Nov 13, 2007 (DVB)–U Gambira, the leader of the All-Burmese Monks Alliance and one of the organizers of the public protests in September, has been arrested in Singaing township in Mandalay division, according to a family member.
He was arrested on 4 November in Singaing, having been on the government’s most wanted list for his part in instigating the demonstrations.
U Gambira is 27 years old and is also a spokesperson for the People’s Movement Leader Committee.
Burmese authorities have detained U Gambira's mother, sister and two of his brothers in the past month when they were unable to arrest him.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Role of Muslims in Burma’s Democracy Movement
Irrawaddy
by Shah Paung
November 12, 2007
Although the September protests in Rangoon were led by Buddhist monks, Burmese Muslims were among the first to offer water to the monks as a means of showing support for the peaceful demonstrations.
“I saw some Muslims kneel down and pay respect to the Buddhist monks,” said Pan Cha, a Burmese Sikh businessman who arrived at the Thai-Burmese border in early October after being involved in the September demonstrations.
Over a month since the junta cracked down violently on the monks and their supporters in the streets of Burma, Pan Cha forcefully said in an interview with The Irrawaddy that “The Burmese people are not afraid—nationwide demonstrations are coming back again soon!”
“I came here [to the border] just to escape for a while and tell the truth about what happened in Burma to the international media,” he said. “After, I will go back to Burma.”
In the context of the pro-democracy movement in Burma, it is important to remember the role of Burmese Muslims.
According to residents and journalists who were at the demonstrations, many Muslims supported and participated in the protests and were badly beaten by Burmese security forces.
In a video clip seen around the world, soldiers beat and kick a young Muslim man who is huddled on the ground. They club him with batons and kick him brutally.
Pan Cha, who helped organize security for the demonstrations, said that a top Burmese minister ordered pro-junta group, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, to beat any Muslim in sight at the demonstrations, because Muslims were never USDA members.
He went on to say that when they first saw Buddhist monks demonstrating on September 18, many Muslims wanted to support the monks, but were worried about repercussions against the Muslim community as a whole. They feared it would cause more Kala Burma Adigayone (Muslim - Buddhist riots) and create problems for all Muslims in Burma (Kala is a derogatory name for Muslims and Indians in Burmese).
Inspired by the resilience of many Muslims in Rangoon, Pan Cha began encouraging them not to fear the government, telling them that they were standing up for the rights of all the people of Burma. On September 19, many Muslims joined in the demonstrations after their prayers and supported the monks by offering water, betel nut and fresh towels.
Some wealthy Muslims supported demonstrators by providing mobile phones to make communications between the protesters easier. Some who were car owners blocked the military trucks that were carrying arrested demonstrators and tried to help them escape when the army convoys stopped. They risked their own lives on behalf of others.
According to the 88 Generation Students group, at least seven Muslims in Rangoon were charged with inciting state unrest by supporting the monk-led demonstrations. They are currently being detained in Pabedan Township in Rangoon.
Pan Cha also confirmed that before he left Burma on October 4, he knew of about 30 Muslims who had been hospitalized from being beaten during the street protests. More than 100 Muslims were still being detained, he said.
Muslims have long played a leading role in Burma’s democracy movement, even dating back to before Burmese independence.
All scholars of Burmese history know the story of Abdul Razak. Better known as U Razak, he was the Muslim headmaster of Mandalay Central National High School and became Minister of Education and National Planning in Burma’s pre-independence government. He was also a leader of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League in Mandalay.
He lost his life at aged 49, when he was gunned down by assassins on July 19, 1947, together with Burmese independence leader Gen Aung San and seven other cabinet members and colleagues. The day is now commemorated annually in the country as “Martyrs’ Day.”
As a minority group, Muslims in Burma regularly suffer from social and religion discrimination. The Burmese government regularly encourages ultra-nationalism and uses religion as a political tool. The Burmese government will not grant citizenship to Muslims and, to all intensive purposes, do not recognize Muslims as being Burmese.
The junta’s top leader, Snr Gen Than Shwe, is known to despise Muslims and Chinese people who live in Burma. However, most Chinese in Burma are business people and were not directly involved in the September uprising. In Mandalay, home to thousands of Chinese immigrants, most doors remained closed during the protests, a sign that the ethnic Chinese were not in support of the demonstrators. The Muslim minority, on the other hand, played an active part in the pro-democracy demonstrations, just as they have throughout the country’s troubled recent history.
“We cannot say that the demonstrations were not related to Muslims just because they were led by Buddhist monks,” Pan Cha concludes. “We were all born and live in Burma and should not discriminate among each other. We must work together toward democracy.”
by Shah Paung
November 12, 2007
Although the September protests in Rangoon were led by Buddhist monks, Burmese Muslims were among the first to offer water to the monks as a means of showing support for the peaceful demonstrations.
“I saw some Muslims kneel down and pay respect to the Buddhist monks,” said Pan Cha, a Burmese Sikh businessman who arrived at the Thai-Burmese border in early October after being involved in the September demonstrations.
Over a month since the junta cracked down violently on the monks and their supporters in the streets of Burma, Pan Cha forcefully said in an interview with The Irrawaddy that “The Burmese people are not afraid—nationwide demonstrations are coming back again soon!”
