is of such mythical proportions, the army turned him into a myth of their own in order to justify military rule.
Once Aung San Suu Kyi challenged the military over their interpretation of her father, however, the search was on for a substitute unifying symbol, preferably impersonal and so easier to control.
The army replaced Aung San with a hastily cobbled together idea of national culture: we have seen a large-scale program of Myanmafication, including an invented state-sponsored idea of Myanmar culture (yes, in the singular) under the post-88 military regimes.
Aung San’s image on the banknotes was substituted with impersonal objects: notes brought into circulation after 1990 have Aung San replaced by the chinthe, the mythical lion guardian at the foot of pagodas, which is also used as the symbol of the dreaded Union Solidarity Association (USDA) and army units. Anyone who does not support the army wholeheartedly risks molestation by the USDA.
To justify this state of affairs, falsification of history has taken place on a grand scale. Whole populations are being displaced and Pagan and other historical sites have now been irretrievably destroyed.
Q: In a chapter entitled "Aung San’s Way: The Blue Print and the Japanese Occupation of Burma" you say his popular image was subverted by the military to serve its own interest. What is your evidence for this?
A: The army that is in control of Burma today traces itself back to Aung San’s first visit to Japan between January and February 1940, where the army was founded. This period is of considerable historical significance. After Aung San found himself stranded in Taiwan in search of support from the Chinese for help in the struggle for national independence, he was then smuggled into Japan unofficially by a renegade intelligence-led faction under Col Suzuki without support from the Japanese Imperial army.
Since secrecy was of the essence at the time, There are not many formal historical documents left regarding the founding of the Burmese army. One document, however, has been widely proclaimed as Aung San’s from that period, namely "The Blue Print for a Free Burma." This is claimed not just by the regime, but even by some academics recently. It is usually referred to as an example of how Aung San Suu Kyi could only have misjudged her father’s politics: namely, where it is asserted that Burma needs to set aside parliament in favour of authoritarian one-party rule. This document clearly subverts Aung San Suu Kyi’s claims to follow up on the true political intentions of her father that she claims the army has misrepresented.
However, this document is falsely attributed to Aung San. It was not composed by Aung San at all, but by this intelligence-led faction for the purpose of gaining support from the Imperial Japanese army.
The Blue Print first came to be attributed to Aung San under the machinations of Dr Maung Maung, who was behind its first publication in 1957 in the Rangoon-based Guardian (of which he was a founding editor) long after the Japanese occupation was over, and long after Aung San had been assassinated.
Its publication took place at a time when the army was developing a program of psychological warfare operations to influence and gain control over public opinion.
Aung San, however, had asserted a firm denial of ever writing down his own plan while in Japan, saying instead that Col Suzuki dictated a plan which he then asked Aung San to write down in his own handwriting. Aung San said he never knew what happened to the document.
It is a tragedy that a military regime so proud of indigenous heritage should proclaim to be inspired by documents written by the WWII foreign occupiers of Burma that Aung San had worked so hard to eject.
Q: So you are saying the military's rule since 1962 has been illegitimate?
A: Well, this is just one instance of deliberate falsification of a critically important episode in the biography of Aung San, and of a critically important moment in national history, both of which have been rewritten to favour military rule. What the army cites in its favour turns out to be a document that prepares for a Japanese invasion of Burma.
That such blatant lies are permitted to carry through from propaganda into scholarship and then into the historical record are a matter of concern: how many more such falsifications are there? As I have pointed out, the army has persisted with the Blue Print even after its first publication in 1957 and with a substantively different variant published in the army’s official record in Burmese in 1998, which eliminated, among other things, centrality of the Japanese to Burmese affairs and condemnation of the monarchy.
Scholars must dig much deeper and assess what the army has presented as history. This is difficult because the regime limits access to scholars favourably disposed towards them. It is disturbing that even reputable intellectuals uncritically circulate lies such as these because it undermines the calls for democratic reform in and effectively legitimates the regime.
Q: If Aung San was not in favour of authoritarian rule, what did he support?
A: Aung San did not envisage the army at the centre of the political order. The army has falsely used Aung San to legitimate themselves in history politically. As I have argued elsewhere, Aung San originally aimed for socialism, but after the Japanese occupation he called for democracy first.
Q: You are on record that the monastic order is the only Burmese institution that remains independent from, and to a certain extent ungovernable by, the military regime. Why should this be so?
A: The Buddhist liberation rhetoric that underlay the anti-colonial struggle back in the first half of the 20th century resurfaces during crises. Monks continue to have an influence on the regime, if only because soldiers' wives seek merit and protection for their husbands. Also, once the 1990 elections were over, the regime stalled in handing over power to the NLD, to which monks responded by offering to host the first democratic parliament since 1962 in one of their monasteries.
Today, after eliminating so heavy-handedly all civil opposition, only monks remain with any sense of organizational independence—resulting in direct conflict. I am not sure how many monks are among those who have been quietly cremated by the regime recently, but The idea that the country can ever be governed or developed by an army so cruel and so out of touch with the people suggest to me that their position is becoming untenable.
Q: But surely, secular politicians, such as Aung San, never approved of Buddhism as a political instrument?
A: Approving of Buddhism as a political instrument is one thing: understanding by means of Buddhist concepts how disorder arises and order may be established, and what kind of political intervention might be necessary, are another.
To proclaim that Buddhism here serves as a political instrument would be to grossly oversimplify what has been going on. In raising fuel prices to unaffordable levels, the regime has made it impossible for the laity to support Buddhist monastic practice and so has politicised Buddhism.
In his essay on "Various Kinds of Politics," Aung San describes how politics was invented by human beings so as to contain deterioration in the social order caused by the arising of mental defilements and selfish behaviour.
Here elimination of mental defilements by Buddhist practice is simply another way of resolving disorder. Indeed such practice is characterized as prior to politics: so the presence of successfully practicing monks are broadly seen as ensuring necessary conditions for people to respond to political measures. The first king was elected by the people for his good morality, concentration and understanding (indeed he was characterised as a Buddha-to-be), so that he could intervene wisely in any disorder that arises from our conditioned lives in loka or samsara (i.e. by helping contain the worst excesses produced by our mental imperfections that lock us into the cycle of rebirth).
Aung San looked at these notions and ended up defining politics as dealing specifically with loka and samsara, as is commonly done by Burmese speakers and political leaders generally (See, for example, the Burmese biography of Ne Win).
Aung San condemned selfishness in politics (in particular the magical variety of loki pyinya that top army echelons seek today) and was well aware of the critical role of the monastic order in stabilizing society. This is why Aung San called for monks to preach unity and dispense metta as the 'highest form of politics."
This is indeed what the monks did on this occasion, namely to go out onto the streets reciting the Metta Sutta, sending loving-kindness to everyone, including soldiers. The Buddha recommended reciting the Metta Sutta en masse for situations in which peaceful Buddhist practice is threatened. So what the monks did was not a political protest, but simply a quiet and peaceful assertion of their right to return to the normalcy of their Buddhist practice without interference for the benefit of everyone.
Aung San said that monks work for the benefit of both this mundane existence (loki) and the supramundane (lokuttara), which makes nonsense of the regime’s recent threat against monks "interfering" in the loka affairs of ordinary laity: since their practice is now threatened, they have a perfect right, indeed a duty, to go onto the streets en masse reciting the Metta Sutta.
Q: You often refer to loka. How does this relate to politics?
A: Yes, it takes a narrative shift to understand why the realm of politics should be conceived of in the Burmese vernacular in terms of loka and samsara. Loka refers to conditioned existence in either a particular or a general sense.
The regime has been attempting to legitimate itself within, and demonstrate its control over loka largely by means of force, magic, numerology and the pretence of possessing some superior supernatural agency, which were all condemned by Aung San.
After 1988, the regime sought to play itself up as Buddhist and embarked on reconstructing pagodas all over the country, but particularly in Pagan—an army in defence of a holy land. However, any merit they have built up restoring pagodas has now been undone by the arrest, torture and, seemingly, the killing of monks, which constitute an enormous sin in Burmese society.
Q: You say the current junta has inadvertently politicized the monks by assuming it has a monopoly over loka?
A: Aung San Suu Kyi’s politics is often characterised as Buddhist, which is generally not a point made in relation to Aung San. However, in my analysis of Aung San’s communications, I demonstrated that for Aung San to be considered secular did not mean that he abandoned Buddhist ideas in his politics the way it is widely thought. It is just that in his English communications he did not address the same sensibilities or the same audience as in his Burmese communications, which has led scholars relying on the first to oversimplify his politics.
Aung San brought into play the most valuable and complex ideas in the Burmese language to convince Burmese of the nobility of his struggle: metta, byamaso taya, loka, nibbana, samadhi, and many other terms. He conceived of, and attempted to gain respect for, his political aspirations in a vocabulary that he shared with his people and pitched this as high as he could. On the other hand, he simultaneously sought to impact the colonial regime by mastering the intricacies of the English language.
Aung San sometimes declared emphatically that politics is not about nibbana, but he also proclaimed that politics should not be dirty and encouraged people to be self-critical.
