THE 'FIGHTING PEACOCK' IS BACK
9.9.98/THE NATION
THE UNREST INTENSIFIES IN BURMA AS STUDENTS CONTINUE THEIR SPORADIC PROTESTS. 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,' THEY ARE SHOUTING. AUNG ZAW WRITES.
They were on the streets again. This time they say they no longer want to see the military rule in their country.
During the recent protest, the students in Rangoon cried that enough was enough and asked Rangoon authorities to stop military rule. The students chanted: "Down with the military dictatorship, release all political prisoners."
"They are angry - they don't want this situation to go on like this forever," said a source close to students.
Obviously, the students aren't alone.
"Foreign and local businessmen are unhappy with the junta's performance - the Burmese are complaining about mismanagement of the economy and the poor education system," a recent visitor said. "The government is losing its confidence. The people have no faith in this government."
The political heat in Burma is rising as students realise the time is right for action.
In recent weeks, Burma's students staged a second large protest on their campuses. Though they were asked to disperse, they continue the protest in their hostels.
On Sept 3, students from Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT) complained about the inadequate transportation system provided by the military government in their university.
But as they gathered and fussed with the issue, the crowd suddenly turned into an anti-government protest. Finally, the nature of the protest simply went beyond the students' affairs.
In late August, college students who were sitting for exams surprised military intelligence and officials by staging a small protest in Hledan Junction. They dispersed quickly though. "That was clearly an anti-government and pro-democracy gathering," commented a veteran journalist in Rangoon. "Actually, they were just looking for a spark. They know time is ripe to strike," said an insider who is close to active students.
Students hoisted the student union flag, the fighting peacock. A Rangoon based observer said the act is a formidable challenge to the military government which has been facing mounting pressure at home and from abroad.
"The students are coming out again - this time they are more political and saying enough is enough", an observer said.
The recent protest in YIT and Hlaing campuses pose a formidable challenge to the ruling junta, now known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
It is believed that more target places and dates have been designated by underground students for more protests.
But there is uncertainty about how they will co-ordinate their actions as the junta has tightened the screws on activists and has closed down schools and universities.
In fact, universities have been shut since December 1996, shortly after students took to the streets to denounce the military government. It was the largest students gathering in years. Analysts said that the recent protest, in the wake of growing political tension between the opposition party and the junta, had evidently surprised the junta leaders who recently decided to hold exams for students without opening the colleges and universities.
"The exams were separately held in different high schools in towns. Intelligence officers and the police were watching while the professors treated us like kings," said a student who studies zoology in Rangoon's Hlaing campus.
Although the officials were surprised by the campus protests, it seems the junta was also prepared for possible unrest. They immediately sent out riot police and set up road blocks.
"We cannot go and see them, they [riot police] came and told us to shut the doors and windows," said a woman who lives opposite YIT. Authorities quickly shut down all nearby tea shops and restaurants.
However, the Rangoon-based analysts said the recent protests had shaken the regime which has refused to convene a parliament demanded by the opposition party the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Rangoon-based observers also commented that the recent protests in campuses also provided tremendous political backing to Aung San Suu Kyi who was twice prevented by the junta from going to meet her supporters in the provinces.
Analysts said the junta has been handling the protests carefully and diplomats acknowledge the junta's low profile and middle-of-the-road approach.
"This time if they come and shoot [students] everything is finished - we are going to fight back," a truck driver told a foreign visitor. In 1988 hundreds of students were fatally gunned down during street protests.
"Riot police are running around like mad men but there is no shooting or any violent crackdown so far," a Burmese journalist said. But he feared that isolated students in campuses will, face brutal crackdowns.
Sources in Rangoon confirmed that about 100 people, including female students and NLD activists, have been rounded up since August 24 and are now in interrogation centres.
Their parents have reportedly been told to "take care~of their sons and, daughters". "They [parents] are threatened with facing detention if they don't," said a student source in Rangoon.
The current protests are believed to be engineered by the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) which went underground in 1962. The Students' Union building was demolished in 1962 and the ABFSU was outlawed. But students have continued their underground activities against the military dictatorship and the ABFSU is still active.
About 1,000 students are being detained in prisons and Min Ko Naing who was chairman of the ABFSU in 1988 is serving a 20-year prison term.
Analysts said the ABFSU students who were frustrated with the political stalemate decided to take the risk. "They have decided to take to the streets but they don't want to waste energy and their fellow students so what they are doing now is sporadic hit-and-run tactics."
In Rangoon and other major cities, leaflets have been distributed and small protests are breaking out more frequently.
There is no doubt that the SPDC has been caught off-guard by the re-emergence of the students, who have been active in Burmese politics since 1920. However, an analyst in Rangoon described the situation as an ant fighting an elephant.
"But this time the elephant is weak and the ant isn't alone. The ant and his companions are well-organised this time around," he added. "The students' determination will not be crushed easily. I think these events mark the beginning of something significant."
After protests on the campuses, the capital turned eerily quiet and a resident said he could feel an uneasy calm. Significantly the junta's newspapers refrained from its personal attacks on Suu Kyi after the students took to the streets on Aug 24.
But on the campuses, the students are shouting so loudly that the generals will have to listen.
Though it is quiet on the streets of Rangoon, the air is pregnant with expectation that major changes are going to take place soon as students push the stubborn generals to end their rule.
"They [military] have no choice but to back down because this time they are alone." In spite of the repression and the brutal crackdown, Burma's students are coming back to the streets. They have sent a clear message to the generals: the fighting peacock is back.