“I came here [to the border] just to escape for a while and tell the truth about what happened in Burma to the international media,” he said. “After, I will go back to Burma.”
In the context of the pro-democracy movement in Burma, it is important to remember the role of Burmese Muslims.
According to residents and journalists who were at the demonstrations, many Muslims supported and participated in the protests and were badly beaten by Burmese security forces.
In a video clip seen around the world, soldiers beat and kick a young Muslim man who is huddled on the ground. They club him with batons and kick him brutally.
Pan Cha, who helped organize security for the demonstrations, said that a top Burmese minister ordered pro-junta group, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, to beat any Muslim in sight at the demonstrations, because Muslims were never USDA members.
He went on to say that when they first saw Buddhist monks demonstrating on September 18, many Muslims wanted to support the monks, but were worried about repercussions against the Muslim community as a whole. They feared it would cause more Kala Burma Adigayone (Muslim - Buddhist riots) and create problems for all Muslims in Burma (Kala is a derogatory name for Muslims and Indians in Burmese).
Inspired by the resilience of many Muslims in Rangoon, Pan Cha began encouraging them not to fear the government, telling them that they were standing up for the rights of all the people of Burma. On September 19, many Muslims joined in the demonstrations after their prayers and supported the monks by offering water, betel nut and fresh towels.
Some wealthy Muslims supported demonstrators by providing mobile phones to make communications between the protesters easier. Some who were car owners blocked the military trucks that were carrying arrested demonstrators and tried to help them escape when the army convoys stopped. They risked their own lives on behalf of others.
According to the 88 Generation Students group, at least seven Muslims in Rangoon were charged with inciting state unrest by supporting the monk-led demonstrations. They are currently being detained in Pabedan Township in Rangoon.
Pan Cha also confirmed that before he left Burma on October 4, he knew of about 30 Muslims who had been hospitalized from being beaten during the street protests. More than 100 Muslims were still being detained, he said.
Muslims have long played a leading role in Burma’s democracy movement, even dating back to before Burmese independence.
All scholars of Burmese history know the story of Abdul Razak. Better known as U Razak, he was the Muslim headmaster of Mandalay Central National High School and became Minister of Education and National Planning in Burma’s pre-independence government. He was also a leader of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League in Mandalay.
He lost his life at aged 49, when he was gunned down by assassins on July 19, 1947, together with Burmese independence leader Gen Aung San and seven other cabinet members and colleagues. The day is now commemorated annually in the country as “Martyrs’ Day.”
As a minority group, Muslims in Burma regularly suffer from social and religion discrimination. The Burmese government regularly encourages ultra-nationalism and uses religion as a political tool. The Burmese government will not grant citizenship to Muslims and, to all intensive purposes, do not recognize Muslims as being Burmese.