In proclaiming to have a monopoly over loka, the present military regime has politicised monks and ensured that they will surely continue to have a prominent role in Burmese politics. Does this not parallel the moment the army of Mara, realising that the Buddha’s teachings would lead all people away from his control of loka, (as subjected to the cycle of rebirth or samsara), decides to wage war on the Buddha to prevent this from happening?
Footnotes
[1] As included in Mental Culture chapter 6 – on military authority… p 159 (see also p 218):
“General Saw Maung, in his first public address on 12 September 1988, justified the SLORC's seizure of authority. Due to the unruly conditions, he said, the army was unable to ‘assist the people with cetana’. He appealed primarily to the monks, secondarily to the general population and thirdly to the army. He proclaimed that the State had agreed to conduct multi-party general elections ‘in accordance with the request made by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee Sayadaws on 10 August 1988, and in conformity with the demands made by numerous organizations’. He concluded by asking that the elections be free and fair, and that army members should not use their authority or rank to influence the elections.[FN9]
[FN9] Saw Maung (1990:5–6,13–15).
Bibliography
Aung San. Nainganyei amyo myo (Various arts of politics). (Dagon Magazine, February-March 1940/November 1948. Later published in Mya Han 1998:89-113 and Mya Han 2000:50-61.
Houtman, G. 1990. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics. ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999.
Houtman, G. Aung San’s lan-zin, the Blue Print and the Japanese occupation of Burma. Chapter 8 in Kei Nemoto (ed). Reconsidering the Japanese military occupation in Burma (1942-45). Tokyo: ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, pp 179-224 (including an English-Burmese bibliograpy of Aung San’s communications (pp 213-224).
Myá Han 1998. Bogyok Aung Saní sapei lekya [The writings of General Aung San]. Rangoon: Universities' Historical Centre, 1998. (Though published by the foremost historical research group, this has two separate censorship permissions, one for the cover and one for the text).
———. 2000. The writings of General Aung San. (Translation into English by retired Ambassador Thet Tun). Rangoon Universities’ Historical Research Centre
Saw Maung, U. 1990. State Law and Order Restoration Council Chairman commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services General Saw Maung's addresses (12.09.1988–09.01.1990). Rangoon: Ministry of Information.
by Gustaaf Houtman
November 1, 2007
Anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman's research into the origins of the Burmese military reveals that the generals' claim to legitimacy is based on false documents. Aung San, the father of the nation, saw the Sangha as having a key role in guiding the nation. The current struggle between the Sangha and the military is a fight the junta is likely to lose. Some of his publications are available at http://ghoutman.googlepages.com, His email is ghoutman@gmail.com.
Question: You say the military rulers have no legitimate title to govern Burma—why?
Answer: Every government, to rule effectively, needs a minimum of goodwill and cooperation from the population it aspires to rule. The various military regimes of Burma over the last half a century have squandered any goodwill they earned by persisting in attempting to legitimize themselves—not by means of elections—but by sheer force and by projecting the "desire of the people" framed within a hollow account of the role of the army as central to Burma’s history.
The army is caught up in a network of lies of their own making. They tolerate no dissent and have silenced intellectual life. Instead of holding them to account, it is disappointing to see how inaccuracies are being perpetuated as history, sometimes even by reputable, well-meaning academics.
Q: Why is Aung San so important to the Burmese people?
A: Aung San is a hero-martyr widely revered in Burma as particularly astute and effective in wrestling national independence from the British and from the Japanese. The nation celebrates episodes in his life through national holidays and his image used to be on every banknote. Even today, six decades after his assassination, we see Aung San’s image carried by protestors. Because his personality is of such mythical proportions, the army turned him into a myth of their own in order to justify military rule.
Q: In your book Mental Culture you say Aung San's legacy was manipulated by the army and challenged by his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi.
A: Yes, I argued that Aung San’s popular legacy was a unifying factor for successive political parties and governments right from immediately before national independence in 1948 until 1990, when the rumour spread that Aung San’s image on a new banknote had been doctored to look like Aung San Suu Kyi’s. Because his personality is of such mythical proportions, the army turned him into a myth of their own in order to justify military rule.
Once Aung San Suu Kyi challenged the military over their interpretation of her father, however, the search was on for a substitute unifying symbol, preferably impersonal and so easier to control.
The army replaced Aung San with a hastily cobbled together idea of national culture: we have seen a large-scale program of Myanmafication, including an invented state-sponsored idea of Myanmar culture (yes, in the singular) under the post-88 military regimes.
Aung San’s image on the banknotes was substituted with impersonal objects: notes brought into circulation after 1990 have Aung San replaced by the chinthe, the mythical lion guardian at the foot of pagodas, which is also used as the symbol of the dreaded Union Solidarity Association (USDA) and army units. Anyone who does not support the army wholeheartedly risks molestation by the USDA.
To justify this state of affairs, falsification of history has taken place on a grand scale. Whole populations are being displaced and Pagan and other historical sites have now been irretrievably destroyed.
Q: In a chapter entitled "Aung San’s Way: The Blue Print and the Japanese Occupation of Burma" you say his popular image was subverted by the military to serve its own interest. What is your evidence for this?
A: The army that is in control of Burma today traces itself back to Aung San’s first visit to Japan between January and February 1940, where the army was founded. This period is of considerable historical significance. After Aung San found himself stranded in Taiwan in search of support from the Chinese for help in the struggle for national independence, he was then smuggled into Japan unofficially by a renegade intelligence-led faction under Col Suzuki without support from the Japanese Imperial army.
Since secrecy was of the essence at the time, There are not many formal historical documents left regarding the founding of the Burmese army. One document, however, has been widely proclaimed as Aung San’s from that period, namely "The Blue Print for a Free Burma." This is claimed not just by the regime, but even by some academics recently. It is usually referred to as an example of how Aung San Suu Kyi could only have misjudged her father’s politics: namely, where it is asserted that Burma needs to set aside parliament in favour of authoritarian one-party rule. This document clearly subverts Aung San Suu Kyi’s claims to follow up on the true political intentions of her father that she claims the army has misrepresented.
However, this document is falsely attributed to Aung San. It was not composed by Aung San at all, but by this intelligence-led faction for the purpose of gaining support from the Imperial Japanese army.
The Blue Print first came to be attributed to Aung San under the machinations of Dr Maung Maung, who was behind its first publication in 1957 in the Rangoon-based Guardian (of which he was a founding editor) long after the Japanese occupation was over, and long after Aung San had been assassinated.
Its publication took place at a time when the army was developing a program of psychological warfare operations to influence and gain control over public opinion.
Aung San, however, had asserted a firm denial of ever writing down his own plan while in Japan, saying instead that Col Suzuki dictated a plan which he then asked Aung San to write down in his own handwriting. Aung San said he never knew what happened to the document.
It is a tragedy that a military regime so proud of indigenous heritage should proclaim to be inspired by documents written by the WWII foreign occupiers of Burma that Aung San had worked so hard to eject.
Q: So you are saying the military's rule since 1962 has been illegitimate?
A: Well, this is just one instance of deliberate falsification of a critically important episode in the biography of Aung San, and of a critically important moment in national history, both of which have been rewritten to favour military rule. What the army cites in its favour turns out to be a document that prepares for a Japanese invasion of Burma.
That such blatant lies are permitted to carry through from propaganda into scholarship and then into the historical record are a matter of concern: how many more such falsifications are there? As I have pointed out, the army has persisted with the Blue Print even after its first publication in 1957 and with a substantively different variant published in the army’s official record in Burmese in 1998, which eliminated, among other things, centrality of the Japanese to Burmese affairs and condemnation of the monarchy.
Scholars must dig much deeper and assess what the army has presented as history. This is difficult because the regime limits access to scholars favourably disposed towards them. It is disturbing that even reputable intellectuals uncritically circulate lies such as these because it undermines the calls for democratic reform in and effectively legitimates the regime.
Q: If Aung San was not in favour of authoritarian rule, what did he support?
A: Aung San did not envisage the army at the centre of the political order. The army has falsely used Aung San to legitimate themselves in history politically. As I have argued elsewhere, Aung San originally aimed for socialism, but after the Japanese occupation he called for democracy first.
Q: You are on record that the monastic order is the only Burmese institution that remains independent from, and to a certain extent ungovernable by, the military regime. Why should this be so?
A: The Buddhist liberation rhetoric that underlay the anti-colonial struggle back in the first half of the 20th century resurfaces during crises. Monks continue to have an influence on the regime, if only because soldiers' wives seek merit and protection for their husbands. Also, once the 1990 elections were over, the regime stalled in handing over power to the NLD, to which monks responded by offering to host the first democratic parliament since 1962 in one of their monasteries.
Today, after eliminating so heavy-handedly all civil opposition, only monks remain with any sense of organizational independence—resulting in direct conflict. I am not sure how many monks are among those who have been quietly cremated by the regime recently, but The idea that the country can ever be governed or developed by an army so cruel and so out of touch with the people suggest to me that their position is becoming untenable.
