BP : Lest we forget BURMA'S UPRISIN

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

BANGKOK POST
August 9, 1998 

Lest we forget BURMA'S UPRISING: The 8th of August in 1988 means so much to
the Burmese that it became known as 8-8-88. On that day, months of random
protest became a concentrated nationwide effort. Within months, thousands
were dead and thousands fled to the Thai border.

SYLVIA SAW

The smell of blood and the look of fear on everyone's faces, bullet-ridden
bodies strewn across the streets, and human heads impaled on bamboo poles -
these are the images ordinary Burmese such as Dennis will never forget.

Dennis Mun Aung recalled the events of the mass uprising in Burma in 1988
which saw more than 3,000 people gunned down by the Burmese regime.

Ten years ago, Dennis - then a 28-year old singer from the Kachin tribe -
joined the tens of thousands who took to the streets in Burma demanding
democracy, human rights and the resignation of the Burmese Socialist
Programme Party which had controlled the nation for 26 years.

"Everyone was fed up with the situation," said Dennis. "There were so many
government restrictions and so much repression. We were sick and tired of
the Burmese military's treatment of its people."

Sporadic demonstrations had erupted since March of that year but on that
date, 8-8-88, the student leaders who were vanguards of the protest called
a general strike in an attempt to end military rule in the country. 

It was the largest anti-government demonstration in Burmese history and one
of the bloodiest.

The massive demonstrations were not confined to Rangoon. In nearly every
town across the country, masses of people took to the streets to vent 26
years of frustration against the military government.

Life without hope: Dennis is one of the many Burmese whose lives were
filled with terror and fear of the military regime.

He was born in the post-colonial era and grew up under Ne Win's unique
Burmese Way to Socialism.

He said it was a life of hopelessness. Under Ne Win the nation was reduced
to one of the most isolated and hermetically sealed countries in the world.
Half a century of war and civil strife also took its toll on a culturally
and ethnically diverse nation of 45 million people.

The Burmese economy took a nosedive under the socialist economic policy.
Once considered the "rice bowl of Asia", Burma was soon honoured with the
dubious distinction of one of the world's least-developing countries.

Dennis was brought up in the Kachin state capital of Myitkyina in northern
Burma where civil war raged between the Kachin Independence Army and the
Burmese military. It was an everyday reality.

"As a child growing up in Myitkyina, I learnt a lot about the army's
treatment of its people," said Dennis. "They would capture people at random
and force them to be porters in the frontline."

Once, Dennis almost had a share of this experience.

"I was on my way home from Rangoon and on reaching the train station, I saw
soldiers surrounding it," he said. "When the passengers got off the train,
they were separated into two groups - students and civil servants in one,
and the rest, such as traders and farmers, in another. They were rounding
up people to serve as porters for the army."

The latter was taken away in military trucks, while the rest were allowed
to leave the station, Dennis explained.

"I was not a student at that time," said Dennis, "but I kept my old student
card. That saved me."

"It wasn't difficult to gather support for the student movement," said
Dennis. "I was sharing a room with a student from Rangoon University. I
knew all about their activities and I helped them write leaflets."

The mere fact that Dennis was not a student but a well-known singer in
Rangoon provided the students with much-needed encouragement.

Workers, peasants and the toiling masses had little if nothing to lose.
What was necessary was to dismantle the yoke of the one-party system.

"Everyone felt oppressed and we finally took to the streets," said Dennis. 

Initial euphoria: "I remember that day [8-8-88]. I was at the market square
in Insein township where everyone was hanging around the market square,
waiting for the moment," said Dennis.

A general strike and mass demonstration was called by the students for the
auspiciously chosen "8-8-88". Student leaders got the word to the BBC and
soon it was news nationwide.

"When we heard that students in downtown Rangoon had started demonstrating,
everyone in the market square took out banners and flags they'd hidden in
their bags and we started chanting slogans and waving anti-government
banners."

The political enthusiasm of thousands of ordinary citizens who had taken to
the streets was clearly felt. Here was an entire nation, its urban as well
as rural populations venting its frustration with the regime. And in
unison, they demanded an end to the military dominated one-party rule.

"I couldn't believe it was happening," said Dennis, "I couldn't believe the
number of people who joined the demonstrations. It was people power."

Dennis said everyone around him was feeling confident and felt they were in
a winning position. And they had reasons to feel that way.

Street demonstrations that had erupted since March forced the resignation
of General Ne Win in July. And on September 11 - the height of the euphoria
- Burma's authoritarian ruling party agreed to hold free and fair
multi-party general elections.