The junta’s top leader, Snr Gen Than Shwe, is known to despise Muslims and Chinese people who live in Burma. However, most Chinese in Burma are business people and were not directly involved in the September uprising. In Mandalay, home to thousands of Chinese immigrants, most doors remained closed during the protests, a sign that the ethnic Chinese were not in support of the demonstrators. The Muslim minority, on the other hand, played an active part in the pro-democracy demonstrations, just as they have throughout the country’s troubled recent history.
“We cannot say that the demonstrations were not related to Muslims just because they were led by Buddhist monks,” Pan Cha concludes. “We were all born and live in Burma and should not discriminate among each other. We must work together toward democracy.”
ဆရာေတာ္ ဦးဂႏၻီရ အဖမ္းခံရ
Mizzima
မံုပီး
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 19:09 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
စက္တင္ဘာလ ေရႊဝါေရာင္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရးကို ဦးေဆာင္ခဲ့သူ ထင္ရွားသည့္ ဆရာေတာ္ ဦးဂႏၻီရသည္ တိမ္းေရွာင္ ပုန္းေအာင္းေနရာမွ ယခုအခါ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက ရန္ကုန္ၿမ့ဳိတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးရမိသြားၿပီ ျဖစ္သည္။
အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ အပူတျပင္း လိုက္လံ ရွာေဖြခံေနရသူ ဦးဂႏၻီရသည္ စက္တင္ဘာ သံဃာလူထု လႈပ္ရွားမႈႀကီးတြင္ ေထာင္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာေသာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား လမ္းေပၚတက္ ဆႏၵျပရာတြင္ ဦးေဆာင္ခဲ့ၿပီး သူ႔ကို ဆႏၵျပပဲြမ်ားကို ႀကိဳးကိုင္ခဲ့သူအျဖစ္ စြပ္စဲြခဲ့သည္။ ၾသဂုတ္လလယ္တြင္ ေလာင္စာဆီ ေစ်းႏႈန္း က်ဆင္းေရး လူထုေတာင္းဆိုပဲြမ်ား စတင္ခဲ့ျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
ေျပးလႊား ေရွာင္တိမ္းေနရေသာ္လည္း ဆရာေတာ္သည္ မၾကာေသးခင္က ဆႏၵျပပဲြႏွင့္ ေနာက္ဆက္တဲြ နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရမွ အၾကမ္းဖက္ ႏွိမ္နင္းမႈမ်ား အေၾကာင္းကို ကမၻာတလႊားသို႔ ေျပာၾကားသည့္ အေနျဖင့္ ေဆာင္းပါးတေစာင္ ေရးသားကာ ဝါရွင္တန္ပို႔စ္ သတင္းစာသို႔ ေပးပို႔ခဲ့ေသးသည္။
ဝါရွင္တန္ပို႔တြင္ သူ႔ေဆာင္းပါး ေဖာ္ျပခံရသည့္ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၄ ရက္ေန႔မွာပင္ သူသည္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံခဲ့ရျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္ဟု သတင္းရပ္ကြက္ တခုက ဆိုသည္။
ဆရာေတာ္သို႔ တယ္လီဖုန္းျဖင့္ စကားေျပာခဲ့သူ သတင္းရပ္ကြက္က “ဆရာေတာ္က ခပ္တိုတိုပဲ ျပန္ေျဖတယ္။ သူ အဖမ္းခံလိုက္ရၿပီတဲ့။ အခု ထိန္းသိမ္း ခံထားရတယ္တဲ့။ အဲဒါလည္း ၿပီးေရာ လုိင္းက ျပတ္သြားတယ္” ဟု ဆိုသည္။
ဖမ္းဆီးခံရမႈႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ အတည္ျပဳရန္ ခက္ခဲေနေသာ္လည္း ျပည္ပရွိ အတိုက္အခံ အခ်ဳိ့က ဆရာေတာ္၏ ေဆာင္းပါးမွတဆင့္ သူ ပုန္းခို သီတင္းသံုးေနသည့္ ေနရာ သဲလြန္စကို စစ္အစိုးရမွ ရရွိႏုိင္ဖြယ္ ရွိေၾကာင္း ေျပာသည္။
ရန္ကုန္ၿမ့ဳိတြင္ ထင္ရွားသည့္ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး လႈပ္ရွားသူ မစုစုေႏြးႏွင့္ အျခား အမ်ဳိးသားႏွစ္ဦး ယေန႔ နံနက္ပိုင္းတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံခဲ့ရသည္ ဟူေသာ ေကာလာဟလ သတင္းမ်ား ေပၚထြက္ေနေသာ္လည္း အျခားသတင္း ရပ္ကြက္အဆိုအရ မစုစုေႏြးသည္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံရသူမ်ားထဲတြင္ ပါဝင္ျခင္း မရွိဟု ဆိုသည္။
သတင္း အခ်က္အလက္မ်ားကို လြတ္လပ္စြာ အတည္ျပဳႏုိင္ျခင္း မရွိေသာ္လည္း စစ္အစိုးရမွ အသဲအသန္ လိုက္လံ ရွာေဖြကာ ဖမ္းဆီးခံရမည္ကို စိုးရိမ္သျဖင့္ ပုန္းခိုေနသည့္ တက္ႂကြ လႈပ္ရွားသူမ်ား၏ လံုျခံဳေရးအတြက္ စိုးရိမ္မႈမ်ား တုိးပြားေနသည္။
ဦးဂႏၻီရ အဖမ္းဆီးခံရျခင္းႏွင့္ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး လႈပ္ရွားသူ မစုစုေႏြးကို အစိုးရမွ ဖမ္းဆီးသည္ ဟူေသာ သတင္း အခ်က္အလက္မ်ားသည္ ျမန္မာ စစ္အစိုးရမွ ကုလ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးဆိုင္ရာ အထူး ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ကို ျပည္ဝင္ခြင့္ ေပးလိုက္ျခင္းေၾကာင့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအေပၚ အေကာင္းျမင္လာသည့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ အသိုင္းအဝိုင္း၏ ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ခ်က္ႏွင့္ ဆန္႔က်င္ဘက္ ျဖစ္ေနသည္။