Q: But surely, secular politicians, such as Aung San, never approved of Buddhism as a political instrument?
A: Approving of Buddhism as a political instrument is one thing: understanding by means of Buddhist concepts how disorder arises and order may be established, and what kind of political intervention might be necessary, are another.
To proclaim that Buddhism here serves as a political instrument would be to grossly oversimplify what has been going on. In raising fuel prices to unaffordable levels, the regime has made it impossible for the laity to support Buddhist monastic practice and so has politicised Buddhism.
In his essay on "Various Kinds of Politics," Aung San describes how politics was invented by human beings so as to contain deterioration in the social order caused by the arising of mental defilements and selfish behaviour.
Here elimination of mental defilements by Buddhist practice is simply another way of resolving disorder. Indeed such practice is characterized as prior to politics: so the presence of successfully practicing monks are broadly seen as ensuring necessary conditions for people to respond to political measures. The first king was elected by the people for his good morality, concentration and understanding (indeed he was characterised as a Buddha-to-be), so that he could intervene wisely in any disorder that arises from our conditioned lives in loka or samsara (i.e. by helping contain the worst excesses produced by our mental imperfections that lock us into the cycle of rebirth).
Aung San looked at these notions and ended up defining politics as dealing specifically with loka and samsara, as is commonly done by Burmese speakers and political leaders generally (See, for example, the Burmese biography of Ne Win).
Aung San condemned selfishness in politics (in particular the magical variety of loki pyinya that top army echelons seek today) and was well aware of the critical role of the monastic order in stabilizing society. This is why Aung San called for monks to preach unity and dispense metta as the 'highest form of politics."
This is indeed what the monks did on this occasion, namely to go out onto the streets reciting the Metta Sutta, sending loving-kindness to everyone, including soldiers. The Buddha recommended reciting the Metta Sutta en masse for situations in which peaceful Buddhist practice is threatened. So what the monks did was not a political protest, but simply a quiet and peaceful assertion of their right to return to the normalcy of their Buddhist practice without interference for the benefit of everyone.
Aung San said that monks work for the benefit of both this mundane existence (loki) and the supramundane (lokuttara), which makes nonsense of the regime’s recent threat against monks "interfering" in the loka affairs of ordinary laity: since their practice is now threatened, they have a perfect right, indeed a duty, to go onto the streets en masse reciting the Metta Sutta.
Q: You often refer to loka. How does this relate to politics?
A: Yes, it takes a narrative shift to understand why the realm of politics should be conceived of in the Burmese vernacular in terms of loka and samsara. Loka refers to conditioned existence in either a particular or a general sense.
The regime has been attempting to legitimate itself within, and demonstrate its control over loka largely by means of force, magic, numerology and the pretence of possessing some superior supernatural agency, which were all condemned by Aung San.
After 1988, the regime sought to play itself up as Buddhist and embarked on reconstructing pagodas all over the country, but particularly in Pagan—an army in defence of a holy land. However, any merit they have built up restoring pagodas has now been undone by the arrest, torture and, seemingly, the killing of monks, which constitute an enormous sin in Burmese society.
Q: You say the current junta has inadvertently politicized the monks by assuming it has a monopoly over loka?
A: Aung San Suu Kyi’s politics is often characterised as Buddhist, which is generally not a point made in relation to Aung San. However, in my analysis of Aung San’s communications, I demonstrated that for Aung San to be considered secular did not mean that he abandoned Buddhist ideas in his politics the way it is widely thought. It is just that in his English communications he did not address the same sensibilities or the same audience as in his Burmese communications, which has led scholars relying on the first to oversimplify his politics.
Aung San brought into play the most valuable and complex ideas in the Burmese language to convince Burmese of the nobility of his struggle: metta, byamaso taya, loka, nibbana, samadhi, and many other terms. He conceived of, and attempted to gain respect for, his political aspirations in a vocabulary that he shared with his people and pitched this as high as he could. On the other hand, he simultaneously sought to impact the colonial regime by mastering the intricacies of the English language.
Aung San sometimes declared emphatically that politics is not about nibbana, but he also proclaimed that politics should not be dirty and encouraged people to be self-critical.
In proclaiming to have a monopoly over loka, the present military regime has politicised monks and ensured that they will surely continue to have a prominent role in Burmese politics. Does this not parallel the moment the army of Mara, realising that the Buddha’s teachings would lead all people away from his control of loka, (as subjected to the cycle of rebirth or samsara), decides to wage war on the Buddha to prevent this from happening?
Footnotes
[1] As included in Mental Culture chapter 6 – on military authority… p 159 (see also p 218):
“General Saw Maung, in his first public address on 12 September 1988, justified the SLORC's seizure of authority. Due to the unruly conditions, he said, the army was unable to ‘assist the people with cetana’. He appealed primarily to the monks, secondarily to the general population and thirdly to the army. He proclaimed that the State had agreed to conduct multi-party general elections ‘in accordance with the request made by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee Sayadaws on 10 August 1988, and in conformity with the demands made by numerous organizations’. He concluded by asking that the elections be free and fair, and that army members should not use their authority or rank to influence the elections.[FN9]
[FN9] Saw Maung (1990:5–6,13–15).
Bibliography
Aung San. Nainganyei amyo myo (Various arts of politics). (Dagon Magazine, February-March 1940/November 1948. Later published in Mya Han 1998:89-113 and Mya Han 2000:50-61.
Houtman, G. 1990. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics. ILCAA Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa Monograph Series 33, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 1999.
Houtman, G. Aung San’s lan-zin, the Blue Print and the Japanese occupation of Burma. Chapter 8 in Kei Nemoto (ed). Reconsidering the Japanese military occupation in Burma (1942-45). Tokyo: ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, pp 179-224 (including an English-Burmese bibliograpy of Aung San’s communications (pp 213-224).
Myá Han 1998. Bogyok Aung Saní sapei lekya [The writings of General Aung San]. Rangoon: Universities' Historical Centre, 1998. (Though published by the foremost historical research group, this has two separate censorship permissions, one for the cover and one for the text).
———. 2000. The writings of General Aung San. (Translation into English by retired Ambassador Thet Tun). Rangoon Universities’ Historical Research Centre
Saw Maung, U. 1990. State Law and Order Restoration Council Chairman commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services General Saw Maung's addresses (12.09.1988–09.01.1990). Rangoon: Ministry of Information.
သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား ဆက္လက္ကံေဆာင္ေနဆဲ
Irrawaddy
ကိုသက္ | ႏို၀င္ဘာ ၁၉၊ ၂၀၀၇
ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံလံုးဆိုင္ရာ သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီးက နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရအား ၀ိနည္းေတာ္ႏွင့္အညီ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨန ကံေဆာင္ ျခင္းကို ဆက္လက္လုပ္ေဆာင္ေနေၾကာင္း ေၾကညာလိုက္သည္။
ယမန္ေန႔ကထုတ္ျပန္သည့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံလံုးဆိုင္ရာ သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ကံေဆာင္ျခင္း ၂ လျပည့္ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္တြင္ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ကံေဆာင္ေနဆဲျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းကို ေၾကညာလိုက္ျခင္းျဖစ္ၿပီး သာသနာႏွင့္ ျပည္သူ မ်ား၏ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးအတြက္ အၾကမ္းမဖက္သည့္နည္းျဖင့္ ေမတၱာပို႔ ပရိတ္႐ြတ္ပြဲမ်ားကို ဆက္လက္ျပဳလုပ္မည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ကိုလည္း ေၾကညာထားသည္။
သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီးက ႏိုင္ငံတကာသို႔ေရာက္ရွိေနသည့္ ျမန္မာရဟန္းေတာ္မ်ားျဖင့္ဖြဲ႔စည္းထားသည့္ သံဃာ့ ဥေသွ်ာင္အဖြဲ႔ကိုလည္း ႀကိဳဆိုေထာက္ခံလိုက္သည္။
သံဃာတပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ ဦးေဆာင္သံဃာတပါးျဖစ္သည့္ ဦးပညာေဇာတက “ႏိုင္ငံတကာက ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစု ေတြနဲ႔ သံဃာ့ဥေသွ်ာင္အဖြဲ႔အေနနဲ႔ ကုလသမဂၢ အပါအ၀င္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာအစိုးရေတြကို ျမန္မာျပည္ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးေရး လမ္းေၾကာင္းေပၚေရာက္လာေအာင္ တိက်ခိုင္မာၿပီး လက္ေတြ႔က်တဲ့ အေရးယူေဆာင္႐ြက္မႈ ေတြ အျမန္ဆံုး အေကာင္ အထည္ေပၚလာေအာင္ ေဆာင္႐ြက္ေပးဖို႔ လိုအပ္ပါတယ္” ဟု ဧရာ၀တီကို မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
အာဏာပိုင္တို႔က လိုက္လံဖမ္းဆီးမႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ေဒသအသီးသီးတြင္ေရွာင္တိမ္းေနရသည့္ သံဃာမ်ားအေနျဖင့္ မိမိတို႔ ေရာက္ရွိရာေဒသရွိ အမ်ားအက်ိဳးေဆာင္႐ြက္လိုၾကသည့္ လူငယ္မ်ားအားစုစည္းကာ အေၾကာက္တရားမ်ား ကိန္းေအာင္း ေနသည့္ ျပည္သူမ်ား ႏိုင္ငံေရးစိတ္ဓာတ္မ်ားႏိုးၾကားလာရန္ႏွင့္ စက္တင္ဘာလႈပ္ရွားမႈမ်ိဳး ေနာက္တႀကိမ္ေပၚေပါက္ရန္ အတြက္ စည္း႐ံုးမႈမ်ားလိုအပ္သည္ဟုလည္း ဦးပညာေဇာတက ေျပာသည္။
သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္တြင္ “အခ်ိဳ႕ေသာေက်ာင္းတိုက္ရွိ ဆရာေတာ္မ်ားသည္ နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရ၏ ဖိအားေပးအက်ပ္ကိုင္ ၿခိမ္းေျခာက္ခံရမႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ကထိန္ပြဲႏွင့္ သာေရးနာေရး ကိစၥရပ္မ်ားကို ၀ိနည္းေတာ္ ႏွင့္မညီေသာ္လည္း မတတ္သာ၍ လက္ခံေနၾကရပါသည္” ဟု ေဖာ္ျပထားသည္။
စက္တင္ဘာလဆန္းပိုင္းက ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းစြာ ေမတၱာပို႔ လမ္းေလွ်ာက္ခဲ့ၾကသည့္ ပခုကၠဴၿမိဳ႕မွ သံဃာမ်ားကို အာဏာပိုင္တို႔က အၾကမ္းဖက္႐ိုက္ႏွက္ေသာေၾကာင့္ ၎လုပ္ရပ္အား စက္တင္ဘာ ၁၈ ရက္ေန႔ ေနာက္ဆံုး ထားၿပီး တရား၀င္ ၀န္ခ် ေတာင္းပန္ရန္ သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီးက စစ္အစိုးရအား ရာဇသံေပးခဲ့သည္။
သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား၏ေတာင္းဆိုခ်က္ကို စစ္အစိုးရက လ်စ္လ်ဴ႐ႈခဲ့ေသာေၾကာင့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံတ၀န္း ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨန ကံေဆာင္ ပြဲမ်ား ေပၚေပါက္ခဲ့သည္။ ၎ကံေဆာင္ပြဲမ်ားမွတဆင့္ ျပည္သူတရပ္လံုး ပူးေပါင္းပါ၀င္သည့္ ဆႏၵျပပြဲမ်ားေပၚေပါက္ခဲ့ရာ စစ္အစိုးရက ထပ္မံအၾကမ္းဖက္ ၿဖိဳခြင္းခဲ့သည္။
သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္တြင္ စစ္အစိုးရက ရဟန္းရွင္လူမ်ားအား ဆက္လက္ဖမ္းဆီး ေနျခင္း၊ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားကို တရားခံမ်ားျဖစ္ေစရန္ သက္ေသခံအတုမ်ားျဖင့္ မတရားစြပ္စြဲေျပာဆိုျခင္းႏွင့္ သာသနာပိုင္ေျမမ်ားတြင္ စစ္တပ္စြဲျခင္းတို႔အား ကန္႔ကြက္႐ႈတ္ခ်လိုက္သည္။
ကိုသက္ | ႏို၀င္ဘာ ၁၉၊ ၂၀၀၇
ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံလံုးဆိုင္ရာ သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီးက နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရအား ၀ိနည္းေတာ္ႏွင့္အညီ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨန ကံေဆာင္ ျခင္းကို ဆက္လက္လုပ္ေဆာင္ေနေၾကာင္း ေၾကညာလိုက္သည္။
ယမန္ေန႔ကထုတ္ျပန္သည့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံလံုးဆိုင္ရာ သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ကံေဆာင္ျခင္း ၂ လျပည့္ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္တြင္ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ကံေဆာင္ေနဆဲျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းကို ေၾကညာလိုက္ျခင္းျဖစ္ၿပီး သာသနာႏွင့္ ျပည္သူ မ်ား၏ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးအတြက္ အၾကမ္းမဖက္သည့္နည္းျဖင့္ ေမတၱာပို႔ ပရိတ္႐ြတ္ပြဲမ်ားကို ဆက္လက္ျပဳလုပ္မည္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ကိုလည္း ေၾကညာထားသည္။
သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီးက ႏိုင္ငံတကာသို႔ေရာက္ရွိေနသည့္ ျမန္မာရဟန္းေတာ္မ်ားျဖင့္ဖြဲ႔စည္းထားသည့္ သံဃာ့ ဥေသွ်ာင္အဖြဲ႔ကိုလည္း ႀကိဳဆိုေထာက္ခံလိုက္သည္။
သံဃာတပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ ဦးေဆာင္သံဃာတပါးျဖစ္သည့္ ဦးပညာေဇာတက “ႏိုင္ငံတကာက ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစု ေတြနဲ႔ သံဃာ့ဥေသွ်ာင္အဖြဲ႔အေနနဲ႔ ကုလသမဂၢ အပါအ၀င္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာအစိုးရေတြကို ျမန္မာျပည္ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးေရး လမ္းေၾကာင္းေပၚေရာက္လာေအာင္ တိက်ခိုင္မာၿပီး လက္ေတြ႔က်တဲ့ အေရးယူေဆာင္႐ြက္မႈ ေတြ အျမန္ဆံုး အေကာင္ အထည္ေပၚလာေအာင္ ေဆာင္႐ြက္ေပးဖို႔ လိုအပ္ပါတယ္” ဟု ဧရာ၀တီကို မိန္႔ၾကားသည္။
အာဏာပိုင္တို႔က လိုက္လံဖမ္းဆီးမႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ေဒသအသီးသီးတြင္ေရွာင္တိမ္းေနရသည့္ သံဃာမ်ားအေနျဖင့္ မိမိတို႔ ေရာက္ရွိရာေဒသရွိ အမ်ားအက်ိဳးေဆာင္႐ြက္လိုၾကသည့္ လူငယ္မ်ားအားစုစည္းကာ အေၾကာက္တရားမ်ား ကိန္းေအာင္း ေနသည့္ ျပည္သူမ်ား ႏိုင္ငံေရးစိတ္ဓာတ္မ်ားႏိုးၾကားလာရန္ႏွင့္ စက္တင္ဘာလႈပ္ရွားမႈမ်ိဳး ေနာက္တႀကိမ္ေပၚေပါက္ရန္ အတြက္ စည္း႐ံုးမႈမ်ားလိုအပ္သည္ဟုလည္း ဦးပညာေဇာတက ေျပာသည္။
သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္တြင္ “အခ်ိဳ႕ေသာေက်ာင္းတိုက္ရွိ ဆရာေတာ္မ်ားသည္ နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရ၏ ဖိအားေပးအက်ပ္ကိုင္ ၿခိမ္းေျခာက္ခံရမႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ကထိန္ပြဲႏွင့္ သာေရးနာေရး ကိစၥရပ္မ်ားကို ၀ိနည္းေတာ္ ႏွင့္မညီေသာ္လည္း မတတ္သာ၍ လက္ခံေနၾကရပါသည္” ဟု ေဖာ္ျပထားသည္။
စက္တင္ဘာလဆန္းပိုင္းက ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းစြာ ေမတၱာပို႔ လမ္းေလွ်ာက္ခဲ့ၾကသည့္ ပခုကၠဴၿမိဳ႕မွ သံဃာမ်ားကို အာဏာပိုင္တို႔က အၾကမ္းဖက္႐ိုက္ႏွက္ေသာေၾကာင့္ ၎လုပ္ရပ္အား စက္တင္ဘာ ၁၈ ရက္ေန႔ ေနာက္ဆံုး ထားၿပီး တရား၀င္ ၀န္ခ် ေတာင္းပန္ရန္ သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီးက စစ္အစိုးရအား ရာဇသံေပးခဲ့သည္။
သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား၏ေတာင္းဆိုခ်က္ကို စစ္အစိုးရက လ်စ္လ်ဴ႐ႈခဲ့ေသာေၾကာင့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံတ၀န္း ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨန ကံေဆာင္ ပြဲမ်ား ေပၚေပါက္ခဲ့သည္။ ၎ကံေဆာင္ပြဲမ်ားမွတဆင့္ ျပည္သူတရပ္လံုး ပူးေပါင္းပါ၀င္သည့္ ဆႏၵျပပြဲမ်ားေပၚေပါက္ခဲ့ရာ စစ္အစိုးရက ထပ္မံအၾကမ္းဖက္ ၿဖိဳခြင္းခဲ့သည္။
သံဃာ့တပ္ေပါင္းစုအဖြဲ႔ႀကီး၏ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္တြင္ စစ္အစိုးရက ရဟန္းရွင္လူမ်ားအား ဆက္လက္ဖမ္းဆီး ေနျခင္း၊ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားကို တရားခံမ်ားျဖစ္ေစရန္ သက္ေသခံအတုမ်ားျဖင့္ မတရားစြပ္စြဲေျပာဆိုျခင္းႏွင့္ သာသနာပိုင္ေျမမ်ားတြင္ စစ္တပ္စြဲျခင္းတို႔အား ကန္႔ကြက္႐ႈတ္ခ်လိုက္သည္။
How Many Monks were Killed in the Pro-democracy Uprising?
