Myanmar Monks Take Local Officials Hostage

[Mid]

Myanmar monks take local officials hostage

09-06-2007, 06h27

YANGON (AFP)

Myanmar Buddhist monks are seen praying at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. Hundreds of Buddhist monks took a group of local and security officials hostage at their monastery, one day after troops violently broke up an anti-junta protest.

(AFP/File)

Hundreds of Buddhist monks took a group of local and security officials hostage at their monastery Thursday, one day after troops violently broke up an anti-junta protest, residents told AFP Thursday.

The showdown in Pakokku, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of the commercial capital Yangon, marked the most serious confrontation with the military government since protests erupted nationwide more than two weeks ago.

snip

turkishpress.com

full article here , please read .............

[soundman]

That country is a house of cards.

Unfortunately people are going to get hurt again, & there is not much anybody can do to stop it.

Let us all hope Thailand is not going down this path in the near future.....

[Mid]

info is little at the best of times ,

gotta wonder if those locals speaking out via phone are still on the streets .........................

[soundman]

info is little at the best of times ,

gotta wonder if those locals speaking out via phone are still on the streets .........................

Can't handle dissent much can they?

[sutnyod]

Thanks, mid, for posting this.

[slimdog]

A bit more info can be found here:

http://www.irrawaddy.org/headlines/BurmaPr...ts-Continue.php

[chinthee]

Thanks, mid, for posting this.

Just want to say "careful boys." This is the real deal now.

[technocracy]

Sounds like the tinder is just about lit now . .. stand well back!

[cdnvic]

I don't agree with monks getting involved in politics, but the fact that they are is a rather ominous sign. This may worry the Junta enough to start planning a harsh crackdown.

[farangsay]

I don't agree with monks getting involved in politics, but the fact that they are is a rather ominous sign. This may worry the Junta enough to start planning a harsh crackdown.

This happened because they were angry as some of their number had been injured by junta rent-a-thugs when joining in a peaceful protest. Whilst I dislike as much as anyone clergymen abusing the pulpit to foist a political point of view on their congregation they are also citizens and as such have as much right as anyone to protest peacefully.

Latest word is they let the creeps go. Alive.

[Solosiam]

Thanks, mid, for posting this.

Just want to say "careful boys." This is the real deal now.

do many people on here live in Burma, or did you mistakenly think this was in Thailand?

[Jimjim]

Ya, what's the "real deal" chinthee? What qualifications do you have to issue this expert opinion?

Thailand is not Burma and never will be. Where do the Karen escape to when they're being massacred by the Burmese? Sure they have to go to big crappy camps but I don't see massacres going on, here. Except the drug wars, of course.

[kat]

I don't agree with monks getting involved in politics, but the fact that they are is a rather ominous sign. This may worry the Junta enough to start planning a harsh crackdown.

Monks have always been part of the freedom and human rights movement in Burma. They are more organically involved with the culture, and that culture for the majority of the population over the last forty years has been dire struggles. T

There was a famous monk in Burma that stood out during the first struggle to retain their prime minister against the military government. And then during the infamous 8-8-88 massacre, thousands of monks were literally slaughtered along with student democracy activists in Rangoon, in broad daylight. They call it the red bridge incident, because a white bridge was covered in so much blood it looked red. Very few people know this, but yet we are all familiar with Tiananmen Square in China 1989, where several hundred were killed.

Things are very bad in Burma, with more crackdowns, the continued escalation of petrol and food items, all with an almost worthless currency, the joke of the democracy convention, NGOs that have pulled out, and now monks and students protesting in the streets again, despite the severe risk. They are literally throwing themselves in front of the barrel of a gun.

I support them in every way as they courageously try to wrest their country back from animals.

[sutnyod]

do many people on here live in Burma, or did you mistakenly think this was in Thailand?

I go there for work and my 'thank you' was a small hint that the thread is very much appreciated although it is not related directly to Thailand.

[kat]

Well, in one way it is Thai related, just by the sheer contrast of monks in LOS and monks in Burma, and how they view their roles within society. Monks in Burma are involved because of the suffering of their people and themselves. In towns where people have been displaced, monks starve because there is no one left to feed them. But, they have always been at the forefront of the struggle in Burma.

[kmart]

If the Burmese people want their country back, they are going have to take it by force. Those useless "Generals" have shown many times that they are not willing to accede anything to their people.

[Farma]

Buddhist monks trash shop in protest

From correspondents in Rangoon

September 07, 2007 02:59pm

ANGRY Buddhist monks in Burma trashed an electronics shop owned by a local militia leader hours after releasing 20 officials held hostage in their monastery.

The monks in Pakokku, about 500km north of Rangoon, held the government and security officials hostage for several hours yesterday and torched four of their cars.

After releasing the officials, about a dozen monks headed into the town to look for local leaders of militia groups which have cracked down on rare protests that swept across the nation since August 19.