မစၥတာ ပီညဲ႐ိုးသည္ ယခုအခါ ျမန္မာျပည္တြင္ ေရာက္ရွိေနကာ ထိန္းသိမ္းေရး စခန္းမ်ားႏွင့္ အျခား ေနရာမ်ားကို သြားေရာက္ လည္ပတ္ေနေသာ္လည္း ယခုအခ်ိန္အထိ ဖမ္းဆီးမႈမ်ား၊ သူ၏ ရွာေဖြ ေတြ႔ရွိခ်က္မ်ားကို ထုတ္ျပန္ျခင္း မရွိေသးပါ။
မံုပီး
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 19:09 - ျမန္မာစံေတာ္ခ်ိန္
စက္တင္ဘာလ ေရႊဝါေရာင္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရးကို ဦးေဆာင္ခဲ့သူ ထင္ရွားသည့္ ဆရာေတာ္ ဦးဂႏၻီရသည္ တိမ္းေရွာင္ ပုန္းေအာင္းေနရာမွ ယခုအခါ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက ရန္ကုန္ၿမ့ဳိတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးရမိသြားၿပီ ျဖစ္သည္။
အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားမွ အပူတျပင္း လိုက္လံ ရွာေဖြခံေနရသူ ဦးဂႏၻီရသည္ စက္တင္ဘာ သံဃာလူထု လႈပ္ရွားမႈႀကီးတြင္ ေထာင္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာေသာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား လမ္းေပၚတက္ ဆႏၵျပရာတြင္ ဦးေဆာင္ခဲ့ၿပီး သူ႔ကို ဆႏၵျပပဲြမ်ားကို ႀကိဳးကိုင္ခဲ့သူအျဖစ္ စြပ္စဲြခဲ့သည္။ ၾသဂုတ္လလယ္တြင္ ေလာင္စာဆီ ေစ်းႏႈန္း က်ဆင္းေရး လူထုေတာင္းဆိုပဲြမ်ား စတင္ခဲ့ျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
ေျပးလႊား ေရွာင္တိမ္းေနရေသာ္လည္း ဆရာေတာ္သည္ မၾကာေသးခင္က ဆႏၵျပပဲြႏွင့္ ေနာက္ဆက္တဲြ နအဖ စစ္အစိုးရမွ အၾကမ္းဖက္ ႏွိမ္နင္းမႈမ်ား အေၾကာင္းကို ကမၻာတလႊားသို႔ ေျပာၾကားသည့္ အေနျဖင့္ ေဆာင္းပါးတေစာင္ ေရးသားကာ ဝါရွင္တန္ပို႔စ္ သတင္းစာသို႔ ေပးပို႔ခဲ့ေသးသည္။
ဝါရွင္တန္ပို႔တြင္ သူ႔ေဆာင္းပါး ေဖာ္ျပခံရသည့္ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၄ ရက္ေန႔မွာပင္ သူသည္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံခဲ့ရျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္ဟု သတင္းရပ္ကြက္ တခုက ဆိုသည္။
ဆရာေတာ္သို႔ တယ္လီဖုန္းျဖင့္ စကားေျပာခဲ့သူ သတင္းရပ္ကြက္က “ဆရာေတာ္က ခပ္တိုတိုပဲ ျပန္ေျဖတယ္။ သူ အဖမ္းခံလိုက္ရၿပီတဲ့။ အခု ထိန္းသိမ္း ခံထားရတယ္တဲ့။ အဲဒါလည္း ၿပီးေရာ လုိင္းက ျပတ္သြားတယ္” ဟု ဆိုသည္။
ဖမ္းဆီးခံရမႈႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္၍ အတည္ျပဳရန္ ခက္ခဲေနေသာ္လည္း ျပည္ပရွိ အတိုက္အခံ အခ်ဳိ့က ဆရာေတာ္၏ ေဆာင္းပါးမွတဆင့္ သူ ပုန္းခို သီတင္းသံုးေနသည့္ ေနရာ သဲလြန္စကို စစ္အစိုးရမွ ရရွိႏုိင္ဖြယ္ ရွိေၾကာင္း ေျပာသည္။
ရန္ကုန္ၿမ့ဳိတြင္ ထင္ရွားသည့္ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး လႈပ္ရွားသူ မစုစုေႏြးႏွင့္ အျခား အမ်ဳိးသားႏွစ္ဦး ယေန႔ နံနက္ပိုင္းတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံခဲ့ရသည္ ဟူေသာ ေကာလာဟလ သတင္းမ်ား ေပၚထြက္ေနေသာ္လည္း အျခားသတင္း ရပ္ကြက္အဆိုအရ မစုစုေႏြးသည္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံရသူမ်ားထဲတြင္ ပါဝင္ျခင္း မရွိဟု ဆိုသည္။
သတင္း အခ်က္အလက္မ်ားကို လြတ္လပ္စြာ အတည္ျပဳႏုိင္ျခင္း မရွိေသာ္လည္း စစ္အစိုးရမွ အသဲအသန္ လိုက္လံ ရွာေဖြကာ ဖမ္းဆီးခံရမည္ကို စိုးရိမ္သျဖင့္ ပုန္းခိုေနသည့္ တက္ႂကြ လႈပ္ရွားသူမ်ား၏ လံုျခံဳေရးအတြက္ စိုးရိမ္မႈမ်ား တုိးပြားေနသည္။
ဦးဂႏၻီရ အဖမ္းဆီးခံရျခင္းႏွင့္ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး လႈပ္ရွားသူ မစုစုေႏြးကို အစိုးရမွ ဖမ္းဆီးသည္ ဟူေသာ သတင္း အခ်က္အလက္မ်ားသည္ ျမန္မာ စစ္အစိုးရမွ ကုလ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးဆိုင္ရာ အထူး ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ကို ျပည္ဝင္ခြင့္ ေပးလိုက္ျခင္းေၾကာင့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအေပၚ အေကာင္းျမင္လာသည့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ အသိုင္းအဝိုင္း၏ ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ခ်က္ႏွင့္ ဆန္႔က်င္ဘက္ ျဖစ္ေနသည္။
မစၥတာ ပီညဲ႐ိုးသည္ ယခုအခါ ျမန္မာျပည္တြင္ ေရာက္ရွိေနကာ ထိန္းသိမ္းေရး စခန္းမ်ားႏွင့္ အျခား ေနရာမ်ားကို သြားေရာက္ လည္ပတ္ေနေသာ္လည္း ယခုအခ်ိန္အထိ ဖမ္းဆီးမႈမ်ား၊ သူ၏ ရွာေဖြ ေတြ႔ရွိခ်က္မ်ားကို ထုတ္ျပန္ျခင္း မရွိေသးပါ။
Junta arrests prominent Abbot U Gambira
Mungpi
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
November 13, 2007 - Sayadaw (abbot) U Gambira, a prominent Buddhist clergy, who took a leading role in the August and September peoples' protest in Burma was arrested by the authorities in Rangoon, after a month in hiding, a source told Mizzima.