Irrawaddy
by Saw Yan Naing
November 19, 2007
The death of an abbot, the Ven. U Thilavantha of Yuzana Kyaunghtai Monastery in Myitkyina, is the most recent evidence of monks who sacrificed their lives for the pro-democracy uprising, renewing the question: How many monks died as a result of the demonstrations?
A Sri Lanka-educated Buddhist scholar, U Thilavantha who served as teacher to about 200 student monks, was arrested on September 25. He died in Myitkyina Hospital on September 26 from injuries he received when he was beaten by soldiers and security forces, according to Thailand’s Mae Sot-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
However, authorities forced a pathologist to record the cause of death as heart disease, said the AAPP.
The regime's newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, earlier reported that 10 protesters were killed in the demonstrations and that no monks were hurt.
However, the generals recently told UN human rights investigator, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, that 15 demonstrators were killed during the September crackdown.
The AAPP says that so far it has confirmed 18 protesters died during the crackdown, based on information it has recorded, including names, age, parent's names, arrest dates, date of death and addresses.
Aung Kyaw Oo of the AAPP said, “In our confirmed list, about 70 monks are now being detained, one is missing and one has died so far. But, we estimate that around 100 protestors, including about 10 monks, were killed.”
Aung Kyaw Oo said information about the number of monks killed in Rangoon and elsewhere is sketchy and usually impossible to confirm with Burmese authorities.
“We have information, but it is hard if we ask for confirmation. Witnesses saw three dead bodies of monks floating in a river in Rangoon that were secretly taken away by authorities,” said Aung Kyaw Oo.
According to sources contacted by him, he said at least three monks from monasteries in Rangoon’s Thaketa Township were killed when authorities raided the monasteries on September 30.
Recently, an Arakanese monk, U Sandawara of Aung Dhamma Pala Monastery in New Dagon Township, was beaten and taken away by military-backed thugs, members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, on November 15 when they raided the monastery.
However, despite the continuing crackdown on monks, the All Burma Monks Alliance released a statement on Sunday saying it will continue its alms boycott against the military government.
Many monks throughout the country are currently enforcing a patta ni kozana kan, refusing to accept alms from members of the armed forces and their supporters, the statement said.
by Saw Yan Naing
November 19, 2007
The death of an abbot, the Ven. U Thilavantha of Yuzana Kyaunghtai Monastery in Myitkyina, is the most recent evidence of monks who sacrificed their lives for the pro-democracy uprising, renewing the question: How many monks died as a result of the demonstrations?
A Sri Lanka-educated Buddhist scholar, U Thilavantha who served as teacher to about 200 student monks, was arrested on September 25. He died in Myitkyina Hospital on September 26 from injuries he received when he was beaten by soldiers and security forces, according to Thailand’s Mae Sot-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
However, authorities forced a pathologist to record the cause of death as heart disease, said the AAPP.
The regime's newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, earlier reported that 10 protesters were killed in the demonstrations and that no monks were hurt.
However, the generals recently told UN human rights investigator, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, that 15 demonstrators were killed during the September crackdown.
The AAPP says that so far it has confirmed 18 protesters died during the crackdown, based on information it has recorded, including names, age, parent's names, arrest dates, date of death and addresses.
Aung Kyaw Oo of the AAPP said, “In our confirmed list, about 70 monks are now being detained, one is missing and one has died so far. But, we estimate that around 100 protestors, including about 10 monks, were killed.”
Aung Kyaw Oo said information about the number of monks killed in Rangoon and elsewhere is sketchy and usually impossible to confirm with Burmese authorities.
“We have information, but it is hard if we ask for confirmation. Witnesses saw three dead bodies of monks floating in a river in Rangoon that were secretly taken away by authorities,” said Aung Kyaw Oo.
According to sources contacted by him, he said at least three monks from monasteries in Rangoon’s Thaketa Township were killed when authorities raided the monasteries on September 30.
Recently, an Arakanese monk, U Sandawara of Aung Dhamma Pala Monastery in New Dagon Township, was beaten and taken away by military-backed thugs, members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, on November 15 when they raided the monastery.
However, despite the continuing crackdown on monks, the All Burma Monks Alliance released a statement on Sunday saying it will continue its alms boycott against the military government.
Many monks throughout the country are currently enforcing a patta ni kozana kan, refusing to accept alms from members of the armed forces and their supporters, the statement said.
Monks vow to continue junta boycott
Nov 19, 2007 (DVB)–The All-Burmese Monks’ Alliance released a statement yesterday saying they would continue to boycott the military regime and urging the public to join them in protesting against the junta.
The statement was released yesterday to mark the second month since the monks’ boycott of the government began, in which they have refused to accept alms from government officials and supporters.
They condemned the violent treatment of monks by the regime, and vowed to continue to march against the government, and called on students and civilians in the country to join them.
The group also welcomed the formation of the International Burmese Monks Organisation, a new group set up in the US on 28 October by monks from all around the world.
The statement said the alliance would cooperate with the new international group to fight for their nation and their religion.
They also welcomed the statement from detained democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which was read by United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on 8 November.
Reporting by DVB
The statement was released yesterday to mark the second month since the monks’ boycott of the government began, in which they have refused to accept alms from government officials and supporters.
They condemned the violent treatment of monks by the regime, and vowed to continue to march against the government, and called on students and civilians in the country to join them.
The group also welcomed the formation of the International Burmese Monks Organisation, a new group set up in the US on 28 October by monks from all around the world.
The statement said the alliance would cooperate with the new international group to fight for their nation and their religion.
They also welcomed the statement from detained democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which was read by United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on 8 November.
Reporting by DVB
Monday, November 19, 2007
Seeking Refuge
S.H.A.N.
By: Withaya Huanok and William Laurie
“Are you here for sightseeing?” inquired the saffron-robed monk in a fluent blend of central and northern Thai, as he shuffled into the village temple. He appeared to be in his late 20s and his query was accompanied by a broad, knowing smile. Few tourists visit the border town of Lak Taeng for simply sightseeing. Lak Taeng was a major entry point for civilians who fled persecution and abuses at home in Shan State.
“When the Burmese army came, some of us tried to stay behind to look after our rice, our chickens, our pigs,” one resident recounted to me on my first visit several years ago. “However, they took them anyways, arrested the young men, beat them. Some of them were killed and we eventually had to flee with nothing.”
The idyllic setting belies the circumstances which gave rise to this community. The morning mists had just lifted, unveiling verdant hills which stretched as far as the eye could see, many with orderly rows of fruit and tea trees, the bedrock of the local economy. Where the orderly rows ended was where Burma began.
The temple in which we sat was a simple structure, the wind rustling through the thatched roof and woven strips of bamboo that formed the walls. Intermittent holes in the thatch cast sunbeams onto the plastic reed mats covering the cement floor, while a dozen gilded Buddha images gazed down placidly from a small altar. The monk was inquisitive, asking where we were from, what we did.
“Would you like some tea?” he offered, gesturing at a jug and several mugs, neatly arranged on a plastic tray. “We grow this here, it was just picked. They grow it just behind this hill, fresh green tea,” he explained, his right arm languidly gesturing off to the side.
Soon another monk appeared, a thin, older man in his early 40s, breathing heavily, his face covered with a sheen of perspiration. “I just walked here over the hills,” he explained, a sheepish grin on his face.
After another round of re-introductions, our conversation soon shifted to the recent and ongoing crackdowns in Burma. “I am from the other side,” admitted the younger monk. After a brief pause, he elaborated, “from Shan State. My home was in Mongkeung, near Kunhing. I came to Thailand ten years ago. For us, Thailand[1] really is the land of the free,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
Central Shan State, particularly Kunhing, suffered the brunt of the SPDC’s mass relocation program, initiated in 1996, a policy accompanied by widespread human rights abuses against civilians. A 2003 report by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) entitled Charting the Exodus from Shan State, found that of the 664 extrajudicial killings in 1997 reported to the SHRF, 314 occurred in Kunhing alone, and the highest number of refugees fleeing Shan State also came from this township.[2]
“Back home, when I was growing up, all we ever knew of was fear, intimidation, killing. We were always on the run from the Burmese soldiers. Whenever we heard they were coming, we would move. Our whole village was forced to move; it was destroyed by the Burmese army. When Burmese soldiers got to villages, all they’d find were old people and women. The young men were gone because we knew that if we were found, they would suspect us of helping the Shan soldiers. I was 19 when we finally fled to Thailand; we came here because everyone else was also fleeing for Thailand.”
