The Mon People: A Noble Past, an Un

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: The Mon People: A Noble Past, an Uncertain Future 

THE ISSUE OF NATIONHOOD

BURMA DEBATE, Nov/DEc 1996

The Mon People: A Noble Past, an Uncertain Future 

This article was prepared for Burma Debate by representatives of the Mon
Unity League, an independent organization comprised of members of the Mon
communities in Burma, Thailand and abroad. The views expressed here
represent those of the Mon Unity League and not necessarily those of any
other Mon organization. 

Editor's Note: At the time of writing, growing dissatisfaction with the
cease-fire agreement negotiated between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and
the SLORC has led to dissension within the NMSP A faction in the Mergui
region, known as the Mon Army, has split from the NMSP and is no longer
abiding by the terms of the agreement. Fighting has resumed in that region. 

 A Brief History of the Mon People 

O f the present inhabitants of Burma,  the Mon are the oldest. Their
language, Austroasiatic, is distantly related to other languages that reach
from Madagascar to Easter Island, and from Central India to New Zealand. The
Mon are close cousins of the Khmer, with whom they originally traveled south
from Mongolia. By at least the third century BC, the Mon not only occupied
the entire Me Nam Valley but had spread to the Sittang Valley of Thailand
and Burma. Their port capital was Thaton, not far from the Isthmian portage
routes and, through this window to the sea, they saw India in its full glory
-- a flourishing center of Theravada Buddhism, united peacefully under the
King Asoka. 

With the expansion of Indian commerce in Southeast Asia during the first
century A.D., Thaton's prosperity and importance increased. The expansion
was sudden and revolutionary, but peaceful. The Indian merchants and seamen
came to Thaton as friends rather than conquistadors. Their numbers were
never great and their settlements were only temporary. 

Until the 8th century, although there was a scramble for the new lands of
the Irrawaddy Delta, no conflicts developed between the Indians and the Mon.
As a result, Indian culture was found acceptable to the Mon people. They saw
it to that their native culture was not abandoned or displaced, and they
worked toward a harmonious blending of the old and new cultures. The Mon
brought many of their native animistic beliefs into the fold of Theravada
Buddhism. They enhanced the power and prestige of their king by adopting the
Hindu ritual of coronation, and developed a new art of sculpture by blending
the native traditional wood carving with the Greco-Indian conventions of
making images of the Buddha. They built stupas along the Indian model and
developed new forms of temple architecture with a mixture of native and
Indian traditions. Within a few decades, the Mon became the most advanced
people in Southeast Asia, and they assumed the role of teachers to their
neighbors, spreading Theravada Buddhism and their new culture over the
entire legion. Their cousins, the Khmer, were the first to benefit, followed
by the Burmans. Even in the 13th century when their glory had passed and
they were a conquered people in the Me Nam Valley, the Mon freely shared
their cultural heritage with the new arrivals, the Tai.

The Burmans of the Tibeto-Burman tribes founded their own city of Pagan in
849 AD. By that time the Mon dominated lower Burma, occupying the whole of
the Irrawaddy Delta, building the port of Bassein in the west and founding
the city of Pegu in 825 AD. They might have stepped into the vacuum caused
by the destruction of the Pyu kingdom, but they were not politically
ambitious and perhaps did not relish going up the river into arid country.
This Mon reluctance allowed the infant Burman kingdom to survive and grow.
In 1044 AD, Anawrahta came to the throne of Pagan. He challenged and subdued
the Mahayanist kingdom of Nanchao, annexed the animistic Shan Plateau and
conquered the Theravada Mon at Thaton in 1057. The conquest of Thaton was
the foundation of both Pagan's economy and its culture. Mon craftsmen,
artisans, architects, goldsmiths, and wood-carvers  -- captured at Thaton --
were taken to Pagan to teach their skills and arts to the Burmans. The
Burmans learned quickly and soon were able to stand shoulder to shoulder
with Mon and Indian craftsmen. Mon monks and scholars taught the Burmans how
to write their own and Pali languages and the Buddhist scriptures. The
Burmans soon became scholars themselves, making Pagan the center of
Theravada learning. 