The police have been in hot pursuit of U Gambira, who took to the streets and led several thousand fellow monks on the streets of Rangoon in September. He has been accused of masterminding the anti-regime demonstrations, which began over the peoples' agitation against the fuel price hike in mid-August.
Despite being on the run, the Buddhist clergy spoke to the world of the recent protests and the brutal crackdown by the ruling junta by writing an article, which appeared as an editorial on the Washington Post.
U Gambira was arrested the same day his article appeared on the Washington Post on November 4, the source said.
The source, who talked to the clergy over telephone, said, "He [U Gambira] responded saying that he had been arrested and is now under detention. Then, the line was disconnected."
While how his arrest came about is difficult to confirm, some activists in exile believe it is related to his article, saying it might have given the junta clues to where he was hiding.
Meanwhile, rumours are rife in Rangoon that prominent labour activist, Su Su Nwe, and two men were arrested on Tuesday morning in Rangoon. However, other sources said Su Su New was not among the arrested.
While the information cannot be independently confirmed, there is increasing concern for the safety of activists, who are still hiding from the junta's relentless search and arrest.
The arrest of U Gambira and the rumours about labour rights activist Su Su New, sends a conflicting message to the international community, which views the junta's acceptance of the visit and probe by UN rights expert Pinheiro as positive.
Pinheiro, who is now in Burma, making trips to detention camps and visiting places, is yet to comment over the arrest and his findings.
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
November 13, 2007 - Sayadaw (abbot) U Gambira, a prominent Buddhist clergy, who took a leading role in the August and September peoples' protest in Burma was arrested by the authorities in Rangoon, after a month in hiding, a source told Mizzima.
The police have been in hot pursuit of U Gambira, who took to the streets and led several thousand fellow monks on the streets of Rangoon in September. He has been accused of masterminding the anti-regime demonstrations, which began over the peoples' agitation against the fuel price hike in mid-August.
Despite being on the run, the Buddhist clergy spoke to the world of the recent protests and the brutal crackdown by the ruling junta by writing an article, which appeared as an editorial on the Washington Post.
U Gambira was arrested the same day his article appeared on the Washington Post on November 4, the source said.
The source, who talked to the clergy over telephone, said, "He [U Gambira] responded saying that he had been arrested and is now under detention. Then, the line was disconnected."
While how his arrest came about is difficult to confirm, some activists in exile believe it is related to his article, saying it might have given the junta clues to where he was hiding.
Meanwhile, rumours are rife in Rangoon that prominent labour activist, Su Su Nwe, and two men were arrested on Tuesday morning in Rangoon. However, other sources said Su Su New was not among the arrested.
While the information cannot be independently confirmed, there is increasing concern for the safety of activists, who are still hiding from the junta's relentless search and arrest.
The arrest of U Gambira and the rumours about labour rights activist Su Su New, sends a conflicting message to the international community, which views the junta's acceptance of the visit and probe by UN rights expert Pinheiro as positive.
Pinheiro, who is now in Burma, making trips to detention camps and visiting places, is yet to comment over the arrest and his findings.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Honoured monk flees to Thai-Burma border
Nov 12, 2007 (DVB)–U Seindiya, a senior monk from Aung Kaung monastery whose public service has previously been recognised by the government, has fled to the Thai-Burma border to escape arrest.
U Seindiya arrived at the border on 7 November having been pursued by government forces as he made his escape.
He was wanted by the authorities for leading other monks in his township in protests in September, and narrowly escaped arrest when Aung Kaung monastery in Kawkareit township, Karen state, was raided by troops from the ruling State Peace and Development Council and government-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
U Seindiya has previously been honoured by the government for his public service.
He was selected to receive a medal by junta leader senior general Than Shwe for donating blood more than 80 times in the past 30 years to help soldiers who were wounded.
His medal was awarded by Karen state Peace and Development Council chairperson Khin Kyu in the state capital of Pha-an.
Speaking from the Thai-Burma border, U Seindiya criticised the government’s action against him.
“I spared in total about two buckets of my blood for the soldiers and they didn’t even acknowledge it, and they even raided my monastery,” U Seindiya said.
“We were only walking the streets and chanting metta, so it wasn’t a big crime, but the military made a big deal out of it and chased me through the jungle,” he said.
“The SPDC is acting so unlawfully – in fact, they are out of control. It’s in the soldiers’ codes to treat civilians with respect, but now they are treating people as their enemies, and I see this as a breaking of their own rules. This is not good for our country.”
Reporting by Saw Kanyaw
U Seindiya arrived at the border on 7 November having been pursued by government forces as he made his escape.