The older monk, now somber, reached into a nearby tray and picked up a piece of paper, holding it up for us. It was a photocopy of a picture of a young monk, his name, Ven. Ain Daga, printed under the picture.
“He was my friend. We were once at the same temple near Kunhing. We used to go everywhere together; he was a very good teacher, a gifted speaker. He went all over, teaching about Buddhism, often to the villages in the jungles, very rural areas. In 1996, Khun Sa surrendered and the Burmese army came to our town. They were brutal because one of the first places Yord Serk came to after he left [the Mongtai Army] and refused to surrender was to Kunhing. The Burmese arrested and tortured anyone they suspected of helping him.”
The monk pointed at the picture, adding, “because he frequently traveled to rural areas, outside the city, they suspected him. At midnight, they came to his temple. At first, they were friendly, drinking tea and chatting with him in Burmese. Then they invited him to go with them. He was taken to the nearby army base; we only know because a villager living near [the base] saw this. When they dragged him off the army truck, he had been tied so tightly that he couldn’t even walk. They dragged him into the base. Then the screams started. The neighbors also heard the sounds as they beat him, stomped on him with their heavy boots. Three days later, the villager saw them drag him out and load him into an army truck; he had been badly beaten, his face was all swollen. He was never heard from again; no one ever found the body.”
He paused, the silence interrupted by the occasional clucking of chickens foraging just beyond the walls of the temple. In the distance, an occasional whine of a motorcycle attempting to negotiate the hills echoed.
“In Burma, monks have to be approved before they can teach, preach to the people,” the older monk added. “When you apply, they check your background; if you have been involved in politics, they will deny you permission. If your history is ‘clean’ then it’s okay. But monks have always been active in social change in Burma. Two monks, U Ottama and U Wisara, are both national heroes for speaking out against British colonialism, calling for independence for Burma. Both were imprisoned; U Wisara went on a hunger strike for 166 days, taking only water before finally dying in prison. They ignited an independence movement, a national political movement. Now they [the SPDC] say that politics is against the vinaya [monastic code]; monks cannot get involved in politics. If they do, the government can arrest, defrock, and even murder them.”
He paused momentarily, his face was now drawn as he gazed outside at the hills, towards Shan State. “Before, the monks were the only ones who could talk back to the military. Now you see that we can’t even do that.”
[1] Thailand or Muang Thai in Thai means land of the free. The name was officially changed from Siam to Thailand in 1939.
[2] For more information, please see Shan Human Rights Foundation, Charting the Exodus from Shan State: Patterns of Shan Refugee Flow into Northern Chiang Mai Province of Thailand 1997-2002.
By: Withaya Huanok and William Laurie
“Are you here for sightseeing?” inquired the saffron-robed monk in a fluent blend of central and northern Thai, as he shuffled into the village temple. He appeared to be in his late 20s and his query was accompanied by a broad, knowing smile. Few tourists visit the border town of Lak Taeng for simply sightseeing. Lak Taeng was a major entry point for civilians who fled persecution and abuses at home in Shan State.
“When the Burmese army came, some of us tried to stay behind to look after our rice, our chickens, our pigs,” one resident recounted to me on my first visit several years ago. “However, they took them anyways, arrested the young men, beat them. Some of them were killed and we eventually had to flee with nothing.”
The idyllic setting belies the circumstances which gave rise to this community. The morning mists had just lifted, unveiling verdant hills which stretched as far as the eye could see, many with orderly rows of fruit and tea trees, the bedrock of the local economy. Where the orderly rows ended was where Burma began.
The temple in which we sat was a simple structure, the wind rustling through the thatched roof and woven strips of bamboo that formed the walls. Intermittent holes in the thatch cast sunbeams onto the plastic reed mats covering the cement floor, while a dozen gilded Buddha images gazed down placidly from a small altar. The monk was inquisitive, asking where we were from, what we did.
“Would you like some tea?” he offered, gesturing at a jug and several mugs, neatly arranged on a plastic tray. “We grow this here, it was just picked. They grow it just behind this hill, fresh green tea,” he explained, his right arm languidly gesturing off to the side.
Soon another monk appeared, a thin, older man in his early 40s, breathing heavily, his face covered with a sheen of perspiration. “I just walked here over the hills,” he explained, a sheepish grin on his face.
After another round of re-introductions, our conversation soon shifted to the recent and ongoing crackdowns in Burma. “I am from the other side,” admitted the younger monk. After a brief pause, he elaborated, “from Shan State. My home was in Mongkeung, near Kunhing. I came to Thailand ten years ago. For us, Thailand[1] really is the land of the free,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
Central Shan State, particularly Kunhing, suffered the brunt of the SPDC’s mass relocation program, initiated in 1996, a policy accompanied by widespread human rights abuses against civilians. A 2003 report by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) entitled Charting the Exodus from Shan State, found that of the 664 extrajudicial killings in 1997 reported to the SHRF, 314 occurred in Kunhing alone, and the highest number of refugees fleeing Shan State also came from this township.[2]
“Back home, when I was growing up, all we ever knew of was fear, intimidation, killing. We were always on the run from the Burmese soldiers. Whenever we heard they were coming, we would move. Our whole village was forced to move; it was destroyed by the Burmese army. When Burmese soldiers got to villages, all they’d find were old people and women. The young men were gone because we knew that if we were found, they would suspect us of helping the Shan soldiers. I was 19 when we finally fled to Thailand; we came here because everyone else was also fleeing for Thailand.”
The older monk, now somber, reached into a nearby tray and picked up a piece of paper, holding it up for us. It was a photocopy of a picture of a young monk, his name, Ven. Ain Daga, printed under the picture.
“He was my friend. We were once at the same temple near Kunhing. We used to go everywhere together; he was a very good teacher, a gifted speaker. He went all over, teaching about Buddhism, often to the villages in the jungles, very rural areas. In 1996, Khun Sa surrendered and the Burmese army came to our town. They were brutal because one of the first places Yord Serk came to after he left [the Mongtai Army] and refused to surrender was to Kunhing. The Burmese arrested and tortured anyone they suspected of helping him.”
The monk pointed at the picture, adding, “because he frequently traveled to rural areas, outside the city, they suspected him. At midnight, they came to his temple. At first, they were friendly, drinking tea and chatting with him in Burmese. Then they invited him to go with them. He was taken to the nearby army base; we only know because a villager living near [the base] saw this. When they dragged him off the army truck, he had been tied so tightly that he couldn’t even walk. They dragged him into the base. Then the screams started. The neighbors also heard the sounds as they beat him, stomped on him with their heavy boots. Three days later, the villager saw them drag him out and load him into an army truck; he had been badly beaten, his face was all swollen. He was never heard from again; no one ever found the body.”
He paused, the silence interrupted by the occasional clucking of chickens foraging just beyond the walls of the temple. In the distance, an occasional whine of a motorcycle attempting to negotiate the hills echoed.
“In Burma, monks have to be approved before they can teach, preach to the people,” the older monk added. “When you apply, they check your background; if you have been involved in politics, they will deny you permission. If your history is ‘clean’ then it’s okay. But monks have always been active in social change in Burma. Two monks, U Ottama and U Wisara, are both national heroes for speaking out against British colonialism, calling for independence for Burma. Both were imprisoned; U Wisara went on a hunger strike for 166 days, taking only water before finally dying in prison. They ignited an independence movement, a national political movement. Now they [the SPDC] say that politics is against the vinaya [monastic code]; monks cannot get involved in politics. If they do, the government can arrest, defrock, and even murder them.”
He paused momentarily, his face was now drawn as he gazed outside at the hills, towards Shan State. “Before, the monks were the only ones who could talk back to the military. Now you see that we can’t even do that.”
[1] Thailand or Muang Thai in Thai means land of the free. The name was officially changed from Siam to Thailand in 1939.
[2] For more information, please see Shan Human Rights Foundation, Charting the Exodus from Shan State: Patterns of Shan Refugee Flow into Northern Chiang Mai Province of Thailand 1997-2002.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Dhamma VCDs by two well-known monks banned in Burma
November 16, Irrawaddy
Dhamma VCDs by two of Burma’s respected senior monks, which are
interpreted as critical of the junta’s brutal crackdown on the monk-led
demonstrations, have been banned by authorities, according to Rangoon
sources.
The two monks, U Nyanithara and U Kawvida, are well-known for their Dhamma
talks [Buddhist teachings] to laypeople.
“Normally all Dhamma cassette tapes or VCDs are sold at shops across the
country," said a Rangoon resident. "But we cannot buy these recent VCDs
at shops because authorities banned them. But you know it's the IT age. So
the VCDs are copied and delivered person-to-person.”
One Rangoon resident told The Irrawaddy on Friday that U Kawvida called
the Burmese junta the second "Azartathet" [Azartathet is an infamous
villain who killed his father for power in Buddhist stories]. U Kawvida
is abbot at Mizzima Gon Yee Monastery in Rangoon.
The monks' dhamma talks, recorded on VCDs, are based on classic Buddhist
stories, but the meaning of the words are interpreted by laypeople as
critical of Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the junta, in part because the talks
were given shortly after the country-wide protest demonstrations.