Pagan fell to the Mongol armies in 1287 and was occupied for seventeen
years. After the fall of Pagan, the Mon in lower Burma consolidated and
restored their own kingdom. King Warier [Wareru] established the Mon kingdom
in 1287 with his capital at Martaban, near Moulmein. His successor, Byinnya
Oo, transferred the capital to Pegu (Hongsawatoi) in 1365. The Mon once
again were achieving another golden age under wise rulers. Pegu became the
center of Theravadin scholarship and also entered into a close commercial
relationship with Malacca, on the Malay Peninsula, an Islamic kingdom before
1511 and a Portuguese possession thereafter. This Mon "golden era" lasted
for more than two and a half centuries, from approximately 1287 to 1533. The
Mon Pegu (Hongsawatoi) dynasty produced rulers who are still loved by the
people of Burma today, and who left behind many sacred monuments. They
included King Razathirat [Razadarit] (1385-1425), Queen Chaobu [Shin Saw Bu]
(1453-1472) and King Dhomazetoi [Dhammozedi] (1472-1492). 

In 1531, Thabinshwehti became Burman king of Toungoo and within a few years
he conquered upper Burma from the Shans and lower Burma from the Mon. He
died in 1551 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Bayinnaung. Bayinnaung
marched on Ayutthaya and conquered the entire Me Nam Valley, thus founding
the second Burman empire. After his death, however, the empire broke up. In
1605, his grand-son Anankpetlun, shifted the capital back to Ava.
Eventually, the king became weak and power passed to the ministers. The Mon
declared independence in 1740, encouraged by the French in India. The Burman
capital of Ava fell to the Mon in 1752: and all of Burma passed under Mon rule. 

U Aungzeya, a Burman leader who founded the last Burman kingdom, drove the
Mon out of Upper Burma and regained the Shan States. By 1757 he defeated the
Mon and annexed the Mon kingdom of Hongsavatoi. The Mon have ever since
become a people without a country. The brutal Burman leader U Aungzeya, who
is better known as King Alaungphaya, persecuted the Mon by massacring over
3,000 learned Mon monks at Thingankyun near Rangoon, by burning holy Mon
Scriptures and by executing tens of thousands of Mon in several
stockade-inferno holocausts. Racial discrimination was rife. Hundreds of
thousands of the Mon fled to Siam (Thailand) for safe haven, [according to
old Mon records written on palm leaves, but never mentioned in the Burmese
history written to this day.] In modern human rights terminology, it was a
drastic ethnic cleansing process. 

Following three Anglo-Burmese wars, the entire territory of Burma was
occupied and colonized by the British in 1885. That was also the end of the
last Burman dynasty. However, through selfless sacrifices made by patriots
of various ethnic nationalities, Burma gained independence from the British
in 1948. And the Burman leadership returned to power. Dissensions amongst
the Burman leadership, coupled with the resurgence of the ethnic
nationalities including the Mon, brought the country into a full-fledged
civil war. In 1962 General Ne Win staged a coup d'etat and since then the
country has been under the rule of a military dictatorship. Now the generals
are ruling the country under the name of State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC). 

This brief portrait of the history of Burma illustrates the inalienable
rights of the Mon people to the whole of Lower Burma, known in history as
Hongsawatoi or Rehmonnya or Pegu. Never in history did the Mon surrender
their rights to the land, the water, or resources, to the Burmans. And as a
result the Mon armed resistance movement has lasted for more than four
decades since independence from the British in 1948. 

THE MON IN TODAY'S WORLD

After Burma gained independence from the Lt British, the Mon people felt
that even though they were free from British colonization, they remained a
Burman colony. Only their master had changed. In fact, during the British
era, the Mon could exercise more rights such as promotion of literature and
culture, and freedom of association and expression. After independence, when
the state power was monopolized by Burman-dominated governments, including U
Nu's parliamentary democracy, all rights, even the promotion of literature
and culture, were restricted. The Mon leaders claimed that the U Nu
government ruled an ethnic population with a parliamentary dictatorship.
During the 1948 general elections, Burman-dominated political parties even
restricted the rights of the Mon to participate in the election. Some Mon
leaders were killed and arrested by Burman leaders. Although General Aung
San agreed to make Burma a federal nation, the later Burman leaders broke
this promise and administered Burma as a country in which the Burman leaders
took more power and restricted the rights of ethnic nationalities. 