He was wanted by the authorities for leading other monks in his township in protests in September, and narrowly escaped arrest when Aung Kaung monastery in Kawkareit township, Karen state, was raided by troops from the ruling State Peace and Development Council and government-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
U Seindiya has previously been honoured by the government for his public service.
He was selected to receive a medal by junta leader senior general Than Shwe for donating blood more than 80 times in the past 30 years to help soldiers who were wounded.
His medal was awarded by Karen state Peace and Development Council chairperson Khin Kyu in the state capital of Pha-an.
Speaking from the Thai-Burma border, U Seindiya criticised the government’s action against him.
“I spared in total about two buckets of my blood for the soldiers and they didn’t even acknowledge it, and they even raided my monastery,” U Seindiya said.
“We were only walking the streets and chanting metta, so it wasn’t a big crime, but the military made a big deal out of it and chased me through the jungle,” he said.
“The SPDC is acting so unlawfully – in fact, they are out of control. It’s in the soldiers’ codes to treat civilians with respect, but now they are treating people as their enemies, and I see this as a breaking of their own rules. This is not good for our country.”
Reporting by Saw Kanyaw
Security tightened at Shwe Dagon pagoda
Nov 12, 2007 (DVB)–Security around Shwe Dagon pagoda has again been tightened, with guards demanding identification documents from worshippers, according to a local visitor to the pagoda.
A sign has been put up over the entrance to Shwe Dagon pagoda saying that people must bring their identity cards to enter the pagoda grounds.
While this rule was not enforced for all visitors, monks’ documents were checked by the guards.
“They didn’t really check everyone for [ID cards], although they were checking on monks. Monks who were unable to show any identification were not allowed to enter the pagoda,” said the local visitor.
Security was also tightened inside the pagoda, and government guards were positioned around the pagoda grounds. "We want to be able to go to such places as the pagoda without any harassment," said the local visitor.
Shwe Dagon pagoda was at the centre of the monk-led protests in September and has been subject to security clamp-downs since then.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
A sign has been put up over the entrance to Shwe Dagon pagoda saying that people must bring their identity cards to enter the pagoda grounds.
While this rule was not enforced for all visitors, monks’ documents were checked by the guards.
“They didn’t really check everyone for [ID cards], although they were checking on monks. Monks who were unable to show any identification were not allowed to enter the pagoda,” said the local visitor.
Security was also tightened inside the pagoda, and government guards were positioned around the pagoda grounds. "We want to be able to go to such places as the pagoda without any harassment," said the local visitor.
Shwe Dagon pagoda was at the centre of the monk-led protests in September and has been subject to security clamp-downs since then.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Monday, November 12, 2007
Where are Myanmar's monks? Many flee monasteries to escape junta
Bangkok Post
2007-11-12 08:43:16
By AMBIKA AHUJA,
.
The monasteries of Myanmar used to teem with saffron-robed Buddhist monks, revered as spiritual guides and moral authorities in a country in the grip of a repressive military regime.
Then the junta turned its troops on the monks, beating them in the streets for leading pro-democracy protests. They also raided their monasteries, leaving bloodstains on the floors, chasing anyone who had participated in the rallies.
Now, nobody knows how many of Myanmar's more than 500,000 monks are left in their monasteries.
The junta has not disclosed how many monks were put behind bars since the upheaval of Sept. 26-27. In its last tally, on Nov. 6, the regime said nearly 3,000 people had been released, leaving 91 still in custody. But diplomats and dissidents say the figures are a fraction of reality and an unknown number of monks have been detained since then.
The picture that emerges, after scores of interviews with monks, abbots and other people in Myanmar, is that monasteries around the country have been depleted _ particularly in the biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, where protests were staged.
Many monks have slipped over borders or are hiding in their hometowns and villages. To avoid being caught in a nighttime raid on their monasteries, some stay with friends, despite Buddhist rules that forbid a monk and a lay person to sleep under the same roof.
In this devoutly Buddhist country, every male citizen has to be a monk for at least a short time.
But many parents are keeping their children out of the monasteries for their safety, several abbots said in interviews.
The junta has lifted a nighttime curfew, restored Internet access and ended a ban on assembly. But monks remain targets. The junta said recently it was still pursuing four monks who led rallies.
One of them, U Kovida, spoke to The Associated Press from the Thai border, asking that his location be kept secret for fear Thai authorities would send him back.
"At the moment you will hardly find a monk in Yangon. Monks are running away from danger. They are being arrested and sent to labor camps, tortured and killed," said U Kovida, 24.
The junta has not commented on allegations of abuse.
Kovida is officially accused of having hidden 48 blocks of TNT in his monastery before moving them elsewhere. He was hunted for three weeks by authorities and arrived at the border Oct. 18. He says the allegations are false.
"Whenever they want to arrest a leading monk, they have to make up some story because they know people have such great respect for monks and Buddhism," he said.
A heavy police guard remains outside a handful of monasteries in Yangon, the former Rangoon, where some of the country's best-known shrines were flashpoints of the violence.
But a tour of some of the monasteries indicate there's little left to guard.