U Kawvida, a Buddhist PhD scholar, said in his VCD that the worst disease
is hunger, and if people are poor and hungry, it is a universal truth that
they will explore. According to one layperson who saw the VCD, the story
was saying that if a government causes people to be poor and hungry, it is
natural for people to protest and demonstrate. His most recent Dhamma
talks were in Rangoon and Magway.
Another senior monk, U Nyanithara , also known as Thitagu Sayardaw, spoke
before laypeople in Myingyan in central Burma. In his VCD, titled “The Way
of Dumb People,” he criticized people who are guided by numerology and
astrology. One layperson said the story was critical of Snr-Gen Than Shwe,
who is famous for basing important decisions on his astrologer's advice. A
second VCD is titled "The Ending of the King."
U Nyanithara openly talked about democracy in many Dhamma talks following
the 1988 uprising, and his democracy dhamma tapes were popular among
Burmese. He is active in humanitarian work and well-known for his water
supply projects, known as Thitagu Water Donations. He has helped establish
Buddhist groups in the US, Canada, Australia and in Europe.
Dhamma VCDs by two of Burma’s respected senior monks, which are
interpreted as critical of the junta’s brutal crackdown on the monk-led
demonstrations, have been banned by authorities, according to Rangoon
sources.
The two monks, U Nyanithara and U Kawvida, are well-known for their Dhamma
talks [Buddhist teachings] to laypeople.
“Normally all Dhamma cassette tapes or VCDs are sold at shops across the
country," said a Rangoon resident. "But we cannot buy these recent VCDs
at shops because authorities banned them. But you know it's the IT age. So
the VCDs are copied and delivered person-to-person.”
One Rangoon resident told The Irrawaddy on Friday that U Kawvida called
the Burmese junta the second "Azartathet" [Azartathet is an infamous
villain who killed his father for power in Buddhist stories]. U Kawvida
is abbot at Mizzima Gon Yee Monastery in Rangoon.
The monks' dhamma talks, recorded on VCDs, are based on classic Buddhist
stories, but the meaning of the words are interpreted by laypeople as
critical of Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the junta, in part because the talks
were given shortly after the country-wide protest demonstrations.
U Kawvida, a Buddhist PhD scholar, said in his VCD that the worst disease
is hunger, and if people are poor and hungry, it is a universal truth that
they will explore. According to one layperson who saw the VCD, the story
was saying that if a government causes people to be poor and hungry, it is
natural for people to protest and demonstrate. His most recent Dhamma
talks were in Rangoon and Magway.
Another senior monk, U Nyanithara , also known as Thitagu Sayardaw, spoke
before laypeople in Myingyan in central Burma. In his VCD, titled “The Way
of Dumb People,” he criticized people who are guided by numerology and
astrology. One layperson said the story was critical of Snr-Gen Than Shwe,
who is famous for basing important decisions on his astrologer's advice. A
second VCD is titled "The Ending of the King."
U Nyanithara openly talked about democracy in many Dhamma talks following
the 1988 uprising, and his democracy dhamma tapes were popular among
Burmese. He is active in humanitarian work and well-known for his water
supply projects, known as Thitagu Water Donations. He has helped establish
Buddhist groups in the US, Canada, Australia and in Europe.
Monk held after monastery raid
November 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
A monk was beaten and taken from his monastery when government officials
and supporters raided a monastery in New Dagon township yesterday,
according to a local source.
Around 150 Union Solidarity and Development Association members, township
Peace and Development Council officials and police officers raided Aung
Dhamma Pala monastery in eastern New Dagon township, according to a local
source close to the monastery.
One monk, U Sanda Wara, was beaten up and taken from the monastery, which
was then ransacked by the officials.
They took U Sanda Wara, who is an ethnic Arakan, to Kaythara Rama
monastery in nearby Lay Daung Kan village.
On their arrival at this monastery, the monks there told the government
officials to release U Sanda Wara, who is responsible for looking after
700,000 kyat in funding for full moon day festivals.
But the officials would not release the monk, and instead left him at
Kaythara Rama monastery while they went back to collect the money, also
taking some other monastery property.
When they returned to Kaythara Rama monastery, they told the monk they had
only found 200,000 kyats inside, but the monk insisted there had been
700,000, and he accused USDA and government officials of stealing the
money.
Following this argument, the monk was taken away by the authorities.
His current whereabouts are unknown, and it is not clear if he has been
charged with any offence.
Thirty-nine local monasteries have been involved in an ongoing dispute
with the authorities over land ownership in the area.
The land on which the monasteries are built was sold to them by USDA
members, but the land did not actually belong to these members and was not
theirs to sell.
Despite the payments made by the monasteries to the USDA members for the
land before the monasteries were built, the government is now saying that
they must move from the land as it does not belong to them and they were
not entitled to build there.
A monk was beaten and taken from his monastery when government officials
and supporters raided a monastery in New Dagon township yesterday,
according to a local source.
Around 150 Union Solidarity and Development Association members, township
Peace and Development Council officials and police officers raided Aung
Dhamma Pala monastery in eastern New Dagon township, according to a local
source close to the monastery.
One monk, U Sanda Wara, was beaten up and taken from the monastery, which
was then ransacked by the officials.
They took U Sanda Wara, who is an ethnic Arakan, to Kaythara Rama
monastery in nearby Lay Daung Kan village.
On their arrival at this monastery, the monks there told the government
officials to release U Sanda Wara, who is responsible for looking after
700,000 kyat in funding for full moon day festivals.
But the officials would not release the monk, and instead left him at
Kaythara Rama monastery while they went back to collect the money, also
taking some other monastery property.
When they returned to Kaythara Rama monastery, they told the monk they had
only found 200,000 kyats inside, but the monk insisted there had been
700,000, and he accused USDA and government officials of stealing the
money.
Following this argument, the monk was taken away by the authorities.
His current whereabouts are unknown, and it is not clear if he has been
charged with any offence.
Thirty-nine local monasteries have been involved in an ongoing dispute
with the authorities over land ownership in the area.
The land on which the monasteries are built was sold to them by USDA
members, but the land did not actually belong to these members and was not
theirs to sell.
Despite the payments made by the monasteries to the USDA members for the
land before the monasteries were built, the government is now saying that
they must move from the land as it does not belong to them and they were
not entitled to build there.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Leading monk charged with treason
November 15, Irrawaddy
Wai Moe
A 29 year-old leading monk in the recent mass demonstrations, U Gambira,
has been charged with treason by the Burmese junta, according to his
family. The punishment for high treason in Burma is a life sentence or
death.
His mother told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that authorities told U
Gambira’s family that he is charged with treason for his leading role in
the September mass demonstrations.
U Gambira was arrested from a hiding place in Kyaukse, central Burma, in
early November. “They [the security forces] also arrested his father at
the time,” said U Gambira’s mother.
U Gambira, leader of the Alliance of All Burma Buddhist Monks, which
played a significant role in the September demonstrations, had been in
hiding since the demonstrations were violently suppressed by the
authorities.
U Gambira was born in the town of Pauk in central Burma. He has three
brothers and one sister.
“I am very worried,” said his mother. “I am so sad for my son and my
husband. They might be tortured during interrogation. But I am proud of
him [U Gambira]. Since his childhood, my son has been active in helping
other people.”
The monk’s father, Min Lwin, is believed to be in Burma’s infamous Insein
Prison, said U Gambira’s mother.
U Gambira’s brother, Kyaw Kyaw, was also arrested in October as an
exchange while the monk was in hiding. But his brother has not been freed
since the monk’s capture. His mother and three other family members were
also detained and interrogated before he was arrested.
In October, the mother and mother-in-law of an activist, Thet Thet Aung,
were also detained as the authorities called for an exchange with the
fugitive activist. Human rights organizations claim this form of arresting
activists’ family members is simply “taking hostages.”
In the past, monk leaders have been charged with treason for their leading
roles in peaceful demonstrations. In 1989, U Kawira, a leading monk from
Mandalay, was sentenced to death for treason. He was a monk leader during
the 1988 uprising.
Wai Moe
A 29 year-old leading monk in the recent mass demonstrations, U Gambira,
has been charged with treason by the Burmese junta, according to his
family. The punishment for high treason in Burma is a life sentence or
death.
His mother told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that authorities told U
Gambira’s family that he is charged with treason for his leading role in
the September mass demonstrations.
U Gambira was arrested from a hiding place in Kyaukse, central Burma, in
early November. “They [the security forces] also arrested his father at
the time,” said U Gambira’s mother.
U Gambira, leader of the Alliance of All Burma Buddhist Monks, which
played a significant role in the September demonstrations, had been in
hiding since the demonstrations were violently suppressed by the
authorities.
U Gambira was born in the town of Pauk in central Burma. He has three
brothers and one sister.
“I am very worried,” said his mother. “I am so sad for my son and my
husband. They might be tortured during interrogation. But I am proud of
him [U Gambira]. Since his childhood, my son has been active in helping
other people.”