Continued here http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22378571-23109,00.html

[Mid]

Monks vs military hike Myanmar tensions

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Sep 8, 2007

BANGKOK - Political tension in military-ruled Myanmar has taken an ominous turn, with soldiers clashing this week with sections of the country's respected Buddhist clergy. The confrontation was the latest in an unfolding drama that has featured rare public protests against the hardline regime for implementing massive hikes in fuel prices in mid-August.

snip

atimes.com

full article here , it's huge ..............

Edited September 7, 2007 by Mid

[Mid]

Myanmar frees wounded protester after monks release hostages

3 hours ago

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar's military regime freed a wounded protester in a conciliatory gesture after tensions boiled over when Buddhist monks seized a group of officials as hostages, activists said Friday.

snip

afp.google.com

[bulmercke]

"This could trigger a reaction among monks elsewhere, forcing them to come out and protest," said Win Min, an academic on Myanmar affairs at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand. "It has the capacity of spreading, since the monks have a close network, particularly in the area around Pakokku."

The chatter on the wires is indicating that there will be more instances of protest and rebellion in the very near future. An ever-increasing national consciousness opposed to the severe and worsening living conditions and the suffering of ordinary Burmese people is rapidly escalating.

[Mid]

"This could trigger a reaction among monks elsewhere, forcing them to come out and protest," said Win Min, an academic on Myanmar affairs at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand. "It has the capacity of spreading, since the monks have a close network, particularly in the area around Pakokku."

The chatter on the wires is indicating that there will be more instances of protest and rebellion in the very near future. An ever-increasing national consciousness opposed to the severe and worsening living conditions and the suffering of ordinary Burmese people is rapidly escalating.

puts paid ,

to the rather surplus argument ,

to wit

What's This Got to Do With THAILAND ??

quite honestly , some people .....................

[cdnvic]

It doesn't seem to be taken seriously by some on this side of the ocean. The headline of the story here was titled "Just Another Manic Monk Day"

Must admit it gave me a chuckle when I first read it, but having read some of Kat's background info on the subject I'm thinking it's rather inappropriate. Shall give the editor a call.

[womble]

It doesn't seem to be taken seriously by some on this side of the ocean. The headline of the story here was titled "Just Another Manic Monk Day"

Must admit it gave me a chuckle when I first read it, but having read some of Kat's background info on the subject I'm thinking it's rather inappropriate. Shall give the editor a call.

Just another manic monk day...........

thats' great,

Is that the sun?

[chinthee]

Was that the Monkees who sang that?

[cdnvic]

It was in The Times Colonist today.

The song was by the Bangles.

[Mid]

Myanmar labour activists get 20 years in jail

(Reuters)

8 September 2007

YANGON - Myanmar’s military junta has sentenced six young labour activists to between 20 and 28 years in jail at a closed trial inside Yangon’s infamous Insein prison, their former lawyer said on Saturday.

The six, who are in their late 20s and early 30s, were arrested for helping organise a May Day workers’ rights seminar at the American Center in the former Burma’s main commercial city.

Four of the activists, named as Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Kyaw Min and Myo Min, received 20 years for sedition, five years under “illegal association” laws, and three years for immigration offences, lawyer Aung Thein said.

snip

khaleejtimes.com

[Mid]

Myanmar junta links US to pro-democracy activists, says they have terror links

09.09.2007 16:27:43

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military government issued a strident denunciation of the country's pro-democracy movement Sunday, alleging that top activists planned terrorist acts and received money from Western nations.

snip

live-PR.com

[kat]

Right. They characterize all democracy activists as terrorists, while the junta goes around raping, killing, stealing, starving people and burning children alive.

[bulmercke]

Burma’s Democracy Challenge Flickers Awake Again

Our Correspondent - The Asia Sentinel -

06 September 2007

Buddhist monks in a provincial town take officials hostage and burn their cars as hundreds look on

The small but persistent protests that have shaken Burma since late August may not be over after all, despite the arrests of key activists and violence by thugs against protesters in Rangoon and other cities over the last two weeks. Hundreds of Buddhist monks in the town of Pakokku, some 600 km from Rangoon, took government officials hostage Thursday and burned four of their cars.

It remains to be seen if the monks’ rebellion will spread to other areas. The junta retains an iron grip on the country and has built a formidable security apparatus to keep the country’s 47 million people firmly under their thumb, but the involvement of the monks is a wild card in an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation

“It is very significant that monks have begun to get involved in the protest ‑ remember they all played quite an important role in the 1988 uprising together with students,” said an observer by email from Chiang Mai in Thailand, where many exiled Burmese remain. “The Burmese people and activists were counting on them when small-scale protests broke out in Rangoon in the last two weeks. I think if the regime continues to mishandle these protests, it will easily spread to many major cities where a large number of monks are studying and living, such as Mandalay and Rangoon.”

According to news services, the officials were trapped in a monastery after they had attempted to apologize for firing shots over the heads of protesting monks on August 29 and ask the abbot to stop his charges from taking part in protests. A crowd of as many as 1,000 people gathered after the cars were burned.