The Ngwekyar Yan monastery in northern Yangon is empty. It used to have about 180 monks, said U Yewata, the chief abbot, who was ordered by officials to move out. He said 70 monks were dragged away on the night of Sept. 26 and more were arrested later.
An abbot at a monastery in Ahlone township, in western Yangon, said he had sent most of his 1,200 monks home fearing he could no longer control them. Only the elderly monks remain.
Residents of North Okalapa township in northern Yangon said when a traditional daily procession of monks failed to show up they went to the monastery and were told that hundreds of monks had left and only a few dozen remained.
Monks have played a pivotal role in protests against unjust rulers, from British colonial powers to the repressive military regime. The last time monks took to the streets was during 1990 anti-government protests, which the junta crushed.
The junta has long regarded monks as a potential threat. It has tried to intimidate, bribe and spy on them, and to gain control over the official state committee of monks, giving some of its 47 members cars, cell phones, TV sets, refrigerators and other gifts considered luxuries in the impoverished country also known as Burma.
But many say that this time, in targeting monks and monasteries, the generals went too far. In this 90 percent Buddhist country of 54 million people, monasteries are sacrosanct.
At the height of the crackdown, news footage broadcast around the world showed troops firing on marching monks and smashed-up furniture at monasteries. A dead monk was shown floating face down in a river.
For now, the generals appear to have succeeded in scaring monks into submission.
Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor who studied Myanmar for more than a half century, doesn't expect to see monks back in the front line for some time.
"Religious sayings and prayers were no match for the guns and determination of the military," he said.
But other experts say the monks' treatment won't be forgotten.
"The next wave of protests may have to be led by student leaders and political activists," said Pornpimon Trichot, a Myanmar specialist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "But monks will remain an inspiration that lends legitimacy to the movement."
___
AP correspondents Denis Gray and Margie Mason in Mae Sot, Thailand; and Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.
2007-11-12 08:43:16
By AMBIKA AHUJA,
.
The monasteries of Myanmar used to teem with saffron-robed Buddhist monks, revered as spiritual guides and moral authorities in a country in the grip of a repressive military regime.
Then the junta turned its troops on the monks, beating them in the streets for leading pro-democracy protests. They also raided their monasteries, leaving bloodstains on the floors, chasing anyone who had participated in the rallies.
Now, nobody knows how many of Myanmar's more than 500,000 monks are left in their monasteries.
The junta has not disclosed how many monks were put behind bars since the upheaval of Sept. 26-27. In its last tally, on Nov. 6, the regime said nearly 3,000 people had been released, leaving 91 still in custody. But diplomats and dissidents say the figures are a fraction of reality and an unknown number of monks have been detained since then.
The picture that emerges, after scores of interviews with monks, abbots and other people in Myanmar, is that monasteries around the country have been depleted _ particularly in the biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, where protests were staged.
Many monks have slipped over borders or are hiding in their hometowns and villages. To avoid being caught in a nighttime raid on their monasteries, some stay with friends, despite Buddhist rules that forbid a monk and a lay person to sleep under the same roof.
In this devoutly Buddhist country, every male citizen has to be a monk for at least a short time.
But many parents are keeping their children out of the monasteries for their safety, several abbots said in interviews.
The junta has lifted a nighttime curfew, restored Internet access and ended a ban on assembly. But monks remain targets. The junta said recently it was still pursuing four monks who led rallies.
One of them, U Kovida, spoke to The Associated Press from the Thai border, asking that his location be kept secret for fear Thai authorities would send him back.
"At the moment you will hardly find a monk in Yangon. Monks are running away from danger. They are being arrested and sent to labor camps, tortured and killed," said U Kovida, 24.
The junta has not commented on allegations of abuse.
Kovida is officially accused of having hidden 48 blocks of TNT in his monastery before moving them elsewhere. He was hunted for three weeks by authorities and arrived at the border Oct. 18. He says the allegations are false.
"Whenever they want to arrest a leading monk, they have to make up some story because they know people have such great respect for monks and Buddhism," he said.
A heavy police guard remains outside a handful of monasteries in Yangon, the former Rangoon, where some of the country's best-known shrines were flashpoints of the violence.
But a tour of some of the monasteries indicate there's little left to guard.
The Ngwekyar Yan monastery in northern Yangon is empty. It used to have about 180 monks, said U Yewata, the chief abbot, who was ordered by officials to move out. He said 70 monks were dragged away on the night of Sept. 26 and more were arrested later.
An abbot at a monastery in Ahlone township, in western Yangon, said he had sent most of his 1,200 monks home fearing he could no longer control them. Only the elderly monks remain.
Residents of North Okalapa township in northern Yangon said when a traditional daily procession of monks failed to show up they went to the monastery and were told that hundreds of monks had left and only a few dozen remained.
Monks have played a pivotal role in protests against unjust rulers, from British colonial powers to the repressive military regime. The last time monks took to the streets was during 1990 anti-government protests, which the junta crushed.
The junta has long regarded monks as a potential threat. It has tried to intimidate, bribe and spy on them, and to gain control over the official state committee of monks, giving some of its 47 members cars, cell phones, TV sets, refrigerators and other gifts considered luxuries in the impoverished country also known as Burma.