According to the 1974 constitution, General Ne Win's Burma Socialist
Programme Party (BSPP) government created Mon State, but the government
monopolized power by forming its own administrative bodies up to the village
level. The BSPP and SLORC consistently restricted the activities of Mon
people regarding promoting of literature, culture and political rights.
Since 1948, successive governments have implemented a "Burmanization" policy
toward ethnic nationalities. In fact, ten of thousands of Mon have been
assimilated into Burman culture to the point that they cannot even speak the
Mon language. 

Because of the offensives against the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and its
military faction, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), by Burma's
rulers, and the accompanied human rights abuses by their troops, many
thousands of Mon inhabitants have escaped to the border areas and have taken
refuge there. While they were in the camps, they actually experienced
greater freedom in maintaining their national and cultural identity. The
refugee community created a Mon National School in the camps and taught the
Mon language. Without the restrictions of the central government, the Mon
were better able to maintain their cultural identity in the refugee camps. 

Because of the global approach of solving political problems through
negotiation, and the growing pressure from the Thai government, the NMSP
entered into a cease-fire with SLORC. In fact, the Mon people have no desire
to solve political problems through violent means. The Mon have always
welcomed the opportunity to solve problems through negotiation. The change
in Thai government policy?their decision to move the Southeast Asian region
from a "battlefield" to a "market field' -- meant that the Thai greatly
increased investments in Burma once SLORC came to power. To protect these
investments, the Thai government would like to see Burma become a peaceful
country. Before the NMSP entered into a cease-fire with SLORC, the SLORC had
consistently intensified its military offensives and forced the Mon
population to ask the NMSP to enter a cease-fire. Because the Mon territory
is small with several SLORC military bases there, in the end, the Mon had to
agree to a cease-fire. However, at this moment, the Mon are still waiting to
resolve the political problems of Burma through negotiations. 

According to points agreed upon in the cease-fire, neither the SLORC nor the
Mon would discuss political issues. The cease-fire was merely a means to
stop the fighting. The SLORC did mention its National Convention as a place
for discussing political issues, but the NMSP did not agree to attend the
National Convention. In the cease-fire both sides have agreed not  to
conscript forced labor of local villagers or to take porters for use in
military operations.

The SLORC imposed restrictions on tax collections by the NMSP and offered
more economic opportunities to create self-sufficiency. In practice,
however, the SLORC is still using forced labor and portering and the
economic opportunities of the NMSP have not met with much success. 

At the moment, we recognize Aung San Suu Kyi as a democratic leader. Because
of the historical experience, however, the ethnic minorities are reluctant
to trust the Burman leaders regarding ethnic rights. They have never met any
Burman leader who would guarantee their rights. As a result, there is a
"wait and see" attitude regarding Aung San Suu Kyi. Is she a leader who will
ensure unity for all of Burma? Burman leaders promised before to create a
Burma based on a democratic federal system, but when the country was
functioning they changed their practices. That was why the ethnic
nationalities have always felt it necessary to safe-guard their people. They
have had no other way except to hold arms. 

It is effective for the Burman population to use non-violence against the
SLORC under the leadership of the NLD. As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD
have the support of the population, they could be successful in the near
future through non-violent struggle. The ethnic nationalities still have to
maintain arms while at the same time encouraging the parties which are
active with non-violence means in opposing the military dictatorship. 

The Mon kingdom exercised great autonomy for several centuries. If the
Burman leaders agree to guarantee equal rights of the ethnic nationalities
in a federalist Burma, the Mon people will enjoy their own rights. If the
Burman leaders continue their suppression and restriction of those rights,
the Mon have no choice but to struggle for an independent State. 

The Mon warmly welcome the UN resolution on true national reconciliation
within Burma. The ruling party in Burma should consider arranging for
discussions, meetings and assemblies which support for the true national
reconciliation. The National Convention of SLORC is not an appropriate
forum. The international community must help in facilitating this national
reconciliation process. 



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