There was no sign of the military or police at the latest demonstration, as by and large there have not been to this point. Until recently, soldiers and riot police have not been seen in public ‑ only thugs and hardcore members of the regime’s mass association, the Union Solidarity Development Association together with government security officials who are maintaining “order.” The gangs have followed and intimidated demonstrators, often beating them and hurling them into waiting trucks. Women are also being beaten, prompting onlookers to intervene and risk arrest themselves.

It is not known how many people have been arrested in the crackdown on the protests, which began when the junta introduced a five-fold increase in fuel prices that left many Burmese so broke that they couldn’t get to work. Word soon spread that the price increases were in advance of a plan to privatize the fuel system.

Activists arrested and jailed include prominent former student leaders such as Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi. Four women activists, including labor rights leader Su Su Nway and HIV-Aids activist Phyu Phyu Thin, remain in hiding. About 100 are thought to have been detained.

The military put down a 1988 uprising with such brutality that protesters in Rangoon and other cities have long been scattered into silence. Perhaps as many as 3,000 protesters were shot down in Rangoon in 1988. Hundreds of leaders were jailed and hundreds more fled into the jungles to attempt largely ineffective insurrections that ultimately fizzled out.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, which overwhelmingly won a 1990 election the military refused to recognize, has been held under house arrest since 2003 when she and her convoy were attacked by junta-backed mobs in central Burma as she attempted to make contact with her supporters.

In the current standoff, Reuters reported that “Intervening against monks in Pakokku is particularly risky for the junta as the town is only 80 miles from the second city of Mandalay, the religious heart of a devoutly Buddhist nation and home to 300,000 monks. Historically, monasteries have played a major role in political uprisings, both in 1988 and in revolts against Britain, which had colonized the country.

A resident of Mandalay described the atmosphere to Reuters as very tense.

Burma’s latest episode of protest repression began three weeks ago with peaceful marches shortly after Min Ko Naing, considered the second-most prominent opposition figure after Suu Ky, and other activists returned from a religious ceremony at the home of late veteran politician Col Kyi Maung, marking the third anniversary of his death. The “return home” march was spontaneous and caught the attention of curious onlookers, including security officials. In photos taken of the march, the small band of white-shirted marchers looked frightened and isolated, but they kept going. After the march, Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi spoke to the Washington-based radio station Radio Free Asia.

The two spoke out strongly but made no call for action to topple the regime. At one point in the interview, Ko Ko Gyi pointed out that the army was enjoying double rights at the military-sponsored National Convention, due to be completed this week.

The thin-skinned junta bridled at the criticism. A series of articles in The New Light of Myanmar, the regime’s mouthpiece, contained warnings of a possible showdown and “punishment”.

The regime appears to have thought it was time to contain Min Ko Naing and other activists because they were the only group whose boldness and defiance were gaining international attention. If the regime intended to force through a “road map” to democracy that has been dismissed as a sham by most observers, Min Ko Naing and his group were a thorn in their side.

Analysts warned that the fuel price rises are the same kind of blunder that occurred in 1987 when then-dictator Ne Win’s government announced the demonetization of bank notes and left the general population without any money. The protests soon followed.

The recent crackdown has received worldwide attention, although to little avail. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN human rights investigator on Burma, last week in Geneva said he received allegations that some detainees have been “severely beaten and tortured”. US First Lady Laura Bush phoned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to urge action against a crackdown by the junta in Burma. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the UN Security Council and European Union to discuss the crisis in Burma. But the regime continues to ignore world opinion and arrests and intimidation continue.

Comment on the aforementioned article:

When the monks involved in the struggle for peace for the people, the murderer military use the same tactics as the civilians and mow down monks too. Burmese military had no mercy whatsoever to any one including monks. They regard humans as worthless animals. Forget about genuine freedom/democracy for all these Generals know is their power, status and their wealth. Nothing else matters for them. All they know and understand is use vicious force to gain their goals. Now they are using paid thugs, creating people against people. The only way to get rid of these Generals is through international law and prosecute them one by one for good. That’s the only way to eliminate these evils that is destroying Burma/Myanmar since 1962. These Generals are like cancer rooted strongly with the society. To cure cancer one has to take out from its roots.

It is the military that needs to be change/reform. As long as old and outdated Generals rule, this trend will go on indefinitely for sure. New and young officers who do not follow old ideologies of senior Generals will and can change the Burmese military for good or better. The creation of military is to protect and defend its own people and not to repressed and oppressed the people. Burmese military is made just to suppressed their own people (including monks). That’s all they do for more than half the century.

September 6, 2007

[Mid]

Myanmar junta deploys police at monasteries to contain monk protests

10.09.2007

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military government stepped up monitoring of monasteries nationwide, witnesses said Monday, as part of a campaign to snuff out the worst protests to rock the impoverished nation in nearly a decade.

snip

live-PR.com