But many say that this time, in targeting monks and monasteries, the generals went too far. In this 90 percent Buddhist country of 54 million people, monasteries are sacrosanct.
At the height of the crackdown, news footage broadcast around the world showed troops firing on marching monks and smashed-up furniture at monasteries. A dead monk was shown floating face down in a river.
For now, the generals appear to have succeeded in scaring monks into submission.
Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor who studied Myanmar for more than a half century, doesn't expect to see monks back in the front line for some time.
"Religious sayings and prayers were no match for the guns and determination of the military," he said.
But other experts say the monks' treatment won't be forgotten.
"The next wave of protests may have to be led by student leaders and political activists," said Pornpimon Trichot, a Myanmar specialist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "But monks will remain an inspiration that lends legitimacy to the movement."
___
AP correspondents Denis Gray and Margie Mason in Mae Sot, Thailand; and Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok, Thailand, contributed to this report.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Small-scale protest in Rangoon
Nov 9, 2007 (DVB)–Students in Botahtaung township, Rangoon, staged a short-lived protest yesterday before being dispersed by government security forces, according to an eyewitness.
Around 50 students assembled on Bo Aung Kyaw street for the demonstration.
The protestors were holding pictures of junta leader senior general Than Shwe with women’s underwear superimposed on his head, and they shouted slogans condemning the government for its crackdown on monks.
Bystanders clapped their hands in support of the protestors.
The demonstration only lasted a few minutes before government security forces appeared and the protestors dispersed.
The witness was unsure if any arrests were made because all the demonstrators and bystanders fled the scene as soon as the government forces arrived.
Reporting by DVB
Around 50 students assembled on Bo Aung Kyaw street for the demonstration.
The protestors were holding pictures of junta leader senior general Than Shwe with women’s underwear superimposed on his head, and they shouted slogans condemning the government for its crackdown on monks.
Bystanders clapped their hands in support of the protestors.
The demonstration only lasted a few minutes before government security forces appeared and the protestors dispersed.
The witness was unsure if any arrests were made because all the demonstrators and bystanders fled the scene as soon as the government forces arrived.
Reporting by DVB
Friday, November 9, 2007
Monk from Karen state flees to Thai border
November 8, Irrawaddy
Saw Yan Naing
A Buddhist monk from Karen State arrived at the Thai border town of Mae
Sot on Wednesday after escaping arrest by the Burmese army and the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
The 48 year-old monk, Ashin Sein Tita, from Arr Kaung monastery in
Kawkareik Township in Karen State, fled to the border fearing reprisals
for his involvement in the pro-democracy demonstrations in August and
September.
Ashin Sein Tita was one of prominent monks who led hundreds of protesters
through the streets in Kawkareik Township, chanting the “Metta Sutta” (the
Buddha’s words on loving kindness).
“They [the Burmese authorities] came to arrest me after I twice led
protests and gave interviews with the exiled Burmese media three times,”
said Sayardaw Sein Tita.
He said that he narrowly escaped from the monastery when authorities came
to arrest him. He had been followed by the security forces for several
weeks.
“If I had still been at the monastery an hour later, I would have been
arrested and jailed for sure,” he added.
Ashin Sein Tita traveled to the Thai border by foot, avoiding DKBA
checkpoints along the way. It took him two weeks to get to Mae Sot.
He said that police and about 30 soldiers—mostly DKBA troops—have
surrounded Arr Kaung monastery since he left for Thailand last month.
The monk said that he would continue to fight for the people and for
democratic reform in Burma as much as he could. He said that he expected
many more people to flee from Burma to Thailand in the near future.
Dozens of pro-democracy activists, including monks, have arrived in Mae
Sot since the September crackdown on the nationwide protests in Burma.
Saw Yan Naing
A Buddhist monk from Karen State arrived at the Thai border town of Mae
Sot on Wednesday after escaping arrest by the Burmese army and the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
The 48 year-old monk, Ashin Sein Tita, from Arr Kaung monastery in
Kawkareik Township in Karen State, fled to the border fearing reprisals
for his involvement in the pro-democracy demonstrations in August and
September.
Ashin Sein Tita was one of prominent monks who led hundreds of protesters
through the streets in Kawkareik Township, chanting the “Metta Sutta” (the
Buddha’s words on loving kindness).
“They [the Burmese authorities] came to arrest me after I twice led
protests and gave interviews with the exiled Burmese media three times,”
said Sayardaw Sein Tita.
He said that he narrowly escaped from the monastery when authorities came
to arrest him. He had been followed by the security forces for several
weeks.
“If I had still been at the monastery an hour later, I would have been
arrested and jailed for sure,” he added.
Ashin Sein Tita traveled to the Thai border by foot, avoiding DKBA
checkpoints along the way. It took him two weeks to get to Mae Sot.
He said that police and about 30 soldiers—mostly DKBA troops—have
surrounded Arr Kaung monastery since he left for Thailand last month.
The monk said that he would continue to fight for the people and for
democratic reform in Burma as much as he could. He said that he expected
many more people to flee from Burma to Thailand in the near future.
Dozens of pro-democracy activists, including monks, have arrived in Mae
Sot since the September crackdown on the nationwide protests in Burma.
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