The monk’s father, Min Lwin, is believed to be in Burma’s infamous Insein
Prison, said U Gambira’s mother.
U Gambira’s brother, Kyaw Kyaw, was also arrested in October as an
exchange while the monk was in hiding. But his brother has not been freed
since the monk’s capture. His mother and three other family members were
also detained and interrogated before he was arrested.
In October, the mother and mother-in-law of an activist, Thet Thet Aung,
were also detained as the authorities called for an exchange with the
fugitive activist. Human rights organizations claim this form of arresting
activists’ family members is simply “taking hostages.”
In the past, monk leaders have been charged with treason for their leading
roles in peaceful demonstrations. In 1989, U Kawira, a leading monk from
Mandalay, was sentenced to death for treason. He was a monk leader during
the 1988 uprising.
Burma monks not ready to forgive
November 15, BBC News
Burma’s ruling generals have targeted Buddhist monks as they seek to
silence dissent following September’s protests. On a recent trip to the
city of Mandalay, reporter Reena Sethi was given rare access to a
monastery.
A small door in the wood-carved panelled wall creaks open to reveal a
startled monk, his maroon robe hanging loose around his waist. The door
closes again.
A minute later, the monk reappears fully dressed and gestures us to squat
on the smooth teak floor of the ancient temple. He seats himself on a
stool.
For any casual visitor it looked as if he was teaching - but he had other
things on his mind.
“As monks, we see everything. When we beg for our food we see how the rich
live and the poor… we see how everything is getting worse and worse,” he
says.
It is hard to meet a monk who is prepared to talk to foreign journalists.
Many have gone into hiding or are under guard - either in their
monasteries or in detention centres.
“More and more people struggle to give us rice. They want to, but they
have to spare it for their own mouths.”
To protest against the worsening hardship, monks took to the streets
during September in Mandalay, as they did in other towns across Burma.
When asked if the protests were over, the monk’s eyes sparkled and around
his lips flickered a mischievous smile.
“We are half-way - if nothing changes we will go on the streets again,” he
says.
Although his monastery did not join the thousands of young monks in their
street protests, he says they supported the movement, which “was very well
organised”.
‘Empty monasteries’
In contrast with Rangoon, the soldiers and government thugs in Mandalay
did not kill any monks or raid the monasteries.
“The soldiers didn’t shoot us because it is still more a community here.
We all know each other and in every family there is a monk, a soldier, a
government worker and a dissident,” the monk says.
When the security forces threatened to arrest the young monks, the abbots
gave them permission to travel, despite a religious prohibition on
travelling during Buddhist Lent.
“Of the 2,800 monks in one of the main monasteries, only 200 remain,” he
adds.
As one Rangoon-based intellectual puts it: “Never in our history have the
monasteries been so empty.”
The sense of desolation is especially acute in Mandalay, Burma’s cultural
and religious heartland, and the centre of the monastic community, or
sangha, of monks and nuns.
The most influential Buddhist universities are in and around the city and
in nearby Sagaing, across the Irrawaddy river.
The young monks from these training institutes took part in the marches.
“They are sophisticated, well informed young men - partly because of
access to the internet, partly because of foreign teachers, many of whom
are Japanese,” according to a journalist who met some of them a year ago.
They had been working for some time on a strategy to get rid of the regime
in co-operation with veterans of the abortive uprising of 1988.
The monks had been studying Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience philosophy
and the Buddhist scriptures.
One triumphantly points to a passage giving monks the obligation to
intervene when Buddhism is under threat or when rulers breach moral laws
and the people suffer too much.
In Burma’s case, as one young monk who fled to the border with Thailand
argues, all of those conditions apply.
The Buddhist clergy in Burma have served as a counter-weight to oppressive
government throughout history - a point conspicuously ignored by the
Burmese state media, which labelled the protesting clergy “bogus monks”.
Banishment call
Aware of the power of the sangha, successive military regimes have courted
the clergy, yet have attempted to diminish its influence.
The current regime, lead by Gen Than Shwe, has taken both policies to new
heights.
It has developed a role for itself, in mimicry of ancient kings, as a
religious patron.
The generals queue almost daily to offer donations and oversee openings of
new religious institutions.
In a country with as many monks as soldiers, people in the teashops joke:
“In Burma we have only two colours on our televisions - orange and green.”
Simultaneously, the government exercises control through its own council
of carefully groomed senior monks - or Sangha Nayaka.
Despite this, resistance continues to emerge. Last month, a new group, the
All Burma Monks Alliance, called for nationwide protests.
It described the junta as a “common enemy of all our citizens” that needed
to be banished from Burmese soil forever.
The ultimate sanction - the most powerful weapon the sangha has against
the regime - is to deny it merit.
The monk in the Mandalay monastery says he refuses to accept alms from the
anyone serving in the army, the police or their families.
As elsewhere, soldiers and police officers come to the monastery begging
for forgiveness for hurting the monks.
“But we can not forgive them,” the monk says.
“They have committed a capital sin and that is unforgivable.”
Burma’s ruling generals have targeted Buddhist monks as they seek to
silence dissent following September’s protests. On a recent trip to the
city of Mandalay, reporter Reena Sethi was given rare access to a
monastery.
A small door in the wood-carved panelled wall creaks open to reveal a
startled monk, his maroon robe hanging loose around his waist. The door
closes again.
A minute later, the monk reappears fully dressed and gestures us to squat
on the smooth teak floor of the ancient temple. He seats himself on a
stool.
For any casual visitor it looked as if he was teaching - but he had other
things on his mind.
“As monks, we see everything. When we beg for our food we see how the rich
live and the poor… we see how everything is getting worse and worse,” he
says.
It is hard to meet a monk who is prepared to talk to foreign journalists.
Many have gone into hiding or are under guard - either in their
monasteries or in detention centres.
“More and more people struggle to give us rice. They want to, but they
have to spare it for their own mouths.”
To protest against the worsening hardship, monks took to the streets
during September in Mandalay, as they did in other towns across Burma.
When asked if the protests were over, the monk’s eyes sparkled and around
his lips flickered a mischievous smile.
“We are half-way - if nothing changes we will go on the streets again,” he
says.
Although his monastery did not join the thousands of young monks in their
street protests, he says they supported the movement, which “was very well
organised”.
‘Empty monasteries’
In contrast with Rangoon, the soldiers and government thugs in Mandalay
did not kill any monks or raid the monasteries.
“The soldiers didn’t shoot us because it is still more a community here.
We all know each other and in every family there is a monk, a soldier, a
government worker and a dissident,” the monk says.
When the security forces threatened to arrest the young monks, the abbots
gave them permission to travel, despite a religious prohibition on
travelling during Buddhist Lent.
“Of the 2,800 monks in one of the main monasteries, only 200 remain,” he
adds.
As one Rangoon-based intellectual puts it: “Never in our history have the
monasteries been so empty.”
The sense of desolation is especially acute in Mandalay, Burma’s cultural
and religious heartland, and the centre of the monastic community, or
sangha, of monks and nuns.
The most influential Buddhist universities are in and around the city and
in nearby Sagaing, across the Irrawaddy river.
The young monks from these training institutes took part in the marches.
“They are sophisticated, well informed young men - partly because of
access to the internet, partly because of foreign teachers, many of whom
are Japanese,” according to a journalist who met some of them a year ago.
They had been working for some time on a strategy to get rid of the regime
in co-operation with veterans of the abortive uprising of 1988.
The monks had been studying Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience philosophy
and the Buddhist scriptures.
One triumphantly points to a passage giving monks the obligation to
intervene when Buddhism is under threat or when rulers breach moral laws
and the people suffer too much.
In Burma’s case, as one young monk who fled to the border with Thailand
argues, all of those conditions apply.
The Buddhist clergy in Burma have served as a counter-weight to oppressive
government throughout history - a point conspicuously ignored by the
Burmese state media, which labelled the protesting clergy “bogus monks”.
Banishment call
Aware of the power of the sangha, successive military regimes have courted
the clergy, yet have attempted to diminish its influence.
The current regime, lead by Gen Than Shwe, has taken both policies to new
heights.
It has developed a role for itself, in mimicry of ancient kings, as a
religious patron.
The generals queue almost daily to offer donations and oversee openings of
new religious institutions.
In a country with as many monks as soldiers, people in the teashops joke:
“In Burma we have only two colours on our televisions - orange and green.”
Simultaneously, the government exercises control through its own council
of carefully groomed senior monks - or Sangha Nayaka.
Despite this, resistance continues to emerge. Last month, a new group, the
All Burma Monks Alliance, called for nationwide protests.
It described the junta as a “common enemy of all our citizens” that needed
to be banished from Burmese soil forever.
The ultimate sanction - the most powerful weapon the sangha has against
the regime - is to deny it merit.
The monk in the Mandalay monastery says he refuses to accept alms from the
anyone serving in the army, the police or their families.
As elsewhere, soldiers and police officers come to the monastery begging
for forgiveness for hurting the monks.
“But we can not forgive them,” the monk says.
“They have committed a capital sin and that is unforgivable.”
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