In addition, anti-government agitation also spawned a free press
renaissance across the country. Shaking off 26 years of rigid censorship,
state-owned dailies such as The Guardian wrote and published stories about
anti-government rallies and demonstrations.

"That was a victory for us." said Dennis.

But the victory was short-lived.

The initial euphoria over these new and unprecedented freedoms soon became
mixed with fear and paranoia.


"Everything began to change on the 18th of September," recalled Dennis.
"Troops began firing on everyone - Buddhist monks, students and unarmed
demonstrators."

The change of events echoed Ne Win's warning in his resignation speech:
"When the army shoots, it doesn't shoot into into the sky, it shoots to
hit."

On September 18, Ne Win's old guard struck. Burma's new military strongman,
General Saw Maung, seized power in a bloody coup and slapped a curfew on
the capital. 

Blood flowed freely on the streets of Rangoon as troops indiscriminately
fired on demonstrators.

"Everyone had to stay off the streets between 8 at night to 4 in the
morning," said Dennis.

The army also started to round up protesters and began searching homes for
student activists, forcing many of them to go into hiding. 

In the events that followed, some fell to bullets and bayonets while others
were tortured and imprisoned. Others fled to remote frontier areas to carry
on the fight. Dennis was one of them. The last straw: "When the army
started firing into crowds, that was the straw that broke the camel's
back," he said. "I decided then to leave Rangoon."

Many in the cities had heard rumours of stockpiles of arms, ammunition and
military training at the border and thought it would not be difficult to
organise an armed struggle from there, said Dennis.

The long, hazardous journey to the border, however, was fraught with
danger.

"There were altogether ten of us and it took us two weeks," recalled
Dennis. "There were military checkpoints everywhere. We took a truck from
Pegu to Moulmein, and then a train to Ye and finally walked to the Three
Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi. For us city boys, it was very tough."

Dennis and the others had dreams of starting military training with the
ethnic rebels once they reached the border, and within a few months return
to the capital to fight against the government.

But what greeted them at the border was not the abundance of arms and
ammunition. It was meagre rations. "Only three tins of condensed milk, one
tin of rice and a small amount of chilli paste and salt for each person."

The rebel-held area was rife with malaria and other diseases. Food and
medicine were scarce. Sickness and malnutrition were everywhere. Some
students succumbed to malaria shortly after arrival.

Life in disease-ridden camps took a heavy toll on them, said Dennis, and of
the nine that made the journey to the border with him, seven returned to
Rangoon. But there are also many like Dennis who were determined to
continue the struggle.

"I'd rather be free in the jungle than live under military rule," he
explained. "Of the seven who went back to Rangoon, two of them are still in
Insein prison," he added.

When Dennis realised what it was like at the rebel held areas, he told
himself it was not going to be three months but three years. But three
years turned into five.

Dennis became a member of the All-Burma Students's Democratic Front
(ABSDF). He fought alongside the Mon and Karen minorities groups who were
then seeking autonomy from Rangoon. 

In his third year, he joined the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) - a
clandestine radio station set up to broadcast news about Burma. An
alternative to the state-controlled media, DVB broadcast internationally
from Norway, funded by the Norwegian government and other international
organisations.

"I was working for the DVB along the border in 1993 when a position opened
in Norway to manage the radio station." 

Freedom pass: That became his passport to freedom

In Norway, Dennis sought political asylum and was granted a Norwegian
passport.

"Initially I wasn't used to the freedom a passport gave," recalled Dennis.
"Whenever I saw police, I would be scared. Fear had become a habit to me. 

Life in Norway was good. It gave him the opportunity he needed to pursue
his true passion - music.

"I will never make a good soldier, I am no good on the frontlines," he
said.

During his time in Norway, Dennis, together with a Norwegian band, put
together a number of songs to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
pro-democracy movement in Burma. Dennis wrote most of the lyrics and the
tape - Path to Freedom - has already been distributed all over the
Thai-Burmese border.

"I'm back with my music and through it I hope to encourage and remind those
who have gone through the events of '88 to continue our struggle for a
better life in Burma." 

Not over: Bloodshed and political upheaval may well have thrown Burma back
to what it was 10 years ago - an authoritarian, military-backed state - but
the government cannot stick the genie back in the bottle.

"Ordinary Burmese living in Burma may be tired and seem more concerned with
day-to-day survival. But in doing so, they must eventually come
face-to-face with the consequences of a repressive government," said
Dennis. "Even if they don't speak out, the feelings of hatred and
dissatisfaction are there."

In any case, it would be wrong to assume the fight for a better life is
over in Burma.

And as for Dennis, home is where the heart is.

"Even though I'm enjoying freedom far from home, it is not the same as
being free in my own country."